by Amy Tintera
Wait. What?
“About a hundred miles out,” Micah continued. “At least seven confirmed.”
Which part was the good news?
“So.” Micah grinned as he lifted one fist in the air. “Ready?”
Every reservation Reboot responded together in one loud yell.
“ATTACK!”
TWO
WREN
I FROZE AS CALLUM CAST A HORRIFIED LOOK IN MY DIRECTION. Attack?
“Wren.” Micah put his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. “You came in HARC shuttles, didn’t you? Where are they?”
I blinked. How did he know that? How did he know there were more HARC shuttles on the way?
“We left them a couple miles back,” I said. “We didn’t want to alarm you by getting too close in them.”
“We were alarmed, obviously,” Micah said with a laugh, gesturing to the army of Reboots behind him. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Jules!”
A girl a few years older than me joined us. Her red hair was in a braid, and she had a HARC bar code stamped on her wrist, but I couldn’t make out the number.
“Go fetch those shuttles.” Micah lifted his hand, made a sort of circular motion with his finger, and the massive wooden gate immediately began to creak open. The Reboots in front of it scrambled away.
I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Callum behind me. He stared at the opening gate. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know.”
The gate swung open the rest of the way to reveal about ten Reboots sitting on contraptions I’d never seen before. They had two big wheels—one in back and one in front—and looked sort of like one of those motorcycle things I’d seen pictures of, but bigger. Three people could probably fit on the wide, black seat stretched between the two tires, and they were obviously not made to be discreet, because a loud rumbling noise came from each one.
“Kyle!” Micah said, waving. A tall, beefy Reboot inched his bike away from the others. “Take Jules and—” He stopped and turned to me. “Who flew those here?”
“Me and Addie.”
“The Thirty-nine?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and turned back to Kyle. “Take Jules and Thirty-nine to the shuttles. Quick. No more than twenty minutes round-trip.”
Kyle twisted his hand around one of the handlebars and the bike roared forward, coming to a screeching stop next to Jules. She hopped on and eyed the crowd of Austin Reboots expectantly.
“Thirty-nine!” Micah yelled.
Addie stepped out from the crowd, arms crossed over her chest. She ignored Micah completely and stared at me like she was waiting for something. I wasn’t sure what it was. Did she want me to tell her it was okay to go?
I avoided Micah’s gaze as I strode across the dirt and stopped in front of her.
“They want you to take them to the shuttles,” I said. “And probably fly one over here.”
Her eyes darted behind me. “And you think we should trust them?”
I paused. Of course I didn’t think we should trust them. I’d just met them, and so far, they seemed weird. But we’d strolled up to their home and asked to be let in, so maybe it was too late to think about trust.
“No,” I said quietly.
She looked taken aback by my answer. “No?”
“No.”
She blinked as if waiting for more, and a smile began to appear on her face. “Okay then. I feel better.” She took a deep breath. “Right. Ride off with the strangers. Hope for the best. Got it.”
She nodded her head as she finished, and I blinked, suddenly realizing what I was asking.
“I can go instead—”
She laughed as she stepped back. “That’s all right. Can’t fault you for being honest.” She jogged across the dirt and hopped on the back of the bike, pointing in the direction we’d come from. Kyle peeled out, the bike spitting dirt as they disappeared.
“One-twenties and over with me!” Micah called to the Austin Reboots. “Let’s do this!” He was practically jumping up and down, he was so excited.
I didn’t understand.
I took a glance behind me at the Austin Reboots to see similar confused expressions on their faces. Beth One-forty-two, a couple girls, and two guys who I assumed were Over-one-twenties broke off from the group and slowly headed in Micah’s direction, but they kept turning puzzled faces my way. There were less Over-one-twenties in Austin than there had been in Rosa, but I’d been stationed in the toughest city in Texas. More assignments meant they needed more skilled Reboots. They were all close to my age except for one of the guys, who was probably only twelve or thirteen years old.
