Chapter 1308: Story 1308: He Carried Through Fire
Tess could barely walk. Every step sent lightning up her torn leg, and the heat from her fever made the smoke outside feel like fire on her skin. But she wasn’t turning. That, alone, gave her the will to keep moving.
Lara led the group through the darkened alleyways of the city, each corner a possible ambush, each shadow a silent threat. June held the map they’d salvaged from the firehouse wall. Milo was beside Tess, one arm under hers, keeping her upright as they limped through the scorched ruins.
The city had burned. Flas licked from broken windows. Smoke rose in twisted columns against the night sky. Sowhere nearby, a gas station still burned from an explosion earlier in the day. The heat was suffocating.
Milo didn’t leave her side once.
“Co on, Tess,” he whispered. “Just one more block.”
“I can’t… walk,” she gasped.
“Then I’ll carry you,” he said, with a fierce look only younger brothers wore when they swore to be heroes.
And he did.
He picked her up, awkward and trembling, and carried her through the alley like she weighed nothing. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Her tears soaked his hoodie. The fire glowed behind them, reflecting off the shattered glass, painting them in flickers of gold and red.
They reached the underpass just as the ground behind them cracked—one of the infected had spotted their trail, howling with such rage it echoed off the walls like a death bell.
More ca.
Dozens.
They didn’t run. They charged—driven by hunger, by scent, by heat and sound.
Lara shouted, “Move! GO!”
Milo sprinted, still carrying Tess, lungs burning.
Lara swung her axe behind them, buying ti, cutting down the first walker that reached too close. June hurled a flare into the street—an explosion of blinding red light that confused the pack just long enough.
They ducked into a wrecked departnt store, shoved shelves in front of the entrance, and collapsed behind a clothing counter. All of them panting. Bleeding. Alive.
Tess coughed once. “You’re crazy,” she whispered to Milo.
He looked down at her, sweat pouring down his brow. “You saved a hundred tis, Tess. I owed you one.”
She smiled, resting her head against his chest.
Outside, the fire raged.
Inside, four survivors clung to what the world had nearly burned away: love, loyalty, and the unbreakable will to keep moving forward.
Lara looked at them, a flicker of pride in her exhausted eyes.
“You didn’t just carry her,” she said. “You carried all of us through that.”
Milo said nothing. Just held his sister tighter.
They were still breathing.
And sotis, that was enough.
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