New World Inferno

by Jennifer Wilson

  The events this evening had left us with only three weary rebels at the helm and two at the rear, forty-six tense Subversive members—as three more were lost to our cause while taking over the street—and twenty stoic and intimidating Wraiths sandwiched in the middle with a healthy gap on either side.

  Fortunately, Teya had split her Tribe into parties, the smallest one staying with us. It was a relief not to have the entire Tribe shadowing us, their collection of rattling bones haunting our every step. But she had not done this for our convenience. It was purely a move of self-interest. It was something I would have done. Hell, it was something I did do.

  My heart sputtered, thinking of those we had split from. Had the others made it over? Was Arstid able to keep them alive? I wanted to ask Ryker if there were signs of them, how he had managed to survive and about a million other questions, but this was still not the time. Too many unwanted ears were listening. I glanced at a dead camera on the tunnel ceiling. The light was out, but I could still feel the press of its eye.

  Was he watching us?

  I started as a smug voice broke the tense silence.

  “Sorry about the face.” Archer, who had placed herself as far from her mother as possible, cast Ryker a sideways glance. He was pinching at his still bleeding nose.

  He shrugged it off. “I’ve had worse.”

  “I’ve done worse.” Archer smiled demurely, an obvious act, as it broke into a full-blown grin. “Good thing I didn’t hit you very hard. I might have damaged a lot more than your ego, Pretty Boy.” Part of me wanted to slap a hand over her constantly moving mouth, but then again it was better than the silence broken only by anxious footsteps and the clattering of bones.

  Ryker stared at her blankly for a moment, then a slow smile crept to his own lips. “Wow, Prea, and I thought you had a smart mouth.”

  “Please, my wit makes her look like a princess.” Archer teased, giving me a particularly saucy look.

  Ryker’s face was blankly innocent, but his eyes danced with a hint of the old Ryker again. “Funny you mention princess, I’ve been calling her that for years—”

  “Shut up Ryker.” I cut him off.

  Archer’s mouth popped wide, but I shoved a finger in her face before she could say another word. “Don’t even think about it.” I warned, “You call me that, I will cut out that smart tongue of yours.”

  She shrugged unoffended, knowing I wouldn’t follow through, but also knowing this was a line she shouldn’t cross. Still, she and Ryker shared a glance and I fell back from the two of them, trying to shut out their incessant banter. It surprised me that the rebels weren’t more on edge, especially Ryker. His steps had purpose and he seemed more himself down here in the tunnels. Archer’s was a forced her ease. The chatter with Ryker was her way of keeping nerves in check, but Ryker usually stopped talking when he was anxious. Now he stood tall, gun loose in his grasp as if he had forgotten it was there.

  Triven’s hand brushed mine and I instantly felt my swelling irritation and anxiety quiet. It was a gift to be able to calm me, one unique only to him. I took Triven’s fingers, claiming them before he could move away, not caring who saw.

  I needed it.

  A tiny celebration we were both alive.

  A redheaded rebel at the lead touched his hand to his ear and muttered something I couldn’t catch. I watched the other rebels as they too tilted their heads, listening. They were talking to someone. I strained my own ears, as if I too could hear the voice on the other end. But there was nothing. A hand appeared under my nose, two small bean-shaped devices resting on the palm.

  “Thadd’s latest.” Ryker offered as I took one of the gadgets. “Unhackable frequency and can pick up a response barely above a whisper.”

  I rolled the contraption between my fingertips. It was oddly flesh-like in texture. Triven took the second, examining his with equal suspicion as Archer watched with an air of curiosity. Ryker tapped his ear and I could now see the small device nestled in his canal. I popped mine in, pulling a face as the cool plug slid into position with a squelching sound. The instant the device had settled in, a voice began to speak as though standing right next to me. She wasn’t speaking to me directly, just spewing out information about the power outage, last reported whereabouts of Fandrin’s guards, and ETA callouts. Ryker’s team was not the only one out tonight. When I blurted out her name, the deep voice stuttered.

  “Mae?”

  There were two deep breaths. “Damn, it’s good to hear your voice kid.”

  “Never thought I’d hear you say that.” I murmured.