“Micah!” I called, following him as he darted for the gate. “What’s going on? How do you know HARC is coming? How did you know we were coming?”
He stopped. “We have people stationed in strategic places outside the cities, and equipment that monitors air traffic in the area.”
I raised my eyebrows, surprised. I hadn’t expected them to be so advanced.
Micah spread his arms wide, beaming at the Austin Reboots. “Guys! Let’s see some excitement!”
We just stared.
He raised his fist. “Whoop!”
“Whoop whoop!” a hundred reservation Reboots yelled at once, and I jumped. What the hell?
“Oh, come on,” he said with a chuckle. “Who wants to kick some HARC ass?”
That produced a few laughs. Someone at the back of the crowd of Austin Reboots raised his hand. “I’m in!”
I’d actually kicked enough HARC ass this past week to last me a very long time. I glanced at Callum. He’d never wanted to fight anyone, human or Reboot.
Micah chuckled as he caught my expression. “I know you’re probably tired. And you’re going to have to tell me the story soon about how you got out of Rosa, ended up in Austin, and stole two shuttles filled with every Reboot in that facility.” He stepped closer to me. “But right now, we’ve got a bunch of HARC officers on their way here to attack us. So we don’t have much choice.”
I looked at Callum and he lifted his shoulders, like he wasn’t sure what to do.
I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to hightail it out of here before HARC arrived. I didn’t know where we’d go or how we’d get there, but we certainly didn’t have to stay and fight.
Or maybe we did. I regarded the group of Reboots I’d brought here and saw several faces turned in my direction, watching to see how I’d react. I’d busted into the Austin facility and ushered them all into shuttles and dumped them into this situation. If I asked Callum to make a run for it, he would tell me they needed my help. And he would be right, unfortunately.
But this was the last time. If it seemed like there were going to be more attacks from HARC, I’d grab Callum and go. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting off the humans. I’d be perfectly content never to see them again, actually.
I sighed and barely nodded at Micah. He clapped his hand on my back like he approved.
“Under-sixties with me!” a thin guy yelled, stepping from the line.
I shook my head at Callum and held out my hand. We weren’t doing that. A corner of his mouth turned up as he walked toward me.
Micah glanced down at Callum’s wrist. “One-twenty-two?” he asked, squinting.
“Twenty-two,” Callum corrected.
Micah pointed to the crowd gathering around the thin man. “Under-sixties with Jeff.”
“Callum’s with me.” I held his hand tighter.
Micah opened his mouth, but closed it with a hint of a smile. “Fine.” He turned to the reservation entrance, gesturing for us to follow him.
We walked toward the line of bikes guarding the entrance and I glanced back to see the remaining Austin Reboots divided into two groups: Under-sixties on one side, everyone over sixty but under one twenty on the other.
I faced front as we passed the bikes and heard Callum suck in a breath of air
as the reservation within the fence came into view.
There were more Reboots inside. This must have been the second wave, and it was maybe half the size of the first. About fifty or so stood in neat lines in front of a giant fire pit, guns in their hands but barrels lowered so they were facing the ground. A Reboot ran past us and started talking excitedly to one of the guys in front.
The reservation was laid out in a circle, with thin dirt paths snaking in between brown-and-tan tents. There were very few permanent structures in the compound, but sturdy tepee-style tents lined each side of the paths. There were tons of them, at least a hundred, as far as I could see.
To my right were several much larger rectangular tents. The material they’d used was dirty and worn in some places. How long had they been here? Why didn’t they build more permanent structures?
To the left, near the fence, were two long, wooden buildings that looked like they might be a shower area. Pipes ran up the side of the building and the ground around it was wet. At least we didn’t have to bathe in the lake.
I scanned the lines of Reboots. When I discovered rebels were helping Reboots get away from HARC, Leb told me that my trainer, Riley One-fifty-seven, had escaped to the reservation and wasn’t dead like I’d previously been told. But I didn’t see One-fifty-seven in the crowd.
