by Brenda Poppy
Invigorated by her own internal monologue, Burn felt a renewed clarity and sense of purpose for her mission. So when she was stopped by a PeaceBot, which demanded to know her name and reason for being there, she didn’t hesitate with her lie. It came out so easily that she nearly believed it herself, and she was unsurprised when the PeaceBot accepted it and moved on.
She knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this, shouldn’t find the lies and espionage thrilling, but part of her did. The other part, of course, still thought the plan could fail at any moment, but she shut that part away, giving herself over to the optimism.
Soon enough, they arrived at the first air intake point. Without speaking, Burn positioned herself a few paces away from Hale, centering her mind and opening it up to the world around her. It was easier here than down below, where the noise of the crowds and the whirring of machines bit into her concentration. Here it was calm, with fewer footsteps treading the clean streets and light noises wafting unhindered through the crisp air.
Hale worked slowly and methodically, first typing a series of digits into the panel, then opening it up to reveal the ventilation system within. Burn knew nothing about airflow technologies or piping systems, so the whole thing merely looked like a jumble of fans and wires and tubes to her, but Hale seemed to know what he was doing.
Drawing one of the small explosives from his bag, he stuck it firmly to the base of one of the larger pipes. Closing the cavity, he typed another sequence on the panel before turning to Burn with a nod.
“Aren’t you going to set it off?” she asked quietly, moving closer to him so her words wouldn’t be overheard.
“I’ll do it once they’re all set and we’re clear of the area. For now, I’ve changed the code so no one will be able to open it. Come on. We’ve still got four more to do.” Turning away, he took off in the opposite direction.
They walked for a few minutes before stopping and repeating the process. Once again, Burn heard no one approach, and Hale was able to place the explosive with ease.
It all felt too simple somehow, like they should have had to jump through more hoops in order to deal so much damage. Maybe these people had too much faith in their own invincibility to properly protect their assets – or maybe the hard part was still to come. Burn had a feeling it was the latter.
Her suspicions were confirmed when they reached the third intake point. Located along a busy pedestrian avenue, the site had nearly constant foot traffic – a fact which made Burn’s job all the more difficult.
This time, before beginning, Burn and Hale assessed the crowd, leaning lazily against the wall and scanning the street for any sign of danger. Sensing none, they got to work. Unlike before, Burn stayed close to Hale, using her body as a shield to hide his actions. Her mind, however, combed the tier, searching for enemies.
All was quiet, calm, normal – until it wasn’t. Burn froze as the sounds trickled into her consciousness. Hard soles clicking on pavement with military precision. Two pairs of boots moving in a synchronized rhythm. Loaded guns jostling merrily against hips, swaying in time to the steps. Burn knew these sounds all too well, and a warning screamed inside her mind, telling her to run.
Instead, she turned stiffly to Hale, whispering the words they had both feared: “They’re coming.”
Hale understood in an instant. Doubling his speed, he slammed the explosive into place with a concerning amount of force, then scrambled to fit the cover back onto its track. He just managed to close the panel and hastily type in a set of numbers before a pair of officers turned the corner onto their lane.
Not wanting to be spotted at the scene of the crime, the pair turned their backs to the men and walked briskly into the crowd.
“Are they still behind us?” Hale asked a minute later, his voice low and serious.
Burn listened to the road at their back for a beat before responding. “They’re half a block away but moving toward us. They haven’t picked up their pace, though.”
“Good,” he declared with a bark. “We’ll carry on as planned. The next stop is only a few streets away.”
Burn’s heart was pounding in her chest. Her mind was telling her to flee, to get out of the heavens and back to safety. Still, she knew they had to finish this. If they failed – or if they gave up now – there wouldn’t be another chance. The Peace Force would make sure of it. So, against her better judgment, she remained on course, sticking to Hale’s side as he wove steadily through the crowd.
They propelled themselves across the level, their pace quick and light as they veered around residents and skirted food carts. Rounding another corner, they finally caught sight of the fourth intake point – along with the two Peace Officers stationed in front of it.
Even at a glance, Burn could tell these men were on high alert, scanning the crowd for signs of a threat. At the same time, the officers at their backs were gaining ground, drawing nearer and nearer to their position.
They were surrounded.
“Got any ideas?” Burn asked, trying hard not to panic.
“One or two. Do you trust me?” Hale whispered in reply.
Burn wanted to say no. She did not, in fact, trust Hale – especially in a life-or-death situation. But with no other ideas springing to mind, he appeared to be her only option. So she nodded, handing over control to a man who considered violence a go-to solution. She knew she was going to regret that.
Without another word, Hale walked forward, sauntering toward the officers guarding the intake valve. Burn followed in his wake, uncertain of his plan and dreading the outcome.
As soon as the officers spotted them, they rose to attention, pointing then shouting in their direction.
“Hey, you two! Stop! We need to ask you some questions.”
That was the last coherent thing Burn heard before Hale did something stupid. Reaching into his bag, he grabbed the two remaining explosives and chucked them toward the ventilation system. They landed lightly at the officers’ feet.
