Push (Beat series Book 2)

by Jared Garrett

  “Pol, go find out if Mintz has any ideas,” I said. Pol dashed away. “Think Evum! Is there a strong room? A big room with only one door?”

  “Or even a back way out of here?” Melisa asked.

  “That’s it! Is there another door that the Ranjers might not know about?” I squeezed Evum’s hand. “Come on!”

  Evum straightened. “Maybe.” She scrubbed her face. “Yes. I think so. Downstairs, there’s a long hallway and a door that leads outside. Nobody uses it.”

  “Let’s go!” Melisa shouted.

  “I’ll get the weapons,” I said to Melisa. “You take Evum and start getting people moving. Go!”

  I ran out to the hallway, then turned back. “Evum, if we get away, I need this.” I grabbed the nano gel in its injector and the black wrist strap.

  She nodded. “Fine. Paint me when it’s over.”

  “Sure.” I snagged a nearby cloth and wrapped everything in it, trying to block the point of the needle.

  “No, promise me. Always promise. Even if I die, you paint me,” Evum said. She sniffled.

  I met her eyes. “I promise.” I took off running.

  The huge room with the tall dome ceiling seemed somehow even fuller than before. I yelled, “Ranjers! You have to get out!” Where had Melisa gone? I grabbed a nearby bag, shoved the nano gel holder into it, and slung it across my chest. “Run! Get out!”

  A few nearby Outcasts looked at me and smiled. The one I’d taken the bag from shouted, coming toward me. I needed to be louder. I looked around and finally found the source of the rhythmic beat I’d been hearing. A group young men, all shirtless with interlocking triangles made of nano gel on their chests, was making some kind of music on different things. One had a plasteel bucket that he was banging with a stick. That was the one I needed. I dodged the angry Outcast and ran to them, grabbing the bucket and the big stick in the drumming Outcast’s hand.

  “Hey!” He jumped up and reached for me.

  “You have to get out, Ranjers are here,” I said. I slammed the stick against the bucket as hard and fast as I could, catching sight of Pol out of the corner of my eye. He carried an armful of fuel cells. What was he doing? My sudden loud pounding got more attention, but people still ignored me.

  Something loud slammed the stone floor maybe three meters away. It had fallen from upstairs. The Outcasts all turned, the noise level dropping immediately. I ducked toward the stairs and looked up. Melisa was standing right above the piece of plasteel that had fallen. She must have shoved it over the railing.

  “Everyone! Ranjers are coming. They’re outside!” Melisa waved her arms. “We have to go downstairs, out the back way!”

  The Outcasts didn’t move. Some of them even clapped, yelling, “Good show.”

  What was wrong with these people?

  Evum appeared next to Melisa. “It’s not a show,” she called. “The Ranjers are not on a normal patrol. We must get out.”

  A few people glanced around nervously. This was taking too long. I ran up the stairs and leaned over the rail. “Downstairs! Follow Melisa and Evum! Go!”

  “Nik!” Pol shouted up. “Mintz was gone. I can use these as explosives!” Pol set the pile of fuel cells down. “James and Lily said they could take off, maybe lead some of the Ranjers away.”

  “No,” I called back. “We need that pod.”

  “They’re here to kill us!” Evum shouted. “Come on!” She turned and broke into a run.

  “Follow us!” Melisa yelled. She and Evum ran by me. The Outcasts had begun to move toward the hallway.

  “Hurry,” I called after them and turned toward the vault. It was about thirty meters away.

  “Get back! James says they stopped,” Pol said. “Their pod’s hovering and it looks like they’re going to—”

  The entire building shook and the front wall exploded inward.

  Chapter 34

  The force of the explosion threw me off my feet. Outcasts screamed and ran, making for the stairs. A jagged hole gaped in the front of the building. Chunks of brick were scattered everywhere, and a choking dust cloud filling the air.

  I pushed myself up, coughing and gagging. Hundred year old building dust tasted . . . old. My ears rang. The noise of shifting rocks and terrified Outcasts jabbed into my skull like a knife.

  They were coming in. I needed weapons. I nearly lost my balance as I staggered toward the vault. I put out a hand for the rail and found nothing, so I fell. The rail must have fallen with the first explosion.

