“Who are you aiming at?” Aaron asked in a whisper. His eyes squinted in anger. “I wish I were up there, I’d throw you out the window. Traitor.”
My heart sank when I heard him say this. I had planned to tell Aaron everything. I was going to tell him about Connor, about my own unique abilities, but he had been captured. I knew I was able to speak to Connor, but I wasn’t sure if it would work for Aaron. There was only one way to find out.
“Aaron,” I said out loud. I tried to keep it quiet. “Aaron, you don’t understand. He’s on our side.”
His face didn’t change. He didn’t hear me. He didn’t feel me. I called out his name again, this time a little more loudly, but there was no response from him. I didn’t know why it had worked with Connor, but it sure didn’t work with Aaron.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the two had been placed in those two rooms on purpose. Maybe Jeremiah wanted Aaron to see Connor killing Resistance soldiers. It wouldn’t have surprised me.
My thoughts shifted back to Evelyn.
“No, I’ll do it,” Allison said. “They say we’re surrounded, so there is no telling the rest of them to go back. But it shouldn’t be you who gives yourself up.”
Evelyn didn’t say anything, but nodded.
I didn’t know what kind of deal they had just struck, but there was no way I was going to let them take Christopher and just give him to Jeremiah. Christopher wasn’t even supposed to be here.
I opened my eyes and bolted from the corner of the building to the middle of the street, sprinting back to where I had left Christopher and Jeffrey. When I got to them, Jeffrey was standing in a squat and Christopher rested up against the back tire of the truck we had left.
“Christopher,” I said, “we’ve got to get you out of here.”
“Where are we going?” he asked.
I looked at Jeffrey. “Can you drive this toward the hideout?”
“Sure, why?”
“Martin double-crossed us and he’s headed there right now.”
“What’s happening up there?” Jeffrey asked, pointing in the direction of Evelyn and the others.
“I don’t have time to explain, just help me get Christopher in the truck. We’ve got to go after Martin and get the explosives.”
Jeffrey didn’t ask any more questions. Christopher was able to pull himself up and fall into the back seat as I got into the passenger side. Jeffrey started up the engine and backed out of the convoy. He smashed his foot against the gas pedal and I set my rear on the window, sitting on the outside of the vehicle. If the Resistance soldiers truly were surrounded, then Screven guards would be waiting for us down the road, guns ready.
I was right.
Three black-clad soldiers held their rifles up at us. At first, Jeffrey started to slow down until I yelled at him to keep going. The guards let off shots i
I got back into the front seat and told Jeffrey to keep driving toward the hideout. I shut my eyes and focused back on Connor. As he stared down the scope, his heart started to beat faster. The crosshairs lined up on Allison who had gone out into the street. She was alone and held out her rifle above her head as she walked toward the trucks.
“She’s surrendering,” Connor said.
“Take the shot,” Trace answered.
Connor looked back at him. “I’m on your side, but I’m not a cold-blooded murderer.”
“That woman is a traitor,” Trace said. “I’m ordering you to shoot her.”
Anthony nodded in agreement.
Connor let out a sigh and looked through the scope again. How could he have gotten himself into all this? He knew this was not just another test from Jeremiah. He had checked the ammunition. They really wanted him to kill Allison.
I could hear Connor’s thoughts. This shot was to be the signal for the guards to release the greyskins into the city. From his position, I could count maybe twenty trucks, all of them filled to maximum with the undead. I couldn’t believe that Jeremiah would do this to his own city.
As the commander on top of one of the trucks exchanged words with Allison, Connor tried to focus. He wasn’t too familiar with this gun. He hoped the sight was accurate. He aimed for her right shoulder. A few inches, a slight flinch of a muscle could kill her. He wasn’t going to try to kill her. But if he could just shoot her and put her on the ground, there might be a chance that she lived through the ordeal and Trace might be convinced that it was an honest try.
I switched my thoughts to Evelyn who watched from behind cover.
“I said order your soldiers to throw their weapons to the ground,” the commander yelled.
“If I do that, you will either kill them or set the greyskins on them,” Allison said, nodding at the truck on which he stood.
Evelyn could hear the greyskins growling inside the trucks. They were trying to get out. They could hear people. They knew they would be able to feed if they could just be released.
“What makes you think we have greyskins?” he asked, pretending not to hear the noise below his feet.
Allison never got a chance to answer as a booming shot from the Center cracked through the air and Allison fell to the ground. Immediately, blood began to flow from her body. Evelyn screamed out in horror, frantically looking for the shooter. The commander raised up his bullhorn and called for his men to release the greyskins. Evelyn ran out from behind her cover, arms waving in the air. Heather and Danny ran after her, trying to get her to stop, but she didn’t even seem to hear them.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Wait!”
The commander held up an arm.
“I am Evelyn,” she said, huffing. She stood next to Allison’s bleeding body. Danny and Heather stood only a few feet behind her. “Jeremiah will know that name. I’m the leader of the Resistance across all the colonies. I have something Jeremiah wants. I have a healer. Just let the soldiers go and leave the greyskins in the trucks.”
