Burned and Scarred (Burn this City Book 2)

by Brenda Poppy

  Nearby, an array of animals lurked, their eyes glued to the shape in wary intensity. Burn’s own eyes went wide, and her veins beat a warning from her stuttering heart. It was a sand bear; she was sure of it. Yet she couldn’t move, couldn’t convince her feet to carry her away from the threat. Flashes of her previous encounter played before her eyes like a preview of what was to come, filling her vision with violence and terror. She tried to swallow, but her throat had gone dry, as if the fear had sapped her body’s moisture along with its strength.

  Her eyes were fixed on the pile of sand, yet it had stopped moving. Her heart still hammered as she watched, but the creature made no further attempt to free itself.

  Burn didn’t know why she did it. There were no rational thoughts in her mind, no clear goals behind her actions, but she found herself changing course, walking with quiet steps toward the creature that could so easily be the death of her. One step, then two. Before she knew it, she’d halved the distance between them. Still the creature didn’t stir.

  Then Burn saw it: white. But it wasn’t the white of hair, the white that had haunted the shadows of her thoughts for days. It was the white of a torn shirt.

  With that realization, Burn flung herself forward onto the heap, digging with frantic fingers into the burning desert sand. Before long, her hand brushed skin and she grabbed hold, pulling with all her might on the figure’s arm.

  Panting, she heaved the torso out of the earth and began to wipe the sand from his eyes and mouth. And his hair – his vibrant red hair.

  “Jez?” Burn asked, holding his face in her lap. “Jez, can you hear me?”

  A moan came from his prone form, and Burn nearly wept with relief. He was alive. He was injured and clearly in need of food and water, but he was alive. Burn shouted for someone to bring her a canteen, and she poured some of the cool liquid into his open mouth, praying that they weren’t too late to save him.

  As she worked, the others gathered around her, issuing shocked gasps and worried declarations as they took in Jez’s state. Even the animals drew closer, their actions somehow tied to his. Burn shut them out, too focused on the man in her arms to care about what happened around her.

  “Jez?” she asked again, gently shaking his beaten body. “Jez, it’s me. It’s Burn. You’re safe now. I’m here.”

  She was surprised how small the gangly man felt, how breakable his body seemed. She wanted to take care of him, to nurse him back to health – but she also knew that she didn’t have the time, not if she wanted to return to Kasis. There were too many lives to protect, and she couldn’t possibly help them all.

  Just then, Jez’s head moved, twisting to the side, and he coughed, dislodging some of the sand and dirt from his throat. Weakly, he opened his eyes, taking in the scene before him.

  “Well, hi there,” he croaked to the assembled crowd – both human and animal – eliciting a genuine cheer from their ranks. The Viderens’ anxiety shifted to relief and joy as they realized that their friend and neighbor was alive – and likely would remain that way. Burn could feel their spirits lift and their thoughts soar as they thanked the gods for his safety.

  A crunching of sand underfoot alerted Burn to another presence in their midst, and she quickly turned her head to locate its source. Peering up between bodies and over furry forms, she could just make out Nara in the distance. Within a few minutes, she was upon them, making her way to the center of the crowd.

  “What did you find?” Burn asked, still seated on the sand with Jez. Looking up into Nara’s eyes, she couldn’t tell if the news was good or bad.

  Sighing, Nara crouched to Burn’s level, letting her gaze sweep over Jez before returning to Burn. “I saw Aberra,” she said simply, a small smile playing on her lips. “We’re not far now.”

  Another cheer, this one bolder and louder, flowed like a wave through the people of Videre, and this time Burn joined in. This was just the inspiration she’d been looking for.

  Chapter 21

  Jez was in love. He kept threatening to steal Aberra’s sheep and abscond with them into the night. Based on the fact that he couldn’t yet walk without assistance, the Aberrans didn’t take his warnings too seriously. They had, however, kindly offered to give him a mating pair in exchange for some of his animal expertise.

