The Safe Zone - Reckoning (Book 2)

Chapter 14: Eyes of the Storm

Lena:

The sky was dark, the clouds heavy with the promise of rain, but the real storm was brewing inside the camp. I could feel how people moved—nervous, on edge, as if the air had thickened with tension. Ever since we returned from the Forgotten City, everything had shifted. The trust had become brittle, cracking under secrets and betrayal. Zara's ghost lingered over us all, her treachery a festering wound that refused to heal.

I sat by the campfire, absently poking at the embers with a stick as I stared into the flames. The heat was a welcome distraction but did little to quell the unease gnawing at my insides. Ethan had gone to speak with Callum again, and though we had tried to reassure ourselves that we were still on the same side, I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was unraveling.

The soldiers we had faced in the Forgotten City haunted my thoughts—those augmented men, twisted by the Directive into something more machine than human. If there were more like them out there, how could we win? Every step we took revealed a deeper layer to the Directive's plans, and I wondered if we were already too late.

I looked up as Zara's name came to mind, her betrayal still fresh, an open wound that wouldn't heal. Zara wasn't just a traitor—she had been part of the Directive's plan, manipulating us from within. I wondered how many others were like her, embedded in the resistance, playing both sides. My stomach churned at the thought.

How did we miss it?

That question played on a loop in my head, a constant reminder of how fragile trust was in this world. If Zara had betrayed us, who else could have been working for the directive without us knowing? We were fighting a war where the lines had blurred, and I wasn't sure who we were really up against anymore.

The footsteps behind me pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see Ethan approaching. His face was set in that complex, unreadable mask he always wore when things were about to get worse. He sat beside me without a word; his eyes focused on the flames dancing in the firepit.

"Callum's not happy," he said after a long moment, his voice low.

I sighed, tossing the stick into the fire and watching as the flames consumed it. "He's never happy these days."

Ethan shook his head, his expression grim. "It's more than that. He's starting to question everything—our intel, our people. He's paranoid. Thinks the Directive might have more plants in the camp."

A cold knot tightened in my stomach. That had been my fear ever since Zara's betrayal, but hearing it spoken out loud made it feel real, too real.

"What do you think?" I asked quietly, glancing at him.

Ethan's jaw clenched, his eyes flicking to mine momentarily before returning to the fire. "I think he's right to be worried. We don't know how deep the Directive's reach goes. If they could turn Zara, they could turn anyone."

I swallowed hard, the weight of his words settling over me like a lead blanket. We were fighting an enemy that was everywhere and nowhere, manipulating everything from the shadows. How could we fight back against something like that?

"We can't turn on each other," I said softly, more to myself than to Ethan. "If we do, they win."

Ethan didn't answer right away. He stared into the fire for a long moment, his face cast in flickering shadows. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, almost resigned. "It's already happening. People are scared, and fear makes them do stupid things."

I knew he was right. The camp had changed since Zara's betrayal. The trust that had once held us together was crumbling, and every glance, every whispered conversation, felt like it carried an accusation. The fear was spreading, infecting everyone.