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W es dropped to the floor, limp and out cold, just as Edith screamed out. “Holy shit, Mara!” she said. “Are you freaking insane? What the hell are you doing?” She still had her hands up, but her gaze was right on me, and she looked pissed.

I hurried. “Edith, remember when I told you I needed your help? This is it.”

“Oh hell no! Are you crazy ?”

“Just listen to me,” I said as I walked up to her, pulling her arms down. “Jacob and I have to do this. We’ve got to destroy these things—”

“That’s what we’re doing, Mara!” She was screaming at me now, annoyed and pissed off like a predatory cat.

I waved my hands at her, trying to shut her up. There was no time to explain. “It’s not what it seems! None of it is what it seems!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” She looked like she was getting ready to bitch-slap me into next Tuesday.

“I’ve got the virus,” Jacob muttered as he stood up from Jay.

“Don’t touch him!” she snapped.

“Edith!” I grabbed her by the collar and forced her to look at me. “I need you to protect them. Request an emergency evac and keep them safe. Get yourselves out of here as fast as you can.”

Jacob started moving, making sure his weapons were armed and accessible before coming to stand next to me. “Go back the way we came if you can,” he started. “The roads should remain clear for you all the way back. But if that doesn’t work, just stay clear of anything heading east or west.”

“Telvian soldiers will be heading east toward the battle,” I added, making sure she understood. “Evacuees will be heading west.”

Edith closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she chanted before looking at us like we were both insane.

“Are you guys serious? This is nuts !” She faced me.

“When you asked me for help, I didn’t think it was going to be for this!

Do you know how pissed off Wes is going to be?

” she rattled on. “ Forget Telvian soldiers. That dude’s going to be hell on earth, girl. I’d rather face the firing squad.”

“Mara,” Jacob said, tugging on my coat sleeve. “We’ve got to go. We’re running out of time.”

I nodded before facing Edith again. “I’m so sorry to do this to you, but please, help him understand. Keep them safe.” I took several steps away from her as Jacob walked past us toward the entrance.

“ Mara ,” Edith called, confusion and anger a live wire within her.

“I’m sorry, Edith, but you’ve got to trust me.”

“Erg!” she yelled as she stomped her feet, clearly trying to contain her rage. “What the hell are you going to do?” she asked as I turned away from her, following Jacob. “How the hell are you going to get out? Mara! ”

I didn’t answer. I just kept marching forward, knowing that I was walking away from my best friend and pissing her off like a cobra being poked in a cage.

But an angry Edith did a lot more damage than a collected one.

And right now, I needed her to be ready to kill anyone that walked in through the door and take no shit from Wes when he woke up.

Because she was right about a lot of things, but especially about Wes.

We were out the door, my coat and his hoodie concealing our guns and stunners.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my aviators, as did Jacob, who lifted the hood of his sweater to conceal his hair.

I pulled my hair into a low ponytail and slipped on a dark gray baseball cap.

It wasn’t much of a disguise, but it didn’t have to be.

We just needed to blend in enough that we could slip past people and into the REG.

“So,” Jacob began, eyes focused ahead. “You and that guy, huh?”

I kept my eyes on the road, but a smirk pulled at the corner of my lips. “Yeah, me and that guy.” I saw him nod from the corner of my eye.

“Doesn’t he look like—”

“Yes,” I replied, cutting him off.

One heartbeat, then two… “Related?”

“Twins,” I responded, keeping my focus straight ahead.

“Oh.” He grew silent.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

“You’ve got a type, don’t you?”

“Shut up,” I said, giving him a quick glare before returning my focus to the road and concealing another smirk.

“You ready?” he asked me.

“Not really.”

More silence.

“It’s going to be okay,” he reassured. “I mean, we’re on the good side now, right? Well, sort of, I guess. And the good guys always win.” It was a joke, an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, I guess.” I heard the booms in the distance. Heard the screams and gunfire. “But then again, they think they’re the good guys too, don’t they?” It wasn’t a real question. Just a simple fact.

“I know I did. I thought everything we were doing was right…until it wasn’t.” I could hear it. Hear the remorse and guilt in his voice for everything he had done and everything he had helped do.

“I guess that’s the thing, isn’t it? Everyone always thinks they’re fighting on the right side…

the good side. But how do you tell the difference when it all gets twisted?

So muddled that you don’t know what’s good and just anymore?

When all you know is you’re a part of this and they’re a part of that?

” Now that was the real question. One I didn’t expect him to have an answer to.

He stayed silent for a moment, each of us just taking steady steps toward the end when he finally responded. “I guess that’s the thing…you don’t. You just hope to god that you didn’t fuck up and get lost along the way.”

I stayed silent, mulling over his words in my head. But what if you’re already lost? What then?

Jacob sighed, and I knew exactly why. Because up ahead, we saw the first signs of life since coming out of the tunnel. People were running everywhere while Telvian Enforcement was trying to maintain order and guiding people westward.

“Ready or not,” Jacob muttered.

“Here we come,” I finished.