The crunch of rocks beneath our feet makes the answering silence loud. I start to apologize, explaining I hadn’t meant to offend her, but she cuts me off with a shrug.
"Wasn’t much of a home lately. Half of us died last winter, slowly starved to death. This winter would've been worse."
"Didn't… Why didn’t The Capital send relief supplies?"
She rolls her eyes. “They sent relief alright.”
My throat constricts at her bitter tone. Oh rut, that doesn’t sound like a happy story.
“Alphas from the military came and made us an offer: enlist and your family gets fed. My brothers signed up so I could eat.” Her weak leg stumbles over a loose rock, and I have to squeeze my nails into my palm to stop myself from reaching out to steady her. “The food never came, and I haven't heard from my brothers since. I figure they’re dead on some battlefield.”
No wonder these folk don't trust Alphas. The last ones who promised salvation betrayed them in the most heinous way.
“You don’t know that, they might be alive…” I trail off, feeling naive and stupid. She doesn’t need my false platitudes.
“Ihopethey aren’t alive. Better to die fighting beside comrades than starve to death alone.”
Frack. That's grim.
Maybe she’s right and I’m a pampered Omega princess sheltered from the harsh realities of living in Fathim. The Omega Division wasn’t that bad… I certainly never felt like death was knocking at my door.
I swallow the thick saliva. What do you say to someone who’s lost everything?
"Well, I’m glad you’re still here.”
“Barely.”
“You must have put up one hell of a fight to escape and survive the enemy.”
With a brief, dismissive glance, she shrugs. "Before my eldest brother left, he taught me how to fire his gun. Only good thing about Humans is they die easy. Wish Alphas did… tough bastards."
I lick my lips, shove down the lurching feeling of horror, maybe it’s a mistake to bring her to the camp. There are a lot of Alphas in Zero’s troop, not to mention my Pack. What if I’m bringing a threat to their feet?
I know that Blaze has radioed in on my mission progress, but I wish I could personally warn them. Our internal communications cut off about half an hour outside of the processing camp. The tethers in my heart didn’t weaken though. They stayed just as taut and golden as always.
Shade will be interested in the data for his research, but it just means I’m flying blind and I miss the reassurance that they’re just a thought away.
I glance at the girl again. The blood stain on her thigh has grown and looks wet. She’ll need medical attention immediately. Hopefully, that means she’s too weak to put up much of a fight.
Well, it’s too late to turn around now, so I focus on the mountains looming larger with each step. We're in its shadow now, the sun dipping below its crest. We will reach the campsite as darkness falls.
"Alphas aren't any better than Humans, in the end," she adds. "Both want us dead."
I bite the inside of my cheek. There is no use arguing with her, not when her convictions are so strong.
"You know there are Alphas at the camp where we're going to, right?” I hesitantly ask. “Is that gonna be a problem?"
"It'll be fine if they don't mess with us."
"They're not like that," I rush to say. I can't speak for the soldiers at the processing camp, but I know my Pack will keep them from harming innocent civilians.
“Alphas arealways'like that'.”
She’s wrong.
"You'll see."
"Yeah, I bet I will."
