Erin slowly walked toward the couch. She knelt down on the plush carpet so she was eye-level with the little girl. Claire flinched and tried to hide her face.
Erin reached out, her hand trembling slightly, and gently brushed a strand of golden hair behind the little girl's ear. Claire blinked, leaning ever so slightly into the warmth of the touch, but remained completely silent.
A heavy, suffocating sorrow pressed down on Erin's chest. This was exactly why she fought so fiercely. This was why she was willing to risk her life jumping into gates.
The Exterminators glorified the combat, treating the gates like hunting grounds, but this—this broken, empty child—was the true reality of the war. If Erin didn't find the source of the gates, the world would eventually run out of orphans to adopt.
