I walked down the stairs late that afternoon, my back-pack and weapons pack slung over my shoulder. I pushed open the door to the lobby to find Madison standing in the middle of it, alone.
The door slammed shut behind me, and I winced. I’d been hoping to sneak through without her noticing me. But she turned and immediately spotted me. I offered a weak smile and made a beeline for the front door.
“Clara,” she called.
I stopped and slowly faced her. “Yeah?”
She closed the distance between us, her boots squeaking on the tile floor. She was dressed in the same uniform as me, but she’d tied her shirt at the bottom so that it pulled tight across her stomach. Her blue eyes looked extra bright in the late afternoon sun streaming in from behind me. I wished I’d spent a little more time on my makeup.
“Listen,” she said with a sigh like she was annoyed that she had to speak to me. “It’s about Julian.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the hole in the ground where a scrab had shot up a couple weeks ago. I wished another one would pop up right now. I would take a scrab over this conversation any day.
“What about Julian?” It came out more annoyed than I’d intended. I’d been trying not to sound nervous.
“You guys are, like, together?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“OK, I just think you should know that he can be kind of intense in relationships.” Her words were clipped, almost angry.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He falls pretty hard. If this is your first relationship, I think you should be careful.”
“I’ve dated guys before,” I said defensively, even though that was barely true. I’d dated two guys, one for a few weeks, the other for two months. I wasn’t sure either qualified as a relationship. They hadn’t been anything like what I had with Julian.
“Whatever,” she said with a hand wave. “He just gets jealous, from what I’ve seen.”
“He gets jealous?” The words popped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
She raised one eyebrow with even more hostility than usual. “What is that supposed to mean?”
My pulse pounded in my ears. I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. “I just think that maybe it’s been hard for you to see the two of us together,” I said slowly.
“Please,” she said, too forcefully. I looked at her skeptically, and she flushed. “Whatever, I’m just saying that I know Julian better than you do.”
I waited for more, but apparently she simply wanted to remind me that she and Julian knew each other well. “Uh, OK?” I meant to sound annoyed this time.
“You know what? Never mind.” She took a step back. “I was just going to warn you that Julian can be a raging jerk on occasion, but you can figure that one out for yourself.” She stomped away, throwing the door open with too much force.
I waited several seconds before following her out the door. Raging jerk. That seemed sort of unfair, especially given how she treated Julian. If she’d acted the same way in a relationship, I honestly couldn’t blame him for snapping back.
And I could totally believe that he got jealous occasionally, especially after what I’d seen with Grayson in the cafeteria. But who didn’t get a little jealous at times? I was jealous of Madison’s previous relationship with Julian. Now I wished I’d been nice to Madison long enough to find out what had happened between them.
I found team seven on the curb, minus Madison, who had thankfully disappeared.
Grayson stood in front of a black SUV, keys in hand. “Do any of you know how to drive a standard?”
“Yeah, I do,” Patrick said.
Grayson tossed him the keys. “Six of you can go with Patrick. There will be a van along in a few minutes for everyone else. And drop your bags over there. They’ll arrive right after you.” He pointed to a couple French team leaders piling luggage into a van.
I dropped my backpack off, keeping my small weapons pack with me since we’d been instructed to always have it nearby. It had the sword baton, a small machete, and a first aid kit in it.
I climbed into the last row of the SUV. Priya and Archer joined me in the back, and Laila and Noah took the first row. Noah immediately pulled out his laptop and began editing video. Edan was in the passenger’s seat next to Patrick.
“What is that?” Laila asked, pointing to the box at Noah’s feet.
“Our body cameras.” Noah nudged it with his foot. “I put them on my list and someone got six for us. I’m going to see if I can get a few volunteers to wear some starting tomorrow. They’re really small.”
“I’ll wear one,” Laila said.
Grayson handed Patrick a map through the window. “I marked it on the map. It’s not hard to find the campsite. You’re just going to go straight on this road for a while.” He pointed to the map, and Patrick nodded. He handed the map to Edan, who immediately handed it back to Noah.
