Modified- The Complete Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  A weight lifts off my chest and breathing becomes more comfortable.

  I’m not so alone after all.

  “I need your help. Elias doesn’t want to be with those Leeches,” I say. “He was never one of them. We’ve got to kill Reinhart and get him out of there.”

  “But he didn’t want Reinhart to die,” Sky says.

  “He thinks he doesn’t want Reinhart to die,” I remind him. “Elias was vulnerable. Reinhart took advantage of a young, Noble class, talented guy. You’ve got to be with me.”

  “Okay, so I’m not perfect either.” He shuffles closer until I can feel his body heat merging with mine. “I’m with you, Fin. I’ll help you protect Elias and convince him that he’s made the dumbest mistake of his life. But, in return, you have to promise to not give up. Ever.”

  He takes my hand and rubs his thumb along the back of it, sending tingles up my skin. Sky feels like life itself. Hope. And since Elias threw that bomb, I’ve forgotten what that’s like. Reinhart ruined much more than the gateway to Elysian Beach that day.

  Another quake rumbles underfoot.

  I don’t know if I can keep that promise.

  But I have to say it.

  “I promise.”

  Sky lets out a breath and draws me closer. “Now we seal this deal.”

  Sky’s lips caress mine, and then our bodies mold together as he drops the flashlight and we stand there in the dark, embracing each other. The moment stretches into forever and turns into something even the worst quake couldn’t tear apart, until another raised voice that’s not mine echoes from farther down the tunnel.

  We break apart and I instinctively tighten my grasp on my weapon, but then I realize it’s just Lacy. Electric pressure remains on my lips and all over my body as I listen.

  “I’m not a child!” Lacy snaps.

  Talen comes into view. “Well, I worry about you. You jump into situations and—”

  “I’m not dead yet. You’re just jealous my abilities are newer and more up to date than yours,” Lacy says. Then she lowers her voice so that I can’t make out her words anymore.

  “I thought we were a mess,” I tell Sky.

  “Glad we’re not the only ones,” he whispers back.

  “You’re glad Lacy and Talen are fighting? That’s... scary.”

  The two, who must be a hundred feet farther down the tunnel than us, stay quiet for another few minutes, and just as I’m about to pull on Sky’s sleeve and head back, Talen’s voice rises.

  “It’s not easy being a man and then having someone outstrip you. You’re right.”

  “Ta-da!” Lacy shouts.

  “We should probably go,” Sky says.

  “If Lacy wins, I’ll hear about it later, trust me,” I say. This is almost entertaining, and I’m glad to get a moment that isn’t war. The type with guns, that is.

  “I’m sorry. You get a white flag from me. Is that good enough, or do I need to grovel at your feet, too?” Talen asks, but he sounds amused now, not angry. After all he’s been through, he still has a sense of humor. I can’t believe it.

  Lacy lowers her voice again. It seems she’s won.

  I flail around, searching for Sky’s hand in the dark, and we half-jog back to the others before Lacy and Talen realize we’ve heard them. Or before we hear them… making up.

  I find Cal pushing himself up, blinking sleep and weakness from his eyes, and Steven has to steady him as he sways on his feet. The others are rising, too. It’s clear they’ve been talking while Sky and I were gone, and we might have missed something.

  “What’s happening?” I ask, opening the can Sky passed me earlier. It turns out to be more beans, but I’ll take it, right along with the water.

  Cal turns to me. “These refugees came from a settlement to the east that’s taken heavy damage from the quakes. Most of the place caved in, and these people are the only survivors. The stuff they have on the cart is all they have left, and they’re heading for more stable grounds.”

  “Settlements are collapsing?” I ask.

  Sky shakes his head at me. Fingers of darkness rise from the depths, trying to pull me down with them. If I give in to them, I’ll never get back out again, and I have a promise to keep.

  “Yes,” Cal says. He raises his voice to speak to everyone. “The quakes might not be very bad in this area yet, but we need to check on Elysian Beach and possibly evacuate everyone, plus as many supplies as we can find, before it reaches that point.” His eyes gleam with worry.

