CHAPTER 42: 42-THEY LIED.

Haiden:

We sat on a large fallen tree trunk, our legs hanging down. Where her legs were in the air, while mine stretched out because I was tall. I placed my hands on the trunk beside my body and stared into the distance.

"Let’s just say I think pregnant women aren’t treated well under our ruling," I said, trying to be vague.

"Anyway, you need to rest, because in the next few days, I’m pretty sure someone will slay the monster. And if not, we’ll still board the train. I’m taking you back there because I’m not going to let you come back here again. They should have thought this through. They can’t force a pregnant woman onto a train to fight monsters. We’re not criminals being punished. We are their people. We are their crusaders," I hissed, pointing into the distance.

She gave me a reassuring look before getting up and heading into her nest. She joked that she felt like a bird sitting on her eggs.

The day passed slowly. Then finally, it was the day we were supposed to return to the train. We hadn’t heard from anyone else, hadn’t come across any other crusaders. So I knew I had done the right thing by following her and keeping her safe. By now, we had run into quite a few wild wolves, and they had tried to attack her more than once. I guessed we had ended up in a region where they were more abundant.

But that morning, I woke up to complete silence.

Usually, she’d be awake, humming while watching the birds in the trees. I walked to her nest and stood outside, impatient.

"Sadie, are you okay?" I called.

"Sadie!" I repeated, getting more anxious.

There was no response. I had to go in and check. The minute I stepped inside, I froze, she was gone.

"Sadie!" I screamed, stepping out, spinning around, searching. "Sadie!" I yelled as loud as I could.

She was just gone. It didn’t make sense. Every day, she woke me up, and we spent the whole day together. But now, she was nowhere to be found, and I was losing my mind.

"Can you track her scent?" I asked my wolf, panicking.

"No. She’s not our mate. I can’t," he nearly screamed back at me. He sounded panicked too. We had become so connected with her.

"Listen, we need to find her. She’s pregnant. She can’t be far. What the hell happened to her?" I said, trembling.

Then the worst thing happened. I turned, and saw my squad mates rushing toward me.

And there she was. That face I hated so much. The one that made me want to punch myself the moment she came near me. Clementine stopped when she saw how hostile I looked, but the others kept going.

"We need to go," Ian said, his tone urgent.

"No. I’m staying. I have to find her," I said, pointing at the spot.

"Are you crazy or what?" Troy shouted, clearly panicked, probably because the train was getting ready to leave.

"She was here. She was here when I fell asleep. But now she’s gone," I said, pointing at her nest.

I saw Clementine tilt her head, stare at the nest, then glance around the little space we had made into a home over the past few days.

"Where did she go?" she asked.

I clenched my jaw and gave her a look, a warning to stay out of it.

"She was here," I told Yorick.

"But she’s not. She’s gone. Probably ran away. We don’t know," Yorick said, trying to explain. "But we need to go. We have to go back. We can’t stay here," he added, grabbing my arm.

"No. I’m not leaving without her," I protested, pushing them away.

That’s when Ian stepped forward and pointed at me.

"Is this the pregnant girl you are talking about?" he asked and immediately nodded.

"I saw her board the train," he said, pointing toward it. And my body began to relax.

"What? You found her there?" I asked, confused as to why she would leave me behind and board the train alone.

"Yeah, she was probably scared, so she left without you. Or maybe she tried to wake you, and you didn’t respond or something," Ian explained.

Although it hurt, I was suddenly just so glad that she was safe.

"Now let’s go check it out," Troy said, gesturing for me with his fingers.

I gave them a nod and started to sprint so I could go and check on her. I wouldn’t ask her why she left without me. It didn’t matter. She was pregnant. She needed to save herself before anyone else.

Now, we were rushing back to the train station. We could see the train starting to move in the distance.

"Everybody, give it your best and make it to the train! This might be our chance, otherwise, we’ll have to wait another full week!" Yorick screamed as he sped up.

So we all did the same.

Of course, that fucking bitch was faster than us, so she was ahead. As the train started moving, she got in first. Then Yorick stepped in. Then I entered the train, with Troy and Ian behind me.

Once we were all inside, we began huffing and puffing. The other squadmates had already shut the glass doors to their coaches. I tried looking through the window to spot Sadie, but the red squad had already moved ahead, and the white squad was in their place this time.

"Come on, she’s fine. Just sit down, damn it," Troy hissed, rolling his eyes.

After a few minutes, I finally sat down, defeated. Still, something didn’t sit right with me. Why would she leave like that?

I looked up at Ian, who was sitting by the window and watching me. His eyes were always so unreadable, the way he’d tilt his head down, yet still hold something sharp in his gaze.

"Ian, did you see her board the train?" I asked, my chest tightening, heat rising in my body.

"Answer me," I said in a low, gruff voice.

"Does it matter?" he replied. "It’s not like you would’ve been able to find her. If she left on her own, she left on her own. My job was only to bring my crusader."

The moment he said that, every head turned toward him. And I realized he had fucking lied to me.