Page 104 of Ashes of Honor

“Tracks lead this way,” she said, pointing toward a maze of dense underbrush and collapsed buildings. “Supplies should be close.”

This survival drill had been disastrous, and it wasn’t even officially the full twenty-four hours yet. It’d taken approximately all of thirty seconds for everyone to start arguing once we’d been dropped at base. Which was not what I expected by the way—they’d dragged us out of bed at three a.m., told us to get dressed, assigned us a number and told us we had twenty minutes to find our home base before the games commenced. If this was how territory survival drills would go, I didn’t want to even think about what war simulations had in store.

When we’d finally decided who was assigned where, every protein supply box in our territory had been stolen, which meant we had to go fight and steal someone else’s. At leastwe’d managed shelter. Apparently part of survival training was training as if your magic was useless. It made sense, I guess. If you were burning dangerously low to your reserve or got drugged some kind of way, you had to know how to take care of yourself. Once every four hours were granted five minutes of free magic—to be used once, in a way that best benefits the group. Sometimes I seriously hated how thorough Amaia was in her planning.

The unit spread out, and I groaned. Our objective was teamwork just as much as it was to survive, yet they all wandered off in their own groups, not a desire to work together in sight.

“Let it be, Sis,” Hunter said, patting Nala on the neck and guiding us down our own path.

I shook my head, adjusting my bow over my shoulder. “You’d think she’d at least try to force them to work together.”

“Why would you ever think that?” Hunter questioned, like I was silly for optimism. “Her job is to keep them alive and right now, they’re more likely to kill each other. When shit hits the fan, they’ll learn.”

He spoke with such certainty. Then it dawned on me, Hunter had lived a whole life without me at this point. I knew Hunter, my brother, but I didn’t know Hunter of Transient Nation. Survival wasn’t exactly easy out there for several reasons.

“Hey! They found something!” a Portland soldier called, pointing at the group from Topeka.

And then, the arguing began. Hunter was the first to reach the crowd as Portland and Redding worked to pry the lid open, shoving Topeka’s soldiers in the process.

“This is ours,” a woman declared, stepping forward. “We found it. If there’s any left we’ll give you the scraps when we’re done.”

“Excuse me?” snapped another female soldier from Madison. “We wouldn’t have made it here withoutmygeneral.”

“Look around, she’s not here,” the Topeka soldier said.

As if that made a difference. It didn’t matter how we got here or who found what, if we couldn’t learn to share now when it didn’t matter then it’d be a complete and total disaster out on the battlefield.

“You want to fight, Fiona?” the woman from Madison stepped forward. “Cuz I’d love the opportunity to shut you up myself.”

“Oh shit. Dude, they’re gonna chick fight.”

I rolled my eyes at all of them—especially the nuisance from Redding, whose ridiculous, childish statement was the last thing I had patience for. I’d seriously had enough. And I was starving.

Hunter could step in anytime now. But instead, he simply watched me.

Oh. Right.

If Isabella wasn’t around, the next highest-ranking officer was supposed to step in. Millie had been assigned to another unit for the exercise, which meant that should be Hunter… except—wait,crud. Right now, it was me. Because I was the dunce on the horse, acting as Lead Rider instead of a medic.

“Enough!” My voice cut through the growing tension of the group, others had wandered over, picking sides which had somehow turned into Salem Territory versus The Expanse. “Stop acting like children and figure out how we’re carrying this back to base. Because that’s whereallof this is going, back to base to be divided equally. You hear me or do I need to remind y’all that sharing isn’t just caring, it’s survival. You want to argue? Do it at base.”

They all stared at me blankly, blinking in shock. “My goodness, do I need to clap my hands? Let’s go, people, load it up!”

The tension diffused with the added thump of Nala’s hoof emphasizing our urgency against the pavement. Soldiersremoved their packs, filling them to the brim with enough protein to feed our entire unit.

My eyes scannedthe overgrown streets, doing my best to note every broken window and rusted-out car that made a solid hiding space. Royal Oaks had an eerie way of making one feel watched. Heightened emotions thickened the air, the others suppressing down their angst for now.

Hunter walked in front of Nala, his hand on the reins. He kept the Portland soldier at his side and by proxy, my side. She was the primary antagonist for the last twenty minute trek back. I ignored her as she muttered something under her breath—loud enough for me to hear, quiet enough to not make out exactlywhatwas said.

“I see you’re still good at bossin’ people around,” Hunter teased.

“Real easy when you spent your whole life corralling dumb, dumber, and dumbest.”

Hunter was quiet for a moment before saying, “I mean it. You’re a natural.”

“This is nice. I’m glad we somehow ended up on the same team.” I winked at him, knowing exactly what Amaia and he had done. “I keep expecting you to disappear again.”

His expression tightened, guilt flashing across his face, merely a mirror of my own. “Reina?—”

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