  Another explosion compressed the air around me. In my panic, I noticed it came from inside. They were already in. We were done. It was over.

  I threw myself away from the blast, but couldn’t stop my fall. I was going over the side. Something grabbed me from behind and pulled. My feet slipped out from under me and I fell backward. Blinking rock chips and dust away, my ears still ringing, I looked up. Lyn, her wild hair sticking out all over, bent over me, coughing.

  “Lyn!” I tried to shake my head clear of the fuzz. Explosions from keepers and something I couldn’t identify filled the air.

  “Let’s go, blank boy,” Lyn said. “Get off this mezzanine.”

  “Mezza what?” I stood. Shouting and movement streamed all around me. Outcasts were still on this upper floor—Oh, mezzanine—and Melisa stood at the top of the stairs, urging them to move faster.

  “Go.” Lyn pushed me in the direction of the stairs.

  I spun away. “No, you go. I’ll get weapons.” My spin turned into more of a stumble, but she ran toward Melisa and I closed the gap between me and the vault.

  Another explosion sounded over the keeper fire. I glanced down to the bottom floor. At least five Ranjers were trying to come through the hole they’d blown in the wall. But Pol was doing something to the fuel cells he’d grabbed. He threw one. The somewhat convex disk floated gracefully toward the Ranjers. It skipped off part of a wall, hit another piece of rubble, and blew up with a bright flash of light. The Ranjers ducked back, but popped up a second later and started firing again.

  The mezzanine was empty now except for me. Behind Pol, I saw Melisa and Lyn directing the Outcasts down the hallway, each of them helping injured people along.

  At the hole in the wall, I saw five more Ranjers crouching low and circling to their right. Pol didn’t see them. He needed help. I ducked into the shallow alcove that the vault door was set in. I slammed my shoulder into it. It didn’t open. I tried kicking. It didn’t budge.

  I heard engines whine outside between the sound of keeper fire and exploding fuel cells. Pol was going to run out of those soon. How had those Outcast guards opened the door? The wrist computers! I tugged the one I’d grabbed out of the bag with the nano gel. I couldn’t see how to fasten it, so I just held it to my wrist. The moment it touched my skin, the strap slipped smoothly all the way around and clicked into place.

  I flicked my wrist. The holographic rectangle popped open.

  “Nik! A little help!” Pol’s voice was high and scared. Where was Melisa? I swiped through the icons on the pale, insubstantial readout.

  Loud, repeated explosions came from outside. Please be James and Lily helping. Please. I found an option for connections and swiped through my selections.

  This was taking too long. I ran back to the edge of the mezzanine. The rail had been torn away from this entire side. “Pol, throw one up here!”

  Pol looked out from behind a corner, his eyes wide. Rock chips splintered in from the hole. Bullets and shells were pounding the wall from the outside. Had to be Lily and James trying to stop any other Ranjers from getting in. Unfortunately, the Ranjers who were already inside had plenty of cover, so shots from outside wouldn’t hit them. I counted five Ranjers. Where had the others gone?

  Leaning out, Pol flung a fuel cell my way. It wobbled in the air. It was too low. I dove for it, careful of the edge.

  Pol screamed. “No! Don’t catch it—”

  The missing five Ranjers burst out from their hiding places
behind some fallen columns and Outcast furniture. They divided their attention, shooting at both Pol and me. Pol was thrown back, screaming. Melisa ducked and ran towards him. Bullets showered all around me. I rolled. The flying fuel cell skipped up off the edge of the mezzanine. I batted it behind me. A bullet sliced down my arm, another across my temple.

  Several dull thumps sounded from the Ranjers’ keepers. I saw flying grenades arc towards Pol and Melisa. The grenades hit the mezzanine above them and shattered the old concrete, throwing huge, jagged rocks right on top of my friends.

  Chapter 35

  “No!”

  I twisted, trying to get to my feet. Melisa! Pol! A shockwave of light, sound, and pressure smacked me from behind. The fuel cell. I caught myself on the edge of the splitting stone floor. I had to get to Melisa and Pol—and that meant going through the Ranjers. I got my feet beneath me and launched myself at the vault. The door wasn’t open. The fuel cell had missed.