  The ground shakes with a low, dangerous growl, and I sway on my feet just as Cal did. Grabbing onto Sky, I hold in a curse. People gasp as a few fist-sized pieces of concrete rain from the ceiling. One hits the refugee cart and slides to the tracks.

  I might throw up the beans I’ve just eaten. But I swallow, holding them down.

  The man with the injured face rises from the cart. “Do you know where we can go? We have enough supplies to survive for a week or two if we find a stable location.”

  Cal looks to me. I see a man who’s turning into a child. His bottom lip quivers, and he silently begs me to come up with the answers. Emma would do well in this situation, but now we just have me.

  I think. The Exodus Protocol facility is well-built and not as worn as these tunnels. The metal beams and sound structural designs even in the main room will help resist the quakes. “If you continue up this tunnel and enter the blast hole about halfway up, then you’ll come to some metal doors that lead to a facility that might last longer than the settlements. Stay there. If the quakes don’t get much worse, it’ll stay intact for a while longer. Oh, and on the way, don’t scrape the crystals off the cave walls, and don’t breathe the dust that comes from them.”

  The cut man nods.

  “The injured should go with them,” Cal says, shaking his head and squaring his shoulders at the others. “Fin, how well do you think Elysian Beach will hold up against all this?”

  I pause for a moment, thinking. “Not very well. It’s too big, with too many holes in the ceiling.” The mirror system will make the roof unstable.

  “We need to get Mom out of there,” Cia tells Sky.

  “We will,” he promises her. He sounds so confident that I believe him.

  “Everyone,” Cal announces, “I am sending a small team to rescue those remaining in Elysian Beach and to gather supplies and move them all to the Exodus facility. Charles, Wendy, I know you’re injured, but I trust you to do this. Gather medical supplies for yourselves as well.” Cal faces the cut guy. “Can we use your cart?”

  The man nods. “We have plenty of room for more supplies.” One of the women behind him nods, too.

  “You have a very important job,” Cal tells Wendy. “Disinfect and bandage your wound while Charles spreads the word. Get into the facility with as much food as you can pack. Everything else is secondary.”

  I try to shove the terrifying thoughts from my head. In Exodus, the people survived by stealing. They had no means of growing food. Even if we’re safe there, our luck will run out. Cal’s just buying time.

  I can’t keep this promise.

  But for now, I have to pretend.

  “Good idea,” I say.

  Cal snaps his fingers. “Move out!”

  Charles and Wendy climb onto the cart, and Charles operates the pump in the middle. The two work in unison, and the cart squeaks as it rides down the tunnel and toward Elysian Beach. We all watch it go, now complete with a battery lantern. Lacy and Talen, now returning from down the tunnel, split and squeeze to the sides as the cart passes.

  “Now what?” I ask Cal.

  He turns to me. “It seems that Cho’s forces have been decimated by his actions. That leaves us Reinhart’s forces.”

  “Resting first is a good idea,” Sky says. “We must have been in the tunnels for hours. Maybe even one or two days if settlements are already destroyed.”

  He’s on my side. I link my hand with his. Maybe I can do this.

  “Freeze!”


  Armed men and women emerge from the tunnel in the opposite direction of where the cart’s disappeared, pointing automatic rifles at us. Some wear the black of EHC ops. Others, plain clothes. Two dozen fighters stare down our exhausted, ragtag unit. I sway on my feet as I whirl, raising my pistol, and I instantly calculate our chances of survival to be very low. Most of our team is still seated. Some seemed to have passed out and are only now jolting awake, no weapons in hand. They must have sneaked up the tunnel, staying in the dark the whole time we were out here, and now they’ve executed their move.

  Reinhart himself points his gun at my heart, and his eyes seethe with hatred and disgust.

  Beside him stands Elias. Expressionless and unreadable, he keeps his weapon aimed at Sky.

  I freeze inside.

  “Drop the weapons!” Reinhart orders. “And if I get any crazy business from the Auras, we shoot these two in this head. Drop them, now!”

  CHAPTER 10

  IT’S CLEAR THAT we don’t have a choice.

  Lacy and Talen raise their arms, showing surrender. I drop my new pistol and do the same. It clatters to the tracks like a piece of trash. Beside me, Sky also raises his arms.

