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The other Alpha caught his fall, wrapping his arm behind his neck to hold him up. “You make any moves on me, and I’ll break your arm.”

“You break my arm, and I’ll rip out your throat with my good hand.”

The two of them hobbled toward the opposite end of the room, skidding to a halt at the sight of a dozen, or more, mutations blocking their path to freedom.

“Lockdown will commence in T minus five minutes. Prepare for decontamination protocol. Lockdown will commence in T minus five minutes.”

Swinging around toward the direction from which they’d come, they found more mutations clustered, their humanoid bodies slick with blood, undoubtedly from feeding on the comatose Alphas trapped inside their capsules.

Lights flickered, the buzz of electricity overhead warning of the pitch blackness that would soon follow.

“Looks like this is the end of the road, my friend.” The defeat in the Alpha’s voice gave life to the hopelessness that pounded through Valdys, as the mutations closed in on them.

He’d never fought off more than two mutations at a time, and even that was a challenge when he wasn’t wounded. There wasn’t a chance in hell the two of them could take on so many at once and survive it.

Expelling a breath in defeat, Valdys lowered his gaze.

Cali.

Perhaps if he couldn’t lay beneath the stars with her, he could watch over her from among them.

The light gave way to darkness.

Chapter 1

Cali

Present day …

It begins as no more than a whisper. The airy breeze that kicks up the desert sand and rises to the top of the juniper tree, ruffling its leaves. If I pause to listen, I can hear his voice on the wind, calling to me from the other side of this hell.

Valdys.

No sooner does it arrive, taunting my ear, than it fades away to desolation. And the black hole in my heart sinks deeper with every rise of the sun. The air I breathe grows thicker, more suffocating than the day before.

“There’s a camp.” Beside me, Titus stares through the binoculars over the small valley nestled below the roadside, where we’ve stopped to gain our bearings. The sun settles over the mountains, a grim reminder that another day is coming to a close--another day I’m no closer to opening the sealed doors behind which Valdys lies trapped. “Not a hive. Maybe one family.”

“Then, they’re of no interest to me.” My voice is as flat as my hopes have become after nearly two months of searching the desert for the rebels. Two months of disappointment. Fatigue. Despair. Two months since I watched my whole world disappear behind the impenetrable steel doors of Calico. “I doubt they’ll know anything.”

For weeks upon weeks, we’ve sought out every hive, and even a few marauder camps, leaving behind a wake of death when a few of them turned hostile. Just doesn’t seem likely that a such a small camp in the middle of nowhere will have any connection to the rebels.

“There’s meat. I can smell it. And they might know a nearby water source. Maybe some prickly pears we can pack for our travels.” Lowering his binoculars, Titus turns to face me. “I could do with some venison right now, and some cool water on my neck.”

Behind him, Cadmus stands with his legs set apart, urinating on a creosote bush. The Legion soldier, Brandon, who hardly looks like a soldier anymore, with his shirt sleeves torn away and hair thick with sand, scrambles on all fours after a lizard that disappears into the cactus.

We’ve lost direction. Purpose. Weeks of nothingness have left me desperately clinging to the small sliver of hope that Valdys is still alive in that hospital.

If not for Titus, and his determination to save his friend, I’m afraid I’d be left on my own, so I nod in defeat. As much as I fear stopping for the night, I can’t ask him to keep going. I can’t risk losing his persistence in all of this. I need him to keep me from falling into despair, from becoming nothing but a broken shell. “We’ll stop here for the night.”

I can’t deny I’m weary. Every bone in my body aches like that of an old woman, battered in despondency. Yet, I tread on through this abandoned wasteland, because I have nothing else. Without Valdys, this world isn’t enticing enough for me to keep going.

“That’s great.” Cadmus strides back toward the truck, his irritation unmistakable when he throws back the passenger door, nearly busting it from its hinges. “Fucking wonderful. Hey, what do you say we hit up every last remaining human being on the planet and ask if they’ve seen the rebels?”

“Don’t do this, Cadmus. Not now,” I warn, my patience growing thinner with every word that passes his lips. Of all of us, Cadmus has been the most resistant to finding the rebels.

He turns around, tapping his chin in mocking. “Better yet, why not ask the fucking Ragers, while we’re at it? Maybe they’ve done some trading with them over the last few weeks.”

“Are you done?”