Chapter 70: Shadows Within

The battlefield was eerily silent.

Smoke still hung in the air, curling through the wreckage like ghosts mourning the fallen. 

The distant whir of the departing gunship faded into the night, leaving only the crackle of fire and the occasional groan of the wounded.

Emily pulled herself upright, her body aching with exhaustion.

 The adrenaline that had kept her moving was wearing off fast, replaced by the dull throb of bruises and the sharp sting of cuts. 

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, smearing dirt and blood across her skin.

They had survived. But barely.

Across from her, Theo sat with his back against a fallen tree, rolling his shoulder with a wince.

 Reyes was crouched beside a wounded Resistance fighter, murmuring reassurances as she applied pressure to a gunshot wound. 

Damien stood apart from the rest of them, his hands on his hips, staring at the battlefield, His posture was tense, his expression unreadable.