by Azalea Ellis
Then Adam's arms were wrapped around me, and he was pushing me backward, jumping out of the window and taking me with him, his body a shield between me and the thin snake of a man.
But China.
China's body crumbled and twisted and fell apart, wringing her head around to me as Adam and I launched outward through the air. Even the air and water around her contorted, an instant twister mixed with squirts of blood.
Her eyes met mine, and held for a long, long time. And then her broken, mangled body was falling, taking her face with it.
The man grimaced in distaste at the mess of her corpse, and I heard his murmured, "What a waste," through the rushing wind and now distant seeming sirens.
I vaguely noticed a commotion from one of the groups of guards, as the rumpled man who’d run up earlier strained forward and they held him back.
But we were falling, too, downwards. I was surprised that my stomach could still protest at the plunge, trying to rise through my mouth in vertigo, even with what I'd just seen. Or maybe it was trying to leave because of it. I didn't know.
I stared up at the stars as we fell, our sky with only one moon floating through the heavens, and tried to figure out if she'd still been alive when her eyes had met mine, or if he'd already killed her, and she was just still on her feet for that last second.
Then I smashed into something hard and cold, and Adam's body above mine pushed me down into the blackness.
Chapter 28
God kills, and so shall we; indiscriminately … for no creatures under God are as we are, none so like Him as ourselves.
— Anne Rice
Adam dragged my half-senseless body out of the water downstream, then bent me upside down over a boulder, like a kid about to get whipped over their father's knee, except he pushed hard on my back instead.
Water spewed out of me, and he did it again.
Once the water was mostly gone, I gasped for air, and spewed some more on my own, throwing up a bit in the process. I shuddered and coughed, crawling off the rock and retching into the pebbly sand until he helped me to my feet. We started to run toward the nearest escape point.
Behind us, spotlights were pointing from the compound and scanning the river and the bank, so we hurried. If we were to be caught…I shuddered.
We made it to a motorcycle stashed in the woods earlier, and he helped me on behind him, then navigated away through the darkness, clear-headed enough to remember not to turn the vehicle's lights on.
Jacky had warned us of that, along with suggesting the muffling pads around the engine.
I held on tight, my mind too dazed to thank Adam for saving me, not once, but twice.
In my head, the gruesome scene replayed itself over and over. I whispered, “No, no, no,” pressing my head into Adam’s back and closing my eyes. But my mind wouldn’t listen to me, and I was unable to stop seeing it—her eyes, her body, and the man’s little grimace of distaste. Her body crumpling limply to the ground, no longer in the right shape to support itself. Her eyes.
Adam drove for a long time, till we were out of the woods and into town, and then took a long, circuitous route, which we'd laid out beforehand to make sure we weren't followed.
We arrived at the base last, and when we entered Blaine's lab, everyone's eyes swiveled to look at us.
Blaine looked drawn out and weary, so I knew he'd been told of our failure to save his family.
Jacky let out a relieved breath and stood up. "You took so long, we were worried." She leaned to the side to try and look around us. "Where’s China? Didn’t she come with you?"
I choked.
After a few moments of silence, she asked again. "Where is China?" But this time, her voice had lost the higher pitch of excitement and relief.
"She's dead," I managed, stripping my claw-concealing gloves off. "That man…" My throat convulsed, and I couldn't force any more words out. My knees threatened to buckle beneath me, and I forced them to straighten and hold. I couldn't let the team see me so weak. They needed someone strong, especially now.
Blaine flattened his palms on the table, and stood. "What is she saying?"
Adam stepped forward. "China…was killed. He was able to do things, inhuman things. Skill-type things." He pulled up his shirt and fake uniform jacket, showing us the skin of his back. It lay swollen and dark purplish-red in artistically strewn swaths, where the membranes of skin and blood vessel had been pulverized. The edges of that twisting force had just licked at his back. "I was lucky," he said, his voice rough. He cleared his throat and clenched his jaw, blinking back tears.
The snake had been a Player, a powerful one. I’d known NIX had Players, but I’d thought they were more like captives or test subjects. He’d been on their side.
Sam shook his head, staring at the marks. "No, no, that doesn't make any sense. Why would he kill her? China was just…a kid. Completely innocent."
The full force of my emotions turned on him and started to spew out of my mouth. "But he did! He was too strong for all of us, and he killed her. While she was trying to protect us, protect me. He reached out his hand, and she turned into an ice cream swirl. He. Killed. Her!" I was screaming by the end, my voice hoarse and something of a half-growled warning shriek, like one of the Trial monsters.
They all leaned back with wide eyes, and I realized that my teeth were bared and my claws out in an explicit threat. I closed my mouth, and willed the swirling burn inside me back down.
There was silence then, and Jacky opened and closed her mouth, then started to cry. Her tears lasted only a few moments, and then she turned on Sam. "You shoulda stopped him," she snarled. "You’re the only one who could, and the only one who refused to try."
He paled and stepped back as if she'd hit him, but didn't rebut her words.
"Did the mission work? Do they know it was you?" Blaine asked. What he meant was 'Are they coming after you? Is my family in danger?'
