"Get those out of your mouth!" Katrina shouted, ripping the plants in David's hand away from him. "Spit it out! Those flowers are poisonous!"

David only looked sadly at her. "No spit."

"You have to!"

Before David could reply, he started vomiting up blood. The look on his face was horrifying, a mix of shock and pain. His body spasmed, and in a second, his chest rose and fell for the last time.

Katrina could only stare at his dead body covered in blood. The scene seemed surreal. He laid in the tangled mess of flowers, his weight crushing their delicate, pink, bell-shaped petals. The remainder of the flowers swayed gently in the light breeze, seemingly innocent despite the fatal poison within them.

A crow cawed overhead. Katrina winced at its large, piercing sound. She sat next to David for a while, unmoving, her brain in shock. Finally, she worked up the energy to move. She slowly stood up, her joints cracking in stiffness. Moving over to David, she closed his eyes and mumbled a quick prayer.

"I'll miss you, my friend."

Without a further thought, she numbly walked away. As she arrived where the others were speaking in low tones, Amari noticed her arrival and pointed. They waited for her to approach them.

"Where did the blood come from?" Wyne asked, concerned. "Did you get injured?"

Katrina shook her head. "Not me."

Amari picked up on her insinuation quickly. "David?"

She nodded. "He couldn't take it anymore."

Wyne's eyes nodded as he realized what she meant. "Did he, you know... Suicide?"

"I could've stopped him," she replied. "I didn't recognize the flower he was eating until it was too late."

"It's not your fault," Ted comforted. "What plant?"

"Dead man's bells."

"That is a strange and sinister name," Amari commented. "I have never heard of that plant before."

"It's more commonly known as foxglove," Katrina amended. "Heard of it?"

Amari nodded in recognition of the word. "Ah yes. Foxglove is very fatal indeed."

"No kidding."

The group lapsed into another silence, mourning the loss of their two beloved comrades.

Finally, Celia spoke. "Amari and Wyne, you two contacted Stefan a fair amount before he died, right?"

"I- yes," Wyne admitted. "Why?"

"Because if he really did have a virus, then you two need to get away from us ASAP," Celia replied matter-of-factly. "Ted, Katrina, and I haven't been with him for as long."

Before anyone could reply, she continued. "To be honest, I think having you two also die would be a good plan. That way, if either of you are carrying the virus, then it'll get wiped out along with you."

"What? No!" Katrina protested. "You can't kill them!"

"I'm not going to kill them," Celia stated calmly, "You are."

"Says who?"

"Says me." Celia reached up towards her neck, gently touching her pendant. "It's kill or be killed."

Katrina's jaw nearly dropped in shock as she realized what she meant.

This was her first test. She either successfully murder Amari and Wyne, proving that she was fit to become an AD, or possibly get killed by the scientists.

Celia raised an eyebrow, demanding an answer. "So?"

"I can't kill them!"

"You can, and you will, whether you like it or not."

The ever-present slight tingling feeling in her fingers intensened as her power itched to release itself. She pressed down the urge to trap Celia in her illusions, telling herself that as of now, the scientists and Celia had more power over her.

"Kill or be killed," Celia repeated. "Your choice."

Katrina glanced at the others for help. Amari and Wyne were gaping at them, at a loss for words, and Ted merely shook his head slowly, telling her that he had no ideas.

Thinking quickly, she replied, "Fine. I'll do it." Her voice barely trembled from the weight of the lie, a feat that Katrina had only been able to accomplish a few times.

"Go ahead then." Celia stepped aside, motioning for her to move towards Amari and Wyne.

"Right now, right here?"

"Yes. How else would I be able to confirm that you had killed those two?"

Katrina nodded. She forced herself to put one foot forwards, then another. She whipped out the two sharp daggers that she always kept by her side, clutching one in each fist.

Wyne looked like a deer caught in headlights, unmoving. Amari's eyes darted around, as if looking for an escape.

In a moment, Katrina used her clairvoyance power to enter Amari's and Wyne's vision. She created an identical illusion in front of each person.

Run. I'll cover you.

Amari raised an eyebrow, her body half turned away, as if asking, You sure?

Katrina started bobbing her head up and down before she thought better of it as Celia's impatient expression entered her peripheral vision. In a flash, she changed the message.

Go!

Without further ado, the two of them started running. Katrina created two identical clones in their place and rendered the two fleeing figures invisible as she simultaneously created an illusion of silence, hiding the sound of their footsteps.

"You gonna do it or not?" Celia asked, crossing her arms. "We don't have all day, you know."

Katrina pursed her lips before raising the daggers. In two, swift, fluid motions, she yanked her arms back before flicking her wrists, sending the daggers flying, straight onto the clones of Amari and Wyne.

