I dropped back and slid away from him, heart rocking inside my chest. My stomach shifted, forcing me to turn and vomit. I gazed down at my body, and I could barely see through the shock.
I was fine. I hadn't been shot. I patted my body until I could feel the sensation come back into my limbs. I steadied my breath and rolled to see my father. He was lying across the mud, staring into the night sky. A small pool of black blood crept out of him.
I stood up and walked over to him. "It didn't have to be like this," I said.
He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "They will come for you. They will finish the job I failed to do."
I grabbed the pistol from the ground and put it in the back of my jeans. "There was a point in time where I believed your lies. I'd get so scared thinking about what might happen to us. I really looked up to you. Did you know that?" I asked.
He was silent.
"Guessing that you didn't. None of it matters now. I'm safe and you're at your end, old man," I said. "I don't hate you anymore. I don't give a fuck about you."
I held back all my tears as I walked away. I gritted my teeth and sucked it up. It wasn't worth hanging onto the bullshit.
I left my father near the burning embers and left to reclaim my love.
Lilly
Gunshots echoed in the distance. A bloody battle had taken me away from my lover, and nothing could calm my mind. I’d climbed a tree, but the fire was too bright, and I couldn't get a read on where they were.
When the sounds died out, I dropped my forehead against my hands. All of the creepy insect and bird calls of the bog seemed to disappear. We were alone.
We waited an entire hour before Lucian found us. When he showed up, he dropped his knife in the mud and ran his hands through his unkempt mess of hair. Blood stained the front of his shirt. He wasn't distressed. He was looking at me with complete assurance.
"God, I love you," he said.
Falling to his knees, he grabbed my chin and kissed me. When he pulled away, he moaned and gave a hearty laugh.
"I love you too, but what happened?"
He answered me with another chuckle and turned around. He grabbed my dad's head and kissed him, too. I was sure Dad would respond with a hit to Lucian's face.
"What the hell?" Dad cried out.
Lucian was excited. He grinned and howled into the night sky. "I have love for all of you," he said.
I stood, and he swung me into his arms. "Lucian!" I cried out. "What on earth are you doing?"
"We are free," he said, voice low and booming. "Free as humans ought to be. We can start a new life."
I kissed his neck as he lowered me down.
"It's not over, yet," my dad said. "We don't know what lies behind the wall.
He cooled down and lowered his grin. The looming threat had just dawned on him. "Will it ever end?"
The moon shined brightly above us. I grabbed my binoculars and focused my eyes on the wall. It was now visible.
Although the men were nervous, we didn't have a choice but to keep moving. I had to believe that, in less than twenty-four hours, we'd be on the other side of that barrier. We'd be free.
"I can see it," I muttered. "We're closer than I thought."
"Five miles at the max," Lucian said.
Dad jumped forward, into the mud. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's finish this, once and for all."
"Aye, aye captain," Lucian said, smiling.