“What are you looking for? What’s in that forest you’re willing to risk our lives for?” I demanded, gulping down a deep breath and setting my chin higher. I wouldn’t go down without a fight, even if it terrified me.

  In a flash, she had her hand grasped under my chin, wrenching my face up to meet hers with such force I winced against the pain. Theo moved, but a guard aimed his gun to Theo’s head and he froze, his hand still holding mine. “First, little girl, you should know I’m willing to risk every life to find what I need. Including yours. You mean nothing to me. You were created for this! So don’t think we care one bit if you die the second you step out these doors. Someone will replace you—there will always be more.” The sweet tone in Merinda’s voice was long gone. Her hand dropped, and Theo caught me as my legs nearly gave out. I let out a staggered breath. She straightened the collar of her white coat, taking a step back before continuing. “When you get out there, I suggest you run fast. There are camps within the forest, and others who have survived. If you manage to make it there—survive more than one night—you’ll be tasked with finding what we need within the forest. But let’s see if you make it there first.”

  Dr. Allard shifted to the right of Merinda. He gave me a little shrug, as if to say, I told you you’d die eventually.

  I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling. This jacket was suddenly too tight and too restricting, and I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. But only one thing Merinda said terrified me more than those black creatures in the forest. Something I didn’t even think she meant to reveal.

  You were created for this.

  Not that we had been left behind, abandoned by parents who didn’t want us, and were easy options to choose from for this task, but we were created specifically for this. I’d spent so long trying to find my parents, and now… they might not even exist.

  “Now, if we’re done with the questions, I suggest you get going. The first camp is a few miles from here, and they lock their doors to anyone out past sunset.” Dr. Merinda shrugged. One of the guards pressed a hand to my back and pushed us towards a door leading to a room fogged with steam. “I suggest you don’t delay and make it there in time.”

  The guard grabbed Theo and me roughly by the arm and shoved us through the door. It sealed shut instantly, and another door leading out to the forest opened. The steam stayed within the room and had a tangy bleach smell to it. I was sure it was meant to keep the virus from getting into this building.

  “You have five seconds before the room cleanses itself,” Dr. Allard said through the speakers somewhere in the room.

  Theo pulled me out of the building and into the open air. The door slammed shut behind us again, and I saw the steam double as the room erased any trace of anything from existence inside of it.

  When I finally turned away from the building and looked back to the forest, my heart stopped. It was dead quiet, only the soft rustle of the wind sounded, and my lungs filled with the smells of the woods. Damp soil and pine trees. Flowers and wet grass. It didn’t feel like a bad place, like something to be terrified of, but still my heart pounded against my chest.

  Theo laced his fingers through mine and pulled me to face him. “We will survive,” he whispered.

  I glanced up at him, met his eyes for a moment, and managed to nod. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before turning us back towards the forest and we took off. We ran as hard as our feet would take us into the Void.

  CASPIAN

  My feet moved swiftly through the dense forest. Don’t trip, don’t trip, I reminded myself over and over again. They were close behind me. I knew from the screams of the others who weren’t quick enough. Despite their gnarled appearance, these black figures were inhumanly quick like a wild animal, and strong.

  I found this out the hard way my first day. I was given only one day to recover from the bullet wounds and explosion that had burned my entire right side, but Dr. Allard had fixed me up quite well, just as Dr. Merinda had instructed.

  Only a small scar under my chin streaked down the right side of my neck from the burns. My arm hadn’t fared so well: it was a mess of scars from my shoulder to my wrist, but the pain was gone. I no longer felt the lingering throb in my leg or back either, only the burning in my lungs as I pushed harder.

  I’d been here a week now, been away from Jayla for longer than I’d ever been since the day I met her. I tried not to think of her, tried not to let my mind wonder if she’d made it back to Cytos alive. She was safe, I was sure of it, and she’d find a way to get me out of this hell.

  I sprinted harder. I didn’t have to outpace all of them, just the other humans trapped in the forest like I was. It was funny how self-preservation kicks in, and you quickly didn’t see these other people as humans, but competition. If they were faster than me, if they were stronger, that meant I would be those creatures’ next meal. So I made sure not to let that happen. My Watcher training had come in handy. I was quick and agile, just as the Marked kids were, even if it went against every instinct I had. I had been trained to help others not murder them—but this was a game of survival, and I’d made a silent promise to Jayla that I’d live.

  The only safe zone we had was inside the camps—small bunkers built under ground in the dirt. I’d been told most were built years ago, when the only enemy humans had to worry about were the Dred Wulfs that stalked the forest at night. Now, they were our only salvation. There were lots of camps, but I didn’t stray far from the one I’d first found. Camp forty-two. Hundreds more spread throughout the forest that covered nearly eighty percent of Armestes. The Void was situated at the very center of the continent. Cytos, Kuros, and Eres were to the west, east and south of us, while a large mountain range covered the northern half, all protected by the wall that surrounded the forest. The wall that was a prison to thousands of kids.

  The camp’s door would close soon; the sun was setting, which was how these things had come on us so quickly. We strayed just a bit too far, and they pounced like hungry lions.

