The sky darkens to a miserable gray. The rain starts, just a trickle at first, but it brings the promise of a storm. Lightning strikes in the distance. Joe takes the binoculars from Hal. “Looks about ten feet across. Erica and Paige, you can fly across. Kyle, you can probably run across fast enough. Hal and I will help the rest of you.”
Wind whips through the trees and stings my cheeks with an icy touch.
“We should move now, while we have the rain’s cover,” Matt says.
Joe nods, and on three, we run, the nine of us in a line with Paige and Erica flapping just above our heads. They reach the other side first, shortly followed by Kyle. The rest of us pull up on the edge of the muddy bank. Sawyer’s shoes lose their grip and he slides into the swirling water.
“It’s cold!” He grabs for Joe’s outstretched hand as his teeth smack together. His blond curls flatten under the burgeoning rain.
Joe drags Sawyer up the bank and he collapses on the sodden grass, trousers caked with mud.
“I’ll go to the other side of the river,” Hal says. “If Joe gets in the middle, we can pass you across. Just like the obstacle course.” He gestures for Joe to climb into our side of the river.
Both the bulks slink into the cold water. Hal wades to the far side and Joe stays close to us. Addison lowers herself down the bank first. As lightning strikes in the distance, she extends a hand to Joe and pulls herself into the middle. Then she grabs onto Hal, who pushes her up the other side. Sawyer is next.
“I just got out,” he mumbles, but the next crack of lightning sends him scurrying into the water again. He hangs onto the grassy clumps at the edge of the bank until Joe moves closer and picks him up. He passes him to Hal, who then walks him to the other side.
“Your turn, Matt,” Joe says, waving him over.
Matt spends a few seconds repositioning his grenade belt. “I really hope the seal on these is tight.” He edges into the water. Joe holds him around his waist. Both of them look anywhere but at each other. Then Matt reaches for Hal, but he loses his slippery grip with Joe, and the current yanks him downstream. Joe tries to go after him, but he loses his footing and has to claw at a rock in the middle to prevent being washed away.
My heart lurches. Without thinking, I use my wings and go after Matt. I skim the surface, both arms reaching, until my fingertips grasp his. I pull.
He’s heavy with his clothes drenched, and I have to use a pinch of bulk power to drag him out. We collapse on the bank just as Hal and Joe climb out of the river.
Thunder booms above us and rain runs down my cheeks.
“Thanks, Silver,” Matt says, climbing off me.
“Matt, wait,” I call after him. We’re not far from the prison. One or both of us could die in there.
He turns, his hair dripping, his soaked T-shirt clinging tight. “What?”
Thunder booms again. The rest of the group stand huddled, waiting for us. Erica stands on the ground, her wings too wet to fly, and lavender swirls of hair stick to her neck. I climb out of the mud and face him. I lose my nerve. “Nothing.”
“Let’s go,” he says, and holds out his hand.
My heart soars a little as I grab it and we run to the others. Then we take off toward the prison.
As our group nears the prison, light suddenly spills around us. The heavy rain glints under the floodlights.
“Shit!” Matt yells, dashing with the rest of us toward the brick wall.
“Remember, the guards are on regular perimeter walks. We just have to time our approach,” Joe says, crouching by the wall.
“Hey! What are you doing?” A shout comes from the wall. Two guards appear with their weapons swinging up.
In unison, Joe and Hal leap to their feet and dash alongside the brick wall. The razor wire gleams. Hal puts a bullet in the ogre’s brain. Joe takes out the bulk. Both bodies collapse on the ground.
“We need to hurry,” Matt says, grabbing the fallen guards’ walkie-talkies and weapons. “The guards march this wall every thirty minutes. When these guys don’t report in…”
“Over the wall, just like we’ve practiced,” Joe says.
Joe launches himself at the wall. As he’s almost the same height, he merely places his hands along the top and pulls himself up. Sitting on the razor wire, he cuts into it and drops a section at our feet. A red laser beam angles toward him.
“Joe!” I call.
