Chapter 17
Olivia
We push harder into the canyon.
No breaks.
No slowing down.
Just boots scraping rock and ragged breathing echoing between the cliffs while engines grow louder somewhere behind us.
Every step sends pain spearing through my side.
Hot.
Sharp.
I keep moving anyway.
The little girl beside me stumbles again, exhaustion making her knees buckle.
I tighten my grip on her hand immediately.
“Hey.” I crouch slightly beside her without stopping. “Stay with me a little longer, okay?”
Her frightened eyes lift to mine.
She nods instantly.
Trusting me completely.
The weight of that almost hurts worse than the injury.
Ahead, Lucas motions the group faster through another narrow bend in the rocks.
Miles glances over the ridge and curses under his breath.
“They’re moving south!”
“They’re trying to close the pass,” Clay snaps.
Of course they are.
The canyon narrows tighter until we’re forced into single file again, shoulders brushing rock walls as loose gravel slides beneath our boots.
Behind me, Russ’s voice cuts clean through the chaos.
“Keep moving!”
Calm.
Strong.
Certain enough that part of me believes he could force this mountain to bend if he needed it to.
And stupidly—
That steadies me.
We round another sharp bend.
Then the ground cracks beneath us.
The sound explodes through the canyon like thunder.
Rock shifts violently under my boots.
The little girl screams.
“Oh God—”
“MOVE!” Lucas roars.
Too late.
The ledge collapses beneath me.
The child’s hand tears from mine as the earth gives way.
My stomach drops hard.
Then everything else does too.
“Olivia!”
Russ.
I hear him over the grinding avalanche of rock.
I throw myself toward the cliff instinctively, fingers clawing for purchase.
Stone scrapes beneath my nails.
For one second I catch.
Then the rock crumbles away.
And I fall.
Impact slams through me brutally as I crash onto a lower ledge.
Pain detonates through my ribs hard enough to white out my vision.
Air vanishes from my lungs.
Dust explodes everywhere.
Loose rock rains around me.
For one horrible second, I can’t breathe.
Can’t think.
Can’t even tell which way is up.
“Olivia!”
Closer now.
Panicked.
Russ again.
I force air back into my lungs with a painful gasp and push myself onto shaking elbows.
Agony tears through my side immediately.
Still alive.
Good enough.
“I’m here!” I shout upward.
The words come out rough and weak.
Not nearly strong enough.
Dust slowly settles around me.
I blink up toward the shattered ridge above.
The path’s gone.
Completely collapsed.
Jagged debris separates me from the others while loose rock still skitters dangerously down the cliffside.
Bad.
Very bad.
“Stay where you are!” Russ shouts down.
Like that’s ever worked with me.
I force myself upright anyway, bracing against the canyon wall as pain nearly buckles my knees again.
The ledge beneath me shifts slightly.
Loose gravel slides off the edge into open air.
Definitely bad.
Above me, silhouettes move against the broken ridge.
Lucas.
Clay.
Miles.
Russ.
Even from here I know which one is him instantly.
“Can you climb?” he calls down.
“Yes.”
Lie.
The second I shift weight onto my injured side, my vision flickers black around the edges.
“I’m coming down.”
Cold panic slams straight into my chest.
“No!”
The word tears out before I can stop it.
I look at the shattered cliff between us and feel dread curl hard in my stomach.
The entire slope is unstable.
One wrong step and more of the mountain goes with it.
“You can’t come down here!” I yell. “The rocks are shifting!”
“I don’t care.”
Of course he doesn’t.
That’s the problem.
“I do!”
Silence crashes between us.
Above, distant gunfire echoes through the canyon again.
Closer this time.
Way too close.
Lucas swears sharply. “We’re out of time!”
We were never going to have enough.
I look past them toward the civilians huddled farther up the ridge while Clay and Miles take defensive positions.
The enemy’s coming fast.
If Russ climbs down after me now—
Everyone gets trapped.
“Go!” I shout upward. “Take them and move!”
“No.”
Not hesitation.
Not debate.
Just absolute refusal.
Something in my chest twists painfully at the sound of it.
“Russ—”
“You’re not staying down there.”
The words hit harder than they should.
Because he means them.
Completely.
Even now.
Even with gunfire getting closer every second.
“You don’t have a choice!” I fire back. “If they catch us split like this, everybody dies!”
That lands.
I know it does.
Because suddenly the canyon goes silent above me.
Heavy.
Impossible.
The kind of silence that only comes with terrible decisions.
“Olivia…”
His voice sounds lower now.
Rougher.
Closer to anger than fear.
And somehow that hurts worse.
“Don’t do this.”
I swallow hard against the knot tightening in my throat.
“Do what?”
“Push me away like I’m leaving you here.”
The words steal the breath straight from my lungs.
Because part of me realizes instantly—
He already decided.
He’s coming back for me.
No matter what.
And God help me, part of me wants him to.
“I’m not pushing you away,” I say more quietly now.
Another burst of gunfire cracks through the canyon.
Closer.
Too close.
“I’m buying you time.”
Above me, Lucas shouts something urgent.
Boots scrape across loose stone.
The enemy’s almost on top of them now.
“Russ!” Clay barks sharply. “Move!”
I look up one last time.
Can barely make out Russ’s outline against the broken ridge.
But I feel him anyway.
Like I always do now.
“Go,” I whisper.
And for one terrible second—
I think he actually might listen.