by Tanya Lisle
Roland glared down at him and grunted. He grabbed another fruit and popped it in his mouth. “Shouldn’t you be in school, kid?”
“All done,” Brady said.
“Then you got work. Get.”
“Nope.” Brady looked back up at him. “You’re from Upstairs, aren’t you? Are you down here because you’re in trouble?”
“None of your business.”
Time for a different tactic, Brady decided.
“I heard you came from Argentina, Mr. Roland,” he said. “Is it true? That the rest of the world is fine?”
“How’d you know my name?”
Brady shrugged. “Did you try to kill people, Mr. Roland?” he asked. “When you came here, you wanted to kill people, right? You know that’s a bad thing, right Mr. Roland?”
“Who are you?”
“Brady. You know you’re not supposed to kill people, right Mr. Roland? It’s probably why you’re in trouble now. But if you promise you won’t do it anymore, maybe they’ll be nicer to you.”
“You’re freaking me out, kid.”
“If you’re from Argentina, how did you get here?” Brady asked. “No one comes here. The haze kills everything and makes people sick. Is there haze in Argentina too?”
“What do you want, kid?””
“What’s Argentina like?” Brady asked, eyes wide and curious. “I’ve never been outside of Janus. How do I go to Argentina?”
“You make a lot of deals with the wrong people,” he said, popping another fruit into his mouth and avoiding looking at Brady. “Now get going. You don’t want to be hanging out with murderers.”
“But if you’re a murderer, then you’re a wrong person, right? So if I make a deal with you, I can go to Argentina. The earthquake’s probably fixed by now, right?”
Unsettled was exactly what Brady was hoping for. Roland stopped, looking down at him and meeting his eyes. Roland looked like he was caught somewhere between wanting to shut Brady up however he could and running away so he wouldn’t have to talk to him any longer.
Brady looked up at him, legs stretched out in front of him and feet rocking left and right on his heels. “I saw the mountain once,” Brady said. “You came from there, right?”
“She sent you, didn’t she? She would send children to deliver her messages.”
“Who’s she?”
“Don’t get mixed up with the girl on the mountain, kid,” Roland said. “She kills everything she touches and she gets in your head.”
“Is she in your head? If you have people in your head, that’s bad.”
“It is. She gets right in there and tells you to do stuff you don’t want to do. I still hear her every night telling me about the mountain — still calling me back to the mountain. It’s been years since I left that mountain.”
Finally, they were getting somewhere. “Why does she want you on the mountain?”
“She wants everyone on the mountain. Bring all your weapons and go to the mountain. It will bring you to where she’s hiding now and you’ll finally be able to take revenge for all the pain she’s put you through. You and the others who she’s hurt, all of us can finally… She says we’ll meet in the city tonight. We’ll find help there, and we’ll come for her. We need only follow the flames.”
“Why does she want you to kill her?” Brady asked.
Roland didn’t look up, falling silent at the question with the last piece of fruit between his fingers. He looked down at it with his brows furrowed.
Brady didn’t need an answer. He left Roland there, letting himself out and running back through the fields to the orchards. His mind spun, trying to keep everything straight as it worked through his mind. If Roland was right, then they were dealing with a lot of people who would be bringing whatever weapons they could with them to Regina tonight.
He needed to get back Upstairs and warn them. He needed Snow to get Upstairs so that they wouldn’t come down here. He needed to convince them to start evacuating people into the Medical Wing now in case someone decided to come ahead.
He needed to figure out just what Roland had told him before he started to panic.
There was a small crowd of people milling around the tree when he drew close and he could hear the worried and confused conversations as he got closer. They weren’t sure what they should do. Should they stop her? They should do something, but was it safe to get close right now? Where was that kid?
“What’s going on?” Brady called to them as he got close. They parted for him to get through the crowd. “What happened?”
“She just started doing that,” one of them said.
Snow sat at the foot of the tree with her head down and trembling fists clenched in her dress, now splayed out around her. She kept her head down and her hair covering her face, but Brady could see a few drops of red fall onto the swirling stars in the fabric.
“Snow!” he called to her, going to her side and grabbing her by her shoulders. Under his fingers, he could see her pale skin bruising up her arms. He tried to get her to look up at him. “Snow stop! That’s enough. You need to stop.”
Snow’s whole body started to tremble and went limp, Brady barely managing to catch her, resting her on the ground. Her hair tried to fall back, but some stuck in the blood running down her face from her eyes and out of her mouth. She was breathing, but it was irregular. So was her pulse.
“A little help, please?” he asked of the onlookers. The people behind him hesitated as he got up, going to the small medical kit he kept on him to try and start cleaning her up. One of the younger girls of about fifteen came forward and took a cloth from him to wipe the blood off her face while Brady checked the rest of Snow over.
“What happened?” he asked the girl.
“She fell out of the tree, I think. And then she wasn’t moving, but we kind of knew there was something wrong. I think someone texted Liah. Is she going to be okay?”
