Hard to Love EP: 3

Smoke curled into the dusky sky above the trees. The sharp scent of burning metal stung my nose as I lay slumped against the shattered car door, blood warm and sticky down my side. My ears rang from the gunfire, the ambush. My people... all gone. My vision blurred. The pain was unbearable, but it wasn’t what scared me. It was the cold settling in my limbs—the kind that whispered an ending. Is this how it ends? I thought, letting my heavy eyelids fall. But then—I heard a sound A car? The sound grew louder. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking against the smoke. A black car came into view, fast, purposeful—then stopped right in front of my wrecked vehicle. For a second, nothing happened. Just the humming of the engine. Then, the driver’s side window slowly slid down. My blurred vision caught a face—young, striking, her sharp eyes locked onto mine like a calculated flame. Not fear, not pity. Just intensity. "Get in," she said. Her voice was calm. Steady. Like she’d done this before. I hesitated. Who was she? Enemy? Ally? My muscles screamed in protest as I tried to move, but the truth was brutal—I had no strength left to fight, no people left to save me, and no better option than the girl with the mysterious eyes. I guess....,” I whispered, barely audible. I dragged myself toward her car, one breath at a time, and climbed in—into the unknown, leaving behind.

I groaned as the car rolled to a sudden stop .My vision was clouded, head heavy from blood loss and exhaustion. I barely registered the girl as she pulled open the passenger door and knelt beside me. “Stay with me,” she said firmly, her voice low but commanding. With quick hands, she pulled a small first-aid kit from the glovebox. Her fingers moved fast, but carefully—pressing gauze against my wounds, cleaning the blood from my face, wrapping a cloth tightly around my shoulder. Her touch was steady, but her eyes held a storm. Sharp, unreadable. I tried to speak, but she shook her head. “You’ll live. But you need to get to a hospital.” She helped me sit up, her strength surprising for someone so young. Once I was steady, she turned the car around and drove—fast, smooth, silent. The tension in the car was thick, but she didn’t ask questions. She didn’t speak at all. As they neared a small roadside clinic, she pulled over. “We’re here,” she said, then reached across and opened my door. “You’ll go from here.” I looked at her, puzzled. “You’re not coming?” She met my gaze. “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t help anyone. You understand?” There was a pause. Then I nodded—I understood all too well. “I’ve already called my people,” I muttered. “They’ll be here soon.” She gave a short nod. “Good.” Without waiting for a thank you, she closed the door behind me, turned the car around, and vanished down the road—just as quickly and quietly as she had come. I watched her disappear. Who was she? I didn't know. But she had just saved my life.

The girl with sharp eyes and steady hands. She had appeared out of nowhere, like a ghost that refused to explain its purpose—offering help but no answers. No name. No reason. Just saved my life, gave me just enough strength to survive, then left like she was never there at all. I sat on the clinic steps, breathing shallowly, blood still drying under my shirt, but my mind was somewhere else. Who was she? Her face wouldn’t leave my thoughts—those eyes, full of something I couldn’t name. Not kindness exactly… not coldness either. Something between them. Like she had seen too much for someone her age. Why did she help me? I wondered. What did she have to lose by staying? What was she running from? She said she didn’t want to be involved. But people like her—people who can move like that, talk like that, act under pressure—don’t just randomly appear in the middle of nowhere. There was a story behind her silence. A reason behind her skill. And now, it was clawing at my mind like a whisper I couldn’t unhear. I tried to brush the thoughts away as my men arrived, rushing to help me. But even as I was lifted onto a stretcher and driven to safety, one truth stayed with me: She saved me… but left behind a mystery far deeper than the forest I was attacked in. And now—I couldn’t stop being curious. Not until I found out who she was.

ML's Grandpa POV -