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GUNFIRE CRACKED THROUGH THE AIR LIKE THUNDER tearing the sky apart. Smoke coiled upward from smoldering tents, choking the horizon with a thick, metallic scent of blood and ash. Screams mingled with the shouts of orders, and the world was pure chaos — raw, explosive, and merciless.
"We need to take cover!" Venus shouted over her shoulder, her voice nearly drowned by the deafening roar of explosions. Her lungs burned from the smoke, her heart hammering inside her chest like a drum of war. Her eyes darted across the battlefield, skimming over broken bodies, splintered crates, and the flicker of muzzle flashes in the distance — until they landed on a stack of cargo crates half-toppled against one another like precarious dominoes. That would have to do. "This way!" she yelled again, urgency sharpening her tone.
The first bomb had ripped through the camp like a blade. Without thinking, Venus had sprinted through fire and shrapnel, her only thought: Brenda. She had no idea what kind of condition the girl would be in — the last time Venus saw her, she was barely conscious, her skin pale and clammy, death waiting with open arms. But now, as she found her, Brenda was upright, steady, stronger. That alone sent a quiet breath of gratitude through Venus' chest. A moment of hope in a place where hope felt like a joke.
She gripped the gun tighter in her hand. The cold metal was a cruel reminder of what they were up against. She hated the weight of it — not just in her hand, but what it meant. That survival came at a price. That she might have to kill. Her hands trembled slightly, but her jaw was set. She would use it if she had to. Fear wouldn't keep her from protecting the people she cared about.
"Where's Thomas?" Brenda's voice was hoarse, her eyes wide as she scanned the chaos. "He was with Teresa... up the mountain."
Venus' first instinct had been to find him when the bombs started. But then she'd heard the screaming — children, innocents, fighters trying desperately to hold the line — and she knew. She had to get her friends to safety. That's what Thomas would do, she reminded herself. He always put others first.
"There he is!" Jorge's voice cut through the mayhem. Venus turned and spotted Thomas through the haze, standing a few meters away, eyes wild, searching.
"I'll get him — stay here!" Venus bolted forward, weaving between the bodies and debris, the crack of bullets too close for comfort. Her lungs ached, adrenaline screaming through her veins.
"Thomas!" she called out, her voice slicing through the din. His head snapped toward her, and when their eyes met, a flicker of overwhelming relief washed over his face. He ran to her, arms locking around her shoulders.
"You're okay," he whispered against her hair, his voice low, raw. "Thank God."
"We need to take cover. Now." Venus tugged at his hand, pulling him with her as they ducked and darted through the gunfire, racing back to where Brenda and Jorge waited.
