by Harper North
The lights in the hover flicker but stay on. Through the tangle of metal, I spot the dusty outside. Gunshots continue, though they’re muffled from in here.
“We fly this thing and bomb every entrance but ours,” Elias says.
“Will it even fly now?”
“Hovers have their motors in the front.”
Elias swings himself into the pilot’s seat. I take the other and strap in. My mod should help me figure out the SNA controls.
The control panel glows with a touch screen, and my mind works on how to use the bombs. The orange tab must turn off the safety, just like the tabs on guns, and a black knob that goes in all directions must aim. I click the safety off as the hover hums and rises, minus a door and a back end. We float above the dust and death below.
My stomach roils. Gagging, I lean over the panel.
“Fin, keep it together,” Elias says. “We’re almost there. Once underground, we’ll heal.” He hits the controls, raising the hover inch by inch. The groaning and creaking of metal fills the crippled machine. It won’t last long.
Swallowing back the urge to vomit, I focus and face the cave entrances. The touch screen below me shows the same with a red target I can move with the knob. Five holes wait, including ours. I aim at the highest tunnel and press a red button. I hope none of our fighters are still hiding in there.
But the reality is they could be.
A rapid beeping fills the hover and a missile flies from its underside, giving off smoke as it sails to its target. The cliffside explodes, throwing chunks of rock and collapsing the cave entrance.
“Again!” Elias shouts.
I target the next two caves, both above our escape route, and fire on those, too. Both collapse, though the third stays open at the corner. Another round of nausea sweeps through me and my head spins.
“One more!”
Elias’s voice jars me from my misery. Shaking, I take aim at the second to last cave entrance. Already, our fighters gather at the bottom one, the one we can't blow up yet. We have to get inside first. Our fighters shoot from the mouth of the cave at the SNA ops hiding in the dust. Gunshots mix to create thunder. Within seconds, a shadow—the ash plume—blocks out the sun. Flecks of volcanic ash starts to fall.
I aim, struggling to make the target move right, and fire on the second to last cave as the hover’s lights flicker and go black. The missile flies, finding its mark and rains shards of rock on the people below. The hover pitches, and my body presses against my safety belt.
“We’re going to crash!” Elias shouts.
I grip the seat, almost relieved the nausea and the burning across my skin will end. The hover spirals through the air, and I double over in my seat as the contents of my stomach rise, leaving a horrible taste in my mouth. I hurl on the floor as the dusty ground and craters tilt closer. Elias slams his fist down on buttons, but it’s useless.
We slam into the ground and the impact is as if I were kicked in the chest. The hover shakes and squeals as it slides along through the dirt. Then it hits an obstacle and jolts to a stop. I lurch forward, gripping the dead control panel and gasping for air.
Outside dust settles and shouts come from all directions, but most of the gunshots have stopped. Darkness consumes the air and more ash falls, forming a slow, deadly rain. The burning over my skin increases as if I were being slowly toasted.
“We have to get inside,” I say, voice hoarse as I unbuckle myself.
Elias does the same. “Put your nose in your shirt.”
I do, breathing the hot, stale air underneath, but it’s better than the dust and ash. Following Elias from the craft, I search through the deepening dark. The ash plume has moved over Ethos now, carried by the wind. It looks as if someone has poured ink over the sky.
We did this.
I listened to Cho and helped plant the bombs that ruined the world we could have had.
Getting inside the caves is the only escape from death, and from my thoughts. Grabbing Elias’s arm to steady myself, I trudge through the dust and ash, holding my breath.
Unseen voices shout at us to get inside. The owners appear in the dark as an EHC op turns on a flashlight, revealing curtains of falling ash. Another gunshot goes off, hitting the guy with the flashlight in the chest. He falls as I raise my gun at the SNA op hiding behind another hover and standing in the flashlight’s beam.
With one shot, I finish him. The expected explosion follows—then silence. Most of the SNA ops must be dead and have exploded. Elias and I stagger around a crater and my knees nearly buckle. There’s no way we’ll be able to walk much longer.
