by Amy Tintera
The silence stretched on for too long. There were about ten other Reboots in the gym, and for several seconds there was nothing but the sounds of fists smashing into bodies.
“What about her?” Leb finally mumbled.
“I can get her out.”
He said nothing. He was so quiet that I finally peeked over my shoulder at him and found his face stricken, almost horrified. I might as well have just told him I was going to kill his daughter, not rescue her.
“They already tried,” he stuttered.
“I’m better equipped than any human. I’m trained for this. If you want her, you need me.”
He paused, looking at me with wide eyes. “How do I know you’ll keep your word after you get out of here?”
“Trust?” One look at his face made it clear that wasn’t an option.
We were silent again, and Leb stared at the floor with furrowed brows. Finally, he said, “You want to go to the reservation, right?”
“If it actually exists.”
“It does.”
“You’ve been there?”
“No, but the Reboots who meet with the rebels say it does.” He looked almost excited as he spoke. “I could instruct the rebels in Austin not to give you a map to the reservation until you show up with Adina. Would you do that?”
The reservation was not my main concern—getting Callum out was—but Leb didn’t need to know that. “Yes. You have to get me a tracker locator I can keep, though. I can’t get her without it.”
Leb nodded and my heart jumped with hope. This might actually work.
“Do it fast,” I said, moving away from Leb. I jerked my head at Callum. “You can go shower.”
Callum gave me another curious look that I ignored as we split off to our respective showers. My chest was pounding in anticipation but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to say anything to him. What if I got his hopes up and everything fell through?
I grabbed a towel and stepped into a stall, snapping the curtain shut behind me. I tossed the towel over the side wall and gripped the bottom of my shirt.
“Wren?”
I whirled around to see the outline of someone standing on the other side of the curtain. “Callum?”
He pushed open the curtain and stepped inside the stall, amusement flickering across his face when he looked down at my fingers, still tightly clenched around the bottom of my shirt.
I quickly dropped it and smoothed the material over my stomach. He just stood there. Was I supposed to do something? Had he come thinking I’d want to have sex? My hands were shaking suddenly and I was relieved he hadn’t immediately pounced on me.
And maybe a little disappointed.
“What have you been talking about with Leb?” he asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest and beat down the surge of disappointment that he hadn’t come to kiss me.
“Plans,” I said.
“What does that mean?”
I wanted to tell him that I was going to get him out of here. I wanted to tell him to hang in there, to be good for a little while longer until I could figure everything out. I knew he’d give me a look of happiness and hope and excitement. But I was worried he would be crushed if it all fell apart.
“Plans like he’s going to help us escape?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
His eyes were already hopeful. So much for not getting his hopes up.
“Will you please follow orders until I do know?” I asked.
He hesitated. It was brief, but it was there. “Yes.”
I waited. He hadn’t meant the yes.
The yes was a lie.
“Within reason,” he finished.
There was the truth.
“They’re sending us on a kill assignment any day now,” I said quietly. “If it comes down to it, you need to do it.”
“No.”
“Callum . . .”
He smiled. “I like that you call me Callum now.”
“You have to do it.”
“No, I don’t.” He reached out, trying to pull one of my arms away from my chest.
I shook him off. “Leb can’t help us if you’re dead.”
“They can’t make me kill someone.”
“It’s an adult Reboot. It’s not even a person anymore.”
He looked down at me, a frown crossing his face. “Wouldn’t humans say the same thing about us?”
“Yes, but it’s true with an adult, they—”
“You don’t know that. That’s just what HARC says. I’m inclined to be suspicious.”
“You saw Gregor last night,” I said. “He was crazed. And every person I’ve seen who Rebooted as an adult is like that. They can’t even talk anymore, Callum.”
“We were there to capture him so HARC could experiment on him. I’d fight back, too. And besides, I was hysterical after I rose. Weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So maybe—”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said in exasperation. “Either you kill the next one or HARC eliminates you.”
“You’ve really killed lots of people?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, dropping my eyes. Without even thinking about it. Refusing had never even occurred to me.
“Humans, too?”
“Yes.”
“They made you do that?”
“Sometimes I offered.” I looked up as he took a sharp breath at that admission.
“Why would you do that?” he asked, his voice catching.
“When the assignment killed my fellow Reboots, I offered.”
“So because you were mad.”
I paused, hugging my arms tighter to my chest. “I guess.” His face was full of confusion and horror and maybe even a little disgust. A rock had formed on top of my chest and I closed my eyes, trying to make it go away. “I was only twelve when I died; I’ve been here a long time and I thought I had to do everything I was—I mean, I do have to do everything I’m told. They were bad, the people I killed, and I didn’t—”
“I’m not judging you,” Callum interrupted, his face softening as he stepped closer to me. “Well, I was, but I shouldn’t be. I’m sorry. I’ve been here only a few weeks and you . . . I can’t imagine being here five years.” A smile crossed his face. “Maybe I won’t have to be. You and Leb looked pretty serious today.”
“Or you won’t be here five years because you disobey orders again and they kill you tomorrow.”
