Rebel

by Amy Tintera

  There was no way he could outrun me. He’d trained me too well for that. I leaped forward, yanking on his arm so hard it cracked. He screamed as I launched my foot into his stomach.

  He hit the ground, firing off another wild shot that missed me. I tore the gun from his hand and tossed it away. I positioned myself over his chest and knelt down.

  I wrapped my fingers around his throat.

  His eyes bulged and he swung at me. He grasped my shirt in his fingers and tugged, but I dug into his neck harder. He wheezed and began kicking his legs.

  His face turned red.

  I held on tighter.

  He dropped his fingers from my shirt, putting his hands down and giving me a desperate look. He was surrendering.

  I didn’t care.

  I didn’t care.

  I didn’t care.

  I let out a scream of frustration and let go of his neck, backing off slightly. Officer Mayer gasped for air, rolling onto his side as his body shook and trembled.

  I wiped a hand across my eyes and found they were wet. Officer Mayer stared up at me, his expression a mixture of horror and shock.

  I considered killing him and was struck again with that awful feeling I’d had a few seconds ago. Did I kill someone just because I could? Was that who I was?

  I kicked the gun farther from Officer Mayer’s reach and pulled two sets of cuffs from his belt. I slapped them around his ankles and wrists.

  No. That wasn’t who I was.

  My body was heavy as I straightened, and I forced myself to turn around to where Callum lay.

  Desmond was still crouching over his body. He had something bloody in his hand. A bullet.

  Callum slowly sat up, blood running down his cheek from his left eye.

  I yelled, sprinting across the dirt so fast I almost knocked him over when I threw my arms around his shoulders. Callum laughed and wheezed as I squeezed him tightly.

  “Sorry,” I said, pulling away and putting my hands on his cheeks. His eye was a bloody mess, but starting to heal, and I pulled his hand away when he tried to touch it. “Don’t. It will heal faster if you leave it alone.”

  I turned to Desmond, who tossed aside the bullet.

  “Lodged in his eye socket?” I guessed.

  He nodded with a wince. “Really disgusting, too.”

  “Thank you,” Callum said with a smile.

  A loud yell and the sound of shooting made me turn. The scene in front of the facility had changed, and lots of HARC officers were on their knees on the ground. A tiny group of officers were holding out, firing off shots at the rebels. A few officers took off running in our direction, and I jumped to my feet as bullets sprayed through the air.

  Desmond sprang up next to me and I darted in front of him, but it was too late. He doubled over as blood spread across his stomach, then his shoulder. Callum caught him before he hit the dirt.

  I raised my gun, but a large band of humans swarmed the officers, and wrestled them to the ground.

  Tony was at my side in seconds, and Callum moved away as he knelt down next to Desmond. There was no saving him, though. I quickly turned away, my hand finding Callum’s.

  The gunfire had stopped in front of the facility, but I could still hear traces of it in the slums. The humans were dirty and bloodied, and the Reboots didn’t look much better.

  I knew I should go into the slums to help stop the violence there or assist in rounding up the HARC officers for containment, but it all felt like too much to deal with at the moment. I holstered my gun and wrapped my arms around Callum’s waist, pressing my face into his chest and letting out a long breath.

  FORTY-ONE

  CALLUM

  THE ROSA HARC FACILITY LOOKED LIKE IT MIGHT CRUMBLE AT ANY moment, so we made sure there were no Reboots locked in their rooms and moved everyone out of the area. Dead bodies were strewn across the lawn, and when the sun began to rise the scene was gruesome.

  A few of the rebels gathered together the HARC prisoners, including Officer Mayer, and piled them into HARC transport vans headed for Austin. Isaac and a few other Reboots went to New Dallas to check on the HARC situation there, and reported back that most of the HARC officials fled or abandoned their posts when they arrived. Many blended into the human population, giving up their duties with little protest.

