We’re all so jam-packed together that hand-to-hand combat seems unavoidable; I duck to avoid a right hook and punch the opposing soldier in the gut on my way up, grabbing a knife from my belt to follow through. In, up, twist, and he’s done. I yank my knife out of his chest as he falls. Someone charges at me from behind and I turn to meet him when suddenly he’s coughing up blood and falling to his knees.
Kenji saved my ass.
He’s on the move and moving well, still not letting his injury cripple him. We’re fighting together, he and I, and I can feel his movements beside me. We shout warnings to each other, helping each other when we can, and we’re actually doing okay, making our way through the madness, when I hear Kenji shouting my name, his voice scared and urgent.
Suddenly I’m invisible and Kenji is screaming at me about Juliette and I don’t know what’s happening but I’m freaking out and I know now’s not the time to ask questions. We fight our way back to the front and jet toward the road, Kenji’s panicked voice telling me he saw Juliette go down and get dragged away, and that’s all I need to hear. I’m one part furious and one part terrified, and the two are having a battle of their own in my mind.
I knew this would happen.
I knew she never should’ve come with us. I knew she should’ve stayed behind. She’s not built for this—she’s not strong enough to be on the battlefield. She would’ve been so much safer if she’d stayed behind. Why does no one ever listen to me?
Dammit.
I want to scream.
When we reach the road, Kenji pulls me back, and though we’re out of breath and barely able to speak, we catch a glimpse of Juliette as she’s loaded into the back of a tank, her body limp and heavy as they drag her inside.
It’s over in a matter of seconds. They’re already driving away.
Juliette is gone.
My chest cracks open.
Kenji has a firm hand on my shoulder and I realize I’m saying “Oh God, oh God” over and over again when Kenji has the decency to shake some sense into me.
“Get your shit together,” he says. “We need to go after her!”
My legs are unsteady, but I know he’s right. “Where do you think they went?”
“They’re probably carting her back to base—”
“Dammit. Of course! Warner—”
“Wants her back.” Kenji nods. “That was probably his team he sent to collect her.” He swears under his breath. “Only good thing about that is we know he doesn’t want her dead.”
I grit my teeth to keep from losing my mind. “All right then; let’s go.”
God, I can’t wait to get my hands on that psychopath. I’m going to enjoy killing him. Slowly. Carefully. Cutting him to pieces one finger at a time.
But Kenji hesitates, and I stare at him.
“What?” I ask.
“I can’t project, bro. My energy is shot.” He sighs. “I’m sorry. My body is seriously jacked up right now.”
Shit. “Contingency plan?”
“We can avoid the main roads,” he says. “Take the back route and head to base on our own. It’d be easier to track the tank, but if we do, you’ll be in plain sight. It’s your call.”
I frown. “Yeah, I vote for the plan that doesn’t get me killed instantly.”
Kenji grins. “Okay then. Let’s go get our girl back.”
“My girl,” I correct him. “She’s my girl.”
Kenji snorts as we head in the direction of the compounds. “Right. Minus the part where she’s not actually your girl. Not anymore.”
“Shut up.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Whatever.”
EIGHT
It takes us a while to get back to base, because we have to be hyperaware of my visibility. We’re slower, more cautious, and careful to take our time hiding inside and around abandoned units every hundred yards or so, just to make sure the coast is clear around every corner. But when we’re finally approaching base, shit kicks into high gear.
We weren’t the only ones taking the back route.
Castle, Ian, Alia, and Lily flipped out when they saw us; they were hiding inside a unit we thought for sure was empty. They jumped out at us from behind a bed, which made me nearly piss my pants. We only had a moment to explain what had happened before Castle was sharing his own story.
They got Brendan and Winston back—broke them out of Sector 45 just as they’d originally planned—but the two of them were in bad shape when Castle found them.
“We think they’ll be okay,” Castle is saying, “but we have to get them to the girls as soon as possible. I’m hoping they’ll be able to help.”
“The girls are on the battlefield,” Kenji says, eyes wide. “I have no idea where. They insisted on fighting today.”
Castle’s face falls, and though he doesn’t say it out loud, it’s clear he’s suddenly very worried.
“Where are they now?” I ask. “Brendan and Winston?”
“Hiding,” Castle says.
“What?” Kenji looks around. “Why? Why aren’t you taking them back to Point?”
Castle goes pale.
It’s Lily who speaks. “We heard whispers while we were on base breaking them out,” she says. “Whispers of what the soldiers are going to do next.”
“They’re mobilizing for an air assault,” Ian cuts in. “We just heard they’re going to bomb Omega Point. We were still trying to figure out what we should do when we heard someone coming, and jumped in here”—he nods around the unit—“to hide.”
“What?” Kenji panics. “But—how do you—”
“It’s definite,” Castle says. His eyes are deep and tortured. Terrified. “I heard the orders myself. They’re hoping that if they hit it with enough firepower, everything underground will just collapse in on itself.”
“But sir, no one knows the exact location of Omega Point, it’s not possible—”
“It is,” Alia says. I’ve never heard her speak before, and I’m surprised by the softness of her voice. “They tortured the information out of some of our own.”
“On the battlefield,” Ian says. “Just before killing them.”
Kenji looks like he might throw up. “We have to go right now,” he says, his voice high and sharp. “We have to get everyone out of there—all the ones we left behind—”
Only then does it hit me.
“James.”
I don’t recognize my own voice. The horror, the panic, the dread that floods my body is something I’ve never felt—never known before. Not like this. “We have to get James!” I’m shouting, and Kenji is trying to calm me down, but this time I can’t listen. I don’t care if I have to go alone; I’m getting my brother out of there. “Let’s go!” I bark at Kenji. “We have to get a tank and get back to base as soon as possible—”
“But what about Juliette?” Kenji asks. “Maybe we can split up—I can head back to Point with Castle and Alia; you can stay here with Ian and Lily—”