“Should be,” Brady said. In any other circumstance, this would be terrible, but in his time working with her, he knew she recovered remarkably quickly for someone that suffered this much internal bleeding on a regular basis. “Did she say anything?”
The girl shook her head. Around them, the crowd started to disperse. “We were wondering where you were, though. I thought you were supposed to be watching her.”
“I had to do something.”
“You know a lot about this for a kid.”
Brady looked her over. “I’m smart,” he said, turning back to Snow. “I think I’m okay now….”
“Keisha,” she said. “You’re Brady, right? I think I heard Liah call you that.”
Snow’s heart was already beating stronger and more regularly. He stopped checking and sat down next to her, looking up at Keisha. “I’m okay, Keisha. Really. You don’t have to wait with me.”
“Is it true that you’re really seventeen?” she asked. She immediately covered her mouth, eyes wide and apologetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask that like that! I just, I mean I-”
“It’s okay,” Brady said. He wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for. “It’s true. I’ve got a version of Greenberg’s Syndrome, so my body doesn’t age like everyone else’s.”
“Is that why you never talk to anyone?” she asked.
“Keisha, get back to work,” Liah called as she got closer. Keisha jumped and grabbed her basket, running back between the trees.
Liah watched her go before she surveyed the scene. “What happened?” she asked.
Brady shook his head. “She was like this when I got back. It’s a little worse than the other times, but she should be fine in a little bit. I don’t know what she was trying to do this time, though. Maybe if I could-”
“You know you’re shaking,” she said.
Brady looked down at his hands to find them trembling. He started to bring his knees up to his chest, but forced them back down and tucked his hands under them. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m not the one who’s unconscious on the groun
d, right?”
Liah nodded and plucked two apples off the tree, handing one to Brady and taking a seat across from him. “Take a breather,” she said. “You’re looking a little rough. I’m going to take a guess and say you found out something.”
“You could say that,” Brady said. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t know why she couldn’t see any of it. I don’t know if I should believe him.”
“You mean you actually got him to talk?” Liah asked. “That guy has been silent since he got here. Good worker, but not a talker.”
“People open up to kids,” Brady told her, looking up at her with wide eyes and raising the pitch in his voice. “If I’m cute enough, adults will tell me everything.”
“That is terrifying. Never do that.”
“I think I’m going to need to go back Upstairs,” Brady said, dropping his small child facade and looking at his feet. “Snow’s not good at getting information across. She doesn’t even know where to look for it half the time. If they’re going to stand a chance, I need to help Snow.”
“You do what you need to do,” Liah said. “You know I can just tell Ed whatever it is, right?”
Brady shook his head. “I’m still trying to figure it out. Roland said that he had dreams. Snow said something about dreams before, I think. If that lines up, then I think we’re in trouble. Or Upstairs is, I guess, but it means Snow’s gotta get out of here soon.”
“Did you figure out where they’re coming from?”
“Regina,” Brady said. “They’re picking up people from Regina and coming through there.”
“And when?”
“Arriving tonight.”
“I’ll let Ed know that much, at least. You can fill her in on the rest when you get up there.”
Brady nodded, his mind still reeling. There was no strategy to deal with this yet. Sure, Mac probably had some idea of what he was doing, but he had a bad feeling that this wasn’t going to be like the other raids in the past. They were used to dealing with people whose weapons had fallen largely into disrepair. Even their own bullets were rubber most of the time.
There was also the plane to worry about. And whatever it was that Tavorian planned. If she had brought an earthquake down on a town, then there was no telling what she would bring here. Whatever it was, he knew one of the two of them would cause the fire that signaled Providence’s people.
Snow sat up next to him. She still looked weak, but touched her face and managed a smile when no blood came back. “I found out where the plane is going to crash,” she said. “It will fall in the center of the complex.”
Brady’s face fell at the sound of that. “That’s bad,” he muttered, looking around at nothing at all and a fresh surge of panic flooding through him. The Medical Wing was in the center of the complex. It was where they normally evacuated to.
“What’s the problem?” Liah asked.
“We have to go,” Brady said, getting to his feet. “Snow, we have to go now. We have to tell Ed. Do that thing you do to show up Upstairs and bring me with you.”
“You won’t enjoy the trip,” Snow said, getting to her feet.
“If I can’t handle it, just hand me over to the Medical Wing so I can warn everyone when I wake up. We need to go see Ed right now.”
“Yes.”
Brady looked back to Liah and shoved his untouched apple in his pocket. “After this is all over, can I please come back?”
“Just make sure you stay alive, Brady,” Liah told him. “And try to keep an eye on Ed. She’s a bit careless about herself.”
Snow put her hand on his shoulder and he felt like he was floating in the middle of an endless abyss. Time stopped, as had the universe. The universe was so small from here and so insignificant. He was even less than that, less than even a speck of dust on the wind.
