Push (Beat series Book 2)

by Jared Garrett

  “Nik, hurry!” Lexi sounded desperate.

  I tried to force a breath in. No good. I felt the strength going out of me. I held the knife in my left hand. The Ranjer pushed harder. My eyes felt heavy and useless.

  I slammed my left hand at his side with all the strength I had.

  Suddenly his weight was gone. I squeezed air through my bruised throat. The Ranjer grabbed at my hand, but his fingers were twitching. I shoved him off me and let him fall to the pod floor.

  The sounds from outside filtered into my brain as the darkness dissolved. Shots fired all over the place. Someone was screaming in my ear. “Nik! Hurry! James is hit and Lexi needs help with the Wanderers.” Melisa. “Nik! Are you there?”

  I stared at the Ranjer. My knife was buried in his side, just under his ribs. He moved weakly. Or maybe she. I didn’t need to know. I tried to shake the slowness from my brain and jumped for the pilot seat.

  The Enforsers had taught us how to do more than just fly pods before they’d been killed. I studied the holographic controls on the smooth console, then hit the button to activate the guns on the bottom of the pod and fired the propulsion units. I pulled the pod off the ground and tapped an icon on the control panel. An image of everything around the pod came up on the display in front of me. It was still transparent, so I could see what was going on through the cockpit window. Three Ranjers were coming toward the pod from the right side—my old hiding place. I put the guns to work, hunting down Ranjers. The pod rose higher. The Ranjers were easy to find. Their heat signatures were much stronger than my friends’, and their shapes were a lot bigger.

  “Nik, is that you?” Pol asked.

  I coughed out dust and what felt like pieces of destroyed throat. “Yeah.” My voice sounded terrible. “Stay down.”

  I tapped the AUTO button and showed the pod the heat signatures to track and eliminate. While the guns did their job, I flew the pod forward. The diamond of Ranjers had gone after Lexi and a few of the Wanderers. Where had those Ranjers gone?

  Found them. But there were only two Ranjers now. I enhanced the picture to make sure one wasn’t Scott. Nope. Two people wearing body armor. The pod’s guns finished them off. What had happened to the other two?

  I searched as fast as I could for the last group, turning the pod in a tight 180 and tearing up the street. If the Ranjers had called for help, reinforcements would be here within minutes.

  Keeping all the pod’s biometric scanners active, I swept the street. “Did anyone see where the last group went?”

  “They’re back there somewhere,” James said.

  “I saw them running up the central street right before Melisa blew up the building,” Pol said.

  “I didn’t blow up the building,” Melisa said. “I had to slow them down. Lexi, are you there?”

  I listened for a response. Nothing came. “Lexi!” I called out. “Are you okay?” Still nothing. “Go get her,” I said.

  Pol answered. “I’m going now.”

  “You guys can see me, right?” I asked.

  “You’re the spammer flying the pod,” Melisa said.

  I fought the urge to fire a shot at wherever she was hunkered down. “Were there any Wanderers this way?” I brought the pod higher than the trees to widen the scan.

  “I see you up there,” James said. “I think Lily was with a couple of them over in the direction you’re headed.” His voice was strained.

  “James how bad did they get you?” The scanners caught a line of five people hiding behind a big heap of metal that used to be a car.

  “Not bad. Through my right shoulder. Arm’s not good, but I’ve got another one.”

  Those weren’t Ranjers. They were too small. The scanners found four more heat signatures spread out behind the line of five people. But the heat was fading from those ones. What had happened?

  I set the pod down. “I think I found Lily and her group. You guys check on Scott and the others.” I ran out of the pod and waved my hands. “Hey, it’s Nik. I’m not a Ranjer!”

  Lily’s head poked above the heap of scrap. “Oh, good. I didn’t want to use another arrow.”

  I stopped. What? “Another arrow?”

  She pointed back behind them with her bow. An arrow was still nocked on the string. “Like I did on those ones.”

  “You did what?” I ran past her to a fallen Ranjer about twenty meters away. One of Lily’s arrows stuck out only a few centimeters from the body armor. I stared. Bug me. Standing there, I had no trouble finding the other Ranjers. Each of them had an arrow sticking out of the chest. Bugging spam. I turned back to Lily. My eyes went from her bow to her face. Wanderers weren’t supposed to fight. That was why Devera had stayed with the Pushers in the cavern.

