"You said you would bring me to a safe place," Joy protested, her face pale as Medeia brought her to the Red Zone forest instead of the promised safe haven.
"I will," Medeia assured her, her tone calm. "But first, I need to gather some medicinal herbs. You know a lot about them, don't you?"
Joy nodded quickly, her stiff posture betraying her fear as distant growls echoed through the forest. "I-I know … but I've never gathered them directly in the forest."
The doctors and professors in her previous base had always handled the fieldwork, sending hunters to retrieve the herbs. Joy had only studied them in sterile labs, far removed from the dangers of the Red Zone.
Medeia, "Well, there's a first time for everything. Just stay close to us and you'll be fine, maybe."
Her words did nothing to dispel the fear in Joy's heart. But she couldn't stay in the car alone, because if a monster approached, there was no one to protect her.
