The Endgame Chronicles (by Hugh White) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60

“Eat up. I saved these for you.”

Leonard had scraped together what little he could from his own share to leave food for them.

Derek raised an eyebrow. “You sure the she–devil… I mean, Her Majesty signed off on that?”

“I already asked her. She said that I can share whatever’s mine,” Leonard said.

“Wow, that’s great!”

“Leonard, you’re the best!”

“Yeah, you’re such a good friend!”

“Wait, let me thank you with a song.”

“Knock it off and just eat!”

Derek, Ethan, Caleb, and the others didn’t need to be told twice. They dug right in.

Leonard, worried they would choke from wolfing it down, poured water into each of their canteens.

That was something new he had discovered–his body had changed. He could create water.

He wasn’t the only one. All of them had gone through strange mutations. Derek had gotten faster. Ethan’s strength had shot through the roof. Caleb could control fire. Gavin had some kind of reaction to metal, and Logan could reshape terrain.

None of them fully understood what was happening or how to control it, but without those changes, there was no way they would’ve made it out alive from that wave of zombies.

As his old squad devoured the food, Leonard got up and went to work. He started with the vegetables.

Derek gnawed on a rib bone while watching him. “Leonard, are you seriously doing chores for her?” Leonard bent over the patch, cutting chives. “I gave my word. I’ll see it through.”

“You’re really not coming back to the unit with us?”

“I belong

the Boss now.”

“What about the captain? You think he’s just gonna let you go?”

Leonard didn’t answer. He kept working in silence, slicing through row after row of greens. When his squad finished eating, they came over to help.

“If there’s meat to share, there’s work to share!”

“No way we’re letting you do this alone!”

Soon enough, some were harvesting vegetables, some were weeding, some were washing dishes, and others swept the yard clean inside and out.

From inside the house, Hayley watched with her brow arched ever so slightly.

The moment Leonard had set aside those ribs, she knew he was saving them for his brothers.

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She didn’t call him out on it because she understood the kind of bond that came from bleeding together on the battlefield. If she hadn’t, she never would’ve gone out of her way to bring Leonard into her fold.

That kind of brotherhood–surviving life and death side by side for years–wasn’t something you could just cut off.

This time, things had shifted. In her last life, when she had met Leonard, he had been completely alone. He had never mentioned his past, and looking back now, it had to mean that his squad, including his captain, had all died.

He was the only one left, and with nothing to tie him down, he had given himself over to her without hesitation.

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