Chapter 35: Chapter 35: The Enemy Within

Chapter 35: The Enemy Within

The weight of silence hung heavy in the camp as Alex retreated to her corner of the ruins, her mind reeling from Ryan's challenge. Her body ached from the bruises and cuts she hadn't even noticed in the chaos, but none of that mattered. What mattered was the fracture that had opened up within her group—within her own sense of purpose.

She had thought things couldn't get worse, that returning to the ashes of their camp was the lowest point. But the tension between her and Ethan, simmering beneath the surface for weeks, was about to boil over.

She felt it like a crack in a dam, ready to burst.

Ethan had been distant since they returned, his sharp blue eyes watching her from the edges of the camp, always lurking but never approaching. The weight of his gaze pressed on her back like a blade waiting to cut. She knew what was coming, and yet, when the moment arrived, it still hit like a sucker punch.