by Eliza Green
‘Without having looked for the Beyond?’
She couldn’t believe what he was saying.
‘They told me this place had a weird vibe to it. I should have listened.’
And yet the pair had forced Dom into a leadership role.
Her anger flared. ‘If they wanted to dictate things, maybe they shouldn’t have told you to become leader.’ Her voice echoed loudly in the stairwell. She lowered it to a whisper. ‘We need to find the Beyond, Dom. Until we do, none of this stops. The city, the towns, the camp we just came from... the Collective found us there. It will always find us.’
Dom looked up at the ceiling. ‘But what if we don’t have enough people power to escape?’ He lowered his gaze to her. ‘What if we’re signing our death certificates by staying here? What if the right move is to leave and return with more soldiers? We’ve got a couple dozen people and a small fraction of those are soldiers.’
‘There’s Kaylie’s team. They might come back.’
Dom sighed. ‘Kaylie’s team are gone. Even with them, that’s not enough to fight a second, larger wave.’
She rested her head on his chest. The tension in Dom’s body lessened a little.
‘We also have an orb and the two wolves,’ she added.
‘The orb is useless right now, and according to Jacob one of the wolves might turn on us.’
His voice rumbled in her ear, pressed against his chest.
She pulled back from him. ‘We also have a Copy with a hotline to Quintus, a newborn, a Breeder and a man with a bionic arm.’
She glanced down at his limb.
Dom held it up, flexed his fingers and gave a little grin. ‘I keep forgetting about this.’
‘Not to mention a former medical guard who can get us into places.’
Dom’s smile faded. ‘I don’t like that he’s here.’
‘I can take him out if you’d like?’
She lifted her Electro Gun.
One side of Dom’s mouth lifted again. ‘No, but thanks. Apparently, he can get us into places.’
Anya glanced at the closed doors at either end of the stairwell. ‘If this is a trap, I don’t see us getting out of the city without a fight.’
‘I wish Max were here.’
Anya wrapped her arms around him. He tightened his grip on her.
‘Me too. And Jason. Hell, even Warren in some sick and twisted way.’ She pulled back. ‘But it’s just us. Even if we left the city and rounded up extra people to help, there’s no guarantee we’d succeed. The Collective could get the barrier working again. This is a rare opportunity to find the Beyond. We have to take it.’
‘But if it’s a trap...’
‘Then we fight our way out. Returning to the camp before we’ve tried is suicide. Above all else, we’d run out of food.’
With a nod, Dom resumed his walk down the stairs. ‘Where do you think the Copies have all gone?’
‘Maybe they’re all in the Learning Centre.’
She’d meant it as a joke, but the look of fear on Dom’s face forced her to lighten the mood. ‘The Collective doesn’t know where the Beyond is. Quintus seems to operate separately to the main group. It could be a smokescreen and only he remains.’
‘I hope so.’
They exited the stairwell to the second floor and entered the final one leading to the third. Exiting at the bottom, they both took a breath before rejoining the others. The on-edge group had gathered in the space before the hidden corridor and the door to the viewing corridor.
Anya assessed the mood of the group. Thomas was folding his pages with the maps on and stuffing them into his backpack. Next to him was a quiet Jacob. Carissa was frowning at a sketch on a page in her hand. The Copy prisoner was slouched against the wall, looking bored.
Vanessa and Charlie were chatting separately in one corner away from everyone. She’d need to keep her eye on that pair.
Sheila and Imogen were standing with the other soldiers. None of them were talking. Some of them, still injured from the fight in the battlefield, slouched or sat against the wall.
Dom’s arrival softened Sheila’s hardened look.
She came over to him. ‘Well? What’s your plan?’
Anya glared at her. ‘It’s not up to him alone. We all make that decision.’
Sheila’s eyelids fluttered in surprise. ‘I didn’t mean...’ She swallowed. ‘What’s our plan?’
Anya folded her arms. ‘Oh, so you’re on board now, are you?’
