I mentally thanked Dylan for his relentless every-fucking-day training that had increased my stamina as I pushed my feet into the rough ground, trying to take regular breaths through my nose and mouth. The sun was scorching hot, standing high in the sky, but its rays filled me with strength after being caged in for so long. I felt their warmness seeping into my skin and energizing my cells like a charging battery. It came with the DNA, I guess.
After we got a good head start, the Hunters finally managed to break through our makeshift barricade, determined to hunt us down. Cassie, who was the better shooter, quickly drew her gun, hitting two Hunters with the remaining bullets in her rifle and killing the enemy in a heartbeat. A Racer got too close, though, crashing into Cassie and starting to rain down punches to her face. I came to her aid, but he dodged my kicks faster than I could react. At some point, I managed to drive my fist into his jaw. Surprisingly, the guy dropped dead like a sack after I’d crushed half his skull with my ability turned on.
“Well, that was effective,” was all Cassie said before rolling the twice-as-heavy guy off her with a grunt.
Eventually, Dorian sent his people with jeeps to chase us on four wheels. This time, I was sure he’d succeed, but again, my ability came forth in its full glory. Without giving it another thought, I extended my hands, drew up my energy, and blasted it in the direction of the two vehicles while enhancing gravity.
I had no idea what it would accomplish, but the result made my chin nearly drop to the ground. It was like watching an action movie in 3D as both jeeps’ front tires burst under the sudden amplified weight. The drivers hit the brakes simultaneously, which only enhanced the momentum, making the back wheels shoot high and the vehicles spiral through the air. Both landed with a loud crash, skidding to a halt on their roofs.
I was too shocked to move, watching as smoke rose, and one of the poor guys tried to wriggle out the broken side window.
“Leave him. He won’t come after us,” Cassie pointed out, urging me on with a hand on my elbow.
We hadn’t encountered any living creature since then. Chances were high Dorian wouldn’t give up his hunting mission so soon, so either his next troops were already on our tail, or he just let us be, knowing we were sentenced to death out here anyway.
Cassie ran next to me at the same tempo, now back to her old form again. Now and then, she threw glances over her back, anxious we were being followed, but it seemed we’d gotten rid of our chasers. For now, anyway.
After another mile or so, we hurled behind a rock providing cover to catch our breaths. Cassie retrieved the bottles of water and handed me one. I moaned in satisfaction as the water ran down my throat, not caring that it was lukewarm by now, and I forced myself to stop before emptying it completely. Swirling the last drops inside the bottle, I eyed them warily.
Cassie let her head fall back against the hard stone before declaring in a deflated tone, “We need to find water.”
I kept silent, my gaze drifting over to the forest. Thorny bushes and huge conifers with gnarly branches growing on dry soil expanded in front of us. Finding a river would certainly be a challenge, but I didn’t dare give up hope. The past had taught me that a lot of things were possible, which I’d already deemed futile.
“Let’s see to it that we reach the forest before it gets dark,” Cassie suggested, and although I could have done with a few more minutes of rest, I willed my body up, swallowing laboriously in an attempt to moisten my parched throat.
By the time we finally entered the cooling shadows of the forest, my muscles burned, and my lungs felt like bursting from my frantic panting. Cassie stopped next to a tree, leaning against the trunk as she, too, caught her breath. From there on, we slowed our pace, falling into an easy lope.
We dodged trees and sidestepped treacherous branches as we went deeper into the woods, the dense canopy dulling the rays of light filtering through. My spirits dropped as I thought about how little time we had left until dusk fell. It would be pitch black in here when night finally set, decreasing our chances of finding water.
After what seemed like forever, and twilight had already settled over the trees, Cassie stopped abruptly in front of me, prompting me to bump into her.
“Wha—”
She lifted a hand, silencing me. “Do you hear that?” she whispered. I strained my ears, but other than my pumping heart, I didn’t pick up anything unusual. “Water,” Cassie clarified, sprinting forward in anticipation. I followed her until I finally heard it, too—the faint rush of a river.
“Of course,” Cassie muttered dryly as she halted next to a cliff.
