ia
ars spilled down my cheeks, but a gen
he IV needle out of my arm,
g the dried salt from my skin before cha
paring to
medics were completely distracted by a sudden
tly slipped out the back exi
e the nurses had issued me. Staring at its blank screen for a fraction of a second, I felt a
tom encrypted distress beacon
d leave nothing f
I reached the abandoned E
recounted during his first f
s specific tower meant it w
e that story during one of our late-night extraction drills. H
ad. Its location was remote. And I had left no trackers. It woul
he rusty platform, direc
around me, but I felt
raveler catching the
up in that civil
anymore, and I would eat those ho
ounced. "Vital signs must reach critical threshold.
just needed sev
lights illuminated the base of the
vanished
own in abs
tes of the compound slammed
nto the dirt lot, kicking
t of the lead c
old cartel injury, but he did
the metal stair
the edge, his arms wrapped
slamming us both ontot my ribs. The metallic scent of it mixed with the sharp salt air. He had torn open the heavy medical bandages f
as trembling viol
you here," he breathed
peaking softly. "I left your
of the cameras on the wall
el cables, his own pain from the raw, open wounds on his palms apparently of no consequ
use. Every navigation tower. Every abandoned structure withi
d me. He had made the entire coastline int
ointed to see m
and letting my body go limp. "You alwa
ly, but his hands staye
calm. "I have seen many targ
ghost over my skin. "But they always r
r chuckle. "Your surviva
u use it to manipulate Cassius. Now, you are usin
into his blo
t, and his injured leg was sha
to the absolute brin
as if it were an incontrovertible fact. "You ar
anical sigh in my mind. "Second extraction failed. External s
I had been forty-th
whispered, my voice hollow. "
d. "There is no home for people like us, Aria. Ther
I said. "And you believed i
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