The Lofties (The Echelon Book 2)

by Ramona Finn

  “He’ll be here,” said Jetha. “He was coming on foot. He didn’t want to risk driving, leaving tracks for the Decemites.” She went to the window and rolled up the blinds. “Here he is now. What’d I tell you?”

  Lock leaned in close to me. “I feel bad for that guy.”

  “Who, Starkey?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged. “He’s kind of a jerk sometimes, but he’s got no one left. He’s up there with those families, all those grandparents and grandkids, and he’s by himself.”

  I felt a twinge in my chest. “You’re thinking of your family.”

  “Always. I—”

  Starkey burst in, shedding dust as he came. His mask was still on, his hair standing on end. “Got a message from our informant,” he said. He was panting through his mask, huffing gretha like smoke. “Those weapons we trashed were the tip of the iceberg. Lazrad’s got plenty more, and it’s not just blasters. She’s got drones and tanks, and even long-range missiles. She’s building her army, and there’s not a thing we can do to stop her.”

  Lock shouted beside me, a great, thwarted bellow. Jetha raised her hands for silence, but the hall erupted in chaos, voices rising in indignation. Fists punched the air, punctuating fury and loss. I stood numb and empty—all this for nothing? All Reyland’s effort, and Lock’s pain, and my heartbreak? Rob, Tam, and Victor, blown to bits fleeing the Dirt? All of it, all of it, and nothing had changed?

  Lock grabbed my elbow and pulled me out into the hall. “We still have the maps,” he said. “Those Domes could have armies, weapons of their own. They could take us all in.”

  “They couldn’t. Don’t you see?” I reeled, suddenly dizzy, and caught myself on the wall. “Lazrad had cameras there. That means she has spies. She knows what they’ve got, and she’s preparing accordingly. She’ll take them down one by one, and that’ll be that.”

  “You don’t know that.” Lock held me steady. “We were spies too, remember? We didn’t find everything. For all we know—

  “I need to get out of here.” I darted past him, unthinking, and I ran and ran. I pounded across the courtyard and straight out the gate, through the tall grass by the riverbed with the wind in my face. I ran till my lungs burned, then I flopped down on my back. The sun hung above me, high in the sky. Just this morning, I’d greeted it with joy. Just hours ago, there’d been hope, and now there was none. A laugh rattled out of me, discordant in the quiet. Tanks—she had tanks. Decemites, I could handle, but thirty tons of rolling iron...

  I closed my eyes and saw red, sunlight filtering through my eyelids. Giving up wasn’t an option, but what was? Where, from here?

  It was late when Ben found me, the western sky burning with sunset. He sat down next to me and stretched out in the grass.

  “Heard the big summit went kablooey.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.” I looked away, ashamed. “I feel bad, running off the way I did.”

  “Don’t.” Ben reached for my knee, but checked himself, plucking a blade of grass instead.

  “Was Jetha mad?”

  “She was worried,” said Ben. “Everyone was. They know what you’ve been through. What you’ve given up.” He twirled the grass around his finger, untwirled it, and twirled it again. “Lock wanted to come after you, but my aunt kind of waylaid him. I thought you might need to talk, but… Should I not have come?”

  “No. I’m glad you did.” That guilt bit me again, the same guilt I’d felt seeing him again, our first trip to Stillwater. “I’ve missed you,” I said. “I know I said that already, but—”

  “I missed you too.” Ben dropped his blade of grass. “But Myla, I’ve got to ask. I know now’s not the time, but if you hold back for the right time, you wait and you wait, and before you know it, time’s up.” He sighed. “You and Lock. Are you courting?”

  “No.” I bit my lip. “Or—no. We’re not courting or dating or, what do you call it? Making time. But we’re not just friends.”

  Ben nodded. He didn’t look angry, or sad, or even surprised. “I get it,” he said. “The friends you make in hard times... Well, feelings run high.”

  “I’m not sure what I feel.”

  “That’s okay.” He reached for my hand and twined his fingers with mine. “I’m not going to push you. I don’t need answers right now. I just needed to know if you’d—if you two were settled. If I’d be making a fool of myself, if I said I still cared.”

  I huffed laughter. “I’m the big fool today. You’re just... you’re honest. I’ve always liked that about you.”

  Ben plucked another stalk of grass and tucked it behind his ear. It bobbed there foolishly, like something a Lofty might wear. He breathed deep under his mask, and his grip tightened on mine. “Can I be honest one more time?”

  I squared my shoulders. “Bring it.”

  “You can’t give up now.” He twisted to face me with the sunset in his eyes. “Lazrad’s got us outgunned, but look at me. Look at us—look at how we live. She’s had us outgunned forever, but we’ve always found a way. We’ve always survived, because—”

  “Because it’s not about guns.” I let go of his hand and stood up. “I know. I just needed—I just needed time to feel it. To take the loss and move on.” The sun hung like molten glass, dripping orange down the horizon. I squinted into it, half-blinded. “I needed to remember what I’m fighting for. Why I can’t give up.”

