by Emily Suvada
I force my eyes open, battling the urge to throw up. I’m in the back of the jeep. We’re tearing down a dirt road through the desert. I catch a glimpse through the window of another cobalt cloud behind us, and my stomach heaves. I scramble to the rear doors and fling them open, letting in a wave of dust and the roar of the cloud.
“She’s back. Hold up!” Anna is awake and kneeling beside me, her eyes wide, her face still pale, a bandage on her chest. There’s an electrode pad humming on my ribs, and Cole is driving. He snaps his head back, meets my eyes, and hits the brakes. I grab the side for balance, the rear doors swinging shut as we skid to a stop.
“Jesus, Cat.” He flings his door open and launches himself out of the driver’s seat, running around to the back, yanking the doors open to stare in at me. “You were dead. You were gone again.” His face is pale, the muscles in his neck tight. “What the hell is happening to you?”
I cough, wiping my mouth. My throat is sore, flecked with dust. “Water.”
“Here,” Anna says, holding out my canteen for me. I take it, my hands shaking, and gulp it dry. The roar of the cloud seems overly loud in my ears, my vision still swimming. I sit back, leaning against the side of the jeep, forcing myself to breathe.
Cole and Anna are both watching me. I can feel Jun Bei’s presence more acutely as I look at them—trace the jigsaw edges of my consciousness where it meets the wall between me and her. Cole and Anna don’t know that she’s still alive. And I can’t tell them yet.
I meet Cole’s eyes, swallowing. He’s worried for me now, but he doesn’t know that the girl he was afraid of is still living inside of me. If we’re going to have any chance of stopping Cartaxus, I’ll need them to trust me.
They’ll never do that if they know the truth.
“Where are the others?” I ask.
“They left for Entropia,” Cole says. “Cartaxus is taking the genehackers, but Regina is putting up a fight. Her people are holed up in the bunker, but Cartaxus has sent troops to bring them out. Lee and Agnes went to help, and they took Mato with them. He’s valuable to central command, just like Lee is. Brink won’t threaten airstrikes if there’s a risk he’ll lose either of them.”
“I need to go there,” I say. “I think I can stop this if I get to the satellite connection in Regina’s lab.”
Anna narrows her eyes. “What the hell is going on with you? You shot yourself.”
I tip the canteen back again, draining the last drops. “I was trying to get my memories back. I thought if I did, I could end this. I don’t remember everything, but I remember enough. This attack can be stopped, but I need to get to a terminal with access to Cartaxus’s network.” I look around. “Where are we?”
“We just got on the road,” Cole says. “We were going to go into a bunker. You were gone, Cat. I know you don’t want to go, but—”
“Is that really what you want to do?” I ask. “Lee’s in Entropia. Were you just going to leave him there?”
“You and Anna are hurt,” Cole says. “There’s nothing we can do. Brink is going to use the scythe—”
“Not if I can stop him,” I say. “I have a plan. I need to get to a terminal, though. There’s one in Regina’s lab—I think I can use it to stop this attack. I just need to get into Entropia.”
“She’s right,” Anna says. “If Lee’s still fighting, maybe we should too. We can’t leave him on his own.”
“We’ll never make it to Entropia,” Cole says. “The troops are surrounding the bunker. We can’t get through. Leoben said he and Agnes almost didn’t make it in, and that was hours ago. Cartaxus has fortified their positions around the checkpoints on the border. It’s locked down. We’d need an army to get in.”
An army. My eyes turn to the sky, where the triphase cloud is rolling across the desert. It thrashes closer, its crackling blue energy slamming into the ground, leaving behind charred earth and gleaming pools of molten glass. Flashes of red in the air above it hint at the drones controlling it.
Jun Bei’s voice whispers in my mind, and the drones tilt in the air, circling, moving toward us.
“What are you doing?” Cole asks, looking warily at the drones.
“I think I know how we can get in,” I say. I’m not the one controlling these drones—Jun Bei is, but I think I know what she’s trying to do. “We need to leave now. We’re going to Entropia, and we need to drive fast.”
