by Strauss, Lee
I couldn’t make any promises back. I finger waved from my front step as he backed away. I walked across the patio and slipped inside the house.
A man stood in the shadows. He turned and smiled. My blood curdled and I almost screamed.
“Hello, child,” the president said. “Nice to see you again.”
Chapter 45
NOAH
We lost five guys at Bledsoe. We brought the bodies back and buried them in the forest, and once this nightmare was over, we’d have to contact their next of kin. As it was, we had to do everything in our power to prevent having to dig more graves.
I lay on my back in my pup tent, arms crossed behind my head, trying to make sense of it all.
Not possible. I closed my eyes and my mind drifted to Zoe. She was my elixir, my vice, even though I could possess her only through my imagination now. I dreamed about her every night. It was bittersweet. I enjoyed her company in my dreams, but every time I awoke, I was struck with a new, deep sense of loss.
I wondered how she was. I’d followed the online tabloids—they’d had a heyday covering her return and speculating on what she had been up to during her “lost” year. Occasionally, they’d post a picture of her. She looked good. She’d gained weight, and her hair was fully blonde and grown out long again, but she never smiled. I hoped, at least, that she remembered me, that her parents had kept their bargain with her.
I roused myself and shook my head free of thoughts of her. I had a war to deal with. I went back to the cabin and found Anthony sitting at one of the desks in front of a big digi screen. A map of the USA was dotted with little triangles. Each orange icon represented a rebel camp, groups like ours and Bledsoe, hiding out somewhere. At least three hundred. No wonder Vanderveen felt threatened.
Some of the triangles had red rings around them. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“The red rings mean conflict,” Anthony said. “These camps are under attack. The few with white rings means there was a skirmish, but it’s currently quiet.” He pointed to the white circle around Bledsoe as an example.
He turned to another screen, this one broadcasting a live view of California. “And this?” He pointed to a moving envoy of army vehicles. “This is them heading straight toward us.”
I swallowed hard. We were destined to fight again soon. The question was: do we wait until they reach us, or do we take the fight away from our camp and meet them in a neutral zone?
Or, do we flee?
Anthony stared at me and propped his pointy elbows on his knees. “I know what you’re, thinking, man.”
“Yeah? What should we do?” I knew it was my call as the leader of this troop. Their lives and welfare were in my hands. The image of the five dead bodies we’d trucked back from Bledsoe, guys I’d known and respected, flashed through my mind, and I blanched.
Jabez came in and took one look at me. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Anthony filled him in. “We have to meet them,” he said immediately. “If we wait until they get here, it’s possible we’d lose all this.” He waved his hand. “Not to mention our charging station and the ammo shed.”
He was right. Part of me had hoped that he’d suggest we flee, but that thought never even occurred to him.
“Okay,” I said with regret. Bledsoe wasn’t the last battle, and this one wouldn’t be either. The second American civil war had begun. “Let’s round everyone up again.”
Chapter 46
ZOE
“Don’t quiver like a frightened puppy,” Grandpa V said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Are you kidding me?” I spat out. “Your psycho cyborg agent begged to differ!”
Grandpa V turned his back as he poured himself a drink from Paul’s liquor selection. I questioned his sanity. Surely, he must know how tempted I would be to stick a knife in his back. He might’ve forgotten about siccing Fred on my borg friends, but I sure hadn’t.
“What are you doing here?” I asked when he finally turned to face me.
“Looking for you, of course.”
“I’ve been here for six months. No offense, but you’re kind of slow on the uptake.”
He flashed a smarmy grin. His too-wide eyes were freakishly clown-like, the brighter one, enhanced. “I knew where you were, sweetheart. I’ve been busy, if you haven’t noticed.”
“The whole world has noticed.”
He clinked the ice in his crystal glass and smirked. “They have, haven’t they?”
I didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like I could run. I was sure he had agents surrounding this place. I could only hope that my parents came home soon.
“How’s your heart?” he asked sweetly, like he cared.
“Fine. Thanks for that.” I sat carefully on the sofa as if the man in front of me didn’t scare me silly. “I’ll consider it a birthday present.”
“I can see that you didn’t lose your attitude along with your year.”
I rallied my courage and held his gaze. “What do you want?”
“I want to find Noah Brody.”
My heart jumped at the mention of his name, but I stayed still. “Isn’t that why you have a computer implant in your head? So you can find things?”
“Where is he?”
I scoffed. “How would I know? I haven’t seen him since, yeah, the night I got this heart. A coincidence?”
Grandpa V hummed.
My parents returned from whatever social event they had attended. A swirl of perfume and the scent of expensive wine followed them in. It must’ve been black-tie, since they were both dressed like pre-millennium movie stars. Alison reached down to slip her stilettos off.
They were laughing over something, but on seeing my grandfather, they stopped short.
“What are you doing here?” Paul finally mustered.
“It’s good to see you, too, son.”
Fear flashed behind Alison’s eyes before she plastered on a smile. “Of course we’re happy to see you. We just didn’t expect you to show up unannounced.”
“Darling Alison. I can’t exactly broadcast my whereabouts, now, can I?”
