“Get out. Get everyone out.”

The words rang in her ears as Sarah made her way back to the group, thinking over that brief conversation she’d had with the Captain in the error zone. But, even as ridiculous as it sounded, of the Ghosts being in danger, she couldn’t ignore the grave look in their eyes, or the way the Captain had seemed to glitch right before disappearing, the moment they stepped out of the square, as if someone had pulled them out-pod by force.

“All of the Ghosts will be dead by morning. Run. Get everyone out and run.”

Her mind raced back to protocol, on what to do in this kind of situation.

“I’ll see you on the other side,” said as though it would never happen.

The Captain’s forced grin as they said that customary goodbye sent her reeling again, right past protocol. For the first time, without much exercise, her heartrate kicked up a notch.

Running, they would be fugitives. But she didn’t want to think of the alternative. Survival had to be a priority until they figured this all out. Their squad dealt in information, and this time, it could be their undoing.

She tapped the air in front of her and typed out a message before quickly sending it as she jogged back out of the alley.

Screw protocol.

As the others moved to her location, she gestured for them to head to the far end of the market.

“Sare, what’s going on?” Bue, the youngest of them at just sixteen, asked hesitantly.

“What’s with that, you didn’t code that message at all?” Exel followed up with another question before she could respond to the first. They quickly made their way down the street.

“We’re in trouble,” was all she could say at first.

It was one thing to hear about being on a hit-list, set to die, but the rest? All of it whirled around her head, making her want to interrogate every single member, just to know what and who the Ghosts were up against. But that wasn’t something easily done, at least, it never would be in this group.

Interrogate each other?

Like we weren’t accustomed to lying?

As if we weren’t excellent at it?

Making a game plan in her head, she glanced behind and noticed several stragglers making their way through the bustling streets to follow them, pushing people over to catch up to the pace, the startled yelps of those nearby accompanying their rush. She put her right hand out at her hip, palm up, for them to see and they all moved as a unit, turning off of the main street.

“Trouble? What kind?”

She shook her head, eyes catching anything reflective in the alley as they moved.

“Where is everyone? Locations.”

They hesitated, looking between one another.

“What are you–” Exel started.

“Supply your current facility locations. Now.”

At her firm command, they straightened up, catching on to the serious tone. At that, Bue and Slooky both took positions at the side of the group, Exel in the rear next to Lott, and Magnice in the middle, right behind Sarah.

“Ex and Bue at Carver.”

“Jack in Yellen.”

“Lott and Slook are at Fallout.”

“Sarah at Amest.” Sarah finished up. The good news was that the locations were semi-localized. Since nobody was at the Facility called Loundy, it meant they didn’t need to go through Citel City, the only path to get there. Now, it was just a matter of gathering together, somewhere in the old state park ruins that each of the mentioned occupied facilities bordered. “We need to find a place to gather up.”

“Gather? But why would we–”

She stopped, holding a fist with one finger pointing up, and the others quickly stepped to the sides of the alley. Sarah turned, tapping her inventory to produce one of her extra spears, and quickly launched it through the center of their squad. Just as a body popped around the corner with a crossbow in hand, aimed their way, they quickly saw their last, a spear sticking out of their chest, ending their lives in both worlds. Belatedly, they all watched as the arrow flew, sticking into the wooden door nearest Lott, different from the original trajectory of the shooter.

Turning to Exel who had asked that question, meeting his eyes, she told them the big problem.

“Because someone is trying to kill us.”

Sarah turned once more, leading the charge away from the marketplace and toward the woods, but it wasn’t the end of the questions.

“But we’ve dealt with that before. Why is it a big deal now?”

“We get out. Captain’s orders.”

For the next hundred feet, they were all silent. No more arguments were raised as their feet thudded uniformly on the dirt and stones beneath them.

“Did he say why it’s us?” Slooky eventually asked as they weaved through the back streets, losing their pursuers.

For some reason, Sarah couldn’t bring herself to tell them. There was a flicker in the back of her mind that they would turn on each other to find the one responsible, even if it was no one’s true fault. It felt too soon to say it. They needed to have this conversation in person. If someone walked past a room with an open door, who was to blame them for hearing a conversation meant to be private?

Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible for her comrades to go looking for trouble.

“What about Captain?” Bue said in the resulting silence.

“We’ll get Cap after we gather.” This time, her response came quick, and she saw their heads bob in understanding. They believed her words, but she didn’t.

“And what about you?” she asked them. “Do we come to you?”

“No.” The resoluteness of one word, the stony expression. “No. It’s already too late to come for me. Safer to stay away.”

Bue’s knives flew through the air, slicing off the hand of someone in their path. They dropped to the ground with their weapon, feeling the pain, the life-like pain, in which, if they made it out-pod, they’d be baffled their hand still existed.

They headed toward the woods, the path leading them to the outer gates.

“Can everyone get out on their own?”