  Ben came up behind me, close enough I could feel him there. “You’re no fool, far from it.” His pinky nudged mine. “You’re one of us now. I knew you’d see.”

  “I want to see.” I closed my eyes. “I want to fight, but how? How do we stand against tanks? Against a hundred Decemites, or a thousand?”

  “Same way we take ten of them, or five in a buggy.” Ben’s voice went rough. “We swarm them in the foothills, where they can’t see us coming. We pick them off on the mountain paths, one at a time. We blow up their tanks, flood the dirt so they sink.”

  “Because they won’t expect it.” My nails bit into my palms. “Because Lazrad has a weakness, same one Prium had, that let me take him down.” I felt myself snarling, my lip peeling back. “She looks at us and sees rats, but the thing with rats is, they win. In the long run, they win. There’s always rats in the walls, no matter how many traps you put out. They’re smart, and we’re smart, and as long as Lazrad can’t see that—”

  “She’ll underestimate us.”

  “Every time.”

  Ben grinned behind his mask, wide and ferocious. “I always knew you were a fighter.”

  “I’ll fight to the end.” I grabbed his hands and held on, and he spun me around. We whirled through the tall grass with the sun in our eyes. Our laughter rose like a war cry, bright with terrible joy.

  To the end.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I sat by the riverbank, trying to picture it in spring. Would the water be blue, like in pictures, or yellow like the sky? Black like the reservoir, down in the Dirt? I hoped I’d be around to see it. To kick off my boots and dip my feet in it, maybe go for a swim. I pulled out my phone and snapped a shot of the dry bed, something to remember when the water was high.

  “That thing still has batteries?” Lock plopped down next to me, peering over my shoulder. “Hope you turned off the network.”

  “Jasper made me a charger,” I said. “And, yeah, the network’s off. I doubt it’d work anyway, this far from Echelon.”

  Lock scratched at his leg and tucked his pant leg in his boot. The sandflies loved him, feasted on him nonstop. Their bites healed right away, Jasper’s bots doing their job, but he claimed he could feel them still, itching under his skin. I watched him fuss and fidget, but I was really just watching, keeping vigil for tremors, for bruises that didn’t heal. He caught me at it and frowned.

  “You can’t think like that,” he said. “None of us gets forever, but today’s a good day.”

  I nodded to humor him, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t remember. He hadn’t seen himsel
f on that camp bed, gasping and straining as his body fought for life.

  “I’ve been going out nights,” I said, mostly to change the subject. “To the old camp, by the mountains.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?”

  “’Course I do.” He swatted a fly and flicked it off his leg. “I’ve been following you. In case you go after Ona.”

  “I’ve been texting her,” I said. “That’s why I go back there, so if they trace my signal, it won’t lead them here.” I showed him my message center, with its screen full of bubbles. Lock scanned them, lips moving.

  “She never writes back?”

  “No. But she’s getting them. You can tell from the ticks.”

  Lock nodded slowly. He had his thinking face on, brows drawn together. “I haven’t given up on her either. But you’ve got to be careful. Lazrad could be reading those, or Elli, or anyone.”

  “I’m not sharing any sensitive information. All I’m doing is telling her that I love her. Lazrad knows that already.” I jammed my phone in my pocket and dashed my sleeve over my eyes. “Maybe Nina’ll get through to her. Make her see the truth.”

  “Maybe.”

  We sat in silence a while as the moon replaced the sun. Lock put his arm around me, and I leaned into his warmth. It felt good just to be with him, no need for words. His slow breathing soothed me, set my body at ease.

  “I’m heading out soon,” I said. “Once the big house goes dark.” I found Lock’s hand and slid mine underneath. “We could just walk together, save you having to stalk me.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Lock got to his feet and helped me to mine, and we stood watching the village wind down for the night. I saw Ben and Jetha put out the last fire. The day watch knocked off and the night watch took over. A girl about my age tended to the sheep. Lock shifted beside me, and I heard him sigh.

  “You know those new Decemites? Lazrad’s army?”

  I shuddered. “Yeah.”

  “I heard something about them. Something Nina told Jetha. I don’t know if it’s true, but if it is...” He made a snorting sound. “They came up with a name for themselves.”

  “Besides Decemites?”

  “Yeah.” Lock blew out a long breath. “It’s one of those things, you’ll laugh or you’ll cry—Skyseekers. They’re calling themselves Skyseekers.”

  I went with laughter, a great echoing bark. “Skyseekers. It’s like getting excited for your own funeral. Picking out your coffin, the clothes you want to wear.”