“I can’t look at it while the car is moving,” Edan explained.
“See you guys soon,” Grayson said. Patrick shifted the car into gear.
“Wait!” Priya said. She was typing furiously on her phone. “I need the Wi-Fi for just, like, ten more seconds. I’m running out of data, and my mom is freaking out after yesterday. She keeps checking to see if I’m still alive.” She typed a few more words and pressed Send. “OK, I’m good.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket as the SUV started moving. I never texted Laurence. Was he worried I was dead? Grayson hadn’t released all the names of the deceased recruits yet, and the massacre was all over the news.
I tapped the messages icon and punched in Laurence’s number. I’d memorized it after Mom gave it to me, but I hadn’t used it yet.
I typed out a message.
Knowing Laurence, he hadn’t read the news in days and was totally clueless anyway.
A reply popped up almost immediately.
A few seconds went by before the next message popped up.
I typed a response.
A brief pause again before his next message.
My eyebrows shot up. I couldn’t imagine Laurence freaking out. It probably wasn’t a visible emotion from the outside. I was surprised he’d admitted to it at all.
A hint of a smile crossed my face.
“What are you smiling about?” Priya asked, glancing at my screen. “Is that Julian? Are you guys really a thing?” Both Laila and Noah turned to look at me.
“No,” I said, slipping the phone back in my pocket. “I mean, no, it’s not Julian. But yes, we are a thing.”
Noah widened his eyes slightly, like he didn’t like the news of me dating Julian. Priya clearly expected more. I guessed she wanted to know who I was texting, if not Julian.
“It was my brother,” I said.
“You have a brother?” Patrick asked.
“I thought you were an orphan,” Noah said. “Or in foster care or whatever.”
“What? No. Why did you think that?” I frowned in confusion, and realized that everyone in the SUV, except for Patrick, was looking at me. Even Edan had twisted around in his seat, his face curious.
“Because you’ve literally never said a single thing about your family,” Priya said. “I asked you once if you missed your parents, and you looked at me like I’d grown a second head.”
Right. I had done that. I’d been trying to make the words “of course!” come out of my mouth, but they’d gotten stuck. Julian had shouted out an order, and I’d used it as an excuse to run away.
“Also Patrick said you were,” Laila said, pointing to him.
Patrick rounded his shoulders. “I said maybe. It was just a guess.”
“I’ve never been in foster care,” I said. “I have an older brother. And a mom and a dad.”
Priya’s expression was curious. Laila was trying to catch her eye, and she shook her head once, just barely, like she was trying to tell Priya to leave it.
Had they been talking about me? Why was Laila trying to make Priya stop asking questions? Had I given something away? Neither of them knew enough about my life to put all the pieces together, but maybe they suspected. Girls always knew things. It was part of the reason I stopped being friends with Adriana and the others.
“Noah, you better be telling the world that our whole team made it,” Edan said suddenly. “Do you want to interview me? I’ll tell them how awesome I was.”
“You already have a very loyal fan base.” Noah pressed a key on his laptop. “Let’s keep them hanging for a week.”
“You have a loyal fan base?” I asked.
“I do not appreciate that surprised tone.” Edan put both hands on his chest. “I’ll have you know that there’s an entire Tumblr dedicated to how cute I am.”
“No there’s not.”
“Yes there is,” Noah said, like he was trying to suppress a laugh. “And they’ve gotten excited in the last few days, because one of Edan’s ex-girlfriends posted something about how he was a great guy.”
“Are you sure it was actually his ex?” I asked.
“I also do not appreciate that skepticism,” Edan said. “I am delightful, and all my ex-girlfriends will confirm it. Except for that one who said she hoped someone pushed me in front of a train. She maybe wouldn’t have nice things to say.”
I snorted, and then thought of Madison. She certainly didn’t have nice things to say about her ex. It was normal, maybe.
“And there are several Tumblrs dedicated to how cute Noah is,” Edan continued.
