The mud sucked at their boots as Abigail moved past the rusted trucks. She did not look back to see if Asher followed. She kept her right hand close to her gun and her eyes fixed on the treeline. The rain came down harder now. It washed the smell of fresh blood off the pavement. “You move too fast,” Asher said. He walked right behind her. The big grey wolf kept step at his left side. “I move fast because Barton has spotters on every ridge,” Abigail replied without slowing down. She checked a mark on the paper map in her hand. “The eastern pass is wired with trip wires and old mines. One wrong step and we are both meat.” Asher let out a short breath. “Mines do not matter if the ground belongs to us.” Abigail stopped walking so fast. She turned her head to look at him and the grey beast. “You really think your little trick with the throat sounds is going to stop a Syndicate patrol?” “They are not a trick,” Asher said. His voice stayed flat and cold. “They know who feeds them

Asher crouched in the damp mud near the entrance of the drainage tunnels. Water dripped from the rusted grates overhead and hit the concrete with a steady, hollow sound. Behind him, Caleb and Mara stood a few feet back with their weapons ready, eyes fixed on the tree line above. Inside the dark pipe, a dozen tired survivors sat huddled in the gloom. No one spoke. Everyone listened for the sound of boots or engines on the ridge. Abigail knelt beside him and wiped mud from her face with the back of her glove. “Caleb says the Syndicate scouts are sweeping the upper ridge right now. If they find this vent, we are trapped like rats.” Asher did not answer right away. He reached up with cold, steady fingers and pulled a rough, dark stone from beneath the collar of his shirt. It was heavy. One side was worn smooth from years of rubbing against his skin. The other side still held the old marks he and Marcus had carved the night before the hounds came. It was the only thing left from the

Then you stay out here in the dirt,” Nia said. She glared up at him without flinching. “And you let Barton’s heavy guns chop you into pieces when the sun comes up over the ridge.” Asher stepped right into Scarface’s space until only two inches of cold air separated their faces. Scarface tried to stand tall, but his right shoulder twitched and pulled back just half an inch. “You carry yourself like a man who knows how to shoot,” Asher said. His voice dropped into a dangerous rasp. “Your palms are clean. Your hands are not the hands of a mechanic or a ditch digger. The skin on your right index finger is rough from pulling a heavy trigger.” Scarface said nothing. The rain ran down the deep scar on his face and made the pale skin glisten under the gray sky. “Barton pays his bounty hunters in salt, lead, and clean water,” Asher continued. “How much did he put on my neck?” Scarface’s left hand drifted two inches toward the left side of his leather belt. “I do not take orders from

“Let them try,” Asher said. He pulled the dark stone out from under his shirt and held it tightly in his palm. His thumb scraped against the rough jagged surface. Abigail kept her eyes locked on the treeline across the ravine. Her finger rested lightly against the trigger of her gun. “What is the plan, Asher? We cannot sit here and wait for them to drop down on our heads.” “The plan has not changed,” Asher said. His eyes were hard as flint. “We keep moving toward the gate. If these scavengers want to play in the dirt with us, we give them a grave they did not ask for.” Scarface let out a nervous breath. He wiped rain from his forehead with the back of his dirty sleeve. “You are crazy. You are going to get us all killed over a grudge with a man who sits in a glass tower.” “You should have thought about that before you picked up a bounty poster,” Asher said. He stood up slowly from behind the concrete blocks. He ignored the rain beating down on his shoulders. “Get up. We move no

“You did good back there at the crossing,” Caleb said. He offered the bottle toward her. “If you had frozen up when those hunters came through the brush, we would have been food for the hounds.” Nia waited a second, then took the flask. Her fingers brushed against Caleb’s rough palm. “I am not looking to die in the dirt for Barton,” she said softly. There was a quiet edge in her voice. “My brother is down in the lower labor pits. If I do not get out of this valley, no one is going to pull him out.” Abigail watched her. Her face losing the traces of suspicion. She stepped closer and laid a hand gently on Nia’s shoulder. “We are going to get him out, Nia. Once we get past this gate, we take the western road. You are safe with us.” Nia looked down at the ground. A shadow passed over her face so quickly that neither Caleb nor Abigail noticed it. “Thank you,” she murmured. “It means a lot to hear someone say that.” Asher turned his head just enough to watch them from the corner o