While the real daggers continued flying into the bushes, she created two fake daggers in their place, embedding themselves into her clones' chests. The clones gasped and blood bubbled up into their mouth before they collapsed, writhing, onto the ground.

Katrina glanced back at the two people watching her. Celia seemed pleasantly surprised, whereas Ted gaped at her in shock, unknowing whether she really killed them or not. He rubbed his eyes, unbelieving what he was seeing.

Celia stepped forwards, briefly touching the clones' necks, feeling for a pulse. When she found none, she stepped back, wiping the blood on her hands onto her pants.

"Well done," Celia praised. "I didn't think that you had the guts within you to be able to do that."

Katrina nodded instead of replying, not trusting her voice enough to not give herself away.

In a sudden, Celia's face morphed from pleasant surprise, into shock, into anger, before her original expression came back. The change was so fast that Katrina was barely able to detect it.

She glanced at Ted, tilting her head slightly in question. Ted wrinkled his forehead before shaking his head slightly. Katrina nodded, brushing her mistake off as exhaustion.

"We should rejoin Dean's group."

The sudden noise caused Katrina to nearly jump. She turned towards Celia. "Wait, why?"

"Now that Amari, Wyne, Stefan, and David are dead, the three of us won't be able to fend for ourselves as well," she said.

Katrina glanced at Ted. With a silent exchange, the two of them agreed that they couldn't go back.

"What if we have the virus?" Katrina asked. "Then we'll give it to the others?"

Celia waved her question away. "Doubt it. Chances are slim. Only Amari and Wyne were likely to have the virus."

Katrina stiffened at the sound of her friends' names, before slowly relaxing. If Celia didn't realize that she hadn't killed Amari and Wyne already, she probably never would.

"Come on now," Celia said lightly. "We should get going. We'll be able to reach their camp in the early afternoon if we move quickly."

The rest of the morning passed quickly. They walked in silence, occasionally interrupted by Celia's complaints of her tired feet and how Katrina should've killed Wyne after he teleported the three of them to the farm. Ted and Katrina made a mutual agreement to ignore her as Celia continued grumbling.

By the time the three arrived at the farm, Katrina was ready to punch Celia in the face for her whines. The people at Dean's group whispered and gossiped as they saw Katrina, remembering the fight they had last time.

A person ran off, presumably to find Dean. Sure enough, not a minute later, he appeared, Blythe tailing him like an obedient, well-trained puppy.

"Haven't seen you three in a while," Dean casually commented as if they had never had a brawl the last time they met. "What brings you here? And where are the others who left with you?"

"We... Suffered a little loss of life." Katrina spoke slowly, choosing each word carefully. "We ask to be readmitted into your group."

"Ah, I see." Dean smirked, causing Katrina to feel fury bubble up within her. "I believe you found that you couldn't fend for yourself as well as you thought you could?"

"No, we just came back to see how terribly you were doing and to recruit new people," she replied hotly. "We can fend for ourselves perfectly fine, thank you very much."

She knew that Dean would be able to see right through her lie, but she didn't care. Her fists clenched, waiting for his reply. After a moment, Dean came to a conclusion.

"You may rejoin if you would like, but you'll be under surveillance twenty-four hours a day."

Katrina nodded, agreeing to his terms. "Fine."

Dean gave her a triumphant grin before raising his voice. "Julian!"

In a moment, Julian appeared, smirking in his usual self-absorbed way. He strode towards them like a peacock, stopping next to Dean. "You have another assignment for me?"

Before Dean had a chance to reply, Katrina butted in. "Uh, no. No way. I am not going to allow Julian to put us under his control."

"Like you have a say in the matter," Dean scoffed. "It's your choice. Stay and get controlled or leave."

Without a second thought, Katrina replied, "We're leaving then. Have a good day."

A painful cough made her stop in her tracks. Dean was hacking, doubling over. Blood dribbled out from his mouth. He started wheezing, stumbling and crashing onto the ground.

Blythe gave a high-pitched scream, stumbling back into Julian. He pushed her away impatiently, watching as Dean squirmed on the ground, his body erupting in boils.

"The virus," Katrina breathed, clutching onto Ted's arm. He nodded grimly before gently brushing her away.

"Everyone, move away from Dean!" Ted barked, taking command. "We suspect he has a virus."

"A virus?" Blythe asked hysterically. "No wonder I couldn't heal him. How bad is it?"

"Stefan got it first," Katrina started, trying to calm her down. "He lost the battle in only about ten minutes. We don't know of anyone else who has the virus, so we don't know what effect it'll have on Dean."

"No, no, no, he can't die," Blythe shrieked. "What will I do with the baby if he does?"

Katrina blinked in confusion, tuning out the rest of her cries. "I— what? Baby?"

Blythe paused, glancing up at her as if only realizing what she had said. "Oh, um... About that..."