  “Unless we can give ‘em Sky. Let them have it for real.” Lock turned toward the mountains as the big house went dark. “I’ve heard talk in camp about Echelon in ruins, us dancing on its grave. But that’s not what I want. I want Echelon for everyone, and for everyone to live. For everyone to get to choose, Dirt or Sky, Dome or Outside.” He chuckled. “Me, I’m a homeseeker—call me dumb, call me brainwashed, but that house in the Stars, all my family together—I’d be happy with that. But if Sky’s their big dream—”

  I threw my arms around him and hugged him, so tight he wheezed.

  “What—what was that for?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing. Just, I want that too.” I laughed again, weak with relief. “All this talk of war, all this us-and-them—”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way.” His expression darkened. “We can’t let it be.”

  “We won’t.” I slipped my hand into his, and we set out for the mountains. I’d seen enough now to know we’d set ourselves a daunting task, trying to shield our families from behind enemy lines. But with Lock on my side, I felt my resolve harden. We’d been Dirtbags and Decemites, Lofties and Outsiders, Skyseekers, homeseekers, and everything in between. We’d fight for them all as we’d walked with them all, and we’d forge our own path.

  Lock squeezed my hand, as though sensing my thoughts. “We’re still driving to the ocean, though.”

  “What?”

  “Wherever we end up, whatever ends up happening, when all this is over, we’re driving to the coast.”

  I grinned. “Radio blasting.”

  The moon rose above us, and I tried not to feel afraid. I had Lock’s dreams and Ben’s passion, Reyland’s smarts, Nina’s courage. I had my own fierce resolve—but Lazrad had hers, and she had Ona, and her Skyseekers.

  Everything hung in the balance, and the earth held its breath.

  End of The Lofties

  The Decemites, January 13th, 2021

  The Lofties, March 10th, 2021

  The Skyseekers, May 12th, 2021

  Do you love YA Dystopian? Keep reading for an exclusive extract from The Skyseekers and The Pairings.

  About Ramona Finn

  Ramona Finn writes about courageous characters who fight to live in broken, dystopian worlds. She grew up sitting cross-legged on her town's library floor - completely engrossed in science fiction books. It was always the futuristic world or the universe-on-the-brink-of-extinction plot lines that drew her in, but it was the brave characters who chose to fight back that kept her turning the pages.

  Her books create deep, intricate worlds with bold characters determined to fight for their survival in their dystopian worlds - with a little help from their friends...

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  BLURB

  Myla will need to dig deep to save the ones she loves…

  All her life, Myla was told Echelon was the only place humans could survive. A journey outside the domed city proved that was a lie. Now all the other lies told by Lady Lazrad, the leader of Echelon, are unravelling, leading Myla down a path to open rebellion.

  At her side are Ben and Lock, one a rebel boy, the other a nanobot infused Decemite who fled Echelon with her. They’ve both helped her grow as a person and into her power, but her heart is confused over what she wants from either of them.

  And she’s just as confused over the right path to take in the rising tensions. Lady Lazrad’s agenda is deadly…but the rebels are proving to be just as ruthless. Both sides want to turn her into a weapon, and as her powers grow, Myla begins to fear the massive destruction she could cause. She must reach deep within herself to find the strength to protect those dearest to her.

  A full-out war would destroy them all, but every day seems to lead them closer to the tipping point. With death hanging over her, Myla will have to muster all her power, all her faith, and all of her love to end the conflict once and for all.

  No matter the cost.

  Get your cop
y of The Skyseekers

  Available May 12th, 2021.

  www.ramonafinn.com

  EXCERPT

  The wind knifed through my shirt, sharp with frost. Sand stung my cheeks. I ran fast, but Lock ran faster, long strides closing the gap. He caught me at the riverbank and spun me around, jammed his blaster under my chin.

  “Got you.”

  “No, you don’t.” I drove an elbow into his guts and whirled free. Lock grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. His breath came hot in my ear as I stretched to ease the strain. He growled deep in his chest, a feral sound.

  “Say I win,” he demanded.

  “You lose.” I brought my heel down on his boot. Lock flinched and jerked back, and we danced through the sandstorm, kicking and snarling in our murderous embrace. My goggles went flying, and I squinted against the sand. Lock lost his blaster and snatched a handful of my hair. He was holding back—I could feel it, and I punished him for it, battering into him with everything I’d got.

  “Ow. That’s my kidney.” He caught me in a bear hug, crushing me to his chest.

  “Then fight. If you don’t like it, then—” I got my hand over his face, thumb in his mouth, fingers groping for his eyes. Lock cursed and spluttered, and the dirt crumbled under our feet, rough clods and pebbles raining down the bank. I hooked my leg between his and we collapsed in a tangle, rolling and skidding into the dry riverbed.

  Lock wound up on top, knee jammed between my thighs. He dropped down to pin me, smothering me with his weight. I could feel his heart pounding, the rush of his blood. He was hot all over, breath puffing white.