ARC: The Almost Girl

by Amalie Howard

  For years afterward, I couldn’t even look at them – their gray faces and milky-blue eyes, terrifying – a constant reminder of that moment when I’d been caught unawares. I’d never trusted them, not ever, not even when I’d led them. They were a means to an end, and Murek, the Legion Commander at the time, had loved them because of their absolute loyalty. Despite my own reservations, my father had been right. The Vectors had made excellent soldiers.

  Finding myself in a new open cave area underground, I bring myself back to the present, clearing my head from my memories to focus on the task at hand. They are great soldiers, but their allegiance is and will always be to Murek and the crown – a loyalty that is programmed into the very fluid that runs in their dead veins. Even though the one in Caden’s house somehow recognized me as its general, I know that it had been a glitch – and one that will be quickly rectified. Nothing will stand in the way of getting Caden… not even me.

  There’s only one exit out of the space at the far end, and I make my way there on silent swift feet. I am so intent on getting into the tunnel that I don’t sense the attack until it is too late, as something large and heavy tackles me to the ground. My night-vision glasses are jerked from my head in the collision, and I’m suddenly flying blind. Without losing a beat, I roll and kick upward with all the force I can muster, feeling my boots connect with a thick body and pushing it off of me. In a flash, I’m in a crouch, taking three steps back. I loosen my backpack and remove the swords from their sheaths against my back.

  I can’t see it, but I know it’s one of the Vectors. It has a slight advantage because it can see me. I say slight because part of our training means fighting blindfolded. All of our senses are honed to the point of razor-sleek sharpness, and facing an opponent in darkness is par for the course. I take a deep breath and pull it into my center, letting it fill me and closing my eyes. I exhale and wait.

  The air shifts to my left and instead of spinning away, I move toward it, at the last minute grinding to my knees and slashing outward with my blades. They strike into something thick and heavy – a leg or upper thigh. The thing makes no sound, but now I can hear it moving as it drags one foot slightly. It lunges toward me once more, and this time I wait and take the hit on my left flank, moving out slightly so that I don’t receive the full weight of the strike.

  With Vectors, hesitation is the difference between life and death. Ignoring the pain, I whirl alongside the Vector’s body until I am facing its back. My swords don’t falter, swinging up and scissoring across the back of its neck in a smooth decisive motion born from years of honing the same move in training and in actual combat. I hear the thump of its head followed by the second thump of its body, and pull the thin penlight from my pocket, trying to filter the sharp light through my fingers. I’m still cautious. The creature had been waiting for me, but there’s no other movement or noise.

  I retrieve my glasses quickly – they aren’t broken, thankfully – and find my pack. In the muted green glare of the glasses, the Vector’s shape is a dull outline. I quickly divest him of any of his gear that I can carry, including a wireless communications headpiece, which I tuck into my ear, and an electro-coil, a flexible strand of wire attached to a thick short handle, which I slip into my boot. I haul his body to the side of the area, and move toward the tunnel.

  That’s when the screaming starts.

  REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

  I bolt down the narrow passageway without any thought for my own well-being. All I can hear is Shae’s bloodcurdling scream, and it chills me to the bone. It sounds as if she’s being gutted while still alive. I’m flat-out running because I know the Vectors have no use for her, and while I am still upset at her betrayal, there’s no way I’d want my sister to suffer or die at the hands of those things… and especially not the big one.

  But as I draw closer, I can see that he’s not there. And neither is Caden.

  I refuse to panic, or even imagine that somehow the big one has already taken Caden back. I take a deep breath – first, I have to help Shae. The infrared green vision of my goggles identifies thrashing movement down the tunnel in front of me, and I click a button on the side of the arm that magnifies the image – there are only two of them and I recognize Shae’s wiry thinness immediately.

  The Vector lifts her body and slams it into the side of the wall like a sack of potatoes. I dart forward, ducking my head and full-on tackling him to the ground. There’s a dull thud as our bodies crash to the dirt, and I’m rolling, sword in hand, before I can even take another breath.

