Page 3 of Whispers and Warriors (After #2)

THREE

Emma’s stomach churned as the truck sped down the deserted highway. Trees blurred into a sea of brown and occasional green when she dared to peek out the front window. She pressed her cheek against Chris’s muscular shoulder and tried to steady her breathing. The cool leather of his jacket soothed her flushed skin, but her nerves remained frayed.

It had been at least two hours and none of them spoke. The silence was unnerving, an unsettling reminder of the way it had been when they first met, finding her inside the radio tower. Though it felt like forever ago, it had only been a few short months.

“Chris,” she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut against a wave of nausea. “Are we doing the right thing? Running away like this?” It wasn’t that she didn’t trust their choice, but the longer they sat in silence, the more she wanted to be back safe and sound in their base home.

He turned his chin downward, angling his chiseled jaw to meet her gaze. Piercing brown eyes bore into hers with a resolute intensity. “We have no choice, Emma. It’s not safe at the base anymore. It likely never was.” His voice was low and even, each word carefully measured.

Chris’s disciplined military mind was clearly running through the variables, calculating risks versus necessity. She loved that about him, even if at times it made him seem disconnected from her.

His hand tightened around her smaller one. “If we stay, they’ll find out what we discovered. What we know. We’d all be eliminated. I’m certain they’d even dispose of you so that you couldn’t rock the boat and destroy the false safety they’ve created.”

His fierce need to protect her and the others at any cost went unspoken, but she knew. Emma knew Chris would lay down his life for any of them without hesitation.

Especially her.

“But to leave everything behind...” Her words trailed off as emotion clogged her throat.

“It’s the only way.” Chris’s full lips thinned into a grim line. “We have a destination. Just like before, there’s an endgame. We regroup and fight another day.” Ever the pragmatic soldier, his tone allowed no room for further conversation.

As much as she wanted to dig in her heels, to cling to the fragile stability they’d found, Emma knew Chris was right. He always was in matters of survival. Slowly, she nodded, surrendering to his greater wisdom and experience. She wanted to be someone he confided in, not just someone he ordered around, but she knew he didn’t mean to control her, just to protect her.

Curling against his side, Emma tried to draw strength from Chris’s unwavering presence. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, anchoring her against the mad tilt of their world. She couldn’t lose him. Couldn’t lose any of them.

Not again. Not after being with Marcus.

Needing to feel grounded, Emma leaned forward a bit and buried her fingers in Ranger’s thick fur. Her pup lifted his head, ears pricked and eyes bright with concern. She’d found him as a scrawny, flea-ridden puppy shortly before the bombs fell, and now, he was her constant shadow, attuned to her every mood. She missed Bo and Shadow more than her heart could take, but Ranger would keep her sanity with every low bark and slobbery flick of his tongue.

“Good boy,” she whispered, leaning forward more to press her face into his face. “We’re going to be okay.”

Even if it was a lie.

From the front seat, Liam twisted around, his bright blue eyes meeting hers over the rims of his glasses. “Em, I know it’s scary, but this is the right call.” His voice was gentle, soothing. “We’ve got a plan. We’ve got each other.”

Liam seemed to always prove he was their navigator in more ways than one. His quick mind and quicker wit had gotten them out of more than one sticky situation, and he knew exactly what to say to send her mind at ease...or whirling with desire when he wanted to.

If anyone could get them across more of the country safely, it was him.

“What about supplies? Fuel? We can’t just drive into the sunset and hope for the best.” Emma hated the way her words quivered with her fear and the way her hands shook as she clung to Ranger.

“Alex and I have been stockpiling for weeks.” Liam’s grin was a flash of white in the gloom. “Call it a hunch, but I had a feeling we might need to make a quick getaway. We’d been loading it into the truck after dark, it’s how Alex was able to break into it so fast.”

Of course, he had a hunch. Liam’s ability to interact with the world was nearly as uncanny as Bash’s ability to shove his way through a room. Emma exhaled slowly, feeling a tiny spark of hope kindle in her chest. Maybe, just maybe, they could pull this off. Hadn’t they already done the impossible once before?