  Jez wasn’t coming with them to Kasis. He’d made that clear, and Burn respected his wishes. Still, she found it more difficult than she’d anticipated to leave him behind. She hadn’t realized how much his death had been weighing on her until that weight had been lifted. The sight of him alive and smiling had eased some of her sorrow, and saying goodbye threatened to make the darkness descend once again.

  But she knew she had to go. It was no longer a choice to be made, but rather an imperative standing immovable in her path. So she bid Jez adieu.

  It was oddly fitting that his was the last face she saw before setting off back to Kasis. He was, after all, the first person she’d set eyes on in this place. It was only right that his freckled face would be there when she departed, bookending her adventure in this harshly magical world.

  Their company had swelled to over 50 people, with several Aberrans even joining their ranks. Burn was secretly delighted to see that Mika and his parents had chosen to accompany them. The boy was overjoyed to finally be going to Kasis, and he kept listing all the things he’d tell his newfound sister once they’d met.

  An anxious excitement buzzed over the crowd as each person envisioned what the coming days might hold. Burn, too, felt a thrill of anticipation at seeing Scar again and returning to the familiar streets of Kasis, but her enthusiasm was tainted with apprehension. She couldn’t help feeling that something would go wrong, that fate would require a sacrifice. It was silly, she knew, but the thought nagged at her, tempering her euphoria.

  As if sensing her unease, Hale appeared by her side and slid his hand softly into hers. They walked in silence for a few minutes, leading their motley crew across the final few miles to the south side of the dome.

  “How do you think they’re going to do it? Get us back in, I mean?” she asked in an attempt to break the silence.

  Hale shrugged, keeping his fingers interlaced with hers. “You know your sister better than anyone, so you probably have a better idea than I do. But my guess would be something clever. Maybe she’ll cut a hole through the glass with a laser disguised as a pair of goggles.”

  Burn laughed lightly at his suggestion. Hale was different in the wildlands than he’d been in Kasis. He was freer somehow, more open. She couldn’t tell if it was because of her or because of the freedom they’d had away from the Peace Force. Either way, she dreaded losing that part of him when they returned and the pressures of life and rebellion descended once more. She dreaded losing that part of herself, too.

  To distract herself from her fears, she asked, “Do you think it’ll be dangerous? These people aren’t prepared for a fight.”

  “Yes,” he said without hesitation. In response to Burn’s questioning look, he continued, “Everything we do is dangerous. It’s part of what we signed up for. This won’t be any different. Although, knowing your sister, I’m sure she has a plan and a backup plan and backup for the backup plan. Together we can keep these people safe.”

  It felt like the tables had turned. Where Hale had once been jealous of her certainty, she was now envious of his. Yet his conviction was soothing, and it alleviated some of her anxiety. Looking back at the group they had assembled, she smiled.

  Maybe everything had happened for a reason – the Pit, Videre, her father. Maybe it was all part of a larger picture, simply a piece of the broader plan. The thought was comforting, and she held onto it, refocusing her eyes on the horizon.

  She didn’t know what was waiting for her out there, but for the first time, she was enjoying the journey.

  ✽✽✽

  Traveling through a highly patrolled city while carrying a pack full of explosives was a somewhat nerve-wracking experience, and Scar wouldn
’t have recommended it.

  She’d felt too conspicuous, too tall, too red, too shiny. Too different to possibly blend in. Yet somehow, she’d managed it. She’d stuck to the shadows, making her way silently upward through the grime and into the light, unobserved by the PeaceBots or their human counterparts.

  The top tiers were steadily recovering their brilliance, and the pollution that had been unleashed among them was almost completely controlled, leaving only wisps of noxious air in the otherwise clean streets. It was a pity. The smog suited them.

  Once again clothed in some of Symphandra’s finest creations, she’d marched through the upper echelons with purpose, as if she owned the world. After all, the people that lived up here did own Kasis, in all its polluted splendor. They owned it and controlled in and ran it into the ground. She was only paying them back in kind.

