Page 42

MARS

C aspian holds Autumn’s unconscious form while Jace kneels beside them, using the clean parts of his shirt to wipe the tears from Autumn’s face.

While they take care of her, I walk back to the place it all happened and approach Summer’s body.

She deserves better than being left pinned to a wall.

Autumn will want to do right by her sister, and I’ll make sure she can.

I wrap one hand around the rod while bracing Summer’s body with the other.

The metal slides out with a wet sound that makes my jaw clench.

I lower her to the ground as gently as I can, and arrange her arms at her sides.

The sight messes with my head. She looks so much like Autumn, I have to keep reminding myself she’s not.

I’m about to close her eyes when the sun breaks through the clouds and I catch a glint of metal three buildings over, poking out of a window on the third floor of an old hotel. The brief flash of reflected light that every sniper learns to avoid.

Amateur mistake. Or cocky. Either way, they’re dead.

I slip into the shadows without alerting the others. They need to stay with Autumn. This is my hunt now .

The building’s stairwell groans under my feet, threatening to collapse, but I’ve climbed worse. I wish I’d put my boots back on after sparring with Jace, but at least it makes it easier to move silently.

Every rotter I pass is already dead. This man unknowingly cleared the path for me. By the time I reach the third floor, I can hear him. The slight shift of his weight, the shuffle of his feet, and the barely audible breath. He thinks he’s alone.

I ghost up behind him and clamp my hand over his mouth before he registers my presence. His body goes rigid when I press my knife to his throat. My voice comes out as a deep grunt. “Drop the rifle.”

He complies, and the weapon clatters softly to the carpeted floor. I kick it away and spin him around, then slam him against the wall. He’s younger than I expected. Maybe mid-twenties, clean-shaven, and well-fed. Don’t see that around too often.

“You’re going to answer my questions, and if you lie, if you even think about screaming, I’ll show you a trick they don’t teach in basic training. Nod if you understand.”

He nods so fast it looks like his head might snap off.

I ease my hand off his mouth. “Why are you hunting her?”

His eyes dart out the window, but he can’t see Autumn at our camp from here. Right now she’s still by the fire, safe in Caspian’s arms while her sister lies on the ground, partially hidden from this angle. “It’s my job. Why? You want a cut?”

My knife presses harder against his throat and a single drop of red pools around the knife. “I’ll rip your throat out with my bare hands before you lay a hand on Autumn.”

“Wrong season,” he gasps. “We’re after Summer. She’s the one with the bounty.”

I freeze. My grip tightens on the knife without thinking. “What? ”

“Summer,” he repeats, swallowing against my blade. “Subject 47-B. She escaped from the facility, and now there’s a reward for her return. Well, as long as she’s alive. She’s no good to them dead.”

“Start talking.” When he hesitates, I drive my knee into his solar plexus. He doubles over, gasping. I grab his hair and yank his head back.

“The facility,” he wheezes. “Research lab. They were working on a cure, or antidote, or something. They trade rare supplies and medication in exchange for survivors as test subjects. That’s how colonies stay fed out here.

Type O-negative with some rare genetic marker.

They gave her something, some sort of experimental serum. ”

My blood runs cold. “What kind of serum?”

“I don’t know the science, but it was supposed to make her immune.

Maybe even reverse early infection.” He coughs, and I let him catch his breath before forcing him to continue.

“She escaped before they could finish running the full tests. They need her back to see if it worked. Orders are to bring her in alive, no exceptions. Million ration cards to whoever finds her.”

“Escaped, and ended up a rotter.”

“That’s impossible. The serum…”

“You want impossible? I’ll show you what impossible looks like.” I haul him to his feet and force-march him down the building with my knife at his kidney. He stumbles a few times, but I don’t slow. When we reach the street level, I press the knife in closer and shove him forward. “Walk.”

When we reach the area, I direct him to where Summer’s body still lies on the ground. The man stops dead in his tracks and the color drains from his face. “No. No, that can’t be. She was supposed to be immune. The serum…”

“Take a good look,” I snarl before spinning him around to face me. “That’s your escaped subject. That’s what your so-called cure did. It didn’t save her, it only made her die alone and afraid, away from the only family she had left.”

He’s shaking now, and my grip on his arm is the only reason he’s still standing. “They said…they swore the trials showed…”

“Where is this lab?”

“North. Two days by vehicle, much longer by foot. There’s an underground complex beneath the old CDC building, but you don’t understand.

If the serum failed…” His eyes widen in horror.

“Oh god. They’ve been giving it to others.

They were so certain this time. They gave it to dozens of others.

My sister is in there. Bringing Summer back was supposed to give me her freedom. ”

My grip loosens when rage flows through me so powerful, I could snap him in half with a simple pinch of my fingers. I stare at Summer’s corpse. My mind races. They experimented on her. They gave her a false hope of a cure. “These lab people…are they the ones who kidnapped Summer?”

“No, they only got her through trade. There are people who specialize in doing the dirty work. At first, only supplies were being traded, then weapons, now people. Whatever the demand is, the supply will happen, and there’s no bigger demand than a cure.

No matter what the cost might be,” the man answers.

He starts backing away, and I don’t stop him.

“Do you know who ‘supplied’ her?”

“There’s only one group who specializes in trading people. They’re only known as the brothers. That’s all I know. Please, I have to get back to the lab and stop them.”

