Page 47 of To Cage a Wild Bird (Divided Fates #1)

He held his hand out, and I stared at it for a moment before I realized he wanted the flashlight I was still holding. The

only light source in the tunnel aside from the slight glow emitting from his tablet.

I held back a groan. Fuck me.

I placed the flashlight in his hand.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, walking backward a few steps, eyes intent on mine before he turned.

For several moments, I stood, back against the wall as he got farther down the tunnel and the space around me grew darker.

Until he turned a corner and I was left with no light at all.

I slid down the wall until I was sitting, squinting my eyes, trying to see anything.

I’d never been afraid of the dark, but the dark had never been so complete.

And the silence.

Was this what it would be like to be buried alive? I drew in a sharp breath at the thought, curling into myself and wrapping

my arms around my bent knees. My chest grew tight, and it felt like there was something stuck in my throat, stopping me from

pulling in full breaths.

I heard my mother’s voice in my head. Breathe, Raven.

In, two, three, four.

Out, two, three, four.

I didn’t think I’d drawn a full breath since my parents were taken. Something had lodged itself in my chest that night, and

my lungs had been forced to adapt ever since.

In, two, three, four.

Out, two, three, four.

It had gotten worse when Jed was arrested.

In, two, three, four.

Out, two, three, four.

And worse, when I’d been forced onto the hunting grounds for the first time.

In, two, three, four.

Out, two, three, four.

I pictured our friends sitting around our usual table in the mess hall, laughing despite where they were, and something stuttered

in my chest.

In, two, three, four.

I pictured Vale, pulling Jed and me into the tunnel.

Out, two, three, four.

And I realized, somewhere along the way, these people had made it easier for me to breathe.

Made me feel almost whole again.

I pictured all of us, making our way across the Wastes.

I took a deep breath, the rhythm evening out.

By the time we returned to the tunnel entrance and back up to the land of the living, half an hour had passed.

“Tunnel’s clear.” Vale filled August in. “Exit on the other side of the fence is wedged shut, I’d guess because it hasn’t

been used for so long. But we can’t risk breaking it open until we leave—another guard might notice a gaping hole in the ground

on the other side of the fence.”

A wide grin unfurled across August’s face. “We’re really doing this.”

We started to walk back toward the prison, but I froze, remembering something. I turned to Vale. “While we’re out here, I should show you where I stashed that rifle I stole from the hunter. That way, you can get it to Kit. She said she could modify it for us to use.”

Vale grinned. “Lead the way, Little Bird.”

I frowned. “The thing is, directionally, I don’t know how to get there.” All the trees looked the same, and while I was getting

used to the hunting grounds, I hadn’t returned to that specific spot since my first hunt.

“Do you remember anything about it?” August asked.

“It was in a sort of clearing,” I mused, thinking back. “Actually, I watched you two meet up right where it happened. You

were whispering to each other, and then you heard a scream and took off.”

Vale chuckled. “Putting the pieces together, even then.”

“I think I know where that is,” August interjected.

We followed him for several minutes until we reached a clearing. I wasn’t sure it was the clearing until I spotted a bloodstained rock.

August caught me eyeing it and raised a brow. “Damn. Momo said you cracked that hunter’s head pretty good. I guess I should’ve

believed him.”

August and Vale followed as I retraced my steps from that day, finally approaching the hollow tree where I’d stashed the gun.

I reached inside, wary of being bitten by some creature that had made the tree its home, but my fingers met cool metal. “Still

here,” I whispered.

“I’ll come back for it later,” Vale promised, punching the coordinates into his tablet.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as Vale directed us nearly all the way back to Endlock, stopping at the edge of the

field. Lights winked at us from the watchtowers around the perimeter, but for the most part, the prison was wholly dark, everyone

tucked in for the evening.

“Why do you want to test the new features this close to the prison?” August asked, leaning against the nearest tree. Sweat

trickled down his temple, and he rested his weight solely on his uninjured leg.

“Because I don’t know what state you’ll be in after the experiment is done,” Vale confessed, fiddling with a handheld, rectangular device with a glowing screen.

“I might be able to drag you across the field if you’re unconscious, but I wouldn’t be able to carry you across the entirety of the grounds. ”

I swallowed against my dry throat.

“How does it work?” I asked, though I didn’t really want to know the answer.

