by David Webb
By his side, Tamisra was still asleep. The mole, however, was wide awake, and it stared into the green light blankly.
Roland grabbed the glowworms and approached the mole, waving the light in front of Curry’s snout.
“You like that? Enough to let me ride you?”
However, the mole was shaken from its stupor suddenly. Its snout bunched up as a low growl emitted from its throat.
“Hey, relax. You like Tami, so you’re going to have to get used to me.”
The mole continued to growl as Roland backed away. The farther he moved, the more he realized that Curry’s growl was not the only sound disturbing the silence.
The sound of footsteps.
Roland’s eyes flew open, and the last of his grogginess faded instantly. He shook Tamisra roughly, hissing in her ear, “Get up!”
Tamisra shot up, grabbing for the gun at her side. She looked up at Roland. “What is it?”
“Listen,” he said.
Tamisra froze, cocking her head to the side.
Nothing.
She shrugged. “What are you talking about?”
Roland didn’t answer.
The sound had vanished. Even Curry’s growl had quieted to a soft rumble.
Finally, he sighed. “Nothing. I guess I was still a little tired.”
Tamisra punched his shoulder in a not-so-playful fashion. “That’s for waking me up.” She punched his other shoulder. “And that’s for scaring me.”
She sat up and reached for her sack nearby. “Now that I’m up, we might as well get ready for . . . whatever we’re going to do.”
But Roland was still looking down the tunnel toward where he had last heard the sound, and he staggered backward as he was blinded by a bright, white light.
The canister of glowworms fell from his hands to the cave floor, smashing open and freeing the already-dead worms inside.
Another light flashed on.
Then another.
And another.
Then, they began shooting.
38
Aniya had nearly expected the Hub to be constantly lit in a state of everlasting day, but as she stepped out of the cave and into the darkness of the Hub, her breath was taken away by the beauty of the dark capital sector.
The cliffs in which Aniya and Nicholas had found shelter were shrouded in darkness, thanks to the starless sky ceiling above. A shadow hung low over the dirt valley before them, stretching on and seeming to disappear into nothingness in the dead of night.
The only source of light in the Hub was the Citadel, the towering building that loomed before them in the very center of the Hub, its tip vanishing into the dark ceiling above. It shone like a beacon in the distance, its white light so bright that it cast a visible halo around the massive obelisk.
A large grid of industrial buildings completely surrounded the Citadel. Smokestacks stood tall, scattered throughout the grid, but even the tallest one was dwarfed by the massive tower. The grid was silent and unmoving, production seeming to have halted during the night hours. But they were not without purpose on this night in particular. Tonight, they would serve as cover for Aniya and Nicholas as they approached the Citadel.
But first, they would have to make it past the valley, a vast stretch of dirt where there would be nowhere to hide from the scanners.
Aniya could see them in the distance, their positions given away by several red dots that slowly hovered back and forth. The scanners were still out there. Now that the light of the sky ceiling was gone, Aniya could see glowing red spots on the ground of the Hub, each of them below a brighter red light in the sky, indicating the drones’ gazes.
At least they would know if they were about to be caught and killed.
After waiting for a patrolling scanner to turn and head toward the center of the Hub, they climbed down the cliffside without a word.
Nicholas still hadn’t spoken since they had almost kissed back in the cave. Aniya still didn’t understand why he hadn’t kissed her, and the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she grew. She knew he had always liked her, even when she made it clear years ago that he was simply a friend. Of course, she hadn’t done much to discourage him. He had been her first kiss, after all, an innocent brush of the lips when the power was out one day. After that, his feelings were no secret. So why had he changed his mind now after pining for her for so many years?
She mentally kicked herself. He had hit her, shot her, almost got her killed, and here she was, all torn up that he wouldn’t kiss her? What made things worse was she couldn’t figure out why she cared so much.
Maybe it was her fault. Aniya had spent the last several years going out of her way to make sure he knew that he was no more than a friend. And now that she had thrown herself at him, he had refused. In hindsight, maybe she brought it on herself.
As she almost tripped over a rock hidden in the shadows, she forced herself to focus on the path ahead. Nicholas would always be there tomorrow.
They eventually reached the ground below and began to make their way across the valley of dirt.
“We need to move quickly here.” Nicholas finally spoke, keeping his voice low. “If the scanners get too close, there’s nowhere to hide, and I only have a few bullets left.”
Aniya increased her speed until she heard Nicholas begin to struggle. Regardless of her frustration toward him, she knew he needed his strength, so she slowed down just enough until they were both running at a comfortable pace.
They made it halfway across the valley when Aniya heard Nicholas whisper something to her. But the wind rushing by her ears obscured his words, and she couldn’t quite make them out. She turned to ask, but he was no longer by her side. What she did see, however, was a large red glow lighting up the dirt several hundred feet away from her.
She dropped to the ground and lay as flat as possible. Turning her head, she saw Nicholas assuming the same position not too far behind her. She looked back and watched the scanner slowly move across the valley, its gaze darting back and forth. At its pace, the machine would spot them in a matter of seconds.