Noah’s cheeks went red. “There are a bunch of fan sites for all of us. Clara, you have no online presence. Can you at least get on Instagram? Post some selfies. Make the people happy. There are a few people from your high school commenting on stuff, but who knows if they even really know you.”
I looked at him with a start. “What are they saying?”
“Nothing bad,” he said quickly. “Just that you mostly kept to yourself, you were good in combat class . . .” He trailed off.
“What?”
A short silence followed. My heart jumped into my throat. I couldn’t imagine what anyone at my school could possibly know about me. I barely spoke to anyone.
“Someone said you failed some classes,” Laila finally said. “Which is no big deal,” she quickly added. “Half of our team dropped out of high school.”
“Like me,” Archer said. Everyone in the back of the SUV turned to gawk at him. We did it every time he spoke, quietly waiting for him to say more. He just blinked and looked out the window.
“I dropped out sophomore year,” Edan said. He was facing the road again.
“Why?” Priya asked.
“I had better things to do.”
I clicked on the Tumblr app and searched for my own name. It was true—there were several Tumblrs dedicated to team seven. Lots of screenshots from Noah’s videos. Old photos of several members—Priya smiling at the camera with her cheer squad; Zoe doing duck face into the camera with some girls at the beach; Edan sitting on a stoop, both hands cupping his chin, a huge grin on his face.
The only pictures of me included a school portrait from ninth grade and a few shots from middle school. Those must have come from Adriana or one of her friends. We smiled outside a movie theater, waved at the camera from in front of a river.
Noah had caught me swinging a machete one day in practice, and someone had made a gif set out of it.
I barked out a laugh.
“What?” Priya asked.
“I’m not religious.”
“Oh yeah, I saw that one,” Noah said. “I was wondering.”
I glanced back down at the phone. According to Tumblr, I was a super Christian who failed her classes and/or a spy.
No one really knew who I was, which had once seemed like a good thing. Now it felt like the world was crafting a narrative for me. Like they had a story prepared if I didn’t tell it myself.
Priya looked at me expectantly.
“I’m not a spy,” I said with a smile.
Patrick laughed. “Thank god.”
“And I am Latinx. My mom is from Mexico. My dad is white and from Texas. And they’re both assholes, so I don’t keep in touch with them.”
On the other side of Priya, Archer nodded like he understood. I was pretty sure everyone knew less about Archer than they did about me. I had that going for me, at least.
“But your brother isn’t an asshole?” Priya asked.
I shook my head. “No, he’s all right.”
“Good.” She smiled.
Patrick took us out onto the highway, then to a two-lane with crops on either side. We drove for a long time, the sun sinking lower in the sky.
“Noah, are we supposed to turn at some point?” Patrick asked.
Noah looked up from his phone with a start. “Am I supposed to be navigating?”
“Yes!” Patrick said with a laugh.
“Oh. Well, um . . .” He unfolded the map and squinted at it. He flipped it every which way. “I can’t even tell which way is up.”
Laila leaned over to look at it. “I don’t know how people used to read these things.”
“Someone give me their phone,” Patrick said. “I left mine in my bag.”
Noah made a face like he didn’t want to give his up.
“Here,” I said, suppressing a laugh as I passed my phone to Noah. “Use mine.”
“Thanks.” Noah opened the maps app and typed in the address Grayson had written on the map. He handed the phone to Patrick, who stuck it in the cup holder.
“Well, we went way too far down this road.” Patrick slowed and made a U-turn.
“Sorry,” Noah said. “I got distrac—”
The ground exploded in front of us.
“Holy shit!” Patrick swerved the SUV, narrowly missing the scrab that had just sprung up out of the earth.
Another one smashed up from the ground. It was massive, one of the biggest scrabs I’d ever seen. At least seven feet tall.
Two more ran at my window.
“Just hit them!” Priya yelled.
“I think that will do more damage to us than the scrab.” Patrick hit the gas hard. The car lurched forward.
“Another one!” Edan yelled, pointing to where a crack was starting to appear on the road. A scrab sprang up and roared.
