Chapter Two - Weak

Grace

My hands were steady in front of me, arms extended to keep the gun aimed at his chest. His features were set in a solid expression, masking any fear he might have felt even though he didn't strike me as the type to easily be afraid. His hard gaze met mine and I was momentarily stunned by the depth of green in his eyes as they narrowed at me.

He hadn't seen me before he'd stepped out of the door, his hasty glance looking in every direction but to his exact left where I'd stood hidden by the shadows. I hadn't been surprised when a smaller shadow followed him out the door because of the racket they'd made in the building, but I hadn't got a good look at either of them until he'd turned around to face me. I almost wished he hadn't because even as I held a gun to his chest, there was no denying how attractive he was. He was about my age, twenty-one or so, and with his messy, dark hair pushed back in a bandana, it was easy to see the sharp line of his jaw, the piercing green of his eyes, and the stony look of determination written on his face.

A quiet whimper sounded from behind his back, shaking me from the spell I seemed to momentarily have fallen under. For the first time, a flicker of worry flashed in his eyes beneath his tightly knitted brows. I stepped closer, determined to uphold my composure just like I would with any other raider who was caught in the act.

'Who's behind you?' I demanded sharply, nodding over his shoulder.

'It's just a kid,' he answered. His voice was deep and gravelly as he tried to keep it down and avoid drawing any more attention to us. He must have noticed I hadn't alerted anyone to his presence yet, although I knew others were already on their way.

'Let me see him.'

'Put your gun down first,' he returned firmly. His hands were still raised by his sides but I could see the flexed muscles beneath his skin, his body tense and ready to react.

'Nice try.'

As I spoke, a small hand gripped the side of the shirt he was wearing before a head peeked around from behind his back. A set of wide brown eyes peered out at me, very obviously terrified. He let out a tiny squeak when he saw me looking at him before ducking behind the man's back again. My gaze travelled back up to his face, gun never leaving his chest.

'Where are you from?' I asked. He stared back at me defiantly, not answering my question as he set his jaw tightly. I hadn't really expected him to. That was one of the first rules of raiding: you get caught, you stay quiet, and most of the time, you die. There was a reason hardly anyone dared to raid Greystone, and it was the reason he wasn't giving me any information now. He knew he probably wouldn't make it out of here and didn't want to risk retaliation on the rest of his camp.

That wasn't always the case, however. Many times, the person caught would give up all sorts of information if there was even the slightest chance it meant they'd escape with their life. Whoever he was, he was loyal and brave.

'Why'd you bring a kid with you on a raid?' I questioned again. My tone held a hint of annoyance. I didn't like being put in this situation, because I knew I should shoot them both and I really didn't like the idea of having to shoot a kid. He was so small and terrified, it hardly seemed justifiable, even if he was on a raid.

'I didn't,' he said through gritted teeth. The skin was pulled taut on his neck as he watched me closely. His eyes darted to the side, leaving mine for the first time since his gaze had locked on mine at the sound of someone calling my name.

'Grace!' the voice called. His eyes snapped back to mine, an eyebrow rising as if questioning that it was me they were calling for.

'Look, at least let the kid go,' he said shortly. It was almost as if he were irritated that I hadn't shot him yet. I stared at him, gun still raised and ready.

'Grace!' the voice repeated, much closer this time. I recognised it now as my older brother's. Jonah, who was ruthless and had a quick temper, wouldn't hesitate before shooting the both of them. Another petrified whimper sounded from behind the man's back, breaking my will. Before I even fully decided, I was lowering my gun.

'Get out of here,' I grumbled. It irritated me to let them go but I couldn't bring myself to shoot an innocent kid. 'But if I catch you here again, you're dead. I don't care who you have with you.'

He nodded sharply before turning around. The muscles in his back flexed beneath the thin black shirt he wore as he hunched over to speak to the kid.

'Now we run, little man.'

He gripped the kid's arm while I watched in silence, confused by the gentle way he spoke to him after being so defiant with me. They looked around once before taking a few steps away. The kid took off at a sprint for the nearest house while the man surprised me by pausing and turning back around to look at me once more.

'Thank you,' he said, somewhat grudgingly. I blinked in surprise before I forced a scowl on my face, determined to remain hard even though I was shocked by his behaviour.

'Go!' was all I said, ignoring his thanks. He nodded once more before turning and breaking into a sprint. The back of his shirt that billowed out behind him as he ran had just disappeared around the corner when my brother came running from the opposite direction. I sucked in a breath as he skidded to halt next to me.

'What the hell was that?!' he bellowed, telling me he had indeed seen him before he'd disappeared. His chest heaved out in anger as he glared at me. I couldn't tear my gaze away from the shadow that had swallowed the stranger, even though I felt my brother staring at me.

'I let him go,' I answered as if it were obvious. I wasn't in the mood to deal with his temper after such a strange incident.

'You let him go,' he repeated flatly. 'Why?'

'He had a kid with him,' I replied, finally turning to meet his angry gaze with one of my own. He may have had a short temper, but mine wasn't far behind, and nothing set if off quite like he did.

'So?' he spat.

'So,' I started. 'I didn't think it was necessary to kill a little kid.'

'I didn't see any kid.'

'Yeah well, that's because you were too slow to see him,' I muttered, turning away to walk back to the main part of camp. My body was jerked backward when his hand clamped over my arm, yanking me back to face him once more.

