I crept closer and concentrated on the teenagers, trying to recognize any of them.

Sweat and blood dripped from beneath their helmets as more miners ran out.

Larger army men came from nearby tents and pulled the wounded out from the mouth of the cave. Unconscious injured young adults, by the look of it. Another miner piled two smaller, limp bodies into a minecart. He thrust against the cart with a starting run. As they escaped, an arm hung loose outside the cart, dripping blood.

Hidden with the crowd, I spotted a long red-haired miner late. She had a steady trot like on autopilot. The brief side profile looked like...Alleya! The bundled hair was tied as high as the helmet allowed and you had to look past the dust to see the red. I sprinted towards her from behind.

“Alleya, is that you?” I clenched my jaw, grabbed her shoulder to turn her so she was facing me. Please, at least Alleya and Johnathan—the last two teenagers that were taken.

My touch turned the teenager from a dead-eyed robotic soldier to a triggered slayer. Her eyes filled with burning animosity. In that split second, a sharp pointed blade stopped just below my nose. Oh sh-

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My mind blanked.

I forgot to breathe.

The boy next to her had caught her by the wrist but my focus stayed on the blade until it was placed back into her scabbard.

I almost got myself killed!

The boy, my savior, had calmed her down and now was redirecting her attention to the tents. Now that the blade was safely stowed, I looked into his gray eyes and uttered a weak thanks.

He gave me a disgusted look and walked off with the redhead.

I made myself small again, scanning the teenagers’ faces.

None of them looked like anybody I knew. Besides, most had glassy eyes. Their disconnected minds ran on autopilot.

Some “woke their witches.” One swatted around his head. Another covered his ears. They were either reliving the horror or hallucinating. Just like some of our Allegan prisoners, the ones punished by sleep deprivation.

Or it could have been something even more sinister. Everything cried of the wrongness of it all.