Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  Cho grabs my hand and digs his nails into my flesh, but I grit my teeth and bear it. I slam him against the hover’s wall, missing a leather seat.

  “Cho had us plant bombs to make the Monster’s Nest blow.”

  The general pales as Sky pries at my hand. “What are you talking about?”

  I slug Cho across the face with my free hand. “You knew what you were doing.” Gritting my teeth, I lean close enough to smell his sour breath. “Can we stop it?”

  The general gives up the struggle as everyone but the pilot surrounds us from behind.

  “Fin, what are you doing?” Emma demands.

  “Yeah, what the hell?” Elias adds.

  I point to the open display terminal with my free hand. Rage pumps through me and every muscle tightens. Yanking his collar, I slam Cho against the wall again.

  “Would you like the Lacy treatment?” I ask. “Talk!”

  Cho gulps and eyes the hover's interior. I follow his gaze. Lacy brushes past Talen as she draws near. “I trust Fin,” she says, eyes hard.

  “My plan will shut down the SNA’s access to the plume’s power,” Cho says. “You got what you wanted.”

  “By making the place blow?” I shout. “You told us to plant bombs on the stuff that keeps the plume from erupting! You shot Starsen before she could tell us the truth—now talk!”

  Emma clears her throat. “Talen, bring me that terminal’s companion tablet.”

  Cho trembles. He’s a coward and a liar. “The eruption will return us to our natural state. No EHC. No SNA. Just people living together underground and waiting out the Flip the way the Underground system’s creators intended.”

  “And?” I ask, pulling him off the wall. My arm shakes with anger. I glare into Cho’s eyes.

  “Under his kind, iron-fisted rule?” Lacy adds as she inches toward Cho.

  “Did the SNA ever mean to blow up the Monster’s Nest?” Elias asks, coming to stand beside me.

  Cho eyes Lacy for a second. “No. They didn’t. They meant to extract more power so they could overtake the world. We stopped them.”

  “We didn’t have to do this!” I shout, resisting the urge to draw my pistol and end Cho right here. Emma’s just messaged the entire SNA, giving them hope. We’ve just started the revolution. The surface world might have worked.

  And this piece of trash took it with his lies.

  “Let me handle this,” Elias says, pushing in front of me.

  Glaring, I shove Elias back and return my attention to Cho. “I will. What sick future do you have in mind, General?”

  “The eruption will render the surface uninhabitable,” Emma says, tapping away on the tablet. “And with all this talk of underground settlements, I believe it’s true.” Her words hollow out with horror.

  “He dies,” Elias growls, drawing his pistol.

  “No!” Cho shouts. “You need me to find the settlements. Even your bunker won’t protect you from the radiation and toxic atmosphere after the eruption. It’ll let most of the Sun’s radiation hit the surface. We have a few hours before it turns deadly.”

  Ice spreads through my veins. Goosebumps rise over my skin, but I take a breath and renew my hatred. “Can we stop it?”

  “No. We blocked the entrance.”

  “Don’t kill him yet,” Emma says. She studies the tablet. “We need him.”

  “He betrayed us!” Sky shouts. “Everyone trusted him and then he stabbed us in the back. I have to get back to Cia and my mother before the Nest blows. We can go back to our old home.”

  Cho gags as his eyes roll up into his head. I twist to Lacy. “I won’t kill him,” she says through gritted teeth.

  The general’s mouth opens in a silent scream of agony. I release him, letting him slump down the wall. He spasms and hits himself in the chest, then makes a loud whimper and flops to his side as Lacy continues her assault.

  “Lacy!” Talen says, taking her arm.

  Cho goes limp and then takes a breath. Lacy glares at him and shouts, “He killed millions of people!”

  “Do that again if he doesn’t cooperate,” I say. If anyone deserves the Aura’s worst attacks, it’s Cho.

  “I… I can show you the way to the network,” Cho chokes out, panting. “And how to survive there. Hurry. We need to beat the Savior there. He’ll be going underground as we speak.”

  “The Savior knows about this network?” I ask.

  “He has personal entrances.”

  “And you know this how?” Lacy demands.

  I look at Elias and he lifts an eyebrow. “Cho knows a lot about the Savior for a general.”

