I dig the knife deeper into the wall and drag it sideways. The blade screeches as it makes a mark into the cement.

With a sigh, I step back from the wall and tuck the knife into my belt. The x I had just carved looks insignificant next to the 729 others that consumed the entire surface of the four walls that surround me.

"Two years," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Bess steps forward, appearing in my peripheral vision. "We'll find my brother. And if we don't," she shakes her head. "I'll die trying."

"Been there, done that," I grunt. "Not very fun. Do not recommend." One minute I'm choking on my own blood and the next I wake up in a bed, in perfect health. The span between the two events was only ten hours. The sharp claws of a Crawler punctured my lungs. It's beyond a miracle that I'm even alive right now.

"Speaking of, have you had any flashbacks recently?" She asks me.

I finally look over at her. Her black hair is styled into two Dutch braids on top of her head. Her fair skin is clean except for a spot of dirt between her jaw and neck. Even when the world is falling apart at our feet, she still manages to look effortlessly almost-perfect. Her blue eyes watch me expectantly.

"No." I frown. The last time I had a flashback was about a year ago. Trying to figure out what happened to me two years ago, is like trying to find a star in the sky. They've both only occurred once in my life.

The last flashback I had only showed me one thing, Ben carrying me out of the Empire State Building. I would go back there to see if it triggers anything else, but it doesn't exist now. The entire city is gone.

The Superiors declared New York as unsafe, so they bombed it. Hopefully, they killed the last of the Crawlers. Crawlers were creatures that resembled a cross between a Demo-Dog from Stranger Things and a Velociraptor, the dinosaur. Needless to say, they're not cute, and certainly not friendly.

Bess nods and purses her lips together. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring anything up, Aria."

I shrug and offer her a small smile. "It's okay, Bessie. I'm just tired and-" A loud boom and the building shaking cuts me off.

On reflex, I immediately squat and get close to the floor. My hand flies up to grab the table behind me, to keep me steady.

Just as the shaking stops, another blast goes off outside and the corner of the roof farthest from us begins to crumble.

Rocks and pieces of cement fall from the ceiling.

"Bess! Where's the walkie!" I yell while sifting through items that litter the only table in the room.

She looks up from her hands that were shielding her head and face. "My bag!" Her eyes move behind me and I follow her line of sight.

I jump up and grab her black messenger bag while dodging debris. Bess gets up and runs over to the table and crawls under it. I run over to her and slide under the table.

I fish the device out of her bag and turn it on.

"Garret! Garret, do you copy?" I say into the walkie. The plastic, black communication device shakes in my hand. Another boom sounds outside of the building and more of the ceiling begins to fall in.

A big chunk of cement hits the table with a loud crack and causes it to split down the middle.

Bess screams and scoots back. I stick my head in between my knees and use my free hand to shield my head. A small chunk of the cement hits my wrist causing a hiss to escape my mouth.

Sharp, fiery pain surges through my entire forearm. Great, I think and grind my teeth together.

Static sounds from the walkie and then Garret's deep voice finally comes through. "Aria, whatever you do, don't go outside. The Superior's army is trying to smoke out any Insurgents. You're going to have to lay low and as soon as the sonic pulses cease you're going to have to get out of there as quickly as possible."

"Yeah I know the drill," I say to him with an edge to my tone. "But if they're here, that means Danvers is too."

"Don't even think about it, Aria. That's a death wish. I know you're sad about your little boyfriend that you lost a couple of years back, but you need to move on."

I press the talk button on the walkie one last time. "I didn't die and come back to life for nothing. I'm taking the shot." With that, I switch it off and hand it over to Bess.

Bess takes it, but her blue eyes don't waver from my own. "Ready?"

I've been waiting two years for this. This is my only shot. I can't fail. "Let's do this." I nod.

We crawl out from under the table and take in our new surroundings. The ceiling is completely gone, revealing the grey sky and the walls are only about half their original height.

The place I had called home for two years is now just a pile of rubble. I ignore the pain I feel in my heart from nostalgia and climb over the debris.

Once we make it outside of the old boat-storage facility, we hide behind another storage building whose walls weren't completely leveled yet.

"I haven't felt any more shaking, I think they're done," I tell Bess while peeking around the corner. In the distance, I spot a matt- black military bus at the end of a long stretch of road that was cracked and bumpy from the earthquakes caused by the sonic pulse canons.

"Good." She says. "What do you see?"

"There are at least fifty soldiers in the area. They brought along one of those damn busses," I tell her. I expected maybe ten, not five times that.

"Okay, well," she pauses. "As long as we just avoid them, we should be fine. See any sign of Danvers or his unit?"

I shake my head and turn back to face her. "No." My eyebrows scrunch together and I shift on my feet. "I don't see anyone."