  The Vector is just as quick and already on his feet facing me. I spare a glance at Shae. I can smell the rusty odor of blood in the cramped space. Dread makes me dash forward, but I misjudge the Vector’s movement, as his fist catches me in the solar plexus and knocks all the air out of me.

  Gasping, my knees buckle and I swing my blade weakly across its side, but not before its elbow catches me in the back of the head. My face smashes against the rough rock of the tunnel, and I can feel the sharp sting of my skin peel off against the stone even as stars blind my vision. The Vector is on top of me before I can move, bashing my weapons out of my hands. I curl into a ball to protect myself, because I can’t get a strike in edgewise.

  Shae claws at its body from behind, and distracted, it slams a heel in her direction. I hear a vicious thump – presumably her body against the tunnel wall behind us – before it swings back to me, blows crunching into my ribs like a jackhammer. The pain is excruciating, but I force myself to stay focused.

  Somehow, I have to get out of this, if only to find Caden. If I don’t, we are all lost. The thought gives me a boost of strength as my hand slides down the side of my leg into my boot to grasp the handle of the electro-coil I took off the other Vector earlier. With a lurch, I flip my body around and jam my legs against the wall with all the force I can muster, wrapping one knee around the thing’s head. In quick succession, I twist to the side and jerk my knee backward, but I’m not quick enough.

  I’m thwarted as the Vector’s knee smashes into my skull, disabling my glasses… and suddenly, I’m blinking as my eyes adjust from infrared vision to shadowy darkness. In that second, it’s on top of me, crushing the breath from my chest with its weight. Fingers close around my windpipe and I can only kick wildly, my strength seeping out of me, clawing at its face and head in desperation. But it’s too strong and I can’t find the leverage to get out from under it.

  Suddenly, the Vector crumples like a dead weight against me, its steel fingers loosening around my neck, and I’m wheezing long breaths of the stale tunnel air like it’s the freshest I’ve ever breathed. A flashlight flicks on and Shae’s there, a dripping electro-coil in her hand and the severed Vector’s head a few feet away from where she’s standing.

  “Don’t you think we’re even, because we aren’t,” I rasp, squeezing out from beneath the creature. Shae smiles weakly and helps to kick the rest of the Vector’s body off of me. “Where’s Caden?” I ask her, and then say in the same breath, “How badly are you hurt?” Even in the dim light of the flashlight, I can see that her shirt is soaked with blood and she’s holding her middle with one arm.

  “Just a scratch,” she says, but I know that she’s lying – there’s too much blood and a heavy, foul odor of charred flesh. “Don’t worry; Caden’s safe. He’s outside. The big one shot me… he got too close, and I couldn’t slow Caden down, so I told him to go, and then I backtracked.”

  “Outside where?”

  “He’s safe,” Shae repeats resolutely, and I glare at her. There’s nothing but mistrust left between us. My eyes narrow.

  “Are you sure? What about the big one? Did you get it?”

  Shae’s eyes darken with frustration. “Just before you got here, it everted. I almost had it. One minute my blade was at its neck, and the next it was gone. It talked, too. About you.”

  I stare at her sharply. “What did it say?”

  “That you were a fugitive, that you would betr
ay Caden, and me, that you weren’t to be trusted.” I keep my eyes fixed on hers, and her voice continues softly. “But I knew that already. Then it said that it was sorry… sorry that it hadn’t killed me when it had the chance.” She pauses, and I know what she’s going to say even before she finishes her story. “That’s what got me, the knowing in its voice, like it somehow knew me. I hesitated with the kill strike and then it was gone.”

  “It’s father’s latest creation,” I say flatly. “Thinking Vectors, as if they aren’t terrible enough already. It’s some new prototype, one with its own memories. Did you hear its voice? It’s the same as his.” Softly to myself, I say, “A tribute to his vanity.” My eyes connect with Shae’s, and for a second, it’s like we’re trainees again, but the moment is gone in a breath, suffocated by everything since between us. “We need to get out of here.” I know that she isn’t going to tell me where Caden is, but I can track him easily enough on my own once we get outside. “Which way is out?”

