Chapter 33 Emery
EMERY
Twelve of us are led outside at the mouth of the bunker. It’s not snowing today. The sky is clear and birds have the audacity to chirp like it’s a cheerful morning.
We were marched out here the moment the lights turned on. No showers, no breakfast… No Cameron.
I nervously glance around, but can’t find him. Where the fuck did he go?
Bree stands beside me and fidgets anxiously too.
“Where’s killer boy?” she asks without looking my way. We’re all studying the armed soldiers that create a wall to either side of us, leading up to the forest. The only path unblocked is straight ahead.
Sweat beads down my back and makes my breaths shorten.
“I have no idea.” My response is clipped, and my unease only makes hers worse.
Damian has his arms crossed tightly and grumbles, “Why is General Nolan here?” My eyes quickly find Nolan strutting up the ramp from the bunker, speaking with Drill Sergeant Adams and Lieutenant Erik.
“No clue,” I mutter. Bryce is awfully quiet. It’s unlike him, but he seems very nervous about this trial in particular. He is smaller than most, like me. So I get it, especially if it comes down to a one-on-one fight.
Adams makes his way to the center of our small group, a bright smile plastered on his face, one that I know holds no actual warmth.
“Congratulations for making it to the final trial, Cadets. This is the first implementation of a challenge like this, so I hope everyone takes pride in being here today.” We all shift uneasily.
Even Wraith and Arnold seem on edge, not eager and power hungry like they were during the first trial.
Adams says loudly, “You will be tested in how well you can evade a pursuing enemy. One of you will be the prey, running for your life, weaponless, to the checkpoint. The other will be the predator, armed with a combat knife. If the prey gets to the checkpoint before being murdered, you win, and the predator will be terminated. But if the prey is killed beforehand, well, that’s obvious. ”
My stomach sinks. The others seem grim as well, looking around at the faces of their fellow cadets one last time.
Only half of us are going to make it out of this. My eyes search the identities of the guards once more, but I don’t see him. Cameron, where are you? I worry my lower lip.
Drill Sergeant Adams walks down and circles us slowly as he continues: “Six groups in total. You will remain where you are until you’re called up. If you try to retaliate, you will be terminated. If you refuse to obey—”
Bree huffs under her breath. “Let me guess: you will be terminated.”
Adams hears her and snaps his head our direction. She stiffens, eyes widening as her attention goes straight to the ground.
“I’m sorry, it looks like Cadet Pazely would like to go first.” He motions his arm for her to move to the front of the group. Her jaw slacks and her pupils dilate with horror. “Get up there!” Adams shouts when she hesitates.
I’m reminded in this moment that we don’t have any choices down here. Not when it comes to obeying our superiors. It comes crashing into my chest—the fact that I’m still where I’ve always been, only under different management—I’m still a little executioner.
My heart sinks as I watch her stand, trembling like a leaf before everyone.
“You’ll be okay,” I whisper, hoping that my words of encouragement give her a little confidence. She nods at me and offers a worried but thankful smile.
“Cadet Belkin, head up there.” Adams’s voice is nothing short of a roar. Arnold slowly moves up and stands uncertainly next to Bree.
Oh God, why Arnold? My palms are clammy, and I can’t help but shift from leg to leg with unease.
I shut my eyes and try to soothe my nerves. It’s almost like the more I try to calm myself down, the worse it gets.
“Cadet Maves.” Every muscle in my body tenses, and a soft gasp escapes my lips.
Bree gives me a nervous nod as I stand beside her.
I let my gaze meet Arnold’s—he’s as callous as he always is, looking unmovable and without emotions.
I’m not sure if it’s an act or if he really doesn’t feel fear like the rest of us, but I swallow, hoping that this won’t end with either Bree or myself dead.
Cameron was right when he said I’d die if I didn’t take those pills last night. There’d have been no way I could run through the goddamn forest with the wound I took yesterday.
General Nolan stands against the wall of soldiers and inclines his head forward when I look his way. His eyes dance with malice, for what reason, I’m unsure, but I have a horrible feeling coiling in my gut like a pit of snakes.
“Cadet Bale,” Adams calls Bryce up, and he visibly pales as he slowly walks up beside me.
“Maves and Bale, you two will follow after Cadet Belkin and Pazely. These are pretty short, so you won’t have to wait long.
You have ten minutes to get to the checkpoint or die.
” Bree looks like she’s seen a ghost. Arnold only firms his fists at his side.
