Chapter 19 · Grind, Loot, Survive - Chapter 19: Dead Zone Dive

"You cross that line alone and I will drop you myself, Kade."

Selene's hand clamped around my forearm and yanked me back a foot from the dead zone line.

"Whoa. Friendly fire? Really?" I said. "I'm just looking."

"You're leaning," she snapped. "That's how rookies die. You lean, then you step, then I scrape you off the rocks."

"I wasn't gonna step," I said. "I was strategizing. Very intensely. With my face."

"Bullshit." Her fingers dug in harder. Cold through my sleeve. "You think I don't know that look? Solo hero sprint. You get a little rank and suddenly you don't need a squad."

The line was right there. Literally painted on cracked concrete, glowing faint red. Beyond it, the fog ate everything. No sound. No wind. Just gray soup that swallowed rank signals. The Dead Zone.

Bram's voice crackled in my earpiece. "Kids, if you're gonna flirt, do it before the fog eats your comms. Selene, he's got that itch again, huh?"

"He's got more than an itch," Selene said, not letting go. "Milo, you break formation in there and I will leave you."

"You won't," I said.

"Try me.