  Wren went with Addie and Leb to do a sweep of the city and slums and they returned with a few more humans and HARC officers who’d shot at them. Leb said they were using the human cells in the Austin capitol as a prison until they could figure out what to do with everyone. I thought about asking who was guarding this prison, and who would decide the appropriate punishment, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Not today, anyway.

  Wren had disappeared, and I found her on the lawn of the facility, sitting next to Riley’s body. Her arm was slung across her knees, her head bent down, and she didn’t move at all when I knelt down in front of her.

  “Do you want to bury him?” I asked quietly.

  She shook her head, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes before she looked at me. “No, Riley would think that was stupid. We should cremate him with the others.”

  I nodded, wrapping my fingers around her arm and giving it a gentle squeeze. I stood, intending to leave her alone, but she got to her feet and slipped her hand into mine. We walked off the HARC lawn to where Leb and Addie were standing with a large group of Reboots.

  Leb glanced over at Wren, his expression half surprise, half sympathy. She had dirt and blood smeared on her clothes, and her shoulders were slumped in exhaustion. It was obvious she’d been crying. I suspected that was where Leb’s surprise came from, because it seemed that even the people who knew her were shocked to discover she had emotions like them.

  “Thank you,” Leb said. He looked for a moment like he might hug her but seemed to think better of it.

  “For what?” Wren asked.

  He gestured to Addie. “I didn’t think you’d go to get her out.”

  Wren was almost amused. “I know you didn’t.”

  “Also for saving my life that one time,” Addie piped in with a smile. “And that other time.”

  Wren laughed softly. “No problem. I’d say we’re even now.”

  Addie pointed to a shuttle a few hundred yards away. “Are you guys going back to Austin? That shuttle is going to take some people soon.”

  Wren looked at me. “Yes?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed.

  “Are you staying here?” Wren asked Addie and Leb.

  “We’re thinking we’ll pack some stuff up and come to Austin for a while,” she said. “Dad thinks that’s where they’ll start electing leaders and establishing a government. We figured we should stick close.”

  He was probably right, and I was suddenly glad we were going to be close, too. If they were going to rebuild, we needed to make sure Reboots were part of that. My first thought was Riley, and I swallowed when I remembered he was dead.

  “I’m going to stay and help my family get things together,” Addie continued. “We’ll probably be there in a few days.” She bit her lip. “Tell Gabe for me?”

  “Sure,” Wren said.

  “Who’s Gabe?” Leb asked, looking between them.

  Addie patted her dad’s arm, which only increased his alarm. She turned to Wren. “I’ll find you when we get there, okay?”

  Wren nodded. I dropped her hand as Addie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her. She returned the hug, and Addie leaned down and whispered something in her ear. I couldn’t hear what it was, but when Wren pulled away she had tears in her eyes again. She smiled at Addie through them and slipped her hand into mine.

  Wren squeezed my hand and pulled me in the direction of the shuttle. “Let’s go home.”

  FORTY-TWO

  WREN

  I WAS MET WITH LAUGHTER AS I TURNED THE CORNER TO CALLUM’S old house. A group of human kids sat on a front lawn to my left, but when they spotted me they quieted. One of the girls leaned over a
nd whispered something to a boy, and his eyes widened.

  I instinctively reached for the weapon on my belt, just in case, but there was nothing there. I’d given all my weapons to Addie days ago.

  A grin spread across the boy’s face when I glanced back up at them. “What’s up, One-seventy-eight? They described you as taller!”

  I laughed, and when I faced front again Callum was standing on his porch, watching us.

  “Hey!” he called, his voice amused. “She can’t control her height!”

  I hopped up the steps and pressed my lips to Callum’s, smiling as he pressed a hand into my back.

  “They do describe you as taller,” he murmured against my lips.

  I pulled away, trying to stand straighter. “Better?”

  “No.” He quickly kissed me again and pushed open the front door, holding his arm out for me to go first.

