A Dangerous Game

by Madeline Dyer

  I guide him to the door and then help him in before jumping into the truck bed, make space for the motorbike. It’s only when I’ve cleared the space that I realize there’s no ramp in the truck. It must be at Nbutai. I curse. There’s no way to load the motorbike into the bed. It’s got to be about six hundred pounds, and I can lift a bike when it’s on its side into the upright position. But I can’t lift it off the ground.

  My heart squeezes, and I look around. The trees. They’ll have to do.

  As quickly as I can, I hide the bike and the helmet. Finn watches me. When I get back in, he says he’ll make sure Rahn brings a team back to collect it. I don’t know how he’ll make sure Rahn does that, but I smile.

  “How are you feeling now?” I ask as I drive off. I glance at the clock on the truck’s dashboard. We’re way past the meeting time. Rahn’s going to be angry. Very angry.

  Finn grimaces. Enough of an answer.

  “Why were you in the town?” I ask. “You’d already got the food.”

  “Needed a tin-opener.” He shuts his eyes.

  I sigh. I’ve got one on my Swiss army knife.

  I tap my nails on the wheel as I drive. Dust kicks up behind us. I keep an eye out for the Enhanced.

  “The tarpaulin,” Finn says suddenly.

  I glance at him. “What?”

  “You were under the tarpaulin.” He snorts, then winces and clenches the edge of his seat so hard his knuckles go even whiter than the rest of his skin.

  I breathe out hard, looking around. “This is the meeting point, right?” I ask when we get there.

  Finn nods.

  But there’s no one here.

  “We’re far too late.” Finn grimaces and touches the side of his head gingerly. “They’ll have started walking.”

  “Then we’ll pick them up,” I say, pulling the truck over uneven ground.

  I steer around the potholes and boulders as best as I can, but I scrape the underside twice as I navigate over high ridges. Then we’re going faster, and—

  I slam on the brakes.

  Finn yells out.

  I cut the engine and grab the gun from my belt.

  “What is it?” He looks at me, but his eyes don’t look focused.

  I stare straight ahead. Two fuel cans and a shoulder bag.

  I recognize the cans. They’re ours. Seven filled one of them.

  A rank taste fills my mouth.

  “Stay here,” I say to Finn as I jump out. The Luger is slippery with sweat in my hand.

  I look around carefully. There’s no one here now. Then I run toward the cans. They’re full. I’m pretty sure one of them is definitely the one Seven filled up.

  I straighten up and look ahead. There’s something else up there.

  Rushing noises fill my ears as I head over to the shape. A rucksack. I recognize it instantly: Seven’s survival bag.

  “No,” I whisper, turning. I pull my dark glasses off and feel sicker. My hair falls in front of my eyes, and I shove it back.

  Then I see the dark area not far away.

  Blood. A splattering of it against the rocks to my right. And a trail. I clap a hand to my mouth, try to keep calm.

  The sun is bright, and I shield my eyes from it with a hand that shakes almost as much as Finn was. I look back at him in the truck, then swallow hard. I take one last look at the shoulder bag, the fuel cans, and Seven’s survival bag. Then I hurry back to Finn.

  “They’ve got Seven,” I tell him as I climb into the cab. It’s the only explanation. “Possibly the others too.”

  “We need to go back to the town,” Finn says as I drive round and round the area looking for more signs. My heart beats far too fast and, twice, I think I’m going to throw up.

  “No,” I say. “You’re injured. Too injured.” I push my hair back, wish I had an elastic band for it.

  I narrow my eyes, trying to see better, but my vision’s blurry with horror. We haven’t come across any other patches of blood, I keep reminding myself. It was the stuff Seven had that was scattered about—plus the extra fuel can. Who had that? Is it just Seven who’s been caught? Has she definitely been? And the others too? They could’ve kept hold of their bags.

  But they wouldn’t, I know that.

  They’d fight, and to fight, you can’t be holding stuff. So maybe it was just Seven. Did she meet up with any of the others in the town—whichever of them was getting the other can filled—and collect it, then go off on her own and get caught?

  But the others aren’t here either.