“Where are you?” Emma asks through the radio.
Elias doesn’t answer.
Through the darkness, we reach our remaining fighters. Hands push me into the last cave opening and out of the ash. I remove my shirt from my nose as Elias leans against the wall, catching his breath. He coughs and wheezes as if he’s breathed the gas in Bellaton’s lair again.
The charges hang from his belt. I grab them. “Is anyone left outside?”
Before anyone answers, one of the hovers hums and rises. Surviving SNA troops have taken it. If they can’t survive, they’ll take us with them.
“Back!” Elias shouts to the survivors.
People shout and scramble into the cavern. A wave of dizziness tilts the world, but I attach each charge to either side of the cave, heart pounding, and set the timer for ten seconds with fumbling fingers.
Strength leaves my knees and I fall to the ground. Someone grasps me, pulling me from the entrance as my feet drag against stone. Muffled shouts I don’t understand tumble together in my mind as I struggle to get to my feet. Everything in me wants to close my eyes and go to sleep, but the charges beep, forcing me back to reality, and I burst into a run.
Light and stone fragments fly down the tunnel, illuminating everyone for a moment before pitch darkness takes everything again. Rock crumbles and the warm breeze from outside stops as if a giant has stomped it out. I crash into someone, who holds me in place.
“Stay up,” Elias says.
This time, I do.
“Where are you? Say something!” Emma shouts through the comm.
Elias clicks the radio, letting go of my torso with one hand. “Half of our fighters survived and we blocked off the entrance. The SNA won’t get in.”
“Good. Get deeper right away. The surface caves won’t block much radiation, though the rock layers may slow it down. Get to the hover platform and slip under it, or you’ll die within the hour.”
CHAPTER 16
EMMA’S WORDS URGE me down the tunnel, which seems to stretch into miles. It’s a ten-minute run, but with certain death behind us, it seems much longer.
I fight down another wave of nausea. Losing fluids won’t help me reach safety. My skin keeps burning, though it’s not as severe in the tunnel.
“Don’t stop,” Elias says.
Down below, Cho’s not sick, and that fact makes me pick up the pace. I want to kill him for what he’s done. And I will.
I force my weak legs to move. My pulse races in my ears, a throbbing headache. Every time I blink, the ghost of the erupting plume waits for me behind my eyelids. The feet of others pound like thunder as they hit the stone behind us.
As we descend, the burning across my skin fades.
“Emma said there was a hole,” one of the EHC ops says, slapping his hand over his mouth as he gags. He's holding in his own sickness.
The caves branch in all directions as we enter the hover garage.
“Look around for that opening Emma told us about” I say.
“Over here.” One of the freed prisoners points to a gap between the grating and the cave floor. Below, it’s pure darkness. She clicks on a flashlight and shuffles to the opening. The ground slopes down into the earth and into a void. The EHC has built this grating over a chasm.
Elias frowns at me. “Is this what Emma was talking about?”
“What other option do w
e have?” I move over to the gap and sit, shuffling down through it. My head thumps again, exploding spots in my vision. Gritting my teeth, I ignore the pain and slide into the dark. The sickness remains, but the more I scoot into the unknown, the more it fades. I’m healing.
A yellow glow follows me as flashlight beams light the way. I pull out my pistol. The rock below me is cold, smooth, and somehow soothing.
It’s my old, dysfunctional home.
Elias lifts the radio. “We’re coming down,” he says to Emma.
When Emma doesn’t respond, Elias’s lips press into a thin line. Maybe the signal's starting to fade down here. “I don’t like that,” I say.
Elias clears his throat. “Neither do I.”
I look up. Beyond the blinding flashlights, everything’s dark. Pebbles fall everywhere as others slide down like crabs. I guess the power’s out to the whole bunker. The radiation sickness made me miss those little details.