  With quick, precise movements, she’d traveled to the most secluded corners and planted her payback. The bombs weren’t large enough to cause serious damage, although they would trigger quite the commotion. It was only a pity that the air intake points were now heavily guarded; she would have enjoyed sending these charlatans back into the dark where they belonged. Instead, she’d have to settle for a different kind of chaos, a slower form of retribution.

  Of course, she hadn’t been working alone. Kaz and Cali had both volunteered to assist her, and the trio had divided up the city amongst themselves, allocating sectors and quarters like pieces of a pie. She’d taken the top, Cali the middle, and Kaz the bottom.

  It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was as close as they could get in two days. The execution, however, left something to be desired. While Kaz and Scar’s parts went off without a hitch, Cali wasn’t so fortunate.

  “There’s been a problem,” came the message, immediately making Scar pause. She’d been packing her things for the night’s magnum opus, placing an arsenal of inspired creations into a mundane cloth sack. But as soon as the message popped up, she froze, the worst-case scenarios running riot through her mind.

  “The Peace Force was searching everyone,” Cali’s next message read. “I couldn’t get past them. I had to dump the rest of the explosives.”

  “How many did you manage to place?” Scar sent back, the wires in her hair sparking in agitation.

  “Five. The rest are in a dumpster near the Saffron Quarter. It was the only place I could think to hide them.”

  Five. Scar had given Cali over a dozen devices to place throughout the mid-level tiers before arming them for the night’s event. That meant that more than half of them were currently sitting in a pile of trash, useless.

  “Is there any way to retrieve them?” Scar tapped her fingers on the table while she waited for a reply, anxious about this added hurdle. She had precisely timed the evening’s order of affairs, and they had no leeway for superfluous errands. If there was even a chance they could salvage the explosives, though, she would have to find the time.

  Unfortunately, Cali’s next message dashed Scar’s meager hopes. “No. The area is crawling with officers. It’s like they know something’s going down.”

  Damn, Scar thought angrily, cursing her opponents’ diligence. Why had they chosen tonight of all nights to make their presence felt? Had someone tipped off the Peace Force to what they were planning?

  Maybe it had nothing to do with them; maybe it was a mere coincidence, a bit of bad luck tossed their way by the vengeful hands of fate. But it felt like a bad omen, a warning of worse things to come.

  Still, Scar couldn’t dwell on it; she simply didn’t have the time. Burn was waiting for her, and she had to believe that they were prepared enough to weather this obstacle – and any others that fate might throw their way.

  “It’ll be fine. Continue on as planned.” Scar shot the brief message back to Cali before tucking the last of the gadgets into her bag and zipping it shut.

  This was it. This was what she had been waiting for. This was the night she would finally find Burn. This was the night she would save her.

  With that thought, she stepped out from behind the bright red door, closing it with a satisfying thud. Pulling her mask up over her face and her hood down over her hair, she melded with the growing darkness, becoming one with the shadows.

  Stealth seemed effortless that night. Scar floated through the streets with ease, aided by the billowing clouds of noxious smog that blanketed the streets, cushioning her footsteps and obscuring her hunched form. Even the Peace Force’s presence was light, with few bots and even fewer officers crossing her path. It was still before curfew, so the ones that were out paid her no mind, either not seeing her or not caring to see her as they made their predetermined rounds.

  Down she went, sinking deeper and deeper into the city until all that surrounded her were dirt and decay and the harsh faces of those who were forced to live amongst it. She made her way to the tunnel, hiding her destination with evasion and misdirection to further conceal her mission. Yet down here, no one cared who you were or where you were going. So they let her pass unbothered, let her slide out of the city proper and into the dusty wings.

  She was the first person to arrive at the scene. Her sentinels were already in place, spread out around the edges of the south side of the dome with their sensors trained on the desert. The PeaceBots were her eyes into the wildlands. Their feeds were synced to her tab, and anything they saw, she saw. They would be the ones to spot Burn and Hale through the night, sending the alert to Scar and setting the events in motion.

