Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  “And they’re down there guarding, right?” I ask. “You know their names?”

  Cho scratches his forehead and thinks for a moment. “Maynard, Rodriguez, Xin, Luampa, and Connors. Those five tend to stick together, and I’ll find them.”

  “Can we trust them? Even the Naturals could have joined the cult.”

  Cho shakes his head. “We need all the help we can get right now. The Naturals might know the way to the right systems. We’ll have to kill those who align with the Savior.” Cho draws a pistol and eyes the top of the drill. “I’ve seen the work site a few times. I know how to sneak around.”

  Elias and I exchange a look. It seems neither of us like Cho’s plan, but with the heat beating down and my exposed skin burning, we have to do something. We might have the high ground, but three hundred SNA ops will take us out even with the best planning.

  “He goes down,” Elias says.

  “I can’t help him if he gets in trouble,” Talen says. “The magnetism here won’t let me use my nanos.”

  Lacy steps up beside Talen. “I’ll incapacitate guards so they won’t blow up. We’ll take their weapons and knock them out so we don’t alert the others we’re here.”

  “I’m going with you,” Talen says.

  I’m glad she won’t be alone. I know Cho wants to save the Naturals and anyone who might not be glad to serve the Savior, but I also know by now it’s impossible to save everyone who deserves it. At least Sky and a few ops are back with the children, hiding them as we put their parents at more risk. He’s not completely safe, but I remind myself he’s safer at the barracks than out here.

  Cho, Lacy, and Talen go with a few EHC ops down a narrow trail that must lead around the drill site. That leaves me, Elias, and the other ops.

  “What now?” I ask.

  Elias clears his throat. “We divide ourselves into groups and pick off the guards.”

  “Will the explosions trigger this place?”

  “Not if they’re on the surface. The plume is miles underground. We might shoot an innocent, but it beats letting this place blow. Then once Cho finds the Naturals, we sabotage this operation.”

  “That’s messy. Everything has to go right for this plan to work.”

  “We have no other options. The SNA could be sending more troops now. Those ops at the barracks saw us.”

  I don’t have any better ideas.

  Elias waves the EHC ops into three groups: one to stay here, one to follow Cho, and one to loop around the work site with us. I keep my gun out. Elias and I lead seven ops around the site, sticking to an uneven gravel trail that makes my feet slip and pebbles dart away from my soles. My legs cramp with the effort of staying upright. Occasionally we get a glimpse of the work site below, but mostly the volcanic smog blocks our view.

  Down below, workers, some in plain clothes and others in gray uniforms, carry buckets while SNA guards watch over them. It won’t be easy for the snipers. We near a small group of SNA ops standing guard by a thin line of workers dumping rocks onto a big pile. They’re the farthest from the rest of the crew.

  “Get down,” Elias orders.

  I have no idea why he says it, but I listen, taking all but the top of the drill from my view. We sit inside a bowl of jagged rocks with only pockets of moss hugging its dark cracks. At least the sun’s off us for a few seconds.

  “Someone’s following us,” Elias whispers.

  “Who?”

  “Couldn’t tell. A plume got in the way.”

  “It’s me,” Sky says, appearing on top of our rock nest.

  My body stiffens at the sight of him. What the hell is he here for?

  His skin has turned red from the sun and he grips a rifle stolen from an SNA op. He hurries to us and jumps down into our hole, making an EHC op scoot to the side.

  My pulse races in my ears as I ball the fist not holding the gun. “They could have shot you on the way here. And what about—”

  “I got Emma to send a hover for the kids,” he says. “They’re on their way back to base.”

  “Well, you’re here now,” Elias says. “Nothing we can do about it.”

  “You need everybody you can get,” Sky says.

  I shift my body from him. Sky was supposed to stay behind where it was safer.

  Elias shakes his head, then climbs over the rocks. “I saw a group of five ops far from the others. We can take them out, then we can change positions and fire again.”

  In the distance, a gunshot goes off and I swing my attention that way. The other groups must be attacking.

