A sinister thought crosses my mind.Who’s to say Bree won’t killmeif it comes down to the wire? Would she take the risk of her tracker going off, or would she kill me?I guess I could ask myself the same question. Is that why she’s being so friendly?
“Where is Mori?” she asks as we dip beneath a fallen log, partially held up on one end by the notch of another large tree.
I look around, unsettled by his absence and knowing that he’s out there watching us. “I’m not sure.”
Bree laughs. “Well, that’s disturbing.”
“You’re telling me.” She has no idea how quiet he really is. How he can sneak up behind a person without a sound and cut their throat before they even knew what was happening?
We fall silent until another scream rolls through the pines. Morning rays of sunlight now streak through the underbrush and warm the air.
I glance behind us, spotting the back of Cameron’s heel as he moves through what shadows remain of the night. I think to mention his presence to Bree, but decide it’s better not to draw attention to him.Just in case.
“I hear voices, get into those shrubs,” Bree snaps. Her voice is sharp and I find myself obeying her readily.
We crouch into the evergreen shrubs and lie low. Three heads appear over the slight incline in terrain about twenty feet away. From the way they’re walking, it looks like two males and a female.
I half wonder if other cadets randomly teamed up after the chaos yesterday. Just for the sake of safety in numbers. But a group is easier to spot than one person. The liability is higher.
Their voices are loud and careless. I cringe and almost want to kill them now so they don’t draw others to us. At least their screams would let others know that people are dying and not just being idiotic and talking loud.
Bree seems to sense the same urgency. I glance over at her and watch her jaw flex beneath her mask a few times impatiently.
The woman laughs, drawing my eyes back to the group. My cheeks are flush with anxiety but as she takes a few steps ahead of the others. One of the two men lifts his knife and stabs it into the crux of her neck and shoulder where the jugular artery lies.
Astonishment races through me and my legs start to tremble with adrenaline. “Assholes,” I whisper, feeling the betrayal on her behalf. She dies quickly and they keep walking as if nothing had even happened.
Bree’s brows remain pulled low as she watches them cross our field of vision. “Yeah, they’re people I wouldn’t feel bad about offing. Let’s keep up with them.”
Agreed.
“You’d make a good sergeant someday,” I say. No one is saying that we’re friends by any means, but besides Cameron, she’s the closest thing I have to one.
Bree hesitates before finally looking at me. “If I survive that long,” she says almost somberly, but I can see the hint of a grin shining in her eyes.
We follow the two men for the better part of an hour. The forest falls quiet again as the sun warms the air by a few degrees.
A small creek runs through a break in the trees. It’s a steep decline to the edge of the stream, which is littered with rocks and frosted with ice clinging to the slumbering moss.
I crouch beside Bree as we watch the two men slide down the icy slope and wade across the knee-high water.
That must be freezing.A frown tugs at my lips. Those two have a death wish.
“Shit. I guess we’ll have to let them go.” I breathe slowly, assessing the slope and determining that it’s definitely not logical to follow them across.
Bree shakes her head, a wild glimmer flashing through her gaze. “We can’t let them go. What if we don’t find anyone else out here? Do you want to risk your tracker exploding?”
I flinch and smooth my hand over the bump on the back of my neck. “What about frostbite? We can’t risk something like that out here, Bree. That would be detrimental on a real mission and?—”
“Not to mention that you still have three trials, including this one, to survive, and frostbite would certainly be your end.” Bree gasps at the sound of Cameron’s voice at our backs. We both look at him over our shoulders. He doesn’t let his eyes move from the two men in the creek below. “They were dead the moment they stepped into the water.”
Bree’s eyes narrow distrustfully at him, but she doesn’t say anything. I don’t blame her for being careful around Cameron. He’s unstable at best.
“Where have you been?” I ask, suppressing the chill that rises in my chest now that I can see him in the broad daylight. Dried blood is smeared over his vest and halfway up the side of his mask. I know my uniform probably doesn’t look much different. His eyes are bright and alert, flicking to me briefly before resuming to browse the area.
“Making sure no one is tailing us. I see you’ve foolishly decided to broaden our team.” He stares at Bree with empty eyes. I doubt he’ll spare her life if the opportunity arises.
“It’s only the first trial. We could use as many allies as we can get,” I retort back.