  Shae nods back in the direction from where I’d come. “That way. Look, Riv, I’m sorry… for back there.”

  I don’t look at her, and instead pocket the dead Vector’s special terrain glasses, which are way more advanced than the night-vision ones I have. “Forget it. You did what you had to. I would have done the same. Or probably worse.” I shrug. It’s no secret between us what I am or what I’m capable of. “You’re OK to walk at least until we get outside?”

  Shae nods and falls into step with me. “It doesn’t mean I’m not sorry. I just can’t let anything happen to him.”

  “Well, you did a good job of that, didn’t you?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I regret them. She did the only thing she could have, short of killing Caden herself. “I just mean he has no training and he’s on his own.”

  “He has training,” Shae says softly. “Haven’t you seen him fence?”

  “No.” I’d missed his meet the one time I’d promised to go, helping to save Charisma from those predators. “Why?”

  “I taught him. All the techniques I know. It’s why he’s so good; he’s ranked number one in the state.” Before Shae defected, she’d been a master swordswoman. Though her personal preference was the crossbow, she’d been chosen to instruct others, myself included, in the intricacies of sword martial arts. She’d been the best of the best, until she’d trained me.

  “What did you fight against? Dummies filled with straw?” I snicker.

  “He fought me. He’s good, Riv.”

  “Good enough to fight a Vector?” I shoot back.

  “Good enough to fight you.” I remain silent, feeling the threat still thick in the air. I pick up the pace a bit, knowing that it won’t be easy for Shae, but she doesn’t complain, despite her slightly labored breathing. We’ve both been trained to withstand near-fatal injuries, and I don’t feel any sympathy despite her being my sister. She’d simply refuse any offer of my help, anyway. “The Vector also said there’s a bounty on your head. They want you alive.”

  “I know. He wants me back.”

  “Why?” Shae asks.

  I shrug. “To punish me, I suppose. I did torch their biggest genetic research lab before I left.”

  “You didn’t!” I can hear the smile in Shae’s voice, and I stifle the brief whisper of pride that flutters inside of me.

  “That was years ago,” I say flatly. “Who knows what he’s planning now?”

  We make our way out of the underground after a few more miles, and we end up in a deserted warehouse on the far outskirts of a neighboring town. I pull a couple bales of hay over the trapdoor that we just exited. It won’t stop anything from getting out, but we’ll at least have some notice if the hay starts moving.

  Shae fumbles in her pack and jams one of my injectors into her leg before collapsing to the ground and closing her eyes. Two in the space of a few hours is not exactly what they’re designed for, but I can see that our pace has cost her. Despite my reticence, I move to her side. I owe her my life, not that I would ever tell her that. She doesn’t protest when I unbuckle her vest, only to see a gaping hole on her left side with singed, blackened edges. A shard of something shiny glimmers on the inside of the wound.

  “Part of the electro-rod,” she rasps, wincing as my fingers gently touch the sides of it.

  “Why didn’t you say something before?” I grit out. My voice is angry, but it’s directed at myself, not her. I can’t think about how painful it would have been, and I feel even guiltier for not checking in the tunnel or at least offering some help.

  “No time before. Just need to… get it out now.”

  I nod and spray my hands with an alcohol solution from my med-kit. I can only imagine what had happened before I got there, when I’d first heard her scream. The Vectors are known for operating their electro-rods in open wounds. Even on the stun setting, the agony is brutal, like a laser on skinless tissue. It’s one of their well-used torture techniques. The Vector must have wedged it so hard into her that the silver tip of it had shattered.

  My body cringes with a phantom pain that isn’t mine. The agony would have been excruciating. I shiver and assess the damage carefully. The good thing is that the electric shock somewhat cauterized the gash, which means that at least Shae won’t bleed to death. Waiting for the adrenaline from the injector to kick in, as gently as I can, I pull out the sliver of silver and check carefully for any other stray pieces. By the time I’m certain there aren’t any left, I’ve removed twelve shards.