  Elias looks over the rocks and aims, firing off a shot. Sky and I join him, as do our snipers, but another pesky plume wafts from the ground, blocking two running figures below. Several workers shout, drop pails of rocks, and take cover behind the large stone piles. A female worker limps to safety as stones roll across the cracked ground.

  I aim my pistol, but before I shoot, a bullet strikes the rock below me and sparks fly. Bits of rock sting my bare arms. I calculate the bullet’s path and fire at the SNA op as the plume clears. Even from a hundred and fifty feet away, my bullet finds its mark. The man jolts, drops his weapon, and falls. Two other soldiers backpedal from the body as it blows, raising a cloud of dirt.

  Muffled shots surround me as silencers go to work. The other SNA ops lurch and drop before exploding, sending geysers of earth skyward. Vapor and dust clog the air as shouts echo from the work site. Down below, someone blows a whistle.

  “Move!” Elias shouts.

  I peel myself from the rock and join him and Sky as we bolt from the area. Shouts seem to come from everywhere, including behind us. Green-clad SNA ops race uphill. One of our fighters shoots one with a sniper rifle.

  Another shot ricochets off a nearby boulder. I’m exposed, and any breath could be my last. Crouching as I run, my senses sharpen. I’ve got to stay alive here.

  “Keep the high ground!” Elias shouts as he runs beside me. “If we go down there, we’re done!”

  Sky races with his pistol trained in front of him. A green-uniformed op jogs up a shallower part of the hill from the work site, automatic rifle ready, but Sky lands a bullet in his head. The body rolls downhill toward three more ops as a hum fills the air. The ground where the corpse rolls erupts, blasting broken men into the air. I stagger as a shock wave rolls through the earth.

  I catch Sky’s glare as I stumble and catch my balance.

  The thud of a bullet hitting flesh sounds behind me. I whirl to find an EHC op falling, grasping her side, and a pair of SNA fighters standing on the trail. One fires his automatic rifle, dropping two of our men before I raise my pistol and end them both.

  We’re down to four ops, but the bodies of the three lost blocked the bullets for the rest of us.

  “Don’t stop!” Elias shouts.

  Two explosions go off from the dead, throwing rifles, stones, dirt, and blood everywhere. I turn to see Sky firing on two more SNA ops fighting uphill, red-faced and exhausted. Blood flies. Five more ops have reached the top, and they ready rifles as our people open fire. I stop. So do the others. Sky leaps in front of me, shooting. I stand beside him, taking down an op. The rest scatter, running at normal speed, unlike us. Elias darts forward, taking two out, while I duck to the side, pulling Sky behind a boulder with me. I shoot, unloading my last two bullets on an op who falls at the start of the drop-off.

  A deafening bang fills the air as he explodes. I reload.

  “We can’t stay!” Sky shouts.

  “Out!” Elias yells, appearing above us. His gaze snaps to the trail behind us and then to the work site. “Climb down! Take cover! Now!”

  I spring out of the rock cover with Sky and turn. Two dozen SNA fighters, running in formation, have somehow reached our high ground. They race toward us in two lines. They’re a hundred feet behind us. All carry automatic rifles. Two more EHC ops lie dead beside us, leaving two survivors.

  Ahead, two dozen more ops close the distance between them and us. We have n
owhere to run but across open terrain or down into the work site.

  I do the math and it’s not good. None of us will survive if we stay, so our only chance is to reach the rock piles below and take cover. We race down the hill to the work site and into the shelter of flying dust and vapor.

  I crouch as I run, hopefully cutting my chances of being hit by a third. Pulling my shirt over my face, I lower my gun. Only escape matters right now. I search and find a large pile of something taking shape in the dust.

  “Sky!” I shout. “Elias!”

  A hand grabs my wrist and pulls me to the side. Elias. We duck against the jagged rocks as I lodge my foot in an empty bucket. Men shout in another language and the shooting stops. Even the rest of the work site has gone quiet. The others might already be dead, but if we run, we’ll leave the shelter of this cloud behind.

  “We have to finish this,” Elias hisses.