  I can’t breathe. If Lacy and Talen try to hurt any of Reinhart’s two dozen leeches, he’ll open fire on me and Sky. Even in the pale light, I can see down the barrel of his weapon. It’s the deepest darkness I’ve ever seen.

  My knees quake. I calculate again. Reinhart’s men and women are different than Cho’s Naturals. These people are enhanced, like us. They match us.

  “Good,” Reinhart says with a snide grin and a nod. “The rest of you. Drop your weapons. Hands behind your heads. Now.”

  Why aren’t they shooting us already? They could kill all of us now, no problem, with just a five percent chance of losing any of their men.

  But I put my hands behind my head. Hostage position. They want us as prisoners.

  I flash a look at Elias. Appealing to him will have the best chance of getting us all out of this alive.

  And I catch him looking between Sky and me. The darkness in his eyes storms and he turns away, raising his hand at the other former EHC fighters. “Okay, everyone. Let’s get these people back as soon as we can. We don’t know where Cho went.”

  My heart drops to the floor and sinks between the tracks. He isn’t even acting like Elias anymore.

  And I helped drive him to this.

  Sky looks to me. He bites his lip and shakes his head, also with his hands behind his head. Cia stands on the other side of him, doing the same.

  But then he nods. He’s keeping his promise.

  “Reinhart,” I say, “we have to be careful down here. Cho set off a weapon that’s destabilized the whole underground. He might have other weapons, too. I can explain it to you if you’d let me.”

  He advances on me with a smug scowl, as if we’re at fault for this. “I’m well aware that parts of the underground are collapsing.” He taps the side of his head like he needs to remind me that he, too, has a Noble class enhancement.

  “She’s right,” Cal adds, barely hiding his anger as he shifts his glare between Elias and Reinhart. If he could, he’d shoot them both right now. “He’s trying to kill us all.”

  “Keep your hands behind your head,” Elias tells him, stepping in front of Reinhart. “We don’t want to shoot any of you, but we will if we have to.”

  “You already bombed us,” Cal tells him.

  Elias flinches. He regrets it. I have confirmation.

  Another quake shakes the tunnel, and a few more concrete pieces fall, one of them barely missing a former EHC op. He yanks his black sleeve back just in time.

  “Move out! This tunnel is not stable,” Reinhart orders. “We return to Civilized Forest immediately. Out!”

  With that, Reinhart turns, slaps Elias on the arm, and snaps his fingers at his ops. They fan out around us, some getting in front while others get behind. In total, there are about two dozen. About one for each of us. Cia and Sky exchange a glance while Lacy and Talen shuffle closer together. But two of the ops stand between them, separating the two.

  “And if any one of my ops goes down from a sudden attack of pain,” Reinhart says, “my order stands to shoot these two.” He thumbs back at Sky and me.

  My skin prickles as a pair of EHC ops move to stand directly behind us. Something cold and metal pokes into my back, right behind my heart, and I know without thinking that a single shot there will guarantee death.

  “Don’t look back,” Sky whispers.

  My guard nudges me, and I walk beside him.

  “Lacy, Talen, don’t do anything,” I say. All it will take is a few ops to fire on them, and it’s all over. They won’t have time to finish their victims.

  Elias and Reinhart walk in the lead, backs to us, automatic rifles out and ready. They walk two feet apart, like partners in crime. If Elias is thinking about us, he doesn’t dare show it. Neither speaks.

  But in this situation, he’s our last hope.

  So I have to watch.

  We walk down the tunnel for what feels like an eternity. One of the Dwellers falls, and then an Original, both only to get a kick to the side. “Up,” an op orders.

  Elias whirls. “They’re exhausted. I don’t think that’s necessary.” He slips a split-second gaze at me before walking again. Warmth dares to flow into my chest, despite the gun barrel still tickling the back of my shirt. A bit of the old Elias is still there.

  I want to say I agree, but our chances of escape will drop the more Elias and I look like we’re not angry with each other.

  “This is our survival,” Reinhart tells Elias in a low voice. “There is no time for weakness. You’ve heard that before.”

  Elias stares at him before he nods.

  What is Reinhart trying to do? Hark back to Elias’s dead uncle? That’s low.