  Lily raised her eyebrows. Her face was pale, her lips colorless. She forced a flat smile. “It was like hunting. But also being hunted. Only I could fight back.” She stared at her bow. “So I fought back.”

  Chapter 16

  “We’re down at the south end, guys,” I said into my EarCom. I waved at Melisa, who had just come out of the building they’d been defending. She had an arm around James’s shoulders. He was walking slowly.

  She waved back. “I see you. I’ll find Scott. Gather at the pod?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Lexi’s hurt!” Pol’s voice screeched through the EarComs. “Get over here. Second street south of the one Melisa blew up.”

  Melisa and I met each other’s eyes, then glanced at James.

  “Go,” he said. He leaned on the pod. “I’m fine here.”

  Melisa and I tore down the street. “Pol, how hurt is she?” Melisa asked.

  “I don’t know. It looks bad,” Pol said.

  “Where are you?” I asked. We passed the building I’d jumped out of and turned down the street he’d described

  “Down here where—” He stopped. “I’ll send a Wanderer out.”

  Twenty meters away, a short man in light brown clothes stepped out of a broken-down building. He waved. Melisa and I sped up and ran into the building.

  Wanderers, several of them kids, clustered around Pol, who had Lexi’s head on his lap. He held a ragged piece of cloth against her upper chest. He saw us and opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. The skin around his eyes was tight and wet.

  I pushed through the Wanderers. “Let me through!”

  Melisa and I dropped next to Pol. Lexi’s shirt was deep red all along the right side. Her eyelids fluttered. One of her hands still clutched a keeper. I gently pulled it away.

  “Lexi,” Melisa said. “Stay with us.”

  A shadow blocked out some of the light; I looked up. Scott filled the doorway.

  “Two got behind us,” Lexi said. Her voice was too soft. She sounded like Tifani had.

  “Don’t talk,” I said. “Just keep your eyes open.”

  Tasha dropped to the cratered floor next to me. “We need to keep pressure on that,” she said. “She’s losing too much blood.” Tasha dug through her pack.

  “She, she jumped in front of me.” I looked up at the small voice. A boy with long hair in his face had stepped closer to us. “I saw the Ranjers and shouted and she jumped in front of me and got shot.”

  “Hush, Wally,” one of the men said. He took the boy by his shoulders and pulled him back. The man’s dark eyes held mine. “She saved my son’s life.” His voice cracked and he turned away, taking his boy with him.

  Tasha and Melisa had found some bandages and long strips of cloth and were wrapping Lexi’s upper chest tightly. Pol kept Lexi’s head up and was talking quietly to her. I caught, “You saved them. You did it.”

  I took one of Lexi’s hands. “Lexi, we’re going to get you fixed up. You’re going to be okay.”

  Tasha gave me a heavy look. I stared back at her and repeated myself. “You’re going to be okay, Lexi.” I didn’t look away from Tasha.

  “Let’s go. More Ranjers might be coming,” Scott said. He crouched and slid his arms under Lexi’s
legs and back, gently cradling and lifting her as if she were a small child.

  I ran ahead to the pod to start getting people loaded. Melisa and Pol stayed with Lexi and the Wanderers to make sure everyone was accounted for and then herd them all to the pod.

  When I got back to the pod, I saw Lily walk to one of the Ranjers she had taken down and take hold of the fletched end of the arrow protruding from his chest. She stood there for a while, not moving.

  I raised my voice. “Everyone in the pod. We have to go.” Lily didn’t move. I approached her. “Lily.” I touched her arm.

  She turned toward me, but stared through me. Her usually glowing face was completely pale. “I killed them.”

  I nodded. She looked like a soft wind could knock her down. I took her arm and pulled her away. She didn’t resist. The other Wanderers that had hid with her followed us toward the pod.

  “I think you need to sit down.”

  “Okay.”

