Free The White Renegade (Viral Airwaves) by Claudie Arseneault

than in their lap, then turned towards Iswood. He’d cried over a twisted tree, but couldn’t do the same for his family. He tried to discard the thought, but it clung to him. He could shoot a man and watch the life vanish from his eyes, but he couldn’t cry for the people he’d loved. A long shudder ran up his spine, and he moved a hand through his hair. His fingers broke through caked dirt and blood, and he grimaced.
    “How bad do I look?” he asked.
    “Like you just crawled out of a grave.”
    Seraphin’s breath caught in his throat. Alex didn’t know. They couldn’t. And the absurdity of their answer, after Seraphin had spent at least two hours half-buried under a corpse—a body who most certainly belonged to someone he’d known all his life—made him snap again. He laughed. An uncontrollable and shaky laugh that earned him an unsettled stare from Alex. Seraphin put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, waiting until he could talk to explain at least a little.
    “I did, actually.” That didn’t reassure Alex at all. Their eyes widened in horror, and Seraphin had to raise a hand to stop them from replying. “It’s … okay. I think. The mass grave was my only choice. I prefer not to think about it.”
    Alex agreed with a nod. Their lips were pinched in disgust, but they didn’t push the topic. Instead they rose and returned to sit on the trunk, where Seraphin soon joined them. The silence stretched between them, heavy. Seraphin had no desire to talk about the last twenty-four hours, and he couldn’t muster the strength to find a proper topic of conversation. The truth was he should be on his way. The soldiers would extend their search for him. They might even notice Alex wasn’t around town.
    “You ought to go back,” he said. “Someone is bound to tell them about you.”
    “That we’re friends, and I’m mysteriously not in the village the day you escaped?” Alex shrugged. “I’m not sure they’ll do anything like that. Everybody looked up to your dad. The day they’ll betray his only son—after he avenged his whole family, too—hasn’t yet come. These people … well, they aren’t always the most welcoming, but I don’t expect them to sell one of their own to the Union army.”
    Seraphin closed his eyes at ‘one of their own.’ Did he count? Half the time they treated him as an outsider. He’d joined the army, stood by as they burned the Wet Lizard . Alex had a point, however. He was the last Holt alive and he’d taken down the very general behind this massacre. The townsfolk wouldn’t be so quick to answer the soldiers’ questions.
    “Still,” he said. “Don’t take unnecessary risks.”
    “That’s rich, coming from you!”
    “I’m sorry, but everything I did was very necessary.”
    Alex pushed his shoulder a little as a protest, but they didn’t deny it. “Either way, I’m not going anywhere until you’ve slept some. You don’t just look like you crawled out of a grave, Seraph, you look like you still belong there. Lie down next to your tree, catch some rest, and when you’re in better shape I’ll tell you where I hid your supplies.”
    “Hid?”
    “You heard me.” Alex grinned. “You’re not getting any of it until you’ve slept.”
    Seraphin considered a formal protest against this blackmail, but Alex was right. Now that he was sitting, he wouldn’t be able to take another step. He let his palms caress the fallen tree, then nodded.
    “Okay. Two hours, no more. You’ll get back to Iswood at nightfall, and I’ll have enough strength to get me to the closest stream. At this point, the one thing I’m worried about is dogs. They could use my spare uniforms to get them on my track.”
    Alex gave him a weird look, then snorted. “If anyone’s gonna follow a scent, it’ll be burnt flesh and death. You stink.”
    Seraphin sniffed. He’d been so numb to everything for hours, he wasn’t surprised not to have noticed. He just shrugged. “More reasons to get to