by Ramona Finn
“Doesn’t need us—the arrogance! Did you ever hear—”
The doors cut her off. I strode out onto the platform. The guards were already scuttling for cover, diving behind the ticket counter. One of them loosed a bolt, firing into the ceiling.
“Hands up,” said the other. “This is the end of the line.”
I looked past him down the tunnel. I could hear the next train, the shriek of its passage. Its lights flared bright white, and I felt my eyes water.
“They don’t stop in emergencies. They run till the sirens quit.”
I put my hands up and waited. The guards stood up slowly, blasters held up like talismans, warding me off. The train-shriek was louder now, vibrating in my teeth. Light splashed the platform, bleached the guards’ vests to gray. They circled behind me, their boots out of step, sh-clomp, sh-clomp as the train thundered by. I glimpsed terrified faces pressed to the windows, red emergency lights glaring in their eyes.
“Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head.”
I crouched down halfway, gathering my strength.
“All the way down. I won’t tell you again.”
I crouched deeper, breathed in, and the caboose flashed by.
“No! She’s—”
I leaped for it, caught the ladder. The wind caught my hair, blew my lips into a snarl. We plunged into the tunnel, concrete streaking by us, and I cried out in anger, in hurt and defeat. My scream was a name, torn rough from my lungs, and I hoped she heard it. Hoped it tore her in two.
Ona.
Chapter Thirty
The train sped from the tunnel, and I saw Lazrad Corp behind me. The library flashed by, and then came the river, misting spray in my face as we sailed over the bridge. The quarantine district closed in on us—narrow streets, yellow lamplight. I spotted a child in a window, and I thought he saw me. His mouth went round, and he was gone. A signal chimed up ahead. I gathered myself as my exit drew near.
I had time to exhale, and the station blinked by. I let go and fell, hit the tracks and kept rolling. I felt my wrist snap, and my ribs, and my ankle—felt it not as pain, exactly, but as impact, a series of shocks. I lay and breathed through it till my bones began to knit.
I’d rolled into the tunnel, and that was where I stayed. The station would be guarded and bristling with cameras. Here, it was dark, but I didn’t need to see. I found the catwalk by touch and heaved myself over the railing. My ankle protested, but I paid it no mind. I headed deeper into the tunnel, trailing my fingers along the wall till concrete turned to steel. This was it, what I needed—a thick metal door, like the ones down below. A way to the guts of the place, to the Dirt.
I rammed the door with my shoulder, as hard as I could. It flew open easily, and I crashed through headfirst. I tripped over my own feet and skinned my knees raw. The door slammed behind me, and I saw why they hadn’t locked it. It was smooth on my side, no keyhole, no handle. I wouldn’t be getting back the way I’d come.
I angled downward instead, past a long line of generators, down a rickety ladder. I could hear the Dirt below me, the faint clang of the factory. I marched in time with it, past a door marked COOLING ROOM, and another marked OUTFLOW. The next one was blank, and I pushed through into a stairwell plunging down to the Dirt.
I came out in the scrap district, just west of Gran’s place. The crowds had thinned out, but I pulled my mask over my face as I set out for the reservoir. Ben would be out by now, or well on his way. I’d have to swim for it and meet him Outside.
Someone called out behind me, a quick, nervous hey. I ducked my head, paranoid. She’s not talking to me.
“Hey—when do we rest?”
I stumbled to a halt. Surely, I’d heard wrong. But if I hadn’t—I had to try. “When the earth breathes?”
“I knew that was you.” A small form emerged from a doorway, head down to avoid the cameras.
“Nina?”
“Come with me, and stay quiet.” She darted down a blind alley, piled high with trash. A manhole lay open, and she slid down the ladder. “Pull the grate after you so no one falls in.”
I did as she said, easing myself down the manhole and pulling the cover over my head. Nina fired up her flashlight, and I saw we were in the drainage tunnels.
“How’d you know where to find me?”
“Reyland got an alert when you snuck out of the tunnel.” She splashed across the channel and struck out to the east. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
“My friends—are they okay?”
“I don’t know. If they’re smart, they set a long enough fuse they got out before the blast.”
