CHAPTER 56: THE DECISION

"The longer he breathes, the more blood will flow. Every day we wait, more survivors die. We need to decide, are we going to leave Pike alive, or are we going to finish him before it’s too late?"

Reid’s question lingered in the air unanswered.

The cellar was silent but for the crackle of fire and the Hollow Plains wind sighing through broken beams. Reid’s words lingered in the air, heavy, cutting, impossible to ignore.

Jonas sat forward, arms wrapped across his knees, jaw tight. Kara’s spear rested across her lap, her fingers drumming against the haft.

Holt leaned against the wall, his expression unreadable, though his eyes flicked between them with sharp calculation.

Travis hunched by the fire, stirring embers with the end of a spoon, his smirk gone. Mira sat still, her quiet presence more felt than seen, wind tugging gently at the loose strands of her hair.

As for Ethan, he stood at the doorway, watching the plains in shadow. The Wheel pulsed faintly behind his eyes, its golden glow whispering at the edges of thought.

Finally, he turned.

He met Reid’s gaze, then swept his eyes across the others. "You’re right".

He took a deep breath as if finally accepting what he was about to say. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and hesitation left them, replaced by a brutal straightforwardness that left no room for doubt.

"Pike won’t stop," he said. "He’s already proved what he is. He didn’t come for us because we were a threat, he came for us because killing Awakened makes him stronger."

His hand tightened unconsciously, the memory of his gauntlet cracking through Pike’s men burning in his veins.

"If the apocalypse has taught me anything, it’s this... hesitation gets people killed. Decisiveness is the only way forward". He stared into the eyes of all his companions, letting his words settle in their head.

Then he drew a breath, his voice steady and certain.

"It’s either Pike... or the innocent and desperate lives out there who also want to get to the quarantine zone".

The words fell like a blade cutting the silence in two.

Then he added. "Besides," he smirked. "I still can’t get over the memory of Jonas dying. The helplessness that I felt in that moment".

He ruffled his hair. "God knows I don’t want to feel that way ever again. And for the man that made me feel that way to still be alive and kicking, about to do the same to others just like me, my good conscience won’t let me sleep well at night".

"Pike has to die". He finally said in a tone of finality.

Jonas’s lips curled into a sharp grin despite the bruises across his face. "Finally! That’s what I’ve been saying. We should’ve put him in the dirt when we had the chance, now we fix that."

Kara nodded once, sharp and final. "Then we go back and end him, clean and efficient. This time, we’ll have the initiative".

Holt’s eyes narrowed, thoughtful. "If we do this, it has to be more than revenge. We need to plan it carefully. Pike won’t underestimate us twice, and from the way he thinks, I think he’ll be expecting a counterstrike."

Reid inclined his head, a grim approval in his expression. "Then we give him more than he expects...," his eyes turned cold and full of ruthless killing intent. "We’ll give him hell".

That... concluded the decision.

And with the decision concluded, they quickly went on to the planning part.

They spread what little they had across the cellar floor. Holt sketched rough diagrams in the dirt with a shard of broken wood. Ethan crouched with him, the Wheel pulsing faintly as ideas clicked together in his head.

"We know Pike’s habits," Reid said. "He’s disciplined but predictable. He’ll regroup, find defensible ground, and draw survivors into a choke point. That is what we’ll use against him."

"Ambush for ambush," Kara muttered, eyes gleaming.

"Exactly." Reid’s gaze swept across them. "We set the trap and hit him right where he feels the most secure."

Ethan pointed at Holt’s sketch, specifically at a burned-out industrial yard north of the bridge ruins. "Here. There are wide lanes for his rifles, but also debris that we can use for cover".

"Mira can use the wind to mask our movement while Holt anchors our fire. With Jonas and Kara taking the flanks, we’ll have the advantage. Travis stays back with Reid for support and healing".

Travis lifted his hands, spoon still dangling. "So I’m bait and Band-Aids. Great, got it," he gave a thumps up. "Love that for me."

Jonas snorted. "It’s much better than being dead."

"Debatable," Travis muttered, but the grin tugging at his lips said otherwise.

Ever since he Awakened, he began oozing with newfound confidence, and it was a welcome chance for the rest of the group.

Mira’s voice finally came, soft but sure. "The wind can carry sound," she said. "And I can throw Pike’s aim off. His instinct may tell him where we are, but if he can’t hear or see us right, it’ll break his rhythm."

Ethan nodded. "Perfect. And when the moment comes..." He clenched his fist, the gauntlet sparking faintly into existence before dissolving again. "...we finish the business that he started".

"We finish him".

With Holt repeatedly warning about complacency, they refined the plan deep into the night, every detail sharpened from escape routes to fallback signals, including how to separate Pike from his surviving men, and how to strike in unison.

For once, it wasn’t just survival, neither was it chaos.

For once, it was a plan.

When the fire burned to embers, Ethan stood, brushing dirt from his hands. His gaze met each of theirs in turn. "Tomorrow, we stop running from Pike".

"Tomorrow, we end him."

The cellar fell silent again, but this time it wasn’t the heavy silence of fear. Rather, it was the sharp quiet of resolve.

The Tyrant had lived long enough.

Now, they would become his hunters.