  I nod and wait for the dust to settle. Sky and the other two ops stand several feet away from us. There’s an eerie calm until the SNA opens fire again, filling the world with bangs and pops.

  I raise my pistol, waiting for the ops to appear in front of us, but no one comes. The shots are coming from behind our piles. Bullets thunk into flesh, and explosions from chipped people follow. The ground quakes and I’m not sure if it’s from the death behind us, or from the plume becoming unstable. But I know one thing: someone’s attacking the SNA ops.

  Who?

  I cringe as the deafening noise fills my ears, making them ring. Vapor and dust fly past, pushed away by explosions, only for more to choke the air a second later. Visibility is next to none as the sky darkens with dust again.

  Then it all stops.

  “All clear,” Talen yells at last.

  Bursting out from behind the pile, I gag on the stale air. How can it be all clear?

  But I’m alive, and so are Sky and Elias.

  “Talen?” I shout as Elias appears beside me.

  Lacy emerges from the settling dust. “The SNA ops are dead. Cho found the Naturals together and told them they could come with us or die. Apparently, they wanted to live.”

  I walk up to Lacy. “They just surrendered?”

  “Well, I took their weapons and used some other ways to persuade them.”

  Elias keeps his gun ready. “Not adding up. There’s more to this story.”

  I struggle to think, but near death has clouded my brain. There’s no way our three small groups have overtaken three hundred SNA ops.

  A gust of wind blows around us, clearing dust and vapor only to replace it with hot, oppressive air. About fifteen surviving EHC ops stand behind Talen, guarding five SNA ops. I spot four men and one woman. These must be the Naturals.

  Below, a hundred strong workers mill around the EHC ops, unorganized. Many wear plain clothes in the style of Ethos, and all have dusty faces. Many are wounded, but the workers hold automatic rifles, probably stolen from SNA ops. The wide-eyed men and women stare back at us.

  “Once we got the Naturals,” Lacy explains, “I knocked out guards and took their guns and gave them to the workers. The SNA didn’t know who to shoot first, and they forgot they were dealing with Century and Noble class prisoners. By the time they noticed their little problem, we’d armed maybe seventy.”

  “Are you kidding?” This is the most amazing thing she’s done.

  “Wait,” Sky says, running up to us. “Some are SNA citizens. They’ve got to be chipped!”

  I raise my gun, catching my breath. “He’s right.”

  Talen steps up to Lacy. “Wait. SNA prisoners wear gray uniforms with the company logo. The EHC prisoners forced them into a cave. Some of them wanted to help, but nobody let them.”

  “Good,” Elias says, wiping dust from his forehead. “Secure the area, then we’re meeting these Naturals.”

  CHAPTER 11

  CHO STAYS WITH the Naturals along with six of the EHC ops while Elias divides up our groups again. We split into three teams as the last of the dust clears, but this time two dozen dirty, exhausted workers join mine. The men and women stand tall and proud. Most wear gun straps over their shoulders as if they’re never going to let them go.

  One of the surviving EHC ops nods at the workers. “We’re working to expel the SNA from our territory. I see a lot of former EHC here.”

  Scattered cheers rise from the prisoners. Sky comes to stand next to me. I want to shake him and ask what he was thinking, walking across the crater floor by himself. He could have died.

  I wish he would go with another group.

  “Don’t do that again,” I tell him as we patrol along the edge of the crater. I step over a dark stain I can pretend is spilled oil but is most likely drying blood.

  “What?” he asks.

  ‘You know very well what. You weren’t supposed to be here.”

  “Once the kids flew out on the hover, what else could I do? When you’re up against three hundred ops, you need the numbers.”

  “One more wouldn’t have mattered.”

  Straightening, I look forward. Small caves complete with push wagons and carts full of rocks surround us. I don’t want to talk to Sky anymore, so I distract myself.

  “The caves must lead out of the work site,” I mutter, jogging ahead of Sky.

  “Fin, you’re changing the subject,” Sky calls after me.

  I throw my hands in the air. “I can’t do this anymore with you.”

