Page 48

Reina

F ocus. But it was really hard to do that over the stench of damp earth and decay, the kind that clung to the air after years of neglect, when nature took over for good. Not to mention I was hot, sweaty, and these stupid socks Amaia let me borrow were super itchy. I tossed my head back, staring up at the dull gray sky. To be honest, it matched the mood of this horribly paired group as we trudged through the overgrown streets of Royal Oaks. Be down for the cause, I said. It’ll be fun I said . It wasn’t—and everyone desperately needed a bath. I adjusted the strap of my med pack near the neck of my mare, beyond irritated with the idiots arguing behind me.

“We should be heading east, not wasting time here,” a soldier from Lincoln barked; his voice grated against my eardrums rougher than sandpaper.

I exhaled in frustration, whipping Nala around. “Unless you’ve got a compass hidden in that big poofy hair of yours somewhere, I’d suggest you stop questioning everything Isabella?—”

“General Everhart.” She cleared her throat with an appreciative smile.

“ General Everhart . Let her do her job so we can eat something other than the crappy, wilted lettuce you’ve managed to grow in the last eight hours. I swear on everything I love, if we don’t, it’s going to be a long, terrible night for you if I go to sleep hungry.”

He grumbled in response, shooting a silent plea for help toward Hunter, who walked next to my horse near the reigns. Imagine, thinking my brother would—well. Hunter ignored him, his eyes remained on Isabella, effectively the general of our unit.

“Tracks lead this way,” she said, pointing toward a maze of dense underbrush and collapsed buildings. “Supplies should be close.”

This survival drill had been disastrous, and it wasn’t even officially the full twenty-four hours yet. It’d taken approximately all of thirty seconds for everyone to start arguing once we’d been dropped at base. Which was not what I expected by the way—they’d dragged us out of bed at three a.m., told us to get dressed, assigned us a number and told us we had twenty minutes to find our home base before the games commenced. If this was how territory survival drills would go, I didn’t want to even think about what war simulations had in store.

When we’d finally decided who was assigned where, every protein supply box in our territory had been stolen, which meant we had to go fight and steal someone else’s. At least we’d managed shelter. Apparently part of survival training was training as if your magic was useless. It made sense, I guess. If you were burning dangerously low to your reserve or got drugged some kind of way, you had to know how to take care of yourself. Once every four hours were granted five minutes of free magic—to be used once, in a way that best benefits the group. Sometimes I seriously hated how thorough Amaia was in her planning.

The unit spread out, and I groaned. Our objective was teamwork just as much as it was to survive, yet they all wandered off in their own groups, not a desire to work together in sight.

“Let it be, Sis,” Hunter said, patting Nala on the neck and guiding us down our own path.

I shook my head, adjusting my bow over my shoulder. “You’d think she’d at least try to force them to work together.”

“Why would you ever think that?” Hunter questioned, like I was silly for optimism. “Her job is to keep them alive and right now, they’re more likely to kill each other. When shit hits the fan, they’ll learn.”

He spoke with such certainty. Then it dawned on me, Hunter had lived a whole life without me at this point. I knew Hunter, my brother, but I didn’t know Hunter of Transient Nation. Survival wasn’t exactly easy out there for several reasons.

“Hey! They found something!” a Portland soldier called, pointing at the group from Topeka.

And then, the arguing began. Hunter was the first to reach the crowd as Portland and Redding worked to pry the lid open, shoving Topeka’s soldiers in the process.

“This is ours,” a woman declared, stepping forward. “We found it. If there’s any left we’ll give you the scraps when we’re done.”

“Excuse me?” snapped another female soldier from Madison. “We wouldn’t have made it here without my general.”

“Look around, she’s not here,” the Topeka soldier said.

As if that made a difference. It didn’t matter how we got here or who found what, if we couldn’t learn to share now when it didn’t matter then it’d be a complete and total disaster out on the battlefield.

“You want to fight, Fiona?” the woman from Madison stepped forward. “Cuz I’d love the opportunity to shut you up myself.”

“Oh shit. Dude, they’re gonna chick fight.”

I rolled my eyes at all of them—especially the nuisance from Redding, whose ridiculous, childish statement was the last thing I had patience for. I’d seriously had enough. And I was starving.

Hunter could step in anytime now. But instead, he simply watched me.

