by Eliza Green
Dom frowned as Max called out the rest of the names. He was also on Julius’ team, but why wasn’t he commanding his own? Jason and Warren were with him while Thomas and Sheila joined Jerome on Imogen’s team. Jason chewed on his thumb, not looking too happy about his placing.
‘Okay, everyone will start off with a warm-up with their team leaders,’ said Max.
Imogen and Julius stood to the front of the two groups. One smiled; the other glared. Imogen was tall like Sheila, with short, brown hair and a friendly face that would work well to calm the newbies in her group. But Julius, a blond-haired man, had a harder edge to his look and a gruffness about him. Dom hadn’t met him before this camp, but something about Max’s second bothered him.
Maybe he was just jealous of the position he commanded. Once, it might have been Dom stood in Julius’ place, but his recent illness and three months trapped in Arcis had knocked him off his leadership perch.
As though Max sensed his surprise, his colonel walked over to him. ‘Sorry, Dom, but you’re rusty. Let Julius run the group for this mission. Then, when we get out of here, I’ll see about putting you back on leadership duty.’
No matter how disappointed Dom felt about it, he didn’t disagree with Max. ‘It was the right call. I’m still recovering and I haven’t trained properly in months.’
‘How do you feel?’
A twinge in Dom’s left arm started, and he lied, ‘I feel good. Strong, even.’ He looked around the group to note the absence of two faces. ‘Why aren’t Anya and Alex here?’
Max folded his thick, battle-scarred arms. ‘I’m not sure what to make of Alex yet, and I need Anya with Vanessa.’
Dom frowned. ‘I thought Vanessa already knew where the Beyond was?’
‘It’s not out there. Anya is now the only one with useable knowledge of what her parents discussed. She’s struggling to remember, but our goal to leave this region remains our priority after we rescue as many people as we can from the city.’
Dom had heard plenty of stories about the Beyond, but that was all it was: stories. No proof existed that the place did.
Julius called Dom over and he joined the attack group. It included soldiers of various fitness, plus Jason and Warren. Warren glared at him. Dom kept his distance from the boy with the strawberry blond hair.
They began their training with a jog around the courtyard. Despite Dom’s lack of fitness, the run came easy to him as his legs rediscovered their rhythm. But both Warren and Jason struggled with the task. And this was just the warm-up. Julius switched orders to press-ups, followed by a round of sit-ups. Both newbies barely managed either task, much to Julius’ irritation. By the end of the warm-up session, both Warren and Jason were panting heavily. In Imogen’s group, Jerome seemed better able to cope with the pressure. A red-faced Thomas was flat on his back and breathing hard.
Next came the attack training. At the back of the courtyard, paper targets had been set up and, in teams of two, one from each team, each pair took turns to fire weapons at them. Julius and Imogen checked the results after each round and sorted the shooters into a new group.
Dom watched Warren step up next. He shot against a seasoned soldier. His technique was good, but he lacked experience. Dom wondered where he’d learned to shoot a gun. In Arcis, they’d only used the Electro Guns on the fifth floor to shoot holographic discs. And even then, Dom hadn’t seen Warren shoot anything.
Jason stepped up next. His opponent? Another seasoned soldier, with at least a year of training that Dom knew of, under his belt. Dom saw a new pattern emerge. Jason steadied his firing hand with his second one. He must have had some training because his stance was confident. He fired and did a decent job of hitting the overall target, but he was no match for his opponent. Julius stuck him in a new group with just four: Warren, Jason, Thomas and Jerome. All the newbies.
Imogen whispered something to Julius.
He called Dom over. ‘We can’t effectively train everyone if we have to slow down for the inexperienced.’ He pointed at the four. ‘Take them away and show them how to shoot straight.’
That wasn’t what Max had said.
He looked around for the colonel but he was gone. ‘Max put you in charge of attack, Julius. That means all of them, not just the ones who look good.’
Julius strode up to him. A strange glint flashed in his eye, and his lips were drawn thin and white. But his hostile expression didn’t match his words.