He bellowed something that sounded like “run,” and the pair sprinted in the opposite direction. An instant later, a series of booms echoed through the tier as all five explosives were triggered, sending smoke and screams of fear into the air around them.
They didn’t have a chance to look back and take stock of what they’d done. Their only goal now was to flee, to lose themselves in the smoke and chaos. With Hale in the lead and Burn trying to keep up, they darted through street after street, taking sharp turns and swerving through alleys in an attempt to escape. Yet several of the Peace Officers still pursued them, tracking them through the city.
That was when Hale made his final mistake. Leading them around another corner and down a secluded lane, they suddenly found themselves facing a dead end, with ugly brick walls barring any means of escape. Burn didn’t even have time to reach into her bag for one of Scar’s gadgets before the Peace Officers arrived, trapping them where they stood.
Hale, however, was never one to stay still. He lunged for one of the officers, no doubt hoping his brute strength would overwhelm the man, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, in one graceful movement the officer reached out and stunned him, sending powerful currents of electricity coursing through his large form. His body vibrated with the energy for a moment before his limbs went limp and he passed out, landing with a thud on the hard ground.
Sensing that the jig was up, Burn raised her hands in submission and sank to her knees. Seizing on her surrender, they approached, tearing away her bag and binding her hands in front of her. With a gun trained on her in warning, they lowered her mask, gagged her, and forced her up, leading her away to her fate.
Chapter 3
Burn wasn’t dead. That was the first thing she noticed. Or, if she was dead, the afterlife was dreadfully disappointing. Her ideas of heaven, although not fully fleshed out, had been brighter, livelier, and had definitely not included the smell of sweet, dusty earth.
Lying on her back, she looked up and waited for her vision to stop
spinning, wiggling her fingers and toes to make sure all appendages were accounted for. Once the world had resolved around her, she raised her head to take in her surroundings, bringing herself up to a sitting position.
She appeared to be in some kind of tunnel, a long dark passageway that led in one direction. There was, in fact, a light peeking out at the end, so it was possible she was in an afterlife weigh station, just a stopping point along the road to her final destination. But Burn highly doubted that. For one thing, she was certain that any sort of limbo couldn’t possibly have so much sand.
The granulated substance covered her, sticking to her hands and arms, and already clinging to her tongue. She realized that her gag had come undone, allowing the sand to infiltrate her mouth and lodge itself in the deepest corners. She spat a few times, trying to rid it from her mouth – and failing miserably.
She remembered falling. It had felt like she’d been falling for an eternity, but it had probably only been a few seconds. Just out of sight of the Pit’s entrance, the tunnel had tapered and curved, turning into a pseudo slide. She had bumped along its smooth steel sides, somersaulting through the darkness before regaining equilibrium. Then she had slid – farther and farther – until she’d lost all sense of time and place. In the end, she had fallen once again, shooting from the slide onto the sand where she currently sat.
As if echoing her thoughts, a loud clunking noise abruptly issued from overhead. She scrambled out of the way just in time as a large object dropped from the ceiling and landed with a thud on the sand next to her. Surprise tinged with fear coursed through her already tense body, temporarily immobilizing her.
Within a few moments, however, her curiosity overcame her sense of caution, and she inched closer to the object. It was dim in the tunnel, but she could just make out its outlines, tracing the shape of a head, a torso, and a pair of legs.
The figure remained limp, unconscious, and crumpled into a ball. Burn crawled closer, her still-bound hands making her movements clumsy and slow. She gently reached out and rolled the figure over onto his back, revealing his face. Hale.
Of course it was Hale. The Peace Officers must have chucked him down right after she’d jumped, sending him to his “death” without even waiting for him to come back around. How nice of them, Burn thought acidly.
Burn doubted they’d be throwing anyone else down to join them, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Grunting with the effort, she gradually dragged Hale’s body away from the chute, placing him a few feet down the tunnel. Then she got to work on the ropes that bound his hands. It was slow going, with her own hands painfully fused together, but she ultimately managed to free him before going to work on his gag.
Honestly, she would have preferred to keep him bound and gagged, but after her near-death experience, she was feeling benevolent. She also figured that whatever was coming next, it would help to have someone by her side. Sure, Hale could be a pain, but at least he had a gift that would come in handy if they found themselves in a dicey situation. If he ever woke up, that was.
Burn gave Hale a minute to come around. Then another. By the third minute, she was actively shaking the large man in an attempt to speed his return to consciousness.
As Burn transitioned to lightly slapping Hale on the cheek, he finally began to wake, moaning groggily before opening his eyes. Then he lurched to attention, his fists held out before him as if daring the tunnel to fight. Surprised by his sudden movement, Burn teetered and fell backward, sending up a light dusting of sand as her butt hit the ground.
“Hale!” she shouted, both to get his attention and to chastise him for sending her sprawling. Hale turned around swiftly, aiming his fists in her direction. “Put the weapons down,” she said gently, trying to sound calm and reassuring.
Hale squinted through the darkness. “Burn? Is that you? What happened? Where are we?”
So many questions.