“Or that,” he said, patting my head with a little laugh. Apparently his own death bothered him very little.
“It’s me, Callum. If you don’t carry out the assignment I’m supposed to eliminate you.”
“Oh.” He looked at me questioningly.
“I won’t do it,” I said, my annoyance coming through in my voice.
“But then . . .”
“Then they’ll probably eliminate me, too.”
“Dammit, Wren . . .” He let out a whoosh of air, putting his hands behind his head. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s the truth.”
“No. They won’t do it. You’re their precious One-seventy-eight. Officer Mayer will just yell and have someone else kill me.”
“I’m a Reboot like everyone else,” I said. “They’ll kill me if I start rebelling.”
“So either I kill this person or I’m responsible for your death. That’s great. Wonderful choice you’ve set up for me there.”
“I don’t want you to die.”
“Now you’re sucking up.” He tugged at my waist, trying to draw me closer. I let him, pressing my palm to his warm chest. “I just don’t want to be . . .”
“Me?” I guessed.
“No. I don’t want them to make me into that person. Into someone who kills.”
I had nothing to say to that, as I was already that person. I pressed my lips together and looked at him pleadingly.
“That look,” he moaned, putting his hands on my cheeks. “Don’t give me that look.”
“Will you do it? Please?”
He sighed and dropped his hands. “Do I have to decide now?”
“The assignment could come down any minute.”
“I . . . could try, I guess.” The defeat in his voice made my insides twist uncomfortably.
“Thank you.” I took a step back, an indication that I was ready for him to go.
“Right, I’ll let you shower.” He grabbed the edge of the curtain but paused, the humor back in his eyes. “Or I could stay.”
A little yelp escaped my mouth as I pulled my arms in and pressed them both against my chest. “I . . . um . . .” Yes. And no. I felt sick.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a chuckle, holding up his hands. “You look horrified. I was mostly kidding.”
“No, I’m not horrified,” I said, forcing myself to relax. He gave me one last smile before pulling back the curtain and hopping out.
An Under-sixty leaned over and peeked around the curtain before I could shut it. A small crowd had formed, and the girls all had funny smiles on their faces.
“Aw, we knew you’d break down eventually,” the Under-sixty said. “He’s really cute.”
I snapped the curtain closed and let out a long breath as I leaned my forehead against the cool tile.
I shouldn’t have stuttered and mumbled like that. I shouldn’t have looked horrified. I wanted to . . . well, I didn’t know if I wanted to strip down and shower with him, but I liked his arms around me. I thought I would have liked to kiss him. Although I couldn’t be sure, never having kissed anyone before.
Ever would have enjoyed this. She would have been thrilled if I had told her everything. Her eyes would have lit up with the hope I was a real person after all. She would have said something comforting and humanlike, although I had no idea what.
I missed her.
That evening, after dinner, I walked down the hallway, slowing as I spotted a human leaving my room. She caught my eye and pointed inside.
“Clothes drop-off,” she said, and quickly scurried away.
I looked at the neatly folded clothes on my bed in confusion. I’d had a clothes drop-off yesterday.
I grabbed a black sweatshirt off the top. It was way too big.
But there was a folded-up piece of paper beneath it.
I dropped the sweatshirt on the bed and held the paper close to my chest, turning away from my clear wall and unfolding it as discreetly as possible.
It was a map. A map of the five cities of Texas, with a route drawn in blue from Rosa to Austin. He’d drawn a circle around the intersection of Nelson and Holly in Rosa, a couple blocks from where the shuttle usually landed, and written the words meet me here. There was a star at the edge of the Rosa city line, directly in between two towers. Where we were supposed to exit the city, perhaps? The blue line stretched through the miles of trees between the two cities and stopped at the word tunnel scrawled near the edge of the rico side of Austin.
My breath caught in my chest and the map shook ever so slightly as I read the small words printed at the bottom.
I’m in.
NINETEEN
THE KILL ASSIGNMENT CAME THE NEXT DAY.
They gave me a gun and told me to either give it to Callum to kill the Reboot, or use it on Callum myself. I hadn’t been given a gun to use in the field in a few months, and it felt cool and heavy against my hip.
I had the map in my pocket, even though I doubted Leb had managed to get his hands on a tracker locator in one day. I wouldn’t run without removing our trackers first. There was no point.
If Leb didn’t come through today, Callum had to perform the kill assignment.
Callum glanced down at the gun when I joined him on the roof. A cool breeze blew across us, bringing with it the stench of the slums, and I saw his nose wrinkle. From the smell or the sight of the gun, I didn’t know.
The shuttle hit the roof with a clunk and the door opened to reveal Paul inside. If Leb wasn’t on this assignment, maybe he had the tracker locator and was waiting for us at the meeting spot.
I couldn’t breathe. The air was gone and my chest hurt. This could be my last assignment. My last time in the shuttle. The last day at the place I’d called home for five years.
Paul gestured for us to sit and I stumbled on the way to my seat.
Callum was shaking as he strapped himself in. I wanted to tell him it was okay, that he wouldn’t have to perform the assignment, but I didn’t know that for sure.