Oh. Right.

If Isabella wasn’t around, the next highest-ranking officer was supposed to step in. Millie had been assigned to another unit for the exercise, which meant that should be Hunter… except—wait, crud . Right now, it was me. Because I was the dunce on the horse, acting as Lead Rider instead of a medic.

“Enough!” My voice cut through the growing tension of the group, others had wandered over, picking sides which had somehow turned into Salem Territory versus The Expanse. “Stop acting like children and figure out how we’re carrying this back to base. Because that’s where all of this is going, back to base to be divided equally. You hear me or do I need to remind y’all that sharing isn’t just caring, it’s survival. You want to argue? Do it at base.”

They all stared at me blankly, blinking in shock. “My goodness, do I need to clap my hands? Let’s go, people, load it up!”

The tension diffused with the added thump of Nala’s hoof emphasizing our urgency against the pavement. Soldiers removed their packs, filling them to the brim with enough protein to feed our entire unit.

My eyes scanned the overgrown streets, doing my best to note every broken window and rusted-out car that made a solid hiding space. Royal Oaks had an eerie way of making one feel watched. Heightened emotions thickened the air, the others suppressing down their angst for now.

Hunter walked in front of Nala, his hand on the reins. He kept the Portland soldier at his side and by proxy, my side. She was the primary antagonist for the last twenty minute trek back. I ignored her as she muttered something under her breath—loud enough for me to hear, quiet enough to not make out exactly what was said.

“I see you’re still good at bossin’ people around,” Hunter teased.

“Real easy when you spent your whole life corralling dumb, dumber, and dumbest.”

Hunter was quiet for a moment before saying, “I mean it. You’re a natural.”

“This is nice. I’m glad we somehow ended up on the same team.” I winked at him, knowing exactly what Amaia and he had done. “I keep expecting you to disappear again.”

His expression tightened, guilt flashing across his face, merely a mirror of my own. “Reina?—”

“We don’t have to talk about it,” I interrupted, suddenly no longer interested in having this conversation. It was too … painful. I averted my eyes, locking onto the road in front of me. “Not now.”

“If you really don’t want to, then we don’t have to. But you should know, even if this war wasn’t happening, I would have come to find you the second I heard you were alive.”

Movement caught my eye up ahead. “Stick together!” I called over my shoulder. No one bothered to answer me. Typical .

Isabella held up a hand, signaling the front of the line to stop. A shout exploded out of nowhere, too fast for my mind to fully grasp.

“Move! It’s an ambush!”

Chaos swallowed us whole. Because why bother to hold the line when you could forget all of your training and try to outrun the person next to you. Jesus Christ . Figures emerged from the buildings yards away. A bolt flew by, the gust of wind from its passage leaving a sting on my cheek. I yanked Nala to the side with a yelp, trying to find cover in the chaos but there wasn’t much to work with.

“They’re from Salt Lake and Denver,” someone called out behind me.

“Does it matter?” I said, “At least they’re working as a team!”

Whipping Nala around, I caught sight of Miss Portland tumbling to the ground. Her hand flew to her ankle as she sprawled out in the open and released a cry of agony. Ouch. Achilles . “Stay here,” I barked at Hunter who was busy knocking his own arrow and firing into the shadows.

Drills and simulations would use nonlethal force—that meant anything that wouldn’t kill you was fair game. Kicking Nala hard, I bolted toward our downed soldier. The mare’s hooves pounded against the cracked asphalt as I leaned forward. Every nerve in my body screamed, not accustomed to riding as much as I had all week, but the show had to carry on, right?

“Come on!” I reached the Portland soldier and slid off the saddle, a move that was muscle memory from my childhood. She was pale and cursing like her life depended on it. “You’re fine. Get on already.”

She blinked up at me. “What?—”

“Get on Nala, now ! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re being shot at by a lot of people and I can honestly say, not a fan.”

“You talk too much.”

“I know, now up we go.” The soldier groaned as I hooked an arm under hers, practically hauling her upright.

It was a serious effort to get her onto Nala’s back, her injured leg dragging uselessly as I shoved her into position. Nala danced nervously under the added weight, tossing her head as though to object.

“Oh, get used to it with this group, girl,” I muttered, giving her a firm pat on the neck. “Go!” I slapped her flank, and she bolted.

