Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  “Wow,” I breathe. “Everyone! Get down here and check this out!”

  “No!” Elias snaps. “Anyone could be hiding—”

  His flashlight lands on a single, long table in the center of the huge room. It’s one of the fold-out ones, meant to hold a buffet, and sitting on the table is something that looks like a battery-powered lantern and a bunch of scattered playing cards. Some of them have fallen onto the floor beside a chair that’s been pushed out from the table. Four glasses stand beside the lantern. One of them is half full of water.

  My stomach turns over. I raise my pistol, aiming it around the room. Thoughts of the stray beach towel and the ashes clinging to the grill return.

  “Someone’s been here,” I whisper, though it’s useless at this point.

  “And hasn’t been gone long,” Elias whispers back.

  My mind works. Any glass of water placed down here would lose its moisture to the air in no time. The half-full glass hasn’t been here more than a week. Playing cards would be a commodity down here. Anyone looking for something to do wouldn’t let them fall to the ground and abandon them like that if they didn’t have to. Did we scare them away, or did someone else?

  I walk over to the table while Elias holds the light on it. Behind me, the others creep down the stairs, ignoring Elias’ order to stay back. Then again, he never really got that order spit out.

  “People have been down here?” Sky asks. “But this place has been sealed away from the world forever.”

  “You’d know that not everyone stays in approved areas,” I tell him. I dare to look him in the eyes. “The EHC might have stopped the builders from finishing the underground stuff, but they couldn’t have kept everyone out. They were too busy controlling the surface. And us.”

  “She has a point,” Lacy says.

  “This could have just been some of Cho’s Naturals down here waiting for him,” Talen suggests, studying the table.

  “But what if they weren’t the only group to know about this?” I ask. “People might have held out down here for years. Sky’s proof it can happen.”

  Sky turns away from me, so I’m left looking at the back of his blond head. “This could mean anything.”

  “And whoever these people are, they’ve been living without full electricity for a while.” Emma picks up the lantern and presses a button on its underside, creating a circle of dim light around the table.

  “Search the area,” Reinhart orders. “Two groups. One with me, one with Emma.”

  Reinhart takes Elias, Lacy, and one of the EHC ops. Emma takes the other EHC, Talen, and Sky. I’m the odd man out. Elias’ looking right at me, and Sky’s examining an apparently exciting streak of dirt on his hand. I go with him. For a second, I think he’s going to defect to the other group, but he stays, maybe that’s something. I don’t look back to find out Elias’ reaction.

  “This way.” Emma leads us through the half-empty shelves. If they were full once, years’ worth of cans have already vanished. People have been using this area for a while.

  We find a door tucked between two of the shelving units on the wall. Sky tries the knob, and it opens easily. He flicks on his flashlight and peers inside. I crane my neck to get a glimpse around him and see a narrow tunnel leading to a row of wooden doors, one of which hangs by a single hinge. A breeze wafts over us, smelling of water.

  “Someone fled through that door,” I say.

  “They’re afraid of us,” Emma adds.

  I listen but hear nothing from ahead. “Or they’re planning an ambush.”

  “I’ll guard the exit,” our op tells us. “Look around.”

  After a nervous exchange of glances, Emma pushes ahead of us into the tunnel. Talen nudges Sky and his flashlight in after her. I follow after a moment’s hesitation, and Talen brings up the rear. Emma opens the first wooden door and Sky floods the room with light. I see them share a quizzical glance, then they both disappear inside. I hurry to catch up.

  The room is shaped like an octagon, with framed pictures of underground beaches, rail systems, and colorful train cars covering each wall. No people inhabit the photos. These pictures were taken when these places were still being built, before the EHC shut the whole thing down. I watch Sky wander over to a huge photo taken from an angle that showcases the shining mirrors on the ceiling of the cave. He runs his finger down the glass, tracing a beam of light on its way to the glistening waves.