Finally, the glow lands on even ground. I stand on smooth stone an ancient river must have carved. Only a trickle of water flows down a gentle slope ahead. The tunnel’s wide enough for six or seven people to walk side by side.
Elias clicks the radio to try to reach Emma again. “We found the river.”
“Follow it!” she shouts through the comm. “First tunnel on the left, then the second one on the right.”
A single gunshot sounds on the other side. Her radio goes dead.
“This way!” Elias yells, waving our team down the tunnel. “Flashlights up!”
Did the SNA get down here somehow? It makes no sense, but we did leave one of the cave entrances open a little.
The river curves and the current increases. Footfalls splashing through water echo off stone, and the tunnel stretches into darkness. But, at last, another tunnel branches off to the left.
“Here!” Some of my strength returns. I break into a sprint, taking the tunnel as Elias follows, leaving the river behind. I dodge stalagmites and then squeeze through a pair of them. I wait as the others do the same, but this tunnel is narrow and not meant for traveling.
“Right tunnel. Second one,” I say as we trudge through uneven rock and tight spaces. What was Emma thinking? Maybe she was wrong.
How could there be a settlement down here, waiting for us to take it?
We pass a narrow, waist-high opening on the right. Another on the left. Then we reach the right tunnel and I see it’s only knee high. We all stop.
“On your knees,” Elias shouts and grabs a light from a nearby op. He ducks through the opening first.
“We might get stuck,” I mutter.
Murmurs flow through the others, but no one complains. Danger is a part of this mission.
Without a word, Elias vanishes into the tunnel and I follow him. Eyeing the soles of his boots, I scoot along on my stomach. Cold stone presses against my body as others shuffle through after me. The op behind me pants in terror.
“Keep going,” says a woman behind him. “Others got through here.”
“They weren’t wearing equipment,” he says.
This guy has claustrophobia. Sometimes the little kids in the mine would get it. The only way to get them through was distraction.
“What’s your name, soldier?” I ask.
“J... Jonas,” the guy whispers.
“Okay, Jonas. How’d you get to be an op?”
The guy somehow gets through his story while the narrow tunnel seems to last forever. At last, Elias vanishes into darkness ahead. He stands and swings his flashlight in the dark as I scramble forward, eager to breathe again. Air flows against me as I stand.
Stalactites point down, huge and ancient. We’re in a big chamber.
“Thanks for getting me through that,” Jonas says from still inside the tunnel, his voice peppered with embarrassment.
“It’s no prob—”
I never finish the word as I stand and see the figures waiting just beyond the light.
Elias, struck still with shock, faces four figures standing twenty feet away. Green uniforms come into view as he raises his flashlight.
And then he curses.
It’s the Naturals, standing and waiting for us. Cho’s chosen ones still wear their green trousers but have tied their green jackets around their waists in some sign of defiance. And then Cho himself steps into the light, pushing Lacy in front of him. He holds a pistol to her temple.
My heart races in horror. How is this possible? Lacy is stronger than Cho. She could kill him with her nanos.
But then I notice the dazed look in her eyes as she struggles to focus on me. She’s drugged. While the civilians were navigating the caves, the Naturals must have freed Cho and chased off the civilians. They kept their guns, didn't they? Most of the civilians were unarmed. Everyone trusted them after the defeat at the drill site, and they were with Cho the whole time. One of them must have pricked Lacy with sedatives from the infirmary. And why not help Cho? They’re not Impures.
“Let her go,” I order. I flick my gaze around the room, trying to assess. No one else is here. Only two tunnels branch off from the chamber.
“I can pull the trigger faster than you can raise your gun,” Cho says, his words coming out scary calm. “I’ve observed you enough to know. Now, if you’d surrender your weapons, I might let this girl go.”
“Might?” I echo. I can’t risk raising my pistol.
“Fin?” Lacy asks. “Talen?” Her gaze drifts lazily around the room.
“Where are the others?” Elias asks. “Is there even a settlement?”
