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“Yes,” Holly said, and her expression was suddenly reverent. “The Vessel for his ultimate self-actualization, the true key to harnessing the power of our goddess, Odessa—she, with her Eye of Truth, that observes all things, all places, all times. You, the sole survivor, are his ultimate test.”

She said all this with the enthusiasm of a true convert, and I couldn’t hide my disbelief. She was fucking nuts. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree on that one. How Claire had come from this stock was beyond me.

Claire’s hands shook, but she took a deep breath. “So, he just wants to kill me.”

Holly shrugged. “Among other things. In his Vision, Odessa’s Eye showed Jim J your ascent to the Altar of Sight.”

I thought of the altar that the cult leader stood at with the golden eye emblem and wondered if it was the same one.

“At the Altar, he’d lay claim to his Vessel, for from her body, she quenches all thirst. When he is sated, his Dagger of Truth will pierce her heart, and from her, he will take the core of the rebellious spirit—the heart of the sole survivor—and eat of her flesh, absorbing her power and becoming one with her, so as to complete his most sacred Ascension.

All the world will be awash in his Vision, and all words of defiance will turn to ash in the mouths of the unworthy. ”

Holy fucking shit. Claire’s face was pale, but her mouth was hard. I couldn’t even guess what she was thinking.

“Over my dead body,” I spat.

Holly smiled a grim, twisted little smile. “You read my mind. ”

I took a deep breath to stop my thoughts racing. I was ashamed to admit it, but fear had crept in—for Claire and for myself. Luckily, Claire interrupted my train of thought before it ran away.

“How does Jim J perform that trick of stabbing himself?” she asked. “We saw him do it on stage.”

Holly frowned. “He stabbed himself?”

“Yeah, during the freakshow,” I cut in. “Doesn’t he normally do that?”

Her lips twisted into a smirk. “He’s achieved it. Odessa’s gift of Immortality. A gift he’ll bestow on his followers—in time.”

Well, that answers exactly nothing. Asha finally chimed in.

“This is the craziest, most unsettling shit I’ve ever heard,” she said, and I couldn’t help but chuckle darkly. “But there’s one problem with your little prophesy: Claire’s not the sole survivor. Still alive over here.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “You think they give a shit about you? You disappeared off the security system, and I doubt they’ve been looking out for you. You aren’t a member of the Holy Family, like me, Mom, and Claire.”

Disappeared?

“Hold up,” I said sharply. “You mean that these trackers—they have a range?”

She clapped her hands sarcastically. “Very good, Wastelander. Gold star.”

I ignored her, my thoughts racing ahead.

“How far can these things track?” I asked.

She shrugged slowly and deliberately, obviously trying to piss me off. Unfortunately, it was working.

I glanced at Claire, trying to gauge how she was doing. To my surprise, her expression was now cool and controlled. I could practically see the wheels in her head turning.

“What happened to your hair, Holly?” she asked, eyeing the odd, choppy blonde hair cropped close to her head. “I’ve never seen it that short before. I didn’t think you liked it.”

Holly bit her lip, and her eyes filled with sudden tears that she fought to hide.

“This was my punishment!” she exclaimed.

“Because of you. When they found out you survived, they knew I must’ve helped.

They cut off all my hair because they knew I loved it.

Mom laughed when she saw it and told me to take it in stride.

I did, along with all the other shitty jobs that suddenly, I was stuck doing.

Why do you think I was in a fucking utility closet when you turned up, instead of at the Gathering? ”

Holly’s glare could kill.

“Before the Cleansing, I was the one they wanted. Jim J’s golden girl, meant to one day lead his Sacred Army. But now, all they talk about is you.”

“They want to kill me, Holly!” Claire burst out, clearly unable to stop herself. “How can you possibly be jealous of that?”

“Because you get to be part of something bigger!” she shot back. “And that’s all I wanted. That’s what I was, before you fucked it all up.”

“By surviving,” Claire said, and there were tears in her voice for the first time. “By doing what I had to do.”

I’d heard enough. Time for damage control.

“As touching as this has been, sharing time is over,” I said bluntly. “Holly, show me this tracking map.”

I gestured at the terminal in the corner. Holly huffed but eyed the hunting knife I still held.

“Fine,” she said. “Won’t do you any good, but if you all want to commit suicide, be my guest.”

