Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110757 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
I hate to throw Ellison under the bus, but I’m done keeping things from Briar.
“Yeah.”
“Who else?”
I think back. “Dr. P., Dr. Kennedy, Yeva. And McClain, by FaceTime.”
“So you were one of the youngest? The most inexperienced?”
“Yeah, but I was in med school. I wasn’t a kid. I knew she was right.”
Her eyes soften. “Thank you for owning it. What they did to my parents”—she swallows, tears pooling in her eyes—“it hurts and it always will. But it’s not your fault.”
I’m confused. She’s pissed, but not at me?
“My mom would say the senior scientists had more responsibility than a medical student to speak up. But even then, I get why they didn’t. They were probably scared. Look what happened to my mom.”
I look away, sighing heavily. “Look what that fear led to, though. If we had all tried to stop it—”
She puts a palm on my chest and meets my eyes. “Marcus. The two most futile words in the English language are what if. People what if their way into madness. Is there anything else—anything—about yourself you haven’t told me that I need to know?”
“No.”
“Good. I’m done hanging out here while Chance and the others are being tortured. I’m done getting shot at like prey. I’m done with Ingrid taking over our camp.”
“Okay. You know I’ll back you. But we need to be smart about it.”
She goes back in the direction of the cave entrance without another word. I follow.
When I make my way through the vines over the entrance, she’s already making her case to the others.
“If he hadn’t moved, he’d be dead. And if my vines hadn’t come, we’d both be dead. Time is power for Ingrid. Time to get more weapons and soldiers. Time to hunt us like animals. I can’t do it anymore. I’m going after Ingrid. I think if I cut off the head of this snake, her soldiers will retreat. They don’t want to be here.”
Two torches Pax lashed onto rocks give off just enough light to see everyone’s expressions. None of them looks eager to pack up and run right this second.
“I thought we were doing more surveillance,” Nova says.
Briar shrugs. “Why? We know enough.”
Unexpectedly, Pax is the voice of reason. “Do we know how many men she’s got there? Where everyone’s sleeping? What the security setup is? When they change shifts?”
“No,” Briar admits. “But you guys, I can’t just sit here.”
A wrinkle forms between Amira’s brows. “We can’t help anyone if we don’t know what we’re going into, though.”
“They’re torturing our friends.” Briar’s plea is impassioned. “Ingrid said they’re close to breaking Chance.”
“Oh, hell no,” Amira says. “I’m with you.”
Nova’s wearing the stony expression I know well. She’s fucking pissed.
“Let’s game-plan and go,” she says. “I’m not sitting on my ass while they torture our people.”
“Hey.” Everyone turns to Olin, who’s standing off to the side. “Don’t put me in time-out this time. I want to help.”
“Me too,” Ellison says. “We can’t do what Briar and Marcus and Pax can do, but we’re not useless.”
Ingrid’s command to 6A5—never apologize—still rings in my ears.
“You’re not useless,” I say. “I’m sorry I made you both feel that way.”
I don’t want my friends to think I don’t believe they’re good enough to stand beside me. We all have different strengths, but what gives us an edge over Ingrid is that we’ll fight for each other. Her men are just following orders and pulling paychecks for it.
“I think we should pack up and all relocate closer to camp,” Briar says. “We can continue with surveillance for now, but if something happens and we need to go in quickly, we’ll be able to.”
“I agree,” I say.
“Yeah, me too,” Pax agrees.
We pack up our few supplies; everyone quiet. I can’t help sneaking a peek at Amira’s bag. She keeps it close all the time.
I hate leaving Briar and Pax to do all the heavy lifting. They’re both powerful, but not invincible. And my stubborn male pride makes me want to be the one beside Briar when the time comes, not standing back watching him.
“Ready?” Briar asks me.
“Yeah.”
Together, we leave the cave and head toward our camp.
We’re not doing surveillance from a tree that may have snakes that kill more creatively than a horror movie. It’s dark, so Briar and I are behind some bushes, taking our turn listening in on camp.
The sun is setting, but camp is still alive with activity. Ingrid has everyone wearing green New America uniforms—even the kids.
This is when our camp was winding down for the day. After sunset, we had bonfires and people congregated in the Hub. There was popcorn. Music. Dancing. Kids running around playing games.
There’s none of that here tonight. Everyone is training or working. We’re only getting bits and pieces of conversations, but from what we’ve heard already, it’s good we came when we did.