'Ow, get off!' I said angrily, shoving his chest hard enough for him to release me. I shot him a disgusted look and was half tempted to pull my gun on him just to get him to leave me alone.

'Where the hell do you think you're going?' he seethed while continuing to glare down at me.

'I'm going home, my rounds are over,' I said. My tone challenged his and it clearly annoyed him that I didn't back down. When I was younger, I let him boss me around and tell me what to do, but the past few years I'd grown much stronger, harder, and altogether much more resistant to authority.

'I don't think so. You have to report the raid to Celt. And tell him how you let him go,' he growled. I rolled my eyes at him.

'Fine.'

I turned abruptly to stalk away from him and was annoyed when he followed. His feet were loud as they slammed into the dirt with each step.

'I know where it is. You don't need to come with.'

'I do if I want to make sure you tell him the truth,' he replied flatly. I ignored him as I stomped down the path between the makeshift houses. It was completely dark now, and the path we walked down was lit sparingly with lanterns here and there. We walked in stony silence, both of us annoyed with one another while we neared closer and closer to the command building where I knew Celt would be.

Jonah shot me another glare as I raised my hand to knock at the door, more of a formality than anything.

'What?' I grumbled quietly, beyond annoyed of his presence and insistence at being horrible. He didn't say anything and merely shook his head as someone answered from inside the door.

'Come in.'

I turned the handle and threw my shoulder into the door to push it open, the shape of the building making it tend to stick. The only light in the room came from a candle sitting on the desk that was scattered with papers. Celt sat at the desk, his face drawn tight in an expression of concern before his eyes flashed up to meet mine. The shadows threw the fine wrinkles in his skin into sharp relief and seemed to highlight the sparse grey hairs that had started to show, making him appear older than he actually was. A smile pulled at his lips when he saw me.

'Grace! Come on in, have a seat,' he said, gesturing to the chair across from his desk. I gave him a weak smile as I entered and sat down, followed closely by Jonah.

'Jonah, you too, of course,' he added. Jonah ignored the offer and stood next to me with his arms folded across his chest. Celt shot him a disapproving look before turning his gaze back to me.

'To what do I owe this pleasure?' Celt asked. He gathered some of the papers he had been looking at and stacked them neatly in front of him. Jonah scoffed indignantly next to me.

'Yeah, tell him, Grace,' he said tightly.

Celt watched me closely as his expression turned more serious.

'What happened?'

'Um, there was a raid in the kerosene building,' I said, leaving out the most important details.

'And . . .' Jonah said.

'And they got away.'

'And why did they get away?' he said. I turned to glare at him, furious he was trying to make me look like an idiot in front of Celt.

'Because I let them go,' I muttered grudgingly. My jaw was clenched when I spoke.

'Grace, why would you do that?' Celt asked. He rubbed his hand over his temples as if I'd caused him great stress. 'You know we can't let that happen.'

'He had a kid with him!' I said in my defence.

'Yeah and guess what? That kid was on a raid which means it's only a matter of time before he's pointing a gun at you,' Jonah growled from beside me.

'No way. That kid was terrified. I'd be surprised if he ever even left his camp again,' I said, shaking my head.

'Did you find out what camp they were from?' Celt asked. His tone held a hint of disappointment that made me feel like absolute shit.

'No,' I admitted.

'You're so useless,' Jonah spat. 'You're weak.'

'Will you shut up? Just because I'm not a heartless asshole like you doesn't mean I'm weak,' I shot back. I had half a mind to get up and punch him in the jaw.

'Celt, will you do something about this? We can't have her running rounds if she's too afraid to kill anyone,' Jonah said exasperatedly. He threw his hands in my direction as if he couldn't possibly comprehend how I'd managed to let them go.

'You know that isn't the case,' I replied. I'd killed before and he was well aware of that so the fact that he even dared to hurl something like that in my face now infuriated me. I didn't like it, but I did what I had to do to survive.

'Just because it was some guy you wanted to screw—'

'What! No it wasn't—'

'—doesn't mean that's any reason to let him go. You're weak,' he repeated, digging at what he knew would irritate me the most. I hated being called weak just because I was a girl.

'You're such a dick—'

'Stop!' Celt roared suddenly, both of our heads snapping round to face him. I hadn't even been aware of it, but I'd risen to my feet and was now standing face to face with Jonah. I took a step back and blew out a solid breath before forcing myself to sit back down.

'You two need to stop this pointless bickering and get along. How are people supposed to trust you to keep them alive if you're constantly at each other's throats?'

Neither of us said anything as he reprimanded us. Humiliation tinged my cheeks red; I hated disappointing Celt.

'Sorry,' I muttered. Celt's eyes darted to Jonah expectantly.

'Sorry,' he mumbled unconvincingly.

'I thought I raised you two better than that,' Celt said, adding insult to injury. He shook his head slowly before looking back at me. 'And Grace, I appreciate your character but you know the rules. You catch a raider, you kill them. That's it.'

'I know,' I muttered sheepishly.

'So what are you going to do next time you catch someone?' he prodded.

'Kill them,' I said through clenched teeth.

'That's it. I know it's gruesome but that's just how it is. We can't let it get around that we're allowing raiders go free or soon we'll have nothing left,' he said gently.

'Yes, Celt.'

'Come on now, you know I don't like it when you call me that,' he said, a hint of a smile pulling at his lips now. I sighed, rolling my head back before pulling it forward again to meet his gaze.

'Yes, Dad.'