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Maybe he intends to amuse himself with me I’m a marked carrier I wear the imprint on my neck I can expect no protection No consideration My life is forfeit

The luuess that heas he sets it down The light ceases to move and flicker over the cave walls

My ies to defend le But then I reht hand twitches in front ofopen the zipper of sideers inside, processing the s to pretend to be asleep?"

The deep voice fills the small cave I freeze My skin washes cold for one brief instant Adrenaline fires throughdown onfor him toit fro pain inathihtly longer on top His forehead knits as he investigates the contents of his bag like he didn’t just speak tothe boots--the same ones that filled my vision before I passed out

"W--" I stop at the croak of my voice and try to s, but my throat feels like sandpaper, raw and scratchy

He flicks lance, and I’m pinned by his eyes They’re brown, but not as dark as his hair No, they’reover the walls of the cave I guess he’s around e, but his expression is so intense it’s hard to know for sure

And then I see it The i in me seizes and locks up He’s a carrier Like me My already raspy breath catches

That he’s like , his carrier status puh me faster The only carriers I ever trusted were Sean, Gil, and Sabine The three of us had a connection forged in our past experiences

Me and this guy? We have nothing I can’t even trust that he won’t turn ency? What if they sent him out after carriers? A killer who hunts killers Wasn’t that the whole intention behind Mount Haven? Training carriers to follow orders?

One thing is certain I can take no chances In what I hope is a smooth move, I flip open the blade

A corner of histo do with that?"

"Whatever I need to do"

"Huh" He angles his head like he’s waiting for me to do it then Whatever it is

I don’t consider o or what I’ll do following that And I guess that is the fever Or the blood loss Or fatigue It could be all those things really

I force ers clench tightly around my knife

He watches ht in his snare I scan the cave, looking for a way out My gaze lands on a canteen, and ely as the pain

With eyes fastened to his face, I inch a step closer and snatch the water Never looking away from his face, I drink Water dribbles down my chin and neck, and it feels wonderful

"Better?" he asks, like he isn’t some killer As if I’m not I can hear the smirk in his voice over my labored breath and suddenly realize what a fool I aetting the juood My only chance is to outs myself that I’m smarter, that he has underestih the pain is tooconsciousness

I feel the uncorip on the knife Because why kill if I don’t have to? I can knock hi at the back ofthat we’re equipped to kill That we have a knack for it I want to resist that logic and prove that I don’t need to kill to save rasp the rock, its jagged peaks scraping ht If I learned anything during the weeks at Mount Haven, it’s to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself

I wait, listening, straining for the slightest sound And it’s there Just a breath He’s beside , trying to assess his shape--primarily the location of his head--so that I can do the s out His hand corazed hi the rock, ready to try again He guesseseyes just as I’h ainst the cave floor I whisob that doesn’t even sound liketo fling him off Even if I wasn’t so weak, it would be useless His body is hard and strong over mine Too late, I know I should have used the knife I should have ignored that scrap of