My brow furrowed. “That’s not possible.”

  The girl shrugged. “It is for her.”

  Again, the boy in the back told us to shut up but I ignored him. “Where can I find her?”

  “You can’t.”

  “I mean, where was she last seen?”

  The girl cackled. “Do you not listen? She’s a ghost! You can’t see her.” She laughed again, and it sounded harsh against the small camp. Then I noticed the tremors in her hands and the wild look in her eyes.

  I sighed. What was I doing listening to some lunatic? There’s no way this Ghost could be Vic. There probably wasn’t even a Ghost, just some wild imagination of a kid who’d seen too many living nightmares she couldn’t decipher which ones were real.

  Vic could never survive inside the Void at night.

  One of the two guys seated across from me sighed. “You probably won’t find her, but your best bet is to check near Camp Fifty-Three, eight miles north of here. That’s where I last heard word of her checking in. She stays close to one of the Distribution Camps, so she can drop off her artifacts easily… she’s always got them, and there’s a Distribution Camp less than a mile from Camp Fifty-Three.” He went back to tugging on the rough, dry meat in his hand.

  “She’s real… the Ghost?” I asked, glancing back at the girl who still howled with laughter.

  The boy nodded. “Afraid so, but I wouldn’t put my money on you ever catching her.”

  Could Vic really be the Ghost they spoke of? The sweet, innocent girl I’d met didn’t look the type to survive even one night in this forest, yet this place did something to us. Turned us into someone else, something different. Maybe it was our true self; maybe what we became in the Void was who we really were.

  Maybe we were all just ghosts.

  My feet crunched under dry leaves, making more noise than I’d prefer, but I was in a hurry. The sun was beginning to set quicker as the summer months were slowly coming to a close. Soon, colder weather would be here. I wouldn’t make it to Camp Fifty-Three before the sun set, but I was close.

  When the wind shifted and the familiar smell of the Reeks wafted through the air, I stopped and began to climb the tallest tree I could find. I’d spent more than a few nights in the forest. It wasn’t my first choice, but so far today I’d avoided the Reeks, and I didn’t want to take any chances.

  Using some rope I stole off a kid who’d been dissolved right in front of me, I tied myself to the tree and leaned back, closing my eyes. Part of me wondered if I was losing my grip on reality. What’d I’d already seen out here—done out here—it was slowly changing me, and now I was on a ghost hunt.

  I only had a minute of rest before the leaves of the trees rustled, and there was movement below me. The Reeks were terrifying, a nightmare reincarnated. But the Dred Wulfs, they were vicious, ruthless, and smart. They had no problem tracking down humans, Reeks, or any other prey for that matter. They were cunning creatures I’d rather not face tonight. Or ever again.

  I held my breath as the enormous beast sheathed in thick, silver and black fur stalked by. Its yellow eyes shone against the moonlight filtering through, and the copper tang of blood filled the air from its teeth glimmering against the starlight, three sharp rows of them. The Wulfs had owned this forest, been born it in after a nuclear war long ago that shaped our world into what it was now, long before even the Carbon war and the Peace-Making. They were just as terrifying as the Reeks.

  The Dred Wulf turned towards where I hid, but a scream echoed in the distance and caught its attention. The Wulf took off towards it.

  I settled back against the tree. A few hours went by before anything else caught my eye. Below where I hid, a few yards away, were half a dozen Reeks slowly creeping through the forest searching for something to feast on, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. Five of the Reeks moving towards me had twitchy gaits, always searching the forest and moving on nearly silent feet even under the thick brush. They were hunters—killers. Their heads twisted from side to side, sniffing the air before turning towards a sound in the distance as another scream cried out.

  None of this was out of the ordinary. What was weird was the sixth Reek. The last Reek had its head down, watching the forest floor with careful consideration and slow, controlled movements. This wasn’t the movement of the Reeks.