  A large desk sits in the center of the room, along with another lantern. A placard standing on the desk reads Harold Lauper. I start to run my finger over the letters but catch myself before Sky can think I’m copying his moves.

  “Harold Lauper must have been the leader of this settlement, or planned to be,” Emma says, coming up beside me.

  I study the leather chair behind the desk. It has rips on the sides, as if someone has used it for decades. I sit down and twirl, making the chair squeak and groan. “That would have been over a hundred years ago. And people have used this chair since then.”

  Sky looks at me, and in the soft glow of his flashlight, I swear I see longing fill his eyes. Warm hope blooms in my chest. He’s got to heal from what I’ve done to him at some point, right?

  “You should try this,” I tell Sky. He steps toward me.

  “Wait,” Emma says, interrupting the moment.

  I stop spinning. The room tilts for a few seconds as I watch Emma walk up to a large, framed map near the entrance. Lines zigzag across it while tiny letters label landmarks. It takes a second for me to realize it’s a map of the underground community—at least for this part of the world.

  I join Emma, and I hear Sky’s breath right behind me. Do I imagine it tickling my neck?

  Get it together, Fin. There’s a war going on.

  The three of us study the map as Emma runs her hand along line after line. She stops on a simple circle labeled Elysian Beach in the bottom right corner of the map. Other settlements, about ten of them, form a scattered group of rings connected by thick lines. Then she traces a line labeled Main Power Line A to a small rectangle named Dam 2b and Relay. Emma mutters something and follows another, larger power line all the way up to a large rectangle labeled Main Power near the upper right corner of the map. She stops there as her jaw falls open.

  “You were right?” I ask.

  She nods. “That dam was just for the railroad. It doesn’t do anything for the rest of the grid. That all comes from here.” She taps Main Power, then drags a short line to a symbol of the sun. “Right next door to Sunlight Gardens.”

  My heart sinks. “But Sunlight Gardens—”

  Sky finishes for me. “Is where Cho and his Naturals are.”

  CHAPTER 2

  “THIS ISN’T GOOD.” I blurt the obvious before Emma can say anything else. Cho and his growing army will take control of this entire underground region in no time at all.

  Emma whirls to face us. “We need to tell Reinhart and Elias.”

  “I’ll do it.” I glance at Sky as I pass, but a glare has replaced the longing I saw a moment ago. Probably just because someone—not even me—said Elias’ name. I roll my eyes, not caring if he sees. I know I mistreated Sky, and yes, I did kiss Elias, but that was a silly mistake I thought was long since forgotten. How can I fix my real problem if he insists on behaving like he’s the same age as Cia?

  Focus on the mission.

  That half-filled glass of water out there on the table is nothing compared to this news about Cho. I shove my weapon back into its holster and stalk down the hall, past the EHC op we left at the exit and across the huge storage room and its army of canned goods. There’s an open set of double doors on the other side of the room, and I step through into another hallway. This one’s lined with open doors revealing all sorts of work equipment, ranging from shovels and mops to old gas-powered plows with rubber wheels.

  Near the end of the hall, I find the other EHC op in one of the rooms rummaging through plastic bags. He glares and points behind me. I turn a
nd find a door open just enough to see inside. Two metal tables stand in the middle of the room, each with a light hanging over it. Drawers and sterile metal counters surround the tables, and a red container with a biohazard symbol hangs on the back wall beside a door marked Surgery.

  “This is an old infirmary,” Reinhart says from somewhere behind the door. “Practically Stone Age. I doubt we’ll find anything very useful in here.”

  “We need some way to deal with injuries,” Elias says, shaking something that sloshes with liquid. “What did they use this for?”

  “Rubbing alcohol,” Reinhart explains. “They used it to sterilize wounds and equipment back in the pre-Flip days.”

  “We found something,” I say, pushing the door open all the way.

  Both men jump and whirl, guns trained on me. The bottle Elias was holding smashes against the floor, spilling a clear, pungent liquid everywhere. Reinhart groans and holsters his weapon.