The commander looked at her for a long moment, almost as if to calculate in his mind if anything Evelyn said was true.
“Please,” she said. “You’ve got to believe me.”
“Who are these two?” he asked, ps tointing to Danny and Heather.
Evelyn looked back. “They are soldiers.”
“They are Starborns,” the commander said. “That’s what I assume anyway, if you are who you say you are.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Even as I watched, I couldn’t believe any of this was actually happening. I quickly moved my thoughts to Aaron. I know he must have seen everything. His hatred for Connor was probably growing by the second. Watching him, I saw him yelling in anger, banging against the window. Tears had been falling down his cheek, probably because he had just witnessed his adopted brother gun down the leader of the Screven Resistance. If there was ever a question of loyalties about Connor in Aaron’s mind, it had been answered with a single squeeze of a trigger.
Switching to Connor, I could sense the sick feeling in his stomach. He slumped against the window, hoping and praying that he hadn’t just ended the Resistance’s chance by shooting Allison. He had aimed for the shoulder, but he hadn’t been able to see where the bullet landed. Was Allison still alive? He looked through the scope, but it was impossible to tell if she was breathing. Trace and Anthony congratulated him on a nice shot, but he barely heard them. He just wanted them to die.
I switched back to Evelyn and watched as the commander contemplated her words. His thoughts were interrupted by Allison on the ground. She started moving, groaning out in pain from the gunshot wound.
“Is that all you got?” she mumbled. She pulled herself up to her feet and blood fell from her shoulder. Connor’s shot had been true.
The commander reached for his radio and called someone over to him. In a few moments, two guards walked across the courtyard with long metal restraints for each of the four.
“These shackles will control even the most powerful Starborn,” the commander said. “If you try anything aggressive, they will send e
nough electric bolts through your body to fry you from the inside out. I welcome any of you to test me and see if I’m bluffing.”
Heather looked up at Danny, but he only shook his head. This was no time for heroics. All of them knew what kind of situation they faced. A guard first snapped shackles around their wrists and then wrapped a chain around their bodies until their arms were completely tied up.
Allison grimaced as the chains rubbed against her fresh wound. The bleeding hadn’t stopped and she had already begun to turn pale.
“I’m taking your word for it, Evelyn,” the commander said. “You’ve won your audience with Jeremiah, but you better be good on your word. I don’t think he would be happy to hear you are lying about the healer.”
“You release those greyskins,” Evelyn said, “and I won’t tell him anything about the healer. You make sure he knows that ahead of time.”
The commander waved her off. “Put them in a secure room,” he told one of the guards.
I opened my eyes and we were almost at the hideout. I sat in a stunned silence for a long moment, thinking about how almost all of my Starborn allies had been captured. Jeffrey and Christopher had no idea. We were all that was left. There wasn’t a chance that the Screven guards were going to let the other Resistance soldiers go either. They would probably remain surrounded until there was an order from Jeremiah to do something else.
Jeffrey slowed the truck to a stop when he saw Martin in the middle of the road, rifle in hand. He must have seen us following him. Jeffrey looked at me with concern. “What’s he doing?”
“He’s going to try to kill us,” I said. “Stay here for a secoy lookend.”
I pushed open the truck door and as soon as I stood to my feet, I could feel myself getting light-headed. Christopher’s healing touches seemed to become less effective on me, while he became sicker each time.
As I shut the door, I felt a terrible headache coming on. I stumbled forward and Martin pointed his rifle at me. I swatted it away like a fly. He stood there against his truck, petrified.
“I did what I had to do!” he said.
“You know more people are going to die because of you, right?” I asked. “Just like all the people in the prison.”
“But they were prisoners!” Martin came back.
I shook my head at him. “You know as well as I do that most of them were there under false accusations. Jeremiah wanted them there. He wanted to feed his pet greyskins. He wanted to feed himself.”
“I’m not going to listen to you,” Martin said.
“What’s Jeremiah’s next move?” I asked, still moving forward.
“I don’t know.”
“Liar!” I pinned him up against the side of the truck with my mind.
“I really don’t know!”
“Do the explosives even actually work?” I said, nodding at the truck.
“Of course they do,” he said. “They are the same batch as from the prison explosions. I was leaving to blow up the hideout. I didn’t want there to be evidence of names in case any of the soldiers escaped.”
“Feeling guilty?” I asked.
Martin swallowed.
I turned my back to him and started walking back to the truck. “I’m taking those explosives from you,” I said. I motioned for Jeffrey to come help me. When he stepped out of the driver’s side, his eyes went wide. “Mora! Look out!”
When I turned my head back, I saw Martin rearing back his arm, a shining knife in his hand, ready to throw it at me. When he threw it, the knife sailed through the air, and I ducked down, focusing all of my attention on it. Like a boomerang, I felt it whiz past my head and curve around as I sent it slicing toward Martin. He looked shocked when the blade slipped between two of his ribs, puncturing his heart. The traitor slumped to his knees, staring me in the eyes until he fell onto his own weapon. He was dead.
I could feel my knees getting weaker. I needed to sleep. I needed to crawl into a corner and die. Christopher couldn’t help me anymore. But we were out of time.