  “Agreed,” I say.

  “But he was chipped like a regular citizen,” Talen adds.

  Lacy stands over Cho. He stays on the floor and gulps. “My brother is paranoid of losing his power.” He lets the words hang as the hover hums, taking us closer to the bunker.

  “Your brother?” I echo.

  “Joseph Cho. The Savior.”

  “What?” Sky pushes past Elias and glares at the traitor.

  “He’s lying,” Elias says.

  “My family wanted to save humanity and keep it pure, but instead my grandfather and brother altered everyone and refused to reveal the settlements underground,” Cho continues. “I wanted to keep humanity truly natural by moving us underground. My brother hated my ideas and demoted me. Now humanity will take its natural state, without Impures to destroy society.”

  My stomach turns. Cho’s as bad as the Savior. He just has a different plan for controlling everyone else. “Kill him.”

  The general holds up a hand. “You need me. I have the maps to the settlements inside me. If you want to give the people of Ethos a chance, let me guide you.”

  “But you don’t want Impures in your perfect little utopia,” I seethe. “And Emma can take your maps.”

  “But she doesn't have time,” Cho reasons. Elias puts his hand on my shoulder and pulls me back. Forcing out a breath, I stand next to Talen.

  Sky refuses to face me. I can’t argue with Cho anymore because I planted some of the bombs myself. I might throw up.

  “What do we do?” Emma asks.

  “He shows us the way to the network,” Elias says. “Can you find out if he’s telling the truth?”

  Silence falls except for the tapping on the screen. Emma nods as she cracks through the SNA security on the tablet and clicks, reading. She keeps her face neutral.

  “He’s telling the truth,” she finally admits. She rushes back to the passenger seat and picks up her radio. “Reinhart. Are you there? The Monster’s Nest will erupt in a couple of hours and we need to go deeper underground. Warn everyone left in Ethos and the former EHC cities. If we don’t, then no mods or chips are going to save us.”

  * * * * *

  Over the next two hours, Elias and I take turns guarding Cho, making sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. I keep my pistol aimed at his temple as I sit, my other hand cutting off the circulation to his arm with how tightly I grip it. Cho seethes and grasps the seat rest with purple fingers.

  As soon as he shows us the settlements, he dies. If we don’t kill him, he’ll threaten everyone who flees underground.

  Sweat forms on Cho’s temples.

  He knows. He has to.

  Daylight brightens the horizon as we near the bunker. I wish I could enjoy it, since it might be the last time I see the real thing. The remaining lights of Ethos peek through the darkness as we approach the bunker. No one speaks. Emma’s already made Reinhart broadcast a warning to everyone he can.

  I hope Reinhart finds something about the network on his own so we don’t have to rely on the Savior’s brother.

  Emma’s radio crackles. “This is Hover three. The SNA has left the Monster’s Nest and they’re now following us.”

  “Then they know the Nest is about to blow,” I say, digging the barrel of the pistol into Cho’s skin. He closes his eyes and his lips press tightly together.

  Emma picks up t
he radio. “How far back?”

  “Our radar shows fifty miles. They must have us in their sights.”

  “Then they’ll follow us to the bunker and take revenge,” Elias says, pacing and stopping in front of Cho. “The Savior must have ordered it. Right?”

  Cho nods, keeping his eyes closed.

  “What? You won’t talk anymore?” I ask. My stomach turns as I think of the hundreds of SNA ops who once stood outside the distribution building. If they all come after us, we could be in trouble.

  “Reinhart?” Emma says into the radio. “SNA is following.”

  Reinhart comes through. “Our fighters will hold them off while we evacuate the civilians. And do not go against my orders.”

  Emma hangs her head. “Yes, sir.”

  I imagine the smug grin Reinhart will have on his face once we get back. We were wrong, and he’ll let us know. It adds another layer of pain.

  Voices come through the radio.

  “I’ll fight. I’m trained.”

  “Get those people to safety.”

  “We’ll stand our ground.”

  The EHC prisoners fill the airwaves. We still have dozens of trained fighters, even if they aren’t in uniforms.

  “I’ll make sure Cho does as he says,” I say, tightening my grasp on his arm. I nod to Elias. I won’t say I plan to shoot him when we’re done. Or turn him over to Lacy.