  I took in a deep breath as I stepped inside. I hadn’t seen Callum’s family since that day they’d come by the facility. He’d visited them a few times, but I hadn’t gone with him. When he’d invited me to come to dinner, Addie had clapped her hands like this was exciting. It mostly just made me uncomfortable.

  The house didn’t have any more furniture than the last time I’d been here, but the smell of meat cooking drifted out from the kitchen. Callum’s dad stood next to a table already set with plates, one hand clasped around his opposite arm.

  Mrs. Reyes turned around, spoon in hand. She smiled when she spotted me. It even seemed genuine.

  “Hi, Wren.” She put the spoon down and walked across the kitchen, holding her hand out. “Nice to see you again.”

  “You too.” Her hand was warm and when she smiled she looked like Callum.

  David bounded into the kitchen as Mr. Reyes shook my hand. He lifted his nose in the air.

  “What is that?” He peered over his mom’s shoulder. “Where did we get meat?”

  “Callum brought deer meat,” Mrs. Reyes said, walking back to the stove.

  I turned to him in surprise. “Did you go hunting?”

  He snorted. “Yeah, right. Isaac gave it to me since we’d been helping him with construction so much.”

  I nodded. Callum and I had both been working on rebuilding Austin, since I’d turned down every request to police the streets or leave the cities to assess the situation in the rest of Texas. There were plenty of Reboots—and even a few humans—more than willing to take on that kind of job. I wasn’t doing it anymore. Nor was I training anyone. I’d enjoyed that once, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of training Reboots for combat any longer. I’d seen enough fighting.

  I didn’t even like carrying a gun anymore, which was why I gave them all to Addie a few days ago. The world felt different after I’d chosen not to kill Officer Mayer. After I killed someone I would often feel this far-off sense of guilt, like I knew it was an emotion I was supposed to be having but didn’t actually feel. But when I didn’t kill him, I suddenly felt proud of that decision, like it was totally mine.

  And then Callum had looked at me like I was a hero when I told him and I decided I had no more use for a gun.

  “Is deer meat good?” David asked, like he doubted it.

  “No idea,” Callum said, sitting down at the table and gesturing for me to do the same.

  “Yes,” I said as I slid into a chair. “I like it.”

  Callum’s mom seemed delighted by this, though I wasn’t sure why.

  David plopped down into the seat across from me, his eyes darting between me and Callum.

  “Did you decide where you’re living yet?” he asked Callum.

  “We’re at the facility for now, until they finish the repairs at Tower Apartments. I rented the small place across from where Wren and Addie will be.”

  His dad looked between us with concern. “Are you sure? It’s not really that nice over there.”

  “It’s nicer than a HARC facility,” Callum said with a laugh. “Besides, the slums aren’t so bad. Especially now that HARC isn’t around anymore.”

  “You could both stay here, you know,” Mr. Reyes said softly to Callum. I knew they’d asked him to move back in and he’d declined. He said it was too weird and almost claustrophobic after spending time out on his own. I could see his point. We had separate apartments for now as we adjusted to life outside of HARC, though we would probably end up spending more time together than apart. Even so, I’d never had a room all to myself, and it was an interesting change.

  “I think we’re okay.” Callum smiled at his dad. “But thank you.”

  Callum wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head as we walked away from his parents’ house later that evening. The sky was dark, the roads mostly deserted.

  “I think they might have liked me a little,” I said, glancing up at him.

  He laughed. “Yes, they did. Don’t sound all surprised about it.” He swooped down and kissed me, swinging our hands as we walked.

  “A new batch of reservation Reboots came in today,” I said, glancing at Callum.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. They seemed pretty skeptical about our setup here, but it’s better than Micah’s was, I guess.” I laughed. “You should have seen Tony’s face when he saw a Reboot baby. I’m not sure he’s recovered yet.”

  “Maybe some of them will want to help us out at the capitol. Every government meeting is me and maybe one other Reboot with all these humans.”

  “It’s your own fault you get along so well with humans,” I said, grinning at him. He pretended to look annoyed, but I knew he liked being a part of forming a government that included humans and Reboots.