  “I know that,” Elias says. “But we need these people strong and uninjured.”

  They want us alive, then.

  “If we lose a few, it will be no big loss,” Reinhart says. “We will go on. I’ve told you that. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Listen to me. I’ve seen far more war than you can ever imagine.”

  Elias flinches. He doesn’t yell at the next guard who kicks a Dweller woman who’s stumbled on the tracks.

  Yeah. Reinhart’s trying to be the big bad role model. That makes me clench my fists, despite them being on the back of my head. He’s made Elias forget that it was the EHC who killed his uncle in the first place.

  Or has he?

  Elias walks with a subtle scrape to his feet, his shoulders rising every so often toward his ears.

  * * * * *

  The Civilized Forest settlement seems to be miles away from where we started, somewhere to the west of Cho’s former place—the Sunlight Gardens. The yellow rail car they stole from us is parked by the platform.

  The area turns out to be another underground settlement, with a gate just like the one Elysian Beach had before the explosion. The EHC ops stand aside to let us walk off the monorail tracks and through the turnstiles.

  “Let them lie down for a bit,” Elias orders.

  “Who’s the leader here?” Reinhart asks, but he sounds like he’s a million miles away.

  “These people need a break. It’s clear they’re going to die if we push them any more. They’re not going to be any good to us if they’re not rested.”

  “Most of them are slags. They’re used to being pushed,” Reinhart says.

  Sky and I stumble through the turnstiles. Yes, I’m tired. My muscles scream with every movement, and my head pounds. The can of beans hasn’t sustained me long. Nausea grips at my insides. Right now, I don’t care if they shoot me.

  The turnstile opens into a fancy entryway, as if we’re walking into a hotel instead of a settlement, and all around me, people fall to the ground, spreading their arms and sinking to their knees. Cia goes down to a crawling position before flopping down on her stomach. Cal dr
ops to a seated position. Steven stares at the wall, dazed. Around us, EHC ops fan in, lining the walls with their guns ready. Even Lacy and Talen drop to the floor as if their legs are a hundred years old.

  And somewhere in the background, Elias and Reinhart are arguing. Their words turn to gibberish as I lower myself to the floor. We’ve been going for two days without sleep, maybe more, and even my Noble class brain is shutting down. Flailing, I grasp Sky’s hand and rest my cheek on the cool floor.

  He squeezes my hand back. For a moment, I feel like everything will be fine.

  “Fine. Let them rest. But we don’t have much time for this,” Reinhart says. “We need the area cleared as soon as possible. Don’t lower your guard.”

  Sometime later, my eyelids flutter, and I realize I’m still lying on the floor. Feet tap all around me, and I understand where I am. Reinhart’s new home. And we’re not dead yet.

  “Fin, they’re waking everybody up,” Sky says lowly.

  I open my eyes to find him lying beside me. He’s got bags under his eyes, but they’re still full of life. I squeeze his hand and blink away the sleep just as a boot taps me in the back.

  “Up,” an op orders. “We have a job for you.”

  My headache is somewhat better, and my muscles have healed. At least now I have the strength to rise. Sky and I get up together to find Cia already awake, standing over us. Lacy and Talen stand well-guarded on opposite ends of the entryway. Flashlight beams swing everywhere, but Elias and Reinhart have gone.

  “I think Elias is still trying to help us,” I whisper to Sky.

  He hesitates. “Maybe.”

  That’s better than nothing. We’re getting there.

  “Forward!” a woman near a door shouts, holding it open.

  The other guards keep their weapons aimed at us as we form a single-file line and march through. There’s pale light beyond the door, almost as if we’re about to step outside, but I know it’s an illusion.

  Another settlement spreads out beyond the doors, but this one isn’t as beautiful or as big as Elysian Beach or Sunlight Gardens. This place has mirrors on the rocky ceiling like the others, filtering down sunlight, but the houses here are little more than metal shacks, and the trees are small and struggling. A few gardens full of weeds are scattered everywhere, and shelves of canned food, most of which are empty, line the walls of the massive chamber. It’s an ugly settlement, probably meant for workers instead of families. On the far end of the chamber, machinery gathers like an army of twisted, squashed robots. This houses some kind of factory, all right.