The Girl from the Ground - Season 1

Episode Five, Part 3:

Episode Five, Part 3: 
Defectors 

Izzy had waited until it was near dark before she left camp. She'd hidden a bag in Sol's old tunnel hours prior, wanting to make her departure from camp as smooth and as quick as possible. And most importantly, she didn't want anyone to know. They would only worry, or try and stop her, or put themselves at risk by leaving camp.

Before long, Izzy had arrived at the outskirts of New Riders grounds. Her familiarity of the area meant she knew the best hiding spots, and all the times her dad had taken her to the ruins of Blood Riders to explore their old territory gave Izzy the knowledge of where New Riders had set up their base, and an idea of how their camp was structured.

She perched herself up high in one of the trees, knowing it was safe to climb after seeing Veer's initials carved into the stump. And what a comfort it was - to feel like a part of her was there with her when she was alone.

Nestled between the branches, Izzy pulled a set of binoculars from her bag, holding them up to her eye as she spied down on her enemy clan. It was a lot darker now than when she had left, and the fading light had turned the sky an ombre pink and everything else in comparison a dull, low-lit view, but there were multiple fire pits burning around New Riders' camp, and torches posted up every few hundred yards to allow her get a good insight as to what was happening.

She searched around for Zach or Maya, hoping to get a glimpse of Myles somewhere, but they were harder to find than she'd imagined.

Her radio buzzed against her waistband and the muffled voice of one of her friends sounded against the tree. She was glad she had the volume on low, despite being out of ear-shot from her enemy.

"Izzy? Can you hear me? Izzy?"

The Noble chewed on her lip, debating the consequences of not answering, but she knew she couldn't do that to him.

"Harlow, I'm-"

"Izzy!" He exclaimed. "Where are you? I've looked everywhere."

"I'm fine. I just..." She wasn't sure what to say. Especially when she didn't want to tell him the truth.

"You're not in your room; you're not on the sleeper tower. Have you had rations?"

"I've got food."

"Izzy...are you in camp?"

Her inability to answer revealed the truth to Harlow.

"Where are you? The Bunker?"

They both knew Harlow knew she wasn't there, but it was a safer, much more comfortable hope to believe she was, than to accept the reality of where she actually was.

"No. But I'm okay. I need you to keep an eye on my siblings-"

"I'm coming to get you."

"Ares, Story, and Hope-"

"Are fine. They're with your parents. Veer and I are coming. I'll get a group of guards."

"Harlow, listen to me," Izzy said, clutching the radio close. "If you get a team together, New Riders will know we're out here. And our people will notice, and they'll think something's wrong. I'm keeping a low profile."

"What are you even doing out there? And why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I'm... I'm just keeping an eye on them."

"We have guards to do that for us, Izzy."

"I know," she said, wondering if he could hear the guilt in her murmur. "I-"