A day or two after leaving the school, Maeve snuck around the QZ. She'd gone to various places, being as discreet as she possibly could. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, she thought the soldiers would be on a manhunt for her — but honestly? They didn't care about her. She probably was overthinking things. As usual. More than likely, they thought she was some random teenager out begging.

In a way, she was.

"Excuse me," she approached a man with an untamed beard and untidy clothes. She was ready to file a dozen questions onto him, but she settled on the first and most obvious question. As she opened her mouth to ask about the Fireflies, he sneered at her, spat on the ground, and shuffled away. "Hey! I just wanted to—" she reveled in her frustration. That was the fourth person to walk away from her.

The mere mention of the Fireflies had people packing. They wanted nothing to do with her once she asked. She didn't realize how bad it had gotten with them. Everyone wanted to live without the complications of the rogue militia and FEDRA. It was frustrating, but it was more frustrating that she couldn't find a single person who didn't loathe the rebellious group. She wanted a direction to go. Someone to give her the time of day. Or in this case, evening.

Maeve glanced at the sky, the building rooftops seemed obsidian against the oranges and pinks of the sunset. Curfew was going to be enforced soon. The urgency felt more...urgent. As if the light was counting her deadline. And the streets were thickening. People coming back from their jobs, visibly exhausted.

Her problem was that she didn't know where to look, or who to ask. Jordan never disclosed that bit of information to her. There had to be people who knew how to get to the Fireflies, or at least one Firefly.

Maeve sighed and leaned against the side of the building, feeling totally defeated. She'd never find Ellie at this rate.

"Hey." A medium figure stalked toward her in a slow but quickened pace. He had a navy blue jacket, baggy jeans, and smudged sneakers. His hood was up, but she could still see his thick stubble and the scar slicing across his chin. "You looking for the light?"

She looked at him warily. "Yeah."

Expecting him to answer her, she waited for him to say something. A location to meet, or a person to find. But nothing came out. Instead, he jerked his head, motioning for her to follow him. He didn't wait for her; he was gone by the time she realized what was happening.

"The hell?" She murmured. "Hey, wait!" she pushed off the wall and rushed after the man through the crowd. Keeping sights on the navy-blue hood was a lot harder than she thought — at least a dozen people wore that same shade of blue. The man was also faster than her, but he didn't run off like she thought he would, he waited for her to see him, and then moved to another spot and waited for her to find him again.

It was like an endless game of cat and mouse. And the mouse was teasing the cat with a toy.

And before Maeve knew it, she'd been led away from the residential area. A bunch of vacant buildings FEDRA roped off to keep the population under control surrounded them. It was a back alley the man led her to, with plenty of other alleys either leading to the main street or further into the maze made of buildings.

"What the hell's with all this running?" She was winded. She liked running, and she was good at it, but not whatever this was.

He said nothing as he pushed back his hood and faced her. She noted that he wasn't much older than her — maybe nineteen or twenty. Sun-beaten face with a pointed nose, and the chin scar she saw earlier.

She huffed. "I don't really appreciate all this, you know."

His nostrils flared as he breathed. "Funny, I could say the same about you."

"I'm guessing you're a Firefly."

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, I've been looking for Fireflies — well, one Firefly, specifically."

The man rubbed his jaw, licking his lips. "Yeah, well. Things are shitty enough for us as is, and you're not making it any better."

"I didn't know where to go," Maeve said.

"Who are you?" He demanded loudly. "You a soldier?"

"No, I'm looking for a Firefly named Jordan. He's this tall," Maeve held her hand above her head, "He has curly brown hair and—"

"Shut the fuck up, kid," the man growled. "Enough of this shit charade. Who sent you? You got buddies around?"

"What? No!" Maeve shook her head. "No, listen, I'm just trying to find—"

"Stop with the BULLSHIT!" He raised his voice; it bounced off the bricks of the back alley. And he pulled out a pistol. "Stop with the fucking bullshit or I'll fucking kill you right here."

Maeve froze, keeping her hands out in front of her. "Okay, easy...I'm not a soldier. I'm alone. I have no one with me. I'm just trying to find my sister. If you take me to your people, you can verify me with Jordan."

"Why the fuck would I believe any of the shit you're spewing?" Click. Her stomach lurched. He switched the safety off.

"Believe me or not. Either way, you'll ask for Jordan and when he finds out I'm dead, it won't end well for you."

His eyes flashed. "You're in no position to threaten me."

She wasn't. She didn't know why or how she had the confidence to say that.

"Put the gun down, Bobby!" A higher-pitched voice cut through the air. Several footsteps hurried down the alley behind Maeve. "We're here to collect, not kill."

"Fuck off, Laura!"

Maeve counted four people. One was a woman – that must've been Laura. She was tall and had dark blonde hair. The others were guys. They seemed a lot more stable than the man with the pistol. Then again, she followed Bobby here thinking he was going to help her. How would she get herself out of this mess?

"We told you we'd handle her," Laura said, displeased. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"She's a soldier!" Bobby kept his aim on Maeve, who remained as still as a board. "I saw her a couple of weeks ago patrolling with the head honchos of FEDRA."

Is that why he lured her here? Pulled a gun on her?

"Put your damned gun away, you fucking dumbass," the first man to Laura's right said roughly.

"Fuck you, Rafe."

"Enough," Laura silenced Bobby like before, piercing him with her cold stare. "I'm a lot closer to Marlene than you are. This won't get you any promotions. Put the gun away."

Bobby grumbled after a minute, but ultimately, he switched on the pistol's safety back on and pocketed it. That eased Maeve a lot. But now she had four more Fireflies to deal with. All eyes were on her now. She was outnumbered and out-armed. She remembered her knife in her bag, but she'd be shot long before she got a strap off her shoulder.

"Bobby's right though," said Laura in a serious tone, starting toward Maeve like she was prey. "You've been making noise. And that has got to stop."

Fuck.