by Amy Tintera
I didn’t know his parents, either, but I could guess their reaction if a monster who looked like their son showed up on their doorstep.
“How old is your brother?” I asked.
“Thirteen.”
“He didn’t get sick when you did?”
He shook his head. “No, he was fine when I died.”
A thirteen-year-old would probably be more accepting of a Reboot than an adult, given that it could still happen to him at any time. Still, with his parents there I didn’t see that going well. “I don’t think you should go.”
“I have to,” he said, pushing an escaped strand of hair behind my ear. “And I’d prefer it if you came with me.”
I sighed. He’d go whether I came or not.
“You know I’d probably get killed in under an hour without you,” he said.
“With the way things are going, I’d be shocked if we even make it out of Rosa.”
“You just took down nine officers by yourself. I think we’ll be fine.” He inched back against the wall, wrapping his arm tightly around my waist when I started to scoot away. “Are we going to try to leave Rosa tonight?”
“I think tomorrow night will be better, don’t you? They’re all on high alert and they’ll be expecting us to try to break out now.”
He nodded in agreement. “We should stay here awhile. They probably won’t check this area again.”
“Hopefully,” I said, sliding off his lap and settling next to him. He slid his hand into mine and leaned over to press a soft kiss onto my cheek. I shifted a little closer, until his warm arm rubbed against mine, and lowered my gaze to hide the goofy smile spreading across my face.
TWENTY-ONE
“WREN.”
The soft voice made me stir, and I winced at the pain that shot through my neck. I was leaning against something, my cheek pressed against a lovely warm and solid object, and I forced my eyelids open.
My head was on Callum’s shoulder. I’d fallen asleep. I took in a surprised breath and jerked into a sitting position, swinging around to see if we were safe. The streets were deserted, bright with early morning light.
“I thought you might want to move before everyone starts getting up,” Callum said, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth.
“I fell asleep?” I asked stupidly.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t believe I’d passed out. For hours. Anyone could have snuck up on us.
“It’s okay,” Callum said, stretching. “I stayed awake and kept watch. Plus you look all cute and nonlethal when you sleep.”
A blush crept up my cheeks and he leaned forward to kiss me, making me blush more deeply.
“Um, yes,” I said when he pulled away. “We should probably move before the streets get too crowded.” I wasn’t sure of the best place to hide, but we did need to get to the other side of town, closer to the fence at the city line.
“Should we try to get me some clothes?” Callum asked as he reached for his helmet and strapped it on. “I don’t really mind being in my underwear and shorty shorts, but this might attract unwanted attention.”
“Maybe,” I said, holding back a grin. I glanced around and stood up to slowly peek into the open waste bin.
“Are you really looking for clothes in the trash?”
I held up a dirty paper bag. “We could make holes in this.”
“I think my wearing a paper-bag dress will actually attract more stares,” he said dryly.
I tossed it back and reached for my helmet, glancing around. I couldn’t see any humans, but I could hear the shuffle of a few of them nearby. We would need food eventually—my stomach was feeling a little empty—but my first concern was getting across the city before it got too crowded.
“No one has come over here recently?” I asked.
“No. I’ve heard officers occasionally, but not for a couple hours.”
“Thanks,” I said, leaning back against the wall and smiling at him. “For keeping watch.”
He brushed his fingers against my hair, running them down the ponytail. “Of course. You can sleep on me any time you want.”
His eyes were soft, different than I’d ever seen them, and I wanted to crawl into his lap immediately and take him up on that offer. When he leaned forward to kiss me I let him, just for a moment.
I pulled away and took a quick glance around, strapping my helmet on as I jumped up.
“Time for our morning run,” I said. “Maybe we can get to the other side of town without being spotted.”
He nodded as he got to his feet, and I wrapped my fingers around his wrist as we sprinted out from behind the trash bin and took off down the alleyway. We hit the dirt road and I let go of Callum to pump my arms as we cut away from the center of town, to the tents and the worst of the slums. My feet pounded the dirt, and I glanced over at Callum to see if he was okay.
He was gone.
I skidded to a stop, my breath coming in big gasps as I frantically whipped my head around. I took off back in the direction of the school, flying around the corner again.
There was nothing. Not even a human. Clothes flapped on the line in the backyard of a house next to me and I jogged away from the noise, straining to listen for a sign of him.
Panic surged up my chest with such force that I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming his name. Giving away my location was not the smart thing to do.
I closed my eyes and listened. I could hear people running, a few shouts, but nothing that sounded like Callum.
But humans shouting and running couldn’t be good, especially with a Reboot on the loose. I sprinted in the direction of the shouts, coming to a quick stop at the corner of a building when I realized it was HARC officers yelling orders at one another. I couldn’t see them but they were close, no more than a block or two away.
What if they’d already found him?
What would I do if I couldn’t find him? Just head to Austin without him and hope he made it by himself?
The idea was so ridiculous I almost laughed. I turned down a random street and broke into a run. I never would have escaped without him. I would have stayed in my little white cell, happily, numbly, until I died.
