Reintegration

by Eden S. French

  CHAPTER 4

  Mineko admired the watch ticking in her palm. Each cog had been tiny, an intricate little marvel, and it was thrilling to imagine them working behind the face. She clicked the cover shut and traced its embossed design. A hunter-case watch, Callie had called it. She’d even shown Mineko how to wind it with a tiny key.

  With much thumping and grumbling, Lexi and Callie packed the van full of crates and boxes. Lexi moved with her usual languor, while Callie bounded about the garage with enthusiasm, only ever pausing to shift the artless tangle of reddish-brown hair from her eyes.

  “What’s this one?” Lexi hefted a yellow plastic crate. “It’s way lighter than it looks.”

  “Tubes of nutrient-rich paste. You know, peanut butter and stuff.”

  “Sounds like a romantic dinner.” Lexi tossed the crate into the van. “Are we done yet?”

  “Pretty much!” Callie clapped her hands. “Let’s go. In the back, Lexi.”

  Lexi stuck out a sulky lip. “The back? Why do I get the back?”

  “Because I said so.” Callie nodded to Mineko. “You get the passenger seat. Jump in.”

  The passenger seat! Why was that so exciting? But first—

  Mineko held out the watch. “Where should I leave this?”

  Callie curled Mineko’s fingers shut. “You keep it.”

  Mineko’s delight competed with her politeness, and politeness won. “No, I couldn’t.”

  “You helped me fix it. Please take it.”

  It seemed wrong, a gift to a wealthy person from someone who had little. Yet Mineko loved the watch. It was a relic of another world, a piece of this wonderful workshop. “Thank you. And call me Min, if you like.”

  Callie dimpled. “And you can keep calling me Callie.”

  “Cute,” said Lexi. “Meanwhile, Zeke is being dragged away, weeping and won­dering why we never came back for him.”

  Mineko clambered into the passenger seat. The van’s front cabin was worn but still comfortable, providing plenty of room to stretch her legs, and the dashboard looked pristine. A mesh partition separated the cabin from a rear cargo area with a single seat. Lexi’s smirk seemed to occupy the entire space.

  Callie hopped into her seat and slammed the door shut behind her. She snatched a flat-topped cap from the dashboard, grinned at Mineko from under its brim, and started the ignition. With a quiet growl, the engine awoke and settled into a low vibration.

  “Have you been driven often?” Callie said.

  “No, never. I only use our transit system.”

  “You’re in for a treat.” Callie drove the van out of the garage and braked just outside. She tapped a button on the dashboard, and the garage door clattered down. “Remember to buckle up.”

  After studying the unfamiliar seatbelt mechanism, Mineko took the obvious approach and pushed the thin bit into the open bit. A satisfying snap suggested she’d done well. “How long will it take to drive back?”

  “We need to detour to avoid the main road, so about half an hour.”

  The van rolled onto the blasted asphalt and gained speed. Empty lots flew by, punctuated by broken buildings. A flicker of excitement moved in Mineko’s chest. This was definitely something new.

  “Check in the glovebox,” said Callie. “There’s some sweets in there.”

  Mineko opened the glovebox. There was the gun Callie had alluded to, a terrifying gray pistol with a black grip. Being careful not to touch it, she fished out a plastic bag filled with colored jelly balls. “You mean these?”

  “Yep, those. Put them between us and we’ll share. And, of course, we need some music.”

  Callie prodded a button, and a monstrous tune ripped through the speakers and pulsed at their feet. It was like no music Mineko had ever heard, an energetic interplay of massive percussion and fuzzy rhythm. An androgynous voice screeched through the nightmare.

  Lexi sighed. “I’d forgotten about your shitty taste.”

  “And I’d forgotten I need to drown you out.” Callie turned a dial, and the music amplified. As if spurred on by the clamor, the van rocketed, swerved around a pothole and screamed toward the remote cityscape. Mineko gripped the fabric of her uniform. So this was how she was going to die.

  “Don’t look so worried. I know what I’m doing.” Callie twirled the wheel, and the van spun into a side-road. Impossibly, it began to pick up even more speed as it cruised toward a horizon of jagged mountains, dusty desert, and clear, pale sky. “Try one of the sweets, it’ll calm you down.”

