I expected a city. Destruction. Initiative guards, ushering us inside, rifles in our faces.
This is different.
This gives me the illusion of freedom, and that unsettles me the most.
I turn in circles. Behind us, the wall towers like a dark demon, its arms spreading far and wide. I look up, and instead of sky, I see only metal. Solid and impenetrable.
We’ve come in.
There is no going back out.
I look down at the red cuff locked on my wrist, the letter C a bright, blood red on its screen. Sketch’s and Zephyr’s are the same.
“I’m guessing you both heard the message?” I ask.
Zephyr nods. “The Death Code. What the hell does that mean?”
“It means what the General told us it means,” Sketch says, with a hiss. “It means they’re going to try to find a way to kill us, without putting their hands on us at all.” She nods at me. “You look better. Back to the old Meadow again?”
“No,” I say. “The new Meadow. The old one died a long time ago.”
The door in the wall behind us opens. A girl with a yellow cuff steps into the woods. I see the same letter C on her screen.
“Hey!” Sketch says.
The girl spins. Her eyes widen when she sees us, and she turns and runs, fading into the trees.
“Fine, run away!” Sketch yells after the girl. She turns to me. “We didn’t want her anyways. Idiot.”
A shrill cry sounds from above. I duck down to the ground on instinct and reach for the dagger at my thigh that is no longer there.
Zephyr sighs. “Meadow. It’s okay. Look.”
He points up at the trees over our heads. Perched atop a branch is a large brown bird, staring down at us with one beady green eye.
The bird opens its mouth once and makes a strange clipped sound, then pushes off the tree branch. Its long wings make huge strokes as it disappears into the forest. I watch in awe for a while, desperately wishing I had wings like that bird.
I could soar high.
See my family from above. Find a way to give the New Militia the signal that much faster and get us all away from here.
“We should move,” I say. “Find out where everyone is.”
“And water,” Zephyr says. “I’m dried up like a corpse.”
“Really?” Sketch groans, clutching her stomach. “You’re disgusting, Zero.”
I forge ahead, leaving them to follow.
They argue like children.
We walk for a while, weaving through the forest. Every so often, I stop, listen for noises in the woods. There are voices, far off. I think I hear the trickle of running water, but I can’t see it.
The world is one shade, and my eyes hurt from all of the green. “We have to find weapons.”
Zephyr and Sketch are shoving each other like kids. She pushes him against a tree, and he tackles her to the ground, cursing while she laughs. It reminds me of Koi and me, fighting on the houseboat, tackling each other overboard into the waves. It reminds me of Peri, how I used to tickle her above her hips, and her bright laughter shattered the darkness of night.
The memories bring on the pain, and suddenly I have to get away, do something productive, before I lose myself to the madness of missing them.
I pick the tallest tree and climb. Branch over branch, hands and feet on solid bark, until I’m at the highest point before the tree threatens to bend.
The forest around me is endless. Trees stretch on for as far as I can see, a line of green and brown like sturdy Initiative guards placed throughout the forest. A thin ribbon of silver snakes its way through them.
“Water!” I yell. “North.”
I stay there only for a moment, reveling in the feel of the wind lightly kissing my cheeks. The domed ceiling is far, far overhead. There is no way we could ever reach the top to escape.
The New Militia, and me sending the signal, are the only options. I touch my fingertip to the small protrusion on my inner wrist, given to me by the Commander when we spoke in private.
I pray that no one notices it.
I climb back down, turn to Zephyr and Sketch. They are both bleeding, him with a puffy lip, her with a slit eyebrow. “If you two are done wasting time, we should keep moving.”
“Relax, Meadow.” Zephyr reaches for my hand. “We’re just having some fun.”
“There is never any time for fun,” I hiss, and back away. “Especially not now. My family is here somewhere. We have seventy-two hours to find them and give the signal.”
“And we will,” Zephyr says, his eyes flashing an angry emerald.
Something clicks beneath his boot.
“Stop,” I whisper, holding up my hands, as I realize what’s about to happen. “Zephyr. Don’t move.”
CHAPTER 76
ZEPHYR
There’s one click, like the sound of a bullet sliding into a chamber. I take a step right as Meadow tells me not to.
And then the world’s gone all wrong. Lopsided.
Something tugs at my left ankle. My head slams the ground, and before I realize what’s happened, I’m dangling in the air, blood dripping from my mouth and into my hair.
“What the hell was that?” Sketch screams.
Her face is even with mine.
Meadow moves fast, searching for something to get me down with.
But there’s nothing. She doesn’t have her dagger, and Sketch and I are just as empty.
There’s a crack in the trees behind us. Meadow whirls, fists clenched. I’m spinning slowly, the cord on my ankle waving me in the wind.
One spin. I see movement in the trees. “There’s someone out there,” I say.
Another spin.
“Get him!” Meadow screams. She dives, but I can’t see who she’s after, because I’m spinning again.
“What’s happening?” I yell. No one answers. I hear grunts. A person cries out in pain, and I don’t know who it is. “MEADOW! SKETCH!”
A third spin, and I’m praying to the stars that they’re okay.
The rope turns me back around.
And I’m facing Meadow and Sketch again. Only this time there’s another person. A dirt-faced boy, and they’ve got him tackled to the ground, his cheek pressed up against the snow.
“I wasn’t gonna do nothing’!” he screams. “Swear it!”
“You’ll shut your damn mouth if you know what’s good for you,” Sketch says.
“Take his knife,” Meadow cuts in. “Get Zephyr down.”
I spin again, missing the scene, but just before I spin back, I see Sketch’s face.
“No, Sketch, wait!” I yell.
She slices the rope. I drop and land on my face.
“Ugh,” I groan, sitting up, spitting out dirt. “Thanks, I guess.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Sketch laughs.
“You didn’t warn me!”
My head throbs and I feel dizzy, as blood rushes back where it belongs. But I finally get a clear look at the kid whose trap I triggered. He looks like a Ward, a younger version of me. He’s got dark hair, matted to his head in thick, crusty knots. He looks like he hasn’t bathed a day in his life.