I swallowed my fear and chased after her. Nina seemed to know where she was going, never once pausing as she wove through the drainage system. She had a pin on her sleeve, I saw, a polished bronze heart that twinkled as she moved. Ona’d had one like it, that she’d worn the same way.
“That pin—is that from Ona?”
Nina patted her sleeve. “We exchanged them before she Ascended.”
“So you were—”
“Courting.” She ran faster. “We said we’d wait, but I’d understand if she’s moved on. Just don’t tell me, okay? I need to pretend, at least—”
“Wait.” I slowed down, and so did Nina. She cocked a brow.
“I can’t get her out, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No. Not that.” I took a deep breath. “You were close. That means you knew her secrets, even ones she kept from me.”
Nina’s eyes hardened. I shook my head sharply.
“I’m not asking you to rat on her. Just, that speech she gave—”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She thumbed at her pin. “Parts of it sounded real. For Echelon, that’s her.” Her lip twitched. “I mean, I get it. I do. We all think we’re the good guys, going in. But seeing what she’s seen, living on the Outside—” She spun and kicked the wall, and thumped it with her fist. Brick dust rained down, and she made a choking sound. “I can’t hate her, never that. But if I could slap her, slap some sense into her—”
“I tried.”
“Keep trying.” Nina scrubbed at her face. “That stuff about you, no way that was her. I mean, yeah, she’d get mad at you—like, the way you’d mother-hen her. She hated that. But she loved you. She loves you. I’d stake my life on that.”
“If you happen to see her, if your paths cross somehow—”
“I can’t tell her I saw you. I’d give myself away.”
“Tell her you love her.” I took Nina’s hands in mine. “She’s all alone up there, and she thinks I betrayed her. She needs to know she has someone who’d never leave her behind.”
“I’ll tell her,” said Nina, and her eyes swam with tears. She brushed them away, a quick, businesslike gesture. "We need to go. Those sirens aren’t stopping.”
“One more thing.” I jogged after her. “My gran, Angeline Abrial. She knows what I am. If Lazrad finds out she kept my secret all these years—”
“We’ll hide her.” Nina stopped at a junction and pointed to the right. “This is where we split up. You’re headed that way, and up the first ladder. You’ll come out by an elevator that’ll take you to Sky Station. Use this to fool the sensor.” She thrust something rubbery into my hand.
“What is it?”
“A handprint off some Lofty. You put it on over yours, and the reader thinks you’re him.”
I fumbled and nearly dropped the thing. “This is someone’s skin?”
“No, of course not. It’s glue. We painted it on, peeled it off—just go.”
I wanted to ask how she’d talked a Lofty into that, but she was right. Time was wasting. I jammed the print in my pocket and took off, double-time up the ladder, and I pushed through the grate. The elevator was waiting, an old model, like Lazrad’s. It wobbled as I got on, and I steadied myself on the rail. The scanner gleamed red in the emergency lights, and I pressed my fake palm to it. It hummed, beeped approval, and I presse
d the button for the surface.
Shouts filled the shaft as I rose through the Dirt, the sounds of a scuffle gaining in volume. I smelled smoke, then I saw it, curling in through the vents. My head buzzed with static, warning of battle. Surely, Ben hadn’t come this way, past the cameras on the stairs. If he had—if he had—
The doors slid open, and I nearly tripped over Jasper, curled up on his side with a red-crossed gretha tank in his arms. He yelped and jerked back, and I dropped down beside him.
“Jasper? What happened?”
“The blast went off early. We couldn’t get back the way we came.” He coughed, wiped his mouth, and tried to sit up. Beyond him, down a short hall, I saw Sky Station on fire, smoke and flames belching from the tunnel.
“Are you hurt?”
Jasper nodded miserably, and he pointed at his leg. “I’m scared to look. It feels broken.”
“Okay.” I squinted past him, into the flames. “Stay low, and keep your mask on. I’m going to check out the scene.”
Jasper lay back down, pulling his gretha tank to his chest. “I got this for Lock,” he said. “Hauled it all the way up here. Don’t forget to come back for it.”
“I’ll be back for you.”