  “Yeah...” She hesitated. “See you soon. Going silent.”

  The line cut out. I was about to ask Ryker how far out we were, when the lights flickered to life, blinding us before once again plunging back into darkness. My body tensed. Ryker swore and another familiar voice popped over the line.

  “Cameras flickered on.” Thadd’s deep voice whispered in my ear. “One hundred and sixty-seven seconds before the next surge. I was able to cover you this time, but teams need to seek cover now.” There was a static pause. “Falcon Team, how far out are you from the retrieval point?”

  “Five minutes, site cleared.” Fiona’s voice echoed up the tunnel to me as it also spoke in my head.

  Ryker cut in, curt and serious. “Why?”

  “A second squad of soldiers arrived on site, I caught glimpse when the power surged. It’s Fandrin’s Beta team. They’re tracking you.”

  Ryker picked up the pace to a jog. Shoulders squaring, his fingers anxious around his weapon again.

  I fell in step next to him as the footsteps behind us matched the new pace without question. I asked, already sure of the answer. “Beta team?”

  “Gage.” Ryker spat through his teeth, flushing crimson at the name. His gun shook in his hand.

  I nearly stopped—ready to turn back, ready to shoot the sadistic boy myself—but Triven’s hand caught my shoulder, forcing me to continue moving.

  “How many?” Triven was doing the math, making calculated choices, not the emotional one.

  “I can’t be sure, the feed cut out too fast, but maybe about a hundred strong. Heavily armed. It’s the largest party he’s sent out.” Thadd’s disembodied voice answered. “They might be in the tunnels already. The safe house, your location, might be compromised.” Simultaneously, the rebels began to move quicker, running now. Triven flashed a signal and our team fell into quick succession. The Wraiths made no noise now, their bones tucked away, but I could see Teya’s face in the crowd, many of her warriors a head above the rest.

  Ryker let out a string of curses that seemed to impress even Archer. “Plan B?” He asked.

  “Plan B.” Thadd agreed.

  Archer stared at me, not fully understanding the half of the conversation she could hear, but clearly getting the message. The rest of the Subversive members seemed equally in tune.

  “Running or fighting?” She asked, pulling her rifle, ready either way.

  “Run!” Ryker barked the order.

  The tunnel surged as our group burst into a full sprint. Before we had moved slowly with caution and stealth. Now it was an all-out dash, noise be damned. After two turns, however, our noise was irrelevant.

  Fiona’s voice began counting down from five, screaming both in my head and from the back of the pack. I had a sinking feeling about what was going to happen when she finished. Her final number was nearly lost as a pulse of heat and shear power surged up from behind us. The explosion rattled the walls, raining dust and debris down over our heads.

  Startled cries rang out as many ducked down in a covered run.

  I choked on the cloud of dust swallowing us like one of Baxter’s smoke bombs, managing only two words. “Us? Them?”

  “Plan B.” Ryker sputtered back.

  Reeling back, I aimed to punch Ryker for his lack of warning, when a door suddenly screeched opened ahead. Weapons sprang up, but quickly fell away as a round face with unruly black hair and a
streak of silver emerged in the settling dust.

  “Fifty-four seconds, hurry your asses up.” Mae barked. Ryker moved to follow her orders, pushing Archer in ahead of him, but his aunt caught his arm as we passed. Though her grip was firm, she was quick to snatch back her hand. Triven, Ryker and I stepped aside, urging the others in. People bumped us as they pressed past into the doorway, eager to get out of the smoky tunnel.

  “We have a problem.” Mae’s dark round eyes darted to each of us, then settled on me. “Another group came over from Tartarus during the power outage. We just caught sight of them—”

  Triven grabbed Mae’s hand. “My mother?”

  The strain in his voice struck me and I felt like an idiot. Of course he had been more concerned than he had let on. But Mae shook her head, eyes going wide and darting to me again.

  “Ravagers?” Dread yanked my heart down. Had they too seized the opportunity? Yes, Fandrin had used them to dispose of people, had been supplying them, but he wouldn’t have let them in surely. Not willingly. Teya had paused behind us, lingering with the pretense of ushering her Tribe in first. I tried to ignore the prickling of her presence.

