Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  Sky grinned and clamped his arm around his little sister’s shoulder. “Exactly.”

  Once again, there’s no real use in arguing, so with a heavy sigh, I nod my assent. Cia whoops, and Sky ruffles her hair. I feel a pang of guilt for my part in filling these two kind souls with blood lust.

  If only I’d never climbed in the crate with that stupid mod device…

  After saying our good-byes to a very tearful Starla, who’s staying behind to help with the injured Originals who don’t have the healing benefits of a mod, we head to the main storage area where I saw Cal and his men disappear. We find them in a corner with Emma now, poring over an old map I haven’t seen before.

  “Look at all these unmarked areas,” Emma mutters. “Anything could be there…”

  “What’s new?” I ask, grabbing some cans of beans off a shelf and dropping them into my pack.

  “Go easy on those,” Cal barks. “They have to last us a few thousand years.”

  Don’t remind me. The surface is more uninhabitable than ever, thanks to my stupid decision to trust Cho. Even if we survive all this fighting, we and any descendants we’re foolish enough to produce will be doomed to stay down here in the caves forever.

  Emma folds the map and tucks it into her pack. “If we’re doing this, let’s do it.”

  “What are we doing, exactly?” Sky asks, limping slightly behind the rest of us as we climb the stairs to the artificial outdoors of Elysian Beach.

  “We found a way around the cave-in,” Emma explains. “A secondary tunnel system that’s been closed off, basically.”

  “Closed off? How does that help us, then?” I ask, falling back to walk beside Sky as we emerge into the dimly lit cavern.

  “Oh, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve yet,” Cal says, rubbing his hands together.

  Steven and David round up the rest of the Dwellers and Originals who are able to travel and fight, and then we all set out again. No one talks this time. Cal leads us halfway back to the cave-in, stopping at a section in the tunnel where the bricks, I realize under the flashlight’s soft glow, are tanner than the surrounding ones—a place that’s been patched.

  The trick up Cal’s sleeves turns out to be a black box stolen off the body of a dead Natural. He attaches it to the lighter part of the wall and motions for everyone to backpedal. We do, and Cal shoots the bomb.

  A spark flies.

  Something hisses.

  The wall explodes, shooting chunks of brick everywhere. My ears ring as a shockwave jolts me. I grab onto Sky for support, forgetting to think about his leg, as the train rails buckle and screech in protest. Concrete rains down from the ceiling, striking the rails and setting off more sparks. But then the world quiets, leaving just the ringing in my ears.

  We wait for the dust to settle. Once it does, Cal shines the flashlight taped to his gun into a familiar sight: a cave.

  But there’s something else familiar about this cave, something I haven’t had to think about in a while. Fuzzy white crystals coat the cave walls. My limbs tense, and I step back from the opening, pointing. “Don’t breathe the dust from those. Whenever we mined that stuff, we had to wear masks.”

  Even so, Dwellers still sometimes had their lungs rot from the inside out years later.

  “Asbestos,” Cal says, wrinkling his nose.

  “That’s nice. No wonder they blocked off this tunnel,” Lacy adds.

  “Just don’t brush it and we’ll be fine,” I say, pulling my shirt over my nose.

  Everyone follows my lead. Once the air settles even more, Cal guides us through the opening while Emma gets out her map, which shows a bunch of confusing, curvy passages. Hopefully, they aren’t all this loaded with the deadly crystals.

  Once everyone else has entered the cave, Sky takes Cia by the shoulders, keeping her directly in front of him as he and I go through side by side. I cast a nervous glance over my shoulder into the train tunnel we’re leaving behind, imagining Reinhart or Cho penning us into a trap. But the one good thing about the cave-in is that if we can’t get out, they can’t get back in. At least not from that direction.

  The cave stretches out into a tunnel, and we follow it for quite some distance before finally emerging into a large chamber full of sand washed down from the surface. So much of it that it makes walking through it difficult.

  “Look.” Sky nudges my side, never losing his grip on Cia.

  Squinting into the darkness, I see dozens of big black holes in the rocky walls. More tunnels. Way too many of them.

