Chapter 9

Lilly’s POV

The morning came slow and heavy, dragging light down the tunnel like it didn’t want to touch the world above.

We’d made it through the night—barely. No one really slept. Every sound echoed: dripping water, shuffling feet, Lilac’s quiet whimpers in her sleep. I sat against the concrete wall, staring at the small circle of light from the hatch above us, wondering what was left.

Liam was the first to move. His face was drawn, streaked with soot, jaw tight. The calm authority he’d carried before the attack was still there but dulled and weighed down.

“We go up in pairs,” he said, voice rough from exhaustion. “Stay quiet. If they’re still out there, we don’t draw attention.”

Scarlet nodded, checking her pistol. John followed with a tired grunt, his arm wrapped around Mary’s shoulders protectively.

I waited until they climbed first, then looked to Liam. “You think anyone else made it?”

His gaze flicked toward the ceiling hatch, then back to me. “No.” A pause. “But we’ll make it count that we did.”

When we emerged, the air hit hard, sharp, metallic, thick with the stink of burned flesh. The compound wasn’t a refuge anymore, it was a grave.

The once imposing gate sagged in the wind, the cabins were collapsed heaps of blackened wood. The treehouses had fallen, their ladders charred to ash. The air still shimmered faintly from the heat of the fire.

“Oh God,” Mary whispered, clutching Lilac tight. The child’s face buried into her neck, too young to understand, but sensing everything.

Scarlet stepped forward, scanning the bodies. “Jake… Alice…” Her voice cracked. “They didn’t make it.”

Liam’s expression didn’t change, but his fists did—clenching until his knuckles whitened. “We take what’s left,” he said flatly. “Supplies. Weapons. Anything that keeps us alive.”

He moved first, pushing through debris toward the burned storage shed. I followed. The smell inside was worse—melted plastic, wet ash, decay. But the shelves still held remnants of order amid the chaos.

“Here,” I said, pulling down a half-crushed crate of canned food. Scarlet found a water jug and a half-melted first-aid kit. “Some of this’ll still work.”

Liam crouched beside a broken shelf, his hand brushing over something, his old sidearm which was still intact. He checked the chamber, loaded it with quiet precision. “Guess I’m not done yet.”

We regrouped near the gate. The others had scavenged blankets, fuel, a few tools. Mary looked exhausted, her cheeks streaked with tears and grime.

“There’s another settlement,” Scarlet said, holding up a smoke-stained map she’d found in the storage shed. “About twenty miles west, near the old highway. If it’s still standing, it could be our best shot.”

Liam studied the map for a long moment. “We’ll move soon since the hollowed won’t stay gone.”

“Should we… bury anyone?” Mary asked softly.

Liam’s silence said everything.

Scarlet placed a hand on Mary’s arm. “There’s no time. The ground’s too hard, and if we dig, we’ll draw them back.”

Mary nodded reluctantly, tears slipping down her face. Lilac hugged her rabbit tighter.

I lingered a few steps away, looking at the ruins. Something shimmered faintly near the burned watchtower a light flickering gold in the smoke. For a heartbeat I thought it was sunlight, but sunlight didn’t move like that. It watched.

Kael.

My pulse quickened. His presence pressed against the edge of my mind distant, but unmistakable.

Liam’s voice cut through it. “Lilly.”

I blinked, tearing my eyes from the shimmer. He was watching me, expression unreadable. “You good?”

“Yeah.” I forced a nod. “Just… saying goodbye.”

His gaze lingered a second longer than it should have, something like suspicion,or maybe concern flickering behind it. Then he looked away. “Let’s move.”

We slipped through the gate, stepping back into the wasteland. The road stretched before us, cracked and gray, with the distant outline of Chicago’s ruins clawing at the red tinged horizon.

We didn’t talk much since every sound, every shadow, could mean danger.

Still, I felt it, the weight of what we’d lost, the ghosts of what might follow us, and beneath it all… the steady hum of something ancient and alive in my chest.

Kael’s presence hadn’t faded if anything, it grew stronger with every step away from the compound.

He was out there. Watching. Waiting.

And somehow, I knew he wasn’t the only one.