The words had everyone halting. Magnice looked around the group warily.

“Yeah.” Exel and Bue both nodded once.

“Lott and I’ll team up, right?”

Lott nodded at Slooky’s words.

“Sare, you good?”

“I’ll make sure I get out.”

That was her duty. She wasn’t about to fail. When she looked at Magnice, there was a hard swallow that bobbed his throat, a clenching of his hand, a droop to his shoulders. He was gazing at each of them, their confidence levels, but his seemed to plummet.

“What is it, Jack?”

They all looked to him, saw him do something they didn’t see often. Hesitate.

“I... I can’t.”

It wasn’t hard to be stunned at that statement. Ghosts were trained, both worlds. Strong in both.

Can’t wasn’t in their vocabulary.

“What?”

“You can’t?”

“Come on, don’t be scared, we’re all in this.” Exel patted Magnice’s shoulder lightly, as if attempting to comfort him.

“It’s not fear.” Magnice said, shoving Exel’s hand from his shoulder. He looked to Sarah. “It’s impossible for me to escape there alone. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be bringing it up.”

Magnice, in Facility Yellen, located in the mountain range. While the rest of them were a drive from Citel City, Magnice was in the only facility that forced travel toward Buchar city, which lay on the other side of those mountains, that is, if one were travelling by vehicle.

Sarah had stayed at Loundy, taking a few weeks at Fallout before her years at Amest. She’d never been to Yellen or Carver. And she wasn’t alone in that. They all knew where Yellen was, but Magnice was the only one who’d ever stayed there. And he’d never left it once.

She nodded, making a quick judgement.

If Magnice couldn’t come to them, then–

“Then we’ll all make our way to you. Everyone to the mountains.”

Each of them nodded, receiving the orders.

“And… one other thing.”

All eyes were back on him.

“What is it?”

“I need to go back and buy something.” Magnice hooked a thumb back toward the marketplace with a sheepish smile.

“Are you serious?!” Slooky cried quietly.

“You’re still shopping at a time like this?!” Exel reached forward and grabbed the front of Magnice’s shirt.

“It’s important, alright!” He peeled Exel’s hand off his clothes with brute force, moving each of the fingers away.

“How long?”

“Two minutes.”

It would put a dent in their plans. Sarah sighed as they walked around the final corner. “Slook, Bue. Come with us. The rest of…”

She trailed off as they stopped just before the gates leading out of town.

This was a reminder, she thought to herself at the scene displayed before them.

In front of them, a row of men and women, holding swords, lances, daggers, all dressed to their professions in fighting, for ease during battle, for comfort of movement. A glance toward the alley showed five wielding cross and compound bows, pulled tight, arrows aimed. To the other sides, daggers, fists covered in steel spikes, as well as more lances and swords.

Surrounded.

A reminder.

That we were never immortal beings.

In the right situation at the wrong time, life could always be cut short.

Ghosts were those of the already dead.

Next to her, the others all retrieved their familiar blades and weapons. Lott cracked her knuckles and her neck. Back to back, they looked around at their enemies that outnumbered them ten to one.

“Change of plans,” Sarah said, just loud enough to be heard by the others near her. “Hook, on Slook and Bue. Slip, on Jack.”

“Roger.”

“Mhm.”

“Understood.”

They turned slowly, positioning Slooky and Bue to face the small group of bows.

“In and out.” Exel clanged his two blades against one another, one short and one long.

“Fast,” Bue whispered, tapping her wrist to access her inventory.

Next to her, Slooky smiled, “Faster than everyone else.”

“By your hand I live,” Magnice continued their anthem.

“And by your hand I die,” Lott finished up, clenching her fists, bending her knees the slightest bit as she prepared herself.

“I’ll give you all ten hours to get to Yellen,” Sarah said decisively before glancing at Magnice, standing next to her. “And Jack? Be prepared.”

He nodded resolutely.

“And stay alive.”

He nodded again, jaw clenched in determination, and a tense moment of near silence seemed to take over the area. The clang of someone hitting blades together, a short chuckle as one of their attackers grinned at them, soles of shoes scuffing the sandy dirt on the stone.

Sarah glanced at the two next to her. How Lott had a dark line and a thin one on her neck, how Magnice always wore his clothes all the way up and under his chin. In her mind, she could see her teammates, could see them all laughing together after a mission with a hiccup that went well, imagined them all sitting down together in Fallacy, like they were having a picnic in a meadow.

But she didn’t know them.

And maybe that was the scariest thing.

She didn’t know the answers to the questions laid out before her, like a thousand puzzle pieces she couldn’t seem to fit together.

Gripping the lance in her hand tighter, she reached up a hand to lightly tap that spot of her mark before settling into a stance.

"I'll see you all on the other side."

The first attacker, grinning in a most foolish way, overconfident, made the first move forward.

A sharp whistle seared through the air from the gap in Sarah’s lips, a signal.

And so, survival began.