I step out of my hiding place and he’s caught a step off. That’s all I need to get first attack. Across the clearing, I hear Wyatt spring into action as I jab the butt of my hatchet into the Hybrid’s jaw. He fumbles and I flip the weapon, swinging the blade at his midsection.
The sharp metal catches fabric but he jumps back quick enough to avoid injury. My heel jabs into his foot and this time my blade catches his throat. His hands flail at his neck, blood seeping through his fingers. He falls to his knees and I tip him over with my foot before ripping the unused gun out of his hands.
I step over the body and find Wyatt fighting off two male Hybrids. I scan for the fourth but don’t find her. One Hybrid gets his hands around Wyatt’s neck, and the other unsheathes a massive blade. I aim the gun from my spot, something I never would have done before the injection and fire. The bullet zings through the air and both Hybrids turn in my direction while Wyatt slinks on his knees to the ground. The bullet buries into the head of one while Wyatt uses his leverage to flip the other over, stunning him before stabbing him in the heart. We make eye contact but a sharp cry echoes through the trees.
“Dammit,” Wyatt mutters.
We zig-zag through the trees, jumping over brush and fallen branches. Daybreak isn’t far away and the sky above had brightened enough that it’s easy to spot Zoe up in the tree. She’s on the edge of the branch
and not alone. The female Hybrid has scaled the tree and now sits in the crook.
“Don’t move,” I shout. The Hybrid doesn’t listen and there’s nowhere for Zoe to go but down. I shoot Wyatt a look. “I’m not letting Hamilton’s daughter get killed on the first night out here, got it?”
“Who’s what?” Wyatt asks, but he shakes his head. The understanding is clear. “I’ll give you a boost.”
He runs to the base of the tree and Wyatt gets down on a knee. I sprint as fast as I can, planting a foot in his clasped palms. He pushes up with all this strength, sending me flying. I collide with the Hybrid, toppling her out of the tree and falling hard and fast. I land hard on my back, her boot against my neck.
I take a punch in the cheek right as Wyatt hits her with a death blow to the head, the crack of the gun handle echoing off her skull.
I’m breathing heavily despite the enhancements, and Wyatt rubs the blood off his hands in the dirt.
“Are you okay?” I ask Zoe, who’s inching her way back to the trunk. She starts to shimmy down on her own and Wyatt rushes over to catch her before she breaks her neck.
When he steps away she has a massive grin on her face.
“What?” I ask, acutely aware of the dead bodies on the forest floor.
Zoe clasps her hands in front of her chest. “That. Was. Amazing.” Wyatt and I look at one another, but she keeps going, talking a mile a minute. “I’d heard you guys were tough. Like I knew it. The stories and the rumors. Other people thought it wasn’t true. But I knew it was. That’s why I had to come. I needed to see it for myself.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, unable to follow a single word.
A tiny frown appears between her eyes. “Don’t you know? You guys are legends. Alexandra Ramsey and Wyatt Faraday.” She turns to me. “You—you’re the girl that kicks Eater ass. And him,” she points at Wyatt. “He’s a Hybrid-killing legend—like a mixture between Spiderman and a ninja. Everyone knows about you back home. Everyone my father allows into New Hope has heard of the fights and the battles. Like the time you fought off a hundred Eaters, just the two of you.” She takes a deep breath, building steam. “You fought off the devil down south—the one that created the virus, and then your boyfriend turned into a Hybrid. Which had to suck, because, you know, because ouch.”
I shake my head and watch as Wyatt’s face turns a strange shade of red. “Who is saying all this? Where are you hearing it?” The stuff about Cole is pretty specific, although the Devil herself is living in New Hope. I can’t help but wonder if Hamilton knows exactly who Jane is and what she’s done.
“No one in particular. Just survivors coming in.” Again she smiles, toothy and wide. “Some of the kids have even written stories about it. We pass them around.”
I honestly don’t know how to respond, all this time we’d been fighting so hard to survive—so desperate to stop Chloe—it never crossed our minds that there were other people out there, living lives and doing the mundane, like listening to gossip and creating entertainment about us.
Wyatt, as usual, saves the moment. “Get your stuff. And don’t step on any of the bodies.”
In minutes we’re away from the scene and headed toward the next spot on our map: The meeting place with the other teams.
Zoe walks ahead and Wyatt grips my arm. “Why didn’t you tell me she’s Hamilton’s daughter?”
“I just found out. I swear—I knew something was up but didn’t have time to talk it over with you. Walker is being weird. She’s totally buying into this Safe City concept.”
He grunts. “Don’t keep secrets from me, Alex. It’ll get us killed.”
I don’t fight him—he’s right. “What do you think we should do?”
“For now? Hunt down the Hybrids. Obviously they’re still hunting us, but from there I’m hoping Paul can get us some details on Hamilton and what this guy is up to.”
I follow him through the woods but I’m pretty sure Paul isn’t the only one Wyatt has questions for. Walker may have to answer a few of her own.
*
“What the hell is that?”