  So what happened? Were the others caught in the town, after Seven had got the extra can, and Rahn told the Enhanced where the meeting point was, and they came out, found Seven, and chased her before grabbing her? And the blood—whose blood is that? Hers?

  A radio—I need a radio. Need to listen for an announcement.

  But I haven’t got a radio. I look at Finn. Can’t see one on him.

  I change direction. “I’ll take you back to Nbutai,” I say, and I hate saying the words. Because I’m leaving them—likely leaving them all in an Enhanced compound.

  But I can’t do a rescue mission on my own. I need people. Six people are generally needed to get one person back—and even then it doesn’t always work. I swallow hard. And we’ve possibly got four people who’ve been caught. So, twenty-four of us to get them back? But we haven’t got that many! We haven’t. Gods.

  But you’re still leaving Seven and Katya and Corin and Rahn behind, in trouble.

  Just like you did at D’Elinous.

  The only difference is you haven’t lied this time.

  I push the voice away and drive faster and faster. I’ve got no choice. I have to get help. If I go in alone, there’s no way I’ll get any of them back.

  But I should’ve stayed with Seven when I saw her. Should’ve stuck to my plan. Should’ve protected her.

  But then Finn would’ve been captured. I groan.

  And now Seven has been…and the others too? Or maybe they’re trying to get her out—and, in driving away, I’m taking away their means of escape. Hell.

  I swear loudly, and Finn looks at me. He still looks queasy and his eyes still don’t look like they’re focusing properly. He looks vague.

  No. I’ve got to get him back to Nbutai. I don’t know what’s happened to the others. I can’t put Finn in danger on the chance that Rahn, Katya, and Corin have launched into a rescue mission.

  Déjà vu fills me as I drive back to Nbutai. It’s just like when I had Nico, Enhanced, in the back. Shit.

  Got to keep breathing, I remind myself. Got to. Then I realize I should’ve picked up the fuel cans, the shoulder bag, and Seven’s survival bag—not left them out there. But it’s too late now. And the Enhanced will probably go back, claim the items.

  Finn and I make it back to Nbutai in record time, and he spills out of the cab, throwing up again.

  “I knew you’d gone!” Five says, her voice triumphant when she sees me. “Knew you’d defied Rahn and—” Her face falls. “What is it?”

  I shake my head. “They’ve been caught.”

  We load another of the trucks as quickly as we can, making plans. I take charge because there’s no one here to challenge me. Anyway, I’m a natural leader, and I’m the obvious choice.

  Esther rushes over to us as we’re packing more ammunition. “Come, listen to this—Yani’s got the radio working, and you need to listen.”

  “What is it?” Elf asks.

  She shakes her head, and I see she’s wearing Katya’s Seer pendant. Alarm filters through me. “All of you, come on—they’ll repeat it and….”

  And then she’s running back, and we follow her to the main fire. My heart thrums.

  Marouska and Yani have a radio each—though I think only Yani’s one is working. They’re sitting near the flames, and we all crowd around. Yani has an earpiece to his ear; his eyes are cold.

  We join them.

  “What is it?” I demand.

  Three p
ushes past me, and I see he’s got one of his homemade devices in his hand. An amplifier. He attaches it to the foxhole radio, and the sounds grow.

  Five slumps to the floor, tears pouring down her face.

  “Five?” I crouch next to her, and Elf goes to her other side, puts an arm around her. Together, we try to hold her up.

  The voice is crackly. At first, I can’t make the words out. But then they get stronger—or the signal, the line, whatever it is—gets stronger, and the words are clearer than we’ve ever heard them.

  “Later today, we’ll have the supervisor of New Kimearo speaking on the remarkable conversion of one formerly Untamed woman. As Anna told us earlier, this conversion is one of the first in the area where the poor, wild individual asked for help herself. She appeared neither frightened nor scared—not controlled by negative emotions—but was happy and confident. ‘Certain’ is the word that the supervisor used in his initial press release last night. She willingly joined us.”

  I go cold. Seven willingly joined them? But no—she wouldn’t. And there was blood.

