Chapter 88

CHAPTER 88

VANDA SAT BOLT upright at the edge of her cot, wakened by the Klaxon and shouts from the compound on the bluff above. She was packed into a small, sweltering tent with five other women, shoulder to shoulder. She was the youngest. The others were sleeping and snoring through the commotion, exhausted from the long day's work.

Vanda slipped off her cot and stepped out through the front of the tent. The cooking fires were still smoking. Through the haze, she could see the beams from the search party's flashlights above. More shouts. Pounding boots. Rattling weapons.

"Two columns!" "Move out!" "Find her, damnit!"

Her?

It had to be Kira! She was the only female up there—the only worker dangerous enough to be locked in chains every night.

Vanda felt a piercing fear. She knew instantly what all the lights and the shouting meant. Somehow, some way, her only friend had escaped. And if they caught her again, they'd kill her for sure.