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“You … lied to me? Lied right to my face?” I can’t even look at him right now, the feelings of betrayal commandeering my emotions.

“As I said, I didn’t want to upset--”

“You promised me! You told me last night you wouldn’t do this! You lied!”

“I will end my life, if I lose you!” His voice thunders through the canyon, drawing the attention of others in the camp, who stop to look at us. Clenching his eyes, he snaps out of his moment of rage and paces. “You’re asking me for the impossible, Wren. To stand by and watch you give your life.”

“And now I’m supposed to do the same? All because some stranger predicts I won’t survive this?”

“You said it yourself. You saw the same thing happen at the hospital. And then Mara. The girl speaks the truth.”

“And has much to gain at your expense.”

His pacing comes to a halt, his gaze resolute. “I’m doing this for you and no one else.”

“And how does the great and powerful Kenny think he’ll get you inside?”

“An engineer from Szolen. He built the tunnels. Designed the whole damn hospital. The whole community.”

“Gregor McCann. He was a friend of Papa’s. Suffered from psoriasis and used to come to the clinic a couple times a month.” I’d forgotten what role the man played, the mastermind behind the community, seeing how he didn’t boast about it. “I lower my gaze from his and clear my throat of the tears trapped there. “I can’t sway you from this path?”

“No.”

“Then, let me come with you.”

“Absolutely not, Wren! Don’t be ridiculous!”

“I can get you inside Szolen. I not only know the guard at the gates, but I have friends there.”

“You’re not going down into those tunnels with us. You’re not in the condition to do so, and if you have one of your attacks down there, you put us all at risk.” His words sting on purpose. He’s desperately trying to deter me out of his own fears, evident in the look of remorse dancing across his face. “The group is too big, as it is.”

“I’ll stay with one of my friends. I won’t follow. I can get all of you inside the gates.”

“And if something happens to you? You’ll be in the hands of the enemy, who would sooner watch you suffer.”

“Nothing is going to happen to me. You’re asking me to trust you. Now trust me.”

Lips stretched as thin as his patience, he stares off, contemplative, before rubbing a hand down his face. “Fine. Get packed. We’re leaving at full sunrise.”

Chapter 15

Wren

An awkward silence hangs on the air, as I sit beside Cali in the truck’s cab, flanked by Six on my left, who drives familiar roads back toward Szolen, and Cadmus, on the other side of Cali.

My stomach twists on approaching the familiar outskirts of camp by the time dusk arrives. Sitting forward on the bench, I take notice of the empty tents, tattered and demolished, where they lie strewn about the land that was once thick with hopefuls trying to get inside Szolen.

“Pull over,” I command, and Six steers the truck off the main road about two miles out from the gates of the community. Scanning the surroundings shows no sign of life, and I urge Six out of the driver’s seat, curious to see if anything remains of the family I once knew out here. The young girl I bargained with marauders to save.

Treading over the soft surface brings me standing before nothing but a tattered stretch of fabric, covered in sand, fluttering in what little breeze there is. The post holding it tethered is broken in half, and the small articles gathered beneath it are personal items left behind.

I kneel down to lift a doll coated in dirt and flecks of red. Tears spring to my eyes at the thought of how they might’ve met their death--whether by marauders, Legion, or Ragers. I only pray the girl was spared, somehow. A quick and merciful death.

Sensing someone standing behind me, I turn to find Six scanning the surroundings. “We should leave the truck here. Cali and I can gain entry through the front gate. You take the others and meet me at the wall.”

“Where we first met.”

“Yes. That one. I’ll bring rope, and you can climb the wall, just as you did once before.”