I followed her over to the computer station.

She sat down and logged in, then blew through a few different screens.

Eventually, she navigated into a file named Claire Ainsley.

It opened onto what looked like a bio page.

I only saw it for a second, but it seemed to include every detail of Claire’s life at the compound, with insane headings like Early Childhood and Adolescent Years.

Shit, they were even creepier than I thought.

Holly clicked on a link that said Track target?

It loaded up a map with a blinking red dot, showing Claire’s location.

She clicked on the dot, and a small menu popped up.

The first option read Tracking Distance, and then a couple options down, Deactivate Tracking . Holly quickly clicked the first option.

“According to the Cave’s security system,” she read, “Claire can be tracked up to 300 kilometres in any direction. After that, it requires a stronger transmitter to keep tracking, which she doesn’t have. They only gave those to VIPs who needed travel privileges. ”

Summerhurst was much farther than that. If we made it, she’d be safe. Relief flooded my chest.

“Yeah, and thankfully, that won’t even be needed once I hit that Deactivate button I saw you try to hide,” I said casually.

Holly made a face.

“It won’t work,” she said in defiance. “The fact is that the tracker can’t be turned off…or if it can, only Cave leadership would know how, and in case you forgot, they’re all dead. It can only be temporarily deactivated. It’ll turn back on within a couple days.”

It wasn’t enough time, but it was our only shot. Holly started to protest again, but Claire slapped her smartly across the face.

“Move,” she ordered, shoving Holly aside. She navigated back to the Deactivate button, confirmed the temporary hold, and the red dot disappeared from the map.

Should I have been proud of my girlfriend for bitch slapping someone? Because I was.

Holly’s eyes had gone wide. She seemed way more scared that Claire—who she obviously still saw as the soft, sweet older sister who’d do anything she asked—had hit her. Go figure.

“Okay, time to go,” I said to Claire, who nodded. “Pack the PNCs, we’ll give this place a once-over for anything useful, then head out.”

“Wait,” Asha said as we turned away. “I want out with you guys.”

I exchanged a look with Claire. She frowned, conflicted again. So was I, but only because I knew Claire wouldn’t leave her friend behind…even when her friend had left her. That alone made me not trust Asha, but I didn’t want to sit here arguing about it.

“Fine,” I said. “But if you give us away or do something stupid, I’ll kill you. Understood?”

Asha’s nostrils flared, but she nodded. “Understood.”

I bullied Holly through deactivating Asha’s tracker too, even as Holly complained that nobody cared about Asha anyway. Maybe not, but I had no doubt Holly would be happy to let the masked maniacs know that Asha was with Claire.

“How long do we have until the ‘festivities’ are over?” Claire asked Holly.

“The Gathering usually ends around eight,” she replied uneasily, glancing at a clock on the screen. “You have maybe thirty minutes. ”

Time to move. I nodded at Claire, and we did a quick search of the boxes along the walls.

Asha guarded Holly. A few minutes later, we came up with a handful of survival supplies—prepackaged food, a couple new blankets that were in way better shape than ours, and packets of hygiene products like soap and shampoo.

“One last thing,” I said, and I grabbed a roll of duct tape from one of the boxes.

Holly screamed as I held her down in her chair, and Claire and Asha used the tape to tie her up.

“They’ll kill me, Claire!” she screamed as we finished. “They’ll know I helped you!”

“Sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” I said with a shrug.

To her credit, Claire didn’t waver. Instead, she ripped off a new strip of tape, forced Holly’s jaw closed, and placed it over her mouth.

“Tell them whatever story you like,” she said. “Bye, Holly.”

She took my hand and pulled me toward the bunker door without looking back.

After securing the bunker, we went outside and watched carefully for patrols.

Asha was silent, only speaking when spoken to, and I was fine with that.

We went the same way we’d come in, and because we’d kept to our thirty-minute window, the streets were still mostly empty.

We moved silently and came across a couple patrols, but we hid out in buildings till they moved on.

I was worried about Asha somehow giving us away, but she was surprisingly quick on her feet and seemed confident about the possibility of combat, which made me wary.

We made it back across the river and started the long hike back to Kimmy. I only hoped she was okay. With how much had happened in the span of a day, I hadn’t had time to worry about her. Over the next few hours, I didn’t do much else.