  I glance at Shae. Her eyes are closed and her breathing is shallow but even. I use the rest of my father’s numbing repair liquid to patch up the gaping wound, deftly taping a square of thick padded gauze from the med-kit over it. Tearing a strip from around the base of my shirt, I wrap the material as tightly as I can around her waist. I’m not entirely sure that the liquid and the bandage will do the trick, but it’s all I can do.

  “Thank you,” Shae whispers, staring at me as I buckle her vest closed. “Why are you even helping me? You should just leave me. You want me dead, remember?”

  “I don’t want you dead,” I say dully. Despite my anger at what she’s done, I don’t want her to be hurt at my hands. She is my sister, after all. Me wanting to kill her and someone else doing it are two totally different things. “Shae, I don’t want you dead,” I repeat firmly, as if to convince her and myself at the same time, and slide down the wall to sit by her side. “Look, I can’t promise you anything, but trust me, I don’t want to hurt Caden. The Vectors do – they want to kill him. For all I know, Cale could already be dead and Caden is going to be the last hope in his line. Either way, I need him. We need him. Don’t you get it?”

  “He’s a person, too. He’s real. Surely you can see that?” she says, countering my question with one of her own, and for a second, I’m afraid to answer. Because the truth is, for some reason when I think about him, my chest tightens in jerky response. And I know that Caden isn’t just a target anymore. I don’t answer Shae, but she sees the reaction in my eyes. “I see you do,” she says softly.

  “What I feel doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does,” she pauses, her voice quiet. “Because it means I can trust you with him. And trust that you’ll do the right thing. I thought I saw it before, but you were so cold, I just didn’t know. You’ve always been so good at keeping your feelings hidden. But now, I see it. You do care about him. Don’t you, Riv?”

  I hate the way her words are making my feelings about Caden even more real than they already are. And I’m not ready to deal with them yet. I’m not ready to open myself up to anyone, especially not Shae. I don’t look at her.

  “They’re not going to stop until he’s dead,” I say softly. “Until we’re all dead or taken.”

  “He’s back at Horrow,” Shae says after a while. She digs into her pack and takes out the circular case of stabilization pills. She pops a couple into her mouth. “That’s where he went.”

  “Horrow?” I reply, ignoring the stab of i
mmediate worry that twists through me at the sight of her taking more pills on top of the injector. The meds can turn toxic in the body with overuse. She must be more desperate than I thought, to risk dying. “But that’s the first place they’ll look.”

  Shae shakes her head and smiles. “That’s the beauty of it. They won’t. Vectors don’t understand high school, or the concept of school in this world, because their programmers don’t understand it.”

  “What?” I say, confused.

  “The idea of high school for kids this age doesn’t exist in Neospes. It’s a foreign concept to us. So, unless the Vectors were ordered specifically to look there, they won’t. Make sense?”

  “Not really,” I say. “Won’t they still track him there?”

  “Eventually, but we have a day or two at least. Caden won’t lead them directly back there.”

  But the more I think about it, what she’s saying makes an uncanny sort of sense. The Vectors follow orders – they don’t have the intuitive sense to think for themselves. They tracked Shae back to their house. I think back to when I came here on my own years ago, and the concept of school was been so utterly alien to me that it’d been a huge adjustment to even try to pretend to be a high-school student. In fact, I still am not good at it, which is why more often than not I usually get the “most likely to be a sociopath” label.

  “I don’t get it. Why do we even have to go back there? Caden should meet us. We should stick to the plan and get to the eversion point. That’s what we’re–”

  Shae’s expression freezes the rest of my words on my lips. “That’s not an option anymore. I got a text before. It’s crawling with Vectors. The minute they knew where we were heading, they swarmed it. They’re waiting for us. It’s a trap, Riven.”