Croft's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

The group filed back into the main lobby of the ruined tower. Reggie's men dropped their packs and got to work. Someone stacked broken wood in a corner and struck a spark. A small fire caught and grew. Croft sat close to it with his father. Trin settled a few feet off, watching the strangers, her back to the wall. The heat felt good after days of cold. Croft studied the man across the fire. His father was here, alive. But one question sat heavy in Croft's chest. "Where's Mom?" he asked. "Where's Ellie?" Reggie's face changed. He looked into the flames. "We got split a month back," he said. "A bad night. Men came through where we were camped. We ran different ways." He rubbed his gloved hands together. "I never found them again." Croft's stomach dropped. "So where are they now?" "I don't know." Reggie met his eyes. "That's the truth of it. I've got no idea where they went." "Then why aren't you looking?" Croft's voice rose. Trin glanced over. "You just sat here?" "I've been at the edge of the city for weeks," Reggie said. "Praying. You want the honest reason I stayed put?" He pulled off a glove. From his shirt pocket he drew a small photo book with a bright blue cover. He opened it. The pages held tiny printed pictures, worn soft at the corners. He turned it toward Croft. "I kept telling myself you'd come through here. Your mother and sister still had each other. You were out there alone. So I waited at the gate for you." Croft took the little book. He saw his own face in one photo, younger, standing between his mother and Ellie. His throat tightened. His father had chosen to wait for him over hunting for the others. "You gave up on finding them," Croft said quietly. "No." Reggie's jaw set. "I bet on you. And you walked right in. Now there's two of us. Now we go get them." The words should have felt like a gift. Instead they landed like a weight. Croft closed the album. His mother and sister were somewhere in The Lost, and no one knew where. A whole month gone. No trail. No direction. His father had traded that time to find him. "A month is a long time," Trin said from the wall. Both men looked at her. "People move. They don't stay lost in one place." She shrugged. "If you want to find them, you need a lead. Somewhere they'd go." Reggie nodded slow. "There's a man deeper in the city," he said. "He trades word. Names. Where folks pass through. If anyone tracked your mother, it's him." Croft stood. The fire threw his shadow long against the broken wall. He had his father back. Now he had a name to chase and a place to go. The search was no longer his alone. "Then that's where we go," Croft said. "Tomorrow."