A Dangerous Game

by Madeline Dyer

  Sajo moves over to a screen on the wall, taps it with his finger. I wince as he touches it, leaves his DNA on it, and it doesn’t do anything.

  “We need to check all the rooms,” I say. “Find Mila. There should be no Enhanced here now, but be careful. Come on.”

  We walk quickly, briskly. We check each room we come to. But there’s no one here. No Enhanced Ones; the distraction was successful—sometimes, they’re not. Sometimes, there are loads of Enhanced in the conversion rooms, and they only send a small fraction out to see what the gunshot is and what wild Untamed people are out there.

  But there’s no one here now.

  No Mila.

  “Do you think they still use this area for conversions?” Seven asks. “Maybe they’ve changed it. Got a new building? That cupboard’s empty, no augmenters, and there really weren’t many Enhanced in here anyway.”

  “Maybe they’ve got no one to convert.”

  “What about Mila?” Bea looks at me.

  “We still don’t know that she is actually here yet,” Sajo says.

  I bite my lip. “If we were wrong, and she’s not here, then we’re already in place ready to rescue her when she arrives.”

  But it’s not ideal, I know that. Corin’s already leading the distraction. And, if she isn’t here yet, we should be doing an interception away from New Kimearo where the Enhanced don’t have backup. Interception is always preferable. Now that the adrenaline is starting to fade, I’m worried we were hasty in barging in here. Maybe Corin got the timings wrong in his calculations?

  We should’ve stayed out there, at the interception point, and waited. Maybe the Enhanced Ones didn’t have a car and weren’t running back here at a good speed…they wouldn’t run with Mila, would they?

  “Keep looking,” I say. I glance at Seven and check she’s okay.

  I hear the faint crackles from the radio’s earpiece, and the sound makes Bea jump. I press my lips together as I listen. The signal isn’t strong.

  I start walking down the corridor. The rest of my team follows. I recall which weapons they’ve got on them. Like me, Sajo has a Luger. But Seven only has a knife. I don’t think Bea’s got anything. Something about that makes me worry. And I don’t know why. We rarely use our weapons anyway—not when the Enhanced Ones are so scared of our capability of violence, even though they shouldn’t feel fear. It’s a negative emotion.

  We come to a fork in the corridor.

  “Which way?” Sajo asks.

  “Both lead to more rooms,” Bea says.

  I listen carefully. But there’s nothing. I bite my bottom lip softly. “We’ll split. Quicker to search that way.”

  Seven’s eyebrows shoot up, and I know what she’s thinking: a team splitting up on a rescue mission is generally a bad idea. Safety is in numbers.

  “I don’t think there’s anyone here anyway,” I add, nodding. It’s safe enough for us to split up, I’m sure. And Corin’s team is keeping the Enhanced away. “We were wrong. They probably haven’t even arrived with Mila yet. We’re too early. But we need to make sure all the rooms are clear, as quickly as we can, before we report back.”

  “And then what?” Sajo asks. “Retrace our steps and try an interception?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to discuss it. And it’ll depend on how far away they are by then.” But the Enhanced will be aware that some of us are in their town now.

  Seven falters a little. Her steps sound heavy. “What if…what if they’ve already fully converted Mila and taken her away, and that’s why no one’s here?”

  Her words make my breath catch in my throat.

  “No,” Bea says. “They can’t do it that quickly. Takes days, remember.”

  Or at least it does for most of us.

  I nod. “Either she’s here still, or they haven’t arrived yet.” I gesture ahead, to the corridor that leads to the left. “Seven and Bea, you go down there. Sajo, give Seven your gun, and you take the knife.”

  They don’t argue with me. Seven swaps her weapon with Sajo, then heads off with Bea. My sister doesn’t look at me as they walk away, and I wonder if I’ve made the right choice, not keeping Bea with me. Maybe I should’ve sent Sajo and Seven off together.

  Sajo and I walk quickly and check each room we come to. These rooms are nicer than the first ones we checked, a lot of them furnished as bedrooms, looking less like medical rooms for the conversions. Still vacant though.

  Then we hear footsteps ahead.

