The Girl Who Dared to Descend

by Bella Forrest

  I won’t tell Maddox, Quess buzzed in my ear as I stepped up to the ledge. But for the record, I don’t like this.

  “Noted,” I replied, throwing my line and hitting an arch. “See if you can’t commandeer a few of the drones to help us. I know you want to come down yourself to look, but I don’t want to risk your new job, either. We need you in there.”

  Quess made an aggravated noise that made me wince at the oddity of the tonal sounds it created in my ear. Fine, he grated out. But you better get there. Fast.

  “I’m already on it,” I said before ending the call.

  Behind me, a crowd had formed, and I heard hushed and awed voices murmuring, “Untouchable” and “Honorbound.” We were drawing attention, which would only lead to questions, speculation, and rumors. We needed to get out of there, fast, without causing any more of a scene.

  I glanced at Leo, who was waiting patiently, his line already attached. “Keep up with me,” I told him, and he offered me a terse smile before we both swung off.

  I began lashing quickly, glancing back only to make sure the lashway door had closed behind me. Then I dropped, heading for Anwar’s bridge, which connected to Level 85. From there, we’d race to the plunge and lash down twenty stories to the sixty-fifth floor.

  Easy peasy.

  I narrowly avoided the beam blocking my path, and stepped lightly onto the landing just beyond, right in front of the doorway leading out of the plunge. My arms were shaking and I was covered in a light sweat. I’d never taken the plunge so quickly before, and the fact that I had—and survived—was no small miracle.

  Leo landed next to me and quickly stepped through the doorway, looking around.

  “Oh thank God,” I heard a feminine voice say, and I pushed forward to see Zoe and Eric waiting for us. “C’mon, Quess told us she was at the top of Greenery 7 in one of the condensation rooms.”

  The condensation rooms? Why would she be up there? The area wasn’t at all suitable to our needs, as it was one of the most important, and therefore heavily maintained rooms in a greenery. It produced the atmosphere to create rainfall. I’d never been inside one, but I knew from my cross-departmental internship courses that they were hot and humid.

  And not a place for small girls.

  I hurried along, following Zoe and Eric through a long hall. Our footsteps were hurried, filling the small space with sounds of our passing. Zoe hooked a right, and I jogged behind Leo, checking the hall behind us to make sure we were clear. I still hadn’t calmed down from being pursued by our would-be assassins in the Tourney, and I was already anxious with worry over Tian.

  We exited the shell and crossed onto a wide platform that ran fifteen feet out from the side of the smooth inner walls of the Tower. We were on the east side of the Tower, and Greenery 7—affectionately known as the Orchard—sat on the north side, opposite its sister greenery, Harvest, where the root, gourd, squash, and cruciferous vegetables were grown. That one boasted some of the finest meals in the Tower; the Orchard offered nothing but fresh-baked pies and other fruit-based cuisine.

  We headed directly for it, drawn by the large picture of an apple pie painted across the smooth five-story surface over the wide entrance. The platform extended out an additional forty feet there, making room for the carts and stalls that gathered in front of it. It was still morning, but people were already there enjoying a slice of pie for breakfast.

  We ignored it all, hugging the wall of the shell as we rounded the corner, and found a small pathway a few feet wide behind the stalls. No one stopped us or paid us any mind—we were nothing interesting. Just two Knights escorting two Cogs on some sort of repair job.

  We stopped at a ladder that was carved out of the wall and began to climb, heading for the very top, where it was obstructed by the ramp on the seventieth floor.

  When we reached the top, Zoe quickly put in her code, opening the door that was accessed from the ladder. The door led us onto a catwalk, with stairs heading down into the condensation room.

  I stepped inside and paused, the heat already causing sweat to form on my forehead and upper lip. I shrugged it off and stepped up to the landing, looking into the room below.