"Adam did his job," I said, "There's no record of us or anything relating to us, and we shorted the GPS chips. But they've got her body. They still have her body,” I repeated. “And they've still got Chanelle, and your niece and nephew."
"What does that mean?" Jacky asked.
"It means we're all in danger," Blaine said. "Eventually, they'll figure out who China was. And they've got people imprisoned, but with the wrong information. They're going to notice, and they're going to realize what we did. Somehow, they're going to connect this to us. Maybe through Bunny. Just because you don't have any records in their system doesn't mean you're safe. We're not safe."
"How long do we have until they figure it out?" Sam asked.
"My program had an ouroboros clean up code. There aren't traces of tampering in the system, other than the empirical evidence of those three with all the wrong information. The computers won't give us away. Our downfall will be some person, someone who remembers their real information, and knows who Blaine is," Adam said.
"So we just have to go back and get them, right? If we can finish the plan, and take away any evidence that connects to us, we'll be safe, right?" Sam perked up a bit, with a kind of desperate plea in his eyes.
Jacky snorted. "China won’t be safe. It’s too late for her. And how the hell do you think we’re gonna get back in, after what just happened?"
"We might make it in, but we'd never leave again. Especially not with Chanelle and the other two," Adam said.
Sam deflated, and returned to staring at his hands.
"Their names are Kris and Zeke," Blaine said, low.
Adam paused, then nodded. "Sorry. Kris and Zeke. But it's only a matter of time before they connect all this to us. It's not like they're just going to let it go and write it off as bad luck. If there's something to find, they'll find it. And us."
"So what do we do?" Jacky looked to me.
"We run," I said. "And we hide. If they don't know where we are, they can't use teleportation to take us to the Trials. So at least there's that." It was a small victory, con
sidering. Why didn't I feel better about it?
I smelled our defeat in the air, saw it in the curve of our spines, bowing under the weight of fear and loss.
Sam clenched his fists, and muttered, "We were so close."
"Blaine already had a more fugitive-style escape plan, since we wouldn't have been able to make NIX forget about him just because his information disappeared. None of us were planning to stay in this city anyway,” I said. “We were already going to run. We’ll just have to do it a little more…seriously." Desperately. My voice felt dead, and I steeled myself to get through the next few hours of planning. I was shaking, shivering. I didn't feel cold, but maybe I was, because I was still damp from the river, and I couldn't feel my fingers.
"I'm not running," Blaine said. "I can't just leave the kids to NIX's mercy, especially if they were to think the reason for keeping them alive as hostages just ran away."
Adam sighed. "You don't know what they'll do to you."
"But I have to take responsibility for my actions. I helped you because I wanted to save the kids and hurt NIX any way I could. Well, we failed. I can't just run away from that burden."
"That's your choice to make, Blaine. And I think you're a good man for making it. But the rest of us aren't in your situation. I'd rather not face NIX ever again, and I'm definitely not going to wait for them to come to me," I said.
He smiled. "I wouldn't expect you to. And I'll still help you to get away. I just won't be coming with you."
I sat down at one of the tables, and called for a blanket, some coffee, and Sam's Skill to help my re-wounded shoulder. I was settling in for a long night. I couldn't be weak, couldn't let my body or my mind fail me and the team again.
* * *
A few hours of planning and discussion later, I'd grown even more frustrated and irritable, and every second I half expected agents from NIX to break down the door to Blaine's lab and take us all. Either that or call us up to tell us they'd taken our families, too, and were holding them hostage. I could only be grateful I’d had the foresight to move them to safety, away from any memories those at NIX might have of them. I hoped desperately it had worked. But now I had put them into more danger.
I wondered if I should go ahead and tell them everything, so they could be on their guard if I weren’t around to watch their backs. But what if that made things worse? They could both be stubborn and reckless, especially Zed. My pack in the corner started to vibrate and lit up, distracting me from my thoughts. I'd put my ID sheath inside and left it at the base, so in case something went wrong NIX wouldn't be able to use it to identify me.
I retrieved my pack, and the ID sheath from within it. It was an unknown caller. The call went to message when I didn't respond, but after only a few seconds, the person on the other end redialed. I answered, sending a warning look to the others to stay quiet. "Hello?"
"Eve?"
"Who is this?"
"It's Bunny. Listen, everything's going crazy—”
"How do you have this number?" I demanded, my heart racing. If he knew, NIX new, and we were screwed.
"I…I just happened to remember it. Listen, this is a secure line. They don't know I'm calling, and I don't have much time. They don't even know I know who you are."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Just listen! Everything's in chaos here. The whole place is on lockdown because some unknown people with Seed augmentation broke in, but they don't know who you are. They know you had Seed augmentation, so they know you're probably Players, and they're going to find you using the next Boneshaker, if they don't get any other leads before that."
I shook my head. "But we killed the GPS. How would they find us? They can’t use the Boneshaker without knowing where we are."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you. I figured out what you did. Tried to cut yourself off from NIX's access to you, escape the Game? I mean, it was smart, but I heard them talking. They said as long as you're alive and have any Seed material from our facility in your body, the Trial will take you along with the others. They're going to run scans on the Shortcut, the huge metal ball-thing above the courtyard. At the moment of transfer, it's going to show them where all the transfers are coming from. They'll track all the ones they know, and the ones they don't must be you guys. They’re worried you might be Players from an unknown entity and in that case they won’t be able to track you. But you are one of ours. So they’ll find you."