  Sajo turns to me, and I make sure my gun is loaded and ready, but out of sight, tucked away.

  My breathing is faster, and I signal for us to keep walking. There’s nothing about us that should tell any Enhanced Ones who we really are—nothing apart from our glasses. But the Enhanced wear sunglasses too; we steal the glasses from them on our raids.

  The footsteps get louder. My heart pounds. If the Enhanced are here, then it’s because there’s a conversion, because Mila is here. And Elf—no, he won’t have got caught too. But if an Enhanced shows themselves, we can follow them, find out where they’ve got Mila and—

  My younger sister rounds the corner, smiling.

  “Mila!” I cry in relief, rushing to her.

  Mila shrieks as I touch her, jerking her whole body back, lifting her head, and—

  I falter as I see the mirrors. Behind me, Sajo swears loudly. And I just stare at her eyes.

  Of course they would be mirrors—one augmenter does that. I try to keep my breathing even.

  But the way Mila was smiling…that says more than one augmenter. More than two.

  That screams conversion.

  But the Enhanced haven’t broadcast her conversion…so it’s not complete…can’t be… Yet they don’t always announce them immediately… But, no! Mila’s one of us, a fighter. She wouldn’t be fully converted in mere hours.

  “Here you go.” A woman steps into view behind her, augmenters in her hand, and freezes, looks at me.

  Mila’s eyes are wide, and she steps back, toward the Enhanced woman, fear evident on her face. Fear—a negative emotion—and….

  “No!” I scream as Mila reaches for the vials—for the augmenters in the woman’s hand—and I react without thinking.

  I pull the Luger out.

  No! Don’t use a gun! Guns are cheating! Kill her with your hands!

  But there’s not time.

  Rahn’s right: guns are safer for us.

  I flick the safety off and—

  “No!” Sajo lunges toward me.

  He crashes against me as I pull the trigger, throwing me off balance, and I start to fall and—

  A scream tears the world.

  My head jerks up.

  She falls.

  “No!”

  No.

  No.

  No.

  My throat tightens.

  My grip on the gun slackens.

  I rush toward her.

  The Enhanced woman starts shouting.

  And I see the gunshot wound in Mila’s chest.

  I can’t breathe. I can only stare at Mila, feet away from me, as the sound of the gunshot resonates in my inner ear.

  Nausea washes over me, and I blink rapidly. But the light’s suddenly too bright in here. I look around, expecting to see Rahn and the back-up team. Did they hear the gunshot and think we’re in trouble? Hear me shooting?

  Hear me missing? Missing the woman—but Sajo crashed into me and—

  The Enhanced woman stares at us, then pulls out her own radio—a two-way one—and speaks into it. I watch her lips move.

  “Put your weapons down, Untamed Ones,” she says to us, and I see the flash of Sajo’s knife as he holds it steady.

  Weapons.

  My gun. I look down, see it in my hand.

  I’ve—I’ve shot Mila.

  “Put your weapons down, and let us help you. You’ve come to us because you want to be saved, and we commend you for that.”

  The Enhanced woman doesn’t even look at Mila. My s
ister… My sister bleeding on the floor, because of me. And the woman’s not calling for medics, not calling for help—why isn’t she calling for help?

  “Help her!” I scream. I try to step forward, but I can’t—my legs, they’re concrete. I’m trapped.

  “Put your weapons down. Ignore the violence within you. Save yourselves, poor Untamed Ones.”

  Sajo grabs the Luger as I let go of it, then he turns and fires at the Enhanced woman. His shot doesn’t miss. She hits the ground.

  “Run!”

  And it’s like his command releases me, dissolves the concrete. I run—toward Mila. I get to her, fall next to her, and—

  I press my hand over the wound, and her eyes—her eyes are still mirrors.

  Are they moving?

  I can’t tell. My vision’s blurring. She’s breathing… I think she’s breathing…isn’t she? But she’s not making any noise.

  “Keelie!” Sajo shouts at me.

  No. No. No.

  I clench Mila to me, shake her a bit—then, no! You mustn’t shake an injured person, must you?

