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"Good, now get her to wake up," a woman with a much lower, harsher voice demands. "We need to get the hell out of here before the Watchers get up the cliffs."
"I'm not sure I can wake her up," Reece tells her. "Not until I know what she was shot with. Give me a minute."
"We don't have a minute," the woman warns. "We have maybe five minutes tops before they reach the peak, and then we all become Nameless. I hate to say this, but we may need to leave her behind."
"Shut up, Mia," Ryder snaps. "We're not leaving her. That's not what we do or what we stand for."
"I know that," she bites back. "But is one Nameless's life worth all of ours?"
"Yes," Blaise responds. "And if you don't agree with me, then you shouldn't be at the station. You should live in the city with every other fucking coward in this world."
"Blaise, I didn't mean--"
"Yeah, you did," he cuts her off sharply. "So just shut the hell up. Your opinion no longer matters here."
The air grows uncomfortably quiet. Then Blaise growls, shattering the silence.
"Goddammit, this is all my fault."
"No, it's not. You stopped her from hitting the bottom. If it wasn't for you, she'd be ..." Ryder releases a loud, stressed breath.
"But I almost didn't catch her in time." Blaise's voice cracks, and he quickly clears his throat. "I told her I'd get her up safely; that nothing would happen to her. I lied."
"What happened was out of your hands," Reece says as I feel fingers trace along the back of my neck. "Jesus."
"What?" Ryder and Blaise ask at the same time.
Reece's fingers shake against the back of my neck. "They shot her with the Kiss of Death."
The Kiss of Death? That doesn't sound good.
Death? Am I dying?
Is that really a bad thing?
"Why the hell would they do that?" one of the men asks. "The Watchers usually capture Nameless, not kill them."
Again, silence overtakes the air. I wonder if Blaise, Ryder, and Reece are debating telling the rest of them what I am.
"They probably didn't know she was Nameless," Reece utters, his fingers returning to my neck. "They probably think she's one of us."
"Why are they even hunting you?" the woman with the deep voice asks. "And in the fault? I mean, I know Watchers get pissed when one of their prisoners is stolen, but they usually send Trackers after them."
"They did send a Tracker," Ryder explains. "It failed to capture her."
"Oh." The woman pauses. "Still, some of this isn't making sense. Like, why did they go to this great of length to track a single Nameless down?"
"You're not the one we report to, so it doesn't really matter if it makes sense to you or not," Ryder says in annoyance. "Seriously, Mia, what's your problem? I've never seen you question someone else's mission like this."
"Yeah, well, I've never seen the three of you act so protective over a single Nameless," she quips. "You guys are acting reckless and irrational, risking all of our lives for a dying girl."
"I've had enough of this shit," Blaise grumbles. "Move out of my way, Reece."
"Why?" Reece questions with reluctance. "What do you plan to do?"
"I'm going to pick her up, put her on the motorcycle, and get the hell out of here before the damn Watchers make it to the top of the cliffs. Then, when we get back to the station, you can figure out a way to reverse the effects of the poison."
"I'm not sure that's possible, Blaise," Reece says quietly. "The poison is already attacking her body. She's still breathing and everything, but probably not for very long. I don't have a cure for the Kiss of Death. I'd have to create one, and that could take some time--weeks even."
"You'll figure out a way. You always do," Blaise replies matter-of-factly as I feel hands slip under me. "I'm going to need someone to sit behind her and make sure she doesn't fall off."
"I'll do it," Ryder volunteers. "Just make sure to take the bigger bike, or there won't be enough room."
"Blaise ... I don't want to say this, but"--Reece lowers his voice--"even with her rapid healing ability, she might not make it back to the station alive. You know how the Kiss of Death works. It's potent enough to injure a Grim."
"She'll make it," Blaise hisses as I'm lifted into a pair of arms I hope are his.
"Blaise," Reece presses with hesitancy. "You've never been a naive person, and I can't have you turning into one now. I need you to think straight."
"I am. She will make it back to the station." Blaise whispers lowly, "I've seen her heal. She'll make it through this." He starts to move, carrying me with him, tension rippling through his arms and chest.
I will my eyes to open, wanting to reassure him that I'm fine so he can calm down. He's already lost his entire family. I don't want him to suffer through another death.