  “Fin!” Elias lowers his weapon. “You know better than that! Where’s your head?”

  “Cho and the Naturals took the settlement closest to the main power station,” I report, ignoring his question.

  Elias exchanges a hard look with Reinhart. “That means they can cut the power to all the other settlements if they want.”

  “Not if,” Reinhart growls. “When. It’s only a matter of time.”

  Elias nods. “Then we have to get there first.”

  Reinhart’s mouth twists into something like a grin. He claps Elias on the shoulder and then pushes past me out the door, barking orders for everyone to regroup in the storage room.

  I raise an eyebrow at Elias. “New best friend?”

  He gives me a look I can’t read as he brushes past me, his boots clicking down the hallway after Reinhart. I seem to be having the same negative effect on everyone these days. At least I’m consistent.

  I get back to the storage room just in time to see everyone, but Sky disappears up the stairway. Before my heart can flutter over him waiting for me, he turns and runs after everyone else. I start to quicken my pace but then stop. Why hurry to get somewhere I’m not wanted or needed?

  * * * * *

  By the time I get back to the beach, Elias and Reinhart are holding court at the base of the concrete steps where all the survivors are gathered and grumbling. Cia waves for me to come and sit with her and Sky and their mother, but Sky elbows her in the ribs. She elbows him right back and he winces. Good.

  I find a spot next to Emma, hovering off to the side and a little behind Elias and Reinhart. She holds the map from the office, now torn at the four corners where she ripped it off the wall. She gives me a look that suggests this isn’t going very well. I take it they’ve already broken the news about our next adventure.

  The voices of Dwellers, EHC ops, and former prisoners blend into angry nonsense.

  “Why can’t we—”

  “—a lifetime supply—”

  “—so tired—”

  “—don’t need—”

  Emma blows out a sharp whistle to quiet them down. “We understand you are all exhausted. Right now, this looks like paradise, but once Cho realizes which rail car is missing, he’ll know our location and… he’ll cut power accordingly.”

  And then they’ll attack. She doesn’t have to say it out loud for panic to ripple through the survivors.

  Reinhart steps in front of Emma, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “But we aren’t going to let that happen. Now, I’m going to need everyone capable of fighting on this mission.” His eyes travel over our ragged band and he grimaces. “But I don’t seem to have many of those left at the moment, so, first, we rest.”

  A collective sigh of relief goes up from the crowd, but I don’t join in. I’m as exhausted as anyone, but I’m even more tired of appearing weak in front of Elias and Reinhart.

  “Every moment we wait gives Cho more time to prepare,” I protest.

  Reinhart glowers at me, but it’s Elias who snaps, “Six hours. Eat. Sleep. Meet back here. Reinhart and I will be working on the logistics.” His eyes flick to Reinhart as if making sure he approves. The kissing up makes me want to punch something or puke—maybe both. Elias continues, “And if you have any knowledge of electrical grids, come see us now. The rest of you are dismissed.”

  A mad dash for the empty homes follows. I stay behind, fully intending to be part of this planning committee, but Elias shakes his head when I approach. He points toward the houses.

  “Go, Fin. Sleep. We’ve got this.”

  My fists clench at my sides. “You said my input was vital. Suddenly it’s not?”

  “I meant what I said.” Elias places his hands on my shoulders. “I can’t do this without you. So please, get some sleep. That’s an order.”

  I don’t care for the look in his eyes; like he’s been taking romantic advice from Reinhart, too. I ease away from him, but of course, when I turn around, there’s Sky, watching from the porch of a small house with faded green shutters. His mother and sister are sitting on the front step, unwrapping their rations, while he leans against the railing. I look away and spot Lacy and Talen shooing the EHC ops away from the cabin I found them in earlier.

  “Lacy! Wait up!” I call and jog up the path toward them.

  Talen is halfway inside the door when I reach them. Lacy lifts her eyebrows at me like she’s trying to tell me something, but my brain is in such a fog, I plow ahead.