“Do you need backup?” My body vibrates with anger at the thought of all those innocent people being captured and experimented on, but nothing is more important than Autumn, and I don’t think I could leave her right now. I sure as hell wouldn’t bring her along .

“No. I have a group, and I can’t waste any time waiting around for stragglers.”

“Then go,” I say, and he runs faster than I’ve ever seen anyone run before.

Autumn’s problems aren’t over yet. They’re only just beginning.

My fists clench. She’ll want answers. She’ll want blood.

And I’ll help her get both.

The fire burns low. It’s little more than soft embers now, glowing red beneath the charred logs. Autumn hasn’t moved for hours.

She sits there with her legs crossed and her arms wrapped around herself, staring at the flames like she wishes they’d swallow her whole.

She hasn’t eaten. Hasn’t slept. Not since she crumpled to the ground after putting her sister down for good.

She passed out cold right there in the dirt, her body too heavy with grief to hold itself up.

I’d carried her back and held her close against my chest the whole way until I finally handed her off to Caspian and went back to do what I could to make things easier for her when she woke up.

We’d buried Summer at sunset. Found a spot beneath an old oak tree with roots deep enough that it’ll be standing for lifetimes to come.

The four of us stood there as the light faded, and even Luna sat quiet and still.

Caspian had said something beautiful about souls finding peace.

Jace had helped her lower the body with a gentleness that surprised us all.

Autumn had placed wildflowers on the fresh earth; red and purple ones she’d found growing nearby.

None of us mentioned how fitting it was.

I’ve been sitting across from her ever since, pretending to mess with the fire. Pretending I’m not watching her every breath. But I can’t shake the unease. The feeling if I look away, she might fall apart completely. Which is pointless, because she already has.

Caspian is her shadow. He leans against a tree a few feet away.

When I told them about the sniper, the lab, and the experiments, his face had gone even whiter.

His hands had clenched into fists, and for a moment, I’d seen something dark and dangerous flash in those usually gentle eyes.

“They used her as a test subject,” he’d whispered, and the quiet rage in his voice had been more unsettling than any shout.

Jace took off again right after we got back from camp. His reaction to the sniper’s intel had been explosive. He’d punched a wall so hard his knuckles split, snarled something about “fucking scientists playing God,” then stormed off without another word. I wanted to punch his lights out for that.

First, he runs away to put distance between him and Autumn, then he comes back and closes that distance, only to drop the bombshell that her sister is dead and has been all along. Then he takes off again. I have half a mind to leave him behind while Cas and I whisk Autumn away somewhere safe.

The sniper is long gone. I’d let him go, figuring he would spread the word Summer was dead, and their precious test subject was beyond their reach and they would have no choice but to call off the snipers.

Apparently, the snipers weren’t trying to kill her.

They were only intending to harm her so she couldn’t fight them off while they dragged her back to the lab.

I don’t want to imagine how that would have turned out if they had gotten to Autumn before we did.

Keeping that guy around would only mean more people would keep coming for Autumn, thinking she was her sister.

She doesn’t need that shit right now. What she needs is time to grieve .

I rake a hand through my hair. I hate this feeling. The helplessness. The waiting.

Frustration burns under my skin. I’ve been in foxholes, I’ve been in firefights, but this? Watching someone I care about drown in silence?

This is worse.

I glance at her again. She hasn’t even blinked. All she does is stare into the flames dancing in front of her. I wish I knew what to say. Wish I had some smartass comment or dumb story that could pull her out of this, but words won’t cut it this time. So I do the only thing I can think of.

She doesn’t move when I shift closer. I ease down beside her. She doesn’t flinch, and she doesn’t look at me. She keeps staring at the fire. “Did I ever tell you about Martinez?”

She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t need to.

“First squad leader I ever had. Guy was solid. He could make you believe you were invincible. He always pulled us through every mission.” I rub the back of my neck. “Until he didn’t.”

I pause and swallow hard. Autumn doesn’t move, doesn’t react. I need to keep going.

“We were out in this godforsaken wasteland. No backup and no comms. Got ambushed hard. Martinez took a hit before any of us even knew what the hell was going on, and I…well, I froze.” The words taste like ash, but I keep going.

“I stood there, watching him bleed out while I couldn’t even move.

” I shake my head. My throat tightens. “Lost half my squad that day. I still remember every damn face. Every name. The worst part? I walked out. They didn’t. I always walk out.”

Finally, I glance over at her. She’s still staring at the fire, but her fingers curl tighter around her knees.

“I’ve spent years trying to be the guy who saves people.

That’s why I didn’t hesitate to save those civilians even though I screwed up the operation.

I don’t even care about being discharged, as long as I got to save people.

So I understand how deep the wound cuts when it comes to losing someone.

” I don’t tell her the rest. About how it kills me inside that I couldn’t save her sister, even though I never met her.

That some part of me feels like I failed Autumn, too.

Autumn turns her head, and those haunted hazel eyes lock onto mine. The skin around her eyes is still puffy from crying. Her hand lifts, and it trembles when she touches my face. Her palm is warm against my jaw. “You can’t save everyone,” she says in a voice that’s barely there.

I catch her hand in mine and hold it against my skin. I close my eyes. “Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying. Especially when it comes to saving you.”

Her lips tremble, but she doesn’t pull away. I press her hand tighter against my face and make a silent vow. She’ll never meet the same fate as her sister.

Not while I’m still breathing.