#CHAPTER 97: Chaos in Barlow

MILA I shimmied down from the tree and raced towards the sound of the screaming. Up until that point, I thought I was the only woman present. The sound of that scream had changed everything for me. It meant, at the very least, that civilians were in danger. I knew that the village of Barlow was nearby, and Felix had been concerned about protecting its citizens. As I raced towards the sound of distress, I realized that I might be running into a war scene entirely on my own. I was either doing something really, really brave or really, really stupid. Either way, I couldn’t stop myself. I ran through the trees until I reached a break on what must have been the other side of the forest. What I saw there sent a chill down my spine. Barlow was burning. The village was small, mostly idyllic cottages with thatched roofs and some larger farm properties, all tucked neatly together in perfectly organized rows. It could not have been very big, only a population of