Sheila flicked her gaze between them. ‘I’m sorry, Dom. I thought leaving might help. I didn’t think we’d find anything. Not so soon anyway.’
‘It’s fine, Sheila,’ said Dom. ‘But we all need to stick together.’
He looked over at Charlie and Vanessa.
Anya needed a moment to process what had happened up top, and she could see Dom did, too. She was about to suggest they check on June when someone tugged on the end of her top. She jerked back, and her gaze landed on a six-year-old girl. The girl had flawless skin and a rosebud mouth.
‘What the hell...? Who are you?’
The crowd parted and a grinning June came through. ‘Don’t be afraid, Anya.’
The soldiers stared at the girl. They obviously hadn’t seen her coming, either.
June placed a protective hand on the girl’s back. ‘This is Frahlia.’
Carissa appeared at the child’s side. She was staring at her.
She looked up at June. ‘My niece?’
June chuckled. ‘In a way, I suppose so.’
Carissa smiled down at the girl.
Stunned into silence, all Anya could do was to stare at the child. She had blonde hair, but a shade lighter than June’s. Her eyes were a strange shade of blue, different to June’s pale blue ones. She’d never seen eyes that vivid before.
No, wait, she had. Once, on the eighth floor of Arcis, when she and Dom had discovered a group of children who were being kept separate to the babies. She reminded herself that this was not June’s biological child. She was a product of a Breeder and an unwilling victim. Perhaps the rapid growth machine had given her the unusual eye colour.
Anya shivered. Had things played out differently, this child could have been hers.
The girl stared up at her. She looked innocent enough, but the situation gave Anya the creeps.
Aware that June was waiting for a response, she looked at her and said, ‘Frahlia?’
June beamed. ‘A hybrid of Frank and Tahlia.’
Anya smiled. She couldn’t think of a better way to remember them.
‘Can she talk?’
June frowned. ‘I don’t know...’
She hadn’t noticed Alex standing behind June. His eyes were on the child. His blond hair was probably a closer match to the child’s hair than June’s.
‘She can. The machine grows not only the body but the brain, too. It matures her intellect enough to match her age.’
Just like Alex had been grown and matured too fast.
A thought hit her. Could this child be from one of his forced interactions? She knew so little about what had happened before her arrival.
Alex had a wide grin on his face, looking like a proud father. Anya had been too busy fighting the breeding programme; it had never occurred to her that Alex might actually want a child.
‘She’s perfect, isn’t she?’ he said, placing his hand on the top of her head.
The child flinched and hid behind June’s leg.
Alex’s smile dropped away.
‘She just needs time to adjust,’ said June.
Alex nodded, looking too stiff to be comfortable.
17
Anya
Anya squashed her back into the wall, keen to distance herself from the readymade family before her. June was a mother. The man Anya had been forced into a room to breed with was a father. Things were changing too fast.
Frahlia watched her with curiosity. Her odd, blue gaze made Anya look away. She crossed her arms and conce
ntrated on the others. This child—and others like her—was the reason Anya and the others had spent three months in Arcis and why she, June and Sheila had been held prisoner in this place. She was also the potential reason why Dom had been tortured.
‘So what now?’ said Jacob, his voice snapping her back to reality.
‘Charlie and I still think we should leave the city,’ said Vanessa. The pair had been chatting together in one corner. ‘More so since Carissa confirmed this is a trap.’
A worried Anya looked at Dom. They had to keep going. Who knew when they might get another chance?
To her relief, he shook his head.
‘Nobody’s leaving. We came here to find the Beyond and took a massive risk by doing so. We’re not leaving until we locate it.’
Vanessa lifted her hands. ‘It’s a mistake to stay, Dom. You know that, right? We’ll be outnumbered.’ She glanced at Carissa. ‘The Collective is still here.’
Except Anya didn’t believe it was. ‘Carissa heard Quintus, nobody else. Same as when she heard him on the battlefield. Same as when he contacted her in the camp.’
Vanessa blinked. ‘What are you saying?’