I stopped behind Micah as we approached a tent and he pulled back the flap, gesturing for us to enter. I ducked my head and stepped inside, followed by Callum and the five One-twenties from Austin.
Weapons. Everywhere.
I’d never seen so many weapons in my life. Guns of all sizes lined every wall, were stacked on the dozens of shelves around the tent. There were grenades and axes and knives and swords and things I didn’t even recognize. They had enough weapons to arm the entirety of Texas. There were a bunch of empty shelves, but I assumed those weapons had gone to the Reboots outside. Still, they had enough to give everyone a second weapon. Or a third.
“Impressive, right?” Micah said with a grin.
There was a bit of nervous laughter and I took another quick glance around. It was certainly impressive. And maybe a little comforting. A long wooden table ran down the middle of the tent, its legs disappearing into the dirt. A large bed stood in the back right corner, and I wondered if this was where Micah lived. There were two fire pits surrounded by rocks on either side of the tent, with smoke holes cut out of the fabric above them.
“We don’t have time to do much of an introduction here,” Micah said. “HARC will be here soon, and they will likely bring the big guns this time.”
“Whoop whoop!”
I jumped at the sudden outburst and turned to see several reservation Reboots standing behind us. Their penchant for yelling random noises was going to take some getting used to.
“I’m going to get you all weapons, do a very fast tour, and assign you a location.” He turned and started pulling guns off the shelf.
“This time,” Callum said quietly.
I looked up at him. “What?”
“He said ‘this time.’ Like HARC has come here before.”
“They’ve been here several times,” Micah said, holding a handgun out to me. “We always win.”
I took the gun, eyebrows raised. “Always?”
“Every time.” Micah offered a gun to Callum.
Callum glanced from the weapon to me and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to take it. Guns were not Callum’s thing. I’d had to escape HARC with him because he refused to use one to kill an adult Reboot. HARC saw no point in keeping Reboots who didn’t follow orders.
But he took the gun from Micah without a word. I doubted he’d use it.
“Why would they come back if you always win?” I asked as he distributed the guns and extra ammo.
“They regroup, figure out what they learned, and try again. They’ve gotten smarter. It’s been almost a year since the last attack.” Micah strode out of the tent and we followed him. “That’s one of the reasons we don’t build many permanent structures.” He gestured at the tents. “The bombs will bring a lot of stuff down today.”
“The bombs?” Callum repeated.
“Yes. We’ll stop some of the shuttles in the air but expect some bombing.” Micah stopped near the fire pit and faced us. “All right. Shuttles coming in from the south. You’ll stay here with the second wave. Protect the reservation, don’t die. That’s all you gotta do. If you lose a body part in a bombing, don’t panic. We’ve got a bunch of kits to sew parts back on. Don’t take other people’s body parts. Unless you know the person is already dead—then have at it.”
Callum’s face twisted. “Seriously? We can just put our body parts back on?”
“Yes,” I said. “If you sew it on fast enough. It’s like when you have a broken bone. Get it back where it belongs and it’ll reconnect.”
“That’s disgusting.” He looked at me in horror. “Has that ever happened to you?”
“Yeah, I lost a few fingers on an assignment once. It’s not that big of a deal. Feels funny going back on, though.”
Callum winced, examining his own fingers.
Micah chuckled as he stopped in front of me. “Newbie?”
“Yes,” I replied. Sometimes I forgot that Callum had only been at HARC a few weeks before I figured out an escape to save his life. This last month or so felt more like a year.
“Does newbie want to stay here with the second wave? Because I’m going to put all the Austin Reboots in a third wave at the back of the reservation, except you guys. I don’t want to throw them into the fire and scare them their first day here.”