In a low voice, he said, ‘Come on, Dom. The other soldiers are complaining about the lack of competition. We need to get the newbies up to speed and I can’t do it if they’re in the experienced group.’
Julius had a point.
With a nod, Dom conceded. ‘Okay, but you owe me one.’
Julius slapped him on the back, a little too hard, and handed him a piece of chalk. ‘If we survive this, I’ll owe you two.’
Dom picked up a weapon—a plain revolver—and motioned for his new group of four to follow him.
‘Where are we going?’ said Jason. ‘I thought we were training with the others.’
‘Change of plan. I’ll be training you now. We’ll practise near the back perimeter fence.’
He led the way to the corrugated fence that divided the compound from the rest of the town. On the side of the abandoned building next to the fence, Dom drew an X in chalk.
He stepped back and drew a line on the dusty ground about a metre away from the X. He waved the others behind the line, took aim and fired once. His shot grazed the edge of the centre of the X. He was out of practice.
‘We’re using bullets because they’re useless in the fight against the machines. Jason, Thomas, Max told me it was your inventions and work that got him and the others inside Arcis. Thank you for your help.’
Jason nodded, while Thomas shrugged and blushed.
‘You two are familiar with the types of guns that take down the machines, but the others are not. Please explain them now.’
Dom waited while Jason and Thomas took turns to explain the Atomiser, capable of weakening atoms, and the Disruptor gun, capable of disrupting the flying path of the scouts long enough for the same gun to drain them of energy. They also discussed the other guns on site: laser guns and guns that fired bolts of electricity. The latter were more common than specialist, but no less effective in the fight against the machines.
All the while, Dom struggled to keep from looking at Warren. Too much hate coursed through his veins, knowing what he’d done to Anya in Arcis. He’d also abandoned his teammates on the fifth floor, almost costing Sheila and Yasmin their chance to rotate.
Jason finished with a shrug and said to Dom, ‘That’s it.’
Dom discreetly shook away his anger and focused on the X on the back wall, imagining it was Warren’s head. He knocked his new thoughts loose and handed the revolver to Jason.
‘You’re up. Shoot the X.’
Jason steadied himself, took aim and fired. His shot almost found the white centre.
Not bad.
‘Good effort. You’ve had training?’
Jason handed the gun back to him. He thumbed in the direction of the courtyard. ‘With some of those guys in a different camp, but not enough.’
With four bullets left, Dom handed the gun to Jerome. Jerome looked unsure, so he stepped in and steadied his firing hand, showing him how to support it with his other hand. Dom stepped back and nodded for Jerome to fire. He did and his effort was off the mark, but not a bad attempt.
Warren was up next. Dom’s skin bristled as he handed him the gun.
He didn’t show him anything. ‘Hit the target.’
Dom chewed on his nail, hoping Warren would fail. Warren shot the target, better than he had. He turned with a smile on his face.
Dom didn’t take the gun from him. ‘Again.’
Warren turned back to the target. He shot it, not as good as the first time, but he was a natural.
‘Again,’ Dom commanded.
Warren shot
the target with the last bullet in the gun.
Dom reloaded the weapon, then ordered him to fire. ‘Shoot until the gun is empty.’
The noise of bullets hitting brick rang around the compound and bounced off the mountainsides as Warren’s bullets hit the mark or close to it.
When he was finished, a smiling Warren looked around at his colleagues.
Dom snatched the gun from him and said, ‘You need the most practice, Warren. The others are way ahead of you in skills.’
‘Bullshit!’ said Warren. ‘I hit the target most of the time.’
‘But your stance was off, your position was lazy, and you don’t listen to commands.’
Warren opened and closed his mouth in shock. ‘What are you talking about? You didn’t show me anything! You told me to fire.’
‘Watch your mouth, Hunt. I won’t warn you again.’
Warren glared at him. ‘Why are you being a dick?’
Dom smiled. ‘I remember everything that happened in Arcis.’
