There are other Partials, she told herself. Other factions living out in the towns and the woods and the wasteland. They haven’t sided with Morgan, and I don’t have to either. If I can get even some of those groups, even one of those groups, to join me; if I can get them to help the humans like Samm did, to join them and live with them and work together, then we can do it. We can save the world. Not just our lives, but the reasons our lives are worth saving. Our thoughts and our dreams.

Our hopes.

Kira turned and walked back down the hall, striding purposefully now, her hesitance gone and her decision made.

She could only hope that her decision was the right one.

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ariel ran, clutching her rifle, her heavy pack thumping frantically against her back. The others ran ahead of her, gasping desperately for breath, never daring to look back: Isolde with her baby, Madison with hers, Nandita surprisingly spry, and Xochi and her mother leading the way. They didn’t know what had given them away, but it didn’t really matter: A routine patrol had found them in the wilderness, and now the Partials were close behind them, roaring through the broken streets in Jeeps and motorcycles, and behind them a flatbed truck, barred with iron and bound with chicken wire.

A cage.

Kessler turned left into an overgrown yard, leaping ahead as she sought for a path to escape, and Xochi stayed behind, waving the others through the gap in the fence. Khan and Arwen were screaming, reflecting their mothers’ fear. Ariel caught up as Nandita struggled stiffly through the fence, and she spun around, risking a look behind. The Partials were practically on top of them. Xochi fired a burst from her rifle, shattering the lead Jeep’s windshield and forcing the driver to duck; it slowed them just enough to get through the fence, and then the women were running again, weaving through the bushes and saplings and overgrown debris. This yard was full of old appliances, a repair shop maybe, dishwashers and fridges rising up like monoliths. Ariel heard a bullet ping against one as she passed it.

“They’re too close,” Xochi panted, barely able to speak as she barreled headlong through the weeds. “We’re not going to get away this time.”

Ariel grabbed Nandita’s arm as she ran, pulling her through the maze of obstacles. “Think how easy this would be if our crazy witch lady would use her magical Partial mind control powers.”

“You know I can’t do that,” said Nandita, wheezing from exertion. “They’ll know they’ve been controlled, which means we either keep them with us forever or send them home with the knowledge that one of the Trust is on the island.”