Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  Cal and Steven exchange a glance and Steven rubs his chin. “She does have a point. But we already blocked that tunnel, didn’t we?”

  Did they? I never asked about it.

  Cal nods. “I had someone detonate the bombs Cho planted there. It’s blocked, for the time being.”

  The last of my hope deflates.

  Can I fight Elias, face-to-face? I’ve gotten used to shooting people, but they were strangers. Fighters trying to kill us.

  This is different.

  “Reinhart is likely more accessible,” Emma says, circling the seated fighters even as many stand. “They might have had a few explosives lifted from Cho’s dead fighters, but not many. Plus, they’ve been around us longer and know our weaknesses.”

  I’ve lost. I’m one against everyone. “But Cho…” I manage.

  “Fin, I don’t get it,” Sky says, tightening his grasp on my hand. “They’re both a problem, but Reinhart is the bigger problem.”

  All around me, people shift. Everyone wants revenge against Reinhart and Elias. Cal might be unstable, but he’s still got that in common with the other Originals and even the Dwellers.

  Maybe I should give up. Elias will die no matter what. Maybe we all will.

  So I gulp and open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.

  “Then it is done,” Steven says. “Everyone, rest for another hour and finish eating. Take naps if necessary. We can’t face the splinter group in our current state, and we’re safe here.” He eyes the small opening that leads to our chamber and nods.

  Sky and I walk back to the side of the chamber to join Cia, and we eat in silence. Emma shuffles over to sit beside Steven and Cal, keeping her shoulders hiked up as she eats. Even Cia doesn’t say anything as she digs into her beans. I don’t want to ask her what she thinks about all this, or Lacy and Talen, either. Watching them sit side by side, hips touching, brings a new wave of pain to my chest. Sky’s alive, and his leg appears completely healed as he removes the bandage and tosses it to the side. He smiles at me, but I don’t feel it anymore.

  “Fin?” he asks.

  “I’m tired of this.”

  His smile drops into a frown. “We all are.”

  At least we agree on something.

  He wraps his arm around me and pulls me close, but I tense.

  Cal, Steven, and Emma huddle in the middle of the chamber, talking in hushed tones. I guess crazy Cal’s back after his little time out. Long after I finish eating my beans and toss the can to the side, the three rise. A fresh wave of tension overtakes me, and I pull away from Sky.

  “We’re about ready,” Steven announces. “Emma feels that we should ask our prisoners if they want to fight with us against our common enemies.”

  One of the former EHC prisoners snorts. “With the boards and bottles they had?”

  “We’ll have to arm them,” Emma says. “But with their added numbers, we can overtake Reinhart’s people.”

  Getting them to fight with us will take time, especially with Betty’s ranting. I let out a breath and stand, pulling Sky to his feet. There’s still a chance Elias will ditch Reinhart before we attack. Maybe.

  Steven motions to the chamber opening as people groan and rise. Joints pop and fighters push themselves up from their backs, blinking.

  “Emma, we’ll need you,” I tell her with a nod. “To help convince them.”

  She joins Sky and me, leading the way out of the chamber. Our group, forming a single line, patrols back to the facility entrance. I pull open the door.

  Betty spills into my grasp, clawing at my arms and smelling of sweat. I backpedal from the shock, letting her fall to the cave floor. The people behind me gasp as Betty claws at the floor, whimpering. No one’s behind her. How did she escape?

  She quiets for a moment, only to let a sob of defeat escape. “They’re all dead!”

  “Betty?” Emma asks, grabbing her shoulders.

  “They detected us. They came,” she rasps. “I warned you.” Betty pushes herself off the floor, shoving Emma back, and raises her hand to slap me.

  I catch her arm mid-swing. “What are you saying?” A generator shouldn’t have grabbed anyone’s attention. Emma was right about that.

  Betty tries to spit in my face, but nothing comes out. “People. With green coats tied around their waists. You brought them here!” Her eyes shine with hatred and terror.

  Ice stabs into my chest.

  Cho. The Naturals.

  Gasps ripple through the line behind me. People curse.

  “And then what?” Sky asks.

