We get closer to the city. All the skyscrapers are dark. The sun is setting already, and there is no electricity left to power them. At nighttime, the city is going to be a very scary place. But I am not afraid. The wheel has trained me well. I’m used to fighting in darkness, and in places without any human comforts.
The only bright light now comes from fires below us. Some of them rage out of control, but others are clearly coming from torches. I wonder how long it will take until the UNA spirals completely out of control.
“So we fight in the dark?” I ask. “Is that the plan?”
Cass shakes her head. “No. In the day. With nothing else lit up, this helicopter is way too easy a target. If there are any UNA weapons that survived the EMP somehow, we could get shot down. In the day we’ll have a lot more visibility and it’ll be safer. Rebel scouts are going door-to-door, trying to round up UNA soldiers to arrest them.”
“Where are we going to spend the night?” Gadya asks her.
Cass points out the window. “See that building?”
She’s pointing to the tallest skyscraper around. It’s massive, nearly a hundred stories tall, with a large flat roof. It’s made of gleaming black glass. I can see the helicopter’s reflection in its smooth dark surface.
Gadya nods.
“There’s a helipad on the top level. We’re going to land there and spend the night inside the building.”
“Is that safe?” I ask.
“The building has been evacuated,” Cass tells me. “It was a hotel for the very top UNA government officials. They rushed everyone out right after the EMP and took them to another location. The hotel is empty—or at least that’s what we’ve been told.”
The helicopter keeps zooming through the night sky, heading toward the dark building. Then I see orange flares appear on the roof, outlining the square of the helipad.
“Who’s down there?” Liam asks, scrutinizing the scene out the window.
“Rebels. They’ve already secured the top floors of the building for us. I’m telling you, it’s safe.”
In some ways, Cass’s confidence is reassuring. But then again, she hasn’t seen all the things that we have since being back in the UNA. She never saw the Hellgrounds or met Miss Caroldean and Mikal. She didn’t see Rika get killed. And she didn’t have to press a button that might have meant the end of the world. Sometimes it’s easy to be confident when you don’t know all the facts.
“Don’t worry,” Cass says, seeing the expression on my face. “We’re going to be fine.”
“I hope so.”
Liam squeezes my hand. “We’ll be there soon,” he says.
I keep looking out the window as we fly lower in the night sky, approaching our landing zone. I see figures down there in the dark, moving around at the edges of the helipad. Some of them clutch burning torches. They’re helping wave our helicopter down and into position.
“How many rebels are there?” I ask Cass.
“At the hotel? Probably a hundred or so. But more are amassing. Soon there will be thousands.”
“Are there more helicopters like this one?” Liam asks.
“Of course. A whole fleet. And some armored personnel carriers too. The rebels worked in secret to build ones that would be able to survive the EMP.”
I nod. “Good.”
Cass grins. “For once, we’ll have the technology on our side. Let’s see how the UNA bosses like it.”
Gadya cracks her knuckles in expectation. “I can’t wait.”
“We hope we have it on our side,” I tell them. “The UNA has a nasty habit of surprising us—or have you forgotten?”
Cass doesn’t answer, but Gadya looks my way. “Alenna’s right. We need to keep our guard up. They might have EMP-resistant vehicles or weapons somewhere too, as a precaution.”
“If they do, I haven’t seen them yet,” Cass says. “I think they were too arrogant to ever think that someone would challenge them on their home turf. I doubt that they’re prepared for it.”
We fly even lower, reducing our speed.
I feel my whole body tense up, so I try to relax. I was ready for battle, but that will be postponed until tomorrow. I have to save my strength until then. I exhale shakily, looking forward to getting out of the air and back on solid ground—even if that ground is soon going to become a battlefield.
20 NEW CHICAGO
A FEW MINUTES LATER, the helicopter lands, guided down to the roof of the skyscraper by the men with orange flares.
Before the rotors stop turning, we already fling open the doors and step out onto the helipad. It’s so loud, I can barely hear. The wind blasts my face, blowing back my hair. It’s cold up here. I see about ten people standing outside, all with friendly faces, watching us.
A few of them step forward to help us away from the helicopter.
We are led away from the helipad and toward a small structure on the roof, with an open door. There’s a concrete stairway beyond the doorway, leading down into the building.
Liam, Gadya, Cass, and I follow the people into the stairway and out of the wind.
More flares and torches line the passageway. All the power is off. The electric lights in the stairway are dead.
“This way,” one of the rebels says.
We follow him quickly into the stairwell and down the stairs. He opens a metal door for us. We head through it.
It takes me a moment to get my bearings. I realize we’ve stepped into the wide hallway of a luxurious hotel. Gas lanterns light it up for us. The white carpet is thick and plush. The ceiling is high. It smells good in here, and it’s warm.
“This must be the penthouse level,” Cass says, the glee evident in her voice. “Where the richest UNA ministers stayed.” She turns to look at us, her dark eyes flashing in the light of the oil lamps. “And now it’s ours.”
