The Skin Hunter Series Box Set

by Tania Hutley

  The woman tries to run, but falls before she gets more than a few steps. Cale throws more poppers and the boy falls too, dropping to his knees and then pitching forward.

  “Good thing there are no windows, and the door seems to have a pretty good seal.” Cale’s voice is slightly muffled behind his gas mask. “The gas is working fast.”

  I stride to the first pod and find the kill button exactly where it’s supposed to be. Funnily enough, the more I ignore the itch in my head, the weaker it seems to get. When I lift my hand to the button, I barely feel it at all.

  I punch the button and the pod’s monitors go dead, though the soldier inside the pod doesn’t stir. The sleeping gas is obviously doing what it’s supposed to.

  Moving to the next pod, I glance along the row Cale’s started on. I haven’t spotted William yet, but I can only see into a limited number of pods. The only way to find him is to work our way down the rows and hope we aren’t interrupted.

  I wipe chip after chip, until all the faces in the pods blur together. All these kids are from the director’s military academies. They’re Old Tritoners whose parents died or were forced to give them up. A surge of births from the Welcon disaster combined with second-child taxes, and the orphanages were overflowing. An abundance of meat for the director’s war machine.

  There are no empty pods. Which means these kids don’t need to transfer back into their own bodies. Not to eat, sleep, or even use the toilet.

  Twenty-four hours a day in their Skins. No wonder they can kill without remorse. They haven’t been human in weeks.

  I finish the row and start on the next one. There are so many soldiers. So many kids who never had a choice about where they ended up. The director stole them. Brainwashed them. Used them.

  William has to be here somewhere. But what if I can’t find him? What if—?

  There.

  Chest tight, I stride to the pod that holds my long-lost brother.

  He was a boy when I last saw him. Now his face has hardened and lost the roundness of youth. He has a jagged, white scar on one side of his chin. My stomach drops to see it. What could have hurt him like that? Whatever it was, I should have been there to stop it.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmur under my breath. “I’m here now.”

  I hit his kill switch, then bend to yank all the tubes from his body before I scoop him out of the pod. A seventeen-year-old boy should be heavy, especially because whatever training regime the director put him through has made him wiry and strong-looking. Still, he feels like his bones are full of air, and he looks small in my huge arms. His pasty, sun-starved skin stands out against my black armour. His head lolls back, his eyes still closed.

  Iron bands tighten around my chest. “It’ll be okay,” I whisper. “I’ve got you.” Crossing to the door, I kneel to deposit him gently onto the floor next to it.

  When I straighten, a sharp crack of gunfire comes from right outside.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Hurry!” shouts Cale. He’s rushing down the row of pods, hitting kill buttons as he goes.

  I run back to where I left off, so I can keep going. We’ve probably wiped a few hundred chips already, but there are still several rows to go.

  An explosion from outside shakes the floor. The gunshots are so close, it sounds like the shooters are at the door of the Meat Locker, about to burst inside. I work with one eye on the door, ready to attack if it opens. William’s still slumped beside it and I curse myself for putting him in the line of fire. I thought we’d have more time.

  The battle noise gets louder and louder, until I’m sure both armies must be in the Meat Locker’s lobby, shooting at each other over the meeting tables. Cale and I move as fast as we can, working down the rows.

  The firing stops for a moment. Then there’s another burst. Then it stops again.

  “What do you think the silence means?” pants Cale. Perspiration is dripping inside his gas mask, turning it cloudy.

  I don’t think he expects an answer, and I don’t have one to give him. We only have two rows of soldiers left. Eighty more chips to wipe.

  Seventy.

  Sixty.

  Fifty.

  The heavy steel door slides open.

  I spin to face it, drawing my gun as I turn.

  Five men and three women stand in the entrance. They level their weapons at me.

  “Don’t shoot!” yells Cale. “We’re on your side.”