  “I don’t sense anyone but us now,” Talen adds, sorrow in his voice.

  “Only I escaped,” Betty whispers. She deflates in my grasp. If I weren’t holding her up, she’d collapse. “They left. They left death.”

  “We need to check,” Emma says.

  “Weapons out,” Steven orders.

  “I’m still unarmed,” Cal reminds him.

  I ignore Cal, releasing Betty and letting her slump to the floor. My heart races painfully. Sky and I lead the way back through the hallway and to the spiral stairwell. No one greets us. There’s just silence hanging over everything.

  I know what I’ll see before I reach the bottom of the stairwell. Sky and I are the first to reach the bottom, and as we do, Sky shines his flashlight on the horror.

  Long shapes dangle from the ceiling, from the pipes, each held up by a plastic yellow rope that must have come from a crate. Someone has left a black box in the center of the room, a two-foot-high metal one that must have served as a platform to execute the dead. The light falls first on a ragged woman, eyes bulging and face blue. The rope around her neck digs into her purple flesh. Sky gags and swings the light to another figure, a Dweller man who had been guarding the prisoners. His face is turned away from us, and he’s limp. A dropped green jacket rests under him, as if Cho and his people have left us a calling card. Maybe they even left Betty alive so she could tell the tale. They want us to know they did this.

  That we can’t ever hide from them.

  CHAPTER 5

  “THEY’RE ALL DEAD,” Cia blurts, her voice sounding as young and small as she actually is.

  “Cho,” Lacy says, advancing on the horrible scene. She looks up at the closest body as her cheeks flush. “These people couldn’t defend themselves.” Her fists ball up at her sides. “I’ll show them how that feels.”

  A bad taste rises in my mouth. I study the black, metal box, one I don’t recognize, that Cho must have made his victims step onto so his Naturals could put ropes around their necks. And then push them off, one by one. These people watched as their friends and family died, and Cho wants us to know that, too.

  “I agree,” Cal says, shooting me a look that says this wouldn’t have happened if he had remained in charge.

  No, because you would have killed them all yourself!

  Somewhere back in the facility, Betty wails. The sound echoes down the corridors and adds to the haunting scene. I’ll never get this out of my head.

  “We’ll have to go after Cho and his people first, after all,” Steven says. “It’s clear they know where we are. Emma, could the generator have gotten their attention?”

  “No. But they might have followed the blast hole in the tunnel, which means they might have reached Elysian Beach.”

  Cal curses. Though unarmed, he retakes the lead, marching in front of everyone. “We need to check. Immediately. They could hang our civilians as well.”

  People shift and mutter. Sickness hits my gut like a fist.

  But when I let out a breath, relief replaces the tension sitting on my shoulders. We won’t be going after Elias just yet.

  Wow… it’s selfish of me to feel like that.

  I look to Sky and nod. “Cho first. For sure.”

  Cal waves us back up the stairs. Everyone follows. They may all be thinking the same thing as him; I’m a screw up every time.

  Betty’s vanished, and Emma, who walks beside Cal, veer
s into the computer room.

  “Where are you going?” Cal asks.

  “There is important information here that I need to find,” Emma tells him.

  They stop, preventing our two lines of fighters from moving forward.

  “Nothing’s more important now than hunting down that rat, not even hunting down the sly fox,” Cal says. “We need your brains.”

  “That giant metal lid in the floor is hiding something,” Emma says. “It could even be a lifetime’s worth of supplies. Or a weapon. We’ve got to activate those cables.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s not going anywhere,” Cal growls. “But that rat could be halfway to our home by now. You’re coming with us. We can come back when we’re the only ones left.”

  Steven hands Cal back his automatic rifle, and the two of them take the lead. People shove Emma out of the way, and then she bites her lip and follows. Maybe that’s better for her. We haven’t found any lasting hope yet, and we probably won’t.

  Our group leaves Betty and her wails behind. What can we do for her? I try not to think about us leading Cho to her people—I have enough guilt building from everything else—and follow the group through the caves and back to the rail tunnel. The blast hole remains, and Cal stands there, breathing a sigh of relief as he eyes the blockage we couldn’t get past before.

