The highway unrolled like a black ribbon between dark fields and forest walls. The headlights carved a thin tunnel through the night, where snow-markers on the roadside stood like weary sentries. Far ahead, jagged ridges rose into the stars, mountains pulling at the horizon like teeth. The road seemed to climb into their shadow, narrow and endless.
Emily sat in silence, the hum of the engine a steady backdrop to the ache still gnawing at her skull. The sedative haze hadn’t fully left her veins, and each breath felt heavier than the last. Beside her, Reeves drove with the kind of focus she’d only seen in soldiers on patrol — every glance into the mirrors measured, every movement of the wheel deliberate.
They hadn’t spoken since leaving the city. The silence wasn’t awkward; it was taut, li
