I dropped down and slipped into the bushes. More shadowy forms emerged, holding the flares high as they silently converged on the cabins. A few voices in town called out in confusion, but not warning. I hid, unsure what to do.
Which classmates were they? What was their plan?
Warn the others, you idiot.
I cupped my hands to my lips. “TRAITORS IN THE VILLAGE!”
Shouts erupted. Glass broke. A tent caught fire.
I bit down on my tongue and tasted blood. Then I sprinted ahead to help.
A flare-wielder appeared in front of me and I shouldercharged the person’s back. The intruder went down with a loud oof. I popped up and kicked my enemy in the head, then spun away.
People were running, screaming. Flames rose. Long shadows climbed the cabin walls.
I grabbed the unconscious form at my feet. The person was wearing a mask—some kind of black nylon sock that covered their whole face. I began peeling it off, determined to expose who it was.
An arm rose to bat me away. I dug in my nails, heedless of the scratches I left.
Something slammed into my temple. I lost feeling in my hands and slumped over on my side.
Stars. Floating lights.
I heard a voice say, “Tie her up.”
Then my eyes rolled back and everything faded to black.
8
NOAH
I hopped from the boat and helped drag it up the dark beach.
My legs were shaking. Shivers wracked my spine. I wanted out of the water, even where it only came up to my knees. I saw the hard line of Akio’s jaw as he held our lantern and could tell he felt the same. Only Ethan seemed unfazed.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the shadows beneath our vessel.
It was the current. Nothing else. Stop psyching yourself out.
But the goose bumps remained. My heart pounded like a galloping horse.
The tides had been hell, and sunset came long before we made landfall. Our last hour on the water had been illuminated solely by moonlight.
That’s when . . . whatever it was . . . happened.
We knew birds and insects shared the world with us. Fire Lake Island was full of them, though they weren’t quite the ones I’d grown up with. Plumages seemed brighter. Calls a touch shriller. There were lizards, too. Mice. Flowers. Trees I could mostly identify, though their needles felt sharper than before. We ate fish from the ocean, and Charlie swore he’d seen a crab once. So I knew some living things had survived the Dark Star.
Life is tenacious and fights like a demon. Hell, look at us. Our species had somehow survived across the span of a million years. We’d outlasted total planetary destruction like the virus we were, so spotting an odd-looking squirrel shimmying up an oak-like tree didn’t shock me too much.
But those swirls.
The feeling of something massive lingering below our tiny vessel.
I could go my whole life, never experience that again, and die ecstatic. No wonder Outpost folks didn’t visit very often.
I glanced at Akio, my lips parting to ask him what he thought. He cut me off with a chopping motion. “Let’s not talk about it. We still have to go back.”
I nodded grimly. Just thinking about our return voyage made me cringe.
Logically, I knew super-predators were extraordinarily rare and required insanely complex ecosystems to exist. The odds were staggeringly high that none could have evolved yet on a planet so badly damaged. But I also knew that I’d felt something huge and scary swim underneath our boat. Logic be damned.
Ethan was peering up at the gloomy bluffs overlooking the beach. “Where are they?”
The Outpost itself was about a mile inland, but Corbin’s team had built a lookout station atop the nearest cliff. I couldn’t see the cabin in the darkness, which meant its signal light wasn’t on.
“Maybe everyone farms now?” I’d only been here once, months ago, but knew Corbin’s settlement bordered a dense forest that covered the rest of the landmass, as far as anyone knew. Those were the woods Tack had vowed to explore.
“Only one way to find out.” Ethan powered a flashlight and strode toward a footpath leading up the bluff. Akio looked at me, shrugged, and started after him. Richie and I took up the rear. He paced silently beside me, making no attempt to communicate. He hadn’t spoken the whole trip. I was beginning to worry that bringing him had been a mistake.
