Regrouping and Finding Their Next Move

Jessica’s lungs burned as she surfaced from the icy river, gasping for breath. The current had carried them far downstream, away from the gunfire and the headlights that had once hunted them. The others surfaced one by one, each of them coughing, shivering, and clinging to whatever they could find to stay afloat.

“Over there!” Leanna called out, her voice barely audible over the rushing water. She pointed toward a narrow bank where the trees formed a dense canopy above. It wasn’t much, but it was shelter.

Jessica kicked toward it, dragging herself onto the shore. The wet clothes clung to her skin, and the cold gnawed at her bones. She rolled onto her back, staring at the night sky, trying to catch her breath.

Kevin, Hannah, Olivia, and Leanna crawled up beside her, collapsing into the wet grass, their bodies trembling from the cold.

“We… we made it,” Olivia panted, running a hand through her soaked hair.

“For now,” Kevin muttered, scanning the darkness around them. “But we can’t stay here. If they’re tracking us, they’ll check the riverbanks.”

Jessica forced herself to sit up. “We need to keep moving, but we need a plan first.”

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Leanna pulled out what remained of their gear, checking for anything useful. Their bags had been mostly stripped down for the mission, but they still had a few essentials—a small flashlight, a survival knife, and a waterproof pouch containing the logbook Jessica had grabbed from the outpost.

“Anything useful?” Hannah asked through chattering teeth.

Leanna shook her head. “No food. No dry clothes. Just this.” She held up the logbook.

Jessica took it, flipping through the damp pages. Some of the ink had started to run, but the words were still legible. Names. Locations. Statuses. She exhaled slowly. This was their key.

“We need to find shelter first,” Jessica said. “Then, we figure out what the hell this book is really telling us.”

Kevin scouted ahead, then returned quickly. “There’s an old fishing cabin about half a mile up. Looks abandoned.”

“Then that’s where we’re going.”

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The structure was barely standing, a relic of time forgotten. The walls were damp, the wooden planks creaking under their weight as they stepped inside. A small fireplace sat in the corner, unused for what looked like years.

“Better than nothing,” Olivia murmured, hugging herself for warmth.

Leanna knelt by the fireplace. “We need to get a fire going.”

Jessica searched the cabin, finding a stash of old newspapers and broken furniture. Within minutes, they had a small fire crackling, its warmth slowly breathing life back into their frozen limbs.

Hannah and Olivia sat close together, whispering in hushed voices, while Kevin kept watch by the window. Jessica, however, kept flipping through the logbook. One name caught her eye.

“Leanna,” she whispered, sliding the book over. “Look at this.”

Leanna leaned in, reading aloud. “Subject 17: Confirmed transfer to primary facility.”

Olivia frowned. “Primary facility? As in, not the place we were just at?”

Kevin sighed. “So Santiago’s lead wasn’t completely useless. It just wasn’t the right place.”

Jessica’s grip tightened on the book. “Then we find this primary facility.”

Leanna nodded. “And we end this.”