Oblivion Read Free Page A

It’s a different knock
    than the one that came a few moments ago, when it
    was Danata. This knock is loud. Hard. Forceful.
    Cam and I freeze again. But Danata springs into
    action. “Stay here,” she whispers, and heads to the
    door.
    “No,” I whisper back, shaking my head. I reach for
    her arm to try and stop her, but she’s out of my reach
    and before I know it, she’s at the door.
    “Hel o?” I hear her say when she opens it. “Oh, hi,
    soldier.” From her casual tone, I’m guessing it’s one
    of Reed’s men, and not one of the intruders from
    Raine’s side.
    “Your name, please?” a gruff male voice asks.
    “Danata Richel e,” she says.
    “You live here?” he asks. “You’re in training?
    “Yes,” she says, her voice back to sounding young
    and innocent.
    “You mind if I search the premises?”
    My heart drops and I feel the adrenaline start to
    pump through my body. Cam reaches out and grabs
    my hand. He motions toward the back door, letting
    me know that we should be ready to run. But the
    cottage is smal , and if we get up, the soldier wil
    most definitely hear us. Even if we could outrun him,
    once he got on his walkie talkie and notified
    everyone else, we wouldn’t stand a chance.
    “Why do you have to search the house?” Danata
    asks. “I’m the only one here.”
    “We’re looking for Natalia and Campbel ,” the soldier
    says. “And I’ve been instructed to search
    everywhere.”
    “It’s awful what happened at the bond breaking
    ceremony,” Danata says. “I was so scared.” Her
    voice stil sounds shy and innocent. The firebal s that
    have been shaking the forest seem to have stopped
    for the time being, and I can hear her loud and clear.
    “Yes,” the soldier says, “it was awful. Now if you
    could – ”
    “Do you think we’re in danger?” Danata says. “Are
    they going to blow up the whole compound?”
    “I seriously doubt it,” the soldier says. “Reed is
    preparing the army as we speak.
    Now if you’l let me in, I’l have a look around, and
    then take you to the town hal . It’s safer there.”
    “Of course,” I hear Danata say.
    Cam stands up, grabs my hand, and starts to pul me
    toward the back door. But before I can take a step, I
    hear a commotion coming from the front door.
    “Hey!” the soldier yel s. “Where are you going?”
    For a second, I think he’s talking to us. But then I
    hear the sounds of shuffling feet, and footsteps, and
    it becomes apparent what’s happened. Danata’s run
    out the door and into the forest, probably trying to
    create a distraction so that the soldier won’t hear me
    and Cam escape out the back. I don’t know if it wil
    work, but if it’s going to, we only have a few seconds.
    “Run,” Cam whispers. And so I do.

Chapter Three
Campbell
    In a flash the two of us are out the back door and
    running across the open field, trying to make it to the
    edge of the forest before anyone notices us. I’ve
    never felt so vulnerable in my life. Someone could
    take us out with a spel at any moment, fry us like a
    couple of ants under a magnifying glass.
    But when we get to the line of trees, nobody appears
    to have seen us.
    We stop running for a moment as I try to get my
    bearings. Natalia is already gasping for air.
    “Can you find your car?” I ask.
    She looks around, her wide eyes searching for
    something familiar. “I don’t know.” She shakes her
    head. “None of this looks like anything I remember.”
    She bites her lip, then points toward a path that
    opens up through the trees. “I think that might lead to
    the front of the compound. That’s where my car is.”
    “You think or you know?” I ask, my tone harsher than I
    intended.
    She flinches. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
    “I’m sorry,” I say immediately. “I’m just scared. If we
    get turned around now we could end up dead. Or
    captured by Raine’s troops.”
    “That could happen no matter what we do.”
    I nod my head as a far away