In ten minutes we reached the top and spotted the lonely cabin. It was small and windowless, with a large fire lantern bolted to its roof to act like a lighthouse if necessary. Charlie had radioed ahead that we were coming—in case the Outpost could receive messages—but the tiny building was dark.
The door was closed but not latched. Inside, Akio hung his lantern from a hook in the ceiling, creating a sphere of harsh white light that covered the room. A half-eaten salad was sitting on a pitted table, a wooden fork slumped to the bottom of the bowl. Bugs crawled all over it. The only chair was overturned on the floor, casting a long shadow against the wall.
I glanced at Akio. His lips were thin.
“Looks like someone left in a hurry,” I said.
Akio nodded grimly. “It’s not like that lightning show could’ve snuck up on them. This is something else.”
“These bastards are eating fresh vegetables.” Ethan slapped the rim of the salad bowl, causing it to overturn. “That’s a freaking cucumber. I’d kill for a cucumber.”
“Guess they got things to grow,” I said hopefully. It was encouraging. That was the whole point of the Outpost, and we needed food now more than ever.
“No one would leave that uneaten,” Richie said from the doorway. “Not on purpose.”
I scraped a hand through my sweat-soaked hair. “Let’s get to their camp and find out what’s going on.”
Ethan nodded, adjusting his waistband. My eyes widened in shock. He took two steps toward the door, but I stopped him with a palm to his chest. “Give it to me.”
Ethan tensed beneath my hand. “Don’t touch me, Noah.”
“Then give me the gun and we can move on.”
I gave him a hard stare, but Ethan matched it. “Weapons are communal property,” he said. “I got this one working all by myself. If you want to waltz over there with nothing to protect yourself, be my guest. Not me.” He slapped my fingers away and strode out of the cabin, shouldering Richie aside in the process.
My lungs emptied. I squeezed the bridge of my nose.
So. Ethan had a gun.
Derrick suspected a few were missing. One of the silo alcoves had contained a crate of rifles and pistols, but the seals were cracked and the oil had drained out. The weapons within had rusted and fallen apart, but boxes of ammunition survived. If Ethan had gotten one of those dilapidated pistols cleaned and operable, he might really have firepower.
We’d secured the others inside one of the lab’s fireproof closets, using multiple padlocks. Four of us carried separate keys, meaning all of Min, Derrick, Sarah, and me would be required to open the door. Min had wanted a weapons-free society, and everyone else agreed. We’d had too much violence inside the Program. Plus, with Toby and those others still around at the time, the risk had been higher.
This was the first time I’d seen a gun in play, and I hadn’t even seen it yet.
Maybe he was bluffing? Somehow, I didn’t think so. Ethan had never been a good actor.
Akio was watching me. He arched an eyebrow.
“Let’s just get to Corbin’s camp. But keep an eye on him, okay?”
Akio nodded, and we filed out of the cabin, Richie aiming a last scowl at the overturned chair. I tried not to let on how nervous I was, but I agreed with what Richie had said. I hadn’t eaten a fresh vegetable in—God, what? A million years and change? No chance someone just left that there. Outside, the night sounds were suddenly twice as o
minous.
Ethan was well ahead, his light crossing a long field. We caught up to him as he crested a low rise. The stars gleamed down like glittering diamonds. Night skies were amazing on New Earth. The whole universe opened up for viewing. In the distance, across more rolling grassland, was a darker line of shadows—the woods walling off the island’s interior.
At least, we thought it was an island. No one had been able to circumnavigate it by boat because the shoals were too treacherous, and as far as we knew Tack hadn’t breached the forest. But his last report had been a while ago.
Like he wants regular radio chats. He moved here to get away from us.
I pushed the thought aside. I couldn’t do anything to fix Tack’s issues, and respected his desire for space. Min choosing me must’ve sliced to the bone. I’d have felt the same in his shoes. Hell, I’d have done the same. This was the only place on Earth to live that wasn’t directly under her nose.
