Kie's harsh voice came from Tee’s telecom, "Why are you guys so loud?"

  A heavy silence settled upon them, Tee realizing the necessity of maintaining absolute silence to ensure their survival.

  "We need to focus on regrouping," Kie added, his voice barely audible as he emphasized the need for discretion.

  Tee strained her ears, attuning them to their hushed conversation. Gradually, their soft tones became more discernible.

  None dared object to leaving without killing the Harbingers, though that was their true purpose. The truth was clear. They were far from ready for such a task.

  Kie took charge, urging them to activate their holo-maps, the GPS hologram that emanated from their telecoms. The holographic display would showcase their individual locations as tagged markers, offering a comprehensive view of their positions and enabling them to assess distances more effectively.

  As they studied their holo-maps, Saeda delivered the startling news that the enigmatic figures in black had vanished. Disbelief echoed through the air, mingling with the intensity of their situation.

  Kie, driven by a relentless need for confirmation, commanded Tee to utilize her extraordinary eye ability to determine if the mysterious ones were truly gone. Yet, as she attempted to activate her unique vision, she encountered a roadblock.

  The pain ravaging her body made it nearly impossible to concentrate, each breath an arduous task. The grand surroundings only exacerbated her discomfort, threatening to unleash a merciless headache atop her existing torment.

  Silence enveloped the air as Tee waited, grappling with her own doubts. Eventually, she mustered the resolve to convince herself that the danger had passed. Although lacking tangible proof, she chose to tell her teammates what they desperately wanted to hear, bringing the telecom closer to her lips.

  "I don't see them. They must be gone."

  Their collective gasps of relief reverberated through the silence, a palpable release of tension. Tee hadn't lied, for she had never sought out the mysterious ones in the first place.

  The silence that followed was unsettling.

  Breaking the tension, Miko's voice came next. "Kie, are you okay?"

  Zod and the others began to panic, their frantic thoughts echoing in the silence. Had Kie been captured? Didn't Tee assure them that the enemy had vanished? And if Kie was indeed caught, how would they execute their teleportation without him?

  The sound of water droplets splashing intensified, magnifying the weight of their wait.

  Kie's voice crackled through the telecom. "Forget about me," he urged, the strain evident in his labored pants between words. "We need to focus on regrouping so we can teleport out of here." Unbeknownst to the others, the black blood on his hands burned like fire.

  Tee ignored the struggle in Kie's voice. With her teeth, she tugged down the cuff of her glove, revealing the device, and bit down on the yellow button at its side.

  A vibrant blue hologram materialized, taking the form of a circular grid with intersecting lines. The tags representing their positions dotted the holographic display, forming a semicircle. Noting Miko's position further away, a consequence of her remarkable speed, Tee understood the disparity. Saeda occupied the center of their formation.

  "Saeda, remain exactly where you are," Kie commanded. "The rest of us will move toward your location. Keep a close eye on your holo-map to make sure we’re moving."

  "I'll try. I—I mean, yes, I'll do it," Saeda stammered, her nerves evident in her voice.

  "Everyone else, travel above ground if possible. And don't stop for anything," Kie urged, gasping for breath. “We need to get in close range or you can forget about making it out here alive.”

  Kie's words stirred a flicker of doubt in Tee's mind. Did he somehow sense her lie about not spotting their adversaries? What did he mean by their survival being in question? Did he possess knowledge that they had never truly departed? She needed to ask him about that mind link ability of his.

  But hadn’t they already escaped death once in the jet crash? Or was that, like the kaiju, just another fabrication? What if the images—glowing eyes before their deaths, bloodied after—were fakes too? All of it, staged to push them into brutal training, then onto the mission to kill the Harbingers…or into some twisted Live Game.

  She pushed aside her worst fears and focused on the task at hand.

  Under Kie's authoritative command, Tee and her comrades, including Kie himself, were tasked with reaching Saeda's location. The fear of Kie possibly discerning Tee’s lie about the enemy's presence faded into the background as she contemplated the challenging demands of their situation.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Did Kie expect them to jump tree branches and rush their way to Saeda in their condition? A burning desire to escape the vicinity overwhelmed Tee, leaving her no time to waste on voicing her thoughts. She sucked in a deep breath, biting down on her lip, and willed herself to rise, using her left hand for support.

  The agony radiating from the impalement in her abdomen and the torn muscles in her right shoulder threatened to derail her plan. Each facet of pain etched itself vividly in her mind, resembling brushstrokes of fiery red paint. She gazed up at the sprawling trees, contemplating how in the world she would surmount that challenge.

  Both of Kie’s arms were in critical condition. One dangled unnaturally from his shoulder, while the other throbbed with searing pain that pierced to the bone. He knew he had to discard the precious fragment while his fingers still had some mobility. He let it fall—he couldn’t afford to be tracked because of it. His team needed him to teleport.

