“How many?”
Luna’s voice doesn’t shake when she asks it.
That’s the worst part.
The compound behind us is still burning...secondary explosions blooming like ugly fireworks against the snow-dusted night...but all I hear is her voice, thin and sharp as a blade pressed to my throat.
“How many, Adrian?”
I don’t turn to look at her right away. My hands are still wet. Not with blood anymore...I wiped them on the snow outside the extraction vehicle....but I can feel it anyway. Like it soaked into the skin. Like it’s part of me now.
Zee clears his throat from the pilot seat. “I’ll… give you space,” he mutters, fingers tightening on the controls as the aircraft lifts higher, rotors screaming into the cold sky.
The door seals shut.
Silence falls.
Luna steps closer. I feel her before I see h
