Chapter 17
Only in the dream there was no wind and no light. Instead, thick, cloying darkness tumbled down from the Crack like blood from a wound. It crept over the gasping, terrified men like something alive, stealing what little breath remained to them. Aiden could hear the soldiers around him crying out, gasping for air, and dying. But he couldn’t see anything at all. He was already half-blinded from the chlorine, and now trapped in black so complete it obliterated everything. The darkness clung to him, seeping into his nose and mouth like water, drowning him with the others. It was horribly cold.
“This is how it should have happened,” Tanner said, like he’d always been there.
Aiden snapped his head toward the voice. The only light in the endless darkness was the sapphire glow of Tanner’s eyes.
“Tanner?”