Groaning inwardly, I assessed the area. A river flowed freely at the bottom about twenty yards below us. I let my eyes swerve over the shore but couldn’t find any path leading down, and the steep rocks were impossible to climb.
“We’re so screwed,” I huffed, dragging a hand over my sweaty face.
Cassie turned to look at me, but the light was too dim to make out her expression. Nevertheless, I had the notion I wouldn’t like what she was going to say next, and her words proved me right.
“I thought you were the parkour chick.”
“The what?”
Cassie shrugged. “That’s what the students in the compound call you. Heard you made some pretty good stunts.”
I eyed the high trees looming over the shore and the branches extending over the river with sharp rocks dotting the ground here and there. I was a decent climber and jumper, but there was no path that would allow a flawless crossing.
I shook my head vehemently. No fucking way was this going to work.
Cassie rolled her eyes as if annoyed. “I saw you swinging a mace like a tennis ball, flipping over two jeeps with a swipe of your hand, and sending one guy into the afterlife with one single punch to the head. When will you finally see what you’re able to do?”
I was still shaking my head. “This is different. I’m exhausted, my feet are killing me, and it’s too dark to make out details. One wrong move, and I’ll be gone for good.”
“You can wield gravity. This is your power so fucking learn how to use it. Technically, you should be able to hover over the ground should you fall.” My head wouldn’t stop moving from left to right. “Okay, so what?” she snapped, crossing her arms. “You’re gonna lie down and wait to die of thirst?” Well, when she put it that way…
Never give up, Haylie. Promise me. You won’t ever give up, do you understand?
Dylan’s words from when we’d shared one of our intense moments rang in my ear. I’d promised him, so how could I give up now?
Inhaling deeply and praying for courage, I shrugged out of my jacket, throwing it in Cassie’s face. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered as I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants, preparing for the impossible.
“Drink. You’ll need it.” I downed the remaining contents of my water bottle, stuffing hers and mine under the waistband of my pants. “Just remember… if you fall, we’re both dead.”
“Thanks for the motivating words, Cassie.”
Adjusting my hair clip to make sure my hair would stay in place, I walked over to the nearest tree. Grabbing the trunk, I stomped my feet into the bark, pushing my body up until I was at level with the first branch towering over the cliff. Grabbing it, I heaved myself up and straightened carefully.
“Great,” I muttered as I allowed myself a glance down, quickly lifting my gaze again.
“You should be the last one to be afraid of heights.” Cassie gave off one of her most useful comments.
“I’m not afraid of heights,” I hissed, keeping my eyes on the branch and extending my arms to maintain balance. “I’m gonna strangle her should I come out of this alive…” I muttered to myself.
“I heard that.”
“Good.”
Deliberately setting one foot in front of the other, I crossed the branch’s length until it became too thin to bear my weight. Crouching low, I clamped my legs around it like a monkey, letting my body swing one-eighty degrees until I could untangle them again, holding my weight with my hands. There were just a few inches left between my toes and the branch beneath me, but it was enough to make my heart race in panic.
Don’t slip. Just don’t slip…
When I was sure it was safe to uncurl my fingers, I loosened my grip and landed on the next one. It started to vibrate dangerously, and I gasped, extending my hands to maintain balance. Thankfully, I found my stability quickly.
Breathe… You can do this…
Lifting my head, I looked up at Cassie who gave me an approving nod. Unfortunately for me, the tree was short of branches, and the trunk was too wide to climb down to the bottom. This left me with the only option to jump to the next tree, using its branch to swing and then land on a rocky alcove behind. Theoretically, that was.
Biting my lip, I gauged the distance. I had to conquer about five yards, not to mention I needed to jump high enough to reach the branch.
You can do this. You can do this, I repeated to calm my racing heart.
Briefly closing my eyes, I tapped into my power and waited until complex lines and curves appeared in front of my mental eye, providing me with all the physical data I needed. Feeling for the particles in my system, I turned them upward before leaping.
As soon as the branch was within reach, I curled my fingers around it using the momentum to swing my body forward. My body vibrated as I landed hard in the alcove, and I felt my feet slip over pebbles, but I managed to keep my balance.
