“Why do we need to go with you?” Mel demanded to know.
“Because we know where you need to go next,” Legion answered matter-of-factly.
I gave him and the girl a quick once over and belatedly came to realize they weren’t dressed like we were. Their outfits were more like Ciaran’s and his friends.
I hadn’t been paying enough attention it seemed because I couldn’t remember if this had been the case with everyone in here. That would’ve made it so much easier to tell who was going to attempt to kill us and who was more than likely put in the playground against their will. Seeing this was enough to convince me we should follow them, though.
“I believe him,” I said to the girls.
“Me too,” Gracelynn remarked, “And I don’t think we should be out on the streets.”
Mel gave me an inquisitive look but didn’t argue against my decision. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d be spilling all my updates once we had a moment to linger and speak openly.
“Let’s move then,” Legion said, making his way into the trees with his partner.
We began following them, pushing our way through overgrowth and skinny branches. “Do either of you have any better idea of how to find people in here?”
“We should concentrate on our safety first,” Mel grumbled, pulling herself forward.
“You’ll have all the help you need soon enough,” the girl ahead of us replied.
She didn’t sound like that was meant to be malicious, confirming she and this Legion guy were here because of Ciaran.
“Can you tell us if any of them are still alive?” Gracelynn asked, swatting a branch out of her path.
“Them?” Legion questioned.
“Dion, Morrigan, Selena?” Grace ticked off.
It may have been my imagination, but I swear the girl faltered just the slightest bit at Grace’s question. I hadn’t thought much about Morrigan or Selena until now. I saw Ciaran physically lift Morrigan and hand her off to one of his partners, so I at least had some idea where she was. Selena, however, there’d been no sign of the pretty redhead anywhere. Her name was up on the map and Grace said they’d been separated, so she was definitely here in the city somewhere.
The ground abruptly began to slant, taking us downhill. I had to wedge the knife handle in one my shorts belt loops so I could use both hands to keep myself stable.
“What are your names?” Grace asked curiously.
“We go by Junie and Tre,” the girl replied.
Junie and Tre? Those names didn’t fit them at all. She probably just gave us their aliases. Whatever, I didn’t really need to know their government identities for anything.
Through a gap in the trees ahead I could make out what looked like part of a trail and even more trees.
“Where are we going?” Mel was the first to finally ask.
“At the bottom of this hill is going to be the next task,” Legion, or Tre, answered.
“That doesn’t sound like it’s going to help us,” I said.
“It’s not supposed to. Where it takes you is.”
I withheld an irritable sigh. Why couldn’t anyone be straightforward and direct? Nothing was ever simple.
Nothing.
“Do any of you speak like normal humans?”
“Are any of us considered normal?” he retorted playfully.
I shook my head and looked around.
We’d finally reached the bottom of the rugged hill where the terrain flattened into a smooth, clear-cut dirt path. A low mid-grade fence lined it to keep people from veering off into the other parts of the woods. It didn’t matter which way I looked the path extended in both directions and there was no sign of where it ended.
“Where are we supposed to go?” Grace asked the couple.
“This way,” Junie answered, already walking away with Legion.
The three of us shared a look before following them. We didn’t have to go far for the task Legion had mentioned to present itself. Walking around a sharp bend, I spotted something sticking out of the ground up ahead. I couldn’t make out what it was right away, but I could tell there were three separate paths divided behind it.
“What is that?” Mel pondered aloud.
We got a bit closer, and an invisible string of overhead lights clicked on.
“Pigs,” I responded rhetorically now that the area was illuminated.
Three dead pig heads had been strung upside down by their hind legs from tall wooden posts sticking out of the ground. Their eyes were still wide open, snouts extending with slightly gaping mouths. Blood was matted on their dry skin.
“What the hell…?” Grace mumbled.
Their lifeless bodies looked as if they were pointing to a stone podium with a bronze plaque on top of it.
It had been positioned right beneath them. Behind this thing were individual clusters of trees separating the three paths I’d seen as we approached.
“This is the task?” Mel asked.
“Yeah,” Tre replied cheerfully. “And this is where we leave you.”