I left Jasper where he was and barreled down the hall, through the big double doors and out to the platform. A wave of heat hit me hard, and I felt my lips crack. I pushed my mask back to keep it from melting to my face. Smoke overwhelmed my senses—black, cloying smoke that tasted of engine grease. I stood for a moment, disoriented, then the smoke lit up pink like lightning through clouds. A blaster bolt blazed past me, and I hit the deck. Voices drifted my way, Starkey’s, then Ben’s.
“Hold your fire. Save your ammo.”
“They’re trying to get through.”
I scuttled toward them, sucking smoke through my teeth. Something exploded behind me, raining glass down my legs.
“Ben?”
“Myla? That you?” His shape rose to greet me, black against black. Orange and red flames danced in his goggles. I spotted more shapes beyond him, anonymous in the smoke.
“What happened?”
“They chased us up here. Starkey said it was fine—we’d get out through the tunnel. Then, the train came, and—”
“Train? What train?”
“That’s what’s burning.”
My stomach turned over. “You set a whole train on fire? What about—”
“They sent it in burning. To trap us inside.”
Metal clanged on concrete. Sergey cried out, dismayed.
“Get down here. They’re battering us. They’ve got some kind of—”
That clang came again, and the scuffling of boots. Ben flung himself down, and I saw they’d blocked the stairwell, built a barricade from scrap. A blaster bolt sailed over it and took out the emergency lights. I dropped to a crouch and edged up next to Ben.
“Where’s Starkey?”
“Trying to force the outside door.”
I coughed out a smoky hah. “I’d better go help him.” I got to my feet, then a thought crossed my mind. “One of you should grab Jasper. Once I get that door open, we’ll have to move fast.”
“I’ll get him.” Ben slipped off his mask and held his sleeve over his face. The smoke swallowed him up, and I ran for the door. I found Starkey slumped against it, gasping for breath.
“Hey. Where’s your tank?”
He raised his head with an effort. “Couldn’t... find enough for all of us. Sharing with Ben.”
“Okay. Keep your head down. He’s just gone to get Jasper.”
Starkey slid down, coughing, and I went for the door. I pressed my fake palm to the reader, but this time, it buzzed. I smoothed it out and tried again, and got the same result. Ben came up behind me, Jasper leaning on his shoulder.
“Can you force it?”
I shook my head. “Not this door. It’s got those plates, meshed together. Even I can’t bend those.”
“Then—”
“In there.” I jerked my head at the guard booth. “Give Starkey some air. I’ll buzz us out.”
Ben took one last gulp of gretha, then pressed his mask to Starkey’s face. I kicked the booth open and squinted inside. Somewhere in here was a button, or a lever, or a switch, something I could flip and let us out.
Metal clanged behind me, and someone screamed in pain. I heard a crunch, then blaster fire, and something whizzed by my head. I blinked the smoke from my eyes and ducked down. The booth was full of old junk, coffee cups and magazines, a bag of squished pretzels. I swept it all to one side, and I found what I was looking for, a bank of buttons and switches, labeled with tape. I ran my finger across them, reading aloud—lights. Shift change. Shutdown—none of them what I wanted.
“Myla?”
“Just a minute.” I bit my lip, straining to focus. PA. Track close. Air.
“Myla!” Ben lunged in front of me as the barricade broke, but I’d found the right button, a black one marked Door. I mashed it down with my thumb, and the exit spun open. Bright light streamed in, which was wrong, because—
“We’ve got you surrounded.” A voice boomed from outside, bullhorn-loud. “Lay down your weapons, and you’ll be taken alive.”
Starkey dragged himself upright, a frail silhouette. Sergey backed toward him, penned in from behind. The guards closed ranks behind him, riot shields high. I saw Jasper crumple, still clutching Lock’s tank. Ben grabbed my arm, but I shook him off. I marched out of the guard booth, into the floodlight’s glare. I could see them now, through the smoke, half Lazrad’s army between us and the Outside.
“It’s me you want,” I said. “Let my friends go, and I won’t put up a fight.”
Someone laughed, low and nasty, and I felt my skin crawl.