  Then I see that most of the rubble has been moved, blasted inward from another bomb. Cho and his people came from the direction of his settlement, not ours.

  “Elysian Beach might be okay,” Steven says to him.

  “I hope,” Cal mutters. “We have to make sure. Someone take a radio and let me know that they’re okay. You!” He points to an Original, a woman still holding a shotgun.

  She does as she’s told and runs down the tunnel, gun out. After she and her flashlight vanish into the dark, Cal paces.

  I know what he’s just done. He refuses to risk the whole group at once. He’s not a bad leader, really. Perhaps we should have been more understanding of his grief. Didn’t I make some of my dumbest decisions after losing Drape?

  Sky grips my hand as the minutes pass. His mother’s there. He grabs Cia’s hand, too, and we wait.

  At last, Cal’s radio goes off. “Everyone at home is okay,” the woman says. “Cho has not been here. I will radio you if he arrives.”

  “Good. Then he’s at his settlement, unless he’s moved. It’s clear he wants us to go to him.” Cal motions to the cleared rubble.

  It’s a trap for sure. My stomach turns.

  “Move!” Cal orders.

  “Cal—” Steven starts.

  But he’s already crawling over the rubble. “We’ll give them what they want.”

  “We might need to babysit him again,” Lacy says lowly.

  Emma eyes the hole that leads back to the Exodus facility. I grab her shoulder. “We’ll go back, I promise. But not right now.”

  She blinks at me. “You’re right.” Raising her weapon, she follows.

  The tunnel stretches out again once we’re over the rubble. We fan out in three lines of about ten people. No one speaks. I jog beside Sky and in front of Lacy and Talen. Cia runs in front of Sky, who doesn’t try to stop her. Cal points his gun and taped flashlight down the tunnel, illuminating just brick at first, but then the glow lands on another big hole blasted in the tunnel. It looks like the one we’ve made, and as Cal gets closer, the light falls on a wide, stone corridor that seems to go underneath this tunnel. Mine cart tracks line it, along with a bunch of crates.

  “This is weird,” Cal says. “I’ve never heard of this tunnel, either.”

  Emma pulls out her map and joins him. “This map shows no tunnels under this system. Maybe they belong to some sort of stabilization system, or they’re left over from the excavation days.”

  Cal hops down, peering down the tunnel as the rest of us squeeze closer, trying to see.

  Shots ring out.

  Cal ducks behind a crate as the corner of it splinters.

  I raise my weapon as the series of shots die. It’s another trap. Cho’s men are down there.

  The air fills with shouts. A few of the Originals jump down, opening fire on whoever’s down the tunnel. The air fills with the acrid stench of gunfire, which rings in my ears. Blood flies from a woman’s shoulder, and she grasps her arm and ducks against a wall. Another fighter, a Dweller man, takes a shot to the chest, staggers, and falls, dropping his gun.

  “They’re dying!” I shout, only to be drowned out by the gunshots. My mind works. The crates could provide cover. I pull on Sky’s sleeve, but he’s already following Cia as she jumps down into the tunnel.

  I follow, landing in a crouch. People push against me, eager to fight, and I find myself behind a crate as more shouts and shots ring out. Wood chips sting my shoulders. The crate shudders as it takes bullets. The tunnel’s dark with tilting flashlight beams, which come from all directions. Sky ducks beside me, pinning Cia to the crate, and fires over the wood.

  “Got one!” he shouts.

  “Forward!” Cal orders. “Before they leave!”

  I peek over the crate. A hundred feet away, five of Cho’s Naturals backpedal over a sixth, who lies dead. They’re clearly guarding this place.

  And one of them has a radio that he’s raising to his ear.

  My mind clears. I raise my pistol and fire.

  The radio flies from his grasp and blood shoots from his hand. The Natural crouches, grasping his hand, only to jolt and fall from more gunfire.

  Around me, others rise, firing and finishing the rest of the group. The gunfire ends, leaving five more bodies down the corridor.

