Page 62 of Scarred Sunrise

Pain radiatedthrough him as he watched the scene unfold. Shoulder to shoulder with Jace and Daniel, it was if all the grief and terror they were feeling was magnified until he could hardly breathe from it.

In his mind he saw every encounter they’d ever shared running like a movie, then it stopped and every hope he’d ever had for them formed like a dream he’d never see become a reality. A family, a life, growing old together and seeing their kids fall in love, becoming grandparents, sitting in a place they’d made a home, and just being together. Making love to her and tasting her skin, hearing the noises she made when he made her climax. All of it was a running reel of film in his head.

The air began to crackle as the invisible dome rippled around them.

“I can’t stand this.” Daniel began to move, but Smithy pulled him back.

“Think of the girls. They need you.”

He held Daniel’s arm and felt the way his body shook before he wrenched his arm away and turned back to the scene. Smithy laid his hand on Jace’s shoulder, the new father silent, his eyes locked on his wife.

Just then, the ground began to shake, and white light exploded around them. He fell forward, his knees and palms hitting the gravel as his legs gave way from the force of the blast and the emotion pouring through him. Smoke and dust hid his view as he tried to stand and staggered. His ears ringing from the explosion, he could only make out a muffled sound.

Then it began to clear, and Jace started to run. He followed the direction and his heart almost stopped as he saw all three women crumpled on the ground, lifeless and unmoving.

“Nooooo.” His roar of pain and denial feral as it tore from the heart of him. His legs pumping, he ran. Skidding to his knees beside Liz, he gathered her still form into his body. Smithy held her tight, rocking her as he kissed her face, tears running unchecked down his face.

“Liz, come on, please wake up. You can’t leave me. We have a life to live.” His words fell on deaf ears, and he looked up to see his friends and family were coming from the house, Doc Turner leading the charge.

Dane looked completely wrecked as he ran to his sisters and fell to his knees in the middle of them, the sound that tore from him almost animal in its pain.

Smithy kissed Lizzie’s face over and over, the salt from the tears he cried sticking to her skin.

“Please, baby, wake up. Just wake up and show me those beautiful brown eyes.”

He thought he’d known hell, but he hadn’t, not until this moment.