She tilted her head. “I suppose not.”
Paul waved to the half-empty drink in Grandpa’s hand. “I see you made yourself at home. Is there anything else one of the humanoids can get you?” Anne and Bette had materialized seemingly from nowhere.
Alison lowered herself into one of the chairs and rubbed her toes. “Should we prepare a room for you?”
A room was already prepared for guests. She was just probing for his intentions.
“Heaven’s no. I have my own place. My humanoids are currently making it ready.”
Paul braced himself on the back of the sofa. “So, is there something else?”
“I suppose it would be pretentious of me to hope you’d assume I came for nothing more than a family visit. Alas, that is not the case.”
“Then, please,” Paul couldn’t hide the impatience in his voice. “What are you here for?”
“As I’ve already mentioned to Zoe, I’m looking for Noah Brody.”
I wasn’t the only one in this house who avoided using Noah’s name. Or the name of any Brody. Paul’s jaw twitched. “Well, he certainly isn’t here.”
“I know that. I want to know where he is.”
“And your cyberspies were unsuccessful?” I asked dubiously.
Grandpa V held his glass to his lips and emptied it before responding, “It seems.”
I crossed my arms and glared. “What do you want with him anyway?”
“He has something I want.”
“I thought you wanted him dead.”
“That, too.”
I fumed at his bluntness.
“But first I want something else from him.”
“And what would that be?” I sputtered.
His bushy eyebrows jumped. “Information. Valuable information that he doesn’t even know he has.”
I frowned. “How could he have it then?�
�
“Good question.”
“A better question,” I said, feeling braver with my parents in the room. “Why don’t you lay off the rebels? Is it really worth a civil war to make your point?”
“My point is that rebels are counter-government, counter-productive, counter-collective. If we don’t shut them down, nothing good can be accomplished.”
“But war isn’t the answer, is it? Won’t it just create bigger, meaner problems?”
Grandpa steeled his wolf-like gaze on me. “I’m the bigger, meaner problem.”
Alison turned sharply toward Anne. “Bring me a glass of wine. Fill it to the top.”
The humanoid disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Bette in the corner like a poorly dressed mannequin.
Paul looked like a lost little boy next to his father. “Is anyone hungry?” he asked, as if he didn’t know what else to do. I doubted anyone was hungry. He turned to Bette. “Can you tell Anne to bring pretzels?” Bette nodded but didn’t move.
Paul narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t think it has to go to Anne to talk to her,” I said, remembering the lunch incident by the pool.
“What do you mean?” he said. “Of course she does.”
“Are you sure they haven’t been upgraded?”
“I authorize all the upgrades, and I didn’t authorize inter-unit communication.”
Anne walked in with a bowl of pretzels. Paul’s head swiveled to Bette, who still hadn’t moved. A thick unease filled the room.
Chapter 47
NOAH
We were in the midst of heavy fire. The cyborg envoy moved more quickly than we’d anticipated, and the battle had begun much too close to home. At least we were in the forest, which was good for us. Easier to hide. Not so good for the actual forest. Fires had started as a result of gunfire and small explosions. It was hot and windy. Not a good combo.
Smoke was also a danger in other ways. It provided cover for the enemy. Two borgs had sneaked up on Jonathon and me in this way, and we’d battled hard against them. I shot at the borg who’d set his sights on me, but I couldn’t concentrate on fighting back because my attention was pulled to Jonathon.
“Get down!” I shouted. I should’ve obeyed my own advice. At that moment, the flesh in my left shoulder burned, and I yelled out. I fell with a crack, certain I’d broken something, too. The borg lumbered over to me, and my breath stopped. Was this it? Was I about to die?
The thought didn’t terrify me. I knew where I was going, and it was a much better place than this. I imagined my mother and father waiting for me on the other side.
The borg aimed at my head, and I readied myself for the inevitable. A shot rang out, but it wasn’t meant for me. The borg crumbled, encased with a blue electric hue, and Jabez appeared out of the smoky haze.
“Help Jonathon!” I yelled.
Jabez took off, and I forced myself up. My legs shook as they bore my full weight. My injured arm hung limply at my side, but I didn’t have the luxury of just waiting around. There were more borg soldiers where this one came from. I stripped the downed soldier of his assault rifle and a live grenade and moved in the direction where I’d last seen Jonathon go.
My mind registered a body on the ground. Jonathon? I ran, ignoring the screaming pain in my arm. All the rebels were dressed the same, in dark clothes, but the body on the ground was built like Jon and had the same dark hair. My chest tightened. It was one thing for me to die and be good with it, but I wasn’t ready to let Jon go.
“Jonathon!”
I turned the body over. His face was smeared with blood, but it was a different nose. Unfamiliar eyes. I choked up with relief.
It wasn’t Jon, so where was he?
A round of gunshot filled the air, and I dropped to the ground. The agony of my wound nearly knocked me out. I was bleeding too much, and I felt light-headed. I had no choice but to swing my guns over my back and press the palm of my good hand to the bullet entry.
