Chapter 83
Eighty-Three
Tobias
Ispent a beautiful day with my wife. We made plans, discussed them, and then dreamed about a life above ground. The whole time, I ignored the feeling in the back of my mind. The one that said I would never see her again.
When my light came on the next morning - long before the rest of the compound would be up - I hoped to let Callah sleep through it, but I should've known better.
The moment I rolled out of bed, she yawned, stretching her entire body.
I found a clean and patched set of hunting clothes, and pulled those on.
When I turned back to check on her again, she was watching me.
"When do you leave?" she asked.
"Now."
"The day doesn't start for two hours!" she gasped.
"I know. They want us out early." I sat on the edge of the bed to put on my boots. "But, Callah? There's something I want to say before I go."
She crawled across the mattress to my side. "What's that?"
My throat chose that moment to clench. Clearing it helped, but my guts were also rebelling. All the fear was starting to feel real, and this? I had to do this. For all I knew, this could be my last chance, so I turned to look at her, needing to say this to her face.
"You are my closest friend. The best one I ever could've imagined, and I married you because of that. Since then, you've made me so happy. All these moments where life didn't feel hopeless? They were all because of you."
"Don't talk like that," she chided, shifting around to face me.
I chucked once. "Callah, I have the code. This? It's what we've been waiting for. We both know I might not come back."
"But that just means you'll get me out."
"Or die." And for the first time, I dared to reach up and cup her cheek. "So you need to know that I love you. I didn't mean to, but I still do. I love you enough that dying for you doesn't bother me. Just know that, okay?"
"No," she said, grabbing my shirt. "Tobias, you cannot die. I can't do this without you!"
I meant to say something to calm her. I was trying to think of how to reassure her without lying when this woman leaned in and pressed her mouth against mine.
And I froze.
Her lips were on mine. No one was forcing her to do this, but she was kissing me! When my mind finally caught up, that hand on her face tightened, pulling her a little closer, and I let my mouth shift against hers.
I didn't know what I was doing, and neither did she, but it didn't matter.
Our bodies did. Slow, subtle movements allowed our lips to caress and appreciate, then she parted her lips.
I drank in her breath. She took the air back from my lungs, focusing on my lower lip, then the upper before finally pulling back.
"Please don't leave me alone?" she whispered.
"I can't promise that, but I swear I will make sure you're free."
Then I stood, knowing that if I stayed here a moment longer, I wouldn't want to go. I needed to leave now, while I still could. While I had the memory of that kiss driving me to be the man she deserved. To be a true friend, not a husband.
But she followed me, scurrying out of the bedroom and into the main area. I didn't slow. Didn't want to lose my courage now. Picking up my gear, I hefted it over my shoulder instead of strapping it on, then reached for the door.
"Tobias?" she begged, making me pause. "I fell in love with you too."
And all that tension fled. "Yeah?" I dared to look back.
She stood there in a pale sleeping gown, the shape of her body visible through the thin cloth. Her hair was down, falling in loose pink curls around her shoulders, breasts, and back. A few freckles adorned her cheeks, and those eyes. They were so big, waiting for me to say something. Anything.
"So what happens if I do make it back?"
The relief in her smile? I loved it. "I will kiss you again," she decided. "And maybe let you kiss me."
"And if I can only send something yellow?"
"Then I will kiss you again when you save me, Tobias. But that means you have to be alive to do it."
"Then I'll do whatever it takes to survive. Be safe, Callah. I want that kiss." And I jerked open the door, stepping through it before I could find one more reason to stay.
But I'd said it. I'd told her how I felt, and she said she felt the same way. I wasn't sure if she meant it or was just trying to convince me to come back, but I'd take it. In truth, I needed it right now.
Something about all of this felt off. It could simply be because I'd been working so hard, for so long, to get this code. It had felt like some unattainable thing that was always just out of reach, and then without warning, it was mine.
I knew the number. I could get my team back inside. I could also tell Ayla, or the Wyvern, and then they'd find a way to make sure Callah made it out. Hopefully I'd get free as well, but if she was with them, then I could simply slip away the next time.
If I was still alive.
No, Gideon hadn't said anything, but that feeling still clung to me.
The ease of the promotion, the way he'd looked at me, and Mr. Saunder's questions - plus the comment about my son?
None of it made sense unless they were planning to get rid of me as easily as they'd made their decision about burning the women to save their souls.
So by the time I reached the door where my team was supposed to meet, I was already exhausted.
Mentally, mostly, but it made me want to snarl at these men - and I did.
I was their team lead now. I was the man in charge.
Their lives were in my hands, and that meant they'd expect me to be brutish and angry. I simply leaned into the feeling.
"All right, who are my three squad leads?" I asked, because the leader of the fourth team was still me.
Three men stepped forward: Matheos, Jonnas, and Harald. Of the group, I only knew Harald, but he was a solid leader at least. Hopefully, that meant half my team would at least obey when I told them to retreat.
"So," I said to them, "unlike Gideon or Damisen, I have no interest in managing your squads for you. I don't care if they're silent when it doesn't matter, so long as they can do their jobs when it does. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Mr. Warren," Jonnas said.