Patrick turned the wheel so quickly the vehicle spun out of control. I gripped the back of the seat in front of me as we swung in almost a full circle and veered off the road. The SUV bounced and jerked as we soared into the short, bushy green crops on the side of the road.
Something smashed into my side of the car, and I yelped as we bounced again. A scrab roared at the window as it slammed its body against my door.
“Go, go!” Laila yelled.
To my right, a scrab galloped at us on all fours, teeth bared. It hit the side with a crunch of metal and glass. The car slowed. Thump thump thump.
“I think they got the tires!” Patrick grimaced. The car continued to slow.
“We’re going to have to get out,” Edan said. I grabbed my pack and pulled out my baton, popping the top off to reveal the blade.
Patrick swerved around the scrabs, and we bounced forward a few yards.
“Ready?” he asked. I saw the fear in his eyes as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
I looked over my shoulder. Scrabs came for us from all directions. There were six of them that I could see.
“Ready,” Priya said.
The car screeched to a stop. I pushed the door open and dove out, nearly losing my balance as I tried to keep a grip on my baton.
A scrab galloped straight toward me. Its mouth was open, fangs bared and spit flying as it ran.
I swung as it approached, my injured arm screaming in protest. Missed. I ducked as it swiped its claws, pressing one hand to the ground as I slashed my blade across its belly. It screamed and lurched backward. I’d made a really deep cut—best I’d ever done—and blood poured out of the wound. It hit the ground with a thud.
I turned to find two more dead scrabs on the ground. Patrick and Archer fought another one together. Laila and Priya each were fending off one. Laila’s hit the ground, dead. Edan was a few yards away, swinging his blade at a scrab. He kept stepping back as it came closer, putting more space between him and us.
Two more scrabs galloped toward him. Edan paused for half a second before bolting.
I took off, pumping my arms as I ran as fast as I could. One of the scrabs caught up with Edan, and he whirled around, swinging his machete. Another dove at him from the side, and he barely managed to dodge its claws as he swung his weapon at them.
“Hey!” I yelled as the third scrab closed in. It snarled as it spotted me. It gave up on Edan and headed for me.
I skidded to a stop. The scrab snarled as it looked down at me. Its black eyes focused on the blade in my hand. I swung it.
With my other hand, I grabbed the machete sticking out of my pack. The scrab batted my baton away. It leaned down, fangs bared.
I sliced my machete across its neck. Blood splattered across my clothes.
Thud. I spun around to find Edan. One scrab was dead, the other injured, blood dripping from its neck. Edan swung his machete, trying to finish it off.
It swiped away the weapon. Edan froze for a moment, reaching for something in his pack. Another knife, maybe. There was nothing.
He took off, the scrab chasing him. It was slower than usual, dragging its right leg as it ran. I bolted after them.
I yelled at the scrab, but it kept pursuing Edan. We ran until my lungs started to burn—I was flat-out sprinting—and the scrab began gaining on Edan. We burst through a patch of trees. I cast a frantic glance over my shoulder, but I’d lost sight of everyone else.
We ran straight into a patch of houses, and my stomach clenched as I waited for the screams of the occupants. But as we got closer, I realized they were all long abandoned, the windows smashed, doors swinging open. One small home was missing part of its walls in the front and back of the house, like something had smashed straight through it.
Edan darted inside that one. Probably looking for a weapon. It was what I would have done, since it was becoming clear he couldn’t outrun the scrab.
It crashed into the house. I pushed myself as hard as I could, running until I thought my lungs might burst. I skidded into the house.
Edan had a frying pan, and I watched as he slammed it into the scrab’s face. It stumbled back, disoriented. Edan hit it again. I darted around an old rickety table, blade pointed at it.
A second whack on the head just made it mad. It stalked forward, opening its mouth like it was trying to roar. Only a squeak came out. Edan must have sliced its vocal cords.
Edan tried to swing again, but the scrab blocked it, charging at him and grabbing his foot. Edan went down, hard. He screamed as the scrab lunged at him.