  “They killed this man,” Cal shouts, standing over the dead Dweller. Blood soaks the front of his shirt. “And Maggie’s injured!”

  “We’ll wrap her shoulder,” another Original shouts.

  “They expected us,” Talen says, jumping down into the tunnel. “I sense no more. Let me go first, to make sure none of the bodies have explosives in them.”

  “I’m going with you,” Lacy tells him.

  The injured woman seethes as I stand. Sky continues to hold Cia against the crate for a second before he, too, rises.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Cia says, scowling at him.

  I check everyone, but nobody else took bullets. I can’t see Emma, but if she were dead, she’d be lying here. The tunnel’s crowded. Talen and Lacy creep forward, then wave us all along.

  “No explosives except for those we can loot.” Lacy holds up one of the black bombs. “It looks like they wanted to blow this tunnel up if they saw us.”

  “Good,” Cal shouts. “We could use those. Grab them. Maggie, can you walk?”

  “Yes, I can walk. They didn’t shoot my legs.” At least Maggie’s tough.

  Steven clears his throat. “This is nowhere near where Cho was before. His people must have changed locations.”

  “Emma?” Cal asks, turning in a circle. When she doesn’t answer, Cal motions us down the tunnel. “We’re going to find out what this all is. Hurry.”

  We form lines again, and once my limbs steady, we join Lacy and Talen as they hold up looted automatic rifles, bombs, and radios. I hope these people didn’t have time to radio Cho and the rest of the Naturals.

  Next, we run along the mine cart tracks, which look a bit too big to belong to carts, yet too small to carry any passenger rails. My mind works, but I can’t figure their purpose out. Most of the crates are open and empty, leaving no clues. The tunnel curves multiple times, and splits, too. The same tracks follow every part of the corridor.

  “Do you sense anything?” Cal asks Lacy and Talen once we reach the first split.

  “No,” Talen says. “Everything in these tunnels is off.”

  “I can’t believe this.” Cal shakes his head. He eyes an old sign, so faded the red lettering on it is barely visible.

  “That sign looks like the ones back at the Exodus facility,” I say. “Maybe this is more secret EHC stuff?”


  Cal traces his finger along the sign. “Docking station? Make sense Cho’s people would be in a large area.”

  I can’t argue. Cal leads the way again, following the very faded arrow on the sign. A breeze blows against us, and I know this is a long tunnel network. Tracks remain, and my legs start aching as we continue. The tunnel splits three more times, and I get the idea it must run under the entire underground, maybe more. The breezes merge, blowing my hair upward, and Sky smiles at me.

  “Stop,” I say, but I’m glad to see it.

  “This way,” Cal says, pointing to another sign. This one definitely says docking station, but for what?

  The breeze lessens as we walk, and right before a big curve, Lacy and Talen stop abruptly.

  “People,” Lacy says. “I sense them.”

  Cal backs up to stand behind them. “How many?”

  I tighten my grip on my pistol. “Cho’s people for sure?”

  “A lot of them.” Lacy and Talen exchange a wide-eyed glance. “There are so many ahead I can’t make all of them out.”

  Steven shakes his head at Cal. “Not good.”

  “We can’t let them threaten us anymore,” Cal insists. He looks right at me. “You’re enhanced with that Noble class thing, right? We’ll need your brains since Emma decided to ditch us.”

  “Huh?” I whirl.

  The other fighters, including Cia, shrug at me. Sky’s already holding his flashlight to everyone, and scanning the faces reveals that, yes, Emma is not with us.

  “What?” I blurt.

  “She must have left during the fight,” Cal says. “We don’t have time to go get her. Let her bury herself in those computers.”

  My stomach turns. Without Emma, figuring things out is up to me.

  Cal beckons to me. “Up front.”

  “She just left us.” I look at Sky as he walks up to Cal with me, but with Cal here, I don’t dare mention Emma’s mental torment. Maybe she’s snapped. But why leave when we’re going after Cho, not the former EHC?

  Or there’s something to the Exodus facility, something that can help with all this. But we can’t go back there now. Not until Cho is eliminated. Emma will have to risk it all on her own.