We’d never seen the man before. He had a military look—strong jawline, crewcut, and a beret. “Recruits, you are to advance to the assigned location—the GPS will lead you—and eliminate the target.”
“Recruits?” I whispered. Across from me, Rik studied the hologram, his jaw tense.
The man in the hologram crossed his arms. “The target is a known traitor and must be eliminated. Your deadline is 0600 hours.” The hologram disappeared.
Afterward, we stared at each other in silence. Rik paced as Cecile chewed on her lip.
“This is crazy,” I said. “We’re supposed to assassinate someone? A complete stranger?”
“It’s a mission. Some kind of test,” Rik said.
“I don’t like this at all.” Cecile shivered and zipped up her jacket as coyotes wailed in the distance.
“I’ll do it,” said Rik, straightening and puffing his chest out. “I’ll pull the trigger. Spare you both from the act. If we don’t complete the mission, we’ll probably be punished.”
I swallowed. “Are you sure you want to do this? Take a person’s life with no idea why?”
“They said he was a traitor.”
“The hologram didn’t say 'he.' What if it’s a woman?”
Rik shrugged. “Then I don’t know.”
“Look, we still have each other’s backs, okay?” I examined the tablet which revealed a map of the area. “Let’s get to the target. That’s step one. Then, we’ll figure out what to do.”
Rik and Cecile nodded and huddled around me to study the screen. “Looks like we head that way, toward a mountain.”
“Hope it’s a small one,” said Cecile with a smirk.
“Ditto that.” Rik relaxed his shoulders.
We trekked for an hour. The countdown had resumed in the upper corner of the screen. We had just under two hours remaining to complete our mission.
We passed the time by sharing our experiences in the prison. I tested them for information. “Did you see anything strange?”
“What do you mean?” asked Cecile.
“I dunno. Like maybe they injected you with something and it moved inside you?”
“Jesus. No, nothing like that,” said Rik.
“Yeah, it must have been a bad dream. A bad trip from the drugs.” I kept my mouth shut after that, not wanting them to think anything was wrong with me. Maybe the creatures inside me were a onetime thing. Maybe they were all dead now. As we journeyed, I felt the pocket knife resting in the middle of my bra. I didn’t mention it. I probably wouldn’t need it, anyway.
Rik and Cecile had been through hell too. I trusted them. We were in this together.
Another message came through on the tablet. The same military man appeared as a hologram.
“Recruits, the game has changed. Whoever makes the kill will advance to group training. The winner gets to live with other recruits.”
My stomach clenched. Only one of us?
“The other two will return to solitary confinement. Also, the deadline is now 0500. Miss it and you all fail.”
Eighteen
We trekked faster, rifles hoisted on our backs as panic set in. Our new timeline was a noose tightening around our necks.
“What are we going to do?” Cecile asked in a high-pitched voice.
“We stick to the plan,” Rik said. “I take out the target.”
“Why do you get to be the one?” she asked.
He halted, and we all stopped. “Because that’s what we agreed. Remember?”
“I don’t want to go back to that cell.” Cecile bent over, out of breath.
“Neither do I.” I locked eyes on Rik and crossed my arms.
“Thought you two had a problem with killing.”
I shrugged, despite the knot in my stomach.
“But the rules have changed,” he said. “So, we do the only fair thing. We draw straws. Try to find some thin sticks.”
We scrounged a few scraggly twigs. I revealed my pocket knife and used it to whittle the reeds down to varying sizes. Then Rik grasped them in his round fist and offered them to Cecile and me.
I motioned for her to go first. She drew a long one. Then I chose. Rik exposed his straw and grinned at me. “Tag, you’re it.”
I felt a lump in my throat as I realized I would have to end someone’s life. Doing so would free me of my prison cell. But could I shoot a person?
Cecile sat on a boulder with hunched shoulders. Rik kicked up dust, sending swirling clouds into the early morning air.
“Let’s go. We don’t have time for this,” I muttered as I resumed our path toward the mountain.
I handed the tablet to Cecile. Not only the best shooter among us, she was also a strong navigator and the most experienced with outdoor survival. I’d never been on a hike, much less camped. Rik, dirt poor like me, had worked and fended for himself in the city from an early age. He and I were out of our element in this vast desert.
Had Cecile or Rik ever killed someone? I doubted it, though Cecile had probably taken down animals judging by her gun expertise.
The thought of escaping my prison cell propelled my tired feet, but a thought gnawed at me. If I completed the mission, I’d be free, but Cecile and Rik would be stuck. Were they pissed? We’d all shaken hands, agreed to leave it to chance. But still I would’ve been devastated at the grim prospect of being caged in the tiny cell again and subjected to Kenmore’s experiments. Would I be free of him after this?
He’ll keep torturing them. And many others. Joanie’s voice nagged me, Think of something.
My chest felt heavy. I gulped and let the words loose before I could reconsider. “Maybe there’s a way we all come out of this.”
Rik shook his head. “They’re too smart for that. You saw the guy—he’s like military or some shit.”
Cecile nodded and marched in silence.
“After I take out the target, we hold on to our guns and form a circle, our backs against each other.