Cole looks between me and Anna. “Are you sure? There are troops in Entropia. This is going to be a battle.”
“She looks pretty damn sure,” Anna says. “Come on, Cole. The fight’s out here. Let’s go and help Lee.”
“We could die, Anna,” he says.
She shrugs. “Speak for yourself.”
He shakes his head, dragging his hand over his face.
“I can do this,” I say quietly. “Please. We have to try.”
Cole’s ice-blue eyes hold mine—full of doubt and fear. There’s an abyss of secrets and lies stretching between us. I don’t know if he trusts me, or if he believes that I can save us, but he nods. “Okay, let’s do this.”
He and Anna climb into the front seats, and Cole starts the engine, glancing back in the rearview at the cloud. My ears are ringing, my vision flickering with static. The drones hover behind us, dragging the towering cloud with them, its edges crackling with blue lightning. It slowly picks up pace until it’s moving beside us, far enough away for it not to be a threat to the jeep, but close enough for me to see the earth lifting away around it, the blue lightning arcing down through it, slamming into the ground as it moves. A line of scorched, blackened earth stretches behind it, winding across the desert.
Anna twists around, grinning as she looks through the windows. “Oh, that’s perfect.”
I keep my eyes locked on the cloud, guiding it ahead of us until we’re following it. The jeep’s tires spin on the freshly scorched path, but the engine whines, compensating, surging us forward.
“Holy shit,” Cole says. “You can’t be serious. You really think you can control this thing?”
“I can handle it,” I say, crawling through the back of the jeep, leaning between the two front seats to stare out the windshield at the cloud. Only, it isn’t me controlling those drones. I can feel Jun Bei’s presence, hear whispers of her voice as she guides them, commands beaming from the cuff on my arm.
“This might not be enough to disperse the troops,” Cole says. “I’m not familiar with this weapon. They might have a way to neutralize it.”
“It’ll work,” I say. “We’re not trying to disperse them anyway.”
Ahead of us, the mountain of Entropia’s city inches out of the haze hanging over the desert. The pigeons are still thick in the air above it, the flock stretching for miles, a rippling ocean of black and cobalt. Cartaxus’s trucks have formed a perimeter around the city’s checkpoints, blocking off the only paths through the razorgrass border. There’s no way to get through them, but they’re not protecting the rest of the border, because the mile-wide stretch of razorgrass is impossible to drive through.
But not for us.
The heaving blue cloud surges ahead of us, veering away from the checkpoint, heading for a clear space in the gleaming razorgrass. Cole’s hands tighten on the wheel. “You sure about this? Once we go in, the troops will come after us. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get back out.”
I nod, staring through the windshield, Jun Bei’s voice whispering in my ears as she controls the drones. “Let’s do this.”
The cloud races across the razorgrass, scorching a line of blackened ground through it, wide enough for the jeep, but only barely. I can hear the shriek of the razorgrass against the sides, scratching into the metal. The edges of the cleared path catch alight from the heat of the cloud, billowing thick black smoke into the air. The soldiers stationed at the checkpoint shout, piling into their vehicles, scrambling to respond as we blow past them and through the border. Their engines roar to life, bullets slamming into the sid
e of the jeep, but they’re too far behind to catch us.
“The tires can’t take this speed anymore,” Cole says. We’re almost through the border, the desert plains around the base of the mountain stretching out ahead of us. “They’re going to catch us.”
“No they won’t.” I follow the cloud with my eyes, watching as it turns once it’s finished burning through the grass.
“Nice,” Anna says, twisting in her seat to stare behind us as the cloud loops back, cutting through the border to block the path. The trucks screech to a stop, stuck in the narrow path through the razorgrass. There are more of them barreling down the road from the checkpoint, but we’ll be in the mountain long before they catch us.
We race into the valley, tires bouncing over the rocky ground, heading for the gap in the rock that leads into the mountain. I feel Jun Bei’s control over the drones slip as we drive out of range. The jeep screeches down the tunnel and into a parking lot just like the one from our first visit to Entropia—with the disinfectant showers, the foyer with the elevators beyond them. One of the entryways has been blown apart, its bathroom strewn with rubble, the door on the far side open to the elevator banks beyond it. We skid to a stop and climb out of the jeep.