  Don’t trip, don’t trip, I repeated.

  Ten more yards.

  Five more yards.

  I skidded to a stop, dove to my knees, and pulled open the heavy metal door in the ground, the only thing in the area outside of the trees and shrubs that didn’t fit into the scenery. I heard voices down below in the camp, telling me to shut the door. Time was up. I glanced out into the forest. The shadows grew darker, and the smell of them grew closer. Like burnt flesh.

  “Wait… wait for me,” I heard someone cry in the distance.

  A few yards away was a boy, a couple years younger than me, stumbling towards the camp. He limped on one leg, injured either from the chase or one of the creatures.

  They were close behind him. I could see their twisted limbs and black bodies closing in. He wasn’t going to make it.

  The people below me tugged on my leg, screaming for me to close the door, but I couldn’t look away from this kid running towards me.

  He didn’t ask for this. None of us did.

  But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t wait. I didn’t let the guilt seep in—it would only be a weakness out here—but still it tore me up inside.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. And I knew he didn’t hear me, but his eyes widened with the realization he was doomed. And it nearly killed me as I closed the door, locking it tight, just as the boy fell upon it.

  A fist pounded against it, twice, before the sound was gone, and the creatures took their prey for the night. One more second and that would have been me.

  SIENNA

  The sun was setting too fast. We had run for at least six miles blindly in the direction we hoped would lead us to a camp. Neither Theo nor I had any idea what we were looking for, only what we were avoiding. They were present everywhere we went, the black creatures, but we managed to outpace most of them. The constant feeling that they were always nearby left me on edge and unable to get the tightness to release in my chest.

  We’d quickly found out what weapons our jackets hid. My fists pressed together mid-run, and two long, sharp blades slid from the sleeve. The metal was cold over the top of my hands. Theo’s own weapons were out as well, two long muzzles—guns—pointed out to the darkening forest. It’d taken a bit more time to figure out he had to squeeze his fists to fire the bullets, and the time it took nearly cost us our lives. We didn’t know how many bullets this jacket held, but I hoped we didn’t find out any time soon.

  Theo used the guns with ease, taking out more than a few of those things that got too close. But as the sun began to disappear, I sensed more surrounding us. A lot more.

  We had only seen one other person since we’d entered the forest, and he was now a few yards ahead of us racing fast. He seemed to know where he was going, so we followed. But he didn’t stop for us and didn’t reply when we called to him. Either he didn’t hear, or he chose to ignore us.

  “We can’t just run all night. We have to find a camp,” Theo said from behind me. Though he was healed from the internal burns he’d received, he was weak. We both were, from lack of sleep and sitting around for the past week. And whatever lingering pain he hid from me made him slower than usual.

  I moved beside him, gripped his arm, and tried to pull him a little faster. The guy we followed was moving too quickly, and with the setting sun, we were going to lose him if we couldn’t keep up.

  “Just a little farther, then hopefully we can stop. But we have to go faster,” I said, keeping my voice low, not needing more of these creatures to hear us.

  Theo gritted his teeth, and with a sharp nod, he pushed his arms and legs a little harder. I sprinted back to the front, my eyes still following the guy ahead of us. He had wavy blond hair pulled back from his face and the same kind of clothing we wore.

  He was still quite a ways ahead of us when he went behind a tree, and I lost sight of him. I swore under my breath and raced to the spot. Skidding on the dirt floor, I stopped at the tree he had just been at, but no one was there. Theo clutched his side as he tried to catch his breath. Where did he go?

  “Hello? Can anyone hear us?” I hissed, trying to keep my voice low.

  The subtle snap of a branch sounded, and then something came flying at my head. I winced as a small twig hit its mark and fell to the ground. Looking up, I found the guy we were chasing high up in the trees. He held his finger to his lips and scowled. Then he motioned for us to climb.

  I tested my boots on the tree. Sharp spikes at the toes dug into the bark with ease and I began ascending. My movements were slow despite urgency coursing through me. I was tired from the hours of running and we’d hardly stopped, only once to eat the small ration of food and gulp some water before continuing.

  The sun was disappearing, and darkness was settling in fast. A soft breeze pushed the pine and maple smell of the trees around us into my lungs the farther up we went. The breeze also brought the odor of death chasing us, as it moved closer and closer to where we climbed.

  The smell of rotten flesh and burnt ash was the only indication of the monsters roaming the forest below us. We had already encountered a few in our short time here, and not one of them had made any noise until they were on top of us, so quick we nearly missed them. They were silent while they stalked, but guttered screams tore through them when they attacked, rapidly attracting more to our location.

  My arms burned and my breath laboured by the time I reached the top. Leaning against the tree with his leg stretched out on a large branch was the guy we had followed here. His arms rested behind his head as if we weren’t nearly one hundred feet above the ground.

  I wrapped my legs around the branch I sat on, and Theo did the same slightly below me.

  “They can’t climb?” I asked.

  The guy snorted. “Are you an idiot? Of course they can climb. It’s just easier to avoid an entire pack from up here.”