For a moment, Aniya questioned Nicholas’s choice to hide rather than run, but as it grew closer, she realized that the scanner was moving much faster than she thought. Maybe even faster than she could run at top speed. As it bore down on them, Aniya’s hopes fell. It was headed straight for them. Maybe they were already spotted, and it was too late to do anything.
Maybe not.
She grabbed her rucksack slowly, pulling it off her shoulder. There wasn’t much left inside except for a few pieces of jerky and the radio.
The movement made enough noise that the scanner now began to move directly toward them, its gaze now fixed in one direction.
“What are you doing?” Nicholas hissed.
She ignored him and reached to open the pack to get the radio. They would need it if they had any hope of surviving in the Hub. But the scanner was moving too quickly, and there was no time.
Aniya jerked her arm to the side and threw the rucksack as hard as she could.
It soared through the air. With the radio inside, her only defense against the watchful eye of the Lightbringers, the pack disappeared into the dark.
Just as the red glow was about to land on her, the rucksack fell several yards away with a thud, and the robot turned and darted off toward the noise.
Aniya’s hand was suddenly grabbed and pulled, and she turned to follow Nicholas toward the center of the Hub, hoping that the distraction would keep the scanner occupied long enough for them to reach shelter.
“Don’t look back,” Nicholas said between heavy breaths, obviously pushing himself harder than before.
Aniya looked over her shoulder and was blinded by a bright red light.
The scanner had been distracted for mere seconds, and it was bearing down on them again, its red gaze now washing over their bodies.
Looking past the scanner, Aniya spotted several more red lights fall in line behind the lead machine. They all kne
w where she was now. She turned and willed herself to run faster, pushing away the thought of what would happen to her when they finally caught up.
Aniya and Nicholas neared the edge of the factories, which Aniya thought would provide enough hiding places to lose the machines, but she quickly began to lose hope as they drew closer to the buildings. The industrial grid was spaced out more than she had guessed, leaving way too many wide open spaces that were lit up sufficiently thanks to the light of the Citadel. Anywhere they would run, the scanners would have plenty of room to follow.
She looked beyond the buildings, and her spirits fell further as she saw several more scanners headed toward them from the opposite direction, metal arms now protruding from their spherical bodies. It seemed there was nowhere left to go.
They finally cleared the valley and broke through the edge of the buildings, running past smokestacks and warehouses by the droves. Aniya felt herself pulled left and right in seemingly random directions. She realized that it was intentional, that Nicholas was trying to evade the logical machines with unpredictable movement.
It was working, but not as much as she hoped. The machines were not getting any closer, but they weren’t getting any farther away either.
Finally, Aniya spotted something out of the corner of her eye in the opposite direction. She pulled against Nicholas, trying to take the lead. “Follow me!”
However, Nicholas had chosen that exact moment to pull her behind another smokestack. Their fingers slipped from the stress, and they stumbled apart, momentum carrying them yards away from each other.
Aniya stopped briefly and turned, looking for Nicholas. She spotted him trying to make his way over to her, but a large, red glow appeared on the ground between them, and he skidded to a halt.
Over the whir of the machines, she heard him yell, “Split up!” Then, he turned and disappeared into another collection of smokestacks.
Aniya had no time to argue or think. Half the scanners followed Nicholas while the rest of them turned to chase her. She turned and ran, following her original plan.
Free from Nicholas’s hand, she ran faster now, but she knew she could never match the speed of the flying robots.
One of the machines suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, descending directly in front of her and again blinding her with red light.
Aniya did not stop. Instead, she let her feet fall out from underneath her, dipping down to the ground in a graceful dive. She slid directly underneath the scanner and smoothly transitioned to an upright position again. She took off running again, but not before a metal arm shot out at her, lunging toward her head.
Sharp metal dug into Aniya’s cheek, and blood poured down her throat and over her chest as she staggered for a moment, her vision blackening briefly as her head spun.
But the whir of machinery shook her from her disorientation.
It was right behind her.
Ignoring the blood that freely flowed from her face, Aniya spun on her feet and took off to her right, hoping to create a small amount of distance between herself and the machines, just enough for the final stretch.
Pumping her legs with all that she had left, she made a beeline for a large building ahead of her. If she had had any breath to spare, she would have sighed in relief. The door was indeed open.
Not caring what was on the other side of the door, she ran into the building and pushed the large steel door closed behind her.
Dozens of crashes came from the other side of the door, the clang of metal on metal. Thankfully, the scanners seem to have been constructed with speed in mind and not force, and they barely budged the door as Aniya pressed her body up against it from the other side.
The crashes stopped, and Aniya carefully cracked the door open just enough to look outside.
Hunks of metal lay just outside the door. The scanners were now in pieces, some melting in flame.
She closed the door again and let herself slide to the floor, catching her breath. As she recovered, she looked around and realized why the door was open.
Several wires hung from the ceiling in front of massive metal frames, meant to hold some sort of large, round object. These structures lined the walls of the hangar-like building, going down as far as Aniya could see in the glow of dim electronic screens. This must have been where the scanners were stored, waiting for activation.