  “No,” Mae’s lips trembled. “Prea, they were being led by someone with white blonde hair. I didn’t know her… I couldn’t be sure before the power cut again, but I swore there were children with her. I… I could have sworn one was… that I saw her… I thought she would be with you if anything… but she’s not here.” Mae glanced down at my empty side.

  My heart stopped.

  Impossible.

  She wasn’t here. She was safely away from all of this. That’s why I had made her stay behind.

  “Mouse?” I whispered the name, afraid to say it out loud.

  No. NO…

  Mae nodded and my knees gave out.

  33. TRESPASSERS

  I BLUNDERED THROUGH the crowded rooms. Limbs knocked me as I rushed past, but I didn’t see a single person. I was following someone, the broad shoulders clearing me a path, as he pushed his way through the maze of people. It was Ryker, maybe? Or Triven. There was a tug on my hand. No, that was Triven. I glanced up at the dark head leading me. Definitely Ryker. I could see that now as the world around me was coming back into focus. He was asking something of his aunt, shouting questions, but all I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears.

  Mae had been wrong. She had to be wrong.

  Mouse was safe. She was back in Tartarus, under Veyron’s care. Xavier’s lair was impenetrable. The safe house of all safe houses. They were untouchable there. She wasn’t here. It was a mistake.

  Ryker slammed through a door into a closet-sized room, startling a skinny man perched in front of a wall of translucent monitors. Frozen images illuminated most of them, while a few others flashed to life then extinguished as the city’s power grid struggled back to life.

  Mae barged in behind us, barely squeezing past the door frame into the crowded room. “Drake, pull up the video from before, the one I flagged.”

  The startled rebel began typing at a screen, only to be shoved away by an impatient Ryker. The discarded Drake crammed himself into a corner trying to disappear as Ryker’s fingers pounded the key.

  Triven was searching the screens. “How are these working while all other power is out?”

  “Present from Thadd. Our own personal generator.” Ryker distractedly toed an oversized black box I had assumed was a piece of furniture and that took up most of the small room. I could hear it humming now. The screen directly in front of his face changed. “There.”

  The footage was grainy, distorted in the darkness, but you could make out buildings, sidewalks, dark lamp posts. It was an empty street. Storage facility buildings lined the perfectly paved road, each one dark without power. It almost seemed like a still image, but then there was movement. It was almost unnoticeable in the gloom. A slight quiver in the shadows. One might have missed it at first, but then a woman emerged. Her face was hidden, but a long plait of silvery golden hair swung out behind her. A man was quick to follow, his dark shaggy head low as if avoiding the cameras. My chest began to ache. Then a slight form stepped out next to the woman, a hood pulled low over her face and I stopped breathing. Triven’s hand latched down painfully over mine.

  Ryker was squinting at the screen, slowing the footage. His nose was nearly touching the monitor.

  I didn’t need a better look.

  The girl looked too tall, too old. But there was a knife clutched in her hand, and she held it perfectly. Exactly the way I had taught her. I let out a gurgle of despair.

  Mouse was in the Sanctuary.

  Triven recovered first, “Where are they?”

  Drake peeled himself off the wall and began rambling as he took back control of the monitors from Ryker, searching for other images. “I saw them once more in the power surges. It looks like there were maybe twenty-five of them. Mostly kids based on the size, a few adults—”

  Drake cut off as I grabbed a fistful of his collar and slammed him back into the wall. He was nearly a foot taller than me and still the man recoiled as I snarled Triven’s question again. “Where are they?”

  Drake blinked, startled by my sudden outburst. “Th-th-the last place I saw them was in the food preserve district, not far from here.”

  I dropped him and started to the door, but Mae blocked my way as Ryker assumed my position in Drake’s face.

  “Did you cover their feed?” Ryker’s head pivoted between Drake and his aunt. When they hesitated, he tapped his earpiece. “Thadd, I know you’re listening. Did you cover their feed?!”

  “We were focused on the teams. On you.” Thaddeus’ voice was quiet, apologetic even over the line. “We’ve wiped the feed now, but I didn’t see them until it was too late.”

