Chapter 3

"I know who you are, Triss." I stared straight into her blue eyes. "A Federation sleeper agent."

The syringe in her hand stopped cold in midair. Her face went pale, but she forced herself to stay calm. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Drop the act," I said, lowering my voice. "I know how your parents died. The Alliance threw them into a mutant beast nest to steal their research. You've been hiding here ever since, waiting for your chance to get revenge."

Her whole body went rigid. The syringe slipped from her fingers and clattered into the tray. Murderous intent and panic warred in her eyes.

"I want to go to the Federation too." I held her gaze. "I want people to live with dignity on this poisoned land—not be used up like disposable tools the way the Alliance treats the Awakened."

She stayed silent for a long time.

In the end, she chose to believe me.

Triss took a slow breath. "You're insane. But maybe you're exactly the kind of insane we need."

From that night on, her secret lab became my regular haunt.

By day, I was the useless Farmer everyone pushed around. By night, I slipped into her underground lab and trained.

Under her guidance, the green spiritual energy inside me began to evolve.

What I could grow was no longer limited to corn stalks. I could bring forth bloodthirsty vines, poisonous blossoms, even turn dead wood into blades made for killing.

The Farmer class was never some dirt-grubbing job meant for ripening crops.

It was the class of a ruler over all natural plant life.

When my control over plants finally crossed a critical threshold, one of the culture dishes even burst apart as a bloodthirsty vine erupted from within—strong enough to shred alloy.

The killing potential of this class far surpassed that of a Berserker, whose only path was burning away life and turning into a beast.

Two weeks later, the blazing sun beat down on the prison farm.

I trudged through the mud with a bucket of reeking fertilizer on my shoulder when a burst of grating laughter came from behind me.

"Well, well. Look who it is. Our great captain."

Johnson stood there in an officer's uniform with a woman in his arms.

I recognized her immediately—

Beyoncé, the commander's daughter.

Behind them stood the same former teammates who had betrayed me.

"Playing in the dirt now?" Johnson said, covering his nose in disgust.

"The Berserker class lets me smash a mutant beast's skull in with one punch. What about your Farmer class? Good for hauling manure?"

My old teammates burst into laughter.

"Sweetheart, is this the idiot you were talking about?" Beyoncé glanced at me with open contempt.

Johnson kissed her, then stepped closer to me.

His voice turned vicious. "You're just like your dead parents."

"If they hadn't taken the blade for me back then, mutant hounds wouldn't have stripped them to the bone."

"And the funniest part? The man they died protecting is the one grinding their son into the dirt."

I tightened my grip on the wooden handle of the bucket until my knuckles turned white.

Green energy roared through my blood, screaming for me to drive a vine straight through his throat.

But I clenched my teeth and held back.

If I made a move now, the hundreds of Awakened around us would turn me into pulp in under ten minutes.

Expressionless, I turned around and went back to spreading the manure.

"What a coward. Boring," Johnson said, slinging an arm around Beyoncé as they swaggered off.

I thought I'd gotten through it without trouble.

But I hadn't expected the violent surge of energy from my rage to draw the attention of one of the prison's energy monitors.

That night, the warden arrived with the monitor and several guards, carrying a high-voltage restraint collar.

"That's him," the monitor said, pointing at me.

The warden narrowed his eyes. "A worthless farmhand with that kind of energy fluctuation? Suspicious. Take him to the interrogation room."

Two guards approached carefully, weapons raised.

I drew in a slow breath and closed my eyes.

I was done holding back.

"You guessed right," I said, then snapped my eyes open, green light blazing in them. "Too bad you won't live long enough to learn the truth."

Boom!

I stomped my foot, and two mutated vines as thick around as tree trunks exploded from the soil, punching straight through the warden's chest and hoisting him high into the air.

Blood rained down.

The guards collapsed in terror. Before they could even raise their guns, thinner vines shot up from the ground, coiled around their necks, and snapped tight.

Bones cracked.

The rest died where they stood.

I wiped the blood from my face and sprinted toward the infirmary.

"Triss, the plan's moving up!" I kicked the door open, grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled. "We've been exposed!"

Her expression changed instantly, but she still snatched up the small metal case she had kept packed and ran with me toward the exit.