“Okay, fine.” Nova’s knife disappeared inside her clothes. “But if you try anything, laughing boy,” she said to Thane, “I’ll gut you.”
Thane rolled his eyes. “Sure, you would.”
“You don’t know the things I’ve done.” Nova stalked away from him toward the door, where she stood like a sentinel.
Debs returned to the room, carrying a large case. She frowned at Jaxon’s gun, which he’d lowered but hadn’t put away. He met her stare unflinchingly until she retreated from the room. He hadn’t told the doctor the whole truth, of course, that the man was going with them back to Amarillo City one way or the other, even if he didn’t agree.
Kentley removed a device from his bag and began scanning Eagle. “This will take your friend’s vitals and help me know where he’s at.” He stopped and frowned. “You gave him nanoparticles?”
“Yes.” Jaxon moved closer to the couch, still keeping an eye on the fringer man at the table. He’d sat again and resumed eating, but Jaxon wondered if they should have taken away his fork. In Colony 6, they’d used them more than once as a weapon.
“Nanoparticles can fix the body if injected near the damage, but it’s mostly hit and miss since we’ve lost the technology to program them.” Kentley put down the device and slid his hand around to Eagle’s back. “In this case, they’ve nearly repaired two broken ribs, but they ignored an internal bleed, which is far more dangerous. No worries, I can fix that.” He removed a white hypo and a laser from his bag. “I actually need him on his back, though. Help me turn him.”
Once Eagle was on his back, Kentley sedated him and began using the laser. “This is a deep tissue device,” he said. “With it, I’m able to pass through the outer layers and repair the bleed. Fortunately, this one isn’t bad. If he hadn’t been roaming around the tunnels, he might have healed on his own.” He flicked off the laser. “There.”
“You did that without the aid of a Teev,” Jaxon said. “It’s because of your ability, isn’t it?” He was betting the first scanning device the doctor had used was only for show, though it might have genuinely detected the nanoparticles.
Kentley, still bent over Eagle, stiffened. “How do you know about that?”
“Why else do you think El Cerebro is interested in you?” Nova retorted. “You cure people. It’s not like he’s looking for just any doctor.”
“Is that why you’re here?” Kentley asked Jaxon. “To offer me a job? I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not leaving Santoni.”
“That’s not the only reason we’re here,” Reese said, approaching the couch. The man at the table stopped chewing and Jaxon shifted toward him.
The doctor looked up at Reese. “Oh? Go ahead and tell me, though it won’t make a difference.”
“We’re from Colony 6 too,” she said.
The doctor sat up, his hands resting in his lap. For a long moment, he simply sat there, staring at each of them in turn. “Oh, the good old Coop,” he said finally. “That explains the anxiety in all of you. Or you three, at least.” He motioned to Jaxon, Reese, and Eagle. “And two of you . . .” He frowned, pausing distastefully. “You don’t have long.”
“Long before what?” Jaxon barked. Pressure rose in his temples, and he tried to push it back. He didn’t need a vision now.
“Before the madness takes over.” Kentley sighed. “But I can help. At least temporarily. In fact, it’s what I do best.”
“What do you mean?” Reese demanded, but Jaxon could feel the pressure leaking away from his temple. The premonition urge faded. Involuntarily, he stepped closer to Kentley.
“The minute I walked in,” Kentley said, “I could feel your friend’s bleeding, I could feel the pressure in your heads.” He reached out to touch Reese’s hand. She tried to pull away, to hide the shaking, but Kentley held on.
“I drain emotion, pain, and everything else,” Kentley said. “I can feel where to operate, what’s wrong.” He took his hand from Reese’s, and even from where he stood, Jaxon could see her hands were no longer shaking. “Mostly, it works.”
“Mostly?” Nova said. “They said you never lost anyone.”
Kentley’s laugh was bitter this time. “My ability helps me diagnose people, and I can take their pain, which often gives them enough strength to fight, to live another day, but people still die. Especially if I’m not around at the time they need me.” He sounded tired, as if carrying a heavy burden.