The pieces clicked together as if a lightbulb had turned on in her head. "You and Dean... Did you two— You know what? I'm not going to even say that word. But did you?"

"I, um... Maybe." Blythe fidgeted in her spot, blushing. Everyone stared at her, momentarily forgetting about the writhing body next to them.

Katrina gagged, completely grossed out. She quickly regained her composure, attempting to act mature.

"We'll talk about this later," she declared. "For now, let's see if we can do anything for—"

"He just died," Ted interrupted. "We were too late."

Everyone fell into an uneasy silence, mourning the death of Dean. Even Katrina pitied him, despite how he had treated her. Celia started moving away, beckoning the others to follow.

"We need to get away from the body, it could still be contaminated."

Katrina nodded, trailing behind her. She moved towards Blythe, continuing their conversation.

"Blythe, you're thirteen. You've got to be kidding me—"

"I know! He started it, and I didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late. I know that's not an excuse, but what's done is done!"

Katrina sighed, understanding her logic. Arguing wouldn't be able to allow them to go back in time and stop Blythe from making her poor decision.

"When's the baby due?"

Blythe's lips trembled at the thought of giving birth. "We did it not long after we entered the Experiment, so about a month ago. We've got time until it's born."

"Eight months," Katrina mumbled. "Eight months until it's born."

The unsaid words hung in the air between them. If they can survive in the Experiment for that long.

Katrina recalled what Celia said. If she was right and all of them died in a month or two, then at least they would never need to worry about how to have Blythe give birth successfully. On the other hand... They'd be dead.

"Just... Stay safe, alright?" Katrina patted Blythe's shoulder reassuringly. "No heavy lifting or other physically demanding exercises."

Blythe nodded, relieved. She turned her eyes up towards Katrina. "I'm sorry about the way Dean had treated you, and how I didn't defend you at all. After, you know, that happened, I guess I kind of started sticking by Dean's side."

"No worries," Katrina replied, brushing her apology away. "We all make mistakes."

At that moment, Celia stopped in her tracks, making Katrina nearly crash into her.

"Katrina..." she growled. "Did you or did you not kill Amari and Wyne?"

"What?" Blythe asked, glancing at Katrina. Her eyes widened as if suddenly seeing a completely new person.

Katrina ignored her, staring determinedly at Celia. "Yes, I did, what made you think otherwise?"

"A certain fresh footstep," she replied. "Many footprints, actually. Two sets of them."

Katrina's pulse quickened. "They could've been made by someone from Dean's group. After all, we're pretty close to his camp."

"Perhaps," Celia said. "Or perhaps, you used your illusions to help them escape."

Katrina opened her mouth, speechless. "No, I didn't."

"Don't even try to lie. I know what you did. Keep in mind that your illusions don't work on everything."

Once again, Celia's hand inched up towards her neck. Katrina muttered a long line of curses as she realized what she meant.

The scientists must've saw what she did through the cameras, as her illusions didn't work on them. Undoubtedly, Celia was notified about Katrina's dirty little trick, probably right after she did it.

"Katrina, go track down Amari and Wyne right now."

"Now?"

"Yes, otherwise I predict that I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone. Literally." Celia grabbed her stone dagger from her belt, angling it towards Blythe.

Blythe gave a little squeal of fright, jumping behind Katrina.

"It's your choice."

"Fine. I'll do it."

"If you need help, you know how to contact those who can provide it. Go."

Without further ado, Katrina nodded, quickly heading away. She could feel Blythe's and Ted's stares on her back as she retreated, trying to figure out Celia's next little puzzle.

With a jolt, she realized what she meant. Katrina reached up towards her pendant, grabbing it with her fist.

She concentrated on the name of the one person she knew would be able to help her.

Anabelle Hall.

In a second, she knew that her hail had succeeded.

"Miss York! What a pleasure to hear from you again!" Hall's cheerful chirps filled her ears. "I believe you need to locate Wyne Fox and Amari Mensah?"

Katrina nodded numbly before she remembered that Hall couldn't see her. "Yeah."

"Give me one second..."

Katrina heard Hall quickly walking away, her heels clicking on the floor. She tuned out the background noises of Hall apologizing as she bumped into people.

"Ah, yes, here's the map... Let me just find those two..."

In a moment, Hall squealed. "Found them! They're at the most southeastern corner of the map, between the city and the forest. You should find them at the edge of the trees. Hope that helps!"

With a click, the line went silent. Katrina sighed as she was hoping for more clues. Without any more delay, she set off to find Amari and Wyne. 

...

This chapter is dedicated to all of my readers who begged me for romance. Welp, you got what you wanted, just perhaps not the way you expected XD

What do y'all think Katrina will do after she finds Amari and Wyne, if she finds them at all?