  They’re Fist members. I lower my gun, hoping they’ll do the same. We have less than fifty chips left to wipe, but with the door open, the sleeping gas we filled the room with is escaping.

  Sure enough, from his position lying next to the door, my brother lets out a cough. He’s closest to the fresh air, which means he’ll be the first to wake, but the other soldiers won’t be far behind.

  “You need to get out.” Cale motions them frantically backward. “This room is filled with gas. You’ll pass out if you don’t…”

  One of the intruders falls to their knees. The others stagger back. At least one has the presence of mind to pull his fallen teammate out of the way so the door can slide shut. But now the soldiers in the pods closest to the door are groaning and stirring.

  “You have more gas?” I ask Cale.

  He shakes his head. “I’ve used it all.”

  We hit more kill buttons, but the soldiers are definitely waking up.

  William pushes himself up to sitting. “Waz happenin’?” he slurs.

  Dammit, if enough soldiers wake up, we may have to fight our way out of here after all. I can handle it, but what about Cale? Though I’ll do my best to protect him, there are over a thousand soldiers in this room. I can’t fight off that many.

  “We need to go,” I tell him.

  He keeps moving down the row, pushing more buttons. “We’re almost done.”

  William gets clumsily to his feet, using the wall for support. “Wha’ happened?” His voice is getting less slurred.

  The soldiers in the front rows are sitting up and tugging the tubes out of their bodies. The entire room’s about to come to life. A thousand zombies rising from their coffins.

  “Come on.” I grab Cale’s arm and drag him to the door. There are only thirty or so chips we didn’t wipe. Out of a thousand soldiers, that’s not many. It’s time to cut our losses.

  When we reach the door, I pick up William and toss him over my shoulder.

  “Hey!” He pounds his hands against my back. “What the hell?”

  “Stand down, soldier,” I bark. “Your orders are to let me carry you out of here.”

  To my relief, he goes still.

  Beside the door is a control panel, and I grab William’s arm and swipe his band against it. The door slides open, and Cale steps through. I tug out my weapon and blast the panel into a smoking wreck before jumping through the door as it slams shut.

  The Fist members who tried to come inside are in the meeting room area, just outside the sliding door. Weapons drawn, they’re watching the street, alert for more attackers. I must have been wrong about how close the gunfire was, because there’s no sign of a battle in here.

  “Did you get them all?” demands one of the Fist members, a man with a scrawny beard and blood on his shirt.

  “Almost,” snaps Cale. He yanks his gas mask off and wipes his face on his sleeve. “We would have if you hadn’t opened the door and let the gas out.”

  I put William down. “Take off your band,” I command my brother.

  “Why?” He looks a lot more awake now we’re in fresh air. “Who are you? What’s your rank?”

  “Do as I say, soldier. That’s an order.”

  My brother hesitates a moment longer, then presses the release on his band and hands it to me. I pass it to Cale. “Hold onto it for me.”

  The Fist members are gaping. “He’s one of them,” says the man with blood on his shirt. “Why are you—?”

  “You need to get out of here now.” I interrupt the man. “Reinforcements
could be on their way.”

  The man shoots both me and William another suspicious look, then he and his friends go outside onto the street.

  I shoot the control panel on this side of the door as well, just to make it more difficult for the soldiers inside to escape. Then I pick up William, throwing him over my shoulder easily in spite of the way he struggles. Cale and I follow the Fist members outside.

  Bodies are strewn across the street. Fist members and stompers lie dead. Many more knight bodies lie with them. There’s burning debris in the street, but where it came from, I have no idea. The falling-down stall Cale hid in is alight, the flames licking high, and more bodies have fallen near where Gama died.

  I draw in a sharp breath.

  “Call Tori,” I tell Cale. “Make sure she’s okay.”

  “Let’s get out of here first.”

  We jog to the corner. William feels light on my shoulder, like I could carry him all day. But he’s squirming around, trying to get free. I have to keep a tight grip on his legs to keep him in place.