“Oh, by all means. Put up a fight. I’ve a battalion behind me. How about you?” Prium Lazrad strode forth, heels clicking on the concrete. His eyes danced, full of glee, too bright behind his mask. I stood where I was, taking in his high boots, his long coat fluttering behind him. I glimpsed a blaster underneath, still holstered at his hip. My fingers twitched at my sides.
“I have names,” I bluffed. “High-placed traitors. Let my friends go, and I’ll give them all up.”
“You’ll give them up anyway.” Prium plucked at his glove. “I know what you’re thinking. You can take a lot of pain. But I needn’t hurt you to get you to talk.”
I fought down my rage and forced myself to stand still. Prium kept coming, boots clacking, eyes bright. His soldiers lined the tunnel, blasters primed to fire.
“Those are your new guns, right?” I raised my voice. “The ones that track your target, shoot where they’re headed?”
“Why, yes. They’re quite—” Prium stopped in his tracks. I saw the whites of his eyes, the flash of dawning horror. “No! Hold your—”
His hand flew to his blaster, too late. I launched myself forward, headfirst into his belly. A stray bolt pierced my shoulder, then grazed his hip. I bore him to the ground, and he hit with a scream, flat-backed on his gretha tank. I wrenched his blaster from his hip and squeezed off a warning shot.
“Next one goes in his head.” I hauled myself to my feet, and Prium along with me. He staggered and swayed, and I smelled searing flesh as I pressed the blaster to his temple. He squealed, and I laughed. “Hurts, doesn’t it?”
“You won’t get away with this.” Prium forced the words through clenched teeth. He was trembling all over, his rage palpable through his skin. “Lady Lazrad will find you, make examples of you all.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But you won’t live to see it.” I gave his arm a twist. “Order your men back. We walk out of here, all of us, or you die.”
Prium went tense, shoulders bunching. I pulled him against me and jammed my blaster under his chin.
“Last chance. Call ‘em off.”
I felt Prium swallow. My blaster bobbed with the movement, digging into his throat.
“Clear the gate,” he said, and I heard h
is squad part behind me. I felt the breeze on my neck, and I backed toward it. Ben and Starkey came after me, supporting Jasper between them. Sergey came next, with the gretha for Lock. I peered past him, into the smoke.
“Where’s the other three?”
“Didn’t make it.” Starkey passed his mask to Jasper, who passed it to Ben. Ben took a grateful breath.
“Once we get out of here, I’ll share with this guy instead.” Starkey nodded at Prium. “Doesn’t seem fair, him getting his own air.”
Prium made a disgusted sound. I goosed him on faster, past a gauntlet of soldiers, three deep on either side. He panicked at the threshold, thrashed and flailed in my grasp.
“I’ve got my finger on the trigger,” I warned him. “Squirm too much, I might slip.”
Prium went still, then, and the tattered remnants of our crew limped into the night. The gate rolled shut behind us, and Prium laughed aloud.
“Well, you’ve got me. What now? You have no idea, do you? You—”
Starkey bashed him a good one, right across the jaw. Prium crumpled in the dirt, gray hair tumbling from its clasp. Starkey shrugged sheepishly.
“I wasn’t going to listen to that all the way home.”
“Can’t argue with that.” I scooped Prium up and slung him over my shoulders. He didn’t weigh much. “How far to the rendezvous point?”
“Too far for him.” Ben nodded at Jasper. “I’ll radio. They’ll come get us.”
I closed my eyes, just for a moment. Prium was sort of snoring, huffing into his mask. Starkey was coughing, waiting his turn to breathe. Ben was on the radio, tapping out some wordless signal. Jasper hopped up beside me and caught himself on my elbow.
“We’ll make it,” he said. “I mean, in time to save Lock.”
“You think so?”
“I’ve always been an optimist.” He looked back at Echelon, at the smoke over Sky Station. “A world like this, you have to be. You have to believe your children will breathe free, and their children after them. If you don’t—if you don’t, what’s the point? Why live at all, if this is all that’s left?”
“So that’s why you came tonight.” I shifted Prium on my shoulders. Our rescue was coming—I heard the purr of an engine somewhere nearby.