Chapter 49 The Weight Of Moving On

• The silence was heavier than the footsteps they dragged across the stone corridor. The air here was colder, clinging to the skin like damp cloth, but it wasn’t just the chill that made everyone shiver. It was the absence of Niko his quiet presence, his stubborn determination, even his occasional bursts of anger.
• Nobody spoke for several minutes. The tunnel stretched on endlessly, and the dim, flickering lights overhead made it feel as if the shadows moved when no one was looking. Ivy kept glancing over her shoulder, as if half expecting Niko to appear behind them.
• Rhea walked up front, her paramedic’s bag bouncing lightly against her hip. She had treated enough wounds in the last few days to make her fingers feel permanently sticky with the memory of blood. Beside her, Grant limped slightly, the bandaged bite on his shoulder still raw from the last encounter. He didn’t complain, but his face was pale, his jaw clenched against the pain.