Page 2 of Resurgent

Vanguard finished class a while ago; everyone in Bravo Company should already be at the museum, and none of the Delta recruits are here yet. Who the hell—

“If you can hear me, I need you to make some noise!” the voice calls.

I freeze.

Fucking hell, I’d know his voice anywhere.

Matt Reyes. What the fuck is he doing out here?

I step toward the back window, holding my breath as I listen. Matt definitely shouldn’t be out here. Not tonight. Not yelling like that.

“Lee!”

The nickname hits me like a punch to the gut.

Lee. Annalise Corvin.

Ice floods my veins as my thoughts begin to spiral.

I know she likes to run, but it's almost always in the morning, and rarely in the woods. To add to that her friends are graduating today, and she should be safe in her room, getting ready for a night of celebration and frivolity.

But Matt’s voice is raw, shredded, frantic in a way I’ve only seen him once before.

Without a second thought, I drop everything to the ground and pull my gun from it's holster. My boots barely hit the steps before I’m jumping over the last of them as I sprint in the direction I think his voice is coming from.

For a second, I worry the trees warped the location of the sound.

“Reyes!” I shout.

Branches snap in the direction of the Vanguard building, I pick up speed.

“Over here!” Matt calls back, waving his arms in the air so I can find him, which was a good move because he’s a little further north-west than I was headed.

When I reach him, his face is a mixture of determination and hysteria.

“Have you seen her?” he demands. “Lee—I can’t find her. Have you seen her?”

He’s talking to me, but his eyes don’t stay—darting past me, through me, searching, every inch of space his eyes can settle on. He's so focused, I’m not sure he’d even register if I answered.

“Stop. Talk to me.” I step into his path, forcing him to halt, forcing his focus.

“I can’t stop! Something happened, and I can’t find her!”

“What do you mean, something happened? How do you know?”

He’s scanning the trees like she might simply step out of them if he looks hard enough—but that’s rarely how this works. I need information. I need something solid. I need to help him. Help her.

Grabbing his shoulder hard enough to ground him, I turn him to fully face me.

He already believes she’s gone, I can see it. Now I need to know why.

“Matt, talk to me so I can help you find her. What happened?”

He rakes his hands through his hair, pulling so hard it has to hurt. “I don't know, okay? But something happened to her, I'm sure of it." His breath stutters. "Everyone else is at graduation, so it’s only me looking. I have to find her. I promised—I promised I’d always find her!"

Tears race down his face, and I can almost taste his desperation in the air.

“Okay, we’re going to find her. How do you know something is wrong?”