Hidden (Book 3 of the Immune Series)

Behind Glass (Part 2)

Sakir

When we finally come to a stop, the landscape is drastically different. The trees have been completely cleared, and a bare expanse of dry dust greets us. The men and women come down and jerk us out of the bed.

I turn back and pull Mya out before I turn to follow the rest of them.

The wall around Compound 4 juxtaposes our wall back at home in every way possible. Ours is a solid sheet of metal, twenty-feet tall, and lined with warm white lights that blink in the darkness for transfer trucks at night. The guards that stand atop the barrier at home wear jeans and tan button-up uniform shirts and carry guns strapped onto their backs. They lean casually back in chairs and play card games to pass the time.

Here, though, a solid concrete wall stands in front of me. It looms over us, twice as tall as the one at home. Curled barbed wire lines the top of the wall, riddled with sharp knots and razor-blade like slivers. The guards have the door open, which left heavy indentations from where it was drug through the dry ground.

Even the guards look different. Each of them wear gray uniform pants, white button-up uniform shirts, and thick leather jackets like the people who escort us in. Heavy boots cover their feet and leave footprints in the dust as they stomp over towards us. The guns they carry seem much bigger and more threatening, and it doesn't help that they have extra straps of ammo on their person.

The group who captured us herd the five of us towards the open door and through the center of two rows of armed guards.

"The President said to take them directly to the headquarters, Maria," a guard wearing a suit with medals and ribbons pinned across the chest says.

Maria jabs her gun in my back again and urges me forward.

"Yes, General. I'll take them there right away."

"Nice work, tracker."

So that's why they could follow us so quickly and easily.

"Wait, what about Mya?" I blurt, forgetting who I'm talking to.

"What about her?" Maria snaps.

"She needs to see a doctor!"

I lift my arms and wag Mya's legs around in the air.

"An infected chewed on her ankle," I explain.

"And I'm supposed to care, why?"

Her response elicits a glare from everyone in my group.

"She'll die if that wound isn't properly sanitized and sewn up," Athena interjects when she sees my fists clench under Mya's body. "It will get infected."

"Again, why do I care? President Ashford gave me orders to deliver the five of you to him, not to take one to the hospital."

"Do you always follow his orders like a dog?" Jay snaps.

Isaac glares at her, but her face is already turning red.

Am I about to see a famous Jay tantrum? It's been a while.

Maria wheels around and slaps Jaelyn across the face. Isaac and I both wince as the sharp popping sound echoes around the empty space. Jay staggers backwards, and when her hair clears enough for me to see, a bright red hand-shaped mark stains her cheek.

Tears brim her eyes, but within seconds, her entire face burns the same red as the mark.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, do you understand?" Maria growls, grabbing a fistful of Jay's shirt. The blonde glares at her, and for a moment, I think she might spit in her face.