Bess mimics my reaction and her face scrunches in confusion. "Then where the hell are they?" Her blue eyes widen and her pale lips part. She leans against the wall and runs a hand over one of her braids.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something dark behind her. I look closer and realize I'm staring right back at a man whose bottom half of his face is covered by a standard military-grade tactical mask.

"Over here!" He yells and points his gun at us.

I grab Bess's arm and pull her. "Run!" I yell and we round the corner just as gunshots ricochet off the building.

"What now?" She says next to me as we continue to run for our lives.

I make a split-second decision that I hope doesn't get us killed. "The bus, he has to be nearby. We can get on the other side and take cover."

"Okay, but, why don't we just search their command ship?" Bess says.

I glance over at her. "What?" I say and then I have to do a double-take at the large black object that's parked behind a building on our right. The plane is massive and easily covers the span of the storage building, and probably more. "Oh." I manage to say between my heavy breathing. It was hidden at the perfect angle that I couldn't see it around the corner of the storage building.

Gunshots sound from behind us and I turn my head to see about twenty people round the corner we came from. "Shit!" I yell and begin to run faster.

We run under a string of old, abandoned traffic lights that are barely holding onto the wires, and an idea enters my mind.

"Come on, we can make it!" Bess yells and we push ourselves harder than we ever have before.

A couple more gunshots ring out and instead of going faster I spin around and pull out the gun that strapped onto the belt around my waist. I aim upward and in the three consecutive shots, the traffic lights fall to the ground with a loud crash. I switch my gun out for a round, metal ball the size of my fist.

I look at my last electronic grenade and then send it flying. It soars through the air and hits the ground between the lights. A second later a thunderous crack like lightning hitting the ground next to you, fills the air.

I turn and sprint away, knowing that the shock wave was about to hit. I catch up to Bess who had slowed down to wait for me and we sprint for the plane.

A sound like the buzzing of a million bees echoes off the buildings followed by a crackling sound and the screaming of the soldiers. My homemade electronic grenade had just successfully used the traffic lights to painfully shock anyone in a twenty-foot radius.

"Told you it would end up saving our sorry asses," I say jokingly.

Bess laughs next to me. "We're not safe yet."

She's right about that because when we approach the ship two guards stand with their backs to us. I motion for Bess to take the person on the right and I take the one on the left.

I jump on the unsuspecting man's back and hold my arm around his neck as tightly as I possibly could without breaking his neck.

The soldier tugs at my arm and I lose my grip for a split second before regaining it as his grip begins to grow weaker. He rips my arms off his neck and I use my other hand to punch him clean in the temple.

We both topple to the ground, his unconscious body falling on top of mine. I kick him off and jump up, brushing my clothes off.

I should've led with the punch, I scold myself internally and rub my right arm that is currently in immense pain from the roughness that the soldier grabbed it with.

I turn to Bess who did what I should've done. She quirks an eyebrow at me. "Shut up." I glare at her.

We climb up the ramp of the plane and the first thing I do is press the button on the side panel, causing the ramp to rise and eventually close completely.

I turn around only to be face to face with a man in a dark suit and tie. 

"Danvers." His name escapes my lips with a sour taste. He looks the same as he did all those years ago. His black hair buzzed, and his dark skin, the color of coffee beans, still radiates with youth, even though he's far from his school days now.

He grins at me like he's seeing an old friend, but he burned that bridge a long time ago. "Aria Winters, I was wondering when I would see you again." He glances over at Bess. "Who's this?"

"Not really your concern," she shrugs her shoulders.

Danvers shakes his head and smirks, pretending to find it amusing. I knew otherwise, however. His eyes always betrayed him, and still do.

He looks back over at me and the disdain leaves his dark irises. "I was hoping that we'd meet again under better circumstances. Last time I saw you, I told you I would have to arrest you if you ever showed your face again."

"I know," I say. "And I'm fully prepared to accept the consequence of my actions, but," I take a step closer to him, "I just need to know what you did to Ben."

He stares back at me silently and his eyes narrow. He studies my face and then looks away with a sigh.

"Please, Darnell." I use his first name, hoping to provoke an emotional response.

He turns back to me and he frowns, "He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" A series of bad scenarios race through my mind as I try to guess what Ben could have possibly done.

Danvers looks down at the ground before meeting my eyes again. "He enlisted."

My heart drops and I stumble back, away from him.

"What the hell?" I think, but the words aren't mine, they're Bess'. "Why the heck would he do that? You're lying! What did you do to him!" She screams and lunges at him.

Danvers throws up his hands in innocence and steps away from her, "I have no clue! Why don't you ask him!"

Bess freezes mid-step. "Where is he?" She seethes.

Instead of replying, he looks behind her, causing both of us to follow his line of sight. Standing in an entryway stands Ben.

His black hair is neater than it usually was and a cool grin sits lazily on his pale lips. "Hey, girls," he says softly.