  “We’re pretty much under the city now, I think,” Emma says, tilting the map and glancing up.

  We all follow her gaze to the jagged cave ceiling.

  “Well, that’s a lot of dead bodies sitting on our heads,” Lacy mutters.

  A bad taste fills my mouth as I think of what the city must be like now. How it must smell—

  “This way.” Emma points down a tunnel that’s miraculously free of asbestos.

  Sky’s hand slips into mine, warm and strong, holding me back as Cal and Emma, Steven and David, and Lacy and Talen enter the tunnel two by two, followed by the rest of our ragged little group. When then last Dweller disappears into the black hole, Sky pushes Cia ahead of us, and we bring up the rear. We don’t have to discuss it to know that we both want to be sure we hear anyone sneaking up behind us.

  The tunnel might be the roughest we’ve been in yet. Dripping water has filled the floor with ruts, making it difficult to walk over with any confidence. Sometimes the ground tilts up for so long I feel sure we’re getting far too close to the irradiated surface, only for it to drop back down again at an impossible angle. To make matters worse, stalagmites poke up at random, and more than a few times I dodge around one only to bump my head against a hanging stalactite.

  “It’s like walking through a dragon’s mouth,” Cia says, too loudly, as she squeezes between two craggy spires.

  “Shh,” Sky hisses. “You’ll wake it up.”

  And then he lunges forward with a soft rawr and tickles his little sister. Her squeal bounces down the tunnel, causing several gasps of alarm in the line ahead of us. As Cia twists out of his reach, the barrel of her rifle scrapes against the wall, knocking loose a smattering of pebbles.

  Worried murmurs echo back to us, broken up with a few angry scoldings from those closest to us. Cia shrinks back against us and Sky rests his hands on her shoulders again, holding her close.

  “Watch out!” Cal’s voice reverberates through the tunnel, nearly drowning out the sounds that come next.

  Nearly. But not quite.

  Thwang.

  Thump.

  A cry that cuts off too soon.

  A jolt of fear runs through me. Whatever’s happened up there sounds like death.

  “David!” Cal yells.

  “It’s a trap!” Steven shouts.

  “Over there!” comes Talen’s voice.

  “Hey, you!” Cal thunders. “Get back here, or I’ll shoot!”

  He fires off a deafening shot, lighting up the tunnel with the split-second flash.

  Silence falls for one short moment, and then chaos breaks out. People push against each other, trying to retreat, and I press against the wall, pulling Sky and Cia with me. No one knows what to do. There can’t be other people down here. Unless…

  “They’re gone!” Talen shouts from ahead. “There was just one of them. We need to disarm the trap. I can’t sense them anymore.”

  “Trap?” Cia asks.

  Bile rises in my throat. Cal shouts for David over and over, tone rising each time. I know what that means.

  “Tripwires!” Emma yells.

  Tripwires?

  Sky and I exchange glances. Even though I can barely make out his eyes in the darkness, I can still see his fear. Not for himself. Never for himself. Just his sister. Part of me wants to tell him it was his bright idea for them both to tag along on this mission, but a bigger part of me knows I could have fought harder to make them stay. Seriously,
what good are Cia’s sharp-shooting skills in a tunnel?

  “Be ready to get her out of here,” I growl into his ear, and then kiss his cheek.

  Before he can stop me, I dash ahead, shoving through Originals and Dwellers until I break free from their frightened clump. Several yards in front of me, Cal’s flashlight forms a puddle of light around David’s body and the growing puddle of blood beneath his head.

  Cal drops to his knees beside his friend, letting his gun—and the light—fall on the ground. I stop beside Emma, stomach turning at the sight of David’s empty eyes and the bloody indention where his temple ought to be.

  A few feet ahead, a large, semi-transparent bag of rocks hangs from the ceiling. Below it, an almost invisible tripwire stretches across the tunnel, leading to a dark alcove in the cave wall.

  My mind makes the connection, without any help from my enhancements. David tripped the wire, unleashing this hidden weight on his head. He must have died instantly.