Vale cleared his throat, finally meeting my eyes. “I’ll scan your wristband and add the features. The hunters who pay for

the features will likely only add one or two at a time, but Larch insisted that we test them all today.”

“He’s efficient, I’ll give him that,” August grumbled.

I huffed out a laugh, clenching my hands into fists at my sides to stop their shaking.

“One of us at a time or...?” I trailed off.

“Together,” August answered before Vale could, stepping up beside me with a wince. I reached an arm out, offering to take

some of the weight off his leg, but he waved me off. “Best to get it over with.”

Vale nodded, his jaw clenched tight. He scanned August’s wristband and then tapped a few times on the screen of his device

before reaching for my arm. His fingers closed around my wrist, and his golden eyes looked into mine, warming something low

in my belly.

He scanned my wristband and then, rather reluctantly, released my arm.

“I’m sorry,” he said, tapping the device screen again.

The words slipped from him so softly that I could’ve convinced myself it was my imagination.

Vale pulled a pair of dark-lensed glasses from the pocket of his pants and, after seeing my scrunched brows, said, “It’s for

the thermal imaging. When the feature is activated on your wristbands, these glasses will allow me to see where you are—whether

in the dark or through the foliage of the trees.”

A death sentence for any inmate it was used on.

But not us. Not Jed. Not now that we’d found a way to leave.

“Are you ready?” Vale asked, sliding the sunglasses onto his face.

I nodded and, out of the corner of my eye, saw August doing the same.

“It will be over soon,” Vale promised. “I’m going to head about a hundred yards in that direction”—he pointed away from us—“to make sure the features work from a distance. I’ll head back toward you slowly, tracking your vitals and the accuracy of the thermal imaging.

Once I’m close enough, we’ll be able to see if the proximity alerts work.

We’ll save the pain infliction for last.”

Vale grimaced as if the last of the words tasted sour. But he said nothing else before turning his back and walking away from

us.

I was glad.

I could no longer hide the fear coursing through me as I watched Vale’s retreating figure.

August and I were silent as we waited.

“Vitals and thermal imaging are good,” Vale called, waving his device in the air. “Proximity alerts should be—”

But a high-pitched alarm emitted simultaneously from my wristband and August’s, cutting him off. I slapped my hands over my

ears as the sound of the alarm rattled through my skull, piercing to the point of pain.

I saw August leaning against a tree, covering his ears.

The alarm cut out, and Vale jogged the rest of the distance between us.

“Too loud,” August grunted through his teeth. “It will hurt the hunters, too.”

“Let it hurt them,” I seethed, shaking my head from side to side to clear the ringing in my ears.

“August’s right,” Vale said, touching my cheek. “We’ll have to work on the decibel level. Larch will know I’m sabotaging him

if we set that loose on the hunters.”

August coughed. “Let’s get the last part over with before you two start making out ten feet from me.”

I bit back a laugh.

Vale dropped his hand, composing himself. “For the pain infliction, I’ll press a small button on my tablet, and it will make

your wristbands shock you. I don’t know how painful it will be, but it’s supposed to be strong enough to debilitate you.”

“So it’s going to fucking suck,” August said. “Noted.”

I gritted my teeth. I’d had plenty of injuries, and this was only going to be temporary. And it was all worth it now that we’d found our way out.

“Just do it,” I told Vale, meeting his eyes. “We’re ready.”

He bit his lip, watching me intently for a moment before nodding. He lifted his hand and tapped his screen, just once.

I felt something like a pinprick against my wrist.

“Okay,” I breathed, staring at it. Waiting. My brow wrinkled. “It hurts, of course, but it’s n—”

I screamed.

And screamed.

My arm was being torn off. The prick had spread like a disease, burning through flesh and sinew and severing bone.

“Make it stop!” I yelled, refusing to look at my arm. Tears streamed from my eyes, leaking into my mouth. Choking me.

The pain burned up into my shoulder. It was consuming me. I wouldn’t survive it.

There were hands on my back, on my head, brushing against me, but those hurt, too. I tried to step away, to escape the hands

and the hurt, but I couldn’t move—the attempt had me falling flat on my face, and I wanted to die .

“Kill me,” I whispered. “Please.”

I repeated the words until the world around me faded to black, and I escaped into blissful nothingness.