  Mineko took a vibrant yellow sweet. It was sugar-dusted and chewy, and the moment she swallowed it, an immediate craving for another followed.

  The music gained in pace and fury, and Callie tapped her wheel to the hammering rhythm. A chorus erupted as the van skidded around another corner, and she joined in:

  “There’s a long night coming with a knife in its hand

  And a cold dawn rising to bring life to the damned…”

  Lexi groaned from the back. “Come on, Roux.”

  “Sorry.” Callie glanced at Mineko. “I usually drive alone, so…”

  “Don’t stop,” said Mineko. “I like hearing you sing.”

  Callie blushed, and Mineko’s excitement surged. That blush suggested Callie might be shy, and that meant they had something in common.

  The van sped on, filled with furious sound. The distant city—a fractured line of towers beneath clouded blue, edged by abandoned suburbia—crept closer. Mineko reached for the sweets. Her hand bumped against Callie’s.

  “You’re going to eat them all.” Callie swatted Mineko’s wrist. “I think you’ve already finished all the yellow ones.”

  “I can’t help it. They’re addictive.”

  “Well, if you have to pick up a habit while you’re out here, yellow gummy addiction is probably the safest.” Callie popped a green cube into her mouth. “You know, I could go faster.”

  “Let’s not,” said Lexi, her voice tense.

  “It’s an open road, and it’s in good shape. Min, what do you think?”

  Mineko smiled. “Let’s go faster.”

  The speedometer needle, already wavering near its rightmost point, jumped several notches. The road blurred as wind howled by the windows, audible even through the music. Everything about their sole ownership of this once-great road was both frightening and intoxicating, and an overwhelming sense of liberation took hold of Mineko. For the first time in her life, it felt as if she were free.

  The chorus returned, and on an impulse, Mineko joined in: “There’s a long night coming…”

  Callie gave her a delighted look. “Hey, you’ve got it!”

  To hide her embarrassment, Mineko stuffed another sweet into her mouth and watched Foundation hurtling toward them. Her parents were somewhere beyond those splintered towers, unaware that their daughter was zooming across the desert, immersed in forbidden music.

  A slow smile moved on Mineko’s lips. She had never been more certain that the Code was a lie, yet in that moment she couldn’t have been happier.

  * * *

  Driving through the University District proved a different experience altogether. Callie was forced to creep the van forward, often having to stop for pedestrians who stared into the windows as they passed. Some seemed curious, others resentful, and many wore little expression at all.

  “Now I remember why I never come here.” Callie frowned at a woman shuffling across the street. “It’s like they’re trying to slow me down.”

  “You need to learn to share the road,” said the sarcastic presence in the back of the van. “How you doing up there, Minnie?”

  “I’m okay.” Mineko hunched in her seat as a pedestrian glared directly at her. “I shouldn’t have eaten so many sweets, though. My stomach hurts.”

  An opening appeared in the crowd, and Callie directed the van toward it. “So what’s the story with these parents of yours?”

  Hopefully Mineko could be honest without alienating her new friend.
“My father is Head of Code Intel and is on the Committee. My mother is a general in the Codist military. She’s in charge of enclave defense.”

  Callie honked at a drunk man spinning in circles on the road. He shambled off, the ragged hems of his trousers trailing behind him. “So they’re important people. No wonder you’re clued in.”

  They drove down a familiar street—Mineko recognized a movie theatre by its damaged marquee, which scrolled nothing but gibberish—and through an empty intersection.

  “My parents trust me,” Mineko said. “It’s painful to have to betray them. But what they’re doing is wrong. Sometimes I suspect they know it too.”

  “Well, I think you’re doing a noble thing. And in this city, that makes you pretty special.”

  Mineko lowered her head, trying to conceal her smile. “What about your parents?”

  “My mom was a drug dealer and my dad some guy who sprung on her in an alley. She’s dead, and I hope he is too.” Callie raised a hand as Mineko opened her mouth. “No need for sympathy, okay? On this side of your wall, you’ll hear plenty more stories like it.”