  If I helped make this disaster, I’ll help fix it in any way I can.

  Sky looks right at me, his face unreadable. “We need to get Cia and my mother to safety.”

  “Yes.”

  As the sky goes from pink to orange on the horizon and reveals a thin layer of haze over Ethos, the hover slows. We enter the cave on the side of the cliff, drifting into the dark tunnel. Cho opens his eyes.

  “Welcome to the rest of your life,” I tell him.

  He mutters something. I want him to wallow because he’ll never see the sun again.

  The hover lands and the doors rise as the other six SNA hovers park beside us. Prisoners and ops jump down, some of them moving blindfolded SNA prisoners. The four surviving Naturals stand on the platform like they're not sure what to do. They keep their guns aimed at the floor. At last, they vanish as the four head to the infirmary wing. Emma leaps into action, waving people around as some civilians emerge from the bunker tunnels to cart them away.

  “Up,” I order Cho. With my gun to his back, I lead him down the ramp of Starsen’s hover. “Can someone bring me restraints?”

  But no one listens. Prisoners and ops shuffle around, guns in hand. The whole place is chaos. The SNA’s getting closer every second I stand here.

  “This way,” Sky says, waving me through the tunnel to the civilian quarters.

  I follow, walking with Cho in front of me like a shield. Elias appears at my side and holds out a hand, offering to relieve me, but I don’t hand Cho over. I want to make him suffer. Elias doesn’t understand how beautiful the sun is.

  “Fin, we need you to fight,” Emma says from behind me. “I’ll gather the civilians and have the Naturals escort us. Sky, come with me. Elias, stay with Fin and I'll radio you and give you and the fighters directions once we’ve held back the SNA.”

  “I'll take Cho,” Sky says.

  I release Cho to Sky. Sky points his pistol at the back of his head, eyes hard. “Lacy?” he asks, looking around. “We need you with us.”

  She and Talen join Sky.

  “You ready?” Elias asks, slapping me on the shoulder.

  I raise my pistol and harden inside. “Ready.”

  Elias and I join a river of EHC prisoners and ops running to the cave entrances. Footfalls echo off the walls of the cave as we leave the hovers behind and move out. Darkness falls and flashlights click to life, revealing a smooth stone path. Hot morning light soon replaces them as we near the entrance, and they go off again.

  “Stay hidden!” Elias shouts as fighters branch off into other tunnels. “Take cover once you can see outside. They won’t be able to bomb us if we stay in the caves.”

  I stay by his side as we stick to the main tunnel. It opens into an expanse of flat ground and a ceiling of sky.

  The lights of the SNA hovers approach, a dozen dark shapes moving against the yellow light of the morning. They’ll land in minutes.

  The ground shakes and a low rumble fills the air.

  I grip the side of the cave. “What’s that?”

  Elias’s look tells me all. Three hours have passed. The explosives must have gone off, destroying the machinery that holds the Monster’s Nest together. We’re about to see a new, more terrifying apocalypse.

  Another rumble follows, and then another as shock waves pulse through the earth. On the distant horizon, a massive plume of dark, deadly smoke rises.

  CHAPTER 15

  THE SNA HOVERCRAFTS continue their approach as the ash plume keeps rising into the morning, expanding like a dark gray cancer until the top must touch space.

  “Emma,” Elias speaks into his radio, “they’re landing in two minutes and the eruption has started.”

  I keep crouched in the cave, listening, while a few freed prisoners behind us do the same. The lights of the hovers turn off, leaving dark shapes in the sky that blend with the backdrop of the eruption. The world rumbles again, and I grip the cave wall, steadying myself. The planet is ripping apart.

  “Cho is leading us through the cave. He has a map of the systems leading to underground settlements all over the planet. Keeps them stored on one of his magnetic chips. Amazing stuff. Don’t stay up there long,” Emma’s voice returns, her words echoing. “We’re underneath the hover garage and heading down a narrow tunnel. You can find it by crawling down between the grating and the cave floor. Then take the left tunnel.”

  “Copy,” Elias says.

  When she goes silent, the hum of the enemy hovers takes her place. They hang in the air as if deciding, and then land, throwing up dust.

