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Rix and Jorik joined us and Zane stepped away a few paces. My eyes opened, and the relief I’d felt with Zane so close behind me was gone.
I choked back the bile that rose up my throat from the return of the pressure and, without saying a word, followed them deeper into the woods, away from the lake and the boulder, to open the box.
I already knew what would be in it.
Food, water, weapons, a first aid kit, and clothes for me. I also asked Neffers to put some shoes in the kit, since I knew I’d be escaping during training and would not have any shoes with me. Thankfully, the man hadn’t let me down.
I pulled the shoes on, despite how much I loved the feeling of the forest floor beneath my feet, and my whole body instantly felt warmer.
I grabbed the sweater that Neffers had packed for me and put that on, too. Then slung my bow, quiver, and the automatic rifle back on my back.
“We need to get moving,” Zane said, stuffing everything from the survival kit into the backpack that Neffers had supplied and slinging it over his back. “If we can make it to the boat before sunrise, that would be best.”
I kept wanting to snidely say, “What makes you thinkweare going anywhere?” But if mouthing off to Commander Moord as a teenager had taught me anything, it was that you kept snide comments to yourself if you didn’t want to get electrocuted for three days and starved for twelve. Not that Zane had the means to do that, but he definitely gave off the “don’t mess with me” vibe more than the other two. He and Commander Moord probably got along swimmingly. I also didn’t have the energy to launch such barbs. Every ounce of brainpower I had was being allocated to keeping my senses in check and my head from exploding.
Silently, we fell into line and kept following the North Star.
Neffers told me that he made it as easy as possible for me to find the survival kit and the boat since, you know, I’d never been outside before and could easily get lost in the dense wilderness we were currently in.
Not that I had a watch, but for what I’d guess was two hours, we walked in total silence. The hoot of owls and the distant call of wolves was the only sound, save for our breathing and the gentle crunch of leaves and twigs beneath our feet.
I had a million questions for these men, but none of them seemed like they were interested in talking.
Not only did I have questions, but as someone who had been raised from birth by artificial intelligence, scientists and mercenaries, with the closest thing to a father figure being Commander Moord, I was starved for human interaction of any normal kind. Neffers had been the nearest thing to someone I’d call a friend, and I had absolutely no clue if I’d ever see him again.
Zane, who was at the front of our little four-person hiking train, stopped abruptly and held up his hand. We all stopped, too.
A smile spread across my face, and my heart rate picked up.
The ocean.
I’d seen pictures of it in books, but I’d never seen it in real life. Never heard it or smelled it. Briny. Salty. Fresh.
Magical.
My brain still felt like it was in a vice—or one of Moord’s numerous other torture devices—as all the smells, sounds, and sensations of the forest collided inside my head. I couldn’t enjoy the sound or scent of the ocean because it just added to the already overflowing pile.
I held my breath for a moment and closed my eyes.
They were probably thinking what I was thinking. We were close to the boat, which meant there could be an ambush on the beach.
I tried to dismiss their three unique scents and the slow, rhythmic beats of their hearts and attempted to locate other heartbeats, other scents of humans.
There were certainly other creatures nearby. The rapid beat of a mouse’s heart was less than five feet away, another heartbeat in the trees—likely an owl.
I turned into the wind, not that there was much of one, and kept my eyes closed.
I didn’t smell anyone else. But maybe that’s because Icouldn’t.
I smelled the woods, the sea, and the men around me, but nothing nefarious stood out. However, the more I focused, the more sensations began to swarm me. The more sounds, the more faint heartbeats, the more scents.
It felt as though the pressure of everything was pressing on the back of my eyes and they were going to pop out of my skull soon.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, and when the wind blew against it, a chill racked my body, making me shiver.
With a wince, I opened my eyes and glanced ahead of me. I realized Rix, Jorik and Zane were doing the same thing I’d been doing. They were facing the wind and breathing in any sign of danger.
I breathed in deep, too, and studied each of their profiles for a hot minute before they, one by one, blinked open their eyes, grunted and Zane gave the signal to keep moving.