“Yeah, I feel like we’ve already won the war,” Gadya cracks.
We start walking down the hall.
“These rooms are where we’ll sleep tonight,” one of the rebels calls back to us. “I bet you guys haven’t seen a place like this in months.”
“I’ve never seen a place like this,” I tell him.
We stop at the large doorway to a room, and the rebel opens it up. It’s a giant suite, with floor-to-ceiling windows providing a panoramic view of the darkened city. The room is cavernous. There’s a king-size bed in the center, along with a huge leather couch and tables and chairs.
Even in the dim light from the oil lamps, everything looks so clean and fresh. I see a bathroom off to the side, with a shower and a soaking tub, and marble floors. So these are the kinds of rewards you get if you decide to work for the UNA.
I think about my parents’ tiny apartment where I grew up, and the orphanage, and the wooden shacks on the wheel. We have sacrificed so much, while these UNA bureaucrats have gotten fat and rich, as they worked to enslave and control their own population. I feel a mixture of anger and disgust.
“We’ll take it,” Liam jokes about the room.
I’m expecting that we’ll have to share the room with a bunch of other rebels, or at least with Gadya and Cass.
But the rebel just nods. Another rebel hands Liam a spare oil lantern. “We’ll come for you in the morning,” the rebel says. “Before sunrise at six a.m.”
“What happens after that?”
“We go down to street level. More rebels and troop transports will be waiting there. We chase down the local minister. We tear down the pictures and statues of Minister Harka. And we liberate the people. We go door-to-door if we have to. We make the people rise up, if they want to or not.”
The rebel starts to leave, swinging the door shut.
“Sweet dreams,” Gadya calls out from behind him.
Then the door closes, and Liam and I are standing there in the middle of this extravagant room.
“At least we get one night in a place like this before we have to fight,” I say.
Liam puts the oil lantern on a glass
coffee table and walks over to me. He wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight. I nestle into his shoulder.
“Do you think we’re going to win?” I ask him. “And what happens if we do? Maybe that’s the question we should be asking.”
“The scientists and rebels have a plan,” he says, stroking my hair. “Once the UNA is deposed, they’re going to take control.”
I turn away from him to stare out the window. “Take control of what? A country with no electricity and without an infrastructure? We could have riots on our hands if we don’t act fast.”
“You sound like Dr. Urbancic a little,” Liam says. He sounds vaguely amused.
“You think this is funny?”
“No,” he says. “But I don’t think we need to worry about that stuff yet. We still have a huge battle to fight and win.”
“True.”
“And the European Coalition will come and help.”
“They’ll take this country over.”
“Maybe. Then we’ll fight them.”
I sigh, and move away from him and sit down on the bed. It’s soft and comfortable. I’m not used to a bed like this. My body is aching all over. Liam can sense my discomfort.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Just a bit sore.”
He comes over and sits down next to me and massages my shoulders. I stare at the city out the massive window, transfixed. Tomorrow this will become our battleground. But right now it seems peaceful.
“How many more of us are going to die?” I ask. The question rises out of me all of a sudden. I wasn’t planning on asking it.
“No one else. Not if I can help it.” Liam’s strong hands continue to massage me, tenderly plying my flesh. I lean back against him.
“Can it really be this easy?” I ask. I feel like all my worries are tumbling out at once.
“Easy?”
“I just keep thinking that it’s weird there isn’t any resistance. There’s no sign of any UNA soldiers.”
“Maybe they’re hiding. Or maybe they’re trying to get sleep, like we should be doing.”
“It just feels wrong to me. And what is our role in all of this? I feel like a cog in a machine. Did they just need us to get to Dr. Urbancic and detonate the bomb at the right time? Anyone could have done that.”
“But they can trust us. They can’t trust just anyone. I think that’s why they value us so much. Trust is the one thing that has to be earned over time. You, me, and Gadya are never going to betray the rebel cause. The scientists know that—including your mom. They sent us because they could trust us to not screw up.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Are you thinking that something bad is going to happen? Tell me if you are. I learned on the wheel to always trust my instincts.”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m thinking there are probably some surprises left for us.”
Liam nods. “I agree. But as long as we stick together, there’s nothing that we can’t do.”
I suddenly feel like I’m about to cry. I’ve been holding back the flood of emotions for so long that I can barely take it anymore.
“I’m so sad about Rika,” I tell Liam, shutting my eyes. My voice breaks. “And Alun, too. They didn’t deserve to die. They died for nothing.”
“No,” Liam says, stroking my hair. “They died for this moment. So that we could get here and continue the battle for them.”
“I hope it turns out to be worth it.” I open my eyes again and wipe tears away with the back of my sleeve. “I want to feel like we’re important. Like we’re going to win.”
“That part is up to us.” Liam turns to face me. “We have to fight in their names.” He pauses. “I lost so many good friends. I mean, before you got to the wheel. Other hunters that the drones killed when we were on different missions. I remember all their faces and names. Every single one. They’re not really dead to me. At least they don’t feel dead.”