  “Such an event could indicate that the Untamed are developing awareness of their own plight and are wanting to rectify it. Should that be the case, this woman’s willingness to join us could mark a—”

  “What the hell?” Elf says. “Willing conversion?”

  Everyone starts talking.

  “Shh!” Three growls. I see Paul behind him, fire in his eyes.

  We fall silent. The radio hisses. Just when I’m sure the line has gone, we get a woman’s voice again. A different woman, I think. At first, I think the report’s moved onto a different broadcast—music or something, because the Enhanced like their music, they say music is good, calming—but then I pick out the words daughter and resemblance.

  “Wait? Is that…?” Paul points at the radio, as if the device is going to tell us.

  And we all listen again. Three picks up the radio and twists something. A tinny sound follows, then crackling, interference, and….

  “…along with the capture of an Untamed girl with a strong family resemblance to the first woman… The daughter is reported to have shot Miles Forthright in a non-fatal injury… For now, her name is being withheld at the request of….”

  “Seven.” I can barely breathe. “Seven’s been caught.” I turn and look at them. “And Katya’s converted willingly?”

  “She wouldn’t,” I say. “Katya wouldn’t. It’s not about her, that report.” I shake my head firmly, as if by doing the action, I can make it true. “Can’t be.”

  Kayden nods so hard something in his neck clicks.

  Esther clears her throat, looks uncomfortable. “She was acting strangely earlier though. Before she left. She gave me her pendant.” She looks toward Paul. “Shouldn’t you have it?”

  He turns away. “She gave it to you.”

  “But she hasn’t left us,” I say. “She’ll be back….”

  Katya wouldn’t leave the Nbutai group without a Seer, I’m sure of that. She just wouldn’t. That would be putting us all in danger. We were attacked at D’Elinous because we had no active Seer. Seers are important.

  And why would she abandon her children? I breathe out hard. She loves her children, that’s obvious. Maybe…maybe she saw Seven get captured and she pretended to convert, to get her daughter out?

  I nod. Yes, that’s more believable. Maybe it was part of the plan—and Rahn and Corin are trying to get Seven out too? But we can’t count on it.

  I flex my fingers.

  “We need to go and get them,” I say. “Rescue mission.”

  Yani’s eyes are dark. “But if she’s willingly converted, that’ll make it all the more harder to get her out.”

  I wave away his words. “We stick together. Always.” I breathe out slowly, and waves of tiredness dance in front of me. “Come on. We need to get going. Same plan as before. The radio report hasn’t changed anything. I’m leading the extraction team.”

  Most of us head out of the Sarrs’ hut and toward the loaded truck.

  I look at the others. “There’s a good chance Rahn and Corin have been caught too—it just hasn’t been announced yet. We’re most likely not going to be able to extract them all. So, Katya’s our priority, because she’s our Seer. Okay?” I don’t give anyone a chance to speak before I continue, but I see the looks that Elf and Esther give me. “Plus, whichever of them are the least-converted in their minds…any of them who help us, that are still fighting the augmenters and everything.” I gesture toward the truck, hoping that will be Seven and Corin. A huge part of me doesn’t want to rescue Rahn.

  Sajo looks at me hard. “Are you the best person to lead an extraction? I mean, after what happened last time.”

  Heat floods my face. “You mean when I shot my sister because you knocked me?” I stare at him, parts of me going numb. “Convenient how easy it is to forget the facts, isn’t it?”

  And, suddenly, I want to hurt him. He’s got off scot-free. No one’s been questioning his suitability—yet he thinks he can do that to me, control me, make me feel bad—when he was the one who caused my sister’s death. Him. Yes.

  Not me.

  But you pulled the trigger.

  And my aim is good. I lift my head up higher. It was Sajo. Five was right—it wasn’t my fault!

  “Is this an extraction or a save-them-whichever-way-you-can mission—for the others?” Kayden asks. “Not Katya.”

  The thought of killing Seven or Corin makes my stomach curdle. But, no, it won’t come to that.

  I won’t let it.

  Sajo’s not coming.

  “Death is better than being one of them,” Elf says quietly. He meets my eyes a second later. I’m glad he’s coming with me.