  At the sound of another scream, the five Reeks took off, but the last stayed, continuing to gaze at the ground. I leaned forward to look over the edge of the branch I sat on, and the limb groaned with my movement. I held my breath as the Reek below paused.

  Then, bright eyes gazed up at me.

  Silver eyes, almost white like snow against the darkness covering its body. We both paused, barely breathing as we stared at each other. It took a moment for my brain to catch up with what I was seeing.

  Human eyes. Blackness covering a human body, but it wasn’t smooth, burnt-on scales like the Reeks; it was sticky like tar. No. Like the Reeks’ blood.

  This wasn’t a Reek—it was a human disguised as a Reek. The Ghost.

  And this wasn’t just any human: it was Vic.

  Before I could say anything, she took off.

  I climbed down from the tree as quickly as I could, dropping the last ten feet and chasing after her as fast as my feet would take me. She was quicker than me and clearly more accustomed to the darkness than I was. I struggled to keep up, tripping over roots and getting whipped in the face more than once by low hanging branches. A stump nearly brought me to my knees but I staggered on, keeping my gaze glued on her figure, dark in the night. I couldn’t lose her.

  I didn’t dare call her name. Who knew how many more Reeks would soon smell me? Or worse. A Dred Wulf.

  I jumped over a small shrub and skidded under a tipped over tree just as she bounced out of sight. I followed but quickly lost sight and sound of her. She was gone.

  I let out a long breath just before something caught my attention to my left.

  A large branch swung for my head, and I ducked just in time. In a flash, the knife and gun from the sleeve of my jacket were out and aimed at the head of the Reek a few feet away. But I stopped short when those silver eyes stared back.

  “Why are you following me?” Vic asked with surprising anger.

  “Vic?” I said.

  Her eyes widened and she stepped back. Her mouth gaped.

  I moved forward, putting my weapons away and keeping my movements slow as Vic continued to move away from me. I could see the confusion in her eyes. Her hands trembled.

  “Vic, it’s me, Caspian… Em’s friend.” I kept my voice low. I took another step forward. She retreated. I stopped, hands up to show I wasn’t going to harm her.

  “How…” she began.

  “It’s a long story, but I’m here now, and I’m going to get you out.” I took a tentative step towards her again, and this time she stayed rooted where she stood. “I can protect you. It’s going to be okay.”

  She shook her head. “There is no way out of here. I’ve tried.”

  “I have a way, trust me,” I said, offering my hand.

  Vic glanced at it, then to her hand. “You shouldn’t be out here. They’ll find you. They’ll kill you.”

  “I know, which is why we need to move.” I curled my fingers. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “No, it’s not. It will never be okay… the things I’ve done… the things I’ve seen…” Vic stumbled, and she suddenly looked so fragile and small as she spoke. Her voice cracked, and for a moment she was that same scared girl from the DEZ we couldn’t protect. Then her eyes turned cold. “There’s no way out. The only way to survive is to sacrifice yourself and become something else and I have. I’m not the same Vic you met before.”

  “I know,” I whispered. I knew all too well the things this place could make you do—even someone as sweet and innocent as Vic.

  “You must leave me,” Vic said firmly. She stood up a little taller and took another step back.

  “I can’t do that, Vic.” I shook my head. “We’re sticking together, no matter what.” Vic opened her mouth to argue, but I gripped her hand. “We will get out of here, I promise you. I will get us out, and you will never have to be this again.” I nodded to the black blood covering her body. Breathing through my mouth, I did my best to ignore the burning the scent brought to my nostrils. It was surely the only reason we hadn’t been found yet. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Vic’s tiny hand squeezed around mine, and her wide eyes filled with tears as she said, “Even if you can get us out… we will never escape the monsters inside of us.”

  I took a blanket from my pack and cleaned off as much of the black blood from Vic’s face as I could. She stood still in my arms, staring blankly into the night. Then she let me lead her to a tree, which we climbed as high up as we could. I leaned against the thick trunk and let Vic rest her small body against my chest. She was asleep within seconds, and I had to wonder when the last time she had slept, but I couldn’t sleep.

