colours of viridian | BOOK ONE | J a d e d ✔️

B i t t e r s w e e t

"I'll kill you before you ever hurt her again." I spoke lowly, walking over to the door and opening it. "Call off your dogs." I spat as the xV's stood at the door like a blockade.

A large part of me hoped my assumption was wrong; that Miguel couldn't control the infected. If this was all of his doing over revenge on what he assumed was a mere human, who knew what else he had waiting for my family. He would destroy the world if it meant our destruction and with an army like this, he could do it in the blink of an eye.

"Let the girl pass!" Miguel barked the order with a ring of authority that sent the xV's moving to the sides like rows of ugly-ass demented soldiers.

We were goddamn doomed.

"No," Kenna spoke up in a whisper, tearing herself from me as she stumbled backwards, away from her freedom.

"Kenna-"

"Shut up!" She screamed as her bloodshot eyes filled with tears and her head shook frantically -her hair whipping around her face from the sharp movements. "I won't leave you. I'm not losing anybody else."

We didn't have time to argue. I didn't have time to persuade her into doing the right thing. With the state Miguel's mind was in, he could have changed his decision to let Kenna go at any moment. I wouldn't let her die for me no matter what it took.

Grabbing her, I threw her over my shoulder within the blink of an eye as I ran to the edge of the town beside a parking lot. She thrashed in my arms as I placed her on her feet.

"Don't do this to me," her fingers clutched at the material on my chest as her eyes peered into mine desperately. "Don't go back and fight him. Don't leave me. I was wrong to run: I need you." Her voice was a whimper as her body shook with anxiety.

"No, Kenna," I said coldly, pulling her hand off of my chest. "You don't. You don't need anybody." My hands cupped her tear streaked face, "God, Kenna, I'm so sorry. I would give everything I have to bring back what you have lost these past months." My eyes drank in her dark green eyes and freckled rosy cheeks and button nose, "But all I can do is leave you alone. It's my fault for everything --can't you see that? It's my selfish choices that have brought you to this point."

It was finally so f*cking clear. It was me. And there was nothing I could ever do to make this up to her. Her world was slaughtered mercilessly because of me. Everything she ever knew was now up in flames. All because of me. Everything she had lost could all lead back to some selfish choice I made for her. If I had just let her go it would have never have come to this.

Her bottom lip trembled as she looked back at me, "You're wrong." She mumbled unconvincingly as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Softly wiping it away with my thumb, I shook my head. "I wish I was. I wish that all I ever brought you was the feeling of peace and safety and being loved, Kenna." My jaw clenched as my eyebrows pinched together painfully, "But it's not. I bring you pain and regret and endless darkness and death." My fingers dropped from her face as I closed my eyes. "I won't do it anymore. I can't. You've lost everything because of me."

A thick silence filled the air as she thought over my words, letting them sink in as I finally laid the truth out flat and confessed to it all. There was no avoiding it or excusing it this time.

"You need to run from here." I spoke, breaking the silence as I opened my eyes. "Find a car and just go. Leave it all behind you and never look back." I once again held her face, gazing into her guarded eyes sternly. "Saffron will find a way to get to you. You won't be alone for long, I promise. She'll bring you back to your people and you'll be okay, okay?"