The Extinction Trials(76)

Was there truly nothing out here? Had they reached the end—like when they had tried to find Garden Station?

Maya was fairly certain that members of The Alliance were searching the woods by now. What would they do when they found the group? Would their fate be the same as Will’s?

Owen stomped his foot in the ground, making a shallow hole, then pointed in all directions and back at the hole. Maya wasn’t sure what his meaning was at first, but then he stalked off, his head bowed, inspecting the ground at his feet. She got it then: spread out and search and then meet back at this rendezvous point.

Maya took Blair by the hand, and they ventured in a direction away from Cara, Alister, and Owen.

Maya stalked through the woods slowly, carefully, knowing a fall could be dangerous. A stick or a rock could easily puncture the suits, letting in the wind and storm and whatever had killed the man back at Station 17.

With each step, she felt time slipping away, the forest growing darker, the wind pulling at her suit getting stronger.

Soon, she’d lost eye contact with the others. Should she go back? Or activate a radio?

What a mess they were in—

Suddenly, Maya felt the ground beneath her feet vanish.

Blair’s hand slipped from hers. She tumbled and rolled down, into a hole, the ground as hard as stone slamming into her sides and thighs and ribs and shoulders.

The suit would tear from this fall, she knew it. The thought was scarier than the pain, and it was the last thought she had before her vision swam and went dark.





Chapter Sixty





Owen marched through the forest, scanning left and right, searching for any sign of The Colony.

Around him, leaves and limbs drifted down, as if the trees were disintegrating. He glanced down and checked his oxygen level.

57%

In that moment, he felt the same way he had back at Station 17 when he had first exited the bunker and explored that forest that was swaying in the deadly storm, searching for any hope of survival.

He had expected The Colony to be a walled city or a camp, or at least some sign of where to go. The last thing he had expected was nothing.

But as he trekked through the woods, that’s all he saw.

How long did they have out here?

Eventually, the people from the city would find them—or they would run out of breathable oxygen in the suits and be forced to take them off and face the storm.

Owen felt as though he was in a room and the walls were closing in on him. In a way, fighting fires was like that. The walls disintegrated around you and buildings fell in. His job had been to get everyone out alive before that happened. That’s what he felt now—an urgency to save his team and the people counting on them at Garden Station. If they were humanity’s last chance, they had to succeed.

Failure was not an option.

He glanced at his arm panel again, reading the oxygen level.

54%

He stopped in his tracks and glanced around at the towering trees and fog around him. He was easily outside the GPS coordinates now. And he had seen nothing.

There was nothing out here.

What now?

The others would look to him to devise a way forward. What door would he choose? And would there be fire or salvation behind it?

In his mind, a plan formed.

He reached down and tapped his arm panel, turning on the radio. He was opening his mouth to speak when he heard Blair’s voice, panicked, calling out over the connection.

“Help! It’s Maya!”

“What happened?” Owen said, his mind racing.

“She fell in a hole—”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m… I don’t know.”

“Go back to where I made the mark in the ground. I’m coming.”

Owen spun 180 degrees and raced across the forest, a bolt of fear driving him on. In his mind’s eye, he saw that moment on the boat, when they were lying on the couch together, the paperback copy of The Birthright in his hand, her looking into his eyes. She moved closer to him, and his world shattered and something beautiful was revealed underneath, something he didn’t know existed. If she was gone, he had lost it forever. He felt that deep down.

He took risks then, bounding forward, gasping for breath, not fearing falling and tearing the suit.

Cara’s voice came over the radio. “Okay, if anyone is listening, I’ve found nothing—”

“Get back to the rendezvous point,” Owen said between breaths.

“What happened?”

“Maya is hurt.”

“Coming,” Cara said, her voice strained now.

Owen kept pumping his legs, dodging trees and limbs, feeling the wind tossing him about.

Alister’s voice came over the radio next. “You idiots found it yet?”

“Alister,” Owen said, huffing, “get back to the place where we separated.”

“Won’t be hard,” the man replied. “I haven’t gotten far.”

When Owen reached the point where he had made the mark in the ground, Blair was waiting for him there.

The young girl twisted and pointed in the direction she and Maya had set out to explore. “She’s over there. She’s hurt. I couldn’t wake her up.”

“It’s okay,” Owen said, thinking it was anything but okay.