AARON The long object swung toward my head. Instinct took over. My body dropped fast, hands coming up to shield my skull. A heavy pulse ripped through the air and the house as the object smashed into the doorframe instead of me. The impact shook the walls. “Holy crap!” The bat slipped from my hands and hit the floor, clattering across the large offset tiles of the entryway. “Aaron?” “Elena?” My voice echoed in the dark as I tried to see her. The Lockwood Residence was swallowed by pitch black, the same blackout that had taken down the entire community. No answer came. Instead, she ran straight into me. Her arms locked around my torso, her head pressing hard into my chest. Her whole body was shaking. “What took you so long?” My hands came up to her face. In the darkness, sight meant nothing, but touch told me everything. Her cheeks were wet. She had been crying, maybe for a long time. “It’s chaos out there. I had to walk from Tysons Corner. Are you both okay?” She pulled back and shook her head. “Lucas is upstairs on his tablet. What is happening, Aaron? What did you see?” Stepping inside, the door was closed behind me. Care was taken not to trip over the bat on the floor, now clear to me as Elena’s softball bat. Fear still hung thick in the air. Panic would not help her, but lying would break us later. Something this massive could not stay hidden. “The Capitol was attacked.” Her breath hitched. I could hear it even without seeing her face. “Who did it?” The kitchen was reached by memory. “I don’t know for sure. I think it was militia groups.” The truth stayed partial. The rest stayed buried. Hands brushed past the island with its cold quartz top. The refrigerator loomed closer than expected. The door flew open harder than needed. Bottles and jars rattled loudly as the shelves shuddered. Footsteps followed me. Elena was right behind, her shoes giving her away while I searched by touch alone. “What are we going to do?” Frustration pushed up fast. “Where are the water bottles?” “Tap water,” she said. “They’re all in the car. I put them there in case we had to leave fast.” My mind raced. Distance was measured between the sink, the Vehicle Bay, and my own exhaustion. A glass was grabbed from the cabinet and shoved under the faucet. “Why would you do that?” Her voice snapped back. “Why wouldn’t I? I sat here watching our son while wondering if you were dead.” The water kept running, but the thirst vanished. Guilt replaced it. “I’m sorry.” The words felt small, but they were all I had. Saying sorry for making someone fear your death was new to me. “Why didn’t you call?” she asked. Water spilled over my hand before the faucet was shut off. The glass landed on the island with a sharp crack that echoed through the dark first floor. Her hands were taken in mine. Slow. Careful. “I couldn’t. Not at first.” Then everything changed. Power surged back without warning. Every light snapped on at once. The refrigerator screen flickered through its reboot. My phone vibrated in my pocket as it began to charge. Elena froze. Her grip loosened as her eyes adjusted. She really saw me.Bruises spread across my face and neck. Marks from the fight on the train where survival had come down to seconds. Her gaze dropped to my shirt, still stained with Senator Fernandez’s blood. Then to my hands, wrapped and soaked. Blood from the man I killed mixed with the blood of my mentor, my closest friend. She did not know the story. She could not know it yet. Still, something shifted in her expression. Guilt and fear rushed in all at once. “Oh my god, Aaron. Is this your…” The words failed her. My head shook slowly. “It’s Lisa’s.” Her hands rose to my face just as the dam inside me broke. Tears poured freely. My legs gave out and the floor caught me, back against the island. She followed me down. “I held her while she died,” I said. The words burst out before I could stop them. She pulled me in, my head pressed to her chest. “She looked at me the whole time,” I said. “She tried to say something, but she couldn’t.” Elena’s arms tightened. “I’m so sorry, baby.” “I had to…” The rest waited, heavy and terrifying. Fear told me she would never look at me the same again. Truth told me silence would rot my soul. This was my wife. The woman I would walk eternity with. Hiding this would destroy us. “I killed a man.” Her breathing stopped. Silence filled the room. Thick. Crushing. I pulled back slowly and turned to face her. Her eyes were red. Tears streaked her cheeks. “Please. Say something.” She wiped her face. Her eyes closed as she looked upward, not at the ceiling but beyond it. Lips moved without sound. A quiet prayer, maybe. When she spoke, she did not look at me. “Was it the only way to get back to Lucas and me?”“There was no choice.” “How did it happen?” The story came out in pieces. “Marianne and I made it to the metro. We were trying to leave the city. At Tysons, the train stopped. Armed men boarded and forced everyone off.” The words slowed. My focus drifted. The room faded as memory pulled me back, my mind still struggling to hold everything that had happened together.