Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,81

a flick of a switch, and I went rigid with fear. The slumped object in the shadows was a too-still body cloaked with blood. It was contorted in an awkward shape, arms and legs bent in unnatural positions. I sucked in a shrill scream and bit the inside of my cheek to stop the fear from creeping out of my clenched mouth. My free fingers pinched my thigh. I wanted to be strong, but the sight was traumatizing.

Maverick bent over to inspect the body and shook his head. The grave movement confirmation to what I already knew— whoever it was, was dead.

“It’s Kindle,” Jacob said, reminding me that he was with me in the transport and that I wasn't agonizing alone. “Fuck, I should have been here.”

I briefly remembered running into Kindle the night of the summer solstice, mentally assigning a face to the brutal death before us.

“Was anyone else guarding the warehouse?” I asked, worried that there would be other casualties. I itched to ignore Cyler’s command and go to them.

“No, we didn’t have more to spare,” Jacob replied honestly. “Between guarding the mines and the train station, we don’t have enough people to cover everything, and Cyler refuses to allow women to take up any shifts.”

Guilt gathered in the pit of my stomach. While I was off enjoying the best birthday of my life, the Dormas leadership council was preoccupied, leaving Dormas vulnerable. I let silent tears fall from my eyes. I didn’t want to make this about me, but couldn’t help but feel cursed.

Jacob grabbed my hand and squeezed. With great effort, I pulled my eyes away from the window and Kindle’s lifeless form. When our eyes connected, I saw that Jacob, too, had unshed tears in his eyes and a shadowy expression on his handsome face.

“I was supposed to be on guard tonight,” he quivered with a shaky voice while throwing a somber gaze back towards the body. I wrapped my arms around him and held him while he shook. He fell apart in my arms, and I felt his pounding intensity against my skin.

“It’s not your fault,” I murmured over and over into his slumped over and defeated form. “Jacob, it’s not your fault.”

Jacob wore guilt like a glove. He absorbed fault whenever possible, and I worried what the ramifications of Kindle’s death would have on him long-term.

Kindle’s death had a sobering effect on me—on all of us. A puncturing depression devoured me, and guilt like a vice gripped my heart. I was reminded that trivial things like birthdays or midnight almost-kisses are nothing when you’re fighting for your life.

Chapter Eight

Maverick was meticulous in combing the warehouse for clues left behind by the escaped Galla guards. Ultimately, they left virtually nothing behind to show how they escaped. However, Maverick was able to piece together that they learned the limitations of their disease, and how to calm down enough to get away without sleeping. Once they saw a change in the routine, they made their escape by stealing Kindle’s key card and killing him.

Huxley sent word to Mia to keep an eye out for the escaped guards, but most likely, they calmly fled to Galla with the hopes that they would find someone that could cure Maverick's manufactured illness.

To be safe, Cyler demanded that I spend the next few days at the Black Manor. Maverick kindly delivered my baked goods to Lois and Mark at the General Store, and they sent back more toys for me to paint during my involuntary time at the manor.

Since Jules moved out, the house was peaceful, but there was an edge about everyone that made tensions high. The guys mourned the loss of one of their citizens, and they approached work with a revitalized energy. They took on additional projects and rarely slept .

Kindle’s funeral was a moderate affair, and only a handful of people showed up. It seemed that the town was too used to loss, and there wasn’t any time to pause and mourn one of their own. Those that did attend merely nodded their head and said, “How unfortunate,” before going back to work.

I was frozen by how desensitized Dormas was to death. How much loss had they endured to have such a diluted reaction to it?

Low-grade grief mellowed everyone out. Jacob took the guilt harder than most. He walked around with a half-smile that was heavy with the pain we all felt. It dissolved the playfulness in his eyes and hid away his flirty nature. Maverick