She smirked at the irony and stood up, now breathing normally again.
Nicholas was still out there somewhere, probably still being chased by the scanners. Aniya knew the odds were slim that he had been able to escape like she had. If she went after him, she’d probably wind up in the same situation all over again. If she left and tried to find her brother, she would have to do it alone.
Aniya turned around and faced the door, already knowing her decision. She had come with Nicholas, and she wasn’t leaving without him.
She opened the door wide, and standing among the remains of the scanners was a man dressed in black. Large red scars marred his face, making his smile even more disturbing.
The Operative pointed his gun at her. “Hello again, Ms. Lyons.”
39
Aniya hung from the ceiling, suspended by chains wrapped around her wrists.
Her cell was pitch black, leaving Aniya to her imagination. Try as she might to focus on the problem at hand, all she could see in the black were faces, the faces of the people she’d failed.
Roland, who had warned her of the Silvers and helped her in the caves. She had left him in the tunnels, bleeding out from two gunshots, his fate unknown.
Nicholas, who had held back the Silver Guard just long enough for her to escape Holendast. She had left him to be captured and forced to work for them against his will, putting his life at risk.
Kira, the girl who had sheltered her and befriended her. Aniya had watched as she was executed in front of her grieving father.
Her parents, loving and loyal until the last possible second. They had given their lives to protect their children, who wound up in the hands of the Lightbringers anyway.
It was all for nothing.
All the hurt, all the pain she had carried from Holendast to the Hub now seemed meaningless.
Desperately trying to escape the Lightbringers, she had inadvertently left a trail of death and destruction across the Web. But all she had done was just delay the inevitable. It was all over now, and all Aniya could do was bitterly wish that she had given herself up back in Holendast.
The Operative was right. Had Aniya known that she was always going to end up here, at the mercy of the Lightbringers, she probably never would have run to begin with. She may have been imprisoned for the rest of her life, tortured, killed—but at least Roland and Nicholas would be safe. At least Kira would be alive.
The crystal around her neck had gone unnoticed by the Operative this time. The Silvers had shown up and taken custody of her before he could search her.
Aniya still had the gem, all that remained of Kira, but the beautiful rock was now coated in her blood and hung heavy, dragging her head down to match her defeated spirit. She had done everything she could to save herself, her family, Kira . . . but it seemed like all she accomplished was ensuring their deaths at the risk of staying alive for just a few more days.
Now, all she could do was let herself hang limply, her hands numb and her wrists bleeding. All she could do was wait.
The worst part of it was that Aniya didn’t know what she was waiting for. Her natural assumption was death, but if they wanted her dead, they surely would have killed her by now.
Relocative servitude?
Well, now that I’m in the Hub, I guess it would just be servitude.
Or maybe this was her fate, to hang in a windowless cell for the rest of her life, however long that may be.
If that’s the case, just kill me now.
Her only hope was Nicholas, still out there somewhere. Maybe he found some way to evade the scanners. Maybe he found his mysterious contact and was working to s
ave her. Maybe there was still a chance.
Aniya’s imagination halted as the door to the room opened and the lights flashed on. She winced at the harsh florescent light and blinked rapidly.
She could hear more chains rattle, accompanied by a grunt of exertion.
By the time her eyes adjusted to the light, the door closed, and the room was dark again.
But not before she saw Nicholas hanging next to her, his clothes soaked in blood.
“Nicholas?”
She heard a pained grunt.
“What happened to you?”
“Well, they got me, Aniya.” Nicholas’s breath was ragged. “What did you think happened?”
“I mean, why are you covered in blood?”
She heard a moan.
“Their operative wanted his own revenge before turning me in. I guess I messed his face up pretty bad when I wrecked the train.” He started to laugh but ended up coughing.
Aniya heard liquid spatter on the ground as he coughed. “How bad is it?”
“It’s not as bad as it looks. Or sounds, I guess.”
“I thought you said he was dead.”
“Well, he wasn’t breathing. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed. Anyway, I’m glad all he did was beat me to a pulp. I bet he would have loved to kill me, but I’m pretty sure the Lightbringers want to save me for servitude. Both of us, probably.”
“Wonderful,” Aniya said. She tugged on her chains again. “I don’t suppose they’d be up for just killing us?”
“Come on, it can’t be that bad. All the rumors we’ve heard are nothing but that—rumors.”
“Yes, but we’ve only heard rumors because no one has ever come back to tell us what actually goes on here.” She looked at Nicholas. “You mean they never told you what relocative servitude actually means?”
Nicholas shook his head. “I didn’t ask about it much because I was being constantly watched. For all I know, the Silvers don’t even know. I’m not sure the Operative even knows. If he does, I doubt he cares.”
“If you don’t have any insight, I think I have reason enough to be afraid of it. You saw William. It looked like he aged forty years. Whatever they’re doing to their recruits, it’s not healthy. Gareth said the Lightbringers are probably working them to death.”
