Chapter 8: Charlie

Dominica's P.O.V.

The field seemed to stretch on forever. Empty. The sky held the moment between twilight and nightfall, paused on the edge of darkness. My toes curled and dug into the loose, wet earth. A single ant crawled across the top of my foot and then somehow disappeared.

I’d been following the group through the forest in a single line, one foot after another. My head was cloudy, but I’d known where to step—I just had to follow the person in front of me. That was the way through the woods; the same way we got across the Rocky Mountains in heavy snow, and dry plains under the scorching sun. You just follow the one in front of you, who followed the one in front of him. Ultimately, we all followed the Leader.

But now I had no one to follow. Nothing looked familiar. Everything made me feel disoriented.

I could have sworn the tree line to my left was taller just a minute ago. And wasn’t there a mountain on the horizon? Now there