Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

Joy

"Hey!" Brielle barged into the clinic.

They had arrived at The Caves a few hours ago. Axel had just finished examining Hadley and her baby and was telling her how they were both perfectly fine – maybe even a little bit more than perfect. Not only had her vampire dog wound completely and flawlessly healed, every single one of Hadley's and her baby's medical stats was the ideal. He'd just asked if she wanted him to print the baby's ultrasound when the door flew open.

"Hi Brielle," Axel said, a little peeved. "I'm with a patient."

Brielle ignored him.

"I found her!" Brielle announced proudly, flashing a smug smile at Hadley.

"What are you going on about?" Axel sighed, setting his crutch to the side as he worked on the ultrasound printer. Now that they were at The Caves, he could have used his high-tech exoskeleton, but he was still using the crutch that Hadley had whittled for him in the last three days as they'd been walking to The Caves after saying goodbye to Gram Lee. It was an ornate work of art and the first piece of wood she'd carved using Gram Lee's carving knife set. Her best work in years.

Again, Brielle ignored Axel and kept her focus on Hadley.

"Remember telling me about your girl? Jamila? I found her! She wasn't taken by the Scavengers! She arrived at The Caves a few weeks ago with Kade's tribe. He's... a close friend and just told me about their trip here and it included her. Her and your vampire girlfriend, Ruq? You didn't tell me she was a vampire! We're going to have to talk about her later! But for now... Jamila! I know where she is! Let's go!" Brielle said heading out.

Hadley' body short circuited, every part of her going numb and dark at Brielle's words.

'She arrived at The Caves a few weeks ago...'

Jamila was alive?

Hadley had been grieving Jamila's death for what felt like forever. But after saying goodbye to Gram Lee, Hadley's view of death had greatly shifted and she'd been able to say goodbye to everyone else she'd lost along the way – every woman killed by the vampire dogs that ravaged her Compound, especially Aunt Zee and her mother; the mothers, daughters and Progenies who'd died by Trisca's hand; Mrs. Smith; all the girls from her cohort, Crystal, Billy, Jael; and finally, Jamila and Ruqwik, whose deaths had taken with them parts of her heart. In the end, Hadley's overwhelming emotions had settled into a peaceful lull from accepting that grief wouldn't ever leave her, that it was something she would never get over, but time would soften its edges as she learnt to live with it.

This realisation was the Gram Lee's final gift, and it was more than Hadley could have ever hoped for. But it was also the reason why she didn't know how to feel at Brielle's news, her mind shattering as her already tenuous grip on hope and life and the future loosened even more.

It was a battle between tremendous relief and the powerful feeling of being cheated off her grief.

At the edge of spiralling into a hopeless, helpless mental crash, Hadley leaned into the relief. It was only then that she realised she'd been holding her breath, a lungful of air slamming hard against her chest! It was the sweetest deep breath she'd ever taken!

Jamila was alive!

This new reality washed over Hadley again, but this time it was accompanied by every thought she'd had about Jamila from the moment she'd woken up in that underground clinic with her emotions intact, especially during all the beautiful moments with Drew and Brownie when she wished more than anything she could have been able to share that with Jamila.

Brielle called to Hadley again, breaking through her stupor, and pointed at the door before offering Hadley her hand. "Are you coming, or not?"

"Why are we still even talking about this?!" Hadley said, slapping her palm into Brielle's hand and holding on for dear life. Brielle's giddy cheer was contagious, and they were soon laughing hysterically, leaving Axel gasping in mock outrage as they raced out of the clinic.