I didn't sleep well that night. Between my embarrassment about Tucker's kiss and the fear that we were going to be attacked any minute, I don't think I got more than a few hours of good rest. With every odd thump of the base, I'd jerk awake, tensing up and waiting for the AIs to mysteriously incapacitate us again.

Early in the morning, after I attempted for the umpteenth time to fall asleep, I just gave up. I slipped on my armor and sat heavily on the bed, staring out the window. No AIs had attacked us tonight. We seemed to be safe for now.

I quietly continued to dress, fastening my armor belt with the smallest click possible. My hand brushed open one of the compartments, however, and something fell out of the pocket.

I picked up the object. I hadn't taken a look at it in ages—it was a sturdy silver chain with two dog tags hanging loyally from it. I rubbed my finger gently over the ID number etched in the metal; I had long since memorized it. I sighed and stuck the chain back in my armor's small compartment, making sure to lock it securely.

Suddenly, I heard light footsteps walking urgently out of the base along with the clicking of a gun. That wasn't a good sign. Without waking Donut (who had slept like a baby all night), I quickly grabbed some weapons and hurried to the entrance of the base.

Outside, I saw Wash kneeling in the grass and staring intently at the ground. His fingers traced something he was staring at. He gazed at it for a moment before slowly lifting his head and looking to the trees surrounding Blood Gulch.

"What's going on?" I asked him, walking out of the base.

Wash looked up at me and his face darkened into a furious scowl.

"Go away, Eleven," he said coldly.

"Did you find anything important?" I asked, ignoring his rudeness uneasily. If I had any doubt before that he had seen me and Tucker…

He paused for a moment before huffing in frustration.

"A trail," he responded icily. "It could lead us to the AIs."

"What do you mean?"

"Look here in the grass," he said, indicating the ground. I strode over to where he stood and looked down.

The grass below his hand was burnt into a line of singed blackness. I frowned and examined it myself, running a hand over the dead grass. The blackness was not only this spot, but it stretched into a long line… leading right into the forest surrounding the canyon.

"How did you find this?" I asked.

"I heard a weird-ass noise this morning…" Wash said slowly, looking back toward the base. "It was coming from right outside my room. It reminded me of…" His voice trailed off. "Never mind. That'd be impossible anyway…"

I frowned, but before I could question him, he continued. "Then I looked outside the window to see what it was, and I saw this line of charred grass." The trail of burnt greenery led in the direction opposite the trees as well, leading straight back to the base and beginning under Wash's window.

"It has to be the AIs," he said simply. "The singed grass looks exactly like what happened to Sheila. I'm going to go see where they've gone."

"Hale told us to stay here until he gave us more information," I protested. Wash rolled his eyes at me. "With what happened with Sheila, we know even less than we did before!"

"I don't care. It's time to take action. We need to start hunting the AIs ourselves."

"Why though? Why now?"

"Because that's exactly what they don't want. They're attacking us so we can't track them. So that's exactly what we need to do."

"The Reds and Blues won't let you go—or they'll want to come."

Wash laughed humorlessly. "What makes you think I'm going to tell them about this? I don't want to risk getting them attacked again. Besides, there aren't enough weapons left for all of them. I'm going to go. I have to find the AIs somehow. I'm not going back to jail."

"Back to jail?" I sputtered. "What—I thought you were working for Command now! I thought that you were out of prison!"

Wash looked at me disparagingly. "What, you think that I was let out for good behavior? Command is only letting me work for them because I'm the only one they can use to find the AIs. This is my last chance to do something right and get out of that hellhole once and for all. If I fail now, I'm going right back behind bars."

I was silent for a moment. "You can't do this by yourself. It's too dangerous."

"I'll do what I want," he responded shortly. "I'm not just going to sit around and wait for them to attack. We have a trail to follow, and I'm going to take it."

"There's no way in hell you're going by yourself," I replied fiercely. "I will not let you get infected by an AI again. You can't. It's just… no."

"Too bad. I'm leaving now."

"Then I'm coming."

Wash rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. You were busy enough last night—why don't you go back and keep yourself occupied that way? I'm sure your dear 'professionalism' won't hold out for long."

"You are really something else," I said slowly, my voice deepening into a growl. "Your professionalism is now at a negative. I didn't think that was possible. You should be proud."

Wash smiled bitterly. "Mine's a hell of a lot higher than yours. If I remember correctly, you never let professionalism get in the way of your love life before."

I gasped. That was it. I had had enough.

"You listen to me, Agent Washington," I spat, gripping his chest plate furiously in one of my fists and dragging his face closer to mine. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you. But you know what? I don't care. I'm not going to let your idiocy get in the way of my job, all right? Now, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. So get your ass moving. We have some AI hunting to do."

We followed the trail left by the AIs deep into the woods, not speaking to each other at all. I was on the verge of pummeling the shit out of Wash… and he knew it.

As we followed the path of singed foliage, I felt as if we were getting nowhere, but the trail didn't stop. It never left us hanging. It continued to trek farther and farther away from the Red and Blue bases… but we were determined to find where it led.

After hours of following the path, we came to a small clearing. At the edge of the clearing, the trail just… stopped. The singed markings on the ground vanished without a trace.

"This is weird…" I said, frowning. Wash walked into the clearing and began looking around in the dirt for any other signs of burnt greenery.

"There's nothing here," Wash replied. "Hmm. I'm going to go check over there. Maybe it picks up where it left off."

I nodded as he disappeared through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing. I stayed and crouched down to look more closely at the ending of the trail, hoping to see, perhaps, if it forked left or right.

It didn't.

Standing back up, I looked down at my GPS. It had been working pretty well ever since we'd gotten into the woods, but now it started to crackle. I tapped it impatiently. The stupid forest was screwing up the signal… or, at least, I hoped the trees were the cause…

I heard a rustle behind me. Whipping around, I peered through the trees, but saw nothing. I frowned but turned back to my GPS. The rustling sound came again from behind me, but I ignored it. The crackling of my GPS had gotten louder. I began messing with the setting to make sure that we wouldn't lose the signal.

Without warning, I was attacked.

An enormous pair of arms wrapped themselves around my chest and knocked the wind out of me. Unable to scream for help, I tried to bend down and flip the attacker over my back, but the person lifted me up as easily as if I were a feather and threw me forcefully to the ground.

I skidded in the dirt, blacking out for a moment. I blinked my eyes furiously and tried to move, but my vision was so obscured that I couldn't make out what was happening at all. I felt my arms move forward in front of me.

As my vision returned, I looked up to see an enormous figure bending over me. I saw my own body lying on the ground in the reflection of the soldier's helmet as he snapped handcuffs smartly around my wrists, removing any weapons I had from my being and attaching them to his own. His white armor shone in the bright daylight of the clearing, and a large weapon gleamed brightly as he wore it on his back. It looked like a cross between…

…Between a knife and a rifle.