At that moment, the truth settled across the battlefield like an invisible weight pressing down on all of them at once.
It didn't arrive through words or confirmation. But through absence, through the way Daniel had sounded broken. Through the way the battlefield itself seemed to shift around that single loss.
Victor, Kade, Ethan, and Samantha all understood it at the same time. Clara was gone, she died. The realization cut deep, sinking into their chests with a sharp, suffocating pain.
They had lost another one of their own, and this time, there was no doubt, no uncertainty left to cling to.
The grief rose immediately. It twisted inside them as their breathing turned ragged and their bodies tensed under the weight of it.
