Ch 45: The Fallout

The crawler rumbled over cracked earth, the thick scent of chemicals still clinging to the air. The landscape behind them was a graveyard—bodies twisted and burned, the remains of Thorn's men left in the wake of Kael's trap. The corrosive mist had done its job, turning elite soldiers into nothing more than shrieking echoes swallowed by silence.

Mira hadn't said a word since they left the battlefield.

She sat stiffly in the passenger seat, arms crossed, face unreadable. But Kael could feel the anger radiating off her. It was a quiet, simmering thing, pressing down on the air like the heat before a storm.

And then, without warning, she punched him.

The impact cracked across his jaw, sharp and sudden. The crawler jerked as his head snapped sideways, and he barely corrected in time to keep them from veering into a ditch.

"Damn it, Mira—"

"You bastard!" she shouted, her voice finally breaking the silence.

Kael exhaled, rubbing his sore jaw. "Okay, I deserved that."

"Damn right you did!" She was still glaring at him, her hands clenched into fists. "You lied to me! You used me!"

Kael kept his focus on the road, knuckles tightening around the wheel. "I didn't lie to you."

Mira let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "Oh, really? You told me the plan? You told me you were deliberately leading them into a chemical slaughterhouse?"

"I told you to trust me."

"That's not the same thing!"

Kael finally met her gaze, his expression calm but unyielding. "If I had told you, would you have gone along with it?"

Mira opened her mouth—then hesitated.

And that was why Kael hadn't told her.

She wanted to say yes. She wanted to believe she would have found another way. But deep down, she knew there hadn't been one. If Kael hadn't done what he did, they'd be dead. Or worse.

But that didn't mean she was okay with it.

Mira's voice lowered, but it lost none of its intensity. "That wasn't just a fight, Kael. That was slaughter."

Kael's jaw tightened. "It was survival."

"They were people."

"They were trying to kill us."

Mira inhaled sharply, hands gripping her knees. "You sound like a damn Consortium officer."

Kael's gaze flickered, something dark crossing his expression.

"That's not fair," he said quietly.

Mira scoffed. "Isn't it?"

Kael didn't answer right away. Instead, he focused on the road ahead. The wasteland stretched on, desolate and endless, but far in the distance, something new broke the horizon—a city. A real one.

The first true city beyond the Blanks.

His voice was quiet when he finally spoke. "I didn't do this because I wanted to. I did it because it was the only way to make them stop."

Mira didn't respond.

The crawler hummed as they drove, the silence between them thick with everything left unsaid. The anger hadn't faded, not yet. But neither of them walked away.

Eventually, Kael exhaled and glanced at her. "You're going to hate me for a while, aren't you?"

Mira shot him a sharp look. "Oh, no. I'm going to haunt you."

A small smirk tugged at the corner of Kael's lips. "Guess I better not die then."

Mira shook her head, rubbing her temples. "You're an absolute pain in the ass."

Kael let out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah. I know."

They drove on. Neither willing to forgive just yet. But neither willing to walk away, either.

Whatever came next, they'd face it together.