We didn’t make it fifty feet before something struck me hard, a rubber bullet slamming into my ribs and sending me flying off balance. I hit the ground with a sickening crack, the impact reverberating down my spine. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. No air, no control, just painful gasps and garbled noises leaving my lips as I clawed at the asphalt.

“Reina!”

Hunter’s voice cut through the haze. A second later, he dropped onto the ground next to me. He kept his cool, face neutral like this was a normal Tuesday as he examined me. I was too scared to move.

“What the hell was that? Huh?” he hissed, running his hands through what were inevitably badly bruised ribs.

“Saving someone,” I managed to gasp. “You should try it sometime.”

“You mean like right now?” He huffed a laugh and braced me for impact.

His hands moved quickly, and his magic flared—a sharp burst of warmth and pain as he reset my shoulder. I clenched my jaw, swallowing the scream threatening to break free. Relief flooded me seconds later, the pain easing into a dull ache.

Footsteps echoed too close for comfort. My instincts screamed to move. I reached for the knife at my thigh, my arrows stuck at my back and completely useless, but Hunter stayed still, unconcerned.

Isabella’s sharp commands rang out. “Form up! Push forward!”

The rest of the group surged ahead in a wave and I searched for Nala and the woman from Portland. They sat behind a dumpster, Portland passed out on top from the pain, about to glide right off. I sat up and pushed Hunter away, ignoring his cries after me. She fell into my grasp and we both crumbled to the ground. Albeit softer than the fate would have faced had I not gotten to her when I did. With the cover of the dumpster and the rest of the group between us and the other unit attacking, it left me enough time to heal her up.

I’d learned how to treat wounds less gruesome than this during the last war. There was a technique to it—just enough to get them walking, but not enough to heal them completely. Triage and stabilization were the goals. You needed to leave enough work for proper treatment back at the med tent. It was a delicate balance, like putting a patient on bypass in The Before .

Her eyes fluttered as she came back to consciousness. She took me in, then groaned, rolling her eyes and pushing herself up. Hands as pale as mine shook as she touched her forehead.

“You can save the thank you for later, we should get out of here while we can.” I helped her back onto the horse. “Hold tighter this time,” I ordered, swinging up behind her in one fluid motion. My bow was in my hands before we’d even fully settled, the string taut as I knocked an arrow.

The battlefield blurred around us, smoke and dust folding into a singular focus: survival. I leaned into Nala’s movements, letting her instincts guide us. The first arrow flew, striking a soldier square in the shoulder and spinning him into the dirt.

Another enemy stepped into our path. Without hesitation, I drew and released, the arrow slicing through the air to embed itself in his thigh. He crumpled, screaming, but we were already gone, Nala surging forward like a tempest.

“Good girl,” I whispered, my voice steady even as adrenaline pounded in my ears.

Behind us, Isabella’s voice carried louder than a war drum, driving the rest of the group forward. Finally, a little teamwork makes the dream work, people .

Nala darted sideways, narrowly avoiding a burst of gunfire. I twisted in the saddle, losing two arrows in quick succession. One struck the ground at the shooter’s feet, scattering them, while the other caught a second enemy mid-charge.

As we approached the base, I could feel Nala’s heavy, uneven huffs. “Almost there,” I murmured, patting her neck. She gave one last burst of energy, carrying us over the threshold before slowing to a trembling stop.

I slid off her back, my boots hitting the ground hard. The soldier slumped after me, and someone from Portland’s group rushed to catch her.

Hunter and the others arrived minutes later, their approach heralded by the crunch of boots and labored breaths. I stood waiting, Nala’s reins in my hand as I leaned against her for support, every muscle in my body screaming in protest.

Hunter made a beeline for me, his face torn between relief and exasperation. His gaze swept over me—the sweat slicking my brow, the empty quiver dangling at my side, the streaks of dirt and blood painting a grim portrait of the last hour.

For a moment, he said nothing, shaking his head. Then, his lips twitched into a grin. “God, I’m so fucking proud to be your brother right now.”

“Aren’t ya always proud?” I bit down on my tongue, happy to hear the words.

He laughed too, loud and unrestrained, before pulling me into a hug. I sagged against him, letting the exhaustion hit all at once.

“Come on,” he said, his voice softening as he pulled back. “Let’s get inside before you collapse on me.”