“And the coordinates?” she asked, glancing at the map spread across Liam’s knees. “How do we know they’re legit?”

“We don’t,” Bash rumbled from the far back, his deep voice startling her. “But it’s the best lead we’ve got. And staying put ain’t an option.”

Blunt as ever, Bash never sugar-coated the truth, not even with her. He was all hard muscle and harder attitude. But beneath all his snarling, he was loyal to a fault, and she’d seen that side of him enough to know he wasn’t being an ass right now.

Emma leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the map. The winding roads and jagged contours blurred before her tired eyes. She rubbed her temples, willing away the dull throb of a headache.

The truck lurched as Alex navigated a particularly rough stretch of road. Emma braced herself against the seat, her free hand tangling in Ranger’s fur. The dog whined softly, sensing her distress.

“Shh, it’s okay, boy,” she soothed, scratching behind his ears. “We’re going to be alright.”

But even as she spoke the words, doubt gnawed at her insides. The world had gone to hell in a hand basket, and they were just six people and a dog up against an entire system bent on their destruction. The odds weren’t exactly in their favor.

“A true safe haven,” she murmured, the words tasting foreign on her tongue. After so many months of running and hiding, the concept seemed almost mythical knowing the most recent one had been a lie. “Is that even possible?”

“We have to believe it is,” he said softly, his blue eyes catching hers in the rearview. “Otherwise, what’s the point of all this?”

Liam’s fingers tightened around the worn map, the paper crinkling under his touch as he traced the faint lines of roads and rivers. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, trying to discern any landmarks or clues that could guide them.

The coordinates were maddeningly vague, leading to a seemingly random spot nestled deep within the forested mountains. No towns or settlements marked the area, just an endless expanse of untamed wilderness. What could possibly be out there, hidden away from the rest of the world? And more importantly, could it truly offer them sanctuary from the forces hunting them?

Liam’s mind raced with possibilities, scenarios unfolding and collapsing as he attempted to puzzle out the logic behind the cryptic message. Whoever had risked everything to send that transmission must have had a compelling reason, a secret worth protecting at all costs. But was that secret meant to save them...or lure them into a trap?

He traced a finger along the map, his brow furrowed in concentration. The coordinates made no sense. If a mole worked within base, this person they drove toward absolutely did not work or live on the base. There were too many hours to drive between the two points. It was a gamble, trusting an unknown source, but their options were limited.

“Whoever sent that transmission risked a lot to get us this information,” Alex mused, his voice low and thoughtful. “They must have a damn good reason for wanting to help us.”

Liam wasn’t the least bit surprised Alex came to a similar conclusion—they all usually did.

I just hope they don’t mean to harm Emma.

Liam tried to push the thought back, but even after hearing the transmission himself, he worried it was just as dangerous to go there as it was to stay on base.

He couldn’t shake the nagging sense of unease that coiled in his gut, a lifetime of hard-earned instincts warning him to be wary of hidden agendas. Trust was a luxury they could hardly afford in this brutal new world, where betrayal apparently lurked around every corner. And yet, what choice did they have? To stay on base was to invite certain death, a fate he refused to accept. Not for himself, and certainly not for Emma.

Emma .

Just the thought of her name sent a pang of longing through his chest. He ached to be in the back with her now, to pull her into his arms and shield her from the fear and uncertainty that clouded her lovely face. She was the heart of their little band of survivors, the glue that held them together through unimaginable horrors. To see her so shaken, so vulnerable, tore at every fiber of his being.

But as much as he yearned to comfort her, Liam knew his place was up front, pouring over the map and making sure Alex didn’t make any wrong turns.

The others would look after Emma, offering reassurance and support in their own unique ways. Chris with his steady strength, William with his quiet compassion, Bash with his gruff protectiveness—each of them would do whatever it took to keep her grounded, to keep them all grounded.

And then there was Ranger, of course. That dog would sooner chew off his own leg than let any harm come to Emma. Liam would do the same for the dog, but he suspected the playful lab had grown on all of them, reminding them of better times. Times that he needed to ensure Emma knew might be harder to reach than Chris let on. He’d deal with the big guy later if he was pissed.