Bryce trembles so bad beside me that I grip his hand and offer him a reassuring smile. He looks petrified, but manages a weak nod.
“Pazely, you will be the prey. The checkpoint is a red-ribboned tree straight on from here about a mile away. I hope you can run fast. Your five second head start begins in three, two, one.” Adams barely finishes saying the last word and Bree is kicking off as fast as she can into a dead sprint.
Snow and dirt fling up with the force at which she pumps her legs.
“Run, Bree!” I shout, unable to hold myself back from encouraging her. That earns me a nasty glare from Adams, but he resumes looking forward. At the five second mark, he hands a combat knife to Arnold and signals him to give chase.
Arnold is almost as tall as Cameron. His legs are long and he’s all muscle. Fuck, I hope Bree can fight him off. He’s going to catch her quickly. A knot forms in my throat and grows as the minutes pass quietly.
A sharp scream pierces the air and sucks all the oxygen from my lungs.
The terror that gurgles through the treetops is tangible and makes my eyes burn. She’s okay. She knows how to handle someone twice her size. Bree is intelligent and kind.
Bree can’t die. My fists clench at my sides, and I battle with the knot in my throat. Fresh tears are threatening to form in my eyes, but I hold tightly to the belief that she’s fine.
The silence that follows that bloodcurdling sound wears holes into my mind, as I try not to think of what made her scream like that.
No one says a word.
We wait patiently where we are until Arnold reappears from the forest, dragging a lifeless body behind him. Her dark hair drags behind her, and red streaks the snow like paint.
Vomit rises in my throat, but I swallow it down and choke back the trembling wail that rises within me.
Shut it off. I try to force myself to dissociate.
I can’t be emotional right now. I curl my hands into fists so hard that my nails dig into my palms. I can’t tell if it hurts, but the pressure takes some of the forming tears from my eyes.
Fury and hatred coil deep inside my chest. The Dark Forces are truly for the scum of the earth. I can’t imagine being teamed up on a squad with either Arnold or Wraith. I’d probably kill them in their sleep.
I can’t fight the tears anymore. They stream down my face and crash into the snow. For Bree. I will fight as hard as I can, for all of us.
I force my face the other way as he leaves her body at the edge of the soldier-line.
Adams congratulates him as he moves back to the group.
I take little solace in the fact that Arnold looks traumatized from what he just did.
His eyes are sunken, and for once he doesn’t have that stupid grin pulling at his lips.
“Bale, you are the prey. You have five seconds,” Adams shouts.
Instead of taking off right away like Bree did, Bryce spares a second to look at me, acceptance and fear dancing behind his youthful eyes.
Please not like this, I can hear him plead.
Then he throws himself into a full sprint and makes for the forest.
The seconds feel like minutes. I don’t want to chase after him. I don’t want any of this.
“Maves,” Adams mutters nonchalantly, handing me the same blade Arnold used to kill Bree. Her bright red blood still wet on the edge. My eyes flick to her lifeless body on the ground and my heart seizes.
Her lips are already purple from the cold, and her eyes are distant as she stares up into the sky. A grim emotion spreads throughout my soul. This can’t be how her story ends, and yet it’s undeniable that this is her conclusion.
Cam’s words soak into my flesh. “It’s either you or them.”
It’s either me or Bryce.
I don’t want to die.
My grip tightens around the knife, and I swallow all my emotions, letting them fall behind me like severed hands trying to keep me tethered to a harsh reality.
Hunting is something I’m unfortunately good at, but I’ve never had to kill someone I’d formed an acquaintance with. Dissociating is the only way I’ll make it through this.
I sprint as fast as I can after Bryce, tears spilling from my eyes once I break the forest wall where no one can see me. I let the tears crash as I run faster than I knew I could.
Because I don’t want to die.
I don’t want to die, and I will kill Bryce a thousand times if it means I get to be with Cameron.
After a minute, I see Bryce’s fawn, curly hair as he moves quickly through the underbrush. If I caught up this fast, he likely left poison traps in his wake. I divert my path and give ten feet of distance from where his footprints are.
He notices me in the corner of his eye and raises both hands.
I grit my teeth. What the fuck is he doing? I can’t afford to stop and he knows that. If he’s trying to save himself, it won’t work.
Bryce makes a grunt as I tackle him to the ground, pinning his arms and readying to swiftly kill him. Those big hazel eyes pierce me as his breaths stagger.