Chapter 5 : I Found Her

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IAN

One and a Half Months Ago

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It had been twenty minutes. Twenty minutes since I had found her. And she still hadn't moved. I watched the sleeping bag from where I stood, listening to the faint, steady rhythm of her breathing. She was alive. Unconscious, but alive. For some reason, I kept staring. Longer than I realized. The silence of the forest seemed to stretch around us, broken only by the relentless rain tapping against the leaves above. Just me. And an unconscious girl who had somehow survived in a place like this. I finally shook my head. This is getting weird. I crouched beside her and carefully lifted her into my arms. She was lighter than she should have been. That thought bothered me. I carried her farther through the forest, searching for somewhere anywhere that looked remotely safe enough to stop. Every clearing had its own dangers. The ground was soaked, the vegetation was dense, and somewhere beneath all of it could be snakes, insects, or plants capable of killing a person before they even realized they had been exposed.

Eventually, I found a patch of ground that would have to do. Hopefully. I lowered Nowella carefully onto the ground and began assembling the tent. If we were going to remain here for another hour or longer we needed shelter. I wasn't thinking about myself. I had only brought the tent because I wanted to prove something to Mary. That I was being careful. The irony almost made me laugh. I haven't slept properly in weeks. Not since Elena. After her, everything had become numb. She hadn't been with us for very long, but somehow she'd managed to leave an impact on my life greater than people I'd known for years. More than I had realized.

More than I had allowed myself to acknowledge. Maybe that was why I had come here. I had told myself it was a mission. That I was investigating the radar readings. That I was searching for survivors. But part of me wanted something else. A distraction. Something dangerous enough to keep my mind occupied. If there were children here, maybe there were more survivors.

Maybe Nowella wasn't the only one.

I finished securing the tent. Then a rustling sound came from behind me. My eyes immediately went to the sleeping bag.

Another movement. I rushed toward her.

Nowella's fingers twitched. Then her eyelids slowly opened. Her eyes were wide with confusion. Innocence. Fear. She looked around frantically, as though she had awakened in a world she no longer recognized. God... what did they do to you?

I couldn't imagine what she had endured.

Her eyes landed on me. She immediately pushed herself upright. Fear flashed across her face. "Hey." I raised my hands slightly. "It's okay, Nowella. Right? Nowella?" The moment I said her name, she froze. I realized immediately what I had done. Of course. The Reestablishment didn't call people by their names. They gave them numbers. Digits. Identities stripped down until the person underneath practically disappeared. Using her name was the only way I had to show her that I wasn't one of them. Although, knowing the Reestablishment, they could have known her name from her records. Background checks. Files. It wasn't exactly foolproof.

But trying was better than doing nothing.

I swallowed and took a slow breath.

"You know your sister, Elena?" The words left my mouth. I immediately closed my eyes. Brilliant, Ian. Of course she knows her sister. I tried again. "She managed to escape from the Reestablishment. We found her." I watched her carefully. "That's how I know her. That's how I knew your name. She talked about you a lot." I paused. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere away from the Reestablishment." I stopped myself before saying anything else. Enough. If I kept talking, I'd probably frighten her even more. Nowella's breathing gradually slowed. She studied me. She looked directly into my eyes, as though she were searching for something hidden behind them. Truth. She was trying to decide whether I was lying. It was strange.

She was so young. Yet there was something in the way she looked at me that suggested she had learned far too much about people. After several long seconds, she finally spoke. "We can't get out of here." I almost frowned. "What?"

I looked around. The forest appeared empty. Terrifying, yes. Dangerous, definitely. But empty. Maybe she was simply frightened. "It's okay, kid. We can get out of here." She suddenly grabbed my hand. Her expression changed. "No."

Her voice was quieter now. More serious.

"We can't get out of here." I stared at her.

"Why?" Her fingers tightened around mine.

"The monsters are watching." My stomach dropped. "What monsters?" She hesitated.

Then she looked toward the trees. "Every night, the monsters used to come out."

I listened carefully. "But as the days passed..." Her voice trembled. "They started appearing in broad daylight too."

I felt a strange chill crawl up my spine despite the cold. "And the people from the Reestablishment came with them." My brows drew together. "What do you mean?"

"They talked to the monsters." She swallowed. "They looked like giants." My face went pale. Giants? The word echoed inside my head. And suddenly, the forest didn't feel empty anymore.

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