Liam turned in his seat, meeting Emma’s worried gaze. “Em, listen. There’s something else you need to know about that transmission.” He kept his voice low and steady, not wanting to alarm her further but knowing she deserved the whole truth.

He took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. “The coordinates we received weren’t just for some random location in the mountains. They came with a set of instructions, a way to contact the person who can allegedly get us to a real safe haven.”

Her eyes widened, a flicker of what must be hope warring with trepidation in their depths. “A person? Who? How do we know we can trust them?”

“We don’t,” Liam admitted, reaching out as if he could take her hand through the small window, but that was impossible. He flexed his fingers as if he had only been stretching instead of reaching for the impossible. “But right now, it’s the only lead we’ve got. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit around and wait for the government to hunt us down in that apartment.”

Emma bit her lip, clearly torn. Liam could practically see the gears turning in her head as she weighed the risks against the potential rewards. Finally, she nodded, her jaw set with determination. “Okay. So, what’s the plan? How do we find this mystery contact?”

“That’s the easy part for you all. Just sit back while Alex mans the wheel, and I make sure he doesn’t drive us into a mountainside.” He made a show of turning around and playfully shifting the wheel.

“Haha, I see you’ve got jokes now?” Alex snickered, but didn’t take his eyes off the road.

“It’ll be okay, you know that, right?” Liam didn’t look up, but he knew Emma would understand he was speaking to her.

“I trust you all, it’s not that. But being on the road, it brings up…”

Marcus .

She didn’t need to say it for Liam to know where she went when she got scared. It wasn’t just the bombs that scared her anymore, and they were partially to blame for that.

“That should have never happened,” Chris snarled and cleared his throat. “We let you down in ways we’ll never be able to apologize for, but there’s no one getting through us to you ever again. Not even our own.”

“We’re going to make it, Emma,” Liam whispered fiercely. “I swear to you on everything I hold dear. We will find a way to keep you safe.”

“How can we be sure this transmission is legit? Aside from thinking the end game is a trap, what if you heard some silly old movie being broadcast or that it wasn’t a test from the base command to see who you all are loyal to?” The worry in her tone was palpable, reflecting the unease they all felt.

Bash’s gruff reply came from the front seat, his eyes never leaving the road. “We can’t.” His words hung heavy in the air. “But the danger they mentioned, it tracks with what we know.”

Liam nodded, his jaw tightening. Bash’s blunt assessment was spot on. They were flying blind, chasing a lead that could very well be a trap. But what choice did they have? Staying put meant certain death.

“Let’s not doomsday. The world does that enough for us,” Liam called out, his voice cutting through the tension. “We’ve got about an hour ahead of us. With any luck, no one back at base will have noticed our absence yet.”

William, hunched over a laptop in the back, glanced up and met Liam’s gaze. “I disabled the tracking systems on the apartment door before we left. As far as they know, we’re still on site. I’m watching that damn dot and won’t take my eyes off it till the battery dies.”

“And I killed the truck’s tracker weeks ago. There’s a dummy one on there, and it’ll keep transmitting a location just inside the base to keep them hopefully chasing their tails for a few hours.

Liam looked at Alex, a flicker of gratitude passing between them. Alex’s technical prowess had bought them precious time. But how long before their pursuers caught on?

As the van ate up the miles, Liam retreated into his thoughts, his clenched together until his knuckles turned white. The weight of responsibility settled heavily on his shoulders. Emma’s safety, the lives of his comrades, it all rested on his decisions.

Fear coiled in his gut, a cold and insidious thing. What if he made the wrong call? What if, despite his best efforts, he couldn’t protect them? The thought of losing Emma, of failing her when she needed him most, was almost too much to bear.

But he couldn’t let his doubts consume him. Not now, when they needed him to be strong. To lead them through this nightmare and out the other side.

Liam took a deep breath, forcing his muscles to relax. He had to have faith. Faith in himself, in his team, in the unbreakable bonds that held them together.

They would make it through this. They had to. Because the alternative was unthinkable.