I wasn’t going anywhere without Callum.
I stopped in my tracks, all thoughts of staying hidden and safe flying from my brain.
I screamed his name so loudly my throat ached in protest. But I yelled again, listening desperately for a response.
“Wren!”
The distant yell came from back toward the schoolhouse, and I took off at top speed, ignoring the gawking humans wandering out of their houses.
I recognized the sounds as I passed the schoolhouse and headed for the center of town. The hysteria, the angry shouts. I’d heard it before, when humans had caught themselves a Reboot.
I rounded a corner and spotted Callum running toward me as fast as he could. His battered pants flapped as he sprinted, his knees and thighs exposed and bloodied.
Behind him was a horde of angry townspeople. There were about fifteen of them, most of them without weapons, but they were being joined on all sides as humans ran out of their houses to see what the fuss was about. It wasn’t often they got to face a Reboot without HARC’s protection, and clearly they wanted to take advantage of it. They kicked up dirt as they ran, and the air was full of it, obscuring their faces and making some of them cough.
Callum had already taken a beating. His face was bruised, one of his arms bent at a funny angle, and I barreled toward him.
A boy about our age caught his uninjured arm and yanked him to the ground, but Callum kicked him in the chest so hard he flew to the other side of the road. If I hadn’t been focused on getting him to safety I might have smiled in pride at how quickly he reacted.
He scrambled to his feet, fending off a woman trying to bash his head with a baseball bat. Relief flooded his eyes as I surged forward and caught the bat, snatching it out of her grasp and tossing it as far as
I could. A hand clamped down on my shoulder and I heard gasps from several humans as I landed flat on my back.
They all grabbed for me, yelling things that I couldn’t understand. A hand went for my neck and I snapped it, my eyes burning into the man’s. I kicked and grabbed the gun from my pants, their greedy little hands all trying to get to it so they could put a bullet in our brains.
Callum shoved aside a man directly in front of me and pulled me to my feet, dragging me out of their grasp. I whirled around, pointing the gun in their direction. A few backed off, hands raised in surrender, but most kept right on coming.
I only had a few bullets left, so I fired one shot into the leg of the human who looked the fastest and took off in the opposite direction with Callum.
“You’re monsters!” I heard a woman scream. “You’re soulless monsters!”
The humans were tiring, falling farther and farther behind as their inferior lungs and legs gave out. We flew down the streets, over the dirt roads, into the ugliest part of town. As we approached the old medical building I glanced behind us again and realized we had lost them for good.
I came to a stop next to the one-story building and pressed my hands against my thighs as I gasped for air.
“I’m sorry,” Callum said, leaning against the building as his chest heaved up and down. “I should have . . .” He shook his head with a little shrug.
I looked up at him, the anxiety from earlier setting in even though he was standing in front of me. I tried to hide my fear, to push back the sick feeling that kept resurfacing as it hit me that I’d come very close to losing him, but I must have failed, because he gave me a questioning, confused look. I dropped my eyes from his. I didn’t know how to put the sentence together, to tell him that I had been terrified of something happening to him. It sounded pathetic in my head. It would sound worse out loud.
I cleared my throat. “What happened?”
“A couple guys grabbed me. I tried to yell, but they had me by the head. They dragged me to an alley so . . .” He frowned at me. “So they could all get a hit in, I guess? They really hate us, huh?”
I hesitated, then nodded, because it was the truth. He lowered his eyes in disappointment.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “It’s my fault. I’ve worked this area a long time. They despise me. They probably wanted me.”
He shrugged. “It’s not your fault.” He reached up, rubbing his hand against his head. “But they took my helmet.”
I hadn’t even realized it; I was so distracted by my ridiculous feelings. There was no point in disguising my horror.
“Yeah, it’s not good,” he said with a sigh.
It was definitely not good. The officers would aim for his head and there would be nothing to block their bullets.
“Do you know where they took it off?” I asked.
“When we got to the center of town, I think.”
I glanced back, like I might actually be able to see it from here.
“You can’t go back,” he protested.
The alarm sounded, proving him right. The roaring of shuttles approaching filled the air and I shoved the gun in my pocket, and pressed myself against the side of the building with Callum.
“What should we do?” he asked, looking up at the sky.
“Shhh.”
The shushing noise came from inside the building, followed by a sniffle, and Callum and I spun around. The wood was old, the white paint peeling everywhere, and I caught movement inside through the cracks. I leaned closer and someone gasped.
The door next to me swung open and I jumped away from the little girl who appeared. She blinked at me with tired eyes, squinting in the sunlight.
“Grace!” a terrified voice called, but the little girl just stood there, looking up at me.
A messy-haired teenager ran to the door and scooped Grace up in her arms. “We didn’t do anything,” she said, backing away as she hugged the girl to her chest.
“We’re not here for you,” Callum said, his voice edging on annoyed.
Her eyes lifted to the shuttles in the sky, then dropped back to us. “You can’t stay here.”