The others had been captured and Evelyn was about to promise Jeremiah a healer. But he wasn’t getting him. I didn’t know how or even when, but I knew I was going to get into the Center. I knew I was going to blow it up. I had to. Everything depended on it.
I just needed to stay alive a little while longer.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
It was evening. Jeffrey, Christopher, and I had taken shelter inside the Resistance hideout away from the commotion of the Center. None of us had any idea if Jeremiah or the Screven soldiers knew where the hideout was, but with most of the essential players caught, I didn’t expect anyone to come by to look for us any time soon.
Jeffrey had driven the truck of explosives and I had taken the other vehicle with Chf time.
The three of us sat at the table where we had the meeting earlier. Christopher rested his head in his arms as Jeffrey simply stared down, lost in his thoughts. My head felt like it was going to explode. Normally I would just think it was some kind of migraine coming on, but I knew it was the virus making its way through my brain. I was coming to the point where I would begin to lose it. From what I had seen before, I knew the virus slowly took over the body, leaving the victim immobilized long before it actually killed him or her. Though I was the only one infected, Christopher and I shared the pain. I hoped I wouldn’t be immobilized for a few more hours.
Jeffrey finally looked up at me. “I know what you can do,” he said. “I know you can see people. I know everything.”
I said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
He looked back down at the table. “You need to watch the others. Go to a room by yourself if you have to. Find out what’s going on. Once you know what’s happening, we can make a better plan.”
He was right. I was actually glad that he already knew about my abilities. It meant I didn’t have to concoct an excuse whenever I had to shut my eyes, no doubt making weird faces in reaction to the things I saw. I nodded at him and stood from my seat. For a brief second, I blacked out and had to hold the table to steady myself. Once my vision cleared, I nodded at Christopher.
“Make sure he’s doing okay,” I said. “Just keep an eye on him.”
Jeffrey agreed, and I left the room.
I didn’t know where I was going. There was no real reason for me to leave except for the possibility that I might have something to say to Connor. Often times these little exchanges could get emotional. I didn’t want Jeffrey staring at me while my mind was off in another place.
I walked down a hallway and contemplated going into one of the other rooms, but finally decided to just sit on the floor against the wall. As I rested my head against the stone, I thought about all of those that were captured. I wanted and needed to see all of them, but I didn’t know where to start.
The first to come to my mind was Connor, because he hadn’t actually killed Allison like he was supposed to. It definitely looked like he tried, but I didn’t know if it was good enough for the aggressive Trace who didn’t seem to care if Connor lived or not.
I could tell that Connor sensed me when my consciousness started to look over him. He sat alone on a bed in a tiny room, weaponless. He wasn’t tied or chained, so perhaps he wasn’t in trouble.
“What’s happening?” I ask him out loud.
Connor stood from the bed and walked over to the door. He opened it a couple of inches to peek out and see if anyone might be listening. When he was satisfied, he closed the door and walked back to the bed.
“Trace didn’t like the fact that Allison was still alive,” he said. “But everything changed when Evelyn came out into the open. It was as if they had scored some major victory.”
“That they did,” I said. “Evelyn has been Jeremiah’s rival for a long time. I just learned of this recently. They have a past.”
“Really? That makes sense then. They kept saying that Jeremiah would be pleased to hear about this. Then they told me to stay in here. I fear they have no more use
for me now that they have Allison and Evelyn.”
“I’m still out here,” I said. “I’m Jeremiah’s enemy too.”
“I’m afraid Evelyn trumpr about ths you,” Connor answered.
“If it can keep you alive, use me. Tell them you know where I am and you can bring me out to capture me. I know Jeremiah still sees me as a threat.”
“We will see,” Connor said. “I wish I were with you.”
I almost said the same, but I wouldn’t have meant it. Of course I wanted nothing more than to have Connor with me, but I didn’t want him to know about the virus. I didn’t want him to see me die that way. I couldn’t help but think it was crazy that when I had finally decided that I loved Connor, I had been given a death sentence by a blinking red light.
“My time left at the Center is short,” he said. “They will decide to get rid of me soon enough. I’m going to see what I can do about getting the others out. If I can manage to release Danny and Heather, we might actually be able to start something here. Their capture might be the best thing that could have happened.”
“Just be careful and don’t get yourself killed,” I said.
He smiled, staring at the wall in front of him.
“I’m still going to try and find a way into the Center,” I said. “I don’t know how, but if you aren’t able to get them out, Christopher, Jeffrey, and I might be the only chance of ending this.”
“I don’t know how you’ll manage that,” Connor said. “This place is locked down tight. The only reason I think I might be able to get the others out is because Jeremiah and his hunters somewhat trust me right now. But like I said, that could change very soon.”
“Maybe I will see you on the inside,” I said.
“I hope so.”
I left Connor to be alone in the room and my next target was Evelyn. Her hands were tied behind her back and she sat alone in a room in one of two chairs. I watched for several long minutes before anyone came in. It was a Screven guard. He instructed her to stand so he could check her for weapons.
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