Riley
The woods turned unnaturally quiet after the first mile. No birds. No squirrels. Just wrong.
I kept walking, duffel heavy on my shoulder, following Helena's map toward Harpers Creek. An hour later, I heard footsteps behind me. Three men.
They attacked at a sharp bend in the trail.
The first one lunged. I punched him in the throat, grabbed his gun, and shot the second when he rounded the corner. Clean. Calm. Too calm.
Then something smashed into the back of my head.
I dropped hard. A fourth man yanked me up by my hood. Gray hair, cold eyes. He knew my name.
"Riley Voss," he said with a small smile. "You're important. Don't die, kid."
I looked him in the eyes. "I'll kill you."
He laughed softly. "That's what I'm counting on."
A needle pricked my neck. Everything went black.
I woke up on a metal bench inside a prison-like transport bus. My head throbbed, blood matted in my hair. Twenty other kids were inside. Some crying, some silent, some angry.
Rachel Han was sobbing a few rows ahead. I didn't go to her.
I stayed seated, watching everyone. The man from the woods had called me important. Helena's note mentioned someone named Cole.
Whoever these people were, they'd taken me for a reason.
I was going to make them regret it.
Helena
Helena's hands shook as she drove the empty highway. She'd checked the school and the house. Riley was gone.
She knew why.
She had helped create Project Last Generation — the virus that killed adults and spared children. She had lied to herself for years.
At the lab, everything was wiped clean except her laptop. A video waited.
A gray-haired man stared at the camera: "Your daughter was selected. You helped design this. Continue your work if you want to see her again."
Helena watched it once, then left the lab.
She didn't know where Riley was.
But she was done hiding.
She would burn everything down to get her back.