I looked out at the open space in front of us. The patchy grass led to a small clump of trees several yards away, but they were skinny and missing half their leaves. They wouldn’t provide any cover, and we were sure to be spotted if we spent too much time out in the open.
“Did you escape?” she asked.
Neither of us responded and I felt a twinge of pride that Callum didn’t trust this human.
“You can’t stay here,” she repeated. “I’m sorry. I know you . . . can’t help it”—she gestured to us—“but you have to go.” She pointed to the left. “There’s a ditch over there. It’s kind of covered by some trees. You could try hiding there.”
I looked at her in surprise as Callum tugged on my arm. “Come on,” he said, studying the sky. “We have an opening.”
I let him pull me, glancing back at the teenager. “Thank you.”
“Yeah. Good luck.”
I took off in a slow run behind Callum, one eye on the shuttles. They were scattered in other areas, but one was facing partly in our direction.
I sprinted across the grass to the patch of trees, praying they hadn’t spotted us. The small hole looked like someone had started digging a grave and changed their mind about halfway through. It wasn’t very deep, but it might do.
Callum jumped in and I followed, sliding down the dirt. The ditch wasn’t big enough to stretch out so I pulled my legs to my chest.
I pressed my face into my knees as a shuttle whirred closer, willing them to keep going. If they saw us we were dead. One helmet, wide-open space, and a gun with only a few bullets left.
The shuttle landed with a thunk and I tried to fight back the rising sense of dread.
“Did I say thank you?” Callum whispered. “For getting me out? If we die I just want to say thank you.”
I pressed my lips together and stared at the ground. You’re welcome seemed a stupid thing to say since we might be seconds from death. I’m sorry might be more appropriate.
Boots crunched on the grass, saving me from having to speak at all.
“That building’s deserted,” a HARC officer said. “Check it out in case they’re hiding inside.”
I let out a long sigh as I realized they hadn’t seen us run to the ditch.
“There’s just some kids in there,” another voice answered. “They said they hadn’t seen anything.”
“What are they doing in there?”
“Living there, from the looks of it.”
“All right, pack ’em up. We’ll drop them at the orphanage on the way back.”
I closed my eyes, a weight settling on my chest. There were few places worse in the slums than the orphanage. I had made elaborate plans as a kid to avoid it at all costs in the event of my parents’ death.
“No!” I heard the shrill scream. “We’re fine! You can’t!”
I clenched my hand around a fistful of dirt, pushing back the odd urge to jump out of the hole and help them.
The yelling continued for a long time, while the officers combed the area. I wanted to press my hands against my ears like I did when I was little, but I was afraid it would look weird and pathetic to Callum.
When they piled into the shuttle and took off I breathed a sigh of relief more for the end of the screaming than for my own safety.
Callum leaned his head back against the dirt, giving me a tentative smile. “You all right? You looked really intense there for a while.”
“I’m fine.” I stood up and peeked out of the hole. It was quiet and deserted, the door to the medical building swinging open in the wind. Only one shuttle remained in the air, about half a mile away. The others must have landed around Rosa.
“I need to get you a helmet,” I said.
“What? No. We should stay here. We’re probably safe here until tonight.”
“And then we have to get over
the fence at the city line, where there will be armed guards. The chances of us making it across are pretty slim with helmets. Without . . .”
“What are you going to do? Go back into town and look for it?” he asked.
“I think I have a better shot at taking one of the officers’.”
He moaned. “That plan sounds worse.”
“You should stay here,” I said. I didn’t want to take the chance of losing him again, and he was right. We’d found a pretty safe spot.
“I don’t think you’re actually listening to me,” he said with a hint of amusement.
“I’m listening; I’m just not responding.”
He shook his head, a smile twitching at his lips. “Fine. I’ll stay here. Try not to die.”
“If you have to move for any reason, come back as soon as you can. I’ll wait here for you.”
“And if you don’t come back?”
I paused, not sure. “I’ll come back.”
“Excellent Plan B.” He laughed, running a shaky hand over his face. I frowned and he looked at me curiously. “What?”
“Why are you shaking?”
“Oh.” He glanced down at himself. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m hungry.”
I dropped my eyes to his other hand, shaking in his lap. Panic swelled in my chest so suddenly I turned away so he couldn’t see my face.
Shaking.
Like Ever.
I took a deep breath, determined not to freak him out. It could just be hunger. He’d been at HARC only a few weeks. They probably wouldn’t have started him on the shots yet.
They couldn’t have.
“I’ll try to get some food,” I said, digging my fingers into the dirt to hoist myself out of the hole.
“Don’t worry about it; I’m fine.”
I swung my legs over and got to my feet, turning to face him. He looked small, his bare chest dirty and bloodied, the skin of his long legs peeking through his torn pants in weird places.
“Maybe I can get you some clothes as well.”
“Sure. Grab me a book, too, while you’re out. Something funny.”
I thought he was serious, until a grin spread across his face. “Just come back, okay? I don’t need anything else.”