Warren threw the gun on the ground and stormed off.
‘That wasn’t fair, Dom,’ said Jerome. ‘He did everything you asked.’
Not everything. Not in Arcis, when he’d told Warren to leave Anya alone. And look how that turned out? Before his attack on her, Dom had admitted to having an odd feeling about Warren Hunt.
‘Rejoin the main group. I need to take a break.’
He strode away from their session. It had lasted all of twenty minutes. They could train for the rest of the day, but none of these men would be ready to fight the machines. The only thing that would win this battle was pure luck.
He returned to the male dorm and flopped down on a free bed, covering his eyes with his arm. Warren deserved his punishment. But Dom needed to get his head in the game now. This war wouldn’t win itself.
Someone kicked his bed, causing Dom to jerk his arm away.
‘What the hell...?’ He glared up at his attacker, but his expression softened when he saw who it was. ‘Anya, I didn’t know it was you.’
‘What was that about outside? With Warren?’
Her hands shook and she looked close to losing it with him.
Dom sat up. ‘You saw that?’
‘I not only saw it but I heard what you said about remembering.’
Dom tried to laugh it off. ‘I was just trying to scare him.’
But a livid Anya clearly wasn’t buying his excuse. ‘What happened between Warren and me is none of your business.’ One of the soldiers entered the room and glanced at Anya. Anya ignored him and lowered her voice. ‘And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say that stuff in front of my brother.’
Shit. He’d been thoughtless. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble for you.’
Anya visibly pulled her anger back; her stiff stance relaxed a fraction. ‘It’s okay. But please mind your own business in future, Dom.’ She paused, releasing a slow, measured breath. ‘I want to join the attack training. Julius’ team.’
‘It’s not up to me.’
‘But you can talk to Max, tell him I’ve had training.’
‘Max thinks you’d be more valuable out of the fight, and to be honest, I agree.’
Finding the coordinates to the Beyond trumped any training Anya might receive.
Her anger returned. ‘You’ve just said it’s not up to you. Put in a word.’
Dom gave it half a second of thought. ‘No.’
He would not be bullied.
She screamed in frustration, alarming the soldier in the room, enough that he readied to leave. But then she turned and marched out of the room.
The soldier shouted over, ‘What was that all about?’
Dom lay back down and draped his good arm over his eyes. ‘None of your business.’
18
Carissa
Carissa left the storage shed and the wolf went with her. She approached the entrance to the courtyard where sweaty soldiers gathered outside. They looked to be taking a break from training. Looks of alarm and panic greeted her.
‘What the hell’s that thing doing loose?’ said one.
The Inventor exited the town hall next to the courtyard. Carissa wondered what business he had in there.
He strode over to the group, holding his hands up. ‘The wolf is under my command. You have nothing to fear.’
‘I’m telling Max,’ said one soldier who looked unconvinced by his answer.
He ran off. Carissa sighed certain Rover’s freedom would be short-lived.
If so, she would make the most of her time with the wolf. Memories of playing with her orb in Praesidium resurfaced. It had been a good distraction, but the ex-Guardian offered more interactive fun.
She ran, away from the soldiers and towards the perimeter fence. She checked behind to see the wolf was hot on her heels. Rover panted, then gave a mechanical whine as he caught up to her. She laughed, her recent conversation with Quintus and this threat to punish the escapees a distant memory. He’d been a voice in her head with no power to do anything. Nothing bad could happen while that remained the case.
Carissa continued her run around the camp. It was big enough in size to wind her. She and Rover paused a moment on one side of the trucks, parked opposite the courtyard that was filled with active soldiers once more. She caught sight of Max closer to the entrance of the camp, next to the building that pressed up against the high wall. He was speaking in a harried tone to three agitated soldiers who had just climbed down from the roof. But seeing the Inventor there, hands on hips and looking worried, sent her part organic heart into overdrive.
Rover whined, as if he sensed her rising panic.
‘What’s going on there, boy?’ she said in a gentle tone that didn’t match her mood.