  “Who are you?” my brother demands, his voice unsteady from being jolted on my shoulder. “Are you working with the terrorists? Are you the reason I was yanked out of my Skin?”

  I need to explain everything to him and let him know how the director has been using him all these years. As soon as we get somewhere safe, I’ll tell him the truth. But where should we go?

  “What are you going to do with him?” pants Cale, obviously wondering the same things I am.

  “I’ll have to take him to the safe house. I need to get out of this Skin.” It seems weird to want to be human again, when I’m so much stronger and more powerful as a knight. But that itch in my brain still has me unsettled. What if I stop fighting it and suddenly find myself calling in to the director’s command center for orders? Or if I see Director Morelle on a holo, and can’t keep myself from doing whatever she tells me?

  “You can’t take him to the safe house,” Cale says. “You’ll compromise it. Besides, I should go to the factory. They might need our help.”

  “I can’t hear any shots. The fighting must be over.”

  “They could still need help.”

  “It’s too dangerous. We said we’d meet at the safe house.” When we arranged it, I didn’t remind Tori and the others that I might have my brother with me, because I didn’t want to jinx my chances of getting him out.

  “What’s going on?” William demands. “I need you to tell me who you are.”

  “Once we’re out of here, I’ll tell you everything.” I turn to Cale. “Let’s find a safe place where we can stop and call Tori, to make sure they’re okay.”

  Well clear of the war zone, we find the perfect place. It’s a dark and narrow alley that’s a dead end, and at the back there’s a recess for a stairwell that’s been bricked off. Once tucked in the recess, we can’t be seen from the road. I put William down, and he glowers at me suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. “You’re a traitor, aren’t you?” he snarls. “You’re working with the terrorists.”

  I take a breath, bracing myself for his likely reaction to the truth. The director’s had him under her control for years. He’ll still be loyal to her, and I can’t expect him to throw off her conditioning right away.

  “I’m your sister.” I gentle my tone. “It’s Milla.”

  “Traitor!” He spits the word in my face, his face going red.

  I rock back at the force of his vitriol. For years I’ve been picturing the moment I managed to find my brother. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he’d be so furious.

  I draw in a breath. “William, listen to me. Ma and I have both been looking for you. I promised her I’d get you back.”

  “What did you do to my Skin? Why can’t I transfer back into it?”

  “You couldn’t stay in that Skin. The director used it to put thoughts into your head that weren’t really yours. I needed to rescue you from it, to stop her from—”

  “Rescue me?” His voice rises. “I was in Deiterra. In combat. My squad needs me. I have to go back.”

  “You were in Deiterra?” asks Cale. His tone is calm, but I can see how shocked he is. “How many soldiers are fighting over there?”

  “Why can’t I transfer back into my Skin?” He jabs his finger at me. “What did you do?”

  “I had to wipe your chip.”

  “This wiping thing is permanent?” William’s face twists with fury. “You bitch!”

  “Using the Knight Skin was changing your brain. The director’s using a kind of thought control. I’d never lie to you, William. You have to believe me.”

  “When Director Morelle finds out what you’ve done, she’s going to tear you into—”

  “Ma wants to see you,” I say desperately. “Will you at least see Ma?”

  “The director is my mother.”

  “What?” I feel like I’ve been punched in the chest. How badly has the director brainwashed him? “No, I mean your real mother. You have to know how much she misses you.”

  He lunges sideways, trying to get away. I grab his arm and hold him easily, hating that I need to keep him with us against his will.

  “You’re talking about the woman who abandoned me.” He sounds so furious, a wave of despair crashes over me.

  “It wasn’t like that. I mean, we needed to send you to the academy. We had no choice. There was no money after Pa died, you know that. We lost our home. And you couldn’t move into the shelter with us, they don’t take kids younger than—”

  “I don’t care that you abandoned me. I’m a knight now. The director’s knight. And when she finds out what you did, she’s going to hunt you down.”

