If you like music while you read, try "World So Cold" by 12 Stones. It's what I was listening to while writing this chapter.
*****
RIKA
Rika looked at Reece nervously and sighed. "I don't know. They had him too. When I got loose I brought him with me."
"My name's Reece. Reece Bertram."
"You two didn't exchange names when you were fleeing together?"
"Yes, we did," Rika said, flustered. "I just meant, I haven't met him before yesterday."
"The day before," Reece corrected her.
Rika frowned. "Right. Yeah. It's hard to keep track when we were traveling nights." She looked at the bright sides of the tent, then turned back to Jared, letting him see her very real tension. "You need to wait before moving into the plains. They've been setting traps. If you roll over the wrong stretch of land, you'll explode. They don't want you to make it into the trees. They're going to try to stop that happening."