The shuttle was silent as we rode to the slums. Paul dug into his pocket and produced four bullets as we landed, offering them to me.
“Take any unused ones out before boarding the shuttle,” he warned as I closed my fist around the bullets.
I nodded and followed Callum into the cool night air. His eyes were glued to the gun as I loaded the bullets. I didn’t want to tip off the HARC officers watching our video feed. They needed to believe we were following orders, for as long as possible.
I held the gun out to Callum, but his hands remained at his sides.
“Callum,” I said quietly.
He wrapped his fingers around the gun, holding it away from him like it was contaminated. His eyes met mine.
“I have to?” he asked, his voice strained.
No. “Yes.” I cleared my throat and jerked my head to the right. “Let’s go this way. It’s a shortcut.”
Callum frowned down at his map and the assignment slip, then looked up at me, mouth open to most likely tell me we were headed in the wrong direction. He quickly snapped it shut as understanding crossed his face and I turned away so HARC wouldn’t see the hope there.
I led him to the intersection of Holly and Nelson, whipping my head around to find Leb.
Nothing.
The night was quiet, nothing but the sound of wind in the trees and a few crickets as we stood in the middle of the dirt road surrounded by little tents.
Maybe he wasn’t coming tonight.
“Can I see the map?” I asked, to stall.
Callum handed it over and I pretended to look at the straight lines representing the streets of Rosa. I didn’t have long before the HARC officers watching me grew suspicious. I rarely needed to look at a map.
I stole another peek around but there was no one but me and Callum. I let out a long sigh.
“We should go that way,” I said, trying my best to keep the defeat out of my voice.
Callum’s face fell and he looked down at the gun in his hand. “So I have to shoot her in the head, right? To kill my own kind?” He glanced down at the assignment slip. “Danielle. I murder Danielle?”
I winced at the word choice and the anger dripping from every syllable. HARC surely heard it.
“Yes,” I replied. “Aim for the forehead, not the face. You want to destroy the brain. Two shots are best, to be safe.”
“And then what? I drag her back to the shuttle?”
“Or I will.” I turned away, unable to meet his accusing gaze. He might have been mostly mad at HARC, but there was plenty there for me as well. Would he ever be able to forgive me if I made him do this?
“I—” A high-pitched screeching in my ear interrupted me, and Callum and I both grimaced and pulled our coms out.
“What was that?” Callum asked, rubbing his ear. “Did our coms just go out?”
My eyes darted across the area, hope filling my chest so much it was difficult to breathe.
A man peeked around the edge of a tent, a broad figure in black. He rose from his knees and jogged to us, pushing the brim of his hat up as he stopped in front of me.
Leb. He held a knife with one hand and with the other pulled a black object out of his pocket, and Callum stepped forward, the gun half-raised to defend us. I shook my head at Callum and he slowly lowered it, eyes still glued to Leb’s knife.
“Stand still,” Leb said, lifting the black object to my chest. It was a small device about the size of his palm, and it lit up with a red light when he scanned it over my upper right arm.
; “Take off your jacket,” he said.
“How’d you get it so fast?” I asked as I shook off my jacket.
“Getting it isn’t the problem,” he muttered. “It’s the shit storm that will erupt when they realize it’s gone that’s the problem.”
He lifted the knife and sliced a gash a few inches above my elbow, using the edge of the blade to knock a little metal device to the ground. I wrapped my fingers around the bloody wound. It wasn’t deep enough to be painful, but my fingers still shook as I clutched them to my skin.
I stared at the bloody silver tracker. Freedom. I could run now, and no one would know where I was. What I was doing. What I was saying.
Leb waved for Callum to come closer, but he just stood there, staring at the blood seeping out of my arm. He looked shocked, on the edge of happiness, like he couldn’t believe it was real.
“Would you hurry up?” Leb snapped, grabbing him by the arm and waving the locator over his body. “The shuttle officer is probably already on his way.”
Leb spun Callum around and ran the locator down his back until it turned red. He lifted his shirt and cut a short line across his back just under his shoulder blade. He grabbed the tracker and carefully set it on the ground.
Leb took off down the street, motioning for us to follow him. We ran two blocks, coming to a stop behind a dark house with an assortment of trash and broken toys in the backyard.
Leb shoved something into my hand and I looked down to see some papers, the locator, and a map of the Austin slums. I didn’t think I needed a map—I remembered it well enough—but he’d marked a particular spot in the middle of a residential area.
“Her name is Adina,” he said, tapping an envelope and a picture of a dark-haired Reboot below the map. “She’s on assignment Tuesday and Wednesday night. The shuttle usually lands at the end of Guadalupe Street. Give her that letter. I marked the rebels’ address on the map. If you get Adina, go there and they will tell you how to get to the reservation.”
“Fine,” I said, shoving everything into my back pocket. “Do you have any bullets? We only have four.”
He pulled his gun out and emptied about ten into my hand. “They’re militant about keeping this location secret from HARC. Go at night. Don’t call attention to yourselves.” He dropped the knife in my other hand. “Take that, too. Go.”