  “William, please. Ma’s been so worried. She needs to see you.”

  “Let me go.” William sets his jaw in a stubborn expression and memories flood back. As a little boy, he’d wear the same expression whenever somebody told him he couldn’t have something. He was only two years younger than me, and I thought he was mine to protect.

  I loved him more than anything. Hell, I still love him. Even if I’ve become his enemy.

  Chapter Twenty

  It breaks my heart to tie William up, but I do it anyway.

  Once he’s secure, Cale calls Tori. She has a few cuts and bruises, Keren has a broken arm and cracked ribs, and Spade was shot in the leg. They went to a different safe house to get patched up, one closer to the factory, and someone’s cleaning Spade’s wound when we call. We can hear him cursing in the background.

  Tori sounds gleeful. They blasted the brains out of a lot of knights. She’s not sure how many, but she thinks there were more than a hundred. If we hadn’t been able to wipe so many chips, the Fist would have been crushed.

  Reports of knights suddenly falling lifeless are apparently still coming in from all over Old Triton. Fist members have been dispatched to finish those ones off too. And, if what my brother said was true, more knights must have keeled over in Deiterra. I doubt the director will get any of those Skins back in one piece.

  By the time we hang up, Cale is jubilant, but the itch in my head is almost unbearable. I have to clench my fists and hold my arms firmly by my sides to keep myself from calling in to base.

  “Will you wait here with William?” I thrust my gun at Cale. “I’ll get to the safe house faster on my own.”

  He nods, his smile disappearing as he takes the weapon from me. “You okay?”

  “I will be, once I’m human again.”

  One good thing about this Skin, I’m fast and I don’t get tired. My legs eat up the miles, and once I’m back in the safe house, I transfer back into my human body with a sense of relief.

  But my relief doesn’t last long. It ebbs away as soon as I stand up, when the movement makes my wounded shoulder throb. My human body feels stiff, weak, and painfully slow compared to being the knight. In spite of it messing with my thoughts, I already miss the sense of power it gave me.

  It takes forever to get back to the alley where I
left Cale and William. It’s late at night by the time I arrive, and the alley is pitch black. My eyes are better than Cale’s or William’s because I see them well before they see me.

  “I’m here,” I call softly, so I don’t startle Cale. I have my bandana tied over my face in case of security cameras or drones, so my voice is muffled.

  William peers at me, but with my bandana on, he can’t see my scars. I’m glad. I didn’t have them the last time I saw him, and I’m not sure I’m ready for his reaction.

  Cale calls us a cab and we bundle William into it with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth gagged so he can’t give any instructions to the cab’s AI system. And when we get to Doctor Gregory’s, we hustle him inside, though the doctor doesn’t seem happy to let a prisoner into her house. I don’t get a chance to explain though, because Ma is just behind her, and she lets out a cry when she sees William.

  “Son!” She pulls off his gag, then throws her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “I was so worried about you. What have they done to you? Are you okay?”

  My brother stands sullenly, saying nothing. He looks like he’s accepting her hug because he has no choice.

  “The director brainwashed him,” I tell Ma. “She made him think we’re his enemies.”

  “You are my enemies,” William snarls.

  Ma draws back, looking stricken. “But William, I’m your mother.”

  My chest tightens at the pain in her expression. “I’m sorry, Ma. It’ll take some time, but I’m sure he’ll see reason.”

  “Keep away from me.” William’s face twists with something that looks like disgust.

  Ma’s hands flutter helplessly, as though she doesn’t know what to do with them. “I missed you so much, love. I didn’t know where they’d taken you.” She sounds desperate. “I tried calling you hundreds of times.”

  Cale goes into the kitchen and Doctor Gregory disappears into her bedroom, both obviously trying to give us some privacy. I tug my bandanna off, and William’s eyes widen.

  “What happened to your face?” he asks. For the first time, he sounds more curious than hostile.