The Safe Zone - Reckoning (Book 2)

Chapter 19: A Line in the Sand

Lena:

The words hung in the air like a noose tightening around my neck. Destroy the Safe Zone. Nora's voice had been hollow, but there was no doubt that she was telling the truth. The Directive had been playing a long game, and now, they were ready to make their final move.

I could feel the tension radiating off Ethan as he stood beside me, his fists clenched so tightly I thought his knuckles might break through the skin. He tried to stay calm and focused, but I knew him too well. I could see the storm brewing inside him, the rage and disbelief threatening to consume him.

"They're going to wipe it all out," Nora said again, her voice devoid of emotion. "Everything we built here, everything we've fought for, is just part of their plan. They want a clean slate, and the Safe Zone is in their way."

My chest tightened as I stared at Nora, the woman who had once been so powerful but was now reduced to a puppet of the system she had helped create. She was supposed to be our leader, who kept us safe. But instead, she had sold us out to the enemy.

"Why?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "Why would you go along with this? Why didn't you stop them?"

Nora looked at me, her eyes empty, lifeless. "Because I couldn't. You don't know what the Directive is. You don't know who they are. They're not just a group of people. They're a force. They control everything. Even me."

Ethan took a step forward, his voice sharp with anger. "You still had a choice. You could have fought back. You could have warned us."

Nora let out a bitter laugh, the sound echoing off the cold, sterile walls of the command center. "Warn you? About what? That we were all doomed from the start? No matter what we did, the Directive would always win?" She shook her head, her gaze shifting to the monitors, where footage of the Safe Zone played out in real-time. "You don't understand. I tried to protect this place. But the Directive... they're too powerful. They have eyes everywhere. They know everything."

I felt a surge of anger rise in my chest, hot and fierce. "So you just gave up? You just handed them the keys and let them destroy everything?"

Nora turned to face me, her expression stern. "What would you have done, Lena, and fought them? Rebelled? Do you think that would have made a difference? The Directive doesn't care about us. They don't care about any of this. They only care about one thing: control. And they've controlled this world long before the Safe Zones were built."

Her words sent a chill down my spine. I had known the Directive was dangerous, but this—this was something else. They weren't just a shadowy organization pulling the strings behind the scenes. They were more sinister and deeply entrenched in every facet of our lives.

"They're going to launch an assault," Nora continued, her voice flat. "The Enforcers have been gathering forces outside the Safe Zone for weeks, waiting for the signal. When it comes, they'll raze this place to the ground. And there's nothing we can do to stop it."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After everything we'd fought for, everything we'd sacrificed, it was all going to be wiped away in a single, brutal attack.

"No," Ethan said, his voice hard. "We're not going just to sit here and let that happen."

Nora looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You don't have a choice."

"We always have a choice," Ethan snapped, stepping closer to her. "You may have given up, but we haven't. We can still fight."

Nora let out another bitter laugh. "Fight what? An army of Enforcers? The Directive itself? You're delusional if you think you can win."