  The lighting was dim—the panels above were darkened intentionally, as the light and heat from the sun shining through them would evaporate much of the water the condensers were using to form the rain that would sustain the crops below. The main source of light was a long tube lying on the floor in the middle of the room, throbbing a deep orange. Additional lights dangled from the ceiling above, but the bulbs were red, and protected by plastic shields that diffused everything into a hazy crimson glow. Neither source did anything to chase the deep, dark shadows of the room away, and the entire place had a strangely ominous feel.

  I sucked in a deep breath, the air thick and heavy, and then pulled out my baton.

  “I’ll take the lead, followed by Leo. Zoe, Eric, if you see Tian, grab her and run. Don’t wait for us.”

  I glanced over at my friends, and they nodded. Leo already had his baton out, so I supposed my orders came as no surprise to him. We both knew Zoe and Eric weren’t fighters in the traditional sense, but they could grab Tian should a fight break out, and it was a relief to be able to focus just on keeping them safe—and covering their backs while they ran.

  If we even found her.

  I moved down the stairs, my baton out, my eyes searching the shadows. Nothing moved. Everything was quiet.

  Too quiet. The hair on my neck stood at full attention, warning me that something wasn’t right. I listened to it—but didn’t turn back. Instead, I kept a firm control over my emotions… and a wary eye on the shadows, searching for any hint of movement.

  The stairs ended after a few feet, just before a huge piece of machinery with glowing lights and what appeared to be a control panel. I looked at it and then stepped to my left—the only direction I could step, considering the black glass panel beaded with water on the right.

  “Zoe, take a look at this and see if you can get any more lights on,” I said quietly.

  Something suddenly hissed, and I whirled toward it, my baton at the ready. A white-hot cloud of steam was shooting up from a release valve, and I exhaled, relaxing some. Some, but not entirely.

  Zoe rushed forward, her hands up and ready to press a button, and I turned away and moved farther to the left, following the path made by the wall of the Tower and three huge water mains stacked one on top of the other. I went down a few more steps into a long trough, and the heat grew even more intense, radiating from the glowing orange tube—a condenser coil, which ran from one end of the room to the other, right through the center.

  Catwalks climbed up and over it, connecting the two halves of the room, but for now, I was focused on this side.

  “Tian!” I called, walking alongside the orange tube and searching in between and around the pipes of water, which was fed into the room to be heated until it blew off steam. That steam was collected above, gathering and growing until it was time to rapidly cool it, creating the rain for the greenery below.

  Right now, it was just making things even more difficult.

  “Tian!” I repeated, continuing ahead and then moving around one of the stairwells blocking my path. I paused when I saw that I could either go straight or venture back to the right, through a narrow spot behind some equipment. I finally went with the latter, figuring that if Tian had been chased down here, she would’ve taken this route on purpose, to slow down her would-be assailants.

  It was a tight fit, and the pipes on my left were burning hot, but I managed to make it through with only a few blisters on the backs of my hands. Luckily, the microthread of my uniform protected the rest of my body.

  The space eventually opened up into another small area. I looked around quickly, but there was no sign of Tian. There were, however, two more gaps that led to another area, and after a moment of hesitation, I went with the one that kept me away from the center. The passageway didn’t lead in a strai
ght line, but hooked back around to the left.

  I paused when I saw this, and became aware of something. A smell. I sniffed the air a few times to confirm, and was rewarded by a heavy copper odor, tinged with a hint of charred meat. The strange combination confused me, but as I approached the corner, I realized it was getting stronger.

  “What is that?” Leo whispered, and I almost leapt out of my skin before turning around to face him. I hadn’t even realized he had kept up with me. His eyes widened in alarm when he saw my face, and then immediately grew concerned. “Are you okay?”

  He reached out for me, but I shrugged him off, shaking my head. “I’m fine. Let’s just find Tian.”

  I backed away as I spoke, concerned about my own state of mind. I thought I had it together, but one sound from Leo had sent me jumping out of my skin faster than a piston could move. I shook out my free hand, trying to ease my tense nerves, and then turned away from his confusion, unable to fully explain myself.