He ducks out of the way just in time. I count to five until the beam comes back again. We each have five seconds to get over the wall. That’s it.
Joe jumps down to the other side. One by one, Hal and Erica help us onto the wall. No one wastes any time up there, leaping down as soon as we can, away from the searing beams.
When it’s Paige’s turn, she hisses as the beam singes a few of her feathers. An acrid scent mingles with the earthy rain. I raise my hand to her, but she shakes her head. “I’ll be OK. Save it for someone who needs it.”
Reassembled along the inside of the wall, and now out of the danger of the external laser beams, we huddle in the shadowy corner. Sawyer eyes the electric fence two yards ahead. It buzzes with activity, whispering warnings of death. Vertical concrete struts, six feet apart, separate the wires. Beyond the fence lies the inner brick wall, as tall and thick as the outer wall.
There’s a foot gap between each electrified wire, a space we can all pass through if Sawyer can turn it off. Sawyer takes two steps forward. I narrow my eyes at the glow of cigarette butts farther down the inner wall—guards smoking in the recess of the doorway. Please don’t look this way.
Sawyer takes another step into a triangle of light. A wire fizzles. It turns white with heat, then short-circuits. Sawyer inches closer. Another wire turns white-hot, but only for an instant before it leaps back to its insistent buzzing.
Sawyer gulps and shakes water out of his hair. “Silver, I need your help.”
I tiptoe over to Sawyer, one foot from the fence. I glance at the guards. Laughter floats toward us. A match is struck. Another glowing ember.
“What I’d give for a cigarette right now,” Sawyer mumbles.
“It’s a good time to quit,” I say.
Sawyer gestures to the fence. “I can’t turn it all off.”
“I need to save my abilities for inside.” I place my hands on his shoulders. “You can do this.”
I stand with him as he refocuses his concentration on the remaining five wires in the six-foot section of the fence immediately before us. He blocks the electricity in the middle of each wire and reverses its direction. He grips my hand as he holds it there, each of the wires temporarily inactive. I beckon the group to start climbing through. Paige throws a coin at the fence. It bounces off harmlessly.
“Hurry,” Sawyer says to the group. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”
Paige sucks in a breath before ducking through the wires. One by one, the rest follow, each holding their breath in turn.
Then it’s Sawyer’s turn. As he approaches, a burst of electricity surges across one of the lower wires. He steps back and looks at me.
I give him a thumbs-up. “Take it easy, you can do it.”
With the electricity held at bay once more, Sawyer crouches, passes one leg over a wire, then his body, then the other leg. He pulls the remaining foot through just as another surge comes flooding across one of the higher wires. Sawyer turns to me. He clenches his jaw and stands near the fence, ready to help me through.
Pushing my abilities away, I creep through two wires and score a shock to my ankle, but it’s not serious, and I stumble away from the electricity. With a last glance at the smoking guards, I join the group at the corner of the inner wall. Addison, Joe and Hal are already making their way toward them. Rain drips from the roof, over-spilling the gutters and splattering onto the ground, forming muddy puddles. Lightning flashes.
Addison walks casually along the wall. Joe trails her, hugging the bricks. She draws level with the guards. Low voices engage in conversation.
A burst of laughter. Hal follows Joe. The rest of us stay at the wall, out of view. Joe reaches for his machete.
“Joe Rucker! As I live and breathe!” A grin stretches across the bulk guard’s face.
Joe stumbles back a step. The group freezes.
“How the hell are you? I didn’t realize you’d joined the army,” the bulk guard says. He flicks a cigarette on the ground and steps forward. “Don’t tell the boss I’ve been smoking.” He lays a finger across his lips.
“I… Mark… Well, it’s been a long time.” Joe’s hand drops to his side, the machete hidden behind his back.
“How do you two know each other, then?” the other guard asks.
“Ah, back in the glory days, before I traded football for a rifle.” The bulk skims his hand over the barrel of his gun.
“What are you doing here?” The bulk guard turns his attention to Addison. “I can’t remember the last time we had a girl bulk in the army.” He pauses. “Wait a minute, you’re not a bulk…”
Addison steps close, her eyes flashing and her fingers stretching for her throwing stars.