  “Hey, Lace. Can I bunk with you?”

  She exchanges a glance with Talen, who seems unusually fidgety. He shrugs, but his mouth is a flat line. Lacy sighs and looks back at me, her eyebrows arching even higher.

  “Oh! Right.” I back awkwardly away from them. “You know, I’m just going to keep looking. I never really liked log cabins anyway.”

  I turn on my heel and run before Lacy can feel guilty and let me in. I wander through the neighborhood, finding every single house occupied or locked until I’m back in front of the one Sky’s family picked. They’re still gathered on the porch, so I pick up the pace to get past them. I’ll just curl up on that towel in the sand.

  “Fin!” Cia shouts. “Do you need a place to sleep?”

  I cringe and turn around. “I’m going to sleep on the beach.”

  Their mother, Starla, shakes her head. “Don’t be silly. Stay here. Have you eaten?”

  Sky’s face is a blank mask. I take a step back, my chest aching.

  “It’s fine. The water relaxes me.”

  “Please, Fin.” Cia’s lips press into a pout and she turns to Sky. “Ask her to stay.”

  “Fin can do whatever she wants.” He smirks meanly. “It’s what she does best.”

  The ache in my chest explodes into shrapnel, ripping my heart to shreds. His attitude goes right over Cia’s head, and she beams at me. “Don’t you want to stay in a real house? I’ve never been inside one. Have you?”

  My shoulders sag and I walk over to the porch. “Not anything like this.”

  Cia jumps up and grabs my hand. “Let’s explore!”

  As she drags me toward the door, Starla says, “Oh, how about we sleep first?”

  Cia groans and Sky ruffles her hair, avoiding my eyes. He opens the door and takes out his flashlight, sweeping it across the sparsely furnished room. There’s a small fireplace with a broom beside it, and two open doors on either side of the room with beds beckoning beyond them.

  Sky points his light at the couch. “There you go, Fin.”

  Starla gasps. “Sky! That’s not—”

  “It’s fine, really.” The shrapnel wounds in my chest burn and then go numb for the sake of my sanity. I refuse to think of the nights we spent side by side back at the bunker before I trusted Cho and turned the surface to dust.

  Without another word, Sky shoves a wooden chair up against the front door, barricading it, and then vanishes into one of the rooms. Starla guides Cia into the other room, but not without casting an apologetic glance over her shoulder before the door shuts.

/>   I flop down on the worn couch. The depression in the cushion is so deep it’s like someone might have occupied it recently, but my body doesn’t care. I only want to escape from reality for a little while, even if it’s just darkness greeting me.

  * * * * *

  I blink my eyes open, woken by the sound of creaking floorboards. My heart jumps and I shoot up, grabbing for my gun.

  But it’s only Sky walking through the house. He shuffles around in the kitchen, opening drawers.

  “Want anything to eat?” he asks without looking at me.

  I sit up straight. “How long was I asleep?” I keep my question level, like I don’t care about him snubbing me earlier.

  “Five hours,” he grunts.

  I get off the couch and stretch, listening to my enhanced joints pop. Then I walk into the tiny kitchen where Sky is putting a can opener against a can of beans. He’s preparing food for us—for me.

  But he doesn’t look my way, and I know the war’s not over. Even so, I walk over to him and place my hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

  Sky steps to the side, pulling away until my hand drops into empty air.

  “Don’t,” he whispers.

  “I’m just—”

  “You’re only trying to get back with me because we found this place and it feels safe for a minute.” He scowls at the can as he works on it. “But soon we’ll all have to go down and get orders for the next battle. And if I don’t die there, then there’ll be one after that, and so on, and so on…”

  My throat constricts with pain. “Sky, I’m sorry. I just got scared back at the Monster’s Nest. Losing Drape really messed me up. I didn’t think I could go through that again.”

  Sky slams the open can on the counter, sloshing cold beans over his hand. “Then you should have talked to me. I could have helped you through it. But you wouldn’t let me because you think I’m weak.”