AVERY’S POV
I was checking how much water we had left when Declan walked over, his backpack hanging from one shoulder.
I glanced up at him, expecting him to tell me something about the route, but instead he reached inside the bag and pulled out a worn military manual.
I stared at it for a second before looking back at him.
“Where the hell did you get that?”
“The soldier.”
My brows pulled together.
“What soldier?”
“The one from the other day.” He opened the manual, flipping through several pages as though this was completely normal.
“It was in his pack.”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“You took something from the dead soldier and didn’t tell anyone?”
Declan finally looked at me.
“I didn’t know if it would be useful.”
“And you decided to find out by yourself?”
“I read it last night.” He sighed.
I shook my head, taking the manual from him.
“You’re unbelievable.”
The pages were filled with military information, most of it completely useless to us, but there were several sections that immediately caught my attention.
Maps, routes, communication procedures and intake protocols for survivors reaching HAVEN.
I flipped through another few pages, my eyes moving over the markings until I noticed several locations highlighted along the northern routes.
“What are these?”
“Supply caches.” Declan leaned closer and pointed at one of the markings.
“HAVEN placed them along some of the survivor routes. Food, water and medical supplies. There’s supposed to be emergency equipment too.”
I looked at the map again.
“How old is this? What do you think?”
“Some of the information is probably outdated, but the routes were being used during the evacuation. This one is twelve miles north.”
“Twelve miles?”
He nodded.
“If the cache hasn’t been emptied, we could get enough supplies to make the next part of the trip easier.”
I looked down at the manual, then back at him.
“And you’re sure this isn’t some old plan that was abandoned? I mean…”
“No idea.” He shrugged.
“Great.”
He took the manual back from me.
“It’s still worth checking.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
When we showed the others, everyone gathered around the map almost immediately.
Joel crouched beside Declan while Hannah leaned over his shoulder, asking about the route and how far we’d have to travel before reaching the cache.
Priya listened quietly, occasionally pointing out something on the map that she thought might have changed since the evacuation.
Even Derek moved closer, his eyes fixed on the marked location.
“If there’s food there, we should go,” Hannah said, adjusting the strap of her backpack.
“We’re already running low.”
Joel nodded as he studied the route.
“And medical supplies would help. Especially after everything we’ve been through.”
Derek looked at the map again, and for the first time in days, I saw the corner of his mouth lift into a small smile.
“Maybe there’ll be weapons.”
“That’s the first thing you’ve said all morning.”
He immediately looked away and I almost laughed.
Everyone had been exhausted for days, and at least now we had somewhere else specific to go.
Declan took point again, following the route marked in the manual while the rest of us kept close behind.
Nadia stayed beside Priya, and it didn’t take long before she started asking questions.
“Why do the Fractured look different from each other? Like the way they change.”
Priya glanced down at her.
“Because the mutation doesn’t affect everyone in exactly the same way.”
Nadia frowned, clearly thinking about the answer.
“So they all have the same thing?”
“We believe so.” Priya nodded.
Nadia clicked her tongue.
“But some are faster. And some are stronger.”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Nadia looked up at her.
Priya sighed quietly.
“We don’t know enough yet to give you a proper answer.”
Nadia didn’t seem satisfied.
“Can you figure it out?”
Thankfully, Priya still wanted to entertain her questions.
“I might.”
“How?”
Priya adjusted the strap of the bag hanging from her shoulder.
“With equipment, samples and a laboratory would be a good start.”
“We don’t have those.”
“No.” Priya huffed a breath.
Nadia looked ahead for a moment before asking another question.
“Do you think the Rigs made them?”
Priya’s expression changed slightly.
“I think it’s possible,” she answered carefully.
“But I wouldn’t say that as a fact. We still don’t understand what the Rigs are capable of.”
I found myself listening to the conversation while pretending I wasn’t.
Everything Priya said reminded me of what she’d told me yesterday.
Genetic markers.
The Rigs reacting differently to certain people.
Me possibly being one of those people.
Fuck.
I hated that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I looked ahead, forcing myself to focus on the road instead.
We reached the location sometime in the afternoon.
Declan stopped near an abandoned service station and looked around before pointing towards a concrete structure behind it.
“It should be there.”
We followed him around the building, but the moment I saw the ground near the entrance, I knew something was wrong.
The dust had been disturbed.
There were footprints leading towards the door, and the lock had fresh scratches around it.
Someone had forced it open recently.
I crouched beside Declan as he examined the ground.
He ran two fingers through the dust before looking up at me.
“Could be today.”
“Fuck.” I threw my head back.
Hannah stepped closer, staring at the marks.
“So someone already found it?”
“Looks like it,” Declan said.
He pushed the door open.
The cache had been almost completely emptied.
Shelves lined the walls, but most of them were bare.
A few medical kits remained in one corner, along with several bottles of water and some packets of food.
There were empty crates scattered across the floor, some of them still carrying the HAVEN markings.
Joel walked deeper inside and looked around.
“They took almost everything.”
I grabbed one of the remaining medical kits and shoved it into my bag.
“Then we take whatever they left.”
Priya crouched beside another box, checking its contents.
“These are antibiotics.”
Hannah immediately moved over to help her gather them.
I turned towards the back of the room and stopped.
There was a small radio sitting on one of the shelves.
It wasn’t covered in dust like everything else.
I frowned and walked towards it.
“Was this supposed to be here?”
Declan looked over.
He walked towards me and stared at the radio before shaking his head.
“No.”
I reached out but stopped before touching it.
The radio was already on and static crackled through the speaker.
Everyone went quiet as a voice suddenly came through.
“Seven people.”
My blood ran cold and Declan’s head snapped towards the radio.
The voice continued, calm and clear despite the static underneath it.
“Six adults. One minor.”
I stared at the radio, my heart beginning to pound as the voice continued.
“Male, armed with a rifle. Male, carrying a crowbar. Female, dark hair, armed with a pistol.”
I slowly looked at Joel and he was staring back at me.
The voice continued speaking.
“They have entered the northern supply cache.”
Nobody moved and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“How the fuck…” Hannah whispered, staring at the radio.
The transmission crackled.
“They are travelling north.”
My stomach dropped.
Who else was watching us?
The military?