Disappointment surged through Jaxon. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how much he’d been counting on Kentley to help him control his ability. “The madness,” Jaxon said. “Can you think of any way to stop it?” He hesitated, before adding, “Someone has. Six weeks ago someone giving orders to Special Forces troops tried to take us. They promised treatment, if we’d work for them.”
“You should have taken them up on their offer.” Kentley’s dark eyes were grave. “I’ve watched three of my best friends succumb. They were the only ones who hadn’t been murdered.”
“Then you know about the extermination?” Reese said.
Kentley arose, nodding. “I know they’ve killed everyone who left Colony 6.”
“Not just those who left.” Reese’s voice was tight, and Jaxon could tell she was holding back fury. “Everyone who stayed too. At least everyone with an ability. And now they’re paying bonuses for women there to have more children.”
The doctor gaped at them. “But why would they do that?”
“Because they need fifty thousand people in each of the six colonies to support everyone on the outside,” Reese said. “The colonies grow most of the food and mine most of the raw materials for the CORE. Then we take the best and give them back leftovers and pretend it’s charity. Meanwhile, the Elite glut themselves on the taxes we supposedly pay to support the colonies. It’s all a huge lie.”
Understanding dawned on Kentley’s face. “You mean, they really aren’t trying to integrate the colonies?” he asked. “They aren’t freeing youngsters as they prove they can support themselves?”
Jaxon shook his head. “No. Sometimes they move people around to give the illusion that people leave, but they keep them all in the colonies to replace their parents in the fields or factories as they die. After the murders, Colony 6 only has about forty thousand people left. So that’s why they’re paying the women bonuses to have more children.”
Kentley’s shoulder slumped, and he seemed to age before them. “I had no idea, but it explains so much. Why they rarely allow visits, why we never meet anyone who came from a colony, except . . .”
“Except you freaks,” Nova said. “Everyone in the underground knows that. It’s old news. Colony 6 was the experiment. The failed experiment. That’s why we gotta do more. Get ready to fight. To free the colonies and everyone.”
“Yes!” Thane exclaimed, and Nova smiled at him.
Jaxon studied the doctor’s face before adding, “That’s why you have to come with us. We’re going to need all the help we can get. We”—he motioned to Reese and Eagle—“have abilities, and there are others like us. If you can help find something that will alleviate the symptoms of the madness, we can use our gifts to find out who’s responsible and fix what’s wrong with the CORE.” Without another Breakdown, Jaxon meant. He had to believe they could protect people while freeing them.
“Maybe it’s possible.” Dr. Kentley rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “But only if I had a sample of the drug they gave us. I’ve tried using our blood and a million other things, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint it.”
“You have to try again,” Jaxon insisted. “Come with us.”
“I can’t.” Dr. Kentley backed to the door.
Jaxon kept pace with him. “At least talk to El Cerebro. Now that the implant is required, we’ll need help taking them back out. Too many are dying.”
Kentley stopped, his eyes sweeping over them. “Come with me. I’ll show you why I can’t leave.”
Jaxon glanced back at Reese. She had her gun drawn
and pointed at the other man, who had arisen from the table. He held up his hands submissively. “Just going along with you. You have my gun, remember?” He gave her a tight smile. At Reese’s nod, he moved to join Jaxon and Kentley at the door.
“Stay with Eagle,” Jaxon told Nova. “And we’ll need you to look after our supplies.” Mostly he meant their blues and Eagle’s equipment.
Nova glared at him until Reese gave her a small back up pistol, and then she nodded in agreement. “Fine.”
“You stay too, Thane,” Dr. Kentley said. “They’re already searching for us in the empty zones. You’re safer here.” Thane glanced at Nova and nodded.
Kentley’s voice rose. “Debs, can you come here?”
The old woman appeared outside the door. “I’m bringing a tray in a minute,” she told him.