Corbin had built the Outpost hard against the tree line so they’d have easy access to timber and could shelter from the howling thunderstorms. The cabins were still a five-minute walk from where we stood, but I could already tell something was wrong.
“No lights,” I said. “Not even a campfire.”
The moon was up, and the first cultivated plots cast shadows on either side. I thought I recognized stalks of corn. But the Outpost itself was as black as midnight. Not a soul was in sight.
Ethan began trotting forward. His hand slid to his waistband.
“Stay here until I signal,” I said to Akio and Richie. They both did as ordered, nervously eyeing the silent compound. I sped up even Ethan, and we jogged the last hundred yards together.
Dark cabins. No one appeared.
“What the hell?” Ethan hissed. We halted beside the cold fire pit and swung our flashlights, scanning for any sign of the nine people who called this place home. “Where’d they go?”
My beam stopped on one of the cabins. Its door stood wide open.
I nudged Ethan and pointed. The pistol appeared in his hand as if by magic.
We crept to the doorway. Ethan stuck his nose through, then disappeared inside. I turned and waved my light back and forth at Richie and Akio, then followed him. The room held two chairs, a table, and a desk, all upended. A cot and thin camping mattress were flipped against the far wall. Papers littered the floor, along with torn pieces of clothing and a mound of broken glass.
Ethan glowered at the wreckage. “What the hell?” he repeated.
I found an electric lantern and turned it on. “Someone tossed this room.”
“I see that, Noah. Thanks.” Ethan threw a hand at the overturned desk. “My question is why. Did someone go nuts?”
“Corbin would’ve sent word.” My insides turned to jelly. “Other people did this.”
“You mean Toby.”
“Who else?”
“But there’s only six in Toby’s group. Nine people lived here.” Ethan started ticking off fingers. “Corbin. Liesel. Neb. Kayla. Isaiah. Emma. Darren. Benny. The happy pioneer couples.”
“Plus Tack. What’s your point?”
“My point is, how do six losers erase nine able-bodied people without—” He cut off suddenly. “Unless . . .”
I nodded at his white-knuckled grip. “Unless that isn’t the only gun on the loose.”
Sarah had encountered Toby down in the lab complex. Could he have gotten into the weapons closet? But then what? He took the whole Outpost prisoner? How? Where?
A cold horror crept over me.
Laying charges for a cave-in was one thing. Toby might’ve thought Sarah’s group were all safely inside the living quarters. Surely he wouldn’t . . .
“Guys!”
My headed whipped to the sound of Richie’s voice. Ethan charged back outside, holding his Glock like he knew what to do with it. Of course he did. We all did.
I froze in place in the darkened room. My inhalations grew ragged. Cold sweat trickled down my spine. Old anxieties surfaced as my heart started hammering out of control.
I exhaled deeply. Closed my eyes.
I couldn’t have a panic attack. Not here, not now. Not around these guys.
I focused on my breathing and counted down to zero. When I felt under control again, I stepped out into the night.
Ethan was by the fire pit with Richie, who was mumbling something too low for me to hear. I spotted Akio’s lantern close to the woods, beside a large field tent pitched beyond the circle of cabins. I knew instinctively it was Tack’s.
Ethan called me over. He aimed his flashlight at a softballsized rock on the ground. It was light gray and coarse, typical of the local granite and no doubt used to ring the fire. But when I looked closer, I saw a dark, rust-colored stain coating the bottom half of the stone.
“Oh crap,” I said.
“Blood,” Richie confirmed. “Even weirder, there was an upside-down bucket over this rock, like someone wanted to make sure it wasn’t disturbed.”
I blinked down at the stone, then the bucket. Who left this here? Why? Then Akio shouted. Ethan re-covered the rock and we hustled over to the tent.
The forest was pitch black, with ghoulish, elongated shadows. I couldn’t fathom going in there by choice. I didn’t want to imagine what might be watching us from under those eaves right now.
