Thomas lunged for the edge, grabbing Lucy's wrist just as her fingertips began to slide off the slick stone. With a grunt of exertion that made the muscles in his back scream, he hauled her over the lip of the ridge.
"Thanks... I hate climbing... never again... never in my life!" Lucy collapsed onto the grass, her chest heaving as she sucked in the cold mountain air. She lay there like a broken doll, her ruined uniform stained with the black filth of the town.
"Stay here, we're safe for now," Thomas said. He didn't believe it for a second, but he needed her still. He needed a moment to process the impossible intersection of fate he had just walked into.
He had spent weeks dreaming of this mountain, and now he was standing at its feet. But the dream was messy. He was being hunted by a squad of killers, and he was anchored to a partner who would never let him out of her sight.
