The Last Esper [BL]
Chapter 27: Recognized

Chapter 27: Recognized

Rhys, Caelan, Jae, and Eun-woo said their goodbyes to the rebels at dawn, exchanging brief but sincere hugs. Eun-woo received a silent handshake from Gunnar, and Milo gave him a farewell warning.

"Be careful. Not everyone will treat you as an ally."

To justify their immediate return, Caelan invented an excuse: they had left important supplies in the glass house, along with materials that could be used for the reconstruction. Milo let them go without too many questions, perhaps because he sensed they were hiding something, or perhaps because he knew it was dangerous for Eun-woo to remain in the city.

What they couldn’t tell Milo, at least for the moment, was that they not only had an esper hiding, but also Rong Ye, the illegitimate son of one of the regime’s most influential families.

Telling them about Eun-woo had been difficult enough. Rong Ye... it was a whole new level of risk. And both Caelan and Rhys still didn’t know how to approach it.

The truck roared with effort as it moved through the destroyed streets. Much of the main avenues had disappeared. They were now strips of rubble and craters. They had to take shortcuts through narrow alleys, skirt around collapsed structures, cross makeshift bridges made of planks, and occasionally remove chunks of concrete from the road.

"Didn’t think I’d be back behind the wheel this soon," Caelan said, gritting his teeth as he avoided colliding with a kid who appeared out of nowhere.

"Be careful, I know you want to get back as soon as possible, but keep your eyes on the road," Rhys replied from the passenger seat.

"I know, but Rong Ye is waiting for us."

In the back of the SUV, Eun-woo dozed, leaning on Jae’s shoulder. Jae watched him silently, stroking his hair with a protective expression. Rhys kept checking the rearview mirror to make sure they were alright.

"Stop," Rhys said suddenly.

The truck jerked to a stop.

In front of them, at the end of the avenue, a line of soldiers was deployed. A dozen, maybe more. They were armed to the teeth, rifles slung over their shoulders, their sharp gazes scanning every corner. Some scanned buildings with handheld devices, others pushed open half-ruined doors. Between them, several armored vehicles blocked the exit, forming a wall impossible to bypass. This wasn’t a simple patrol. It was a full-scale search operation.

"Shit," Jae muttered, instinctively reaching for his gun belt.

"Do we turn back?" Caelan asked.

Rhys shook his head, still staring straight ahead.

"There’s no time. If we back out now, we’ll arouse suspicion."

"So... we just drive through?" Jae whispered.

Caelan exchanged a glance with Rhys. The idea wasn’t far-fetched.

They were driving a military pickup truck. They were covered in dust and ash, just like any other squad that had survived a Rift. With their dirty windows and half-erased license plates, they looked exactly what the soldiers expected to see. They also had fake IDs on them.

The only one who didn’t have an ID was Eun-woo.

"Let’s go," Rhys said.

The vehicle moved forward slowly.

The soldiers’ boots pounded the pavement. Shouts rose in the air, sharp orders: "Search that building!", "Clear the area!", "Hurry up!"

The soldiers were too busy. They shouted, pushed civilians against walls, broke locks, and kicked in doors. Some didn’t even look up when the truck drove past them. Others saw them but perhaps thought they were reinforcements.

When they reached the final checkpoint, a row of sandbags divided the street in two. Makeshift towers rose up on either side, assembled with planks, military tarps, and sentries armed with goggles. Two soldiers stood in the center, stopping every military vehicle that passed.

Caelan slowed down further, the engine roaring as if it too was nervous.

"Leave it to me," Caelan said, rolling down the window.

The soldier who approached the truck looked like he’d just graduated from the academy. His face was inexperienced. He didn’t meet their eyes. He just extended his hand authoritatively.

"IDs," he ordered, his voice disinterested, as if he were already fed up with covering that shift.

Caelan forced a smile as he handed over the fake IDs.

"They sent us without warning. Do you know if the northern zone is clear yet? Because..."

"Silence," the soldier interrupted, without looking up.

The soldier took the IDs and ran them through a handheld scanner. A blue light blinked. The system took a few seconds. Too many, according to Rhys. But eventually, the reader emitted a short beep, and the soldier nodded.

"Everything’s fine, you may move forward," he said, reaching out to hand Caelan back his credentials.

Rhys sighed inwardly, relieved.

Caelan already had his foot on the gas, ready to get away as quickly as possible, when another voice rose up behind him:

"Shift change!" someone announced, walking toward the checkpoint.

Rhys recognized that voice even before he saw it fully.

Arthur.