Disappointment sucked the strength from me. "What? I—I thought…"
"I thought so, too. When I realized what you'd done, honestly, I was so glad for you, but then…"
Suspicion flared. "Why are you telling me this?" I stared blankly out at the others sitting around the table, who stared at me with almost identical expressions of horror.
"I couldn't go along with it any more. What you said to me before…I realized it was true. And when I saw you guys fighting in that room, and then what happened to China, I—I just couldn't, not anymore."
"You were that guy?" I'd thought the guy who ran up and got shielded by the soldiers looked at me with familiarity. Now I knew why. Because he'd had access to every waking and sleeping moment of my life for the last few months, except for the Trials.
"If they find out, I'm screwed. But I had to do something to stand up to them."
"How can I trust you?"
"Well, there’s no way to…prove it, but does it matter? If I was trying to betray you, you'll know soon, because they'd be tracking this communication signal right now, and you'd have an army crashing down around your ears in a few minutes. But you won't."
"That doesn't mean I can trust you. This could be a trap."
"So don't trust me. But I'm here to help, if there's anything I can do. Look, I've got to go. If you need to contact me, call me and hang up. I'll get back with you as soon as I'm able."
The line went dead.
I dropped my ID sheath back into my pack and sat down again at the table. "You guys heard all that, right?"
Adam dropped his head into his hands. "It was all…for nothing. The Trial is coming again in four days, and along with it we're going to be caught by NIX. We've only made things worse."
I felt hollow. All of it was my fault. I'd gone to China and told her about her sister so she would agree to help me. I'd gathered the rest of the team and convinced them to help me try to escape from the Trials. I hadn't forced China to stay behind, even though I should have kept her safe. I hadn't forced her and the team to wait till NIX's next shift change so we had more time to prepare and grow stronger.
The only thing I'd accomplished was to get China killed, and put the rest of us on NIX's hit list. So much for my promise not to regret my actions ever again.
"We have to get as far away from here as possible," I said. "So far that they won't be able to retrieve us, even if they do know where we are. And we have to keep moving, so they can't pinpoint our location from Trial to Trial. If you've got family we sent away, you might want to talk to them. It could be a while before we get the chance again. Don't alarm them. We don't want our faces on the news when we disappear and for someone at NIX to notice them and happen to remember we used to be Players. If we can, we want to keep our families safe."
"We'll have to come up with some other story, then," Adam said.
* * *
Early morning, after a long night without sleep, I called my brother to give him a reason why I’d be disappearing, and to say goodbye. Instead, everything fell apart.
“What?” I growled across the connection.
“I’ll go join Mom later, when you do. I used your bed last night, since you weren’t here and mine’s gone. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Weren’t you supposed to drive the moving pod?”
“Err, yeah. Mom was livid.” He snorted. “But she makes enough to afford a driver, now.”
I stood up, my chair scraping on the ground as I pushed it away from the table. “You should have gone with her. You need to leave, Zed.”<
br />
“Why?”
I ground my teeth together. “Cause that’s the plan. There’s stuff waiting for you there. Are you just going to leave Mom to deal with everything? What about the summer programs you were going to enroll in? You should go, Zed.”
“I don’t think so. We need to talk.”
I strained to keep my claws sheathed. “I’m going to be home soon. Stay there.” I disconnected the call and quickly explained the situation to the others.
“It’s dangerous to be seen going home,” Adam warned.
“I don’t have a choice,” I snapped.
“At least change your clothes first. You’ve got blood on you.”
I nodded. “I’ll be back in an hour. Get everything ready to go.” I dressed as inconspicuously as I could, covering my face like a paranoid film star. As I made my way back to my house, which I’d scheduled to be sterilized of any trace of living inhabitants later that day, rage bloomed in my chest like a flower whose infinite petals just kept spreading open. How could Zed be so willful? Didn’t he know how much danger he was putting himself in? Undoing all my hard work to protect him.
As I opened the front door of my house, even my anger couldn’t keep me strong. Of course he didn’t know. I stepped through the entrance in silence. My strength had been grated away, hour after hour, and I felt like a creature of trembling tendons and hollow bones. My thoughts had the fuzzy distance that came from extreme fatigue.
I moved to the doorway of my room, bracing for an additional weight to land atop the wobbling burden already crushing me.
Zed sat on the side of my bed, hands clenched in front of him. He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, obviously not having slept. “Hey.” He smiled at me gently. “You don’t look so good. Wanna sit down?” He patted the edge of the bed beside him, as it was the only piece of furniture left in the room.
I didn't know what to say. Instead, I just stood there in the doorway to my bedroom, staring at him. Anger, I could deal with. Accusations would strengthen my backbone long enough to get me bluffing through the conversation. Even threats would have been preferable. At that moment, compassion slipped through my defenses like a burrowing weasel.