  The reality of not being able to get away from them pushed my heart to race more than it already was.

  “Calm down. They can probably hear your heavy breathing you’re so bloody loud,” the guy hissed.

  Theo passed me a canister of water, letting his hand rest on my leg and soothing a small part of me. I took a few slow, deep breaths, trying to calm my heart. I had to get used to this… this new reality. There was no time to feel sorry for myself or hope someone would save us. There was no one to save us, no one who would even miss us. The only thing we could do now was focus on surviving and pray we could find Victoria out here somewhere.

  “We’re looking for a camp. Is there one nearby?” Theo murmured.

  The guy pointed to the ground a few feet from the tree we were in. “Camp number three,” he said. “That’s why I chose this tree. All the smells from humans in and around camps help distract them. Or the others.”

  “The others?” I asked.

  The guy finally glanced over at me, and I noted his brown eyes looked almost black against the setting sun. “First night?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He huffed. “Figures. Should have guessed by all the noise you two made.” He inclined his head down to where Theo sat watching the forest floor, his hand still resting on my leg. “Might want to learn how to be a bit quieter, if you plan to last more than a week out here.”

  “Can we get into the camp?” Theo asked.

  He shook his head. “Closes up at sunset, and it won’t open for anyone.”

  I frowned, looking to the spot he had pointed out. The only thing out of the ordinary was a small, square steel door on the ground. It wasn’t very big, and the shrubs shielded it almost entirely from view. If it hadn’t been pointed out, I would have missed it. The camps must be below ground.

  “I’m Sienna, and this is Theo.” Theo gave a nod without taking his eyes off the forest floor below us.

  “Gunner.” He gave a tight smile.

  We were quiet for a few moments, the forest just as quiet. A warm wind slid down my jacket and made me shiver against the damp sweat clinging to my neck. Theo’s hand was hot against my thigh, and I placed my own over it.

  “Gunner, what did you mean when you said ‘the others’?” I asked, tilting my head up to where he lounged.

  Again, Gunner snorted, as if our ignorance was somehow amusing to him. “The Reeks aren’t the only things inside this forest.”

  “Reeks?”

  “The black things, that’s what they’re called… Reeks,” Gunner answered. “The other things living in the forest are just as terrifying, almost worse, but they only come out at night. Dred Wulfs. Mutated animals that feed on the Reeks… well, they feed on anything, but the Reeks are easiest to catch seeing as the smarter humans make it into a camp before nightfall—when they aren’t being chased by their own comrades. But the Wulfs, they’re not the kind of thing you want to see up close, trust me.”

  I shivered. If those black creatures were living nightmares, what did that make the Dred Wulfs?

  “How long have you been here?” Theo asked. He glanced up to Gunner only for a second before movement below us caught our attention.

  I sucked in a breath, not daring to breathe for fear the Reek below us would know we were there, but within a few seconds, it sprinted off, following a different trail.

  Gunner didn’t even seem phased by the Reek passing below us. “What month is it?” he asked.

  “August,” I answered.

  “Then I’ve been here two years and one month, give or take a few days.” Gunner counted with his fingers as he answered.

  My eyes widened. “Over two years?” No wonder he didn’t seem worried.

  Gunner shrugged. “There are a few others who’ve been here almost as long. But most last a week or two. Hard to compete with the stronger kids. And then there’s the actual monsters—got to watch out for them, too.”

  Theo’s head whipped around. “What do you mean, compete with the stronger kids?”

  Gunner chuckled. “Oh, you guys have a lot to learn. This isn’t the kind of place that endorses teamwork or sticking together, unless of course, someone can provide compensation for your assistance. It’s every man for himself; you’ll learn that quickly, even those who team up find that out eventually. If you aren’t faster than someone or stronger than them, you won’t be here for long.”

  My mouth hung open. “Why wouldn’t everyone just work together?”

  Gunner shrugged. “People are selfish. We all want to live.”

  “But—”

  “Listen, princess, I get where you’re going with this, but these people will not agree with you. The ones who work together only do so to take the rest of us down, and they don’t last long. No one will help you out here, so I’d suggest you just get used to it that way. It’s the ones who think they can save everyone that die first. The ones who are too kind for their own good.” Gunner leaned back against the tree again and closed his eyes. “The quicker you forget your human nature, the longer you’ll live.”

  Theo squeezed my leg as he watched my face fall and he knew why. My heart dropped. Not because I couldn’t do it—because I could. I went into the Underground every weekend with the sole purpose of self-preservation, and I didn’t care who I had to beat up along the way.

  No, that wasn’t why my whole world felt like it had shattered with one small revelation. It was because I knew someone who would have a hard time learning that lesson, and who wasn’t stronger than anyone…

  My pulse quickened, and I swallowed back the tears welling up in my eyes. Vic would never survive the Void, which meant she likely was already dead.

  SIENNA

  Exhaustion had taken hold, but my body was too on edge to allow me to sleep, which left me with bloodshot eyes that ached. Every rustle in the forest demanded my focus. Gunner had dosed on and off until the sun began to rise, and he finally said it was safe enough to climb down.