Rei is fighting Rigel. Kaia is helping her, sort of; she’s a mediocre fighter. I’m not quite sure what Spider saw in her when he picked her.
I turn the corner, boots slippery on the dusty floor. I spot a hidden corner a few feet away. I slide into the alcove, slowing down my breathing. My heart seizes in my chest as I wait for him to disappear.
Aric’s voice echoes behind me, frustration sharp in his tone.
“You can’t hide forever, Common!”
Once his footsteps fade, I push off the wall and break off into a sprint.
I bump into someone, nearly falling flat on my ass. Rei stares at me wide-eyed.
“Got the folder,” she says, waving it around proudly.
The word ‘confidential’ is written in big block letters. This must be the file we were supposed to retrieve.
“Where’s Kaia?” I ask.
“Rigel used his powers,” she says, pointing to her bleeding ears. “She passed out.”
I flinch. She left her behind.
“She’s not one of us,” Rei says. “Come on.”
Kaia would do the same, so I can’t feel too bad.
“Where’s Flint?” I ask. “We can’t leave without him.”
“Let’s search the lower floors.”
We find Flint when we turn right, standing over Odessa. Her neck is twisted at a crooked angle.
“I didn’t mean to…” he whispers. “She jumped out at me.”
His shoulder is bleeding, and his fingers are shaking. Sweat dampens his curls, and his skin is chalky white. There’s a silver blade stuck in his flesh.
“Come on,” Rei says. “We have to get to the extraction doors before Aric and the others find us.”
“Flint,” I breathe, staring at Odessa’s body.
Her eyes are glassy and unfocused. Empty.
“Hey.” I step closer to him. “Look at me.”
I know what this is like. It was the same way I felt the day I killed that girl. Flint’s hands are shaking. Blood slicks his fingers, gleaming in the dark.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” he says again, voice hollow.
“You didn’t,” I insist. “You had no choice. It might not even be real.”
“This place isn’t real, but we are,” he says hoarsely. “We are all real. Flesh and bone.”
Rei passes me the folder and rips a strip of fabric from her waist. She wraps the cloth tightly around his wound. Flint hisses through his teeth.
“We move,” she says calmly. “Now.”
Rei does not flinch in the face of death. She is a soldier to her core. I don’t know if I admire or despise that quality in her. Or if the regime is to blame for it, for digging their miserable handsinto our chest and yanking out our hearts, replacing them with nothing but the will to serve, blindly and obediently.
The passageway is tapered, closing in around us like a fist. As much as we want to dash to the exit, we can’t risk getting caught in a trap. At any moment, Aric and the others can dive out of the dark and attack us.