“Check this out.” Akio set his lantern down inside the tent and held open the flap. I entered first, and found almost nothing— a trunk of clothes, a small desk, a single cot. A crude drawing was pinned to one canvas wall. I recognized Tack’s terrible cartography immediately.
The map appeared to mark features of the forest’s interior. Which made sense—that was Tack’s self-imposed mission here, to explore the woods. I stumbled upon another lantern and turned it on as Ethan and Akio piled in behind me.
We all studied the map. My eye was drawn to what looked like a recent addition to the artwork.
In the center, a sharp peak rose out of the surrounding forest. Beyond it ran a line of question marks, seeming to indicate the extent of Tack’s explorations. The peak was circled in bright red, with an arrow aiming at it and the word HERE! printed in block capital letters. Everything about the notation had the feeling of being done in a hurry.
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “This seems obvious.”
Ethan looked ready to chew nails. “That’s it? An arrow on a crappy map? Why the hell didn’t he write something clearer?”
Akio glanced outside. “Maybe this was all he could manage.”
“God I hate that kid,” Ethan muttered. “Useless to the end.”
He turned to go, but I caught his arm. “Wait. Look.” I pointed to the bottom of the map.
There was a second red arrow. Aimed straight down.
At a dark bundle on the tent floor.
I knelt and unrolled a length of rough canvas. Inside was an ordinary claw hammer, molded as a single piece of slate-gray metal. The tool was worn by long use, but curiously light in my hands. I lifted it to show the others.
Ethan snorted. “Awesome. He wants us to bring him a hammer. I’m going to pound that loser with it when we find him.”
Something about the hammer. Its weight, or maybe the balance. This one felt different from others I’d used around the village. Curious, I flipped it over so the bottom of its shaft faced up. Every tool in the silo was stamped with a serial number that corresponded to a storage alcove location. I wondered where Tack had found this one.
Except this hammer didn’t have a serial number.
Instead, the word CHRYSALIS was etched into the base of its handle.
I stared at the engraving. The tent walls closed in.
This hammer was impossible. This hammer couldn’t be.
“Noah?” Akio’s voice carried an edge of worry. “Everything okay, man?”
&
nbsp; I swallowed. “This didn’t come from the silo.”
“What?” Richie snapped, even as Ethan snatched the hammer from my hands.
“Of course it did.” Ethan swung it in a tight arc. “This is forged titanium. They’re not smelting metals out here, dumb-ass.”
I ran a hand over my mouth, barely able to think. “Guys, I’ve rooted through every crate in the silo. They’re all catalogued the same way, and the contents are stamped in an identical manner. The tools even look the same. This hammer . . . It’s not from that cache.”
Stunned silence. Even Ethan seemed taken aback as he thought it through. He knew the tools as well as I did.
“You think it . . . survived?” Richie asked. “Like, from before Nemesis?”
I shook my head. “Nothing lasts that long.”
Ethan threw up his free hand. “Then where the hell is it from, Livingston?”
“No idea,” I said honestly. Then I nodded at the scarlet circle in the center of the map.
“But we need to find Tack.”
PART TWO
THE WILD
9
MIN
I awoke in utter blackness.
Head pounding. Throat dry. It was cold. I was inside a building but lying on dusty floorboards.
For a moment I remembered nothing, then it all rushed back.
I sprang up and reached out blindly, found that my wrists were bound. My knuckles smacked against a wall of wooden planks. Don’t panic. Extending my arms, I shuffled sideways, running my fingers down its length until I reached a corner, a journey of no more than a few steps. From there I continued along the next wall, bumping into a table and sliding around it. I’d nearly completed the circuit when I tripped over something and thudded painfully to the ground.
The “something” groaned.
I made a less than heroic squawk, scrambling backward until my shoulder blades slammed against the far wall. Biting back a yelp, I focused on the scraping and grumbling on the other side of the room. Supply shed. I knew every square inch of the village—I was inside one of the storage buildings, but had no idea how I’d gotten there, or who was with me.
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