new era? [v]
CHAPTER 3(v)
Jane's POV – Present
The streets look cleaner than they should.
Not from order. From emptiness.
A haunting kind of tidy.
Our group's footsteps echo too loud in the morning air, bodies tighter now, heads down. Scarlett leads us, her arm still looped through the strap of a busted chair leg. Luke's walking beside her, jaw locked but eyes softer. Blair and Jonah stay close, speaking in low murmurs. The other four—two women and two men—trail behind, not exactly with us, but not ready to be alone either.
I glance at them. They keep touching their weapons like reassurance. I get it. So do I.
No one really knows what to say since we left the office behind.
The fight. The screaming. The silence afterward.
"Think they'll actually protect us?" Jonah's voice cuts in. Nervous, a little too fast. "The government, I mean. Those hotel zones or whatever."
"They said there's supplies. Doctors. Clean water," Blair answers.
She's the calmest of the bunch, but her knuckles are white around the crowbar she hasn't let go of since yesterday.
"You believe them?" someone behind us asks. One of the quiet four.
Silence again. Until Luke speaks.
"We're not walking because we believe. We're walking because staying meant dying slower."
That seems to settle things—for now.
Scarlett pauses at the street corner. Checks both directions. We all wait like ghosts.
Then someone behind us mutters, "Should we try talking to him? Grey, I mean. He hasn't said anything all morning."
Eyes drift to him.
He walks like a shadow. Always a step apart. Silent, steady. Something about him makes you forget he's there until you feel him watching.
Scarlett looks like she's going to say something, but Grey turns his head slightly.
Just enough.
And something changes.
Grey's POV – Flashback
We were sixteen when it happened.
The accident crushed more than just Eva's ribs. Her mom never spoke properly again—just babbled in half-words and stared through windows.
We visited the hospital after school. Me, Luke, Eva.
Luke cried. I didn't.
Eva didn't either.
When we left, she sat on the curb, arms wrapped around her knees.
"They gave her something," she whispered. "Said it would help."
It didn't.
Weeks passed. Then Eva changed.
She'd stare at trees and say they were listening.
She'd scribble notes about people's skin not matching their hearts.
One day, she told me: "They're not all from here. Not like we think."
Luke laughed it off. I didn't.
Something behind her eyes was... cracked.
But sharp.
Present <<
Grey blinks once.
And keeps walking.
Jane's POV – Present
I feel it.
Something shifted in him. Just for a second.
Maybe no one else noticed, but I did. That flicker. Like a storm tried to show itself through his eyes.
Then it's gone again.
We keep walking.
I step closer to Luke. My arm brushes his. He doesn't flinch.
"You okay?" I ask.
He nods. Then glances at me. "You?"
"I kicked a guy in the ribs last night. Felt... weirdly good."
That earns the smallest smirk from him.
Scarlett glances over her shoulder. "Let's not make a habit of it."
Blair and Jonah snicker.
One of the four strangers—tall, lanky guy with a burn scar on his jaw—chimes in. "We were headed east before we found that station. Thought about going back but... you guys handled yourselves."
It's a weird compliment.
Jonah adds, "Yeah. That girl with the blade? She's got issues, but she's kinda cool."
Scarlett doesn't react. But I swear the corner of her mouth twitches.
The air lightens—just slightly.
We don't talk about the ones we left behind.
Or the ones we killed.
We just keep moving.