Page 47 of Echos and Empires (After #3)

She blinked, looked up at him with wide, uncertain eyes.

It tore at something deep inside him. He went to her, hands brushing against her shoulders, her hair.

She felt fragile and distant, and it made him feel impossibly far away.

“We’ll be alright,” he said, though the words felt hollow, unconvincing.

He wanted to believe them, needed her to believe them.

He needed them all to believe they had a chance.

Liam slammed the trunk shut, the noise a punctuation mark on the urgency that clawed at their insides. “We have to move, Alex,” Liam said, the impatience in his voice barely masking the worry. “Ranger, come on boy!”

The dog flew through the air with the command, jumping into the back without fear.

Alex nodded, the pressure pushing him to the breaking point.

But he wouldn’t break. Couldn’t. Not with Emma, not with Liam, not with the others depending on him.

He swallowed down the fear, the guilt, the frustration.

He’d carry the burden, shoulder the responsibility.

He’d do whatever it took to keep them safe.

“Get in,” Alex said, voice tight, eyes scanning the horizon as if the danger would manifest right in front of them.

He watched Emma move, saw the uncertainty in her step, the way she cradled her belly as if she could shield the life inside her from all this madness. It broke him, shattered him. But he didn’t let it show. He couldn’t afford to let it show. Not now, not ever.

As they climbed into the car, the urgency and pressure wrapped around them like a noose, tight and unrelenting.

Alex felt the strain, felt it settle into his bones, into his soul.

They were all they had. And they were enough.

They had to be enough. “We’re not far from where we were,” Alex said, more to himself than anyone else.

“We’ll regroup. We’ll get through this.” It was a promise, a desperate hope. It was all he could give.

He started the truck, the engine a loud, jarring reminder of the life they were leaving behind.

But it was also a promise of forward motion, of escape.

Alex clung to that thought, let it anchor him, steady him.

The responsibility weighed heavily, but he bore it with grim determination.

The risk they’d put Emma in, the toll it had taken on all of them, was something he couldn’t forgive himself for. But he would make it right. He had to.

Somehow, no one had seen them or the truck, or perhaps they thought something was wrong with Emma and the pregnancy and didn’t get involved. Either way, Alex wasn’t going to question a blessing in this mess.

“Liam, all that plotting you did is paying off. You ready to navigate?”

Liam nodded and pulled the hand drawn maps from his pocket as if he carried them around all the time.

The road ahead was uncertain, but they had to keep moving.

Had to stay ahead of the threat that was too close, far too close.

He could feel it bearing down on them, an invisible weight that grew heavier with each passing second.

Liam and Emma were too quiet in the backseat, the silence an oppressive force that pressed against his ribs.

Alex had to make this right. Had to find a way out.

The responsibility was a living thing, and it wrapped around him, tight and relentless.

The tension in the air settled into Alex’s bones, into his soul.

They were running on empty, both figuratively and literally.

The need to escape, to keep Emma safe, was an ache that wouldn’t go away.

Wouldn’t ease, no matter how fast they moved or how far they got.

It gnawed at him, a constant reminder of how precarious their situation had become.

The guilt and fear were a volatile mix, one that threatened to explode if he didn’t keep it contained.

But containment was getting harder and harder.

Alex saw the worry etched into Liam’s features, the tension in his shoulders as he sat next to Emma.

The strain was evident, an unspoken force that stretched between them.

They all felt it, but Emma’s silence was what scared Alex the most. She leaned against the window, eyes distant, a ghost of herself.

It was more than he could take, but he had to take it.

He had to bear the weight of their safety, their future.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, knuckles white, heart a frantic drumbeat in his chest.

The determination pushed him forward, past the doubt, past the fear.

It fueled him, a desperate fire that wouldn’t burn out, no matter how dire things seemed.

“It’s not far,” Liam said. “We’ll regroup, figure things out.

” The words hung heavy in the air, like a promise that was too fragile, too thin.

”Alex, Drop Chris a text with the coordinates when we’re further out, I left my damn phone, not that we can keep them much longer.

That cave system is going to be our best bet and the farthest away making our meetings with the others much harder. ”

“We’ll worry about that tomorrow,” Alex pressed his foot on the gas, sending the small SUV flying in a way the old military truck could never move.

As they drove on, the landscape blurring past them, Alex felt the pressure wrap tighter around him.

It was relentless, unyielding. But he’d carry it, every last ounce.

He took a deep breath, tried to steady his nerves, and grabbed his phone.

The message to Chris was short, a set of coordinates based on Liam’s mapping system.

An apology. A promise. Alex looked at Emma, at Liam, at the life he’d sworn to protect.

The risk they’d put Emma in, the danger that seemed to close in from all sides, was a burden he couldn’t share, couldn’t escape.

But he’d try. He had to. He sent the message, a small, desperate hope in a sea of uncertainty, and watched the road unfold ahead of them.