Page 71 of Monster Queen Rising

"They're ready."

I go out.

Reyes is already standing beside the work truck with the duffel we'd packed for him at his feet. Vance sits in the passenger seat with one bag on her lap and Thaw's coat around her shoulders. Weeks in the basement, brought up every morning by Crull and Harek to turn Linden's drives into something we could use.

Madison's already on the step.

She's got Gabi against her shoulder in a blanket, and she's been standing there since before I came out. I don't know how long.

I stop where I am.

Because this isn't mine.

"Madison." She doesn't look at me. She's looking at the truck. "I know," she says. Vance looks up at her from the seat.

"Nobody here asked me to spare you. They asked me what I wanted to do with you. This is what I decided."

"Thank you."

"You're not protected. You're not ours."

"I know."

"The people who built that program would kill you in a heartbeat."

"Yes."

Silence.

Vance's eyes drift to the blanket.

"Don't," Madison says.

Vance looks back at her.

"You get to live. You don't get her. You told me the truth every morning when I came down there with my phone. That's the only reason you're in that seat and not in the ground next to the woman who trained you." She adjusts the blanket over Gabi's head, slow enough that Vance can watch every movement. "So you get to live. You don't get to know her."

Vance nods once.

Harek is waiting beside the truck with two capped syringes.

Neither of them asks.

Reyes holds out his arm first.

Vance watches him for a second, then offers hers.

"You'll sleep through the drive," Harek says.

The injections are quick.

Crull settles a dark canvas hood over Reyes's head, then another over Vance's.

The passenger door closes.

Thaw drives the truck down the drive.

Madison stands on the step until the sound is gone.