“Hurry, follow me,” he says with urgency. He half-carries his comrade with him as he navigates the maze of the Hole, back to the shantytown. Gaunt faces greet us. As soon as they meet our eyes, they wander away, knowing we failed.
Levi places his friend on the ground and lets him rest on his back. Levi’s chest moves up and down as he tries to catch his breath. He checks his friend’s pulse and, feeling nothing, lets the man’s hand drop from his own. When he turns to face us, his eyes are red and constricted.
“I’m so sorry,” Cole says.
“We need to regroup and make another plan,” Levi says, but his voice trails off at the end.
We have no other plans.
“Look, I just need … time, okay?” Levi says. “We lost a lot of people, in just a few minutes.” He puts his hands on his head as his lips tremble. “I didn’t … I thought … ”
Cole puts his hand on Levi’s shoulder. “We’ll hide over there.”
We head into the nearest shack and try to catch our breath. Bruno joins us, not saying a word. Zeus follows on his heels, his tongue dripping saliva onto the ground. I watch as his ribcage moves up and down rhythmically. But nothing can take my mind off the memory of Roméo slumped over and Bill’s eyes the last time they met mine.
I don’t feel anything, not pain from my arm, not hope, just nothingness. It’s all gone, all our chances.
We’ll never get Sutton out now.
Cole settles beside me, pushing his back against a crude wall, and puts his arms around me. He doesn’t cry, but I feel his desperation in the way he grips me tightly. Zeus settles at our feet, whimpering with his head in his paws.
I close my eyes and take it all in. We’ve got nothing left to hope for. The records are gone and everything else with them. I try to think of any other way of getting out, but we’ve spent all our resources in the last thirty-six hours. I let my head fall back against Cole in defeat.
“It’s over,” I say.
You can overcome anything, short of death. You can overcome anything, short of death. I repeat it over and over in my head. Dad … now what should I do, because I’m not sure I’ve got anything left …
I curl into Cole’s lap, and he holds me so close, I can barely breathe. His heart beats against my cheek, and I’m grateful we both survived, for that one small miracle. He attempts to soothe me by stroking my hair, but I hear his broken breaths. I feel shattered, severed in every way possible. If a heart could stop beating simply by breaking, mine would be silent now.
“Say something,” Cole says.
“What’s there to say? Except that I feel completely dead inside. We failed everyone today; there’s no hope anymore for any of us.” I press my face into his chest. “We lost Grace, Bill, and Roméo in a matter of hours today, and for what?”
“For something we all believed in, for something we all wanted to see succeed.”
“But it didn’t.”
“Not today, but another day we will.”
“How? The files are gone, the United Powers will never come, and eventually we’re all going to die in here.”
“Look at me.”
“I can’t.”
“Look at me, please,” he says. I shift my body around, and my eyes meet his. “Why did we come back to the Hole in the first place?”
“You know why.”
“No, I want to hear you say it.”
“To rescue Sutton. I know that, but how?”
“We will run, hide, and do everything we can to survive. And we’ll figure out a way to get to Sutton, I promise you that. It might take time, but we’re going to save him. And like you said before … you’d rather be here with Sutton than outside the Hole knowing he’s stuck in here. Am I right?”
“Yes,” I say. “But we’re short on time. God only knows what Wilson’s going to put him through now. We can’t wait, Cole; he needs us now.”
“We’ll go back for him, I promise. But not right now. We need to regroup first.”
“Do you think just the two of us can do this?”
“Give Bruno his space … He’ll come around, and when he does, we’ll be able to figure out what our next move’s going to be. But for now, we have to do whatever it takes to stay under the radar.”
I lower my face to his. We kiss, and it’s the only thing that reminds me I’m still alive.
He pulls his mouth away but rests his forehead on mine. “Every single day, I’ll do everything within my power to keep you safe,” he says.
“I know, and I love you for that.”
“Lexi?” someone whispers.
I pull away from Cole. “Did you hear that?
“Hear what?”
“My stupid mind is messing with me.”
But then I hear it again. “Lexi?” A female voice echoes through my ears. My body stiffens, and I grab Cole’s arm.
“That,” I say to Cole. “You didn’t hear that?”
“No.”
“I swear I heard someone calling out my name.”
“Nobody said your name.”
“Lexi.” This time I know Cole hears it because his eyes widen, and he turns his head in the direction of the voice.
“Give me your flashlight,” I say.