  But a pulse. I need to find a pulse…need to find a pulse…and I try, but my fingers are slick with blood, and then I’m screaming. I turn, and—

  Seven and Bea skid into view. With them is the distraction team. How’d they get here so quickly? And why aren’t they still keeping the Enhanced away from here? Or have they led more here?

  “Oh Gods,” Seven whispers.

  I blink and stare at them, and—

  Bea.

  She flinches as she takes in the scene, freezes completely for a second. Then she opens her mouth, but no words come out. My heart pounds heavier as Bea races toward me and Mila, and then she pushes me away, shouting words I don’t understand. Tears fall down her face, and she’s trying to pick Mila up, hold her against her as if she’s a baby again.

  “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right,” Bea tells Mila, and I stare at the blood on the floor around us.

  Corin steps toward me, just one step. His face pales. Everyone’s staring.

  “Out!” he yells, then he grabs Seven’s arm and pushes her away, with Esther and Kayden. “Keelie, Bea, leave her—she’s dead! We need to get out—they’re coming!”

  Dead.

  My mouth dries. I look down at Mila in Bea’s arms. She’s not moving. She’s—

  Bea starts shrieking.

  I retch, turn away. My chest heaves.

  I killed her…the gun and….

  “Bea—be quiet!”

  No. No. No. I shake my head. Can’t…no…no! But everything’s so loud around me, and all the sounds have nails in them, and the nails are scratching. Pain. Pain. Pain. And—

  Sajo—he crashed into me. My aim was off because of him…could’ve hit anyone. Him or me or the woman or Mila.

  Mila.

  Hands grab me, and I scream, my shriek entwining with Bea’s. But it’s Sajo.

  I stare at him, but then he lets me go, moves toward Bea. He reaches out to touch her, but stops, his hands inches from her shuddering shoulders.

  “Come on, Bea! Got to move, before they get here! Keelie, come on! She radioed for backup before I killed her.”

  Killed her….

  Mila. I killed her.

  Sajo tries to pull me along, but I fight him. Fight him hard. Kick and punch.

  “We can’t leave her!” I scream, pointing at Mila. She’s across Bea’s lap, and Bea’s stroking her hair away from her face, patting her gently, while shaking violently herself.

  Sajo turns and pulls Mila’s body to him. And then she’s in his arms, and Bea’s trying to shout, but she makes the gurgling noises that she does when she can’t. Then she’s hunkering down on the floor, in the blood, next to me, her hands over her ears.

  “Keelie!”

  At last, Sajo’s shout reaches me properly, twists inside me. My heart thuds, and survival mode kicks in. I jump up, slipping on the blood. Sajo has Mila cradled in his arms.

  “We’ve got to go!”

  Get out.

  Yes.

  “Bea! Come on!” My voice is breathless, and I reach out to touch her. But I mustn’t touch her because, most of the time, she doesn’t like being touched. Mustn’t touch her. “Bea?”

  Her dark glasses have gone. I don’t know when. But her clear, brown eyes stare at me. Stare at me with horror.

  Then she springs up and runs.

  We all run.

  I see Rahn and Finn ahead, and we keep going.

  Mila’s going to wake up. She is. She has to. She will.

  “Shit! Leave Mila—she’s dead!” Rahn yells. “She’s slowin’ you down, Sajo, leave her!”

  “No!” Bea and I scream in unison.

  I try to wipe tears from my eyes, so I can see properly, but my glasses get in the way. I pull them off, throw them down, screaming. I don’t care.

  “Keelie, she’s dead, we have to leave her else they’ll get us!”

  “No!” I start panicking, and then someone shoves me forward faster, and I stumble. And—

  “They’re behind us!”

  I turn, see the Enhanced—so many of them now. They’re filling the corridors. They’re like a silent army—so suddenly here. So eerie.

  “Keelie!”

  Rahn’s shout makes me turn back, and—and they’re all ahead. All my people. Bea’s out of sight. I’m on my own, ten feet back—and….

  Shit.

  The Enhanced are—

  I run, feel adrenaline flood my body.

