Why won’t it go away?
It knows I’m here …
The grinding noise clacks off, replaced by a nauseating sloshing.
Slopslopslop …
A light flicks on, bathing my peripheral vision in a sickly yellow glow.
Another loud click adds a new sound to the assault on my senses.
Buzz!
The vibration is so strong, it hurts my teeth and I have to gnash them tight to prevent a telltale chatter. Not daring to breathe, I slink further around the mound, before the thing can reach me. I’m not sure how big it is, but if I can keep moving out of sight I just might be able to-
My belt loop snags on a piece of bone.
The yellow beam creeps around the bend. Silhouetted in the shadow of its glow are twisted shapes that look like they’ve been ripped free of a nightmare.
I claw at the loop, trying to jerk it free, but it won’t budge.
The amber light burns a path toward me, just inches from my boots …
I twist my body out of its path, curling my legs beneath me just as the glow sweeps the spot my feet occupied moments ago. My fingers grope the jagged bone holding me hostage, scraping against it and drawing blood, which just makes it slick and harder to grip.
Snapsnapsnapsnapsnap …
I tug as hard as I can-
Pop!
The loop rips away. I’m free! I scuttle further around the bend on hands and knees, ignoring sharp rocks digging into my skin. In my panic, my boot kicks out behind me and crashes through the mound.
A loud rattle of bone rains down all around me.
A very loud rattle.
A mechanized shriek pierces my eardrums. The grotesque confirmation that the Fleshers are on to me. I clamp my hands to my ears.
Whir …
Clacketyclacketyclacketyclacketyclackety …
The rhythm of the sounds is much quicker now, and loud enough to penetrate the ringing in my ears.
Something grabs me-
“Run!” Digory hauls me to my feet and then we’re racing after Gideon and Ophelia.
We tear through the canyon, careening past the rest of the mounds, zigzagging over rocks, leaping over fissures. Swirls of blinding yellow and twisting black haunt the corners of my vision. They’re all around us, swarming over the mounds like locusts, but I’m too afraid to turn and get a better look, too afraid to see what kind of monsters would be responsible for this hell, would make a fallen Recruit crave flesh …
Too afraid to find out if what happened to the lost Recruits could happen to me.
I stumble down a slope after Digory and Ophelia, rolling, my flesh scraping against rock and bone. But I’m running on pure adrenaline now, impervious to pain.
I skirt the next mound-
Just in time to see the troop carrier taking off without us.
“The bitch is leaving us behind!” Gideon cries.
The dark shadows close in on us from all sides.
It’s over.
Then the carrier banks, swinging in a wide arc until it’s hovering just overhead. The hatchway springs open and a familiar silhouette stares down at us, long raven hair whipping in the wind.
Cypress tosses down a rope ladder, which wriggles down like a long snake, grazing my skin as it sways against my nose. I recoil.
“Don’t just stand there like idiots!” Cypress shrieks. “Get your butts up here now!”
“Ophelia!” Gideon cries.
But Digory’s already scampering up the rope and towing him along. “She’s in good hands with Spark.” He pauses and shoots me a desperate look. “Lucian! Move! Now!” Then the two of them disappear inside the carrier’s open hatch.
Just as I grab the lower rung, a heavy weight slams into me, knocking me to the ground, smothering me.
My eyes snap open.
But it’s not a Flesher.
It’s the fallen Recruit.
There’s something different about him. I search his eyes but don’t find madness. Only fear, and sadness.
The monstrous chorus of the Fleshers approaches all around us …
The Recruit looks behind, then back at me. Liquid fills his eyes. “My name’s Orestes … ” he whispers. “Please take me … home … ”
His words are a vise to my throat. My heart crumples. No matter what he’s done, he’s still a human being, broken by the Establishment like so many others before him.
“Yes. Come with us,” I say, barely squeezing the words past a sob. “You’ll be safe. We’ll take care of you.”
