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We move in a blur. Arms and legs pumping. Dizziness pulls over me and—
And they’re here. Enhanced Ones. Suddenly, so many of them. They’re making a circle around the Yarrow settlement, eyes flashing.
“Try that way!” Kazem yells, and I don’t know who he’s talking to, but he grabs my hand and pulls me sharply to the right. My elbow and shoulder sear with pain, and I stumble after him, skidding on damp grass and—
More Enhanced rise, right in front of us. Guns. They’ve got guns.
We’re trapped.
We’re actually trapped.
“The Beast, Kacey!” Maggot yells at me—but I can’t use the Beast now. Doesn’t she know that the Beast doesn’t discriminate between Untamed and Enhanced? No, maybe I didn’t tell her that. I can’t remember. My head pounds, and she’s shouting at me again and again. Everyone is shouting.
And Red is here. Red is right in front of me, dressed in a pristine, fitted suit. Navy blue. It makes his black hair look glossier.
He grins. “Hello, Kacey.”
“The Beast!” Maggot screams.
And...and Red’s holding a gun and he lifts it up and points it at me, and all around, I can hear gunshots. So many gunshots. But we’re... we’re not holding guns. Only they are. They’re their gunshots. They’re killing us? What? Not trying to convert us? Not—
“Kill them, Kacey!” Celena yells. She sounds scared. I’ve never heard her sound like that and—
Red jerks his gun, moving it away and then back to me, and my attention zeroes in on him. He smiles, and Celena’s tugging at my sleeve, and so is Bhavesh. Kazem’s shouting at me, his words breaking, his tone raw. Maggot’s screaming too and—
Red pulls the trigger.
And...
The gunshot swallows the silence.
And...
No one moves and everyone moves.
And...
No.
Nothing happens and everything happens.
And...
There’s blood and screaming. And we’ve been hit.
“Kacey? Kacey, come here.” Maggot’s voice echoes in my ears, and she’s pulling at me, trying to move me from the ground.
The ground.
I’m on the ground. I’m screaming. My hands are slippery and red, and—
Shweta gurgles.
Shweta
More gunshots. Evor’s gun—I see it in his hand now. And Celena’s. They’re firing, charging at the Enhanced, rapidly shooting them. A pathway out of the Enhanced One’s circle is opening up. The Untamed are running. A mass of us trying to get out, even while we’re still being picked off.
And Shweta... Shweta’s not moving. I scream her name, cradling her small, fragile body to me. My tears fall on her face, mixing with blood and dirt.
“Kacey! Come on! Leave her,” Maggot commands. Her voice fire, licking me, burning me.
“No! I can’t!”
“We have to go now!”
Hands grab me. Hands attached to strong arms and a warm body, and Kazem’s voice. I scream and fight, and the Beast is stirring—the Beast is stirring!
No! He’s going to—
Something hard hits me across the back of my head. A bright white light flashes in front of my eyes, and then there’s nothing.