Page 84 of Lies That Bleed
Alek clasped his case shut and stood beside me. “Aisling is right. This went sideways, but we still need to complete to graduate and get good postings. If you want to stay behind, or if you’re too injured to travel, then so be it. You’re at the mercy of the drill instructors’ compassion. Or lack thereof.”
Kohen walked over to the train car where the payload was located and disappeared inside.
Alek and Jace, clearly not liking him being the only one to see what it was, ran after him. The sound of metal scraping against metal filled the forest as I helped everyone make sense of their packs and we made sure we had rations and water—those of uswho hadn’t pigged out on it already while playing poker.
The boys appeared outside the train carrying the giant steel case. They strained under its weight, knocking into their shins as they walked.
“We’ve got at least six hours of walking, maybe more. How are we going to carry that for so long?” someone behind me said.
“By taking turns,” Kohen grunted.
‘I can take it,’Liana told me.
I snapped my head in her direction. “You’re sure? It looks really heavy.”
‘I could carry five grown men,’she declared confidently.
“My creature will take it. We need to strap it to her back,” I announced then. It would be a huge help.
It took us a full twenty minutes to get the large steel case onto Liana’s back.
“What do you think is inside?” someone asked.
“A huge hunk of ember,” Roc guessed.
“Weapons,” another mentioned.
“Doesn’t matter what’s inside,” Summer snapped. “It’s going to get dark and we can only follow the tracks for so long before they curve to impassable territory on foot with so many injured. Then we’ll have to branch out into the woods.” She consulted her map.
“Let’s move out! Look alert for any other attacks,” Jace called out and started our group on the journey to the base. Some people were limping, holding hurtarms or busted ribs, but everyone moved as a group. No one was staying behind.
A wet muzzle dug into my palm and I peered down to see Tetra’s creature.
I spoke too soon.
Tetra.She sat on the ground chewing her lip as she stared at the seemingly insurmountable task ahead.
I walked over to her as her creature nuzzled her leg.
“You can do this, T,” I told her. “I’ll carry you on my damn back with a broken wrist if I have to.” I shook my splint in her face.
She gave me a sad smile—her fake smile.
“I can’t. I should never have let them keep my name in the Lottery. I’m not cut out for this. I’m not as strong as you are, Ash.”
I grabbed her cane, propping it up. “You are strong and you’renota quitter,” I said, a little more forcefully this time.
She looked up at me and growled, an inhuman growl that was definitely more like her wolf.
“You push me too hard sometimes!” she snapped as she heaved herself up onto her cane.
“Because you’re too damn stubborn sometimes and don’t realize how strong you are,” I snapped back. “So I clearly have to remind you.”
She chuckled then, exasperated, shaking her head. “I love you, you idiot.”
“Back at ya… idiot,” I said without having to really say the words. Sometimes I feared that the L word would sound weird coming out of my mouth. Like I might say Ilofeyou or something stupid.
With a grunt she started limping the worst I’d ever seen her. Her creature again shoved her muzzle into my free hand, as if trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t talk to her.