I nod. “I know what you’re saying. But Rika and Alun should be here right now. So should David.”
Liam nods. “There’s hope for David. Maybe you’ll see him again.”
I lie down on the bed. Liam lies next to me and wraps his strong arms around me. “We need to get some sleep,” I say. “While we still can.”
• • •
The night passes quickly. Soon the sky is lightening. I can see it through the huge windows in our room when Liam wakes me up.
“It’s time,” he says.
I push the covers off me, get out of the bed, and slip my boots on.
Right then, a knock comes at the door. Liam walks over and opens it. Gadya and Cass are standing there. They are prepared for battle. Both of them are clutching lead-plated guns, and there are knives in their waistbands. “You guys ready?” Gadya asks.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I tell her.
“Good,” Cass says. “We’re heading downstairs right now to join the ground assault. It’s seventy floors, so we gotta go fast.”
“We can’t take the helicopter from the roof?” Liam asks.
“It’s already gone. C’mon.”
Liam and I follow Gadya and Cass out of the room. We walk down the luxurious corridor toward the door that leads to the stairs.
“We need guns,” I tell Cass.
She nods. “The rebels have them for you.”
We reach the door that leads to the stairs and she opens it. Inside the stairwell I see two rebels, both of them armed.
“Where do we get guns?” Liam asks them.
“Ten floors down. We’ve set up a supply center there. We’ve got guns and knives, and anything else you might need. But you better hurry.”
We move past them quickly and start going down the stairs. Our boots make loud noises that echo against the concrete walls.
We finally reach a door labeled FLOOR 60 and we pause.
“In here?” Liam asks.
Cass nods.
We go through the door.
Opposite the stairway is a hotel room. The door is propped open. Inside, the room has been turned into a weapons repository. I see rebels sitting in there, with a bunch of guns. Some are lead-plated machine guns that survived the EMP. Others are ancient-looking rifles that also survived the EMP because they had no electronic components.
Cass leads us to the doorway of the room. Rebels hand me and Liam lead-plated machine guns.
“Can I have two of them?” Liam asks.
The rebel shakes his head. “We need enough to go around. But you can have this.” He tosses Liam a small, old silver pistol. It looks like something from a hundred years ago.
“Thanks.” Liam sticks it into the back of his belt, where it gets hidden by his jacket.
Meanwhile, I clutch my machine gun. It’s heavy. “Any secret to using this?” I ask the rebels.
“Just point it and fire,” one of them says. “But it has a sharp recoil, so be careful.”
“Put it against your shoulder,” another rebel advises.
“We better go,” Cass says.
We head out of the room and back across the hall, then into the stairway.
“Only sixty more flights,” Gadya says. “Let’s do it!”
Liam and I look at each other. And then we follow Gadya and Cass.
It takes about twenty minutes for us to get down to the bottom of the stairs, and into the massive lobby of the hotel.
Again, I’m struck by the deranged opulence. Everything is marble and glass. It looks palatial, with gleaming chandeliers overhead. I see large display screens everywhere, but all of them are black—destroyed by the pulse.
Outside, the sun is starting to rise.
I see crowds of people in the streets. These are the everyday citizens whom we saw earlier flooding the roads into the city. Now they have arrived. Some of them are clutching homemade banners. Everyone is congregating here, with the rebels trying to organize the chaos. The citizens of the UNA are taking this opportunity to fight back against the government.
I finally hear the sound of vehicles. In the distance, I see two large trucks with lead-plated cabs heading our way. I also see another helicopter in the sky, way in the distance.
All of these vehicles belong to the rebels.
As we walk down the steps at the front of the hotel and toward the street, I hear the trucks broadcasting a message over loudspeakers. I struggle to hear it, and then I make out the words:
“The government of the United Northern Alliance has been overthrown by the rebel forces. You are safe! The power is currently down, but we will work to restore it. We will also try to hand out food and water shortly, if we have the resources, so please be patient. The UNA is finished. The people have retaken this country.”
The words are greeted by cheers.
The voice continues speaking: “If you see any former UNA soldiers or workers, you have the power to arrest and detain them. And if you are or were an employee of the UNA, you must officially surrender to us and join our side, or you will be arrested and punished. This new nation will be founded on trust and transparency. But if you claim to join our side and are later discovered to be spying, you will be put on public trial. This rebellion is taking place across the entire nation. From the tip of Canada to the southernmost part of Mexico.”
“There might not be a battle for us to fight,” Gadya says, looking around.
“I know.” It seems as though everyone is on the same side. “What about finding the local minister and deposing him?” I ask. “The guy who runs this city?”
“Apparently some rebels went looking for him this morning, but they can’t find him,” Gadya says. “At least that’s what Cass told me.”
Cass nods. “It’s true. He supposedly fled.”
I think about Minister Hiram in his strange domain. I can’t imagine him surrendering without a fight, or disappearing either. But maybe the minister who runs New Chicago is different.
I know that we have intervened just in time. With the government creating genetic mutants, and putting those MIODs inside kids, they were toppling into complete madness.
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