“We exist. That’s enough for them to hate us forever.”

—Enclave Leader Mizai Dotriel in an unsent private correspondence with an unnamed friend

The trees whipped by as Zaina bounded through the forest, barely able to track Lady Sivanya as she weaved through the forest at an impressive pace. The pops were sounding out louder now, and every so often Zaina heard a scream.

Now her heart was pounding out of control—she was running toward a fight, but she wasn’t going to be able to use her cipher. She’d trained so hard to make summoning it a reflex—would she be able to control herself? If summoning her cipher and blowing her cover was the difference between her living and dying, didn’t she have to summon it? Scenarios ran through her mind faster than she could process them.

By now the shouts were clear—the unmarked were trying to pinpoint their targets.

“Up on the hill!”

“There’s one in the trees!”

“They’re everywh—aaah!”

An ear-splitting crack rang out, then a soft thud—splinters from a nearby tree bounced off Zaina’s face and neck.

I’m spotted.

Zaina dove behind a thick tree moments before a burst of pops pierced her eardrums. Scrap beads whizzed by—one hit the tree trunk she was using for cover and went clean through, exiting inches from her head.

Another shout, “I’ve got one behind that tree!”

Zaina dropped prone a moment before a barrage of beads shredded the massive wooden trunk. The rain of scraps was thick enough to topple the tree, leaving only a few feet of it sticking out of the ground while the collapsed sideways.

“You two—go make sure they’re dead.”

Zaina peered around the trunk—two black-masked soldiers, each wearing bulky gray body armor over black TAC-suits and carrying birifles, were advancing toward her, about thirty feet away. Sick of being shot at and not giving anything in response, Zaina quietly pulled her scrapshot from the holster on her waist and took aim at the closer of the two.

Center of mass. Hopefully a warning shot will ward them off.

Taking a deep breath, Zaina squeezed her scrapshot’s trigger. The bead flew true but struck the target’s breastplate, harmlessly bouncing off.

“They’re still alive!”

“You pin them down!” the second one shouted, strafing to get a better angle of attack.

Zaina yelped and put her hands over her head as another barrage of scraps broke out, taking more chunks out of the severed tree trunk.

Shit, shit, shit…

The second masked enemy came into view, the barrel of his birifle focused on Zaina.

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Shit!

Time seemed to slow—something was coming in behind him, something fast. There was a ringing hiss, then a pop and a flash—the scrap flew upwards, clearing the forest canopy. His arm, still holding the birifle, fell to the ground. Lady Sivanya stood behind him with a wrathful stare, her eyes fixed on the blood spurting from his wounded shoulder.

“Aah!” the man shouted. “It’s her! It’s her!”

He reached across his body for a knife, but Lady Sivanya bisected him with a single stroke, breastplate and all.

“Verno!” the other armor-clad soldier shouted, aiming his rifle at her. “You bitch!”

Another round of cracks broke out—Lady Sivanya’s movements were a blur, even to Zaina, as she dashed to one side, then switched direction and doubled back toward her remaining opponent. He didn’t even have time to scream before her fang pierced his mask and emerged from the other side covered in blood and brain matter.

Lady Sivanya glanced at Zaina, as if to make sure she was all right—then, she charged toward the sputtering pops nearby. Zaina didn’t need any more motivation—she stood up and followed.

It took less than a minute to arrive at the main action—ten or so unmarked, all dressed identically to those Zaina had already engaged, were clustered together in a semi-circle and moving backwards while firing steadily. All at once they lowered their weapons and darted to one side or the other—a moment later, another unmarked, screaming, came flying at them. Rasmus came into view, madly charging the unmarked.

Did he fucking throw that guy?

Her question was answered when Rasmus stooped low and grabbed another enemy by his legs; then, with a mighty swing, Rasmus heaved the man into a tree twenty feet away.

Another unmarked glanced toward Zaina and Sivanya approaching and shouted, “More incoming! More incoming!”

“Retreat!”

“Go, go, go! I’ll cover you!”

“I’m with you, Hodge!”

Zaina was forced to leap aside to dodge another hail of scraps. Rasmus wasn’t so inclined to step out of the way—his torso was peppered with beads while he sliced through one of the attackers covering the others’ retreat. Then, Rasmus gave a blood-curdling shout, raising his arms.

“Run! Run!”

The rest of the unmarked turned their backs and sprinted away. Rasmus looked ready to follow them, his shoulders rising and falling six inches with every heavy breath he took. Instead, he fell to one knee.

Zaina ran over to him. “Are you all right?”

He shook his head. “They got Deni.”

Lady Sivanya, walking over, said, “Captain Rasmus. Report.”

He turned away, but Zaina swore she saw tears in his eyes. “Demi. Only one I know so far.”

Lady Sivanya tapped her earset. “Everyone, check in.”

A spate of names came over the comms—everyone except Deni.

Sivanya turned to Rasmus. “How?”

“They spotted us first. Got off a few good shots on her.” He stood up, spilling blood from his numerous gunshot wounds. “One in the head.”

Lady Sivanya turned away, her hands balling into fists. Zaina hadn’t known Deni for very long, but even she was a little sad. No one deserved this.

A weak cough came from a nearby tree—the unmarked Rasmus had thrown was still alive. Lady Sivanya walked over to them, and Zaina followed.

She crouched down and pulled their mask off, revealing a bloodied Cytomoid.

“Find what you were looking for?” she asked. Her voice wasn’t hateful, but there was a hint of malice in her tone.

The man shook his head. “Looking—looking for Dirzo’s… Dirzo’s…” his eyes went skyward as he took a deep breath and continued, “suh…”

Lady Sivanya stood and ended the man’s misery with a swift stroke from her fang. Then she sighed.

“Captain Rasmus, return to your post. The party’s over for now.”

“That wasn’t an ordinary patrol group,” he muttered. “Those were special forces.”

“Exactly why you need to return to your post,” Lady Sivanya said in as stern a voice Zaina had ever heard. “These weren’t our dailies, so they’re probably still coming. These guys were here for something else.”

A wave of sadness coursed through Zaina. Life here was fast—so fast even the death of a friend couldn’t slow things down. They didn’t have enough time to let it.

Rasmus nodded. The scrap-holes on his torso were already starting to close up as he shuffled off into the forest, trying in vain to stifle his sobs.

Sivanya turned to Zaina. “We need to move, too. There might be more action today. We can’t let a loss turn to a landslide.”

Zaina nodded. “I’m sorry about Deni.”

“Nothing anyone could have done. Let’s get moving.”

A tree branch snapped behind Zaina. She turned and drew her scrapshot at the same time, her heart pounding as her mind used that split-second to conjure up any terrifying foe it could. Her surprise was palpable when she saw what had made the noise—two scared-looking unmarked children, one with a bloodied leg.