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Thoave you?"

"Well, round tunnels That’s why you didn’t see us in the desert The first thing ere supposed to do was that weird thing where you and Teresa spoke in that building on the south side of the city Remeroup at that point? "Uh, yeah, I reured it out, but all of that was an act Kind of a prepper to give you some false security She even told us they soh to , bent down and put his hands on his knees Soht out of him That was it He’d officially and coainst him Or maybe she had never really been on his side

"I know this sucks," Harriet said softly "It seems like you used to feel really close to her"

Tho breath "IjustI had hoped it was the other way around That they were forcing her to try to hurt us, that she broke away long enough toto kiss me"

Harriet put a hand on his arm "Ever since she joined us, she’sreally awful to her, only she’d never tell us what it was But I gotta tell ya―you’re not anything like how she described you That’s probably the real reason we changed our minds"

Thomas closed his eyes and tried to calain "Okay, tell ot in stride with hi else about the instructions to kill you had to do with catching you in the desert like we did and bringing you back here We were even told to keep you in the bag until we got out of Group A’s sight Thenwell, then the big day was supposed to be the day after tomorrow There’s supposed to be a place built into the mountain on the north side A special place tokill you"

Tho "A place? What does that mean?"

"I don’t know He just told us we’d knohat to do e got there" She paused, then snapped her fingers as if she’d just thought of so "I bet that’s where she went earlier"

"Why? How close are we to the other side?"

"No idea, actually"

They fell into silence and kept walking

It took longer than Thoht They were in thewhen shouts up ahead announced that they’d reached the end of the Pass Thoroup, broke into a run to catch up; he desperately wanted to see what lay on the north side of the range One way or another, his fate waited there

The group of girls had clustered in a wide swath of broken rock that fanned out fro in a steep slope to the bottom of the mountain far below The three-quarterit look dark purple and eerie And very flat With nothing for

No sign of anything that could be a safe haven And they were supposed to be within a few miles of it

"Maybe we just can’t see it" Thomas didn’t knoho said it, but he knew every person there understood exactly why she did Trying to hold on to hope

"Yeah," Harriet added, sounding upbeat "It round tunnels I’m sure it’s there"

"How many more miles do you think we have left?" Sonya asked

"Can’t be more than ten, based on where we started and how far the o," Harriet answered "Probably ht we’d co with a s the darkness the whole ti, either Just a sea of black stretching to the horizon, where it seen of Teresa anywhere

"Well," Sonya announced "Notnorth We should’ve known better than to expect so easy Maybe we can make it to the bottoround"

The others agreed with her and were just about to set off down a barely visible footpath leading from the fan of rock when Thomas spoke up "Where’s Teresa?"

Harriet looked back at hi her face in a pale luminescence "At this point, I don’t really care If she’s a big enough girl to go runnin’ around when she doesn’t get her way, she’s big enough to catch up and find us when she gets over it Co down the switchback-laden path, the loose soil and rock crunching underfoot Tho the ns of Teresa He was so confused about everything, but still had a strange urge to see her He gazed across the dark slopes, but saw only dilow

He turned and started walking, alroupback and forth on the trail in silence Thoain, surprised at how blank his mind felt How numb He had absolutely no idea where his friends were, no idea what dangers , his legs starting to burn froroup came across a pocket of dead trees that arrowed up theswath It alated to the odd for since surrendered to the Scorch

Tho the far side of the trees when a voice spoke his na him so much he almost tripped He turned sharply to see Teresa step out froht hand, her face hidden in shadow The others

"Teresa," he whispered "What " He didn’t even knohat to say

"Toirl he thought he knew "Don’t worry about theestured to the trees behind her with a quick jerk of her head

He looked back to the girls of Group B, still heading away froain "Maybe we should―"

"Just co for a response and stepped into the lifeless forest

Tho in confusion, instinct screa at him not to do it But he followed her

CHAPTER 50