I FIGHT WHEN KASIM PULLS me away from Xuan. Fight when he throws his coat over my head and picks me up. Fight when he squeezes my arms straitjacket tight at my sides and carries me like a princess from one of my old fairy stories. But in this story, he’s carrying me toward death instead of saving me from it.
I hear the door open, cool air on my bare feet. Light. He’s taking me outside? I scream, twisting, kicking… yet nothing makes him pause. Gravel crunches under Kasim’s boots, then changes to the firm tap of heels on cement. Something slams into my head, as if he didn’t quite manage to pull me clear of a doorway.
Finally, he sets me down on the ground, and I’m already rolling away, determined to meet this upright and with my eyes open. My hands come down on something soft. A uniform.
It’s occupied. Sort of.
I’m in the midst of a pile of bodies.
“Done trying to escape?” Kasim asks.
I stand up slowly and back away from the corpse I just touched. Kasim waits, his hands folded across his chest.
“Run,” he says. “You’ve probably got about two minutes to find the guy who’s supposed to get you out of here. If it takes longer than that, Dr. Yang’s guys’ll find you.”
“Why did you…” I know I should be running. But the dead are all around me, and Xuan’s blood is still warm on my chest as it seeps through the hospital gown.
“Sole needs you. I was with Tai-ge when Howl screwed up our rescue operation a few days ago, and now this Red bastard”—he looks back, Xuan’s limp arm visible through the door—“almost managed to screw it up again. At least he saved me shooting Huifen to keep my cover. There aren’t very many infected guards in this place, and no one else would come in, so it’ll be easy to pretend you got away while I was trying to revive her. Maybe she’ll even live.” He points to the trees. “Get out of here.”
“Xuan woke me up. He got me out. He was supposed to help—”
“He’s not dead. And it was a miracle you made it this far. Whatever his plan was, if bringing you through that cell block was part of it, the end goal wasn’t to get you out.”
“He’s a good medic, and he helped me. I made him go through the cell block because of Howl.”
Kasim flinches. “There was never much chance at getting Howl.” The two of them used to be close, but based on the way he looks down, there isn’t room for old friendships during war. “Now go.”
“Please, Kasim.” My eyes burn at the cold dismissal, at the threat of guards and Sleep and Yuan knows what else will happen if I don’t walk away right now. But if Xuan isn’t dead, I can’t leave him here, even if he is annoying. My tears blur Kasim as he picks his way through the bodies on the way back to the door. So many victims. Waxy. Empty. Dead. “Xuan was trying to help.”
Kasim limps to face me, anger tearing at his expression. “Haven’t enough people died? Your head is the only thing that can stop it. Get out of here!” When I don’t move, he starts toward me in a chaotic burst of speed. “If I have to give up my cover here and drag you myself, I will.”
I skip back a step, and he stops, his face sagging with emotion. I search for the smile I remember from the Mountain, for something that reminds me of the young man who is supposed to be Howl’s best friend. It’s hard to see anything but blood. There are cracks in his expression, something vulnerable underneath that just looks broken.
“Fine.” He whispers it. “I can’t make you any promises, but I’ll do what I can to get the medic out. Now start running.” He points up to a craggy peak towering over the trees above us, so sharp not even snow will cling to it. “Remember what I told you when I first took you Outside on patrol?”
“Get up high?”
“Find a tree a safe distance away and wait. Sole’s guy will find you.” He turns back the way we came, a brace on the leg he broke during that patrol.
“What about Howl?” I call after him, my voice hoarse. “You’re his friend.”
Kasim glances back over his shoulder. “I wish they’d shot him straight out. It would’ve been easier on him. Dr. Yang’s only kept him alive this long because of the cure. And because of you.” He yanks the door open and disappears inside.