“I can try,” he says. He leans in, about to kiss me.
That’s when the Night Siren goes off.
CHAPTER 90
ZEPHYR
It’s the worst sound in the world. The Night Siren.
And yet it sends my nerves roiling. Sends my body into action.
“Time for food, boys and girls!” Saxon shouts from across the cave.
Everyone stands up, straps gear to their bodies.
“What happens now?” I ask.
Meadow shrugs, looks at her father, who lies beside us.
He is hardly awake. “You search for the rations,” he says, without opening his eyes. “And if you find them, you do what I taught you to do. You stay alive.”
“Let’s go,” Saxon says.
Meadow squeezes her father’s hand.
Then we join a group of Yellows and head from the cave.
CHAPTER 91
MEADOW
Saxon leads the group.
We go back down the tunnel, back through the waterfall and into the pool. As soon as we surface on land, it is like old times. Zephyr and Sketch follow, and Koi and I run side by side.
“We never know where they’re going to drop the food,” he says. “But we know that when they do, the worst of their attacks come.”
We are specters in the darkness, our feet silent and steady on the hard ground. I am not used to the temperature, and it makes it harder to breathe. The wind dances with tiny white flakes, landing cold as ice on the tip of my nose.
But it feels good to move. The action is familiar, running with my brother, like the times he helped my father train me on the beach. Like the times I learned, little by little, to become strong.
At some point Koi stops. Holds up a fist.
I sink to one knee and wait, motionless.
There’s a whirring overhead, a sound that makes my hair stand on end.
It is two Cams.
“Damn,” Koi hisses.
The Cams swoop down, stop in front of us, and swivel back and forth, taking in the faces of my group.
“It’s too late to run,” Koi says. “They’re fast.”
The Cams explode.
We dive for cover, as pieces of metal rain down.
Then the smoke hits. I cough, gag, as something horrid burns in the back of my throat. Everyone else is coughing around me, hacking up green fluid.
I look down at my cuff. It blinks, then skyrockets to a 64.
Zephyr’s hits a 50. Sketch’s only reaches 36. She was farthest from the blast.
Koi, who stood closest to me, is a 72. The other Yellows’ numbers change, too.
As soon as the coughing dies down, there is a giant whirring noise. At first, I think it is the Biters, coming back. But then Saxon points to the sky.
“Pay attention,” he commands the group.
A part of the dome opens up, metal spiraling outward to form a tiny hole in the metal sky. Something is lowered through it.
“Rations,” Koi says. “Looks like it’s about a mile east of here.”
“So what now?” I ask.
He smiles. “We run.”
CHAPTER 92
ZEPHYR
It’s too damn cold to be outside.
And it’s snowing, little flakes of white that dance from the sky and land on me, make me shiver like a street rat.
“Stick together. It’s about teamwork, but I won’t stop to save your ass if you fall,” Saxon tells Sketch and me, as we follow Koi and Meadow. The rest of the Yellows run behind us. They’re silent, but I’m crashing across the fallen twigs and leaves like I’m a thousand pounds.
I’m not used to these woods.
At least Meadow’s strong now, able to run, to help.
Somewhere to our right, I think I see flashes of another color in the woods. Pink. But then it disappears, and I wonder if I ever saw it at all.
Soon Koi slows. The pack follows suit, and we snake through the trees at a brisk walk, keeping as quiet as we can.
We stop before a small clearing.
I can see something dark in the center, a big bundle lying motionless.
“Rations,” Saxon whispers in my ear.
I stand up to move for it, but he grabs me, holds me back.
“Wait.”
We sit still, and I don’t know what we’re waiting for. Until I see the figures move into the clearing. They’re quick, silent. It’s dark in here, without the moon or the stars, but I know they aren’t Yellows. Which means, by Ridge rules, they’re enemies.
I watch as they reach the bundle, start unwrapping it and pulling things out, putting it into bags they brought with them.
Saxon nods.
“Three,” he whispers. “Two”—he rises to a crouch—“one!”
He stands and fires an arrow. Then he’s shouting for us to run, and everyone spreads out like a fan, sprinting for the other tribe.
Screaming, weapons raised high. There’s got to be twenty, thirty enemies. Some of them turn, stand to fight, while others take the rations and run.
“After them!” Saxon shouts. He tackles a guy, stabs him with his carved spear. I see his pink cuff flash to 100 as he dies instantly.
Meadow goes in for the fight.
Koi joins her, back to back, and they’re like death together, slashing knives, taking out enemies.
“Zero, come with me!” Sketch yells. She grabs my arm, and we chase after the people who stole the rations. We reach a girl, tackle her. Sketch kills her quick and painless. “After the boy!”
I turn, see someone racing ahead, into the thicker trees. I sprint for him, holding the knife the Yellows gave me.
I leap, and in my head, I tell myself I’m fighting a Leech. It’s all a blur, the twist of body against body, punches to the jaw, the throat. The crack of bone and the burst of blood. The slice of my blade against my enemy’s desperate, sweating skin.
By the time it’s all over, we’ve gotten the rations.
We’ll eat tonight.
“Yellows!” Saxon screams. Everyone lifts their weapons to the sky. Sketch screams like a madwoman, but I can’t celebrate. Because I see Meadow stumble and fall.
I rush to her side, lift her wrist to my eyes.
93.
She’s switched again.
“I’m running out of time,” she says. Her silver hair is coated with streaks of crimson. “We have to find Peri. Before it’s too late.”
“We will,” I say.
We head back for the cave.
I have to carry Meadow the whole way home.
CHAPTER 93
MEADOW
Morning comes. I wake with the C on my cuff again.
The switch didn’t kill me. Not yet.
I eat a handful of rations, just enough to give me energy for a few hours.
Then I find Koi. “We’re going after her,” I say. “Now.”
“Meadow, if you change again while we’re out there . . ”
“I won’t,” I say. “We’ve already wasted an entire day and half. It’s now or never, Koi. I won’t switch. I’ll fight it.”
It is a lie, and it comes easily from my lips. But I know he doesn’t believe me. We don’t know when it will happen again. When it will be the very last time, and I take my final breaths.