Rover whined again, glancing between her and the Inventor. An angry looking Max was all she saw. That and the Inventor shaking his head. Max looked over suddenly and sent her donor heart plummeting into her black boots. He strode over to where Carissa hid behind one of the trucks, the back end covered in a green tarpaulin. Rover growled low.
The Inventor shuffled after him. ‘It’s not her fault, Max.’
‘It is, Jacob. That thing is here because of her.’ He stopped short, his expression as dark as a thundercloud. ‘What did you do, Carissa?’
Carissa opened and closed her mouth in shock. ‘I... I don’t know what you mean.’
But she did.
Max lunged for her, grabbed her arm. The wolf growled and stalked forward, alarming Max.
‘Easy, boy,’ said the Inventor, but the wolf didn’t listen.
He edged close enough to Max, forcing the colonel to release Carissa’s arm. She breathed a sigh of relief, still not sure how her conversation with Quintus was an issue. He’d been just a voice.
‘I won’t ask again, Carissa.’
The loud thumping of her heartbeat drowned out his threats. She pulled at the loose fabric around her neck. ‘Jacob! I... I can’t breathe.’
The Inventor folded his arms. His lack of help shocked her. ‘I’m sorry, Carissa. This is very serious. An orb was spotted just beyond the mouth of the valley. It is looking for this place. What did you do?’
She struggled to draw breath. A step back brought her into direct contact with the immovable wolf. With no place to run, Carissa huffed.
The Inventor uncrossed his arms and stepped towards her. ‘Miss, please. This is important. You’re not in trouble.’
‘She is,’ hissed Max.
The Inventor shot him a look and continued, ‘Did you try to contact the city? Is that why the orb is here?’
‘You know it is,’ said Max. ‘How else would it know where to look? The anti-magnetic field in the valley camp scrambles signals more complex than our walkie talkies. No machine would be able to get close or get a clear reading on our location. If it’s here, it’s because someone gave it directions.’
Carissa hated the way the Inventor looked at her, like she was a traitor. It had just been one ti
me... and the one before that.
She looked past both men to the house at the front gate. Jason and Thomas were carrying a gun up to the flat roof.
She flicked her gaze from them to the Inventor. ‘I heard voices, but it was only the communications here.’
Max squared off his stance. Rover responded with a low growl.
‘Where?’ said the Inventor.
Carissa pointed sheepishly to where the spotters were.
‘I asked you what you were doing in the old part of the town. Did you climb up there?’
The anger on the Inventor’s face turned her stomach to butterflies. She nodded. There was no point in lying.
‘What about these voices?’ said Max. ‘Quick, child, before the orb gets too close. I need to know if it has our location or if it’s guessing.’
That she couldn’t answer, but it was too much of a coincidence after speaking with Quintus.
‘So it might not be here because of Carissa?’ said the Inventor.
Max shrugged. ‘It could be on a scouting mission. The second we shoot at it, we reveal our location.’ He directed his angry gaze at Carissa. ‘I’ll ask you again. Is it here because of you, or is this a coincidence?’
Carissa swallowed. ‘I heard a second voice while I was up there.’ She omitted the part about looking for it the second time. Both the Inventor and Max stared at her. She shook her head violently. ‘But I didn’t tell Quintus anything.’
‘Shit,’ said the Inventor.
He dragged his hand down his weathered face.
It was the first time Carissa had heard him curse. This is bad.
‘I’m sorry! I came down as soon as it happened.’
‘But you didn’t tell anyone,’ said Max.
‘I’m sorry.’
Carissa stayed put despite wanting to run away from her mistake.
With a huff, Max stalked off, back to house nearest the gate with the most intense activity.
The Inventor pointed a finger at her. ‘This isn’t over, Carissa.’
He followed Max and left Carissa alone with a whining Rover, who must have sensed her pain. At least someone cared about her.
She thought about climbing up to the ledge again, to ask Quintus about the orb, but dismissed that idea.