  I bolt ahead of him and the sound of my boots pounding the dirt drowns everything else out. Gun drawn, I scan two more dark cave openings before my gaze lands on a third with a closed metal hatch.

  “Fin!” Sky calls.

  I bolt past the opening until I reach Elias’s group, jump over a bucket of spilled rocks, and stand next to him. Behind me, Sky’s footfalls stop.

  Elias lives for the fight and reality. That needs to be my focus too. Dreaming won’t keep me or Sky alive.

  Around us, workers continue to patrol.

  I finally glance back. Sky is gone.

  “We need to assess the Naturals,” Cho says from behind me.

  Elias and I twist to face him. Still armed with his pistol, Cho wipes sweat from his forehead and points to the closed metal hatch that blocks off the prison cave.

  “Is there SNA backup coming?” I ask.

  “The SNA can only send a few hovers through the perimeter breach at a time,” Cho explains. “They’ll wait until they gather at least a few hundred troops and come up with an attack plan. Gonglu is the Savior’s best hope of taking down the entire perimeter, but if Emma can hack into the system, I might be able to convince them that things are okay again here. The lie won’t last long, but it’ll buy us a day or two.”

  “Are you sure?” Elias leans close to him.

  I shift my weight. “If you can’t convince them, how long do we have?”

  “It depends on how fast the Savior catches on about what happened here. And I’m sure it’s already happened. He works his monitoring team long hours and provides them special perks for reporting on dissidents or—”

  “Then he knows.” Elias pulls out his radio and hits the button. “Emma? Are you at the barracks?”

  “I am. Where are you?”

  “There might be SNA prisoners down here, too. We may need your lab so you can disable more chips.”

  Cho holds me and Elias in his gaze. “Helping the SNA prisoners can come later. We talk to the Naturals first. I’ll need your help since they won’t trust me alone.”

  “After you attacked all the ops?” I ask.

  Cho looks away for a moment. “I’m still a general who has served the Savior.”

  “No time to argue,” Elias says. He lifts the radio, hitting the button. “Do you have the transporter?”

  “I could barely get it down the steep hills, but it’s at the barracks now that the ops are dead,” Emma replies through the comm. “I found a fuel pump down here and refueled, so my lab is ready.”

  “Get here ASAP.” Elia
s pockets the radio, faces me, and nods to Cho, who’s already walking back toward the Naturals. “Let’s see what the general has planned.”

  Lacy and Talen rejoin us, but Sky doesn’t show—not that I thought he would. The EHC guards have moved the Naturals underneath an outcropping of rock and into the shade. I step in, breathing a sigh of relief and pulling my hair back to let the sweat drift away. I swallow, attempting to soothe my parched throat, but it does little good. As if sensing my need, Elias hands me a canteen.

  I suck the water down as Cho steps forward, arms behind his back. “Maynard, Rodriguez, Xin, Luampa, and Connors. The five of you are alive because you are Naturals.”

  One man, a young guy with a balding forehead and black hair, steps forward and squares his shoulders. His eyes sparkle with dedication. “I am proud to serve the Savior, and I will not allow Impures and traitors to corrupt me.”

  Cho raises his pistol at the man. Before I can tell him to stop, he fires.

  The loyal man jolts, blood flying from his head before falling to the ground. Elias and I backpedal as Talen and Lacy do the same. The other four Naturals huddle, but Cho stays put.

  No hum follows. The man’s limbs twitch and go limp.

  Cho faces the rest of us. “The Naturals’ bodies also reject the nanotech installed in most of the military. We don’t have to worry about these bodies exploding if we have to shoot any more of them. We can’t have any loyalists endangering this operation.”

  “I could have helped get information out of him,” Lacy says.

  “Maybe the man just feared saying the wrong thing,” Talen adds. “He could have lied.”

  “He meant what he said,” Cho tells him with certainty. “The Naturals have no chips stopping them from saying what they think. The two of you could help with the SNA prisoners. You can incapacitate them for transport to Emma’s lab while the others blindfold them. Don’t forget to plug their ears, too.”

  Lacy grins. “Will do.”