Chapter 22 Ethan
Ethan
It flips in a heartbeat.
One second we’re pushing forward—
control in our hands—
The next—
everything breaks.
Gunfire cracks sharp across the clearing—
Closer than it should be.
Too close.
“Ava—!”
She’s already moving.
Fast.
Fluid.
Two shots—two down—
A third turns—
She drops him before he clears his weapon—
Then—
The shot hits.
The sound is wrong.
Too solid.
Too final.
Her body jerks—
A half step—
Then she goes down hard.
“No—”
The word tears out of me.
I’m moving before I think.
Before strategy.
Before anything.
Just instinct.
Just her.
I drop beside her, hands already searching—shoulders, side—
“Stay with me.”
Her eyes are open.
Locked on mine.
Good.
Still here.
“I’m fine,” she breathes.
Liar.
My hand comes away slick.
Blood.
Too much.
My chest locks tight.
“You’re not fine.”
“I’ve had worse.”
Not now.
Not this.
Gunfire erupts again around us—
Ronan’s voice cuts through it—
“Cross! Move!”
Not happening.
Not without her.
I haul her up, ignoring the way her body tenses, the way her breath catches—
Pull her tight against me.
“Stay with me,” I say again, lower this time.
Her hand fists in my vest.
Strong.
Too strong for someone who just got hit.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
You better not.
Because I won’t survive that again.
Not her.
Not like this.
We move.
Fast.
Through cover—
Branches snapping—
Bullets cutting through leaves—
Delta Five closes in around us like a shield.
Cal drops another target on our flank—
Aaron drives forward, clearing space—
Jonah locks the rear—
We push through—
Barely.
Break the line.
Behind us—
Hayes fades into the chaos.
Gone.
My jaw tightens.
Coward.
No—
Not a coward.
A strategist.
He got what he came for.
And I don’t like what that means.
Not even a little.