  And then I saw it. Something dark, wet, glistening, and a red so deep that it was almost black in the lighting, was splashed in baffling amounts across the floor. I stared at it, half thinking someone had spilled a barrel of paint, and then covered my mouth when I saw a chunk of something sitting in it: teeth, a tongue, a lip… a jaw.

  A jaw missing the upper half of its head, and still oozing blood into the puddle that was already coating the floor in a thick, never-ending mat.

  30

  My mind couldn’t begin to process what I was seeing. Blood streaked high along the pipes and pooling on the floor. A severed arm resting awkwardly in a corner. A booted foot standing upright, with everything above the boot missing. A head split in half, splayed open. Pink and white bits of flesh, scattered everywhere.

  My stomach lurched, and I closed my eyes, trying to will the image of such carnage out of my head. Then hands were tugging at my shoulder, forcing me to turn around, and I suddenly became aware that my breathing had become heavy, a dull ringing noise in my ears.

  I opened my eyes to see Leo staring at me, his eyes wide and concerned, and I realized he was touching me. His hands were on my shoulders, then my face. His mouth was moving. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it—there was only the room behind me. Vicious carnage in a place where Tian had last been.

  I couldn’t help but imagine her. Blue eyes wide open and unseeing. White-blond hair stained red with blood. Little limbs cut away, flung away, by a monster capable of such atrocities.

  Leo was shaking me now, his mouth moving faster. I tried to focus on his lips, but they weren’t making any sense.

  Then I got bored with it. It was nothing. Nothing mattered. Tian was dead, and I had failed her. My eyes drifted. Floated. Saw Zoe. Witnessed her horror. Her eyes wide and mouth open, tears starting to form. Followed by her staggering back. Turning. Retching in the corner.

  Eric soothed her, his hands on her back as she lost the contents of her stomach.

  Arms went around me. Grey’s—Leo’s face filled my view. He was holding me. I stared at him, and then relaxed. I let him hold me, if only to chase away the nightmare that was just feet behind me.

  I realized I was cold, and shivering, and stepped even closer into him, drawn to his warmth. If he complained, I couldn’t hear it.

  For a precious moment, I felt safe again.

  The ringing in my ears lessened some, and I settled my head against his chest, listening to his words as they suddenly became audible.

  “It’s okay, Liana. You’re going into shock, and I’m just trying to help you through it. If you can hear this, there are many bodies in there, but none of the remains are small enough to be Tian. Please, Liana… come back to us. We need you.”

  His words resonated inside me, and I blinked as my mind suddenly snapped into awareness. Tian wasn’t among them?

  I pulled out of his arms, suddenly back in control of my faculties. “She’s not in there?” I asked him hoarsely, my voice cracking. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded jerkily. “Yes. Liana, are you okay? You were going into—”

  “Shock,” I said with a nod. “I know, I heard you. You’re… Whatever you did helped, so thank you. But if you’re right and Tian’s not in there, then we need to find out where she is.” I was pretty certain I was still in shock; a numbness had settled in just under my skin. But talking things out helped me to focus on what we needed to do. It kept me from floating away mentally, reminded me to stay riveted in the moment instead.

  “Okay,” Zoe said weakly, her voice harsh. “But can we just take a minute to discuss what could’ve…” She panted for a second, her ashen face turning green as she fought off the urge to throw up again. She managed to beat it back, and continued. “Could’ve done that? Or who these people even are?”

  I considered her question, and realized she had a point. Someone or something had killed several people at the very least, given the number of limbs that my brain refused to stop picturing. The manner and execution of it had been brutal.

  I didn’t know who the people were, but I was relatively certain they were the ones who had been after Tian in the first place. The only alternative was that they were a work detail tasked with fixing something, but that seemed highly unlikely to me, considering they were all wearing black. If the people on the floor were indeed who I suspected they were, and had been chasing Tian, then whoever—whatever—had caused all of this could be after Tian as well.