“I know you.” The troll guard narrows his eyes. “You’re that pretty thing Mack took from the woods. Saw you talking to that scientist guy a few nights ago.”
“And you sold me a bunch of misinformation about my family,” Addison snarls.
“Wasn’t sure if you were coming back or not.” The troll splits a grin. “You unadjusteds are so unpredictable.”
Addison curls her lips into an ugly sneer. Both Hal and Joe turn toward her.
“Scientist guy?” Joe asks. “Addison? What is he talking about?”
Earl, he’s talking about Earl. This is bad. I edge out from behind the wall. Matt hisses at me, but I wave him away.
“Earl!” the troll guard says. “That’s his name!”
“Hang on,” Joe butts in. “I thought you were captured?”
“I was,” Addison retorts.
“Care to explain?” Hal snaps.
“They have my family.” Addison holds out her hands. “When I ran out of things to negotiate with, they promised me they’d release them if I… if I....” She hangs her head.
Paige follows me along the wall. So far, we haven’t been spotted, and I’m sensing Joe and Hal might need my help.
“Did you turn us in?” Joe steps up into her face.
“They wanted Silver alive.” Addison looks at the wall and spots me creeping along. “It was a lot of money. We were promised our freedom. I’m so sorry, Silver.”
Paige and I join the group.
“Three million dollars is worth everyone’s lives, is it?” Anger blurs my vision.
The bulk guard coughs. “Silver... Melody?”
The troll guard holds his finger against the trigger of his gun. Addison fingers one of her throwing stars, and the bulk guard raises his weapon at her. Tears stream down her face. “I never wanted it to be like this.”
“Silver Melody?” The bulk guard says again with a satisfied smirk. “We’ve been expecting you.”
My body tenses and I face the guard.
“Addison…” Hal glances from the guards to Addison and gestures for her to lower her weapon.
With his eyes on me, the bulk guard pulls the trigger. Addison’s head explodes. Paige ducks out of the way of a swinging arm. Hal catches it on the chin, but it barely registers on his iron-like jaw. Joe and Hal turn to face our adversaries.
Dodging bullets from the bulk, Hal attacks. He stabs a knife into the weak spot on the bulk’s neck, cutting off his air and vocal chords. The gun makes an arc of bullets in the sky. Feathers burst into the air; Paige collapses to the floor. At the same time, Joe leaps at the remaining guard and drives his machete into his heart. The guard, too, falls to the ground, gurgling briefly before he bleeds out.
I turn to Paige. Her emerald eyes are wide and staring. She blinks. Not dead. Thank God.
The rest of the group rush forward to meet us. Erica huddles over Addison’s lifeless body and sobs into her hair, then she slams a fist into the wet ground and pushes to her feet.
Joe checks Paige for injuries. “It’s her wing.”
“I just need a minute,” Paige says, her voice barely more than a rasping whisper.
Joe puts pressure on a ragged hole in her wing. “She might not be able to fly.”
I lay my hands on her chest, but she shakes her head. “Save your energy.”
I give her my hand and haul her to her feet. Her wing hangs askew, but the bleeding has stopped. She’ll be OK.
I stare at the puddle of Addison’s red hair. “That was close,” I say quietly. “Too close.”
“We have a mole.” Matt stares sadly at Addison.
Hal crouches and throws a scrap of cloth over Addison’s head. “But she’s dead now, she can’t do us any more harm.”
Shoulder shaking, Erica turns her back. I walk up to her and touch her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know.” I drop my hand. “We’ve got to go. We don’t have time to stand around here. I’m sure President Bear knows we’re here.”
Erica clears her throat and flicks her lavender ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s get going, guys,” Joe says. “All that gunfire won’t go unnoticed.”
A deafening siren splits the night in two.
We stand outside the main door to the prison complex, leaning close to the walls to get away from the rain and any unwanted eyes that might suddenly appear. A red light flashes from the windows of the building.
