The longer they walked, the higher the buildings rose into the sky. Lynn craned her neck to look up at the skeletal behemoths, impressed by their size and cowed by the hidden signs of life in the brambles. Vines stretched from building to building like oversized webs. While the fantastical spiders that would have made them never appeared, other animals were everywhere. Innumerable types of birds nested in the ivy and other creepers that covered every inch of the towers. Several times, Lynn spotted deer in the distance. Monkeys yipped and hollered as they scattered along the road before rushing up the sides of the buildings. Twice she heard elephants trumpeting, but they didn’t come into view.
Lynn took a deep breath. She decided she hated New York. Too many hiding places, too much noise. She had to fight to keep her hand steady and her pace constant. The urge to rush through this part of the city was hard to quench.
Dani led her silently.
At first the silence had felt like a continuation of the previous cold shoulder, but now Lynn began to reconsider.
Since their talk, much of the stiffness had drained from Dani’s posture, and her attentiveness seemed to have suffered for it. She kept her head down and only looked up every dozen steps or so. Dani clutched her spear in both hands, against her chest. The position rendered the weapon useless, but Dani didn’t seem to notice or care.
Lynn cared. Her life, at least partly, depended on Dani. She bit back a groan at the daunting task of another minefield of a conversation, but it had to be done. “Hey, Dani?”
“Hm?” Dani’s head jerked up as if she had been deeply in thought.
Lynn lengthened her strides until she was level with her.
This time, Dani didn’t speed up.
That’s progress. She glanced to the side. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a bitch, so—”
Dani raised a brow and smirked.
Right. Dani already thought she was a bitch. Whatever. “I, uh… need you to pay attention to what’s happening.”
Dani stopped and planted a hand on her hip. She squinted. “I am paying attention.”
Lynn snorted. “Right. What’s the name of this street, hm?”
Dani’s expression darkened, and she pushed out her chin.
Lynn instantly realized her error. No, not bitchy at all, Tanner. Very friendly behavior right there, not suspicious or condescending whatsoever. Dammit, you’re trying to get her to cooperate!
“I’m going to go back to watching what happens around me now.” Dani whirled back around and briskly stalked forward. The stiffness had returned to her spine and shoulders.
Thoroughly dismissed, Lynn fell back a step and bit her tongue. If she opened her mouth, the resulting conversation would undoubtedly turn into another argument. She cracked her neck to drain some of the tension out of it and shook out her arms. You’re an idiot. Do what you do best and make it through alive. This talking thing is not for you.
She returned her attention to New York City. Despite the outward beauty of its greenery specked with flowers and fruits, Lynn could only think of it as a malicious whole. It was impossible to comprehend that people had once lived in this bastion of nature. Only a few hundred years ago, mankind had dominated these streets. They’d tamed the Wilds with asphalt and cement. Human beings had denied entrance to all this life and had caged the animals who now ruled supreme.
What would it have been like to walk these streets in awe of the architecture or even with indifference to its massiveness? It was unimaginable that they hadn’t tried to hear predators coming over the cacophony of the warning calls of birds or struggled to look past upturned cars for signs of movement. Maybe they’d taken a leisurely stroll through these streets with their kids or sat in these cars until they could move forward and go home. Insanity—or maybe this life was insane.
Skeever jerked to a halt.
Dani bumped against him but caught herself on the side of one of the cars before she lost her balance completely. “What—?” She frowned.
“Quiet.” Lynn gripped her tomahawk as her skin crawled.
Skeever growled.
Dani fumbled her spear into position, apparently now catching on to what Lynn had guessed the moment Skeever had stopped: he’d sensed something. And whenever Skeever sensed something and growled, it was something he perceived as predator, not prey.
Lynn scanned the area. Nothing moved in the sea of wrecks ahead. Not in the doorways or windows of the buildings around them either. A troop of monkeys clambered up a tower behind them, but Skeever stared dead ahead, so that wasn’t it. She pushed past Dani to grab his collar before he could attack whatever it was he’d heard or smelled. She wasn’t about to let him blunder into a fight he couldn’t finish.
“Do you see anything?” Dani held the spear with both hands again, but at least the tip pointed forward now.
“No.” Lynn straightened as much as she could with her hand around Skeever’s collar. “Could you climb up one of ’em?” She nodded toward the car beside them.
Dani nodded. “Right.” She turned and clambered up the rusted metal with the ease of practice. Once she’d gotten her footing, she scanned the area slowly, from left to right.
Skeever pulled against Lynn’s hold and showed his teeth.
She braced against his force and glanced up. She itched to prompt Dani but bit her tongue. Dani was a hunter; looking for predators and prey was what she specialized in.
The hairs on the back of Lynn’s neck stood on end. Either the glare of the sun reflecting off innumerable cars and trucks hid whatever approached or the vehicles themselves blocked it, but whatever the reason, Lynn saw nothing. She looked up at Dani, desperate for information.
Dani seemed to have forgotten about her. She stared ahead with laser focus. After a few seconds, she lowered herself into a battle stance and gripped her spear.
A spike of alarm coursed up Lynn’s spine, and she found herself fighting rising panic. She’s going to attack it—whatever it is. Her adrenaline surged so violently she felt dizzy. No, no, no, no. Presented with the suffocating threat of the Wilds, some people went on the offensive to gain a sense of control that they were desperate for. It inevitably left them wide open to the First Law of the Wilds: the second you exposed yourself, it devoured you.
Dani took off before Lynn could raise her hand to yank her down.
Lynn’s heart arrested, then lunged into a gallop.
Within moments Dani disappeared between the rows of vehicles. The top of her head appeared briefly whenever she passed a slope in the metal.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Lynn raised her tomahawk and looked around frantically. What do I do?
Skeever yanked again.
Lynn lost her grip.
He shot away, barked loudly, and disappeared between the cars.
Losing sight of him made Lynn’s stomach churn. Decide! She sprinted after him, forcing herself to blindly charge past wrecks. Every time she did, she expected something to jump her, but nothing did. Her heart beat so loudly it sounded like a drum in her ears: thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump. She spotted Dani two rows of cars away. Relief flooded her system. She leaped the hood of a car to get to her—right into the aftermath of the hunt, kill made. Lynn tried to soak it all up with eyes unwilling to focus on anything longer than a second.