“Noble,” Lara said softly. “If seemingly misguided. So he told you we were here, hm?”
“In his defense, it was a safe assumption that there would be,” Thom said, taking a quick sip from his mug. The liquid was as hot as it was fragrant and he nearly burned his tongue. “Nearest sizable city and all that.”
“I assume that Grand Rapids is rubble, then,” Lara said, her expression growing dark for a moment. “Or are you not sure?”
“No, we’re sure it’s mostly rubble,” J.T. said, finally finding his voice again. “Some of our people saw it firsthand.”
Thom swallowed hard, thinking about his wife, about how pale and ragged she’d looked when he’d woken up to see her staring down at him. He’d been more worried about her than he’d been about himself, then.
It felt like forever ago.
Lara seemed to notice his discomfort, her eyes falling on him for a moment before she turned her attention more fully to his companions. “Well, that’s more than we knew for certain, at least. Thank you for that.” Her lips thinned. “The man—your Phelan?—he said that Chicago was in ruins.”
“More than just Chicago,” Seamus said quietly. “The Hunt didn’t pass an intact city anywhere we’ve been since the meteorfall. It’s all rubble, dust and ashes.” His eyes fluttered closed. “Ghosts and memories of what once was and is now lost.”
Lara sighed. “Bloody fantastic, then.”
“We’re on our own except for the alliances we can forge,” Thom said quietly. “Again, that’s why we’re here. To trade, to make friends—you’ll have a place to fall back to if something else happens here.”
“And something does? Would you come to our aid?”
Words stuck in Thom’s throat as he caught the barest flicker, of an older and wiser Lara, a stave in her hands, grim-faced as she calmly dispatched a foe. He could see Davon at her back, Paul beyond him, both older, more rugged.
He sat there, frozen for a moment, unable to give voice to the reassurance he’d planned.
It was Cameron who answered for him, as if the other man knew he suddenly couldn’t. “All you’d have to do is call. We’ll answer. We don’t abandon our friends.”
At that, Lara smiled. “Bold words. Can you back them up?”
Cameron managed a small smile. “Watch us.”