  Ryker looked ready to explode but his fuming dampened as he looked at his aunt. The usually brazen woman looked close to tears.

  Triven broke the uncomfortable silence, “Get us to them. Now.”

  I didn’t wait for Ryker to take lead. Instead, I barged from the room past the stricken Mae ready to bolt toward the door we had come in, but was immediately nearly knocked flat as I ran into a hulking body. Grenald steadied me as Archer’s head popped out from around his bicep. Otto, Baxter, and Cortez were huddled close behind.

  “We heard.” Archer waved a hand in Triven’s face before he could speak. “We’re coming with you.”

  Ryker appeared already shaking his head dismissively. “No way. We can’t cart your entire team. Maybe seven people max and a few of those are going to be mine. We know these streets better than you. The cameras are going back up and we can’t safely move fifty some people. Rescue mission or not. If Fandrin doesn’t know where they are already, we risk leading him straight to Mouse.”

  I wanted to protest, but there was logic to his words.

  Archer, on the other hand, pushed past Grenald, inserting herself in Ryker’s face. “You are not in charge of me.”

  Ryker didn’t back down, but it was Triven who spoke. “He’s right. A small party would be best. We have no idea what we’re up against out there.”

  “This is taking too long. I should just go alone—” I began to push my way through our friends. My hands were already running inventory of my weaponry, but I was met with a swam of harsh replies and blocking hands.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Don’t be stupid.”

  “That’s a terrible idea.”

  “Do you have a death wish?”

  “Idiot!”

  I paused, but my legs were itching to get moving. I took in the surroundings—a warehouse of sorts, similar to the laundry facility we had hid in our first time here—I realized how many blank faces were looking to us for leadership. Mouse needed me, but these people needed someone too. “Okay, okay! Ryker’s right, we need someone to stay here. To fill in our people and to watch the…” I tilted my head toward the Wraiths. “A high-ranking rebel should be the one to stay. We need as much information as possi
ble.”

  I glanced at Ryker, who snorted immediately. “Don’t even bother Princess, I’m going.”

  “Fine.” I snarled back. “Any volunteers?”

  Archer chewed her cheek, looking anywhere but at her mother who stood dead center in the crowded room watching us. “Shit.” She heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I’ll stay to watch her. To make sure she doesn’t turn on us.”

  Archer’s voice quivered and Baxter’s hand fell quickly on her shoulder. “Go. I’ll stay and watch her. She so much as looks at me wrong and I will put a bullet between her eyes.”

  Gratitude painted Archer’s expression and for the first time she seemed lost for words. Merely nodding with gratitude, she clutched his arm fiercely.

  Mae spoke from behind us. “I’ll stay and brief your people.” She pointed at Baxter. “Gather your most trusted, we will convene in ten.”

  Baxter nodded before disappearing into the warehouse already signaling for others to follow.

  Ryker tapped his ear, “Fiona, you’re with me. Thaddeus, you’re going to be our eyes and ears.” Both confirmed as Ryker turn to address us. “We leave in five.”

  “We leave now.” I corrected him.

  Ryker’s gaze searched my face. He tapped his ear again. “Fiona, get the guns and meet us at the east exit. We’re leaving now.”

  THE TUNNELS WERE out of the question. Fiona’s bomb, while effective, also created a dead end we didn’t want to find ourselves trapped in. As the power grid began to come back on, Thaddeus had also gained better visual of the city. On my request, Ryker had procured three additional earbuds for Otto, Grenald, and Archer before we left. Otto had tried to make the still injured Grenald stay, but he refused simply saying, “I go where you go.” I couldn’t argue that sentiment.

  To our benefit, The Tower—Fandrin’s colossal hideout—was the first to boot up. A giant silver beacon in the night. After that, the civilian areas were next. Sections of homes began to glow with light, illuminating the areas around them with an unnatural radiance. The service districts would be the last. Which fortunately for us, was where we were. Thaddeus’ soothing voice walked us through the city streets, guiding us toward Mouse. Twice he forced us to take cover, barely giving us warning before a power surge spiked in the area. I was tempted to start shooting out cameras, but feared damaging them would give away our location faster, not to mention we might need to save the bullets.