He shook his head. “I’m taking them to the cave. Watch their friend. I’ve given him something to speed up blood production, but when the sedative wears off, he’ll need a lot of water.”
A line of irritation formed on her brow “But you haven’t eaten. You don’t need to go back there now.”
“Yes, I do.” The doctor pushed past her.
Jaxon glanced again at Eagle. He was still pale, but there was nothing they could do about getting back to Amarillo City before he woke anyway. They might as well see what the doctor thought was more important than freeing the three hundred thousand people in the colonies. Not that it mattered. One way or the other, Dr. Kentley was going with them to see El Cerebro.
Chapter 12
NOVA WAS GLAD she’d stayed behind when the old grandmother brought them a tray of foods that included fresh vegetables and fruits she didn’t recognize. In the underground they mostly ate readymeals or leftovers from restaurants who traded with El Cerebro, so this was a decided treat.
Thane laughed at her. “You act as if you didn’t already eat two readymeals.”
“You’re just as bad.”
“It’s good food. I always love coming back here.” He puffed his chest, making him look older. “But I’m getting a CivID soon. A real one.”
“Like that’s anything to be proud of,” Nova scoffed. “It’s nothing but a dog collar.”
He shrugged. “You try and earn credits without one. They catch me now, and I’ll end up in a colony.”
He was right. She looked away from him and concentrated on her food.
Ever since she’d set foot in the house, memories assaulted her. After her father’s death, when her uncle had brought her here, she’d been a legal, non-colony citizen of the CORE. Her father had paid for her freedom from Colony 4 with his trips into the desolation zones to search for new tech, so she wouldn’t have to mine oil and make plastic, which would eventually kill her as it had her mother. Nova’s freedom for her father’s death. The price had been too high.
Back then, she’d been angry even before coming here. Angry because her mother was dead and her father was growing sicker. But after he was gone, the desperation had made her try to attack the enforcer division with nothing but rocks and a knife. Her uncle had forced her to stay here for protection until she was fit to join him in the underground. Every now and then when she did something stupid, he threatened to send her back. She’d always shuddered.
But this house, this place, wasn’t all bad; she remembered that now. Beyond the haze of pain, there had been a much younger Thane, who had tried to make her laugh. And other children. She remembered playing in the yard and plotting revenge against the CORE. She remembered Thane’s mother, how she’d smelled when she’d put her arms around Nova one night when she’d tried to run away.
“I want to see my old room,” she said.
Thane nodded. “Okay. Come on.”
She glanced at Eagle, who appeared to be sleeping.
“He’s okay,” Thane assured her.
She went up the stairs first, letting memory guide her. The house was small, and there was no indoor plumbing since they were in an empty zone, but somehow it was large enough for three bedrooms. She passed up the larger one on the right and went into the tiny room at the end of the hallway. The room was exactly as she remembered, with two sets of mismatched bunkbeds, a metal one with peeling blue paint and one made of scarred wood. There was really no room for anything on the white walls, though someone had drawn on the white ceiling.
She sat on the bottom bunk of the blue bed. “This was where I slept.”
“You never talked.” Thane sat close to her, so close that their legs were touching.
Her gaze flew to his. He was cute, she had to admit, and she liked him, even after he’d pulled that stupid blindfold stunt. His black hair curled slightly at the ends, and his large nose made him look strong and confident, despite his thinness. But his eyes were his best feature, a warm brown that seemed to understand and forgive her even when she was being rude.
She smiled. “You tried to make us laugh. All of us.”
“They’re gone now. The others, I mean.”
“Dead?” There had been at least six children here then.
He shook his head. “They’re still around. Most of them. Out there somewhere. This house isn’t big enough for all the fringers who live in the empty zones. It’s mostly for children in emergencies.”
Nova nodded. “In Amarillo City, I live in the underground. It’s kind of like your tunnels but deeper. They used them for trains and they called it the subway—back before the sky trains were made.” That was so far before Breakdown that even the oldest people couldn’t remember knowing anyone who’d ever used a subway train.