  So far, all was quiet on the southern front. Earlier that day she’d sent the tunnel’s exact coordinates to Burn’s goggles, certain her sister could follow them home. Now Scar whipped out her tab to peer into the night, looking for a spark of life. She knew it was too early. Night had not yet completed its takeover of the sky, and Scar could still make out threads of gold peeking from the horizon. Soon, though, it would be time. Soon Burn would appear, and Scar would finally know for certain she was safe.

  As if on cue, Cali materialized beside her, looking anxious but eager. “I’m sorry about the explosives…” she started to whisper, but Scar cut her off with a wave.

  “It doesn’t matter. Everything else is in place. The Peace Force won’t have a clue what’s going on.” Cali didn’t look entirely convinced, so Scar gave her a small, close-lipped smile.

  It seemed to reassure her, because she nodded and said, “Let’s get to work.”

  Scar turned her attention back to her tab. With a few rapid taps, she delivered her coordinates to the Lunaria, calling them to action. From across the city, they descended, leaving their homes and their families to once again put themselves in danger for the cause.

  Of course, not all of the Lunaria would be joining them. Such a large group would have drawn attention. And, when the choice had been put before them, not all of them were willing to partake. That was the danger of a citizen army. Their ideas sparked a passion, a desire to make a change, but not all were made for action. Not everyone could fight.

  One by one, the Lunaria emerged from the mist, silently joining this brotherhood of spies. While they gathered, Scar got to work, using her laser to open the passageway into the tunnel. This time it was easier, as if the bars remembered their old injuries and were happy to part at her touch. Within a few minutes, she’d lifted the grate from its frame, revealing the darkness of the tunnel beneath.

  In whispers and murmurs around her, the Lunaria divided themselves, splitting the company into saviors and guards. The smaller faction, those chosen to help Burn and Hale back into the city, would go with Scar. The rest would fan out across the area, keeping watch for anything – or anyone – out of place.

  This latter crew included Cali. It was also saddled with Ansel and Raqa, along with more than 20 other gifted citizens. Their job wasn’t just to observe; if anything went wrong, they were the front line. It was their duty to protect the others, to guarantee safe passage into the city. Scar hoped, for everyone’s sakes, that they’d never be c
alled upon to act.

  With a nod to her unit, Scar slipped into the tunnel, leading her troops into the belly of the beast. Behind her, several members rigged a makeshift ladder, allowing for an easy retreat back into the city. Scar paid them no mind, making her way down the central passageway and toward the city’s outer edges.

  She walked slowly this time, careful to avoid the jagged pipes that threatened to cut her and the steam that threatened to burn her. Toward the end, the tunnel filled with the same blinding haze, but Scar managed to find the hole and affix a light rope ladder to the top before gently lowering herself down. She walked forward, putting her hands on the barrier that stood between her and the outside world, between her and Burn.

  Digging into her bag, she withdrew several explosives and placed them around the edges of the steel wall, where metal bit into brick to form an impenetrable seal. Stepping back to consider her work, she smirked in satisfaction. This was going to be good.

  Retreating back up the hole and through the tunnel, Scar placed herself a safe distance from the blast site, warning the others to do the same. Seating herself along one of the damp walls, she pulled out her tab and waited.

  Scar wasn’t a patient person. She wasn’t made for sitting still or waiting quietly. She was made for working, for using her hands, for getting things done. If the situation demanded it, however, she could put on a show. She could calm her body and slow her breathing until she eerily resembled the machines that she tinkered with. Yet her mind would never acquiesce to such tranquility.

  So in the cool tunnel below the city, she sat, her eyes trained on her tab while her brain pummeled her with questions. Where was Burn? Was she out there? Would she make it in time? Would this work?

  All around her, the Lunaria lingered, waiting on her for their signal to move. Outside, night had fallen in earnest, stealing the last of the suns’ rays and thrusting a deep blue across the large expanse of sky. The silence in the tunnel itched with anxious energy, and all eyes fell on Scar, watching for any hint of movement, any trace of a reaction.