The Forsaken

frozen. It’s a sign that the system on Island Alpha is finally crumbling. We know that the UNA is spending all its money on new war machinery. They can’t maintain the island anymore, so they’re in the process of abandoning it. They’ve put a containment wall around their entire cooling zone, because of all the leaks and spills. We think at some point they’re going to exterminate everyone on the island—unless they can find a drug soon that will defeat your genetic immunity, and brainwash you.”
    The middle-aged woman steps up next to him. “I know both of you probably have questions. We have answers. Some but not all.” She’s looking right at me with intelligent eyes. “My name is Dr. Angeline Vargas-Ruiz. I’m an anthropologist too. Most of us are scientists here.” She holds out her hand.
    My head is a jumble of data. Anthropologists. Australia. An outpost in the desert. I take Dr. Vargas-Ruiz’s hand and shake it. “My name’s Alenna Shawcross.”
    I see a strange look pass across her eyes. She knows my name—I can tell. But how? Nothing makes sense to me anymore.
    Liam looks at me, then at the woman. Grudgingly he says, “Liam Bernal.”
    “Nice to meet you,” she replies.
    I feel so tired that I just want to curl up in the sand and sleep for a thousand years. I see Liam’s shoulders slump, and his fists start to uncurl.
    “Come with us. I bet you’re dying of thirst,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz says. “We have water and food, and fresh clothes too. Soft beds.” Everyone’s watching us. “You’re safe.”
    Safe. It almost sounds like a joke.
    “You believe them, right?” Liam whispers to me. I hear the longing in his voice. I feel it as well, my chest aching with hope.
    “I think it’s okay,” I whisper back.
    “Come, come,” Dr. Elliott says. “We have to get back inside the station as soon as possible.” The group starts to encircle us.
    I don’t feel fear, just relief tempered with confusion. I look up at the sun. It’s hot enough to burn my face, but the heat feels wonderful after being inside the specimen archive.
    I see men break off from the group and surround our fallen pod, as well as the other pods, which are scattered everywhere. Muscles heaving, they start dragging and pulling them across the sand like they’re taking them with us. I know these other pods must contain the frozen bodies of both villagers and drones.
    “Let’s keep talking as we head back to Destiny Station,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz says, hurrying along. “We don’t want our movement to get picked up on satellite.”
    “Someone’s still watching us?” I ask as Liam grabs my hand. We begin walking quickly across the sand with the group, heading toward Destiny Station.
    “Someone’s always watching,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz replies with a faint, sad smile.
    As we walk, her companions start introducing themselves one by one. Their names wash over me. I’m thinking about how great it will feel to get a hot meal and a soft bed.
    Then I feel guilty.
    What about Gadya? And David, Rika, Sinxen, Veidman, and Markus? Didn’t they deserve to get rescued too? How will we even find David?
    I think about all the others still stuck back on the wheel, either dead or entombed in the specimen archive. Liam and I didn’t abandon them by choice, yet I still feel like we’ve betrayed them.
    Liam tightens his grip. “You okay?”
    “Just thinking about everyone we left behind.”
    He nods.
    “How are we going to get back and save them?” I ask.
    “I don’t know. Not until we learn more about what’s going on here.”
    My eyes tear up, but I turn my face away so he doesn’t see.
    Dr. Vargas-Ruiz slows her pace so she’s even with us. “That’s the opening to our base right there.”
    She points at the clifflike face of the rock. I stare in the direction of her fingertip, wiping my eyes. The sandstone shimmers with diffraction patterns in the heat, and I don’t see anything. For a moment, I wonder if this whole thing—our escape, our landing, and our rescue—is just a delusion on my part.
    “What are we supposed to be looking at?” Liam asks.
    Dr. Vargas-Ruiz smiles. “Nothing, actually. We’re not meant to be seen.”
    “Everything’s hidden inside,” Dr. Elliott says from nearby. He’s supervising the moving of the pods. Liam and I turn to look at him. “Not by choice, but we have to stay off satellite and radar. And out in the desert, it’s cooler inside the rock formation. We’ve built tunnels