  Cal presses his hands down on David’s chest over and over, like he could make his heart start pumping again. The motion rocks David’s head to the side, revealing more of his terrible wound.

  “He’s gone,” I say, grabbing Cal’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. But he’s gone.”

  Cal whirls on me, eyes wide like he’s seeing reality for the first time. “They knew we’d come this way. It’s an ambush.”

  I shake my head. “There’s no way Reinhart could have set this up so fast.”

  “But that other fella.” Cal’s face hardens. “Cho. He’s had time.”

  “I don’t think so,” Talen reasons. “I only saw her for a second, but that woman looked rough. Like she’d been down here a while.”

  “What woman?” I demand. “Just one?”

  Talen nods. “But she disappeared.”

  Sighing, I stare into the darkness. “Well, at least we know it’s possible to get through there without more of… this.” I glance at the bag of rocks, noticing the splatter of blood for the first time. Will there ever be a day when I don’t see blood?

  “These traps are all mechanical,” Emma says, leaning back from the alcove she’d been peering in. “No tech whatsoever.”

  “Then we won’t be able to sense them,” Lacy says, looking to Talen, who frowns.

  “We’ll just have to proceed with caution.” I turn to the rest of our group, unable to make out Sky’s or Cia’s faces in the dark. “Don’t touch anything. We’ll go single file. Watch your—”

  Cal jumps up, grabbing his rifle and shining the flashlight beam over our fighters. Several of them jump back in fear. I try to lower Cal’s barrel, but he jerks it out of reach. “I want weapons ready. Whoever these people are, we’re going to make them pay.”

  “Cal,” Emma says firmly. “We’re heading into an unmarked spot on the map. It could be another settlement, and the people inhabiting it are just trying to protect themselves.”

  “Bunch of cowards hiding behind booby traps is what they are,” Cal growls. “That woman could have warned us, told us to put our hands up. But she just let—” His voice breaks off, and he clears his throat. “So, they’re enemies until proven otherwise.”

  “That’s fine,” I say. “But—”

  “No buts!” Cal snaps, pointing at his dead friend. “No buts. Now, how about you and your enhanced friends here go scout ahead for any more traps before we lead these people to their deaths, too?”

  “We just told you we can’t sense anything,” Lacy snaps back.

  “You still got eyes, don’t you?”

  I can sense Lacy’s temper unraveling, but I don’t want Cal getting any more worked up than he is. He just lost one of his best friends. The more time we give him to calm down, the better our chances of avoiding a massacre of whoever set these traps.

  “I think it’s a good idea,” I say, resting my hand on Lacy’s shoulder. “If we just go ahead and trip them ourselves, we won’t have to worry anymore.”

  Still grumbling, Lacy follows as Talen, Sky, and I make our way carefully down the tunnel, rolling cans of beans ahead of us. One after another, huge bags of jagged rocks fall from the sides of the caves, hitting the opposite walls so fast even Century and Noble class people would barely be able to get out of the way in time. David never stood a chance.

  Finally, after springing a total of five tripwires, we round a curve and come to a metal door set into the stone. A faded metal sign on the front reads: Authorized Personnel Only.

  “You getting anything, Lace?” Talen whispers.

  “No,” Lacy says. “Maybe some old machinery that’s asleep, but that’s all. Any people are far away from here by now.”

  “Should we go get the others?” Sky asks, and I know he’s worrying about Cia.

  “Cal’s not paying me enough to take all his orders,” Lacy huffs. “Let’s just open it.”

  I pull on the door, which is, of course, locked, but when I try again, it gives a little more. A rusty lock. I should be able to break it.

  “Cover me,” I tell Lacy and Talen. “I hereby authorize myself to enter.”

  Sky joins me, and together, we yank as hard as we can while the others aim over our shoulders. I fall back into Sky as the door flies open, revealing a long, dark corridor. Unlike the tunnel we’ve just come through, a floor of metal grating awaits our feet, and metal support beams hold up the stone walls. Air vents line the long passage.

  Strangest of all, a portable fire pit sits in the center of the corridor, orange embers still glowing inside. A pair of ripped plastic folding chairs lay toppled onto their sides, as though someone knocked them over as they made a frantic escape.