  The van zipped by the subway station, sending rubbish scattering, only to brake to a sudden halt. A crowd of people had filled the street outside Zeke’s lounge. A sleek black car was parked nearby. Mineko’s breath caught. “That’s one of ours.”

  “Seems your guys like black,” said Lexi. “That’s okay. I like black too.”

  Callie inched the van closer to the mob. It proved to be a mixture of curious onlookers and the inhabitants of Zeke’s lounge, whose adorned bodies added a touch of color to the gathering.

  “Can we get him out of there?” said Callie. “Or is it too late?”

  “Like hell we’re going in,” said Lexi. “You think he’d risk his skin for us?”

  Mineko’s stomach twisted. “You can’t leave him.”

  “No, what we can’t do is help him. Leaving him is easy.”

  There was a sharp rap on the passenger-side window, and Mineko gasped. Kade stood on the street, his knuckles still resting against the glass and his expression serious. He’d swapped the stolen uniform for a high-collared, knee-length brown trench coat.

  Callie rolled down the window, and an excited hum of human conversation poured in. “Afternoon, Callie,” said Kade. “Let me guess, Lexi’s your cargo.”

  “Well done,” said Lexi dryly. “You get full marks and my permission to fuck off.”

  Callie glared at her. “Shut up. Kade, what’s going on?”

  “Three agents entered about ten minutes ago. I suppose Zeke tried to barricade himself in, but they’ll get him out eventually.”

  “You can’t let them take him,” said Mineko. “They’ll torture him.”

  “We can’t do anything about that now. You and Lexi need to get away from here.”

  An excited whispering rose from the crowd. Two agents in black uniforms, a man and a woman, emerged from the alley with a struggling Zeke between them. A third agent walked ahead, waving his baton to disperse the crowd. No firearms were visible: presumably they hadn’t been issued with them, given it was crucial they took Lexi alive.

  “Go.” Kade stepped back. “Drive, Callie.”

  How could Mineko make them see? The torment, the brutality, the whimpers Zeke would cough up amid sprays of gore…and it didn’t have to happen, not if they showed courage. They outnumbered the agents, who were only flesh and blood. Didn’t they realize these people were only human beneath their uniforms?

  Mineko undid her seatbelt, opened the glovebox and grabbed the pistol. Lexi sat bolt upright. “Min, don’t you dare—”

  Mineko jumped out of the van and ran through the scattering crowd, clutching the lethal object in her right hand. The trio of agents stopped, and she pointed the pistol at their leading member.

  “Ms. Tamura!” The agent’s dour face twitched. “What are you…where did you get…”

  “Let him go.” The way Mineko’s hand was shaking, there was no way to predict who she might shoot if she pulled the trigger. Yet even if they did surrender, she could hardly let them go. They’d seen her now, and of course they’d recognized her instantly. What agent wouldn’t?

  “Hey, kid!” Still wriggling in the grip of the agents holding him, Zeke gave her a frightened grin. “Turns out you weren’t joking.”

  “Be quiet.” An agent twisted Zeke’s arm, and he yelped. “Ms. Tamura, put that weapon down and explain yourself.”

  The air seemed to have suddenly grown thin—either that, or Mineko’s lungs had forgotten how to function. Her hands trembled, and her palms had become so slick it seemed possible the gun might soon slip from her grasp. She tried to reply, but without oxygen, no words were possible.

  “She’s going to hurt herself,” said the female agent. “We’ll subdue her and bring her back with us.”

  The lead agent winced. “You really want to be responsible for that?”

  “Better than the alternative, isn’t it?” The agent glared at Mineko. “Last chance, Ms. Tamura.”

  A tremendous blast rang out in answer. Callie Roux stood on the sidewalk, her shotgun pointed at the sky. She opened the barrel, rammed another shell in and snapped the gun shut. “Get the hell away from her.”

  The crowd of spectators surged in panic, cutting Callie from view. Mineko was jostled from her feet by a colliding elbow, and the gun flew from her grip. She flailed at the open space beneath her. Cement struck her palms. Pain shot up her arms.