  I heard shouts below; Ranjers were coming after me. Another explosion came from outside, bigger than any of the others. I hurled myself into the vault door. It jiggled. The fuel cell must have weakened something. Stepping back, I focused on the door and threw everything I had at it.

  It slammed open.

  I slung my pack on and grabbed two keepers. I thumbed the ammunition drums to ‘grenade.’

  I ran out of the vault and slid on my knees out onto the mezzanine. Two Ranjers stood ten meters in front of me. Behind them, three more had just appeared at the top of the stairs.

  I pulled both triggers. Twin thumps sounded and thin cylinders erupted from my keepers. I turned before they blew and studied the downstairs area as much as I could in a spinning glance. The mezzanine that had once floated above the entrance to the hallway was now scattered in thick chunks on the floor, blocking passage. And crushing anything beneath it. Melisa. Pol.

  Ranjers poured bullets at me from below. I ducked back. One keeper was blown out of my hand by at least two bullets. I felt others smack against the stone wall right behind me. I shot another grenade down.

  At the exact same moment, a grenade arced over me. Somehow, the one second it took the explosive cylinder to clear my head and hit the wall went by in slow motion. I saw the thing travel every centimeter. I had enough time to wonder if the grenade or the fall would do more damage. I threw my arms up and dropped onto my back. Right where there was no more floor.

  A mini-sun exploded above me, flinging heat and pressure at me at the same moment I began to fall. I reached for the edge of the mezzanine but missed. Pain and shrapnel washed over my front. I felt myself roll over the edge and into the open air.

  Then a tug and a jerk and I was hanging by my backpack. It had snagged on some exposed metal supports sticking out of the broken mezzanine floor. Tears bled from my eyes. I couldn’t move. Pain throbbed all over my body. I blinked, and got one arm to move. The other still held a keeper somehow. I scrubbed my free arm across my face. The sensation of pebbles bouncing off my cheeks and forehead brought focus.

  Taking care to not move suddenly, I looked for Ranjers. What little remained of the mezzanine was clear. Below me, I heard a scuffing sound. A Ranjer was rising from behind a piece of fallen wall. The faceplate on his helmet turned my way. He lifted his keeper. I tried to aim my keeper at him, but couldn’t move my arm. I swung gently and felt myself slip a little.

  A thousand thoughts flashed through my mind. My parents, prisoners of a murderer. The Outcasts we’d done this to. Melisa, Pol, I’m sorry.

  No. Not done. Bullets were certain death. Falling wasn’t. I jerked and twisted. Whatever part of my backpack had snagged on the metal support gave way. I dropped at the same moment that the bullets shattered the exposed beams that I had just been hanging from.

  My stomach flipped. I caught a glimpse of the ground fast approaching. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Something tugged on my backpack again, slowing my fall. The metal supports?

  I twisted. The Ranjer wouldn’t miss again.

  “Be still,” a voice commanded. I realized I wasn’t falling, but the ground was still getting closer. Just a lot slower. I looked up.

  Mintz, his spiky hair and round body now sheathed in some kind of reflective cloth, was holding onto my backpack. And he was flying.

  Okay, he wasn’t flying. He had been before he grabbed me. He wore a harness from the top of his legs to his shoulders that had propulsion units of some kind strapped to the back. Mintz lowered me the last five meters to the ground. I stumbled, but got back up.

  Where were the Ranjer’s bullets? He should have finished us off by now. “Watch out!”

  I pushed at Mintz and ducked behind a low block. Still no keeper fire. I thumbed my ammunition drum and peeked over the block. Lyn stood over the last Ranjer, a heavy-looking rock in her hands. The Ranjer was crumpled on the rock-strewn floor.

  “Lyn, are you all right?”

  “Fine,” Lyn dropped the rock after eyeballing the downed Ranjer. “He’s going to have a scar. Probably will need work.”

  I turned in a quick circle. Without keeper fire and explosions and the heavy shots outside, it was almost quiet. But rocks still tumbled down the collapsed building walls. I ran across the floor. It felt like it had only been a second ago that it was filled with Outcasts and life.

  “Melisa! Pol!”

  No answer from the rubble of the collapsed mezzanine.

  “Lyn, did you see them? Did they get away?”