I hesitated, glancing at Callum. He’d be safer in the third wave. I’d be safer in the third wave, but I didn’t think anyone would appreciate that. The strong Reboots needed to be on the front lines. I met his eyes and he nodded at me like he understood.
“That’s fine,” he said to Micah. “I’ll go with the other Under-sixties.”
Callum started to walk away and I grabbed his hand, turning aside from Micah. “Use it if you have to, okay?” I said quietly, glancing down at his gun.
He nodded, but our definitions of “have to” were likely very different. He probably wouldn’t even take the safety off.
He squeezed my hand, his dark eyes soft when he looked down at me. “Be careful.”
I watched as he walked away, wishing I’d mentioned the whole fleeing idea. Maybe he would have gone for it.
“Wren, do you want to come with me?” Micah asked. He glanced at the other One-twenties. “You guys stay here.”
I took a quick look back at Beth. She was the highest number in the Austin facility, but had told me on the way here that she’d only Rebooted five months ago. She seemed comfortable stepping up as the voice of the Austin Reboots, but I wasn’t so sure how she felt about preparing them for battle. Her face was neutral, but she was frantically twisting a strand of hair around one finger.
“Okay with you to stay here in the second wave?” I asked quietly.
She swallowed, her expression unsure. “Yeah.”
A guy with dark hair stepped forward, his expression calm and reassuring. “We’ll catch them up on what’s going on.”
Beth nodded, gesturing for me to go, and I ran to catch up with Micah. I followed him out the reservation gate, glancing around at the first wave of Reboots. They were relaxed now, leaning against the wooden gate and chatting. The atmosphere was calm, yet still filled with anticipation. I’d always enjoyed the thrill of chasing and fighting, so I could almost understand how some of them seemed eager for the fight. Summoning up some excitement helped to take away the fear.
“How’d you do driving that shuttle?” Micah asked, stopping and squinting into the distance.
“Okay, except for the landing. Mine took a pretty good beating.”
“We’ll have someone else drive, then. You and I are going to go up in a shuttle, and we’ll pick off as many in the air as we can before they get here.” He gave me an approving
look. “Awesome idea, stealing some HARC shuttles to escape. How’d you do it?”
“We had help from the rebels. Tony and Desmond and some others. You know them, right?”
Micah laughed, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. “Yeah, I’ve known them awhile. Helpful bunch.”
Truthfully “helpful bunch” might have been an understatement. I wouldn’t have made it into the Austin facility to get the antidote for Callum if it weren’t for them. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to free all the Reboots and escape without them. I probably owed them something now. That was unfortunate.
Micah paced as we waited for the shuttles, occasionally speaking to one of the towers on his com. I almost wanted to pace back and forth with him. I wanted this to be over. I wanted to crawl into Callum’s arms and sleep until spring.
The shuttles we’d stolen appeared in the distance a short time later and landed softly on the ground not far from us. The one I’d piloted was dented on both sides and there was a long crack across the front window, but it seemed to fly fine.
The door to the other shuttle opened and Addie jumped out, cocking her head in confusion at something behind me. I turned to see two guys jogging in our direction, holding something that looked like a giant gun in each hand. Two more Reboots were close behind them, carrying the same things.
“What are those?” I asked as they stopped next to Micah.
“Grenade launchers.” He pointed to the Reboots at the gate. “They’ve got some launchers over there, too. It’s our best antiaircraft defense.”
Where did they get all this?
“Nice job,” Micah said to Addie. “Go on inside and they’ll get you a weapon. Under-sixties are with the third wave at the back.”
She walked past us, barely nodding at me. She looked about as thrilled as I was to be thrust into this fight.
Micah ordered everyone onto shuttles and I piled into the one Addie had piloted. Two of the guys holding grenade launchers followed me inside.
“I’ve never shot these from the air before, but I’m pumped to try,” Micah said, handing me one of the launchers. It was heavier than a gun, maybe ten pounds or so, but not unmanageable. It was like a really giant revolver with a much longer barrel.