I turn around to find Gray laughing with Gabe as he shrugs into a jacket. “Holy shit. How is Sawyer taking this?”
Sage shrugs and lifts up her hand, a small ball of flames appearing and then just resting there against her skin without leaving a mark. “I’m a Flame and he’s a Telekinetic. There's not a huge amount that Sawyer could do to stop us from helping out, and even Kieran couldn't argue now that our abilities are getting stronger.”
I give Gray one last sidelong look before turning back. “Are you sure you're ready for this?”
I’m not doubting her at all. I know she can do it, but Sage has always struggled with her opinions of herself, and she hasn’t had an easy time lately. After Dara’s death, she had taken weeks to feel comfortable enough to walk around the Sanctuary again, even with her Bonded at her side, so I’m mostly gauging where she is mentally.
She nods quickly and drops her hand back down, snuffing out the flames without even trying. “I’m ready. I'm definitely ready to stop watching Kieran walk out the door and wondering if he's going to come back. After what happened with Nox, I'd rather stay close to him. Also, things are getting better with Riley and, once he gets the all clear from Felix, he wants to join too.”
That's news to me.
The last I had heard, they still weren't sure that Riley would be able to make a full recovery. I reach forward to grab Sage’s hand, squeezing her fingers gently. “I’m so glad he's feeling better.”
I mean it too.
There’s a layer of guilt in me whenever I think of Sage’s other Bond, but it’s grown and become more complicated now. I’d hated him, loathed the man, for how he’d treated her, when really he was being controlled.
Abused.
If I think about it too hard, I’ll puke.
Sage gives me a small smile and nods her head, glancing down at her feet. “He's different, very different from the guy I loved growing up. But he's also ready to channel the anger in him at what happened to us all into joining the fight. Felix offered to come too so that we had a medic on site, but North and Gryphon didn't want to risk him. He’s still the best Healer we have, even if the Medical Board wants to throw him out.”
I huff and roll my eyes, still just as furious about this as I had been the first time she'd told me. When everything is said and done with the Resistance, I am completely on board with North firing all of them. I still sort of think he should kick them out of town and let them fend for themselves if they’re all so high and mighty.
“They’re all gutless, fearmongers who are trying to grasp desperately at power,” Gray says as he steps up behind us, fidgeting with the straps over his chest that hold the gun holsters at his side. I notice that he has two more guns than I do, and I shoot a look at Gryphon.
He shrugs at me with a smirk. “You don't need them. I've never actually seen you draw a weapon before. You only have them to distract people from the real weapon you wield.”
I know he's just trying to flatter me to distract me from my anger, but I refuse to let it work.
“I need more guns,” I say in my most insistent voice, and Gryphon shakes his head at me.
“Start using the ones you've got, and then I'll think about it. We're not wasting firepower just to look good.”
I raise my eyebrows at him and bounce on the balls of my feet a little. “You think I look good in them?”
Sage giggles beside me and Gray makes a huffing noise, like we haven't spent months watching he and Sawyer fall over their feet at each other, so he doesn't really have much of a leg to stand on here.
“Right, we'll go through the plan one more time, just to be sure that everybody is on the same page here,” North says as he walks over to us.
At this point, I've seen him in his TacTraining gear a million times, but it still sends flutters through my belly. His hair isn't slicked back like it usually is. Instead, there's a few errant curls resting at his temple, and I have to physically resist the urge to tuck them back behind his ear.
As he begins to speak, Nox walks over to join us, looking analytically over every TacTeam member who has been assigned to come with us, as though he is making his own decisions on them. His eyes bounce over Sage and Gray without much thought, and it warms me a little. While neither of them have ever tried to hide the fact that they didn't like him much, he knows that they're both good at what they do.
“This is a clean out. We need all of the Shields taken out and every last member of the Resistance to be dealt with before we leave.”
Rockelle nods from across the room and clears his throat to get North’s attention, interrupting, but in the most respectful way I've seen him act. “I just want to confirm that this is a ‘no prisoners’ mission before we move out.”
North nods at him and then speaks again, looking around the room. “These people have nothing that we need, so unless there are extenuating circumstances, we're not planning on giving anyone a ride home today.”
A ride home.
The politest way that North can say that we're going there with the intention of killing them all.
It doesn't bother me. I'm not squeamish about this and, if anything, it will be good to get my bond back into the swing of things after the soul bonding. It's been quieter and less bloodthirsty, which should be a good thing considering how much I normally hate its demanding and vicious ways, but honestly, I'm a little freaked out at how docile and sleepy it's been.
Maybe the energy boost of the souls we’ll consume there is exactly what it needs.
I swallow around nervousness that is a lump in my throat and tuck my hand into Gabe’s, leaning into his side a little as we both listen to the tactical plan that North lays out. I already know it by heart, having spent most of the last two days going over it all with my Bonded, but watching him explain it all to the TacTeam gives me the opportunity to watch how they all process it.
These are the most trusted men that Gryphon leads, and even Rockelle is hanging on to North’s every word, no messing around or added attitude out of him at all as he listens to what is expected of his team.
“The most important thing here is that we are not leaving until the Wasteland is shut down. Leaving them open is about the worst thing that we can do, and we've had our hands tied the last few missions, but that isn't going to be happening anymore. We go in, we take them out, and we leave no survivors behind. Any questions?”
When no one raises their hands, he nods again decisively. “Then let's move out.”
When my feet hit the ground at the Wasteland, it’s as though we’ve traveled to a different planet.
It looks nothing like it had before.
Although it has only been a few days since we were last here, it might as well have been months. The bodies that are still strewn around, left behind wherever they died, are in various states of decomposition, the process sped up by maggots and whatever other wildlife has managed to survive in this place. I try not to gag at the sight of them feasting on the fallen Resistance here. Thankfully, the TacTeam members who had died here when the Trigger attacked us all had been brought home, and I'm not about to see any familiar faces in the fields of dead.
Gryphon's hand brushes my neck slightly to relieve some of the sickness pooling in my gut. When he's finished with me, he does the same for Sage, who has a hand clamped over her mouth as she tries not to breathe in any of the horrific smells around us.