I looked around at everyone in the room, their frightened stares piercing me.

I could feel myself becoming less calm with every passing moment, and knowing how much time we didn’t have for my little breakdown, I just tried to breathe as best I could, so that I could say all I wanted to say:

“Listen. I am scared. Okay? I am so, so scared. If I was alone, I would literally be quaking. But I can’t do that. I don’t have the luxury of giving in. Because whatever’s on the other side up there, digging its way down? It doesn’t care that I’m scared. It doesn’t care about how long I’ve lived and the things I’ve done and the people I’ve met and loved. We hid ourselves deep in the darkest corner of the universe, and they still found us. And if I’ve ever learnt a damn thing, it’s that nobody goes to that much trouble unless they really want to kill something.
“I’m afraid of what’s coming. I’m afraid of what it will do to you, Zoe. And the only thing I know is that I will do anything to stop them from hurting you…”