The Extinction Trials(93)

What followed was a harrowing flight as the helicopter warred with the rain and wind, Cara constantly adjusting course to outrun it.

Finally, they broke through the edge of the storm into the clear night sky, the only sound that of the helicopter’s blades chopping the air.

In the cockpit, Cara worked the controls feverishly. She was entering GPS coordinates for a new destination.

Maya was about to activate her radio and ask where they were going, but Cara turned back and waved her off, the meaning clear: avoid the radio.

They flew in silence then. Owen searched the aircraft, for what, Maya wasn’t sure. What he found was two emergency medkits, six large bottles of water, eight-round smoke canisters that could be used to provide cover for landing and pick-ups, and a pile of thick blankets. He used the blankets to dry off the suits—including the ones they were wearing and the two they had brought with them.

They were just passing the coast when he opened the sliding door and tossed the blankets into the wind. They drifted, blowing open and collapsing like ghosts set free to fall to the sea.

For a moment, Owen let the wind blow into the helicopter. Cara turned the handle and opened one of the front doors, creating a cross-breeze to air out the vessel.

Maya marveled at how well their small team now worked together—even without words.

Owen closed the sliding door, and Cara pulled the front door shut and removed her helmet.

Maya slipped her helmet off, and as soon as Owen had removed his, he said, “Cara, while I’m very thankful for that escape from The Colony, if you tell me you’ve had this helo on stand-by this whole time, I really will lose my mind.”

Cara held up her hands. “I haven’t. Or at least, I didn’t know it would call a helo.”

“What would call a helo?” Maya asked.

“I need to back up,” Cara said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Your secret,” Owen said.

“Yes. What I told you on that boat was true: I was—am—an emergency room doctor. I was during the Fall. It was... carnage. It was clear to me we were in a war we were losing. I was recruited by The Alliance, by Parrish, to go into The Extinction Trials.”

Maya could hardly process the words.

“They gave me a specific mission.” Cara focused on Maya. “To keep you safe, Maya. To offer medical treatment if you needed it and help you recover your memories. They thought if you remembered your work, you could help them cure the Genesis Virus and turn the tide of the war. The plan was for me to get you to The Alliance after we woke up in the trials.”

“But there was just one problem,” Owen said. “Maya didn’t have her memories when she woke up.”

“That’s right,” Cara said. “It seemed the trials had failed. That’s why I didn’t use the beacon before.”

“Beacon?” Maya asked.

“It’s a device they implanted in my leg. It’s what called the helo.”

“How do you even know how to operate it?” Owen asked.

“It’s the same model as the emergency air ambulances. I did a few rotations on them—we had to learn the manual control systems in case the computer had an error or satellite comms went down.”

“So now you’re completing your mission?” Owen asked. “Taking us to The Alliance?”

Cara stared at them.

Owen shook his head. “What do you think they’ll do to us, Cara? They’ll interrogate Maya. They’ll probably dissect us to study the mesh. They’ll get the coordinates for that entrance to The Colony. And when they get the cure for GV, they’ll organize their army, and the war will rage again.”

“I know,” Cara said quietly. “The helo was programmed to return to what I assume is an Alliance base or meeting point. I changed it.”

“To what?” Owen asked. “We have the mesh now. The Alliance has the storms. We only have so much oxygen. We’re dead out here, one way or another. And so is any hope of finding Garden Station and finally ending this.”

Maya placed a hand on his arm. “That’s not necessarily true.”





Chapter Seventy-One





In the helicopter, Cara and Owen stared at Maya as she drew the blank page out of her pocket. Owen thought it was the same page she had found in the envelope with her name on it at Station 17.

She unscrewed one of the bottles of water and poured it on the page.

Slowly, lines faded in, a simple illustration of rows of plants.

A garden.

“What does it mean?” Cara whispered.

“It’s the last clue,” Owen said. “A garden. One only visible underwater.”

“I don’t understand,” Cara said.

But Owen did. He smiled. “Well done, Maya. How did you know?”

“Luck, honestly. When we were entering The Colony, some liquid got on the page. I saw a glimpse of the image start to form.”

“Does somebody want to clue me in on what’s happening here?”

“We had it right before,” Owen said. “We had the location of Garden Station. It was encoded in those videos. We just got one thing wrong.”

“Garden Station isn’t on the surface,” Maya said. “It’s in the water.”