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time, when someone opens fire, I fling myself against a wall, and the world dissolves.

Chapter Two
    Monday: Night of Escape from the Camp, Unknown Number of Days Ago
    The snow is letting up at last as Cole unlocks the motel room, but flakes continue to land on my neck. They melt instantly, drizzling cold water down my back. I suspect if I were a normal person, I’d shiver. But I’ve blocked out the cold, and if I shiver, it’s only from fear.
    I do not show fear. That’s weakness. Not only that, there’s no reason for it.
    Right?
    Casually, I scan the parking lot for signs of threats. The snow cover has lightened the sky, and the clouds hang over the motel and rural highway like a heavy gray lid. A barrier, sealing us in.
    Only four aging cars dot the spaces below, three of them covered in a couple inches of powder, suggesting they haven’t been moved in hours. The asphalt isn’t much better. It’s been a while since a plow came through, but the glittering snow hides the generic ugliness of the scene. To my left, dwindling flakes dance in the glow from the motel’s vacancy sign.
    The Pine Way Inn is a dump, but a cheap one. Not to mention completely devoid of pine trees. Nonetheless, I very much hope one dumpy motel will be as good as another while we lay low for the night.
    A whoosh of warm air rushes over me as Cole throws open the door. Swallowing, I take a second to confirm that I didn’t see anything weird in the diner lot across the street, then I follow the others inside.
    The room doesn’t appear to have been updated since the early 2000s, but it’s warm. I shut the door behind me and watch Lev help Summer onto one of the two double beds. She took a bullet to the shoulder in our escape from the camp, which is how the research-and-training facility where we spent our whole lives is euphemistically known. Though we tried patching her up as best we could with a portable first-aid kit, it’s not enough. The bullet needs to be removed.
    â€œYou’re going to be all right.” Cole, ever our unit leader and big brother, sounds confident as he speaks to Summer. He’s always reassuring us. Always in control.
    Summer nods, trusting him as we do, but I can see from the way she bites her bottom lip that she can’t block out all the pain. Even with our implants, there’s only so much we’re capable of.
    â€œYou got the supplies?” Cole snaps.
    Next to me, Kyle blinks out of his concerned stupor, and he dumps the medical supplies we bought on the next bed.
    Cole’s eyes are hard as he takes Summer’s hand. The tension between Cole and Kyle has suffocated me since Cole unexpectedly showed up with our escape vehicle earlier. Is it because Kyle is an outsider? He’s not part of our unit, and he’s untrained. In some ways, he’s just a friend I met while undercover at his college. But in reality he’s so much more. He was my target, even though I didn’t know it at first, and it’s my fault RedZone captured him.
    So is that where Cole’s animosity comes from? I haven’t had a chance to fully explain to him why I changed my mind about capturing Kyle. And despite everything, Kyle hasn’t been unhelpful since the escape.
    Lack of trust is all it is, or so I tell myself. Kyle has no reason to trust us. Cole has no reason to understand why helping Kyle is so important. I can’t make myself believe there isn’t more to it though. It’s like the two know things about each other.
    Each other and their relationships with me.
    This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not when we need to disappear before RedZone’s operatives track us down. Not when Summer desperately needs medical attention. I have no time for complicated emotions at the moment, yet my first-ever love life has been a pain in my ass for months. Why should today be any different?
    I jump to work too, both to rid myself of these thoughts and