ALL OF THEM THE FOUR MOVED THROUGH THE FOREST in mutual silence. No one had uttered a word since they left the camp. It was fine by Holt. The less they talked, the better time they could make. Within an hour, the trees began to thin. Another hour and they stopped altogether, ending in an abrupt, arbitrary line that stretched through an overgrown meadow. The field climbed gently upward beyond the tree line, to a ridge that Holt knew overlooked the river valley just on the other side. It would be easy travel from here to the trading posts and from there, on to Midnight City. They would move faster out of the trees for sure, but the trade-off was that they were much more visible without the canopy to shield them from the prying eyes of Vultures and Raptors. Hopefully, ditching Zoey would get the Assembly off his back. It might even make it easier, with them concentrating their forces along the river and forest instead of the plains. Either way, the hard part was done with. The pack on his back felt lighter than it had all day; he felt energetic and optimistic.