‘That Quintus appears to be acting alone. He might have become separated from his group. It’s possible the Collective escaped the city and Quintus is trying to fool Carissa into thinking he still has its backing.’
Carissa, who’d been quiet since she’d received the message, breathed out. A small smile played on her lips as she looked down at the ground.
Anya rested her hand on Dom’s back in a show of support. ‘Dom’s right. We need to keep going. Whatever we do—stay or leave—we’re bound to meet resistance. At least here we have a shot at getting out.’
Vanessa still looked unconvinced.
Charlie shrugged. ‘Okay, we stay. What do we do?’
Dom said, ‘The sketch in Janet’s book matches up to the schematics for the Learning Centre. We don’t know if the lines correlate to corridors above ground or tunnels below, but I say we start below.’
‘You suggesting we use the tunnels to access the Learning Centre? Is that even possible?’
‘I don’t know, but we should try. The Collective appears to know less about what happens beneath the surface.’ Dom nodded at the child. ‘Frahlia is old enough to travel. June is healed, yes?’ He flicked his gaze to her and June nodded. ‘All that’s left to do is count how many active weapons we have left.’
The injured soldiers perked up and showed Dom their weapons. Apart from the revolvers and the homemade Atomiser and Disruptor Gun, they had a few Electro Guns that still had a charge. The first bunch of guns had been taken from the fallen Copies during the battle in the area outside the camp. The second lot of weapons had been taken from the fallen doppelgangers of the guard, who was listening to everything they were saying.
‘What about the Breeders and girls we found?’ asked Sheila.
‘They come with us,’ said Dom.
Jacob pointed at the prisoner. ‘What about this one?’
Dom’s lips thinned. ‘He comes with us.’
Charlie clapped his hands at everyone. ‘You heard Dom. Let’s pack up and get ready to move.’
Ten minutes later, the group gathered at the door leading to the glass viewing corridor. With them were the eight Breeders and four girls they’d rescued from the second floor.
After Quintus had made contact, Anya had expected a group of Copies to ambush them below. The fact that nobody came only strengthened her belief that Quintus was acting alone.
They could leave through the main entrance, but it could be safer to use the stairs nearest Jacob’s workshop. His space was opposite the building they needed to access.
Dom led the way, Disruptor charged and ready. Fully charged, it could steal a machine’s power after a successful Atomiser blast. Thomas carried the Atomiser. The gun could blow a hole in the side of any machine. He hitched the backpack containing all the maps higher on his back.
Anya followed him, carrying both a revolver and an Electro Gun. Her nerves jangled at the thought of ending this nightmare, of finding the place that other rebels had died to find. And that her parents had fought to protect. How many had discovered its location and actually made it there? One, ten—none?
The group moved silently along the viewing corridor. She glanced into each of the spaces. Her Copy medic had showed her this space when she’d been a prisoner. She’d tried and failed to convince Anya of her purpose here.
Nobody spoke as they swapped the corridor for a bright, white space that replayed their footsteps back in a weird echo. Ahead of them was a set of double doors. Dom pushed through and they entered a new corridor, more roughly hewn and darker in appearance, but not so dark that they couldn’t see their way. This was the route they’d used to escape once before. They’d met resistance then. Now, everything was too damn quiet. Anya lifted her gun higher.
She checked the charge in her Electro Gun. The guns fired thirteen blasts of electricity. She had seven shots left.
Jacob caught up with Dom out ahead. Naturally, Carissa fell into step behind the Inventor. Anya wondered if the Copy would come with them to the Beyond.
Jacob pointed. ‘It’s a straight run to the workshop from here.’
Anya followed the leaders and Carissa. She heard heavy breathing behind her. The walk was not a taxing one; it must be fear that quickened some people’s breaths.
They stepped through a dismantled, brick opening and entered a new corridor. Bricks lay scattered on the ground. Jacob kept up easily with Dom. Or Dom had slowed down for the Inventor. Anya couldn’t tell.
