The Bionics
Page 48
***
Everything happens so quickly, yet later I know it will replay itself in my mind with slow-motion deliberateness. The MPs open fire first, their lasers whizzing in the open space between the Rejects. Blythe quickly grabs the controls of our craft—now abandoned by its original pilot—and steers us in the direction Jenica and the Professor took.
“What the hell is going on?” she screeches, her biceps and forearms tense as she grips the controls tightly, carefully steering us through the trees. She’s not as good a pilot as Jenica, but she’s certainly better than I am.
“Looks like Baron used us as bait to draw the MPs into a fight. Or he saw our meeting as a golden opportunity. Either way, it’s just the distraction we need to get out of here.”
“There they are!”
I follow Blythe’s finger to where Jenica has set her bike down on the ground. She and the Professor have dismounted and are dashing toward us as Blythe lowers us to the ground. Before we are even completely landed, she lowers the bottom hatch. By the time the bottom of the small craft hits the ground, Jenica and the Professor are on board. Blythe quickly leaves the controls to Jenica and takes an empty seat behind me. The professor sits across from her, behind Jenica. Both look exhausted but are none the worse for wear.
“I take it our rebel friends are picking a fight,” Jenica says as she takes off smoothly, pulling us back up above the trees. No one has to answer her, as we can all see what’s happening clear as day. Instead of returning fire, the Rebels are concentrating on erecting and activating a single weapon.
The Annihilator.
“Shit!” Jenica hisses as we look on helplessly.. We can do nothing but watch. “We have to do something!”
“Fuck them,” Blythe practically growls from her seat. “Are you kidding me, Jenica? The MPs have been using the Annihilator for years. It’s about time they got a taste of their own medicine!”
Jenica turns, the right side of her face—the metal part—gleaming in the sunlight as her left eye narrows, zeroing in on Blythe. “That is not how we do things, Sol.”
“No,” Blythe agrees, “but we aren’t exactly the ones doing it, are we?”
“All that aside,” the Professor says softly, appearing grieved at the thought of watching this play out without intervening. “Short of crashing our vehicle into it, there is nothing we can do. You all know how I feel about violence but in this case, we can do nothing.”
“We can do one thing,” I say. “Get the hell out of here while they’re focused on each other.
Jenica’s jaw ticks in agitation and I can tell she doesn’t like it, but we have no choice. She whips the craft around for a getaway, just as the Annihilator is activating, incinerating every MP within its sights, melting flesh from bone with the flip of a single switch. The Professor turns away from his window, hand pressed to his mouth as if he’s going to be sick. Blythe is watching, though, her face unrecognizable to me. This is a part of her that I hate to see but know exists—the angry girl who lost everything and battles her own rage over it. I can see satisfaction gleaming in her eyes along with sadness. Sadness, because she knows that no matter how good it feels to watch those officers go up in flames, it won’t bring her family back. It won’t give her that normal life she lost back.
Not to mention the fact that even though the Rejects are responsible, the Resistance is going to get blamed. Jones and the Enforcers are going to be pissed, and that means dangerous repercussions are soon to come. The shit is really about to hit the fan and we are all about to get splattered.