7. Gone.

Kayla.

“Kayla!” Lily’s voice echoed again, louder this time, sharp with urgency.

Before I could even turn toward the sound, something slammed into me.

My world tilted violently.

The next thing I knew, my back hit the ground with a loud thud. The impact knocked the air straight out of my lungs, and a dull ringing filled my ears.

For a moment, everything spun, dust rose around us, stinging my eyes.

Lily collapsed beside me, her body landing heavily on the ground. Her breathing came in shallow bursts, uneven and strained, like each breath cost her strength she no longer had.

It took a second for my mind to catch up.

Then it hit me.

She had pushed me.

She had thrown me to the ground to save me from the arrow.

“Are you okay?” Lily asked instantly.

Her voice reached me through the haze clouding my mind, soft and strained, yet filled with unmistakable concern.

For a moment, I couldn’t respond.

Everything around me felt distant and blurred, as if the world had been shaken loose from its place. My ears rang faintly, a dull echo humming in the back of my skull where it had slammed into the unforgiving ground.

I blinked.

Once.

Then again.

The sky above me swam slightly as I tried to focus, the bright light making my eyes ache. Shapes shifted at the edges of my vision, movement, shadows, flashes of chaos, but none of it made sense yet.

“Yes… I am,” I finally managed to mutter.

The words scraped past my throat unevenly, weak and unsteady. Even to my own ears, they sounded uncertain.

My voice trembled slightly, betraying the disorientation still gripping me.

A sharp pain throbbed at the back of my head where it had struck the hard earth. The ache pulsed steadily, each beat of my heart sending another wave of dull pressure through my skull.

But strangely, it barely registered.

Not compared to everything else.

Not compared to the storm still raging around us.

The chaos hadn’t stopped.

Not even for a moment.

Arrows were still slicing through the air with terrifying speed, the sharp whistles cutting across the battlefield again and again. Somewhere nearby, someone shouted in alarm, their voice raw with panic.

Screams echoed across the field.

Metal clashed.

Footsteps thundered across the dirt as people scattered in every direction, desperate to avoid the rain of arrows.

The air itself seemed alive with movement and fear.

But in that moment…None of it mattered.

None of it truly reached me.

Because all I could see was Lily lying beside me.

Her face was pale against the ground, strands of her hair clinging to her cheeks as the wind stirred faintly around us. Her body lay unnaturally still, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths that looked far too fragile.

“I’m glad you are,” she said softly.

The faintest smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she spoke, though it looked weak and fleeting.

Her voice was quieter now, more fragile and something about it made a cold knot form in my chest.

Her breathing wasn’t steady.

It came unevenly, short, shallow pulls of air that sounded strained, as if every breath required more effort than the last.

I watched it happen.

One breath.

Then another.

Each one slightly more labored.

A growing sense of unease crept through me, tightening around my ribs like invisible fingers.

“Lily, are you okay?” I asked quickly.

The question left me almost before I realized I had spoken it.

Alarm surged through my body, pushing away the lingering dizziness as I forced myself to move.

My arms trembled slightly as I pushed against the ground, lifting myself upright despite the protest from my aching head. The world tilted briefly as I sat up, but I ignored it, my full attention already fixed on her.

I leaned closer, my heart pounding harder with every second as I searched her face, trying to understand what was wrong. The moment I looked at her properly, my heart nearly stopped.

Shit.

Blood.

Dark red blood was slowly soaking through the fabric on her shoulder.

The arrow had scraped her. It hadn’t pierced straight through like the others I had seen earlier, but the wound was there, torn and bleeding.

“Lily!” I shouted, panic surging through me.

My hands trembled as I grabbed her gently, trying to steady her.

“Open your eyes,” I said urgently. “You aren’t permitted to die.” My voice cracked slightly, and I swallowed the sob threatening to escape my throat.

Her face had grown pale.

Too pale.

The color had drained from her skin, leaving her looking almost ghostlike. Even her lips had darkened slightly, turning a faint shade of purple.

But it didn’t make sense.

It was only a small scrape.

Just a scratch.

Why was she reacting like this?

My mind raced desperately, searching for an answer. Then the realization struck me like lightning.

The arrows.

They were poisoned.

My stomach twisted painfully.

The Alpha triplets had meant every word they said.

Just ten people were permitted to survive.

Everyone else…was meant to die.

“Lily… please,” I whispered, my voice breaking.I pulled her closer, holding her body tightly as if refusing to let her slip away. “I’m begging you. Stay with me.”

A tear slipped from my eyes before I could stop it. It fell quietly onto her face, her body felt colder in my arms.

She coughed suddenly.

The sound was weak at first, barely more than a dry rasp, but it quickly turned violent. Her small body trembled in my arms as the cough forced its way out of her chest.

Then blood spilled from her mouth.

It slid down the corner of her lips and stained her chin, dark and terrifying against her pale skin.

My breath caught in my throat.

“Lily…” I whispered, my voice shaking.

She blinked slowly, her eyes struggling to remain open. Yet despite the pain written across her face, she still managed to look at me.

Really look at me.

“You must survive, Kayla,” she said softly.

Each word seemed to cost her effort as her voice trembled, but there was something steady beneath it, something firm.

“I believe… you would be the one to bring….us out of this misery.”

The words struck deep inside my chest.

“No,” I said immediately, shaking my head.

Tears blurred my vision as I tightened my grip on her shoulders.

“No, Lily. We will both survive this.”

I refused to accept anything else, she couldn’t die, not after everything, not after sharing her bread with me, not after saving me.

But Lily only gave a faint smile.

The kind of smile people gave when they already knew the ending.

“Come on… run, Kayla,” she muttered weakly.

Her voice was barely louder than the wind brushing across the training field.

Then suddenly….She jerked upward, with the last strength left in her body, she shoved me aside.

Hard.

I stumbled backward, falling onto my side just as a sharp sound cut through the air.

Thwack.

The arrow pierced straight into Lily’s chest. For a moment, I couldn’t even process what had happened.

Only then did I realize the arrows were still flying across the field.

The test hadn’t stopped.

The hunt was still going on.

Lily’s hands trembled as she slowly reached for the arrow embedded in her chest. She held it tightly with both hands, gripping the wooden shaft as blood quickly spread across her clothes.

Yet somehow… she was still smiling.

“Don’t fail my trust, Kayla,” she whispered.

Her voice was fading now but the words were clear.

Before I could stop her, before I could even reach out….She pulled the arrow out of her chest.

“Lily, no!” I screamed.

The cry tore through my throat, raw and desperate but it was too late. The moment the arrow left her chest, her body lost all strength.

She collapsed flat onto the ground. The faint smile remained on her lips, but her eyes had already gone still.

Lifeless.

Just like that… she was gone.

The world around me seemed to fall silent, the screams, the arrows, the chaos, everything faded behind the heavy pounding of my heart.

And there I was again.

Alone.

Just like the day my parents died.