Fate Breakers

Chapter 38

Gannon

Irrenic is a nightmare, the exact opposite of Puerto Luz. When we arrive, we have to break through ice just to make it to this ramshackle port. We walk for days, the snow sinking frozen fangs into our flesh and straight to the bone. We go this winding, long way around. In the distance, I see tall trees and a collapsed bridge. We pause on the summit, Tills and I shifting to look down at the valley below.

It's grey. All of it is just grey. The buildings, the pathways, the rocks. Looking at it all makes my stomach slosh with unease. Now more than ever, I miss the warmth of home. Somehow, even our worst hurricanes feel like they'd be better than this.

"That is where we're supposed to be staying?" Knoll still sounds a bit out of breath, the bruises on his face in that ugly state of being almost healed. "It looks like it was just slapped together for the sake of it."

"Because it was." Fox comes up behind us, Aviva and the others all with her. "Once we enter that camp, we'll no longer be the 21st Battalion of the Aeolian Sector. We'll be the 2nd Battalion of the Irrenic Sector." Fox looks at all of us, her arms crossed. "I want to remind each of you that, in spite of how it seems, this is not a punishment."

Sure feels that way. None of us have to say it. We all just look at each other and know the feeling is mutual. Fox sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. We know she feels it too. "Look I..." Silence, of the worst kind. That uncomfortable, achy silence that sits on your chest until you can't breathe. Fox's shoulders slump, and she turns away. "Gather your units. We'll be shown to our cabins when we get down there."

Fox walks away. All eight of us just stand there in silence, shifting on our feet to fight off the frigid cold. Everyone's eyes are on the ground as I glance around the circle. Except for Carus. She's glaring, and right at me.

"Thanks a lot, Ramirez," she hisses.

Torres whips her head over to her. "I will pop you in your snaggle toothed mouth right now."

Oh Gods, here we go again.

"Fuckin'—" Kashton runs his fingers through his hair. "Can we not right now, please? Fox just said this wasn't a punishment. We were assigned to come here before Elder Macair showed up."

"But the circumstances of how could've been different," Arlowe argues, just as much bite in her voice. She jabs a finger at me, her cracked and bloodied lips pulled back in a snarl. "This is your fault. If you'd have just shut the fuck up that day—"

"Finish that sentence." Knoll doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't move. His face is stoic, eyes as cold as the island we're stuck on. "Finish. It."

Arlowe and Carus both look off in shame. As angry as they may be with me, they can't change the fact that if I didn't step in, Knoll would be dead. They may hate me, but I know for a fact that at least Carus has tried to get into Knoll's pants. He wasn't interested before, but pretty much announcing she'd prefer a scenario where he was most certainly dead surely won't help her now. Arlowe is just a hateful bitch. It's a wonder she doesn't hang around Juno more, or rather, that she didn't, before Lenore started watching her like a hawk.

"You two really need to start redirecting your anger to someone who you won't have to rely on to save your lives." Torres and I didn't talk before. I appreciate her help more than ever now. She's still a messy bitch, but at least she's a messy bitch who has my back. Torres keeps on, gesturing around the circle. "We're all stuck on the same mudpile, why do you want to make things more miserable than they already are?"

"We were miserable before this," Carus huffs, going back to glaring at me. "Miserable before, and his actions have only made things worse."

Arlowe digs her heels in, eye twitching. "Ramirez, if there's ever a day where I have no choice but to rely on you to save my life, just let me die."