“We need to get inside,” Matt says over the piercing siren. “They know we’re here.”
Not waiting for further instructions, Joe pummels one strong fist at the door. It crumples, spilling strobing red light around the edges. Hal shoves the door off its hinges and we all tumble inside.
I take a moment to orient myself. Our labored breathing fills the hall we find ourselves in, and we drip rainwater all over the floor. Echoing footsteps dash down unseen areas of the building.
“We need to split up,” Joe says, dividing us with a quick flick of his finger. “Two teams. Silver’s parents are the priority.”
“Paige, Erica, and Kyle with me,” Hal says, jerking a thumb.
That leaves me, Matt, Joe, and Sawyer. We nod at each other and distribute the weapons more evenly. Paige offers me a fragile smile, then the two groups peel off in opposite directions.
The red light casts an eerie glow on the white walls like some sinking submarine in a disaster movie. Rain and wind slam at the windows and shake the glass. Hoping to stay hidden as long as possible, we run away from the voices around a couple of corners. We reach a staircase leading up.
“Split again,” I say.
Joe nods, grabbing Sawyer’s arm and pulling him down the hall. That leaves me and Matt to go up. We race up the stairs and into a dark hallway. The light continues to pulse, fragmenting our movements, until we almost skid into a group of guards. They shout and raise their weapons.
“Down here!” I tug Matt around a corner into a shallow alcove, realizing too late it has no escape route.
Matt yanks a grenade from his belt and pulls the pin. He sticks his head around the corner. A volley of gunfire streams toward us, but he hurls the grenade and ducks back around the corner.
“One, two, three…” An eruption booms and I stick my fingers in my ears. Plaster crumbles and cascades to the floor.
I know I can’t stay in this alcove forever, but I don’t really want to venture out into gunfire either. “Do you think they’re dead?”
“No idea,” Matt says. “Let’s keep going.” We leave the warped hallway behind and follow a new route through winding white walls. The thundering footsteps of dozens of guards pursue us, slamming doors a few seconds after us, but not quite in view.
We dash through another empty hallway. This one has doors with small windows, like the compound. We peer in
the windows, discovering empty offices instead of cells. The administrators obviously aren’t part of Bear’s welcome party.
“Where are they?”
Matt’s eyes find mine. “We’ll find them.”
Another staircase leads higher. The white walls change to concrete breezeblock, and we come face-to-face with an electronic door.
At least the entry point is deserted.
Matt’s lips bunch together. “I could blow it up?”
I walk to the transparent gateway. “Let me try something first.”
I examine the thick door. A swipe card is the only thing that will allow access, and neither of us possesses that. I short-circuit the wires with my telekinesis. The door clicks open. In my head I keep a running tally of how much time I’ve spent using abilities. Five minutes saving Matt, ten seconds on the lock.
Matt raises an eyebrow and grins. We creep through the door and close it quietly behind us, but it won’t engage its locking mechanism again. It seems we’ve lost the guards for now.
We sneak around a corner and emerge on a balcony overlooking a deserted prison yard. Basketball hoops without chains stand sentry at either end, and a pair of worn bleachers sags toward the sodden ground. Along one side of the fence stand a couple of metal posts. The same posts my parents were tethered to in the video clip.
“They were right there.” I raise my hands to the window.
Matt tugs on my hand and leads me away. “We need to keep moving.”
Around another corner, the hallway changes. Cell doors run the entire length, farther than I can see. No metal bars, but there are thick, solid doors with a small square window and a slot for food trays.
I glance in one. Empty. We dash to the next. A man in an orange jumpsuit with ice-white hair bangs on the far window that overlooks the grassland we crossed.
The next cell reveals another man lying on his bed, ignoring the red lights completely and tossing a ball up and down, but the ball doesn’t move like a normal ball. It stays in the air for a fraction too long before dropping back to his hand. The cell after that shows another man with horns on his shoulders. The tip of each horn tapers to a wicked point and pokes through his prison jumpsuit. He’s using them to gouge at the cement in the wall, as if he can dig his way out.
The Unadjusteds Page 24
