Chapter 7 · The Price

"We need to get her out." Rachel's already crouching over Tessa, checking for bites. The woman's shaking so hard her teeth are chattering. "She's in shock."

I can't stop staring at the tunnel mouth. That scream's still looping in my head. Maya's voice. Or something wearing it.

"She's down there," I say.

"You don't know that." Rachel stands, one hand still on Tessa's shoulder. "Could be bait. Things in the deep zones mimic voices."

"It was her." My hands are still bleeding light—dim now, but steady. The cuts sting. "The radio was dead. She made it work."

Rachel doesn't argue. She just looks at the ruined tracker on the ground, then back at me. "Even if it's her, you go down there now, you're dead in ten minutes. You can barely stand."

She's right. My legs feel like water. The light rush from earlier hollowed me out, and every muscle's screaming. But Maya's voice—

"I'm going."

"Not alone." Rachel hauls Tessa to her feet. "And not till we get her somewhere safe. There's a holdout two blocks east. Greywolf's people run it."

That name again. "Who the hell is Greywolf?"

"Marcus Voss. Runs the survivor network in Sector Four.