Chapter 117: Shadows In The Rubble

The air outside the collapsed treatment plant was thick with smoke and dust, hanging over the shattered landscape like a funeral shroud. 

Emily's lungs burned with every breath, her muscles trembling with exhaustion and adrenaline.

 Her mind was a storm of chaos—each thought colliding with the next, none settling long enough for clarity.

Victor Hale was gone.

Maybe dead.

Maybe not.

It should have been a victory, but all Emily felt was the weight of unfinished business pressing down on her shoulders.

Lena's voice cut through the silence. "We need to keep moving."

Emily blinked, tearing her gaze away from the wreckage. 

Lena stood a few feet away, her rifle slung across her back, her arm supporting Jared, who could barely put weight on his broken leg his face was pale, but his smirk was still intact.

"You two gonna stand there staring all day, or are we actually leaving before something else explodes?" Jared muttered.