ia

ars spilled down my cheeks, but a gen

he IV needle out of my arm,

g the dried salt from my skin before cha

paring to

medics were completely distracted by a sudden

tly slipped out the back exi

e the nurses had issued me. Staring at its blank screen for a fraction of a second, I felt a

tom encrypted distress beacon

d leave nothing f

I reached the abandoned E

recounted during his first f

s specific tower meant it w

e that story during one of our late-night extraction drills. H

ad. Its location was remote. And I had left no trackers. It woul

he rusty platform, direc

around me, but I felt

raveler catching the

up in that civil

anymore, and I would eat those ho

ounced. "Vital signs must reach critical threshold.

just needed sev

lights illuminated the base of the

vanished

own in abs

tes of the compound slammed

nto the dirt lot, kicking

t of the lead c

old cartel injury, but he did

the metal stair

the edge, his arms wrapped

slamming us both onto

t my ribs. The metallic scent of it mixed with the sharp salt air. He had torn open the heavy medical bandages f

as trembling viol

you here," he breathed

peaking softly. "I left your

of the cameras on the wall

el cables, his own pain from the raw, open wounds on his palms apparently of no consequ

use. Every navigation tower. Every abandoned structure withi

d me. He had made the entire coastline int

ointed to see m

and letting my body go limp. "You alwa

ly, but his hands staye

calm. "I have seen many targ

ghost over my skin. "But they always r

r chuckle. "Your surviva

u use it to manipulate Cassius. Now, you are usin

into his blo

t, and his injured leg was sha

to the absolute brin

as if it were an incontrovertible fact. "You ar

anical sigh in my mind. "Second extraction failed. External s

I had been forty-th

whispered, my voice hollow. "

d. "There is no home for people like us, Aria. Ther

I said. "And you believed i