The Forsaken

care about Liam, then you won’t give up,” Rika continues. “Not in your heart, where it counts.”
    I nod. I think about the time that Liam and I spent together. How he helped me train, and made me the guitar. How we joked around with each other. What kissing him felt like. I can’t think about it too much or the pain will make it impossible to keep going.
    Veidman calls out to everyone, “Gather round!”
    We stumble toward him, bloody and bruised. The surviving hunters have found most of our backpacks. We’ll have to abandon some supplies, because there aren’t enough of us left to carry all of them. Gadya pushes herself away from the tree and walks over. I avoid her gaze.
    “I wish today had never happened,” Veidman says, surveying our ragged crew. “Now there are only ten of us left. We’ll mourn our companions later, when we’re out of danger. I know some of you got hurt, but we can’t give up.”
    His strained pep talk isn’t having any effect on me or anyone else. I wonder how many of us will even be alive when we reach our destination.
    “What matters is that we get inside the gray zone and find the city where the aircrafts are.” Veidman glances around. “We’ve got a ways to go,” he continues. “But at least we’ll be out of the orange sector soon.”
    “And then things’ll be even worse, ’cause we’ll be in the gray zone,” Markus points out.
    “No, we’ll be at the barrier,” Veidman corrects him. “We have to get through that first, remember?” He looks up. “I don’t think the drones will come after us for a while. The feelers scared them off. But we need to move fast. So let’s get going.”
    SOON WE’RE ALL HIKING again. Gadya keeps her own company, staring out into the trees.
    Rika and I walk next to each other. She’s breathing hard, and I know her leg must be killing her. But she shakes off any offers of assistance, refusing to let me help with her pack.
    We keep hiking, and I keep thinking about Liam. The pain feels like a physical wound in my chest. Raw and throbbing.
    “What do you think the barrier’s like?” Rika asks me, trying to coax me out of my despair, despite her own injury. “Everyone’s got a theory.”
    “Who cares?” I know the barrier should interest me, but I just figured Veidman would think of some way around it. “Isn’t it just a big fence or something?”
    “‘Or something’ is right. Supposedly you can see through it, but you can’t cross over. If you try, it’s like getting stuck forever, in invisible syrup. Before the tunnel collapsed, none of us ever had to worry about it.”
    “Great.” I step sideways on a slippery tree trunk and almost fall. Rika grabs my arm to steady me. “Can’t you just dig a new tunnel?” I ask.
    “We didn’t build the tunnel,” she explains. “It was here when we arrived. We don’t have the equipment or manpower to build something like that. It was really deep. All brick and concrete.”
    I think about the tunnel, and the other buildings on the island that I saw on the museum screen. It’s definitely an indication that other people lived on the island once. And hopefully a sign that David told the truth about my parents and the prison colony.
    I glance up at the trees ahead and see we’re making steady progress. There’s no sign of the drones or the feelers, but I know it’s just a temporary reprieve. They’ll come for us again and again. Until no one’s left. Without Liam, I feel depressed and alone.
    The ground gets slippery again, and I slow my pace. I glance down and see that I’m stepping on one of those strange plastic bags. The ones with the chemical formulas printed on them.
    “These are everywhere now,” Rika says, noticing it. “Especially after a feeler attack.”
    I kick it aside with my foot. I don’t want more mysteries. Only answers.
    “Stop!” Veidman calls from up ahead. The line stops moving.
    “What?” someone else whispers. My body tenses up. I don’t think I can handle another attack this soon.
    “We’re close to the barrier!” Veidman calls out. “Come and look.”
    We walk forward and gather around him.
    “We’re near the southern perimeter of the gray zone,” Veidman explains. He stares off into the forest, like he’s scanning for secret landmarks. “The barrier should be about five miles ahead.” Veidman peers up at the sky. Clouds are moving in, and gray light filters down to us through the trees. “Rain’s coming. We better get