The Edge of Night

Chapter 2

that his maternal grandparents were dead… For now, Wei Wuxian was all the baby had. If he got himself killed, even strapped safely into his car seat A-Yuan wouldn’t survive.

But if Lan Zhan was trapped inside…

Wei Wuxian swallowed. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, reaching over and unbuckling A-Yuan, taking him back into his arms. At once, A-Yuan grabbed at his jacket, cuddling against him, and Wei Wuxian’s guilt grew – but so did his resolve. He stepped carefully out of the car, shutting and locking the door and then securing a steady grip around the axe. Then, he stepped inside the train station, and almost threw up.

It was utterly covered with blood, and crawling with rats gorging themselves on already devoured corpses. The automatic doors were wedged open with bloodied skeletons, and through them he could see reddened train windows, could see corpses leaning up against the glass, spilling out of the doors. So, so many corpses.

And in that moment Wei Wuxian knew that if Lan Zhan really was still there, he wouldn’t be found among the living.

With a wild sob, Wei Wuxian turned tail and ran back to the car, all but flinging A-Yuan into his car seat and pulling away from the station as quickly as he could.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan’s smart,” he gasped, sobbed, gripping the steering wheel with trembling hands and blinking back his tears. “He’s so smart, he, he’ll’ve got away, he, he – he m-must’ve got away, he-”

If it was A-Yuan that he was trying to convince, he failed. The baby started crying again, and Wei Wuxian was crying too, tears streaming down his cheeks as he sped down the dual carriageway, going nearly twice the speed limit. He almost wished that he would trigger a speed camera, that he would get pulled over. That would mean there was someone there who knew what they were doing.

he couldn’t breathe – he was drowning, drowning in a snowdrift, cold and afraid and alone, encased in white and ice and bitten by cold and –

They were gone.

They were gone.

His Jiejie and his Jiang Cheng, they, they were gone and he – he –

He fell, his shoulder smacking painfully into the hardwood floor, just inches away from the edge of the blood pool, and Wei Wuxian curled his body around A-Yuan, and screamed.

With effort, his eyelids fluttered open. He wasn’t sure where he was, why it was dark. Who was crying. Whoever it was had to be heartbroken to make such a sound. Cradled against him, a little hand smacked into his chest.

A-Yuan.

Wei Wuxian breathed in sharply, his eyes widening as memory flooded back to him. He was still on the floor, still curled around A-Yuan, but night had fallen outside now. The iron stench of blood was all around him, churning his stomach, but for a moment all he could do was lie there.

Jiejie. Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan.

He did not want to move. He wanted to lie there until he died, until he bled into the floor to join his siblings, but he couldn’t. Because in his arms, there was a baby, a baby who was alive and crying and just as alone as Wei Wuxian was. Trembling, Wei Wuxian got to his feet, adjusting his grip on A-Yuan.

“Hey,” he whispered, and his voice was gravelly and painful. He wondered how long he had screamed for, before he passed out. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

A-Yuan still cried pitifully, and Wei Wuxian swallowed. He probably needed changing. He was probably hungry, and thirsty. God only knew how long Wei Wuxian had been lying on the floor.