Central zone

H-hey." A tiny, uncertain voice sounded from behind Ella.

Ella didn't need to turn around. The person continued speaking regardless.

"Would you want to be in our group?" the girl asked, making a strange proposal. What happened to avoiding me? Ella thought but didn't voice her skepticism.

Seeing Ella remain unresponsive, the girl pressed on, perhaps thinking she needed more convincing. "We were thinking about it—Tracy, Riley, Grace, and I. When we get to the zones, they'll probably tell us to split up. And well… we thought you were amazing earlier, so we wanted to invite you to our team."

Her voice grew a little more confident as she spoke. Ella scoffed and closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the car frame. Each bump in the road made her head rock slightly. Let me join? Did I ask for charity?

Before she could answer, she felt it—multiple eyes on them, eavesdropping. As expected, murmurs soon rose throughout the car.

"No way! She asked her first."

"Damn it! That was our chance. She beat us to it. Now who are we going to ask?"

"Yeah, normally girls are useless in these kinds of situations, but the golden girl is different. She pissed off the commander, and we all know what that means."

Ella's jaw tightened. She could already see where their conversation was going, but she refused to give them the satisfaction of losing her temper. She listened on. If she had endured this kind of treatment for six years, then she could bear it for the duration of a car ride.

"Think about it, guys. If that scary commander hates her, it means we won't be assigned to his zone. I heard his zone is the most dangerous of them all—most people never come back alive."

Ella clenched her fists. I knew it. Before they left school, everyone had decided to avoid her. But now? Now they were changing their minds too quickly. Even if she were naive, she would have seen this setup coming from miles away. These fools intended to use her as a shield.

Not happening.

"Yeah, I heard that too. It's so dangerous that he wears chained Christian crosses for protection."

Crosses?

"No, I heard they were the identification tags of dead soldiers. You get one when you join the army."

"They say that if you walk close enough to him, you can hear them jingling against each other."

Ella frowned. I stood next to him—no, I was practically pressed against him. There was no jingling. The only thing I noticed was that strangely good-smelling cologne of his. Soldiers shouldn't have time to shower, should they? She shook her head. Focus, Ella. This isn't important. How much of these stories are even true?

Most of the students here could get intel faster than an elite intelligence team. Yet, they were fixated on rumors instead of discussing anything useful. I need something real, she thought. Like why he hates medical practitioners so much. Not that it was any of her business, but she wanted to know. His words had cut deep… deeper than they should have.

"So, will you join our group?" the girl asked again, drawing Ella from her thoughts.

Before she could answer, Wendy's voice rang out from the opposite side of the car. "Ella, could you join our group instead?"

Ella turned to find Wendy giving her a small smile, waving her phone in the air. "Bianca said that if you joined us, there would be many benefits."

Ella scowled.

"What a puppet."

"She went back to Bianca?"

"She's worse than a fool. How did she even get through med school?"

The voices around them whispered, but Wendy ignored them. They don't know what they're talking about, she thought. They don't understand the power Bianca holds over me. They have no right to judge. Everyone here is just trying to protect themselves. That's why they're all suddenly flocking around Ella.

Wendy smiled, but before she could say another word, Ella cut in first. "I'm not interested. So please, don't bother me."

She closed her eyes. She refused to be anyone's puppet. She had enough to deal with—starting with Commander Killian's declaration of hatred. The sour gazes around her were unmistakable, but she ignored them. The groups will probably be randomly assigned anyway.

Shifting her weight, she felt the car come to a sudden stop. Ella expected the soldiers to bang against the vehicle and shout orders like they had earlier, but no sound came.

The silence stretched long enough for unease to ripple through the students. Then, finally, a soldier opened the door.

"Listen up. We're at the Central Zone. We're going in, so get out quietly."

With that, he moved away to repeat the same instructions to the other cars.

Ella stepped out, immediately sensing that something was off. Adjusting her bag, she heard the others already whispering amongst themselves.

"What's with the sudden mysterious act?"

"What's a Central Zone?"

"Maybe it's the heart of a zombie nest," a guy joked in response.

"Blarr!" He suddenly screeched, lunging toward a girl like a zombie.

The girl opened her mouth to scream. Ella, expecting the sharp noise, instinctively raised her hands to cover her ears—only to find that no sound came.

A hush fell over the students. Confused, Ella turned to look.

A firm hand, clad in camouflage green and black fingerless gloves, was pressed over the girl's mouth.

When did that soldier get there? Ella's eyes widened in disbelief. It was the same soldier who had given them instructions moments ago.

His voice, barely above a whisper, carried in the wind. "Dare make so much as a squeak while out here, and we're all dead. You got that?"

Ella's breath hitched. The weight of the situation settled in her chest.

This was no joke. Something was wrong. Ella's unease deepened as she glanced around, her pulse quickening. Then, her eyes widened in shock.