  I thought back to the first time I’d done what Lily had just done. It was less than a week after the escape from New Frisko. We’d been on the run and I’d had to save a group of two families who had gotten separated. I hadn’t felt guilty or anything like that. But thinking about what I’d had to do reminded me of how empty it made me feel. I hated this.

  Lily sat on the pod bench, staring at the bow on her lap. The arrow was still set on the string. I pulled it off and found the button to revert it to a smooth, compact cylinder. The other Wanderers, two young boys and a man and a woman, sat on other benches in the pod. They looked almost as bad as Lily. Had they never seen people die? Or were they just shocked at what Lily had done? And now what was I supposed to do?

  James showed up, poking his head through the door with one arm raised. “Don’t shoot, I’m a good guy.” His joking smile faded when he saw Lily and the Wanderers. He turned to me. “What happened? She didn’t say a thing while you were gone.”

  I stepped out of the pod and pointed at the fallen Ranjers. “She took down four of them. With her bow.”

  James surveyed the scene. “I’d wondered. That’s impressive.”

  “She’s not taking it well.”

  He nodded. “Not surprised.” He looked back in the pod. “I’ll sit with her. You get the arrows.” He turned, then stopped. “Lexi?”

  “It’s bad. I don’t know.” My throat closed on the last word. Come on, Lexi. Not you too.

  “I’m so sorry,” James said. He set a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Hurry and grab those arrows. Time to go.”

  James stepped into the pod before I could argue. Get the arrows? Really? I had thought Lily was going to try to pull her arrows out, which was why I’d pulled her away. It wouldn’t be very pleasant. And my reward was to do it myself. I fought the urge to vomit as I yanked hard to free the first arrow. This is just the best.

  By the time I’d vibrated the arrows free, Melisa, Pol, and the Wanderers were close by. Scott must have seen what I was doing, because he sped up and ducked into the pod with Lexi. He reappeared almost instantly without Lexi and grabbed my shoulders. He gave me that mountain staring at you look again.

  “Lily?” He touched the arrow in my hand. I nodded. I realized that he had a long scratch down one arm.

  Scott ran back into the pod. He moved fast, big guy or not.

  “Wait, so what happened?” Melisa and Pol showed up while the other Wanderers climbed into the pod.

  Tasha came stopped, saw us, and joined us. She took in the Ranjers on the ground and the compacted arrows in my hands. “Lily did this?”

  “Yeah.” I gave Tasha the arrows.

  “Need to clean them good,” Tasha said, pulling a cloth out of her pack. “Scott in there with her?” She pointed at the pod.

  I nodded again.

  “Good. First time’s not easy. Second time’s worse.” She extended one of Lily’s arrows. “Truth is, it never gets easy. But you gotta do what you gotta do.”

  Melisa took my arm and led me away from the group. “Tasha took down two of the other Ranjers before you got the pod.”

  “I thought Wanderers didn’t fight,” I said.

  Pol caught up to us. “Well, it’s good they did. That group would have died.”

  “Somebody’s got to do the hard stuff,” Tasha said. Apparently she had really good ears. “Running only works sometimes.”

  The Wanderers stood aimlessly around the pod. All together, there were twenty-three of us. We could all fit in the pod. It was time to travel faster.

  “We need one of those bows. They’re silent and fast.” Melisa stepped back to let some Wanderers carry the Ranjer pilot’s body out of the pod.

  I remembered my knife and retrieved it from the pilot’s body. “I don’t think we’re just going to find a bow and arrows lying around.” I pitched my voice louder. “They might have called for reinforcements. We need to get the Ranjers out of sight before we go. Let’s move.”

  Several Wanderers came out of the pod and went to work.

  Tasha must have been listening to our conversation the entire time. “You want a bow? Find the Outcasts.”

  Melisa, Pol, and I exchanged a look. What? “What are Outcasts?” I stepped closer to Tasha.

  “Former city dwellers. Still think the Bug’s around, but they got away from the New Chapter and live in a big building in Old Mento.” Tasha had finished cleaning the arrows.

  How much didn’t we know about the world Holland had been hiding from us?

  “They still think the Bug’s around?” Pol looked confused. “Nobody’s told them about New Frisko?”

  Tasha shrugged. “That I don’t know. Last I knew, they still wore the Papas.”

