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I'm lying on the ground panting by the time Ryan calls the session to a halt. The sound of him at the control panel on the wall reaches my ears, but I stay down. When the pressure of the barrier that I didn't even know I was living under presses against my body, I feel like it's suffocating me. My lungs work even harder to bring air back into my body.

"We need to get some more food in you," Ryan announces and scoops me up into his arms. He had some snacks for me to combat all the extra strain from today, but they are long gone. "It's best if you start eating more in general. The Elders have upped your rations, so it won't be a problem."

Mention of the Elders has my mind whirling again, but I can barely acknowledge Ryan with more than grunts at this point, so they'll just have to wait. Before we get out of the tunnel, I squirm in his grasp, "Need to walk."

Ryan laughs, "SS, if I let you down, you'll just fall over. There's no shame in it. I couldn't walk for hours after my first session."

Instead of answering him, I just squirm again until he sighs and lets me down. My body collapses into the ground the second he steps away from me. "Bring me food here. I'm not embarrassing myself in front of everyone."

"So, you'd rather me leave you here alone where anything could happen to you? You barely have the energy to sit upright. No way." His face looks angry again, and I can see his point. If Ethan found me like this, there's no telling what he'd do to me.

Shivers run down my spine, but I still can't have him carrying me into the dining hall. "Can't you leave me in my normal training room and bring food to me there?"

Ryan glares at me. He obviously doesn't understand how embarrassing it would be for me to have people see him carrying me around. It also wouldn't exactly reinforce the image that I'm ready for a mission team. Nuri's voice literally saves the day, "Sam?" She sees me sprawled out on the ground with Ryan looming over me and inserts herself between us, "What did you do to her?"

It takes more energy than I'm willing to admit, but I pat her calf in what I hope is a reassuring manner, "He trained me."

A snarl rips out of her, "I was trained today too, and this wasn't the result."

Ryan lifts up his hands and peeks around her to look at me. Regret swirls in his eyes. He said earlier that he didn't want to be a part of me getting hurt, and even though I didn't break anything today, Nuri has put a giant spotlight on this situation. Namely, me not being able to walk properly. "I'll go get you some food and bring it to you here." He shifts his gaze to my friend, "Stay with her."

She doesn't respond unless flipping someone off counts. When he's gone, she helps maneuver me to the wall, so I can lean against it and rest. Sliding down, she joins me. Thankfully, she lets me rearrange my own legs, which feel more like limp noodles than appendages. "So what's your superpower?" I ask as nonchalantly as possible considering the circumstances.

"Nothing as devastating as yours apparently." Nuri gestures to my body. It takes her a second, but she sighs and answers my question, "Adaptive resistance mostly. At least that's what my trainer said. Enhanced reflexes, a dash of agility. I thought I was good at fighting and weapon work, but I'm not."

She's not making sense, "Of course you are. You took Archer down like it was nothing."

Nuri laughs humorlessly, "But that wasn't me. It was what I was injected with."

I take her hand and squeeze it, "I don't think it works that way. I think it enhances what's already there, or else everyone could do what you can do, and we both know they can't."

"Thanks," Nuri squeezes my hand back and looks over at me, "So, does that mean you got super speed?" Something in my expression must confirm it because she spins to face me straight on, "No shit?"

Giving her a tight nod, I gesture to my legs, "That's why I'm like this."

"Ryan has it too then?"

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell her or not, but she's on my mission team, and, more importantly, she's my friend. "Yes."

"But he's in mission command. Why would they have him train you?"

"Because he's the only other one that has it." I think about that and wonder how he got away with not being on a mission team if this skill is as rare as they say.

Nuri's face scrunches up, "Then why isn't he on the floor like a deflated balloon next to you?"

A groan comes out of me. I can't help it. "He's used to it. He's also good at it." The last part comes out bitter enough that Nuri laughs.

"And you hate that."

There's no denying it, so I just shrug. "I should have known when we ran together before all of this and he could keep up with me that something was off. In that room, he was so...so-" I let my sentence trail off. When he stopped explaining things to me and showed me what he could do, what I would be able to do one day, my world tilted and hasn't righted itself since.

It didn't help things when he lifted his shirt to wipe sweat off of his forehead. Something that I don't think was strictly necessary if I think about it clearly. Nuri snaps her fingers in front of my face, "Earth to Sam? Where'd you go?"

I can feel my face heating up as I try and fail to stop picturing Ryan's bare chest. Luckily, Michael finds us moments later and joins us on the floor without asking why we're down here. "So, Sam got the speed." He gestures with his chin to my left leg that still looks boneless before narrowing his eyes at Nuri, "Adapted resistance?"

She rolls her eyes at him, "You got it. And what do they call yours?"

He grins at her, "Perception."

"So...you know things?" I ask him. I'll have to ask Ryan later if I can get a list of all the skill sets and what they mean. Nuri's adaptive resistance is something I'd like to have in definition terms.

"I see things other people miss." Instantly, I think about what he spotted in the maze and in my shooting stance. All of this was right under our noses if we knew what to look for in the first place. He seems to be excited over this revelation, but I feel closer to Nuri's initial reaction. The Elders made us this way, and now everything's changed. We are different people because of what they've done to us. "And I don't need to have the barrier lifted to know you two are less than pleased about all of this." Michael tells us, scooting closer.

Nuri opens her mouth to speak, but voices coming from down the hall have her muttering something about the three of us finishing this conversation later. In the end, she didn't have to worry because Archer, Fin, and Ryan are the owners of the voices, and they are carrying enough food to feed a small army. An apple teeters off the tray Archer is struggling with, but Michael catches it before it can hit the ground and hands it to me.

I take a giant bite of it. The flavor hits my tongue, and I keep going until nothing but the core is left. I've finished it before my brothers and Ryan can join us on the floor. Instead of thinking about that too hard, I drag the first tray towards me and demolish everything on it.

Wordlessly, Ryan exchanges it with a full tray. By the time I've eaten everything in sight, I realize I can finally move my legs without feeling like they're attached to someone else's body. My brothers look concerned, but the more I move on my own, the more Ryan looks relieved. "I promise I'll bring more food to the room next time. I forgot how bad the hunger was in the beginning."

If we were alone, I'd ask him who took care of him, but it feels like I know the answer to that question already. He took care of himself.