  All I could think of was her words: We will never escape the monsters inside of us.

  SIENNA

  For two days, we followed Gunner, trying to find out how he had survived for so long. We trailed behind him into the forest until he inevitably got away. He was far too fast for us and knew every turn and trail and tree in this forest, so there was no hope in keeping up.

  The Poachers kept up with us, too. They were much better than we were at tracking, but even they couldn’t keep up with Gunner, so they followed us instead. Theo hadn’t said much since our last encounter with the Poachers, when he’d killed one of them attacking us, but I could see the guilt eating at him. We hadn’t found anything, and we only had one day before all three of us, Theo, Camilla, and I, would be dissolved.

  “Where the hell does he go every day?” I mumbled. Gunner had disappeared only minutes ago, and my legs and lungs still burned with the effort it took to keep up with him.

  Theo shook his head as he gulped down air, resting his hands on his thighs as he leaned over. “Guy’s a freaking magician or something.”

  I let out a long breath and circled, resting my hands over my head as I tried to get rid of the stitch in my side. The air was getting colder, signalling the end of summer. Soon cold, wet weather would arrive, and with the leaves already changing colors and falling from trees, it was becoming impossible to find an artifact. The forest floor was littered in brown and tan leaves, thick mud and branches. Every step we took was blaringly loud against the otherwise silent surroundings, but there was no way around it. Lucky for us, this was the same for the Reeks and Poachers, and we had the slightest bit of notice when they were near.

  Theo and I walked through the worn trail. I could feel the Poachers nearby; they no longer hid their presence from us. Though we were both strong, and our weapons were always ready, we couldn’t take on all of them. And I knew Theo was avoiding any confrontations; we didn’t want a repeat of last time. Though not many of them work together, they hunted like a pack.

  “Do you think she’ll make it another night?” I asked.

  Camilla was getting worse. Her skin was pale, and sweat coated her brow this morning when I tried to wake her. She managed enough energy to sit up and have a sip of water before she fell back asleep.

  Theo shook his head. “I’m not sure, but it’s not looking good.”

  My shoulders drooped. I didn’t even know why I cared. Camilla wasn’t my friend; she was the girl who tried to kill me and tried to torture Vic. But despite all this, I still felt some twinge of guilt at the thought of leaving her behind and letting her die. No one deserved to die like this. She would either succumb to her injuries or be dissolved if we didn’t find another artifact.

  “Sienna, there’s nothing we can do for her. We have to start focusing on us, on surviving,” Theo said, his hand brushing against mine.

  “I know, it’s just—”

  “We can’t save them all. We can only save ourselves,” Theo said. He’d repeated these words over and over again the last few days. And I knew they were true, I knew it was a waste of time trying to find a way to save everyone, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming.

  Up ahead, a lone Reek stood in the trail we walked. It paused, sniffing its mangled nose towards us before breaking into a run.

  Theo pushed me to the side and aimed his guns at the Reek. It took four bullets before the Reek dropped, landing only a few feet from where I stood.

  “I hate these things,” I mumbled, as I stepped over it quickly. Theo nodded beside me.

  The Reeks on their own weren’t as terrifying as I’d once thought. Maybe I was growing used to them. I was getting accustomed to killing these things without remorse, and I wondered if soon I would feel the same about the other kids in the forest, our competition.

  In the end, it was us or them, and I’d always choose us.

  We broke into a jog, silently watching the forest floor around us pass by. Nothing but leaves and mud. No artifacts, no way out. We’d survived less than two weeks, and it could all be over just like that. I wondered which of us would go first. Would I have to watch Theo be dissolved, or would he have to watch me? We were moving farther north, set on taking our chances closer to the Space Station—it was our only hope now.

  My heart was a lump in my throat, and my eyes burned against the wind and tears wanting to push through, but I bit the inside of my cheek and blinked them away. I would not give up, not yet.