  “I got rid of the fragment,” he told them.

  No one objected.

  “Let them have it,” Zod snarled.

  Suddenly, Miko's voice crackled through the telecom. "I can't move my right hand at all," she gasped, her voice trembling with exhaustion. "I don't think I can make it."

  Tee couldn't fathom why Miko, of all people, was voicing complaints. Her legs remained unscathed, allowing her to traverse the distance to Saeda within minutes. Frustration simmered within Tee, but she refrained from expressing it.

  "Secure your injured hand against your chest with bandages," Saeda's composed voice offered a solution. "And use the painkiller patches. Running with an injured arm will be too difficult."

  Tee felt an urge to grit her teeth. Saeda only possessed the confidence to dole out orders because she was to remain stationary. Tee couldn't help but envy her situation.

  While the others obediently followed Saeda's instructions to immobilize their injured limbs, Saeda had already surmounted that challenge. It was evident that Saeda had paid close attention during their Friday classes.

  Remaining on the ground seemed ill-advised. Seeking elevation would provide Saeda with a sense of security, and the dense foliage of the trees offered ample coverage.

  Saeda scanned her surroundings, locating a suitable hiding spot where her green shirt would help camouflage her presence. With determination in her eyes, she began her ascent, seeking refuge amidst the branches, driven by the urgency to keep moving and evade potential danger.

  The rhythmic sound of water droplets splashing against rocks served as a relentless reminder to Tee that time was slipping away. Despite the copious amount of blood she had lost from her abdominal wound, she questioned how she managed to summon any energy at all. Perhaps it was some primal instinct unique to females. Her mind wandered to Zod and Kie, wondering how they were keeping up with their own injuries.

  Feeling around her pouches for the painkiller patches, Tee made sure not to leave any unused. Whatever warnings the Commander had imparted about overuse meant nothing to her. She was willing to kill to quell the excruciating pain.

  The moment she applied the patches to her skin, the potent drug took effect, offering a wave of relief that clouded her eyes with water. Finally, she dared to contemplate bending her right arm in order to fasten it securely.

  First, she tightly wound the bandage around the lower portion of her numbed hand, securing the remaining roll within a pouch on her left leg. Her right arm throbbed, swollen and unresponsive. She slipped the painkiller patches beneath her elbow pad, concealing them beneath her sleeve, and removed her glove to access her skin.

  Still harboring doubts, she broke off a piece of branch and placed it between her teeth, biting down hard as she flexed her deadened hand at the elbow. The intense agony that surged from within her hand served as a stark reminder that the patches were not a panacea for all her problems. With every movement, a litany of profanities raced through her mind.

  To keep her immobilized hand snugly secured across her chest, she pressed it between her left underarm. Lowering herself to her knees, she retrieved the bandage roll that still hung from a long thread and began to toss it over her shoulder. Each throw sent it smacking to the ground at her side, allowing her to grab hold and repeat the process until her hand was firmly tethered to her body.

  When she finished, she mustered the strength for her first leap onto a branch above. With her right arm firmly fastened, her balance felt askew. Only by pressing her left side into the trunk of the tree did she prevent herself from toppling off, averting a perilous several-foot drop.

  The searing pain and pulsating adrenaline coursed through her veins, fueling her determination to defy the callousness of his twisted amusement.

  Each leap Tee made defied the limitations of her battered body. Memories flooded her mind, intertwining with the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

  The pain should have crippled her, but with every bound, she defied the odds and pushed herself to new heights. The patches on her skin pulsed with a numbing sensation, allowing her to transcend her physical limitations.

  Jack's words echoed in her thoughts, mingling with the fierce determination that propelled her forward. She recalled his belief in her, that she more than anyone could do anything she set her mind to.

  Yet, the confession of his true feelings remained elusive, casting doubt on the depth of his words. A pang of longing tugged at her heart, momentarily distracting her from the perilous path she traversed.

  Miko halted mid-step. Black smoke coiled around the ground at her feet, rising in a slow spiral before vanishing—and there he was, the hooded figure. Terror rooted her to the spot.

  Watching from the hologram, Saeda noticed Miko’s sudden stop. Frowning, she scanned through the leaves until her gaze landed on the hooded one standing on the forest floor. For a moment, she thought it was a hallucination. She glanced back at her holo-map, confirming that was why Miko had frozen.

  But Zod was still moving. He was next in line to reach, and Saeda had to find a way to warn him. Why was he running so fast? Was something chasing him?

  Zod, desperate to escape that cursed place, pushed himself forward at reckless speed. Saeda’s mind flashed back to Friday classes, the drills, the distress signal. Panic seized her, and before she could think, she slammed the button. A sharp beep cut through the air. Regret pinched her immediately—she should have just used her voice.

  In her panic, she pressed the button again, silencing the sound.

  But had the Harbingers heard it?