Leoben jogs through the destroyed shower, his rifle in his hands. His face is bloodied, streaked with chalky dust. “Nice of you to join us!” he yells.
“Where’s Agnes?” I shout back.
“She’s down in the bunker,” he says. “The troops are dragging out the civilians, loading them into trucks. Regina’s holed up in her lab, and a bunch of people have barricaded themselves in the basement levels, but they can’t hold it for long. I hope you have a plan.”
“I do,” I say, “but I need to get to the terminal in Regina’s lab.”
He grimaces. “That’s gonna be hell to get to. Come on, let’s get down there.”
He jogs back across the parking lot, when gunshots ring out behind us. “Get down!” Cole shouts, pulling me behind a car.
A truck swerves in from the tunnel, headlights splashing through the rocky walls of the parking lot, with an entire platoon loaded in the back. They spill out as it skids to a stop. Leoben and Anna dart for cover, lifting their guns, but one of the soldiers throws a canister into the bombed-out shower. It hits the rubble, a plume of scarlet dust exploding out, enveloping the parking lot, bitter and choking. Voices rise in confusion, bullets ricocheting wildly from the cavern’s walls. I drop to my knees, coughing. The smoke is dense and thick, completely impenetrable.
“Stay in cover!” Cole shouts. “I’m going to help them!”
“Wait!” I shout, but he’s already gone. I spit, coughing in the smoke. A group of soldiers run past me, and I scramble backward, doubled over to stay hidden. We can’t get stuck in a firefight here. We need to make a run for the elevators and try to keep moving. The soldiers are wearing black uniforms and mirrored visors, but a figure is moving through them, wearing an armored jacket and helmet. His face is visible, his brow furrowed. Pale, freckled skin, green eyes. Dax.
He scans the parking lot, his eyes locking on a battered green truck. He points at it, shouting something to the soldiers, and they yank open the rear doors and lift out a body. Limp, unconscious. Dark hair hanging loose over a forehead studded with black ports. Mato. Cartaxus has come for him, and I can feel Jun Bei’s presence tighten in response, but she makes no move to stop the soldiers.
Not after what he did to us. Whatever there was between Jun Bei and Mato, it’s not enough to fight for him right now. Still, something twinges through me as the soldiers load him into the back of the truck, and I don’t know if it’s from her or from me.
Dax strides toward the truck, the soldiers piling into the back, and for a moment I think he’s leaving. But then he turns, watching the smoke clouds clearing from the ruined shower as a figure steps through.
Dark skin, a shock of white-blond hair beaded with blood. Tattoos curling over his arms. Leoben’s eyes are black, unseeing, his muscles rigid. He’s moving mechanically, walking back through the rubble toward Dax.
My heart clenches. Lee’s being controlled somehow with his black-out tech. Dax is trying to drag him back to Cartaxus. I launch myself from cover before I realize what I’m doing, and Dax’s eyes cut right to me, narrowing.
“You can’t take him!” I shout, running for Leoben. “Let him go! Dammit, Dax, don’t do this!”
One of the soldiers breaks away from the unit, sprinting for me, but Dax lifts a hand. “Leave her. If she wants to stay here and die, she can.”
The soldier halts but lifts his rifle. I skid to a stop, raising my hands as Leoben reaches the truck. A group of the soldiers grab his arms, guiding him into the back. I try to reach for his tech with my cuff, but there are fresh firewalls around his panel. Even if I broke Dax’s control, I don’t know if we’d be able to get away from this many soldiers.
“I thought you said you didn’t want him to live as an experiment,” I say to Dax. “They’ll make you hurt him.”
“I don’t have a choice anymore,” he says. “At least he’ll be alive.”
“He can live if you help us!” I yell. “We need to stop Cartaxus—they can’t kill us all! This is genocide. I know you don’t want to be a part of this.”