His body was gone. He didn’t need it anymore, not that he’d miss it. All that remained was his mind, and that was quickly fading away as well. Deep in the void, there was nothing of him necessary. In the void, Brady Greenwood ceased to exist.
Chapter 18
The Medical Wing bustled with activity as they prepared for an influx of people. People walked around with fresh linens and moved medical equipment out of rooms, as well as moving weaponry into them. There were already more people in the wing than normal, none of them paying much attention to their surroundings unless it had something to do with their task at hand.
Snow’s appearance alone didn’t draw any eyes. They walked around her as if she was in their way and otherwise were far too busy getting ready for attacks that could come any day now to be bothered with a patient that was probably someone else’s problem.
What made them pause was the unconscious child in her arms.
“Miranda!”
It took only a moment for Miranda to round the corner, running to Snow and looking breathlessly between her and her unconscious child in Snow’s arms. She was ready to yell as soon as she could catch her breath, trying already to get the words out, when Snow held him out for her to take.
Miranda took him in wonder, looking up at Snow. Her mouth moved, but she was still too winded to make the question come out.
“He wanted to be taken here,” Snow said.
“Why?” Miranda managed to get out.
“He plans to warn everyone when he wakes up that the plane will crash here and you will need to evacuate.”
Miranda opened her mouth to say something more, but Snow’s task was done. Miranda was unpleasant and she needed to speak to Ed, so she left.
“If they’re coming from Regina,” Ed said, pointing to a map projected on a large glass table, “then that means they’re probably going to be hitting somewhere between Sections C and G. I can get Iris loaded, but there’s not much coverage in D or E in terms of firepower.”
“Why the hell not?” Mac asked.
“Because that’s where they used to keep the kids. And where we still keep the kids. People aren’t generally comfortable having guns around that could be pointed at kids if someone’s having a bad day.”
“Hello Snow,” Kitty said, looking up from the table. She blinked and looked down at Snow’s dress, but said nothing and returned her eyes to Snow’s face. “We just got the text.”
“You know where Providence’s forces will appear,” Snow said, getting closer to the table to see where Ed’s finger left marks on the surface.
“Why do you sound surprised about that?”
“I can’t see where she’s coming from.”
“She worked with a consultant Downstairs,” Ed told them without looking up from the map. “He probably figured it out, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have anyone to spare for these sections?” Ed asked, bringing their attention back to the area. Her left hand was on her phone, flicking through screens and options, head shaking at every incorrect press and trying to look back and forth between the map and whatever was happening on her small screen.
“We can assign them,” Mac said. “You know where exactly they’re coming from this time?”
“I can’t see where she’s coming from,” Snow repeated.
“Regina,” Kitty offered, her eyes on the map and her fingers moving across her phone. “Which at least tells us where we’re pointing the cameras to keep an eye out for them. You’re positive they’re coming, right? Any more info than that?”
“They will come, but...” Snow furrowed her brow, looking at the map and trying to determine what would happen in that actual spot. She could see the past, where people walked past it before and where two more walked past it now, but she could see nothing beyond the present point in time that would happen there. It wasn’t just there, either. There were many places that she couldn’t see anymore. There was an impression of something, but she couldn’t tell what point in time it occurred or what it even was.
As she stared at the spot, Ed, Mac and Kitty continued to talk around her. They were low on enforcements, especially since a lot of
people from the last attack hadn’t fully recovered yet. Even Kitty still walked with a limp, though she refused to let it stop her. To make up for it, they armed everyone who had ever learned to fire a gun in the base to call on them should they be required, though they didn’t have supplies to armour that many people.
“Tomorrow,” Snow said finally, staring at the line of the wall. “It will happen somewhere here at a time tomorrow when the haze is bright.” She drew a large circle with her finger around a section of the wall.
“Your face is bleeding,” Kitty said.
Snow wiped away the blood from her cheeks. “I’m fine.”
“That’s three sections,” Mac said, looking over the new area that Snow indicated. “I need something more specific. Didn’t you have it down to a door and a time last time?”
“Yes.”
“Do it again. We need to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“Maybe we get the consultant she was working with,” Kitty suggested, putting her hand on Mac’s shoulder to pull him back. “He’s probably the one that’s been able to get her to come up with what we know now, right? And who knows how to get something out of her without her leaking blood.”
“Yes.”
“No,” Ed said, “We can’t get him here. Snow, just let us know what you can as we’re coming up with this if you see anything that needs changing.”
“There’s no reason we can’t bring him up,” Mac said. “If it means we’re getting more intel, then-”
“No,” Ed said. She picked up her phone and kept flipping through screens, shaking her head as she jabbed at the screen. She went to the corner of the room and slid open three panels, revealing a computer with a keyboard built into the wall that flickered to life at the first keystroke. “He’s not coming and it’s going to take too much time to arrange for the move. We already shut down the elevator. We just have to deal with the information we’ve got.”