“Yes, it’s me,” Burn sighed. “You got stunned by a bunch of armed Peace Officers and passed out before being thrown down the Pit. And I have no idea where we are. Now, could you please untie me? I’m losing feeling in my hands.”
She swung herself around to her knees and crawled over to Hale, holding out her hands for his assistance. He mercifully obliged, leaning over to untie her, and Burn savored her newfound freedom, wiggling her fingers and wrists to banish the pins and needles.
“I think we’re somewhere under the city,” she continued, voicing her most likely theory. “That chute took us down quite a ways, but it also took us out, away from the city center.” She pointed toward the small light at the end of the tunnel, directing Hale’s gaze. “If I had to guess, that’s beyond the reach of the dome. That’s the wildlands.”
Neither of them spoke, both lost in thought as they considered the light and what it meant. Kasis was an uninhabitable planet, with a harsh atmosphere and unnatural levels of radiation. That’s why they’d built the dome and put the eponymous city underneath it. The dome kept them safe, and life could not exist beyond it. At least that’s what they’d been told for centuries. Yet here they were – alive.
“What do you think’s out there?” Hale asked, his eyes still trained on the dot of light.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Getting to her feet, Burn started toward the mouth of the tunnel. After a few seconds, she heard Hale leverage himself up and follow her lead.
The walk took longer than Burn had anticipated. The light grew steadily as they approached the entrance, but it didn’t betray any hint of the world beyond. All they could see was sunlight, bright and merciless, as if they were walking directly into the planet’s twin suns.
Burn instinctively reached up for her goggles to shield her eyes from the light. Her hands grazed worn leather, and a sharp thrill of hope buzzed through her as she realized that the Peace Officers had forgotten to remove them. With the messaging features that Scar had added to the lenses, it was possible she could contact her sister. She had no idea how Scar could help, but Burn might at least be able to tell her that she was alive.
With shaking hands, she lowered the goggles over her eyes. The suns’ light dimmed – but so did any hope of making contact with the world above. A blinking error message told her in no uncertain terms that the goggles couldn’t connect to the network. They were too far out, too far away from life and people – and Scar. The loss of hope was even worse than its total absence, and Burn’s face crumpled in defeat.
Hale glanced over at her, the light in the tunnel now bright enough for him to make out her features, but he said nothing. Instead, he picked up his pace, putting distance between them. Burn gathered herself, stowing her emotions in the back of her mind before picking up her own pace to join him.
The farther they walked, the more difficult their movements became. Each step was harder than the last, and Burn’s brain began to feel fuzzy around the edges. Her head pounded to the beat of her steps, sending painful pulses across her temples. On the upside, she had forgotten about Scar and the Lunaria and the fact that she might now be separated from them forever. But on the downside, she couldn’t quite remember where they were going – or why.
She glanced up at Hale, who was breathing heavily despite their sedate pace. His face was screwed up in concentration, like he was trying to hold onto something that was rapidly slipping away, and the sight made Burn giggle. She knew she should have been concerned, that something was clearly happening to both of them as they neared the entrance, but she could no longer muster the will to care.
With Burn on the verge of hysteria and Hale sweating from exertion, they finally reached the end of the tunnel. What they saw stopped them in their tracks.
Sand. Dunes of it climbed like mountains in the distance and clouds of it swirled in eddies around their feet. It was all they could see, stretching out until it met the blue-gray sky on the horizon. Burn was transfixed. There was nothing and no one amidst that forlorn expanse of sunbaked sea. It was only them, alone in the
vast nothingness. For some reason, the thought made Burn break out into an uncontrollable fit of laugher.
“What’s so funny?” Hale grunted, his face red.
“I…have...no idea,” Burn wheezed in between peals of laughter.
“It’s the air out here,” came a voice to their left, and the pair immediately turned to see who had spoken. Burn’s eyes came to rest on an incredibly freckled redhead in a golden straw hat. He was leaning against a wooden cart that had been expertly tucked around the side of the tunnel.
“Wha…what?” Hale stuttered, the effort of speaking clearly draining him.
“The air here has a different chemical makeup than in the dome,” the man drawled, maintaining his position against the cart. “You’ll get used to it in time. In fact, I don’t even notice it anymore. But it can be a doozy those first few days. Really knocks you on your ass, if you know what I mean.”
Burn giggled girlishly at his statement, but she clamped her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide her mirth. Hale just stared, the same confused expression still plastered over his face.
“Now, I think you two had better come with me,” the man said, straightening. He reached around behind him to grab something from the cart and twisted back toward them, a rifle in his hands. “I don’t intend you any harm, but it is in everyone’s best interest if you join me.”
Hale, no longer fully in his right mind, lunged forward. Burn didn’t know what his intention was – to rip the gun out of the man’s hands, to flee, to tackle him to the ground – but he accomplished none of those things. Instead, he toppled over onto a heap of sand, which made Burn laugh even harder.
The freckled man sighed, taking in Hale’s immobile form and Burn’s deranged state. He muttered something under his breath, which Burn’s sensitive ears naturally picked up: “I gotta stop volunteering for Pit duty.” Slinging the rifle over his back, he began to drag Hale through the sand.
