All Chapters of Another Chance : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The River Carries What’s LeftRissa’s POVI couldn't focus with all of this chaos all around me this past few weeks.Ash still drifted in the air as we moved through the river’s edge, the sound of running water the only thing steady in a world that no longer felt real. Every step sent dull pain through my limbs, a reminder that I was still here alive.when others weren’t.Mark walked ahead, silent, his eyes scanning the ground. The moonlight caught in his hair, in the streaks of dried blood on his collar. He hadn’t said much since the explosion. Neither had I. Words felt like stones in my throat ,heavy, useless.We found the first sign of him near the bend in the river: a half-buried bootprint pressed deep into the mud. Josh’s tread. I’d recognize it anywhere. Too even, too deliberate.“He’s alive,” I said before I could stop myself. My voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.Mark crouched beside the print, fingers brushing the edges. “He’s hurt,” he murmured. “See the

When the Bond lingers Josh’s POVThe river took most of the noise with it.What was left was the sound of my breathing and the dull pulse in my leg that wouldn’t stop. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer against bone. The world smelled of smoke and wet moss. I hadn’t realized how close I’d crawled to the edge until the cold water touched my fingers.I stayed there, washing off the blood that wasn’t all mine.Some of it belonged to the men who didn’t make it out of the blast. Some of it might have been hers. The thought made my chest tighten. I hadn’t seen Rissa since the explosion. I didn’t know if she was alive, and I didn’t know if I could survive knowing she wasn’t.The pain kept me grounded.Every movement sent sparks through my leg where the shrapnel had lodged deep. I’d wrapped it with a torn sleeve, tight enough to stop the bleeding but not enough to keep the darkness from creeping at the edges of my vision. I’d been walking—or maybe limping—for what felt like hours. Long enoug

The Pain of HurtRissa’s POVThe morning crept in slow and grey, the kind that made it hard to tell if the world was healing or just holding its breath. The fire had burned down to embers, throwing dull light across the cabin’s cracked walls. Josh was still out cold on the cot, skin clammy, his breathing shallow but steady.I sat beside him, rinsing a cloth in a bowl of cold water, wiping the sweat from his face. His skin burned under my fingers. Every time I told myself to stop caring, my hands refused to listen.He stirred once, eyes half-opening. “You’re still here,” he muttered, voice rough.I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.The memory of him cheating on me with Teresa , the day he rejected me still came back like a wound that refused to close. He didn't care about my feelings before he abandoned me. But watching him fight for breath now twisted everything I thought I’d buried.The door creaked open. Mark stepped inside, rifle slung over his shoulder, jaw tight. He stopped when he

Dead weightRissa’s POVWhen the arrows stopped, the world didn’t quiet. It just… changed.The forest still whispered, but it wasn’t the same sound. It was heavier, like it knew something had broken.We found shelter in the hollow of a burned-out tree barely enough space for the three of us, but it was the only thing that kept the night off our backs. Josh’s breathing was shallow. Every time he exhaled, I heard a small catch in his throat that scared me more than the arrows ever did.Mark was pacing again, restless energy radiating off him. The faint light from his flashlight caught the edge of his jaw, the worry tightening there. He wasn’t saying anything, but I could feel the accusation simmering.“Say it,” I murmured finally.He paused mid-step. “Say what?”“That you think I should’ve left him.”Mark looked down, exhaled through his nose. “I think you’re letting your feelings get you killed.”“That’s not what I asked.”He turned toward me, the beam of his flashlight cutting across

Campfire Rissa’s POVThe fire wasn’t much just a handful of damp sticks hissing and spitting between us but it was enough to chase the dark back a few feet. Beyond that thin circle of light, the forest stretched like a wall, whispering and waiting.Mark sat across from me, head down, cleaning his rifle for the third time. The rhythm of it. cloth, click, pause filled the space where words should’ve been. Josh was beside me, wrapped in the torn blanket we’d used as a sling, his face pale in the flickering light. His fever had broken, but exhaustion clung to him like smoke.No one spoke for a long time. Only the fire crackled, and the wind carried the river’s low murmur somewhere behind us.I stared at the flames, trying not to think about how the smoke smelled like the ruins we’d left behind.Josh’s voice came first, soft but steady. “You should’ve let me stay back there.”Mark’s eyes lifted, sharp. “We’re not doing this again.”Josh gave a faint, humorless smile. “You think saying th