Half Lost by Sally Green Page A

maybe she couldn’t control it in the heat of battle but there’ll be more like her to come. I think I got lucky and the other one with the Gift for making you blind must have been one of the guards I killed at the start.
    Greatorex shouts, “We’re leaving in two minutes. Get your packs ready.”
    Gabriel starts to get up but I need to tell him something. “They were all women. Some of them were still sleeping when I killed them. One tried to flee and I slit her throat. Some I killed by ripping their guts open and two burned to death from the lightning I hit them with.”
    Gabriel sits back closer to me, his hand on my leg. “We’re in a war.”
    â€œSo I’m a war hero, not a psychopathic murderer?”
    â€œYou’re not a psychopath and you’re not a murderer. You’re not bad. You’re not remotely evil. You’re someone caught up in a bloody war and it’s eating you up—and that just proves how sane you are.”

Against Anyone Normal They’d Be Lethal

    Greatorex leads us out of the camp. There must be about twenty of us. Everyone is helping carry a load. Even Donna has a large rucksack on her back, though I notice her hands are zip-tied in front of her. We troop out in a line. The idea is to go through a cut, which has already been set up, and once through it we close it behind us, leaving this camp with no cuts, no links to any of the other camps. As Greatorex says, “It’s served its purpose.”
    I like Greatorex. Some people would blame me and say, “We’d not have to move if it wasn’t for Nathan,” but Greatorex doesn’t see it like that. She knows that things will always be changing and moving is part of her job.
    I drop to the back and then stop and listen for Hunters. It would be like them to attack while we’re vulnerable, concentrating on other things. But I hear nothing. I put my load down and run back to check along my trail for a few minutes. I know Greatorex has had her people check and recheck it too, but it can’t do any harm to have a final look.
    Nothing.
    I retrieve my load and catch up with the group as they disappear through the cut. Greatorex waits until we’re allthrough and goes last. Few people can make cuts. Only one person can do it for the Alliance now. Marcus had the ability but I’ve no idea how to access that Gift. Anyway, closing cuts doesn’t require a Gift or even any magic, just a small explosion.
    When we’re through, Greatorex unpins a hand grenade and Gabriel and I hold her left arm as she slides her right hand and the grenade into the cut. The cut pulls her but we dig our heels in and pull her back as she lets the grenade slide out of her hand. It will explode when it’s still inside the cut; within a few seconds the cut loses its magic and fades to nothing.
    We check and the cut is gone.
    * * *
    Within hours the new Camp Three is set up and everything is organized and as if we’ve been here for days. Greatorex and Celia had the location already decided. Greatorex is professional and calm but I can sense the trainees are on edge and, unlike her, they seem to blame me. It’s something about the way they huddle together and sneak looks at me. Greatorex senses it too, I think. She keeps them busy with chores: setting up tents, scouting the surrounding area, cooking. Then in the late afternoon she decides on a bit of training: fighting.
    Me and Gabriel watch the hand-to-hand fighting class. Donna is watching too, sitting opposite us, her hands still zip-tied together.
    Greatorex takes a break and comes to stand with us toview her pupils. I ask her, “What’s happening with Donna?”
    â€œShe says she wants to join the Alliance but, since BB, Celia’s given strict instructions that anyone wanting to join has to be questioned under a truth potion.”
    â€œAnd what are the results?”
    â€œWe don’t have any