Thane looked like he was going to say something, but he didn’t, and Nova guessed that he was protecting someone or something. Probably they had a safe place in the tunnels too. Was that where the doctor was taking Reese and Jaxon?
“Where is the cave?” she asked, watching him carefully.
Thane shrugged. “It’s not too far. I’ve only been there once, though. That man who was here earlier eating, the one your friend recognized? It’s where his group lives.” He frowned. “They haven’t been here long. They were hoping to join our group, but some of them are sick.”
“Sick with what?”
“Radiation poisoning.”
With the words, Nova suddenly couldn’t find air. “They went into the desolation zones?”
“I guess. Or lived too near.”
“My dad died because of radiation.”
“I’m sorry.” Thane took her hand, his thumb rubbing over her palm. She didn’t pull away.
“What about your mom?” She had to know.
His eyes dropped, and his thumb stopped moving. “They caught her last year when she went to help a couple who were expecting an illegal child. They sent her to Colony 4. We haven’t seen her since. We’ve been trying to figure out how to contact her. We don’t even know if she’s alive.”
“I’m sorry. She was nice. I-I remember the way she smelled.”
“Like lilacs. It was her favorite fragrance.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet, so she had to look up to see his eyes. She still couldn’t breathe, but it was because of him now and not their conversation. If she were up to telling the truth, she’d been waiting for this moment since she bested him on his porch.
“I remember other things too,” she said. “Like how you tried to kiss me.”
He laughed. “I tried to kiss all the girls back then. It made them scream and run away.”
“And now?”
He stepped closer. One of his hands entwined in her hair. “I guess I grew up.”
Nova had kissed plenty of boys in the underground, but most of those chased her because she was El Cerebro’s ward. She didn’t even really want to kiss them. It was a matter of curiosity. But she wanted to kiss Thane.
“You can try now,” she said, arching her neck to push her head against his fingers, still tangled in her hair and now gently massaging her scalp.
He grinned. “I don’t want to chase you away.”<
br />
“Well, I am going back to the underground, but that doesn’t mean you’re chasing me away. You can always come find me there.”
Was he going to kiss her or not? Anyway, she wasn’t going to wait around. She wasn’t a beggar, even though she probably looked like it right now. Kissing him would probably be no different than the smelly, annoying boys back home.
She had taken two steps toward the door when he pulled her back, encircling her into his arms. “You pulled a knife on me.”
“You made me wear a blindfold.”
His laugh made her insides do funny things. “We’re even then,” he said.
His lips met hers, and it wasn’t at all like the other boys. He was soft and gentle, and he didn’t try to take liberties with his hands, liberties that might have made El Cerebro dole out punishments if she told him about the attempts.
Nova put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
Chapter 13
“HOW FAR IS this cave?” Reese asked. She didn’t like being separated from Eagle and Nova, but she had to admit to being curious.
“Not far. Another kilometer maybe.” Dr. Kentley glanced her way. “It’s not really a cave, though. It’s manmade, pre-Breakdown. Apparently, it was a resort at one time. It has a passageway that leads to a cliff overlooking the ocean.”
The taller man from the table was leading the way, and Reese felt a little guilty for keeping his gun, but she still didn’t trust him. She also had her own gun and the assault rifle Nova had rescued from the C-lodge. Jaxon carried his weapons as well, but in the nyckelira case and in his holster. Kentley had eyed the case in puzzlement a few times but hadn’t commented on Jaxon’s apparently incongruous burden.
A low growl was all the warning they had before a streak leapt from behind a mound of refuse. The creature landed on the fringer in front of them, knocking him to the ground. The man cried out, bringing his hands up to protect himself. The doglike animal had two misshapen heads, one as large as a bear, the other the size of a poodle. Both heads were covered in a half meter of hair. The big jaws clamped down on both the fringer’s arms, while the small one went for his neck. A stench from the creature wafted over them, threatening to gag Reese.
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