The Safe Zone - Reckoning (Book 2)

Chapter 16: Shattered Bonds

Ethan:

The sky above us was a swirl of bruised clouds, threatening rain, as I dragged Lena through the forest. She was fading fast. Every breath she took came out as a wheeze, each step more of a stumble than the last. Her side was drenched in blood, a dark stain seeping through her jacket and onto my hand, as I held her upright. The Enforcer bullets had been too close—one had found its mark.

"You're going to be fine," I muttered, more for myself than for her. The words felt hollow even as they left my lips.

"Don't... lie to me," Lena gasped, her voice hoarse, the edges of her words laced with pain. Her face was pale, and her usually sharp eyes were dull and exhausting. "I know... what this is."

We reached the thickest part of the trees, the forest's shadows swallowing us whole. I paused for a second, listening to Enforcers crashing through the brush behind us, but all I could hear was the wind howling through the trees and Lena's labored breathing.

"We need to stop," I said, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "You're losing too much blood."

Lena shook her head, the movement weak. "Keep going. If we stop... we die."

I tightened my grip on her, my mind racing. She was right. We were too close to the camp, too exposed. But if we didn't stop soon, she wouldn't make it. And the thought of losing her—after everything we'd been through, everything we'd fought for—was too much to bear.

"Zara, help me," I called out, glancing over my shoulder at the woman stumbling along behind us. Zara had barely spoken since we'd dragged her out of the Enforcer camp, her face gaunt, her body frail. She was a shadow of the woman we once knew, but right now, I needed her.

She hesitated momentarily, her eyes flicking between Lena and me before stepping forward. "What do you need?" she asked, her voice quiet, uncertain.

"Help me get her to the ground. We need to stop the bleeding."

Zara nodded, moving to Lena's other side as we lowered her to the forest floor. Lena winced, her face contorting in pain as she leaned back against a tree, her breaths coming in shallow gasps. I knelt beside her, pulling open her jacket to assess the wound. The bullet had gone clean through her side, but the bleeding was bad—too bad for us to move much further without doing something about it.

"I need to stop the bleeding," I said, more to myself than anyone else. My hands shook as I pulled a strip of fabric from my shirt, pressing it against the wound. Lena winced, biting back a groan.

"I've had worse," she muttered through clenched teeth, her lips curling into a faint, pained smile.

"Shut up," I said, my voice tight with emotion. "Just stay still."

Zara knelt beside me, her hands hovering uselessly. I could feel her hesitation, the uncertainty that had plagued her since the rescue. She had been broken—by the Directive and by her own choices—and now she was barely holding it together.

But we didn't have time for her hesitation.

"Hold this," I ordered, pressing her hand against the fabric. "Apply pressure."

She did as I asked, her hands trembling as she pressed down on the wound. Lena let out a sharp hiss of pain, her body tensing, but she didn't say anything. I could see the exhaustion in her eyes and how she fought to stay conscious.

"We're not leaving you," I said firmly, my voice shaking with emotion. "Not after everything."

Lena gave me a look—one of those piercing, knowing looks that made me feel like she could see right through me. "You're going soft on me," she said, her voice weak but laced with the barest hint of humor.