He was young, likely recently promoted. The other squad leads simply nodded, so I sent them to organize their groups, then tried to find Mr. Peterson, who was supposed to have information for me. He wasn't in the hall, so I rapped at the door that hid the opening mechanism.
"Come!" someone yelled on the other side.
"I'm looking for..." I poked my head in and smiled. "You, Mr. Peterson."
"Come in," he said. "Close that."
I did, daring to glance around. The room was filled with mechanical and electrical devices.
There were tubes along the walls and devices I didn't understand, but I'd seen something like them before.
They looked like the equipment down by the water pumps and electrical controls.
And there, in the middle of the far wall was the keypad that would activate the door.
"Do you have that compass?" he asked.
"Yes, sir." I pulled it from my pocket.
He took it, checked a page in the open book by the wall, then made a mark on the edge. When he handed it back, he pointed to the small graphite line.
"This is your heading. Line the compass so that red hand points at the N, then walk in the direction of the line. That will take you to the area we need cleared."
"Yes, sir," I said. "And then?"
"Then what?"
I paused, confused. "Are we expected to collect women, Mr. Peterson?"
"No, Tobias, that won't be necessary."
"Meat?" I tried next.
"No, that's unlikely to happen."
So I nodded slowly. "Then what's the point of this mission, sir?"
He pulled in a breath, then let it all rush out. "This is for the good of the compound. Gideon's team has already gone out. They left a few hours after your team returned the other night."
"So what are we hunting?" I asked, because this did not feel right at all.
Mr. Peterson dragged his hand across his mouth, then glanced over to the dials on the wall.
"Tobias, they're winning. We need to change that, and it means a full assault.
Your team has been chosen to make a difference.
This will be hard..." Once more, he sighed.
"But we're trusting you and your men to destroy the demons.
You must push back the evil so the Righteous can survive.
Some will make the ultimate sacrifice, but the Devil has left us no other choice. "
"So we're supposed to simply kill them," I realized.
"Yes. Kill them, even the odds, and hopefully make a gap so our hunters can finally reach the meat our people need.
The stores we have will not last all winter.
The cold is getting more intense, and we're running out of time.
We are desperate for a means to hunt, and those heathens are relentless.
They're determined to starve us to death! "
"Then we will make a path through," I promised, turning to the door. I needed to brief my men and head out.
But Mr. Peterson said one more thing as I left. "I always liked you, Tobias. You should've gotten to enjoy your promotion a little longer."
His words weren't to me so much as for me, so I didn't stop.
I headed back into the hall and called the men around me.
First, I had them check for their basic supplies and ammunition, making sure they had the bare necessities.
Then I explained we would be heading to the camps again, but this time we were expected to engage.
They could relax while we walked, but only if they made good time.
That caused a few to smile, and when we left, there was no true order to the ranks. Instead, men moved to travel with those they knew best. I didn't want to say friends, because we weren't supposed to acknowledge those. We all had them, but few of us would admit it.
Immediately, Elijah moved to my side, shielding his eyes from the setting sun. "So, we're attacking Dragons again?"
I grumbled, but when Jeshiah, Timon, and Uriah pulled in as well, I decided I had nothing left to lose.
These men had treated me with respect. They'd said enough around me to be punished if I repeated it, but none of them had tried to make a complaint about me first. Combined with how strange these objectives were, I decided I had nothing left to lose. I might as well trust them - a bit.
"We're not hunting," I said, keeping my voice down.
"Uh, we are," Jeshiah pointed out.
"No," I said. "We're on a mission. Hunting is collecting food. I was just told there's no need to collect meat. Mr. Peterson doesn't think we'll be able to collect women either."
"So why are we here again?" Uriah asked.
"To push back the demons so they are not blocking us from the food the Righteous need." And I lifted a brow looking at each of them. "That's what I was told."
"Why don't we just go around?" Timon asked.
"Because the enemy extends further than we know," I told him.
Timon looked at Elijah first, then over to Uriah. "I can't be the only one who heard men talking last night, can I?"
"Most of us," Jeshiah said, clearly teasing me, "were in the hunter's lounge last night. Not our own rooms."
"Most of you," Elijah told him, "didn't get promoted either. Tobias deserves this."
Timon grunted, annoyed at being ignored. "Some of the guys were saying their squad found the end of the line on the left side! Gentlemen, that means we can go around!"
"Maybe they were talking about the opposite end?" I suggested, because Timon was usually pretty gullible. I wouldn't put it past the other hunters to get him rambling, then laugh at him for it.
"That's the wild men's farm," Uriah pointed out.
Yeah, I knew that part. The goal of this multi-day operation was supposed to be to find the end of this line they'd made between us and everything else. There was no way they'd send us out if they already knew how to get around.
Never mind that the mark on my compass was just to the right of the N. Just a bit over from straight outside our compound. In other words, right where the most Dragons and wild men would be waiting.
Timon had to be wrong - otherwise, why was my entire team being sent to a point in the middle of this mess?