Cho grins. “It is not for you. I have the map to it on my chip, but you can't extract it. We had to chase Emma and the civilians away, or she would have found a way to take it. Shame. She's a Natural.”
He led us away. He got Emma to radio us bad directions before she knew something was wrong. Then they got in position and waited to take us fighters out.
“They're lost in the tunnels?” I ask. My mind goes to Sky. He was leading Cho. “Which tunnel?”
Cho grins. “It will be a slow death for them.”
“The guy who was leading you?” I ask, hating the weakness I show.
“He's with them,” Cho says. “We fired on him, but he escaped. He's only prolonged his death. You guys are lucky. You might die quickly.”
I can't be sure he's telling the truth. Cho's an effective liar.
Behind us, Jonas gasps as he shuffles out of the tunnel. One Natural, Rodriguez, points his automatic rifle at him. “Don’t you move. Stay down. That goes for everyone else in the tunnel.”
“Don’t you see Cho’s like his brother?” I ask Rodriguez, eyeing the opening we came through. There’s no way anyone can get through the chokepoint to fight.
Rodriguez swallows, but keeps the gun aimed at Jonas. He stops at the opening, blocking the rest behind him. Lacy’s head lolls to the side. She’s useless. That leaves me and Elias against five.
“Where are the others?” I repeat for Elias.
“They’ll never find the settlement,” Cho replies.
“But—” Lacy starts, but Cho digs the pistol into her temple, indenting skin. Sweat beads on her forehead.
I calculate, but nothing gives us good odds. I could charge Cho, but he’d pull the trigger before I could reach him, ending Lacy’s life. Cho’s eyes have a savage gleam to them, and I know no matter what we do, he’ll kill her anyway.
“Put down your weapons,” he repeats with a nod.
“Why?” I let my voice rise. “It won’t make a difference?”
“Just do it,” Rodriguez orders. The gun he holds shakes. He fears Cho and what he might do to him.
I flit my attention back to the general. Cho’s relying on the Naturals to make his plan work. Without them—
“I’m putting down my weapon now,” I say a little too loudly, kneeling with my pistol in my hand. Sweat covers my palm as I lower it to the ground next to Jonas at the tunnel entrance. I catch his eye, and by some miracle Jonas nods minutely, as i
f he knows I’m about to do something.
“You, too,” Cho tells Elias, taking his focus off me.
I snap the gun back into my hand, aiming at Rodriguez’s kneecap, and pull the trigger.
The shot explodes through the cave and a sickening thud follows as the bullet finds its mark. The Natural drops his weapon and grasps at his bleeding leg. Jonas lunges for him and the two of them grapple for Rodriguez’s weapon on the ground.
Cho bellows and his grip on Lacy loosens. Jumping up, I run at the general, feet sinking in sand. He turns his gaze to me and tightens his finger around the trigger. I won’t reach Lacy fast enough.
But instead, Cho grimaces. His eyes roll back into his head and he drops his weapon, sinking to the ground.
Talen barrels out from the tunnel on the right.
Cho gags and curls into a ball. I seize his weapon, but a gun clicks behind me and I whirl, facing the other tunnel branching off from this one. Talen catches Lacy as she sways and falls. Elias fires a shot.
At least a dozen SNA ops rush from the left tunnel. All have their green jackets tied around their waists like the Naturals. They must have maps like Cho if they found us. Guns rise and I back into the darkness. Talen drags Lacy with him and Elias fires another shot, hitting the first op in the chest. Blood blossoms over his white shirt.
On the ground, Cho stops writhing in pain, but he still breathes.
“Come on!” Elias shouts, pulling me back before I can end him. We can’t fight all these ops and come out alive. Lacy groans. Our best chance is to run.
“Jonas!” I yell.
The EHC op on the ground rises from the stunned form of Rodriguez. His head jerks as a Natural shoots him, and Jonas falls.
My stomach roils again as I turn and shoot down the tunnel. I helped Jonas—he was supposed to make it.