“Shit,” I cursed as I realized what I’d just done, completely baffled that I was still unharmed except for my palms I’d scraped raw on the rough bark.
“Great, keep going!” Cassie yelled from above, watching my progress.
I nodded more to myself and felt some of the anxiety evaporate now that I’d conquered half of the way.
From where I stood, the only way down was to jump from one rock to the next until I could reach the ground. Most of them were pretty small and didn’t provide much surface. I remembered the narrow bar from the obstacle course in the compound that had nearly cost Jared a broken nose. You couldn’t land on it, just use it as a springboard.
I honed in on my particles again. The distances between the rocks were manageable without my ability, but I switched it on anyway in case I slipped. Flattening my body against the steep wall behind me, I used the small space to make a sprint.
Pushing my body through the air, I tapped my toes onto the first rock and jumped onto the second. And the third. And the fourth. And so on.
And finally, I felt solid ground under my feet.
Cassie yowled in joy, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down like a child who just received a puppy as a birthday present. I joined her laughter and hurried along the shore, falling to my knees next to the river. Eagerly drinking some of the fresh water, I splashed it on my face and neck to wipe off the sweat and dirt.
I refilled the bottles and made myself ready for the ascent, but halted in my tracks, eyeing the objects in my hands. It wasn’t enough water to get us both through the next twenty-four hours, and I wasn’t eager to make that descent a second time.
“What is it?” Cassie shouted, questioning my hesitation.
“Think you can catch this?” I yelled back, lifting one bottle. Cassie seemed confused for a moment, then nodded. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself for making the bottle fly high. If this went wrong, and it hit a sharp rock, it would burst, and then we would have only one bottle left.
Directing my power to the object in my hands, I tossed it high in the air, trying to make it light enough to conquer the distance. I watched the bottle sail upward, losing speed with every yard, but just as it came back down, Cassie fell to her knees, bending over the precipice and catching it at the last second.
“Yes!” I cried out and pumped a fist in the air, renewed with energy all of a sudden.
Cassie downed the bottle within seconds before letting it drop for me to catch. After refilling it, I started my ascent, bouncing back over the stones with ease.
I braced myself for the leap to the alcove, eager to reach the top quickly and finally get some much-needed rest, but in my hurry, I didn’t land as planned. A piece of rock became loose under my weight, and I felt my foot kick air.
“Watch out!” Cassie shouted in horror.
I clawed my fingers into the stone in a desperate attempt to hold on, but I slipped further down, my already battered shirt tearing on the rough surface.
“Argh!” I cried out, panicked, and quickly tapped into my last power reservoir, using what was left of my ability to keep me from falling. I managed to stop my body from tumbling over the edge at the last second.
With only my hands holding my weight, I dangled in the air while darkness loomed beneath me. It took all the strength I could gather to heave my body up again. Grunting from exhaustion, I crawled on all fours to get to safety.
“I’ve got it,” I rasped through heavy breaths, my knees buckling as I straightened. I didn’t look forward to the sore muscles I was sure to feel tomorrow.
Next came the branches, and to my surprise, I conquered them without further incident. Cassie lent me a hand as soon as I was within reach, and I let my body slump down when I finally made it to the top.
“Please, don’t… make me do this… again,” I huffed, delirious about my achievement but also disappointed Dylan hadn’t been here to watch, hadn’t been here to praise me for my endurance, to point out my mistakes, to yell at my failures, to guide me when I was lost, to give me one of his disarmingly sexy smiles when I challenged him—bringing out the Fighter in him.
God, I missed him…
“You did great,” Cassie interrupted my comforting daydreaming, harshly pulling me back to reality.
I peeked through one eye to see an uncomfortable Cassie averting hers. Did I imagine it, or were we getting along all of a sudden?
“I saw a cave earlier that should get us through the night. Let’s collect some wood on the way and make a fire.” I frowned in confusion and was about to ask her how the hell she intended to make a fire, but then I remembered the lighter in my pockets I’d taken from the Hunter earlier. “And then we should get something to eat.”
“Something to eat?” I repeated in disbelief. “What, you wanna go looking for berries in the dark?”
“Let that be my concern,” she said before helping me up.