  “Someone needs to tell th—” Pol picked up a fallen Ranjer’s keeper. “Wait a second. If they don’t live in the city, but they still have Papas, how do they get them refilled every month? And how are they staying hidden? The Papas have trackers.”

  “I don’t know, kid. They were still wearing Papas as of a few months ago is all I know.” Tasha stepped into the Pod. Ahead of her, Melisa was settling into the pilot seat. James still sat next to Lily. He was talking quietly. Scott sat on her other side, holding her close. Tasha crouched in front of Lily with her hand on one of Lily’s knees.

  I helped Jenny and a few of the other Wanderers finish up outside, then we all packed into the pod. Melisa lifted it off the ground while Pol and I did a quick inventory of the keepers we had. I chose a Ranjer keeper with a nearly full ammunition drum and topped it off with what was left in the one I’d been using.

  The pod shook as Melisa throttled up the power and shot west. I dropped into the copilot seat and activated the long-range sensors. “Did you find a tracker or anything?”

  “Yeah. I deactivated it,” Melisa said.

  “You think they called for reinforcements?”

  “Maybe. But once you got the pod, it took maybe thirty seconds before they were all down,” Melisa said. “I think we have a good chance. And they have no way of knowing which direction we went in if we get out of range fast.”

  I tapped the screen in front of me. “If I can see them, they can see us.”

  “Then let’s hope you don’t see them.”

  Chapter 17

  “We can take her with us.” Scott sat on the bench near Lexi’s feet. “You have an important job to do and we have plenty of resources at a gathering.”

  Pol and I crouched next to Lexi. Her breathing was light and the pulse in her wrist felt way too weak.

  “I think we should go back to the cavern,” I said. “Kristin can help her. We’ve got meds and can do surgery.” But going back means we’re no closer to finding Holland and Mom and Dad. I ground my teeth. I couldn’t win.

  “Wanderers can do all of this too,” Scott said. “Your friend here…” He trailed off. His eyes were wet and his voice got thick. “Your friend here saved my dear ones.” He cleared his throat. “I will do all in my power to help her.”

  “Lexi,” Pol whispered
. “Wake up. Don’t sleep.”

  Her eyelids fluttered. Someone had bundled some kind of cloth and put it under her head. Her lips parted the tiniest bit. “Th—thirsty.”

  Pol yanked his water bottle out of his pack and brought it to her lips. A few drops dribbled into her mouth.

  “More,” Lexi said. Her voice sounded shredded, nearly gone.

  “Someone give me water!” Pol yelled. He flung his bottle against the side of the pod. It bounced and rolled.

  “I’ve got it,” I said. My voice didn’t sound great after almost being strangled by that Ranjer. I held the bottle to her lips and squeezed. She got some down and coughed a little.

  “Besides, we’re closer to the gathering than to your cavern,” Scott said.

  “But how do we know you can save her?” Pol asked.

  Tasha leaned close from her spot next to Scott. “Can you save her?”

  Pol sat back. I looked around at the Wanderers. They looked tired and scared, but strong. Scott was right.

  “Okay.” I met Scott’s heavy gaze. “You take her with you and fix her up.”

  “Nik!” Pol nearly shouted.

  “Pol, it’s her best chance. Wanderers fixed me up once.”

  “Then betrayed you!”

  “I am not Gabe and I will not let this girl die.” Scott didn’t raise his voice but it sure filled the pod.

  “Lexi,” I said leaning close to her ear. “You’re going to go with the Wanderers. They’ll help you. Is that okay?”

  Lexi said something, but I didn’t catch it.

  Pol must have caught it, though, because he asked, “Are you sure?”

  She gave a tiny nod.

  “Where do we take you?” I said. I stood and bounced a little to get the blood moving through my legs again.

  “I will show you,” Scott said.

  “To the gathering, right?” I asked.

  “Near to it. Somewhat.”

  “No,” I said. “We take you right there so we know exactly where to find you. After we’re done.”

  Scott shook his head. “I’m sorry. I cannot allow that. Even after what you have done for us. Nobody who is not a Wanderer can know where the Gathering is.”