“He didn't deserve to be here, we weren't supposed to be at risk," I cried. Taylor ran a hand through my hair.
"We need to move on," he whispered.
If his own pain hadn't been written clearly across his face too I wouldn't have listened. But he was right, we were still lost, still unsure about what was going on with the trial.
In the far corner of the room, the roof had collapsed making it possible for us to climb up to the roof like we’d planned.
We clambered up onto the pitched roof, slipping on the red tiles and crossed over towards the muddy bank. There was a gap nearly two meters wide between the roof and the bank so we moved back to get a run up.
"I'll go first." Taylor took three bounding steps and leapt across the gap without giving me a choice in the matter. He rolled as he hit the ground on the far side before climbing back to his feet and beckoning for me to follow. "Come on."
I wiped my hand over my face, smearing my tears with Evan's blood, took a deep breath and ran to the edge.
At the last second, my foot slipped on one of the loose tiles and my jump half turned into a fall. I cried out in panic and slammed into the edge of the bank before beginning to slide back down. I clawed my fingernails into the dirt and kicked to push myself up, my boots kicking clods of mud free of the wall and giving me no purchase.
Just as I was sure I was about to crash to the ground again, Taylor's hand closed around my wrist and he wrenched me over the edge with a grunt of effort.
The wind was stronger on the higher ground and it whipped my hair back from my face as we looked over the maze that was the arena.
It was hard to see too much within the dips and crevices in the earth but it was clear that there were far more enemy fighters than friends left out there.
"I think we lost already," Taylor said quietly.
I nodded in agreement, soon the buzzer would sound the end of the fight and the survivors would have to head back.
There was no clear path back to the starting zone from our position and I was more than hesitant to go back down into the trenches. We needed to find Laurie, she’d said she would be patrolling the eastern side of the arena and I was sure that if we could just get to her, we’d be able to head back to the starting point with her too. I looked around and realised thankfully, that we’d managed to head east for the most part on our journey here. From our vantage point, it was easy to see where the Wardens were patrolling the perimeter closer to the contaminated land though I couldn’t make out enough about them to recognise Laurie.
I exchanged a glance with Taylor and he pointed at a route between the trenches along the high ground. I was so sick of being lost down in those ditches that I didn’t hesitate to agree to his suggestion and we started forward purposefully.
We had to navigate our way over trenches which crisscrossed our path. Sometimes we could jump them otherwise we had to find a way around which meant doubling back on ourselves sometimes. All the while we were painfully aware of how exposed we were to anyone who might look up but it seemed like the best option available to us.
We fell into a routine of jumping, scanning the surrounding trenches for danger and moving along the banks as stealthily as possible so as not to attract any unwanted attention. It was hard going, my muscles protested and I was mentally exhausted too. I'd never had such a long day in all my life.
We finally got close enough to the Wardens to recognise them. The first we came across was a large man who stared at us suspiciously while raising his rifle before we turned away and headed on.
Laurie was posted at the furthest point along the patrol and as we recognised her, I groaned in relief upping my pace in the desperate hope that reaching her would equal safety and an end to this nightmare.
The wind picked up and whipped around us, throwing dust up into my face so that I turned away from it as I shielded my eyes. I blinked furiously to clear my vision, scrubbing at my eyes as I coughed up the dust.
A figure, clad in all black moved in the trench below us, slipping between the shadows carefully before darting around a corner and out of sight. My heart stilled and a tingle raced along my skin. I’d only caught the briefest look at him but I was sure it had been a man with hair as dark as the clothes he wore and a broad frame thick with muscle.
I rubbed my eyes to clear them and stepped forward, peering down into the trench to see if I could spot him again. Something about him had seemed…off. I couldn’t quite place it but I felt like I’d just caught a glimpse of something that didn’t belong,
"Did you see someone down there?" I asked Taylor urgently and he moved to look down into the trench at my side.
“What am I looking for?” he asked, clearly having no idea about the man in the shadows.
I kept my gaze fixed on the trench for a long moment but the man didn’t reappear and eventually I shrugged.
“I don’t know. Never mind,” I said slowly, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something about the man that mattered.
“Come on, Maya.” Taylor turned and walked away while I continued to hesitate.
I searched the shadows below us one last time before giving up and turning to follow. I still wasn’t sure what the man in the shadows had been doing, but it didn’t matter. We just needed to get out of here.
I was crouched down, shrouded in the shadows by the wall of a trench with my scarf pulled up to cover my face and my gaze scanning my surroundings.
It had been a good day in the end. Alicia would still be pissed as hell when I got back, but once she saw my haul she’d get over it. We were running way too low on resources and weapons always fetched a good price.