Jacob pointed to a stairwell leading up. ‘This will take us to the courtyard outside the Learning Centre.’ He released a long breath. ‘There’s no other way inside that I know of.’
Dom stopped at the base of the stairs, nestled against a flat wall of tunnelled stone. With one hand on the rail he made no move to climb. He looked back at Anya. She saw the fear lodged in his eyes. And the look that meant he was questioning his decision.
Anya lifted her gun higher and nodded.
With a soft breath, Dom looked up and started his climb. Other gun-toting soldiers fanned out behind him, pushing Anya farther back from Dom. The distance rattled her. She needed to be near him. She needed to protect him.
Dom turned to Jacob. ‘What about Rover?’
‘Don’t worry. When I call him, he’ll come running.’
Nobody breathed in the stairwell. Anya dared not look back at the others. If she saw any trace of fear her legs might not work.
Dom crept up to the top of the stairwell. Four soldiers followed him. She was fifth in the pecking order. The remaining soldiers with guns brought up the rear of the pack, protecting those without weapons.
Dom opened the door a crack and looked out. Anya held her breath. She wished it were her going first. Seeing Dom take all the risk made her pulse pound too hard.
He said, ‘All clear.’
She sighed with relief, but sucked in a new breath when Dom disappeared through the open door. She lunged after him, needing to be his eyes and ears in case this was the trap Carissa had said it was.
She emerged into the bright courtyard. Opposite the stairwell was a large, white building made almost entirely of white panels, intermixed with glass ones. She shielded her eyes against its brightness, still reflective enough to bother her. Dom moved forward.
She hissed at him to wait, but he didn’t listen.
Sheila appeared at her side and tugged on her sleeve.
‘He doesn’t get to have all the fun,’ she said. ‘Come on.’
They raced ahead, not waiting for the others. Dom had stopped at the door to the Learning Centre. He was rattling it, but it wouldn’t budge.
‘Wait!’ one of the soldiers shouted.
Commotion behind her turned her around. The eight Breeders and four young women were running in the direction of the city limits.
Dom said, ‘Let them go. I�
��m not making them stay.’ He tried the door using his strong arm and grunted. ‘It’s locked.’
His strength wasn’t enough to open it.
Dom looked back and clicked his fingers. ‘Bring the prisoner here.’
One of the soldiers pushed the Copy guard ahead. He stumbled forward, almost hitting the door.
‘Open it,’ Dom barked at him.
‘I don’t have access to every building.’
‘I don’t care. Try it.’
With a sigh, the guard offered his wrist. Dom yanked it closer to the panel next to the glass doors. The panel flashed red.
That’s when Anya saw a flash of movement inside the building. A head bobbed up from behind a counter.
Dom was too busy pressing the Copy’s wrist to the door a second time to notice. Something clicked and the door released suddenly.
‘Dom, wait!’
The words had left her throat, but it was too late. Dom had flung the doors open and was marching inside. New Copies appeared like apparitions from behind counters.
She heard Dom say, ‘Oh shit...’
Someone fired at him. Anya saw red. She charged into the lobby with her gun pointed at any Copy in uniform she saw.
Chaos erupted behind her. She heard the others scramble to take cover.
A whistle followed, then Jacob called out, ‘Rover, come here!’
Anya focused on the scene ahead of her. She scanned the faces of the Copies quickly, looking for one she recognised, one she might be able to reason with. She saw only one repeated four times.
The Collective must be using copies of Copies as shields.
One attacker struck a young boy soldier on the head. The boy went down with a thud. Dom grappled with the gun of a second Copy. Anya fired her Electro Gun at a different one, not wanting to hit Dom. He held the attacker off with his strong arm. Electricity bounced around the space and set her teeth on edge.
She hit one of the Copies. It went down. She hit another. A shot came from somewhere else and whizzed past her head. She ducked. It hit a fifth Copy who had been hiding down a corridor.
‘Sorry,’ said Sheila. ‘Had to act fast.’
Anya straightened up. All five attackers had been incapacitated.