  The rest of my people disappear around the corner ahead, and I race after them. I reach the corner, see more blood on the floor and—

  That’s when I see him: Red.

  He stands ahead, at the side of the corridor, partly hidden by an open door on his right. The others ran past him. They mustn’t have seen him.

  And I don’t think. I just see his eyes—the flash of them. And see how different he looks as one of them. Really one of them. And I know—know he’s Enhanced. Truly one of them.

  And suddenly it’s like there’s a clock ticking in my head.

  I couldn’t save Mila.

  But I’ve got to find out what happened to Red, why he didn’t show. And if he’s been converted, the longest it can be for is two days.

  I run at Red.

  I can save him.

  “You’re still Untamed?” Red stares at me as I grab him and pull him through the doorway, crashing into a small room.

  I throw the door shut, look through its small window, see the Enhanced running straight past, continuing down the corridor.

  Then I turn so I’m looking at Red. He’s moved back to the far wall of the room, and I approach him slowly, cautiously. And I try to see him properly—could he still be undercover?

  He looks the same. His hair is stylishly messy, framing his face. He’s dressed casually in clothes that show off his physique—his physique I want to run my hands over….

  But his eyes. The mirrors…they’re different. Stronger. More…real. Hell. He’s really Enhanced. Truly. And everything inside me tells me it again: he’s not pretending now. This is….

  Shit.

  He grabs augmenters from an open-faced cabinet and steps toward me. His eyes flash—flash in a way they never flashed before, and the roof of my mouth dries.

  I hold my hands up. There are six feet between us. “No. Red—listen. Put the augmenters down.”

  “You need saving, Keelie. You’re suffering.” His voice sounds odd, and he moves toward me.

  “No, Red,” I say, taking a step back. “You’ve got to come with me. I can save you.”

  Can you? You didn’t save Mila.

  I eye the augmenters in his hands—three glass vials that chink against each other as he advances on me. He’s moving slowly, like he’s unsure. Good, so part of him is resisting. He’s not going to try and convert me as forcefully as one who’s been with them longer.

  But he’s still Enhanced—still going to be better
, stronger, faster than me.

  I dismiss the risk and grab his arm, pull him forward a few feet. “Come on.”

  “No!” Red screams, dropping one of the vials. It smashes. “Get off!” And he’s shouting—shouting loudly.

  “Be quiet!” I glance at the door. “Come on, Red, come with me. I’m going to help you.” My words are tumbling out too fast, and I can’t catch my breath. “Come on, back to the village and—and you can be Untamed again. Us together. We’ll be together.”

  Me and Elf and Bea and Mila and Red, together—again.

  Mila.

  “No,” he shouts, “you have to be saved! How can you still be Untamed and wild? They need to help you! They have to help you…save you….”

  He tries to shove me away, but I twist around, somehow manage to keep pulling him toward the door.

  “No. Come on, Red—you can resist. Just resist it. Come on, you can’t have been converted long ago…you can do this. We can be together.” I breathe hard, my head whirring. First taste and the mind-conversion…the latter, how long does it take? But it can’t be complete now, not so soon! Not for him—and it hasn’t been a week, and he’s strong, isn’t he?

  “I sent them to our meeting point so we could be together,” Red says. He grins, manically. “We have to be together, Keelie. You and me, we both felt it!”

  All feeling drains from my body. I let go of him.

  “And this is so much better,” Red says, swaying a little. “To think I’ve been misguided, letting you suffer. Thank the Gods they reported me, realized I needed help, when they found out I’d slept with you, an Untamed! But we’ll still get our house, Keelie, somehow. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to….”

  “You did this? You sent them to our meeting place?” I swear loudly. He did this.

  No, not him! He was caught, converted—not his fault.

  I look back and forth. The remaining augmenters in his hands chink.

  Get out. Get out. Get out!

  I turn and—

  “No!” He grabs me, whirls me around. The sounds of the other vials smashing fill my ears.

  Red laughs. Actually laughs. “I can’t let you continue being wild. Oh, Keelie. Don’t you know anything about me? About how much I care about you? That hasn’t changed! It was—”