  So, two things are true: people live here, and to ever reach Reinhart, we’re going to have to go through them.

  CHAPTER 2

  “THIS IS JUST great,” Sky mutters, marching over to the fire pit. “More people who are going to try to kill us.”

  I hate how much like Cal he sounds. I swear he’s even picking up some of that weird twang a lot of the Originals speak with.

  “Maybe they’re just scared,” I offer. “The traps could have been for Cho.”

  Sky shoots me a look that suggests he’s disappointed I’m getting so soft. It kind of makes me want to chuck a can of beans at his head, but since Cal made me put one back on the shelf, I’m out.

  “I’ll go back for the others,” I volunteer, wanting a few moments to myself.

  As I walk back, I pick up all the cans we rolled along the way, tucking them back into my bag. A few are a little dented, but they’ll still be edible.

  Ten minutes later, our whole group is crowding into the corridor: a couple of Cho’s people who have defected; a half dozen Originals including Cal and Steven, all in plaid; about a dozen Dwellers; five former EHC prisoners we rescued from the Monster’s Nest; and my original group—plus Talen, minus poor Drape. Altogether, we number maybe thirty.

  “Whatever this place is, it’s not on the map,” Emma says, turning it over as she steps into the corridor last.

  “I’ve never heard of this area,” Cal adds. He looks to his Originals. “Have any of you?”

  The plaid-wearing men and women all shake their heads. Cal shoves the portable fire pit over with his leg. It spills embers onto the floor, which brighten for a second before going out. The leader of Elysian Beach is losing it.

  “Cal,” Steven says, a model of calm.

  Cal’s whole body trembles as he stalks back from the fire pit. Two Original women glance at each other, frowning. Some of the Dwellers shift leg to leg. A former Natural cringes, and even Emma eases a few steps out of his way.

  His grip tightens around his rifle until his knuckles turn white. My throat goes dry. The man has lost all sight of safety. He has only revenge on his mind.

  “Breathe,” Steven tells him. “David would—"

  “Move out,” Cal barks. “Weapons ready. We know nothing about these rats.”

  More rats. I’m pretty sure everyone who isn’t wearing
plaid is a rat.

  Cal and Steven walk down the corridor, and we follow in two lines. Though I’m glad Steven’s still here to talk sense into Cal, the farther we go, the more my stomach turns. Sky and I hang back near the end of the line with Cia and Emma. Talen and Lacy bring up the rear for a change, and when I glance over my shoulder, I see them walking hand in hand, speaking in intimate whispers.

  “Shouldn’t you two be up front?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow.

  Lacy grins. “Since when are you my chaperone?”

  “Since always?” I force a smirk, but I’m not feeling the humor.

  The corridor ends and we come to another metal door, this one so rusty that Cal and Steven break it down on their own. I guess grief and rage are their own kind of enhancements.

  Once Cal and Steven shine their flashlight-tipped weapons through, they wave us all inside until we come to a T. The big group fans out into two groups of about fifteen, one on each side of the door. No one speaks, but one of the former Naturals, a woman with dark hair, runs her hand down a picture frame on the wall. An old sign on the wall with faded lettering has arrows pointing in either direction. A framed, ancient painting hanging beside it shows a large garden under a dark sky. I squint, but I can’t make sense of it. The sky is filled with squiggles and a red splotch that might be the setting sun. I try to read the text on the sign, but someone seems to have scratched it off a long time ago, leaving patches of rust.

  “To the right,” Cal says. “Everyone follow me. Lacy, Talen, up here, please.”

  Lacy glowers at Cal’s back as she and Talen follow his orders. Not that I blame her.

  Once again, we walk in two long lines. The corridor to the right curves, and I soon feel like we’re walking in a big circle. More metal doors line the area, and so do faded pictures. I see the same one of the garden under the strange sky multiple times. At last, after about fifteen minutes of walking, we come back around to the same spot we started.

  “We’re going in a circle,” Cal says, inexplicably glaring at Lacy as if she built the place. “They’re trying to tucker us out before they attack.”