Hidden (Book 3 of the Immune Series)

Behind the Darkness

"But if Julien sent the message, she's still alive," I jumped in, knowing full well about Sakir's research involving the Julien twins.

"Right, Athena," Patel said as he rubbed his growing salt and pepper beard, "and if she's a part of this, it can only bode ill for Sakir. Julien's a spineless woman. She switched sides almost instantly. If she has my son, it'll be in her old lab in the woods surrounding Compound 1."

I nodded, leaning forward to click off the tablet.

"Athena?" Dr. Patel called, and I hesitated. "Stay off the roads. Ashford will be expecting Jaelyn to come for Sakir. She's rather well known for her rescues."

I nodded and promised to bring Sakir home. Yet, the mission seemed to be running us in circles, tiring us out, and wearing our hopes thin. Sakir had been gone for four days. The odds of him still being alive were slim to none.

After a long argument, Jane and Trevor agreed to stay back in Compound 2, just in case Dr. Patel tried to contact one of us. Once we left the compound, we would have no means of direct communication. Jay and Isaac couldn't stay behind; they had promised Dr. Patel the same thing I had. And nothing less than a hurricane could have kept me out of those woods.

So, Monday night, we snuck out of the compound walls on foot, leaving behind our trucks. Isaac volunteered to carry the heaviest bag, the one packed with food and blankets. Jay carried the clothes and map. I stuck with medical supplies- just in case.

After walking all night and day, we had settled for the second night. The ground gradually sloped uphill here. We were in high elevations. The air stung our lungs and choked us.

"Just why can't we light a little fire?" Isaac complains, yet again, his teeth chattering. Jay rolls over on the frozen ground, curling against his leg.

"Do you want to attract the infected?" she asks, glaring up at him.

"We're in the middle of nowhere! Why would there be infected out here?"

"Think logically, Isaac. When was the last time we ran into one of them?"

"I don't know. Probably in Compound 5."

"And before that?"

Isaac's face twists in thought.

"It's been a long time," he finally says.

"Exactly, and we've been following the highways and city ruins. If the infected aren't in the ruins, where else could they be? They aren't obsolete."

"Out here, they have plenty of food and aren't hunted," I say, agreeing for once with Jaelyn. She points at me and nods.

"See? Athena gets it. Goddess of wisdom right over there."

Isaac snorts and shoves her away from him with his knee.

"Do you really think we'll run into the infected?" I ask Isaac, feeling panicked. He shrugs.

"Just don't cut yourself on anything. They follow the scent of blood," he states.

I nod, glancing around at the inky darkness surrounding us.

Suddenly, the tragic calm of the night feels scarier and much more threatening.

Sakir

The cold seeps through my thin gray pants like I'm sitting on a block of ice. I wrap my arms around my body in an attempt to warm myself up, but my hands are just as cold as the rest of me.

The drop in temperatures doesn't surprise me; I expected it to snow. Yet, I am shocked that Mya somehow managed to roll herself up in the only dry blanket we have, and now she looks like a seel, gray and damp from the cave walls.

One of her legs hangs out of the coccoon. Rips and tears spoil the material, exposing her skin underneath. Dried beads of blood gather on hundreds of scratches. To be honest, it looks like a cat got ahold of her, which makes me shiver.

I hate cats.

I know the marks came from thorns and rocks, though, resulting from her stumbling through the woods on awkward, tired feet.

She deserves extra credit points for trying, though. I'll give her that. She's braver than I intially thought, and her stamina shocks me. At fifteen, I wouldn't have ran away from home into unknown territory with a stranger. Knowing me, I would have stayed behind and tried to fight for myself.

Papa's words from the conversation we had the day I was kidnapped come rushing back.

"No, but you'll die a fool."

I glance back down at Mya's peaceful face, tinted slightly blue from the temperature. Which of us is the fool here- the girl who saved my life or the boy who agreed to carry her to safety?

Suddenly, a scratching meets my ears. I sit up straighter, staring into the impenetrable darkness towards the back of the cave. Even the moonlight can't break its thick wall. I squint, but my search comes up empty.

Bravery and curiousity ban together in my head and force me up onto my feet. First, I walk out of the cave, feeling blindly around for a weapon of some sort. A stick slams into my palm, and I close my hand around it and tear it away from the tree it's attached to.

I edge back into the cave with my new weapon, holding in front of my chest. As I walk farther away from the light, my eyes begin to adjust and create a blockish landscape in front of me. The ground slopes downward, and I slide forward on the balls of my feet. Rocks jut out of the darkness and nick my legs, causing me to wince.

The stench of something dead wraps its tendrils around my face, and I hold my breath. The ground slopes again, and I use my hand as a guide not to slip and fall. Slick slime coats the walls, squishing in between my fingers like mud.

The scratching morphs into a rhythmic wheezing. Sharp intakes of breath arise out of the darkness and cascade back down into what sounds like moans of pain.

The ground drops out from under me, and I slide forward, landing on my stomach in a shallow pool of water. I spit out the thick, stagnant liquid as my eyes adjust once more and the fireworks stop exploding behind my vision.

The smell is stronger down here, but there's a new clue to what I'm walking into.

The liquid on my lips isn't water. It's blood. The copper taste gave it away.

I push up onto my feet, one hand wrapped around my stick and the other pressed firmly up against the wall. I pray it's just an animal and not what I think it is.

Yet, a different, tall figure breaks into view, standing lopsided on a twisted and gnarled leg. The thing's mouth is open, revealing a mouthful of worn down, animalistic teeth. The eyes are swollen half shut; blood runs down its face from rotting open wounds.

Now, I know what I had forgotten earlier.

Infected.

A/N: Uh-oh. That's not good. Who is the true fool here? Can Sakir protect Mya? More importantly, can he protect himself?