One of Blackwood’s faithful dogs. Rhys and Caelan’s former companion from the barracks. Ambitious, cruel, and always on the lookout for an opportunity to earn a promotion.

The soldier turned around, relieved to give up his post.

"I already checked your credentials, everything seems fine."

"I’ll take another look, just in case," Arthur said with a crooked smile.

He leaned toward the truck window, his eyes ready to detect any trap, but as soon as he saw the faces inside, he froze.

His eyes opened wide.

"No way..."

And then, his expression twisted in triumph.

"It’s them!" he shouted, drawing his weapon with a swift movement. "It’s the fugitives! The traitors of the regime!"

"Caelan, speed up!" Rhys shouted.

The truck roared as Caelan hit the gas, leaping forward like a frenzied horse. The first wall of sandbags exploded in a cloud of dust. One of the soldiers fell sideways, startled. Alarms began to wail as the armored vehicles turned on their lights.

Behind the SUV, bullets rained down like a storm. The windows shattered. Eun-woo and Jae instinctively ducked as glass splattered across the interior of the vehicle. Rhys fired through the open window, his fingers firm on the trigger. The recoil jarred his arm, but he didn’t miss.

"They’re following us!" Jae shouted, hugging Eun-woo.

"I know!" Caelan replied, sharply swerving the wheel to avoid a makeshift barricade. The truck skidded, jumped the curb, and continued moving at full speed.

Rhys shot at the tires of one of the pursuers. He narrowly missed.

The city streets, broken and treacherous, became his advantage. Caelan knew them well. He took alleys barely wider than the vehicle, crossed under collapsed archways, and leaped over a concrete mound that had once been a roundabout.

Caelan turned into a collapsed parking lot, climbed the broken ramps, and found a makeshift exit on the other side. Thanks to this maneuver, they managed to lose their pursuers.

As they left the area behind and the landscape began to fill with trees and nature, the truck stopped. Caelan let go of the steering wheel and slumped against the backrest, sweating.

"Is everyone okay?" he gasped.

"I feel like puking, but I’m okay," Jae muttered, his hands trembling.

Eun-woo nodded wordlessly. His lips were pale, but he was still in one piece.

Rhys lowered his weapon slowly. He looked in the rearview mirror. There were no lights in the distance. Nor the sound of approaching engines.

"We have to find another shelter," he said. The others looked at him, silent. "Arthur recognized us. It’s just a matter of time before Blackwood finds out. Hours, maybe less."

Caelan pounded the steering wheel in frustration. He’d been the one who found the glass house, the one who’d cleaned and repaired it to make it habitable. He’d invested months of work into it, only to have to leave it behind. Rhys understood his frustration.

"So what now? Where do we go?" Jae asked.

Rhys didn’t respond immediately.

He closed his eyes and leaned the back of his head against the seat, trying to breathe deeply. But the air rushing into his lungs wasn’t relaxing him. His head ached. Not from a blow, but from the constant effort not to break down. From making the right decisions.

They couldn’t return to the city. If they did, they would endanger the rebels. Milo. Gunnar. The families hiding in the tunnels of The Burrow. The very heart of the rebellion.

Going to one of the nearby villages wasn’t an option either. If they were found there, the townspeople would suffer the consequences. And Rhys wasn’t going to take any more dead.

There was only one place left.

A corner of the deep forest where few dared to enter. A town with no official name, founded by... a witch. Or at least that’s what they called the woman who led the area.

It wasn’t a place where they would be welcomed with open arms. No one would be happy to learn that he had brought not only an unstable Esper there, but also Rong Ye. But there was no other option.

Rhys opened his eyes slowly.

He first glanced at Caelan, who was watching him with a silent question. Then he looked up at the rearview mirror. He saw Jae, still breathing heavily. And Eun-woo, lying back, his face bathed in sweat, the color barely returning to his cheeks.

"We’re going to the witch’s lair," Rhys said.

The words hung in the air as if no one was sure they’d heard them correctly. Caelan frowned. Jae looked at Rhys from the backseat, somewhere between confused and alert. Even Eun-woo, weak but conscious, blinked with a flicker of bewilderment.

But it was only a moment.

As if something in Rhys’s voice was enough to quell any doubts. One by one, their faces softened. Caelan nodded first. Jae sighed deeply and shifted more comfortably in his seat. Eun-woo, without saying anything, closed his eyes again, as if trusting that everything would be okay if Rhys led the way.

Then the engine roared again.

And the road, shrouded in fog and danger, stretched out before them as if welcoming them with open arms.

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