He smiles-
His throat bursts open. Dark crimson sprays onto my face, into my eyes, and runs down my cheeks in hot rivulets.
Metallic gore fills my mouth. I spit it out. Every nerve-ending sizzles with shock.
The young man stares at me. He doesn’t look like he’s in pain. More like he’s confused. Soft gurgling noises purr from his lips. He convulses, choking on his own blood, still staring as it fountains from the ragged hole in his neck, dousing me in its warmth. His eyes flutter and roll back into his head. Then he pitches forward onto me, each shudder pumping more blood over me until he’s still at last.
The chain of his ID tag snaps off his neck as I clench it in my fist.
Then I push him off me and he rolls onto his back with a thud. I wipe the mixture of tears and blood from my eyes. A blurry figure comes into focus.
It’s Ophelia, standing over me, still clutching a sharpened bone fragment in her hand. The white bone is coated in red. Its sharp end still drips chunks of the Recruit’s throat onto the ground, plop, plop, plop. Her face is spattered with red flecks that stream from her eyes down her cheeks like bloody tears.
She grins, chilling the blood flowing both inside and outside my body.
“I wasn’t going to let him hurt you,” she giggles. Her voice sounds muffled, as if I’m listening to it underwater, slow, warped. The dark fires of dusk blazes in her eyes.
“Lucian, come on!” Digory’s muffled voice shouts down from the carrier’s hatchway as it hovers above.
The next few seconds feel like a dream as I somehow haul my numb body up the ladder, after Ophelia and into the aircraft.
The hatch seals.
“There’s just enough juice to make it back to base,” Cypress grunts from the pilot’s chair.
“Punch it!” Gideon yells.
Then Cypress is gunning the ship toward Infiernos. Below us, the Fleshers are a vague blur of nightmares carving a dusty path right toward our base.
Digory grabs me by the shoulders, his eyes wide as he stares at my blood-soaked body. “Where are you hurt?”
“It’s not mine,” I hear myself say.
The cockpit speakers crackle to life.
“Attention! Red alert! All troops return to base STAT. The perimeter fences will be activated in T-minus one minute,” a computerized voice blares through the encroaching night.
On the cabin monitors, we see the pillars of the closest fence blinking yellow, signaling that they’re preparing to power up and seal off the base.
If we don’t make it to the fences in time, we’ll be trapped outside in the open … with them.
The only sounds in the cabin are the thrum of the engines mingled with our breathing and the blaring of the alarms.
The emergency lights blink faster and faster until they’re a solid yellow. There’s not much time left and we’re still about a mile away …
I clench my fist, feeling the Recruit’s ID tag digging into my skin as Cypress banks the carrier in between two of the sonic pylons, just as the lights go from amber to bright red-
“Perimeter fences activated. The base has been sealed.”
Turbulence rocks the cabin and, for a split second I brace myself to be torn apart. But then we’re gliding down and landing on the roof of our barracks, roughly, but all in one piece.
Once the hatch is opened, we limp down the gangway. The faces around me are a mixture of tears and relief. We cling to each other, hugging, squeezing. We did it. We made it through. Staring at the bloodied ID tag still clutched in my hand, I find it hard to feel anything.
I’m not sure how long we stand like that, but when we finally pull apart, we’re ringed by Slade and a dozen other Imps.
Her eyes look anxious. “Did you find anything?”
Digory pulls out Cordoba’s blood-stained badge and thrust it into her hand. “He didn’t make it. None of them did. But we’re fine, thank you, Sir.”
The Sergeant swallows hard and hands the badge off to one of her subordinates. “Congratulations, Recruits.” Her usual disdain is replaced by a cross between disappointment and surprise.
She never expected to see us again.
Alive.
Slade’s smile is devoid of mirth, malice, or any emotion whatsoever. “You’ve successfully completed your orientation period and survived Basic Pre-Trial Prep. Tomorrow you graduate-and, as a reward, you will have the opportunity to visit with your Incentives one last time before the Trials begin.”