  Kayden’s already climbing into the truck’s cab. Three, Esther, and Yani jump into the truck bed. I look around, see Paul checking his survival bag; he’s coming too.

  I count on my fingers—ideally, we need more people when we’re aiming to rescue more than one person. But we can’t take everyone in case it all goes wrong. And the only other good choice would be Sajo, as Finn’s too injured, but that’s not happening. I think of the dogs, wonder if we can use them.

  “Right. Have we got everything?”

  Just as I’m about to climb into the driver’s seat, I spot movement to my left, far, far away.

  People.

  On foot. In the distance….

  “Shit. Are they Enhanced?”

  Kayden loads his gun quickly, jumping out of the cab, and Sajo passes a firearm to me, along with a round. Irritated, I wonder if he’s going to knock me again.

  “Everyone—get inside.” I look back toward the huts. “Now.” My voice wavers.

  And then it’s just me, Kayden, and Sajo outside. I can hear everyone else in the Sarrs’ hut and Sajo’s. They’re talking. I curse them under my breath.

  Kayden, Sajo, and I move backward, so we’re standing partly under cover. Two of the dogs suddenly run out of the hut toward us, and I grab one, pull him toward me. Kayden gets the other. Then the dogs are still, waiting, waiting with us.

  I watch their ears as the two men approach. Dogs can sense things. I remember how the Sarrs’ terrier barked at the Elf imposter.

  But the dogs aren’t reacting—not badly anyway.

  “It’s—it’s them.” Sajo frowns, and my eyes spin back to the figures.

  I hold my breath, as if that will help me see them better. A moment later, I pick them out: Corin and Rahn.

  I narrow my eyes against the dimming light, trying to pick out more figures behind them.

  But they’re not there.

  As the two men approach, both dogs wag their tails. That makes me feel better.

  We walk out to meet them. The three of us, and the two dogs. I tuck my gun into my belt.

  “What’s happened?” I ask the moment we’re within speaking distance. “They’ve got Katya and Seven?”

  Rahn looks around, then at the two trucks far back, be
hind the huts. “Is Finn not back?”

  “What? Yes. The other one’s parked over there.”

  He swears. “He could’ve picked us up on the way.”

  “They’ve got Seven?” Corin looks stricken. “What the hell?” He takes his dark glasses off and blinks in the light.

  “They announced her capture on the radio.”

  Rahn nods. “The traitor. Like mother like daughter.”

  “Not a traitor. Seven shot one of them,” I say.

  “You know about Katya?” Elf asks, and I jump as I turn, see him behind me. The others are coming out of the huts now.

  “We were with her when it happened,” Rahn says. “She willingly chose them. Turned on us completely.”

  The world reels around me.

  I flush hot. “No. You’re wrong.”

  “Wait.” Corin holds his hand up. Rahn glares at him. “We saw Sev at the first meeting point, and then she was supposed to meet us again at Mountain Rock, when Finn didn’t show with the truck. But she didn’t show there. And they’ve got her?” He swears and runs his hands through his short hair. Then he turns on Rahn. “I told you—I told you we were being followed. And sending her off on her own made her the target… We should’ve stuck together.”

  “What?” Paul roars. “You sent my daughter off on her own, knowing you were being followed?”

  “We weren’t bein’ followed!”

  Then everyone’s talking at once. It’s just a haze of voices, a blur of sound.

  Three points suddenly in the direction of New Kimearo, and the movement somehow seems to slice through the cacophony. “We’ve got to go there! We’ve got to get her back.”

  “No,” Rahn says. “Katya went willingly. If her mindset was converted enough that she left us for them, we’ve got no chance of saving her. And you don’t rescue someone who’s willingly joined them, betrayed us.”

  “I’m talking about Seven! Hell, she shot one—that’s not a willing conversion.”

  I point at the loaded truck. “We were about to head out. We’ve got the stuff for an extraction. I’ve got it all organized. We need to go now.”

  “You’ve got it organized?” Rahn’s eyebrows jump above his glasses. “Remember what I told you.” The warning is obvious, but I ignore it.