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danger. I have to be doing something. I have to be working toward something , otherwise I might as well have stayed on the Farm.”
    I could almost see the logic of her point. Almost. But this was Lily , and logic had nothing to do with it.
    Over by the bay doors, I could see Taylor walking toward us, moving with exaggerated slowness and trying so hard not to stare it was a miracle he didn’t fall on his ass.
    “Look, Taylor and I need to get up the mountain and KP needs the parking lot to start lunch. You and I can talk later.” I didn’t wait for her to answer, but instead raised my hand to gesture to Taylor. “Yo, Techy, let’s go.”
    He took the hint, jogging the rest of the way to the Hummer and sliding into the passenger seat. A moment later, I drove off, leaving Lily standing alone in the parking lot. I didn’t really focus on driving until I saw the Elite at the gate lock her in.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Lily
    Lily’s blood boiled as she watched Carter drive off.
    Damn it! She was right about this. She knew she was, and he wasn’t even going to consider her opinions because of the risk.
    The risk to her was no greater than it was to anyone else. Yes, if she was exposed, the consequences were greater, but the risk? The risk was the same. Almost everyone who caught the virus died. Less than two percent of the population would turn. And, yes, she was one of those.
    She knew the consequences better than most. She’d been face-to-face with a Tick, close enough to smell the Tick’s fetid breath. She’d seen the dull stupidity in its eyes. The inhuman thirst for blood. It haunted her nightmares. Not the thought of dying, but of becoming . . . that.
    Of course it terrified her. She had a monster buried in her genes waiting to come out. The knowledge of what she could become, of her horrible potential—it was forever just below the surface of her consciousness, like a layer of muck at the bottom of a crystal-clear pond. Every time she dipped below the surface, it sucked at her, threatening to pull her down.
    But living on the Farm had terrified her, too. Of course, she’d feared for her life and for Mel’s. She’d feared the predators outside the fence as well as those within. But even more, she’d feared the dark places in her own heart. She’d been afraid of losing herself to the regimented class system of the Farm—a world where bullies became Collab leaders and where fertile girls got pregnant and bartered their babies’ lives for their own. Without an autistic sister to take care of, would she have had the strength to fight the system? To plan and make an escape? Or would she have just given up? She didn’t know.
    She’d been lucky, though. She’d had Mel to focus on. Protecting Mel had brought her outside of herself. It had given her purpose and meaning. Something her life here at Base Camp lacked.
    And she wasn’t the only one. Walking back through the main cave toward KP, she had to force herself to look at the gaunt faces, at the scared, shifting eyes. It wasn’t long before Shelby—a girl from a Farm in Oklahoma–slipped over to her. Shelby was small and light, with the build of a gymnast. She had arrived at Base Camp just before McKenna and Lily. Though she was naturally cautious, she didn’t yet have that trapped, glazy-eyed look that some of the Greens had. Shelby was the kind of girl everyone liked.
    “How’s the weather out there?” Shelby asked.
    Sometimes Shelby seemed so damn young. In reality, she was probably only a couple years younger than Lily. Everyone at the Farms was under eighteen because when they’d first created the Farm facilities, teenagers had been the most vulnerable. At eighteen, people aged out of the program. No one knew for sure what happened to those people. No one assumed it was good.
    Carter had gotten them out right before their birthday, which made Lily one of the older girls at Base Camp. But it wasn’t age that made Lily feel older.
    “It’s great,” she