“I don’t have the luxury of making that kind of choice anymore,” Dax says, backing toward the truck, looking at Leoben. His hand rises to his jacket, and he pulls something small from his pocket and tosses it through the air. It lands in the dirt beside me. “Hurry. You don’t have much time.”
He holds my gaze for one long, burning second, then gunfire cuts through the fading clouds of smoke, and he climbs into the truck.
It pulls away and screeches up the tunnel, taking Leoben with it.
CHAPTER 38
“CAT!” COLE RUNS FROM THE row of showers, coughing. “Come on, the others are through—we have to go. There’ll be more troops soon.” He staggers to a stop. “Cat, are you okay?”
I shake my head, staring at the tunnel Dax’s truck just drove through. . . .
Taking my brother with him.
“They . . . they took Lee,” I whisper. “I couldn’t stop them.”
Jun Bei’s presence is a furious, heartbroken force inside my mind. Her thoughts are growing clearer now—whole and distinct, almost as though I could hear her voice again if I reached out to her. She has access to my panel, though. To our panel. She hacked the drones we used to get into this city.
But she didn’t stop Dax from taking Lee, and I’m sure she could have.
“Who took him?” Cole yells.
I fall to my knees on the rough stone floor, searching through the dust and scattered feathers for the object Dax threw to me. My fingers slide over a flat black disc the size of a coin. A memory chip.
The moment I touch it, Dax’s Cartaxus login credentials flash up in my mind.
“Dax took him,” I say, grabbing the chip, looking up at Cole. “He took Mato, too. Brink has the people he wants now. There’s nothing to stop him launching the scythe.”
“He wants Regina, too,” Cole says. “She has to be worth more to him than Mato, maybe even Lee. We still have time. You told me you could stop this.”
Jun Bei’s presence rises, fierce and resolute. I stand, clutching the chip in my good hand. “I can,” I say. “Let’s go and finish this.”
We run through the debris in the ruined shower and race for one of the steel-caged elevators at the bank on the other side. An engine roars behind us, footsteps crunching through rubble, and Cole fires a spray of bullets at another wave of soldiers pouring through from the cavern. The elevator’s steel doors slide shut, taking their fire, and I clutch the memory chip in my fist, huddled against the side of the steel cage as we plummet into the bunker.
Cole looks over himself and me, his eyes glazed, and I realize he’s checking us both for bullet wounds. He slings his rifle over his shoulder and paces back and forth through the cab as we drop. “There’s
going to be more fighting downstairs,” he says. “Anna says they’re in the atrium. The genehackers have holed up in the basement levels, and most of the troops will go after them, but some will stay behind to defend their position. Where do we need to go when we get down there?”
“Regina’s lab,” I say. “The door is up a set of stairs that leads off the park in the atrium.”
Cole nods. “I’m going to cover you, but I might not be able to make it through. If we get separated, I won’t be able to contact you. Don’t come back for me. The best way to help everyone who’s dying up on the surface is to stop this attack.”
I nod, wrapping my arms around my chest.
The elevator doors ping open to a concrete hallway lined with unfinished apartments. Anna and Agnes are waiting nearby.
“About time,” Anna says. She looks between Cole and me. “Where’s Lee?”
“They took him,” Cole says. “He’s alive.”
“Goddammit!” Anna snaps. “We should have blown the tunnel behind us. Those assholes. Well, come on. Let’s do this.”
“You okay, Bobcat?” Agnes asks me as we jog through the twisting hallways.
I shake my head, clutching at the newly healed wound on my chest. It’s closed over, but my tech is straining, and I’m exhausted and aching. “Not really.”
She reaches for my hand, gripping it in hers. “We’ll get through this, Bobcat. You’ll see.”
We reach the lobby at the edge of the atrium, the royal blue grass of the park stretching out beyond it. Half the trees are snapped, charred and smoking. Scorch marks lick across the atrium’s concrete walls, some of the apartments blown into rubble. Craters from what look like grenades are dug into the grass, and the air is thick with smoke, ringing with gunfire.