  Taking advantage of the confusion, Zeke broke free and ran. The lead agent whirled, baton raised, only for Lexi to step from the crowd and block his path.

  “Hey, shut-in,” she said. The agent lunged, and Lexi danced away with her usual lazy grace. “Better get up, Minnie.”

  Panic and pain almost stopped Mineko’s breath, but she found a reserve of strength. “Lexi, they know me…”

  Lexi winked. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Two of the agents closed in with their batons, jabbing and striking. Even against two opponents, Lexi effortlessly weaved away from every strike, though her uncanny agility seemed to have its limits. Each time she tried to close in for an attack of her own, an incoming blow forced her to jump back.

  The remaining agent took a tentative step toward the fight, hesitated, and stepped back again. “I’m going to look for the prisoner. Be careful subduing Vale, you don’t want to damage her impla—”

  Kade dashed across the pavement, his trench coat streaming behind him, and tackled the agent to the ground. The man grunted as his body met the cement, and he and Kade fell to violent wrestling.

  In the same moment, Callie aimed her shotgun at the female agent. The woman froze, her attention darting between Lexi and the barrel pointed at her chest.

  Faced with only a single adversary, Lexi pressed her assault. She slipped under a wild thrust and caught the agent’s head in both hands. His face went slack, his irises dulled and he slithered to the ground.

  “Min, get out of here,” said Callie. “Run to the van.”

  Good advice, but moving was impossible. Mineko could only stare, take in the scene, follow every motion. She was pinned in place. Her legs, her hands, even her voice—none of it responded to her will.

  A soft hand took her own and squeezed it. Too numb to be startled, she looked up. Zeke.

  “I got you.” He ushered her away from the fight, putting an arm around her waist once it became clear her own feet had failed.

  Behind them, Callie held the female agent at gunpoint while Lexi placed a hand upon the woman’s head. With her crown of white hair and haughty stance, Lexi looked like some high priestess offering a blessing. When a second later the agent crumpled to the ground, it became clear her gift had been nothing so divine.

  “She’s blasting their brains.” Zeke spoke in an excited babble. “So they don’t remember us. It’s the scariest shit she can do.”

  He guided Mineko to the back of the van, aided her inside and seated her on the c
hair. “You okay? You look a little out of it.”

  “I’m not sure.” Mineko stared at her bloodied palms. “I hurt myself.”

  “Let’s see what Callie’s got here.” Zeke detached a box from the van’s inner wall, undid its latch and peered inside. “Paracetamol might help. Put this in your mouth and let it dissolve, okay?”

  Zeke pressed a small orange pill into her hand. Mineko attempted a thankful smile before placing it on her tongue.

  “Kid, I don’t know what to say.” Zeke’s face wrinkled up as he smiled. “Ten minutes ago, I’d never have believed a single person on this planet would stand up for my ass.”

  The front doors opened, and Lexi and Callie jumped into the cabin. A moment later, Kade climbed into the back of the van. He pulled the doors shut and set the bolt. “We want to move quickly. When those three don’t call in, their bosses will sit up and take notice.”

  “On it,” said Callie. Mineko’s stomach lurched as the van performed a sharp U-turn. It soon became clear why Lexi had resented being put in the back—everything shuddered with the van’s noisy motion.

  Callie glanced back. “You okay, Min?”

  “I’m okay. But the agents will tell my father.”

  “They won’t.” Lexi sounded uncharacteristically grim. “Those poor bastards have less brain function than Zeke right now.”

  “You wiped them? Project Sky can do that?”

  Lexi peered at her fingernails. “Yeah.” She looked up at Kade, and her eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway? Don’t you think I have enough shit to deal with?”

  “It don’t matter, Lex, come on,” said Zeke. “We gotta get somewhere safe, figure out what to do.”

  “I know what to do,” Kade said. “Callie, take us to the Open Hand shelter in Urban District Four.”

  “What’s Open Hand?” Every time the van shifted, Mineko’s stomach lurched with it. “Why will they help us?”

  “They’re do-gooders,” said Lexi. “Charitable types. Weirdos.”

  A thud sounded beneath them, and the van bounced. “Rock,” said Callie. “Sorry.”