Chapter 48
CHAPTER
THAD
Charley was asleep. Considering it was still dark, I wasn’t surprised.
It was my turn on watch. I sat with my back against the rock, blade in my hand. So far there’d been no sign of raiders or big cats on this Search, which was good.
And there’d been exactly one gate, which was bad.
We’d been gone for seven days. In seven noons, we’d seen one exit gate.
A single, too far away to catch. Equally surprising, it was Miya who’d spotted the gate.
Now officially the youngest person in the City, she’d latched on to Jason after Talla’s death and refused to leave his side, so our team had gained a plus one. But it didn’t help.
I was still here.
And I had fifty-four days left.
Charley’s words from a week ago ran through my head. Don’t you dare give up on me now, Thaddeus Blake … not when you have sixty-two days left and at least that many chances …
But she was wrong. If you averaged my odds, I’d be lucky to spy one gate a week. And with just under eight weeks left, I had maybe eight shots. Twelve at best. It wasn’t the Dark Side talking; it was Nil reality.
Only six hours until today’s noon.
Tick-tock.