  An unexpected noise brought me out of my dazed state. Voices, much louder than they should be, within the forest.

  Poachers—a full pack of them.

  Theo and I crept slowly behind a nearby tree as we moved closer to the voices.

  At least eight Poachers stood in a circle around two others. The tall one in the middle had his back to us. He seemed to be the leader as he spoke to the other guy across from him. I squinted and the crowd moved just a bit until I noticed who the guy in the middle being taunted was: Gunner.

  “What are they doing?” I asked.

  Theo placed a finger to his lips and crouched down even lower. We crept behind another tree closer to the crowd. We could hear the voices better now, and my veins turned to ice when I realized who the tall man standing in front of Gunner was.

  “Where have you been going every day, Gunner?” Blane asked. His voice was low and lethal, just as I remembered from in the DEZ. He had never said much when we were there; he wasn’t like Camilla had been—looking to torture me every chance she got. But he’d abandoned Camilla when she became a liability. Theo would never do that to me, and the thought suddenly made my blood boil as I watched them circle Gunner.

  “Same place as everyone else, is that a crime?” Gunner shrugged.

  “You’re lying.” Blane moved closer and as he circled around, I caught the black smear under his eyes. They went across his neck and covered his clothing. I leaned in closer and noticed a few others around the circle had the same black markings.

  And then I smelled it. Glancing around, I looked for the Reeks I could smell nearby, but there were none. And when I looked back to the circle, it dawned on me the black smeared on them was Reek blood. They were using it to mask their own scent.

  “Well, you’re entitled to your opinion, Blane, but I’ve got nothing to hide here. So, if we’re about done…” Gunner moved to step around Blane, but Blane pressed a firm hand on his chest.

  “Where are the others?”

  “What others?” Gunner tilted his head in a bored sort of manner.

  “You know who I’m talking about, so don’t play dumb.” Blane’s voice rose.

  Gunner sighed. “Listen, mate, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, nor do I really care. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going.” Gunner stepped around Blane, but two more men blocked his path.

  Blane rolled his shoulders, pressed his fists together, and two short daggers sprung out. “Then I guess you’re not much use to us anymore, are you?” Blane pulled his arm back, ready to drive the dagger into Gunner’s back, but a bullet skimmed his shoulder, and Blane shouted in pain.

  The circle of men dissipated as they searched the forest to see where the bullet had come from. Theo stayed in his position behind the tree he’d just shot around, and I held my breath, hoping they hadn’t seen where the bullet came from.

  “Who’s there?” Blane shouted.

  I peeked just barely around the tree where I found a pair of eyes on me. Two large men held Gunner back, but he had a wide grin on his face, and he winked at me. The others hadn’t seen us yet.

  Despite what Gunner had done, I wasn’t about to let him be slaughtered like this.

  “Come out now, or we’ll hunt you down and take our time killing you,” Blane yelled again, and I winced at how loud he was. The Reeks were sure to hear him, and they’d be here any second now.

  I glanced to Theo, and he tightened his jaw before giving a nod.

  Theo stepped out from behind the tree with the two muzzles of his guns aimed at Blane. “Let him go, and we’ll all just walk away from this. No one has to get hurt.”

  Blane’s eyes widened with recognition. “You two are still alive?” He didn’t hide his disgust as he glared at me.

  “Surprise.” I smirked. “Now as we were saying, we’ll be taking him with us and be going.”

  Gunner took a step towards us but was yanked back. “Didn’t you hear the lady? I’m going with them,” Gunner said. They didn’t release his arms.

  Blane stepped past the front line of men and walked unnervingly close to us, his eyes on the sleek black muzzles from Theo’s jacket. Theo squared his shoulders, the guns followed Blane’s every movement, and he didn’t back down one inch. “You really think the two of you can do any damage to all of us?” Blane waved his arm towards the eight men behind him, and they chuckled along with him.