  Mintz floated just above the ground next to me, then dropped to his feet.

  “Who?” Lyn looked ready to collapse. She hadn’t moved except for her eyes, which were taking in the mess of her home.

  “My friends!” I dropped my keeper and tugged at the nearest rough piece of mezzanine. It rolled off the pile. “Melisa and Pol. Did you see if they got down the hallway before this all fell?”

  “No. I was right at the top of the stairs,” Lyn called back. “Then it all came down.” She stared blankly. “It all came down.”

  We did this. I forced the guilt away and pulled more rocks off the pile.

  “Melisa! Pol! Can you hear me?” A fist of panic squeezed my chest. I couldn’t breathe. “Melisa!”

  The next rock was too big. I scrabbled the smaller pieces around it away. This rock. If I could move it, it would roll down. Then I could get deeper into the pile. How deep could the pile be?

  “Lyn! Mintz, help me,” I shouted. Lyn wandered slowly around the room. Mintz was having trouble turning off the device he’d used to fly. He repeatedly jabbed his thumb on a button.

  “I flew over it just after it fell,” Mintz said. “I saw nobody moving away from the area.”

  “No! They’re in there.” Grabbing a nearby stick, I jammed it under the big rock. “Melisa! Can you hear me?” They’re okay. They have to be. I just have to get through. I shoved a smaller rock under the stick and used it to lever the big one. It shifted. “Pol. Melisa! Answer me!”

  I pushed harder. I had to squeeze each breath through a closed throat. My eyes burned. Stinging pain pulled at one of my arms. Why did my head and ears hurt so much? The rock shifted again, sliding down a meter. I dropped the stick and fell onto the pile, pulling more rubble away.

  Hands took me by the shoulders, pulling me back. “Come, boy. You’ll pull the mess onto yourself,” Mintz said.

  “No, I just have to get through. They’re in there. Maybe they can’t hear me, but they’re in there.” I pulled another rock, but Mintz was strong. I smacked at his hands, trying to twist out of his grip.

  “I’m sorry,” Mintz said. “But if they’re under that, they’re dead. It’s no use.”

  He was wrong. He was wrong, wrong, wrong. I jerked free. “Melisa, Pol, come on!” I got back onto my knees and yanked another rock. Why wasn’t the pile getting smaller?

  “You’ll bring the whole thing down!” Mintz pulled me back again. “Lyn, help me with the boy.”

  I collapsed back. If they’re under there, the
y’re dead. His voice echoed over and over in my head. He was right. And they were under it. Seconds before the grenades had hit, Melisa had been running for Pol.

  My head filled with two words that wouldn’t leave, no matter how hard I pushed them away. I leaned forward, wrapping my head in my hands and arms. The words wouldn’t leave.

  They’re gone.

  Chapter 36

  Lyn and Mintz tugged at me.

  “Blank boy. Some of my people had to get out. Let’s go find them,” Lyn said.

  I stared at her, wondering what her words meant.

  “Let’s go, kid,” Lyn said. “Don’t you have other friends?”

  How could she say that? Melisa and Pol—

  I didn’t finish the thought. James and Lily. I stood, lifting my keeper. My backpack was still on. I stared at the rock pile.

  Adam Holland and every Ranjer were done. Murdering, evil, spamming Bug-eaters. I was going to walk to Edwards Air if I had to and Holland was going to see my face and that was going to be the end of the road for him.

  “Let’s go find them.”

  I led the way out of the destroyed room, into the dark night. Burning trees added color and light to what we could see by the stars and moon. There was a burning, wrecked pod right outside the hole the Ranjers had blown into the building. Maybe fifty meters beyond that was another pod, this one not as wrecked. That one was ours.

  “James! Lily!” I took off running.

  Before I was halfway there, movement inside the pod made me draw up short. That was our pod, right?

  Lily leaned out of the pod. “Nik! James is hurt bad.” As I got closer, I could see how battered she was. One of her arms had a long cut and she was definitely not putting much weight on her left leg. “Wait, where are Pol and Melissa?”

  The question felt like a punch to my chest. I clenched my teeth together. We didn’t have time for that. I shook my head, my vision blurring even though I tried to make it stop.

  “They didn’t—”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, no.”