Semua Bab ALPHA REJECTION: Bab 161 - Bab 170

Jenna’s POV The world feels distant, as if I’m watching everything unfold from the outside. My side throbs, a constant reminder of the bullet lodged deep in my flesh. The cool air bites at my skin, but the pain is worse, gnawing at me like an animal digging in my gut. Eleanor kneels beside me, her fingers surprisingly gentle as she peels back the fabric of my shirt, exposing the wound. Her face is set in hard lines, but there’s a quiet intensity to her movements, as though she’s done this a hundred times before. I’ve seen her heal others, but I didn’t expect it to feel so... personal. “You’re lucky it didn’t hit anything vital,” she murmurs, her voice focused. She dabs the wound with a damp cloth, and I flinch, the coolness stinging like fire. “Just get it over with,” I mutter, the words escaping before I can stop them. Eleanor doesn’t respond, but I see her eyes flicker to my face, assessing the depth of my discomfort. She doesn’t push me to talk, just continues working, wh

Jenna’s POVThe forest has an eerie calm to it now, the kind that settles after a storm has wreaked havoc. The crackling fire fades as Eleanor smothers it with dirt. Caleb’s breathing is shallow but steady. Greta keeps a protective arm around Mia, who clings to her with sleepy desperation. “We can’t walk much further,” Eleanor says, her voice matter-of-fact. “We need transportation. Caleb can’t keep going on foot." “And where do you propose we find transportation in the middle of nowhere?” Greta snaps, the strain of the evening making her unusually sharp. “There’s a road not far from here,” Caleb says weakly, wincing as Eleanor adjusts the bandages on his torso. “If we can get there, we’ll find a car." “And do what? Flag someone down and ask nicely to borrow it." Greta’s tone is biting, her frustration bubbling to the surface. Caleb gives her a pointed look. “No. We take it." The group falls silent. Even the crickets seem to pause as the weight of his suggestion sinks in. Greta

Jenna's POVThe next morning, the sunlight streaming through the cracked windows feels like a quiet promise of peace. It’s been so long since I woke up feeling this rested. The sanctuary, with its quiet stillness, has worked wonders. Raina had given us access to almost every room in the place, though her grandmother’s room was off-limits. “That one’s mine,” she’d said last night, her tone final. No one argued. She also showed us a trunk of her grandmother’s old clothes, carefully stored away. “Take what you need,” she’d said, though her expression was reluctant, like each garment held a piece of her grandmother she wasn’t quite ready to part with. Now, as we gather in the main hall, Eleanor adjusts the sleeve of a blouse she picked out, a faint scowl on her face. “I never imagined I’d wear a dead person’s clothes,” she mutters. “But here we are." Raina stiffens across the room, her face tightening. Greta notices and speaks quickly, smoothing the tension with a smile. “Well, it’s b

Jack's POVThe day starts slow, the lingering exhaustion from training is still clinging to the muscles, but we’re used to that. It's the quiet that feels strange today. After all the noise, the shouting, and the physicality of our lessons, the house feels almost unnervingly still. Violet is inside with the younger ones, settling them into a kind of routine, while the rest of us are scattered around the clearing, checking gear, sharpening weapons, and keeping an eye on the perimeter.I don’t know why it hits me today, but I can feel it—the tension in the air, the prickling sense that something is off. Maybe it’s the calm before the storm, or maybe it’s just the lingering thoughts of our strange neighbors. I don’t trust them, not in the slightest, but I can’t figure out why. And just like that, a knock comes again. Soft, tentative. The doorframe seems smaller with the weight of my unease pressing down on me, but I push it aside, my face carefully neutral. The town’s starting to feel l

Jenna’s POVEleanor takes a breath, absorbing the information. “The area around here,” she says cautiously. “Any packs? Anything out of the ordinary?”Silas is quiet for a moment, then he replies in a low, thoughtful tone. “This might be a little too timely to be coincidental.”Eleanor’s stew narrows, her shoulders squaring as she asks, “What is it?”“Earlier today, my wife and I went to say hi to our new neighbors. The empty house that hasn’t been occupied in decades finally got lived in. When Hannah and I heard voices, we decided to go say hi. It turns out it’s a battalion of people—men, women, and children.”“What?” Eleanor gasps.“We are just as shocked as you are,” Silas says wryly. “We tried to get information out of the one who appeared to be the leader without being too direct. But he only gave us smart answers. I’d wanted to let him know we were no threat, but then again, we have to be careful too. Can’t do anything that'll get my wife killed.” Silas’s last statement is pitch