  Or worse, they could have her already.

  “Liana,” Eric said, his voice grave. “Could these men belong to Lacey? Could she have made a move to grab Tian?”

  I considered his question. My initial impulse was to say no, but I couldn’t be certain. I had left our meeting last night feeling like we had an understanding, but what if she had taken my threat to leave as too big a risk, and sent her men after someone she knew we would all do anything for? Had I been wrong in my judgment of her character? Was she actually capable of doing something like that to a young girl?

  And then what? Someone else had intercepted Lacey’s men and murdered them? If so, who? Another legacy group… or someone else? And who or what could’ve caused all of this…

  I backed my thoughts up, as they drew too close to the scene behind me, focusing on the question at hand instead. Had Lacey sent men after Tian? It was possible, and a question I couldn’t afford to ignore.

  “Call her,” I told Zoe. “Make her come up here herself. I don’t care how you do it. Leo and I are going to check the bodies and look for Tian. Just stay here, and be careful.”

  It really went without saying, but I said it anyway. My skin crawled just thinking about the monster that had caused all that carnage still being somewhere in this room. But whatever had done this was still out there.

  There was a flutter of noise overhead, and I looked up in alarm, already imagining something attacking us. As soon as I saw that it was just a drone, the sound coming from the propellers at the top, I sagged in relief. All of our nets buzzed simultaneously, and then were simultaneously overridden. My teeth rattled in my skull as the force of the vibrations almost brought me to my knees, and I winced against it. The neural load was heavy with all five of us on it.

  Liana, I’m sorry I’m late, Quess said. What have you disc—

  The drone swiveled to one side—toward the carnage—and I quickly started speaking.

  “Quess, don’t overreact. Tian isn’t in there. I need you to drop Zoe and Eric off the call—they have their own calls to make. And I need you to take point, okay? Are you with me?”

  My heart beat hard in my chest as I looked over at Leo. If Quess lost control now, him getting the drone here would be useless—he’d come straight here himself and start tearing this place apart, and we’d lose any tactical advantage the drone gave us, namely the several different camera lenses for poor lighting, like thermal imaging and enhanced night vision. With the camera, he would be able to tell if anyone was waiting to ambush us before we had to enter the ro
om.

  Without it, we’d be going in blind.

  Yes. Of course I’m with you. I relaxed as the vibrations dialed back some, and Zoe and Eric gave us a thumbs-up before moving a few feet away to place their own call.

  I watched them for a second and then sucked in a deep, calming breath, steeling myself for what came next. “Quess, you lead the way into the rest of the room, and make sure it’s clear. Find any exits that Tian might have taken and scope them out. We’ll… We’ll look around while you do that. See what we can see.”

  Quess didn’t reply, but the drone moved off, a bright light clicking on to illuminate the way. I watched it go, then forced myself to turn around and look back into that room.

  Tian’s not in there, I thought, and then held the thought tight, repeating it like a prayer in my head. The drone disappeared behind some equipment, and several long seconds ticked by. Behind me, I could hear Zoe’s voice, but it was pitched low enough that I couldn’t make out the words.

  It’s all clear.

  Quess’s all clear helped ease some of the tension, but certainly not enough, and I still hesitated for a brief second. Leo did not, and I watched as he carefully stepped into the room, picking across the few spaces of floor that weren’t completely covered in blood. I watched him go, envying his ability to cope, and then followed, forcing myself to look.

  The inside of a human body was bright pink and rubbery. White was marbled through it—muscle fiber, bone, fat—but for the most part… pink, covered in red. Even with the dim lighting, it was hard not to notice. Not to fixate on.

  I stepped over a leg bisected at both the hip and knee, a five-inch gap between the two pieces, the angle of the cut indicating that they had belonged together, originally. I tried not to think about the fact that somewhere, in all of this carnage, was the body that leg had once been attached to. The man who had been using it. A man who was now dead, either from bleeding out, shock, or another attack by whatever took off his leg.