Chapter 16: The Quiet Ones Die First
Time: 11:06 P.M.
They stayed by the fire longer than they should have.
Selene didn't sleep. She kept watch at the edge of the ridge, rifle across her knees, eyes scanning the dark for movement that might never come.
Mae sat hunched near the embers, arms wrapped around herself like armor that couldn't hold. Her shadow wavered against the rocks behind her, thinner than it should be. Like even the light was struggling to find her.
Aria passed her a blanket and sat close, knees touching. "You don't have to tell us."
Mae stared into the dying coals.
"I want to," she said. "But I don't know how much of it was real."
—
Time: 11:22 P.M.
"The station was called Redhill," Mae began. "Northern watchpoint. It wasn't on maps—maybe it used to be, but they scrubbed it. Said it was for 'containment and control.' That's what the signs said."
She swallowed hard. Aria waited.
"There were only about forty of us left when they stopped the shipments. No food, no medical. Just cameras. They were always on."
Selene turned slightly from her post, listening now.
"Then the trucks came. But not with supplies. They brought soldiers. Quiet ones. No badges, no names."
Mae's hands were shaking.
"They started taking people in pairs. Never more than two at a time. Said it was relocation. Volunteers. But no one ever came back."
Aria felt her breath go still. "How did you get out?"
Mae gave a haunted laugh. "There was a boy. Ezra. He… he was smarter than the rest of us. Said the fences were just for show, that the real trap was the silence. We planned to leave that night. Cut through the water filtration exit during the last patrol window."
Aria could already feel the rest coming, heavy and sharp.
"He pushed me through the gate, then slammed it shut behind me. Held off the guards long enough for me to run. I don't even know if they shot him. I just kept going."
—
Time: 11:47 P.M.
Selene came back to the fire at last. She handed Mae a flask of water, but her expression was unreadable.
"Redhill's real," she said flatly. "I've heard of it. One of the black sites that started before the outbreak ever peaked. They used it for testing population responses—psych thresholds, loyalty conditioning."
Mae's head snapped up. "You knew?"
"I knew places like it existed. I didn't think anyone got out."
Mae's eyes went wide. "They didn't. Not really."
Selene looked at her, gaze unflinching. "But you did."
Aria watched the exchange, a quiet pulse starting in her chest. Not quite fear. Not quite hope.
Something in between.
—
Time: 12:10 A.M.
The fire was out. The ashes still glowed faintly, enough to mark the end of one truth and the beginning of another.
Selene unrolled a second map from her jacket—creased, water-damaged, but still legible. She laid it flat on the crate.
"This line," she said, tracing it with a gloved finger, "is a canyon wall that runs behind the southern tech corridor. There's a drainage path here—old infrastructure tunnels."
Mae leaned in. "Are we going through that?"
"It's unpatrolled. But not empty."
Aria swallowed. "What's in it?"
Selene didn't answer right away.
Then: "People who didn't make it out of the zones. Some sane. Some not."
Mae looked from one woman to the other. "Why go through?"
Selene looked up. The wind pulled her hair across her face like dark ribbons.
"Because no one will follow us there."
—
Time: 12:33 A.M.
They began to break down camp.
The quiet was different now. Not fear. Not even grief. It was the quiet of resolve settling into skin like cold air.
Mae tightened the straps on her borrowed pack. Aria handed her a fresh blade from the supplies. It felt heavy in her hand, but she nodded like it fit.
Selene checked the rifle once more and scanned the tree line.
No movement. Yet.
"Get what sleep you can," she said. "We move at 4:00."
Mae gave a tired smile. "You trust me now?"
Selene's mouth curved, but it wasn't quite a smile.
"No. But I believe in second chances."
Aria pulled her blanket close, lying back on the cold earth.
Above them, the stars blinked like old satellites losing signal. The canyon waited, black as a mouth ready to swallow.
And still—they would go.
Because Mae wasn't the only one who needed to be free.