Come on, please open. Open. Open!
I gasp as my eyelids start to lift. I blink and blink again as the stinging red light reflecting across the sky burns my eyeballs. I don't care about the pain, though. I only care about the fact that I'm awake.
I blink up at Blaise, who's cradling me as he marches across the desert. He doesn't notice I've woken up, determination burning in his eyes as he stares straight ahead. My mouth opens to tell him everything will be okay, that I'm awake, which means I'm going to live, right? But when no sound leaves my lips, my stomach drops. Maybe I'm not as okay as I thought.
"Do you want to drive or sit on the back?" Ryder appears in my line of sight as he jogs up beside Blaise. His skin is ghostly pale, his eyes crammed with worry, and the hood of his jacket has fallen off his head, leaving his blond hair blowing in the wind. "Honestly, you should probably drive. You're better at it than me."
"I was planning on it." Blaise comes to a grinding halt and wheels toward Ryder. "Here, take her for a second while I get the engine started."
Ryder's eyes drift to mine as Blaise transfers me into his arm and a crease forms at his brow. "It's weird how her eyes are open ..." He swallows hard as he rests me against his chest. "It's almost like she's awake and can hear us, but can't move."
"That's probably what's happening," Blaise tells him. "The Kiss of Death paralyzes first, then slowly begins to deteriorate the body until the victim dies."
"How do you know?" Ryder asks, holding me close. "I can barely remember covering the Kiss of Death in class."
"That's because you barely ever pay attention," Blaise shouts over the roaring of an engine. "I knew about it even before the class."
"Why ...? Oh ..." Ryder's lips compress into a firm line. "Your brother."
Blaise pretends not to hear Ryder. "Get on so we can get the hell out of here."
Ryder strides over to the bike, keeping me cradled against his chest. He swings his leg over the seat of the motorcycle, climbing on behind Blaise. Then he moves me around until I'm sitting between the two of them, circling his arms around me. The position feels awkward and leaves me vulnerable to falling off since I can't hold on to anything. The only reassurance
I have is Ryder's arms around me.
"Ready?" Blaise yells as he revs the engine, causing the seat to vibrate and my teeth to clank together.
"Yes. Let's get the hell out of here!" Ryder yells back, constricting his arms around my waist.
Blaise presses on the throttle again, and the tires spin as we take off, kicking up a cloud of dust. My body slumps forward, my face pressing against Blaise's back. The scent of his leather jacket fills my nostrils.
So, I can still smell. That must be a good sign, right? I'm not that close to death yet.
Does it even matter if I die? Per the alleged memory, I've died multiple times, and yet, here I am, completely alive. Kind of.
I attempt to sigh, but the noise is lost in the rumbling engines from the other motorcycles. Internally sighing instead, I stare at the scenery of dirt and tumbleweeds zipping by in a blur. The sky casts its reddish glow, making the land appear stained with blood. The sight sends a chill down my spine. Blood.
I killed someone once.
"I wonder who got stuck riding with Mia?" Ryder hollers to Blaise while leaning over my shoulder.
"Who the hell cares?" Blaise says, giving the engine more power. "I'm just glad it wasn't me."
"I know, right?" Ryder rests his chin on my shoulder and rocks me back and forth soothingly. "That girl has some serious issues ... saying all that about Allura." He shakes his head. "I've never been a fan of her."
"You and me both." Blaise hunches forward as he speeds up, racing across the flat land that stretches toward the city.
The wind picks up, whipping my hair into my face. The harsh dryness of it stings as I breathe in and out. In and out ... In ... Out. With each breath, breathing becomes more complicated. My heartbeat begins to slow. Thump ... Thump ... Thump ...
I think I really am dying.
It might be for the better.
"Stay with us, okay?" Ryder whispers into my ear, hugging me closer.
I try to do what he asks, but my chest grows heavy, my lungs tightening.
"Allura, please." The plea in his voice nearly rips my heart in two. "We've already lost too much as it is ... Our families ... People from our group ... There used to be seven of us, but the longer we work out here, the smaller our group gets. All the groups from the station have gone down in numbers. But we keep fighting. You want to know why? To save people like you, who deserve to live and be free and ..." He presses a featherlight kiss to the back of my neck. "Just stay with us, okay?"
