"How about them then? You're just going to leave them?" Daphne pointed toward the wounded, her voice tight with conflict.
Her eyes trembled in the direction where her grandfather had been last seen. Saving everyone mattered to her, but her heart was pulling her elsewhere.
"The longer we hesitate, the more of them die," Gideon replied firmly.
There was no softness in his tone now. No room for persuasion or comfort.
"If Henry is influencing the Devourer, cutting him off might force it to retreat."
"And what if he isn't?" Jade shot back from the other vehicle, her voice sharp over the engine's roar.
"What if he can control more than one aberrant? What if this isn't the only thing tied to him? What's your backup plan then?"
Gideon closed his eyes for a brief second. The weight of that possibility pressed hard against his thoughts. If she was right, splitting their forces could cost everything.
"Then you save the wounded," he said at last.