  There were a few humans and Reboots out walking around as we neared the schoolhouse, but there were less people in Austin than before, since some had decided to go back to their hometowns. And some humans had gone to New Dallas, which was apparently almost entirely human occupied. Tony said they were keeping an eye on it. I wasn’t surprised. I never expected all the humans to jump at the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of Reboots.

  A bonfire was lit in the empty field in front of the HARC facility, like it had been every night since we’d come back from Rosa. The Reboots had been gathering there most nights, and sometimes a few humans came. Tonight Gabe was sitting next to Addie, an arm slung around her shoulders.

  She grinned when she spotted us and jumped to her feet, pulling Gabe with her. “How was the dinner?”

  “Good. Deer meat.”

  “That’s really not what I meant.”

  I smiled, rolling my eyes. “It was good. I acted normal.”

  Callum made a gesture like “so-so,” and I playfully punched his arm as he laughed.

  A flash of movement caught my eye, and I turned to see Hugo striding into the facility with another Reboot, both their faces grim.

  “I’ll be back, okay? I’m going to go check on the new Reboot situation.”

  Callum nodded, wincing a little as he looked behind me at the facility. A shuttle from New Dallas had dropped a bunch of sick kids at the Austin fence yesterday, and we’d already had three new Reboots.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.

  “No, I’m fine.” I knew he was just being nice. He’d been with me yesterday when one of the kids Rebooted, and I could tell it upset him to watch.

  “I’ll meet you in our room later?” he asked, slipping his fingers through mine and pulling me closer.

  I nodded and rose up on my toes, pressing my lips to his. He looped an arm around my waist, practically lifting me up off the ground, and I laughed as we broke apart.

  I stepped back, resisting the urge to kiss him again when he grinned. I could do more of that later.

  I turned and headed for the facility, crossing through the dark, deserted lobby and jogging up to the second floor. As I opened the door, a blast of light and noise hit me, and a few Reboots I recognized from Rosa smiled as they walked past and into the stairwell.

  Hugo stood with a few guy
s in the middle of the hallway, and he jerked his head behind him. “There’s two that just died. And one of the girls from New Dallas died while you were gone, but we don’t think she’s going to Reboot. It’s been too long.”

  “How long is too long?” I asked.

  “About three hours.”

  “We should stay until four hours, at least. You never know.” I glanced down the hallway. “Which room?”

  “Third door on the left.”

  I headed down the hallway and pulled the door open. This floor had once been used for research and experimentation, and the rooms looked similar to where I was tortured in New Dallas, although we’d tried to make it homier. The computer and other equipment had been pushed against the wall, and we’d covered the hard table in the middle of the room with a few blankets. A girl about fifteen or so was motionless on top of them, a young Reboot in the chair next to her.

  “You can go,” I said, holding the door open. “I’ve got it.”

  “It’s probably too late,” he said, stretching as he got to his feet.

  “I know.”

  He walked past me and the door shut quietly behind him. I sat down in the chair next to her makeshift bed, glancing quickly at her face. She was pale, her dark hair splayed across the pillow. I’d seen her yesterday when they’d brought her in, but she’d been too sick to talk. None of the others had known her name.

  I sighed as I rubbed a hand across my forehead. I wondered if her family had let the human leaders in New Dallas take her, or if the city wasn’t letting anyone with KDH stay. We clearly had a long way to go with them.

  The girl’s body jerked suddenly, and I took in a sharp breath and jumped up. I kept my arms at my side, because I didn’t think I would have wanted strange people touching me as soon as I Rebooted. But I would have liked someone there. That I knew for sure.

  Her body lurched several more times before she opened her bright green eyes. Her fingers clenched the sheets and she gasped, her head snapping around the room. Her gaze finally settled on me, panic on her face.

  I braced myself for screaming, but it didn’t come. Her chest rose and fell quickly, but she just stared at me silently.