“Nah, I’m good.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
I put my heavy backpack on and head out of camp, relieved and tense over it at the same time. It’s not a good time for the leader to leave, but I won’t be far enough away that I can’t get back here quickly if they need me.
I have to put some space between me and Briar. Much as I hate to do it, I know it’s necessary. Seeing her every day and not telling her how I really feel is slowly destroying me.
It’s impossible for me to get over her, but I need to find a way to function again. Everyone in camp is relying on me to make the right decisions. I can’t do that when I’m thinking about Briar more than anything else.
Every step I take should make me feel calmer. Steadier. But instead, I sense the slight tremble of the ground many feet beneath. The surface of the ground isn’t physically moving, but just like with my wolves, I sense the movement. It’s deep below the surface, a vibration I can feel deep inside.
Having control of the very ground beneath us is too much. It’s too risky. But I can’t stop it. All I can do is try to dull myemotions and keep them locked away when they try to rise to the surface.
Flavius is near. Just like with the ground, I sense his movement. Feel the pacing of his feet as he gets closer to me.
I’m glad he’s here. He’s the only one I trust myself around right now.
11
“It’s extraordinary. Humanity will never be the same, and every scientist on our team is awestruck. History will remember us for this.” – Excerpt from the journal of Ingrid Voss, leader of Island Three
Briar
When she’s well enough, Ellison has some celebrating to do.
After all these years, we finally have a dentist in camp. As the only healthcare provider, Ellison has done her best to handle toothaches and other dental issues that arise, but she has no dental training.
“How many years were you a dentist?” Nova asks Wendell Dade, one of the prisoners who came on the last boat.
“Let’s see.” Wendell pushes up his glasses, which are missing a lens. “Before the virus, seventeen years. And since the virus, I’ve done what I can for people.”
“And what was your crime against New America?” I ask.
He stiffens. “Their soldiers captured two of my friends. I helped rescue them.”
“Tell us more about the two friends.”
“Shayla and Brynn. They joined our group, I don’t know, like a year before they got captured. We were just passing through and we were going around Atlanta, but they got us anyway.” His gaze lands on the blackXinked onto the back of one of my hands. “Brynn was marked. We knew they’d kill her if we couldn’t get her out.”
A prickling sensation creeps up my spine. “Is that what they do now? Kill those women right away?”
His expression darkens. “Usually. They do public executions to deter women from using birth control.”
My stomach hollows out. “Public executions?”
“Fertility rates have dropped in the past couple of years. No one knows why.”
I glance at Nova, whose expression is stoic, as usual.
“If we set you up in a space, are you able to check the wounds of the other prisoners and give basic medical care?” she asks Wendell.
“You mean the incision sites where your nurse practitioner took out the devices that were implanted in us on the boat?”
“Yes, and whatever else comes up. Our usual provider is unavailable.”
“What happened? We heard someone was kidnapped.”
“This is a one-sidedQandA,” Nova says. “You’re on theAside, so yes or no?”