  “So, they’re coming on foot,” I say.

  Elias raises his gun. “They need the caves, too.”

  He’s right. If the SNA bombs us, they’ll collapse the entrances and leave themselves stranded outside.

  The comm crackles. “Keep the SNA outside long enough to make them succumb to any increased radiation,” Emma says through the device. “If they make it in, we’re dead.”

  We have no other choice.

  The hover doors rise and SNA ops pour out as the plume expands, painting the sky a deep orange at the center. It’s as if the earth is belching out its molten insides.

  Elias opens fire. He gets off two shots, and a pair of SNA ops go down in front of their buddies. Other fighters back away. Dirt geysers bang into existence, blend with the air, and fade again. Shouts rise as the army takes cover behind their hover’s doors. The world turns to a storm of gunshots, flying sparks, and constant shouts from their side and ours.

  “We can’t get to them!” I shout.

  Elias fires another shot. “They want to lure us out.”

  Dread curls like a snake around my racing heart. The radiation level might already be rising and staying at the cave entrance means risking our safety. But if we retreat, the SNA will storm the caves.

  I raise my pistol, squeezing one eye shut as my mind calculates the most devastating hit. I fire at an op huddling near the back of the middle hover, nailing him in the head. The group he’s in tries to scatter, but it’s too late. The explosion throws bodies everywhere, and I look away to avoid sight of the carnage.

  “Good shot, Fin!” Elias shouts.

  There’s no time to feel my victory. SNA ops duck under the open doors, taking cover from the increasing radiation. Others gather in shadows.

  Elias creeps forward and toward the light. I follow, crawling on all fours. Shots ring out from the entrances above. The guns and charges on Elias’s belt clink into each other.

  “Over there!” an SNA op shouts.

  “Get down!” I pull on Elias’s arm, making him hi
t the ground as gunshots ring out and zip over our heads. My hair ruffles as I stare at stone, ready for each moment to be my last.

  At last, the bullets stop, and ops outside yell muffled commands as our fighters keep shooting. I dare to lift my head and realize Elias and I lie in a small dip. A single, bent bullet rolls at me from the wall and settles.

  I wince as my face burns and a trace of nausea stirs in my gut.

  The radiation.

  Even in the shade and with my mod, it’s getting to me. The Monster’s Nest has already messed with the magnetic field.

  If we stay, we’ll die—mod or no mod.

  Elias looks at me with wide brown eyes, as if he’s reading my thoughts. “We end this now.” He lifts the radio. “Seal all but one cave entrance. Kill the SNA ops and steal the hovers. Then we get back inside and seal the last exit. No survivors. No matter what.”

  His fingers graze the two explosive charges on his belt, the ones left over from the MPS System bombing.

  Footsteps thud as fighters charge past us, opening fire on the SNA. They know this is the only chance we’re going to get. One prisoner falls, spewing blood from his torso, and so does another SNA op. He blows, knocking the door off a hover, filling the air with dust. Without another word, Elias charges. I follow, taking advantage of the dusty cover. Two more explosions rattle my eardrums, followed by another. It shifts the ground and throws me forward.

  Elias yanks my arm. “Up!”

  I rise, shooting at a green-uniformed op who appears from the dust. He falls and I back away as the dangerous whine fills the air. Another blast shoots more dirt and worse into the air. Turning away, I blink as a huge green shape appears from the tan cloud—an SNA hover, the one with the missing door.

  “Elias!” I shout and wave him forward to the hover.

  We have no time. I bolt for the hover, crashing into one of our fighters, a woman in dusty clothes with an automatic rifle. My stomach churns from the radiation. The woman fires on someone unseen as I leave her and climb into the hover, breathing in shielded, clean air.

  “Jackpot!” Elias jumps in behind me.

  Blinking dust from my watering eyes, I scan the rows of seats to find two SNA ops crouching in the back. Guns rise and click at us. I fire on the first with my pistol, getting a head shot, while Elias unloads two rounds into the other before he can duck. Backpedaling into the pilot’s seat, I listen as the whine intensifies and two explosions shatter the back of the hover. Wires drop from the ceiling and metal shards jut at us from the back as my ears ring.