The Forsaken

us?” a hunter asks. “You’re not a tracker.”
    “I have my ways,” she retorts. “Don’t underestimate me. I can smell hickory bark a quarter mile away, and a patch of mint even farther than that. You think I can’t find a slow-moving group of twenty kids hiking through the forest? Please.”
    “It shouldn’t be this easy to find us,” Gadya mutters. “We need to do a better job of covering our tracks.”
    A lot of the hunters don’t know what to make of Rika’s sudden appearance. They’re probably wondering if she’ll be a liability. But the more I think about it, her decision makes perfect sense. Everyone will fight better with a full stomach.
    “Someone help her with her pack,” Veidman instructs.
    He says this because her pack is crammed with cooking pots, and hollow wooden bowls. It’s like she tried to cram her entire kitchen kit into there.
    “No, I can carry it. Really,” she protests as a few hunters step forward and grab some items to lighten her load.
    “Take this,” Liam says, giving her one of his spears.
    “What am I gonna do with that? It’s too big to stir a pot.” But she takes it anyway.
    Markus moves over and says something softly to Veidman. Veidman nods in agreement. “We need to keep moving. Each time we pause, we give the drones a chance to attack.”
    As we start hiking again, Rika falls back and joins Gadya and me near the middle-rear of the line.
    “We came looking for you to say good-bye,” I tell Rika, so she doesn’t think we ditched her.
    “If I knew you wanted to come, I would have trained you, too. Like I did with Alenna,” Gadya complains.
    “Then I’m glad you didn’t know.” Rika pokes Gadya’s arm. “I’m no athlete.”
    “Neither is Alenna, believe me.”
    “Hey, watch it!” I say, although I’m pretty sure Gadya’s just teasing.
    We continue hiking for the next hour. Rika’s sunny disposition has lightened the burden in my heart. And now we have her stew to look forward to for lunch and dinner, instead of dried rations of cured hoofer meat.
    Yet another hour passes. Then another. Time becomes fluid. At some point we pass the invisible boundary that divides the edge of the blue sector from the orange one, but no one makes a big deal out of it, which is probably for the best.
    If you control your fear, then you keep your mind clear. That’s a line I learned from Gadya.
    I think about David. It’s hard to believe he was serious about splitting with the two factions and doing his own thing. On this island, setting off on one’s own might be the most courageous—or stupid—act of all. Crazier even than going to war or hiking into the gray zone.
    The sun moves overhead, grilling us with its heat, even through the canopy of trees. It’s hard to imagine the gray zone being cold. For now, all the coats, gloves, and other winter wear are stowed inside our packs.
    The hike is going well—so well that I start to get complacent, the very thing Gadya warned me against. But we all do. Our voices grow too loud, and even the hunters are lulled into the rhythm of the hike. They relax, their bows no longer at the ready. It’s just too hard to stay that tense, hour after relentless hour.
    Between lulls in the conversation, my thoughts drift to Liam. To David. To my parents. And most of all to the rocks that I’ll be searching for once we find a way into the gray zone.
    The last thing I’m worrying about is walking straight into an ambush.

THE ATTACK
    WE ’ RE STILL HIKING WHEN the first arrows hit. I’m just putting one tired leg in front of the other and listening to Rika tell us about the stew she’s going to cook tonight.
    But Gadya stops moving and looks distracted about a second before everyone else. I’m just about to ask if she’s okay, when something whisks right past my face. It’s so close it blows back a strand of my hair, and nearly grazes the tip of my nose. Stupefied, I stumble backward. And when I turn my head, I see an arrow sticking out of a tree trunk about three feet away, still quivering.
    “Close ranks!” Veidman immediately screams.
    At the same moment I realize that my worst fears have come true.
    We’re under attack!
    Everything Gadya taught me goes out of my mind instantly. It’s like I’m frozen. Nothing seems real. Although I’ve been under siege twice already, both times were back at the safety of the village. This is different. Out here we’re exposed. And we’re technically in the Monk’s