I heard groaning behind a bush. I worked my way forward on my knees, coughing on the smoke. Jon sat upright against a tree with a tourniquet wrapped around his thigh.
“Jabez found you?”
Jon nodded and winced. “My first bullet wound.”
I slid down beside him. “Congratulations.”
His gaze rested on my limp and bloody arm. “You’re hurt, too.”
“It’s nothing.”
Jonathon closed his eyes and rested his head against the tree trunk. “Why do we bother, Noah?” he muttered. “What's the point? There’s no way we can beat them.”
I sighed. He was right.
“If I’m going to die fighting,” I finally said, “I want to die fighting for something I believe in.”
“Do you think this is the end times like they used to talk about in church?” Jon asked. “Is this the judgment of God, you know, the whole pouring out vials of wrath thing?”
“I don’t know if this is the end,” I answered honestly. “But I don’t think it’s God’s judgment. We brought all of this on ourselves without God’s help. He just got out of the way, like everyone asked him to.”
“Do you think Dad saw this coming?”
“I don’t know. He knew things were going to get bad fast. I don’t know if he guessed just how fast. If he imagined an army of cyborg soldiers or a world run by humanoids.”
“He was a good dad,” Jon said. In that moment, he looked like the little boy I remembered.
“Yeah, he was.”
A rustle in the trees caught our attention. Both Jon and I raised our weapons, pointing them at the soldier coming toward us.
Chapter 48
ZOE
Every morning when I awoke, even after all this time, there was a split second when I didn’t know where I was. My arm reached over to touch Noah, and it was when my fingers landed on the soft, wrinkled sheets instead of his firm, warm arm that my eyes fluttered open, and awareness of my reality began.
That was the point when a wash of pain and loss pressed down like a large stone, and when I began my daily recommitment to hate Noah Brody. I had every reason to hate him. He’d lied to me. He’d told me that he loved me, and I’d believed him. He’d said he’d be there when I woke up with my new heart, and I’d believed that, too.
Even if he had a good reason to leave, he didn’t even say goodbye. Not one message. He didn’t care that I might think he was dead. How could I forgive that? I let the anger stir until the hurt was washed away with adrenaline. It was the only way to beat back the heaviness so I could pull myself out of bed day after day.
I stumbled toward the shower but stopped when I heard my parents’ talking loudly. I poked my head into the hall, and their voices carried up the stairwell. They were arguing. This was standard fair before I was taken by Noah last year, but since I’d returned, they’d been surprisingly well behaved, airing their disagreements out of the house, or at least out of my hearing. I’d gotten used to them handling me with kid gloves, so I was momentarily startled. I strained to hear them better.
Alison’s voice pitched high and screechy. “I can’t believe he’d stoop to this.”
“Me, either, frankly, but he’s the president and my father,” Paul responded with equal vigor. “We have to support him.”
“I’ll do no such thing. Can you imagine if Liam was still with us? Would we support him then?”
“He’s not with us, so it’s a moot point. What matters now is that we present a unified front.”
Alison stewed. “It’s not unified! He didn’t even tell us he was thinking of this. He didn’t give us an opportunity to express our views. How can he expect blind obedience like this? Besides, what’s the rush? The war’s only a few weeks old.”
“He’s trying to intimidate the rebel forces. I don’t think he actually intends to send our boys into battle.”
“So it’s just for show?”
“Yes.”
Alison pouted. “And what if it’s not?”
By
now, I was standing at the top of the stairs looking down at them. Alison had a hand on her hip with the other one gesturing through the air. Paul stood tall and resolute.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
They both turned suddenly, their mouths dropping open like they’d forgotten I was in the house.
Alison pursed her lips and crossed her arms, a sign that she was forcing Paul to break the news. Whatever it was, it must be bad. Fear flapped against my ribs. “What is it?” I repeated.
“The draft has extended to the GAP communities.”
The war had been going on for almost a month. I checked Noah’s blog several times a day now for fear that someone would announce his death or bodily mutilation. If something ever happened to him, I’d kill my grandfather. For real. I couldn’t’ despise that man more than I did now.
Or at least, that was what I’d thought before I’d heard this.
“Are you serious?” I spouted. GAPs had always had it easy. They were privileged. The draft was something that happened to common people. To naturals. Not that I agreed with the disparity. It was just how it’d always been. I couldn’t hide my shock.
“Yes,” Alison began. “That means Jackson. And Linden.”
She said Linden’s name like she was giving me her condolences. In her mind, Linden was my prince. The knight in shining armor who had climbed the tower I’d imprisoned myself in, and was just so close to rescuing me. The draft would be a huge kink in that plan.
As if on cue, my ComRing buzzed and Linden’s head popped up. I hurried back to my room before answering.
“Linden?”
“I assume you heard.”
“Yeah. I don’t know what to say.”
“Me, either.” He scowled and raked a hand through his blond hair. “Just that I’m not exactly a fan of your grandfather right now.”
I scoffed in agreement. “Join the club.”
“Can I see you?”
I wanted to hear more details about the draft. Whether the GAP guys were really in danger and what that meant practically for Linden.
I nodded. “I’ll be on the beach in forty-five minutes.”
