Chapter 199: Goodbyes

Anaisa felt Emily's body relax by degrees in her arms until there was no life left in her. Tears fell freely from the redhead's eyes. 

Laying the woman down gently on the ground, she checked on the others nearby. Trace's parents, Deborah… and finally, she allowed herself to think of the one her heart had longed to run to first.

Trace.

Part of her dreaded looking for him. To find him dead would shatter her in ways she didn't want to think about. By delaying the knowledge, she was letting her heart live a little longer. She glanced to where she'd seen him last in the dim light.

An army medic had declared Sanders dead, officially, and was now checking the motionless form nearest to him.

"He's alive!" The medic cried, and Anaisa's heart leapt.

She stood and scrambled over the rough ground, another sob breaking free from her chest.