Numbers Raging (Numbers Game Saga Book 3)

by Rebecca Rode

  British soldiers covered in dirt and blood were engaging Chinese soldiers. Both sides now hid behind transports. As I watched, the Chinese tossed some kind of grenade across the street. A yell went up among the British soldiers, and they dove for cover. Then the vehicle they were hiding behind exploded, instantly going up in flame.

  I silently turned and ran on.

  Finally, the treatment plant appeared in the distance. Wide and flat, the series of buildings was difficult to pick out at the edge of the city. Round storage pools covered with solar roofs surrounded a taller square in the center, much like a giant flower.

  The road ended at a gate with an old-fashioned chain-link fence. Not the most secure situation, but cheap. This structure had obviously been built long ago.

  I climbed up the fence, swung my legs over the top, and shimmied down. Not a Chinese airship in sight. This might actually work.

  It wasn’t hard to find the generator. I worried that the EMP had affected it, but like everything else, it must have been shielded. Housed in in the tallest building, the machine hummed loudly and efficiently along. Next to it stood some kind of pump. That had to be what injected the antidote. The machines were huge, easily the size of two transports stacked on top of each other, and they reeked of oil and old wiring.

  I searched for an off switch on the generator but found nothing obvious. Then I fiddled with some of the wiring before initiating an all-out war against the poor machine—hacking at it with a wrench, then a hammer. Smoke spilled from the center, creating an unbearable stench that had me covering my nose, but the thing just kept humming. I couldn’t just switch it off—I had to disable it. I had to destroy this entire building and the water it protected.

  I just didn’t know how to do that.

  Voices sounded outside.

  There was practically nowhere to hide. I cursed and ran behind the generator just as the door opened. I peeked around it and groaned inwardly.

  There, limping inside with a bandaged leg and a fresh unit of guards, was President Chiu.

  The giant gun’s massive shot slammed into my consciousness, and I found myself on the ground. I shook the dizziness away. Had I blacked out?

  The world was strangely silent. I looked up just as a black jet rushed by. It overshot the border wall and hit the ground on the other side of the city, sending black smoke curling to the sky. Several other black aircraft tilted at an odd angle and then dove into distant buildings. A grouping of black dots—I’d assumed they were aircraft, but they were bunched too tightly together—came to an abrupt stop and plummeted like a flock of dead birds. Some kind of drones, maybe?

  The oncoming Chinese ships had banked sharply and circled wide of our location, almost like they were watching the show. I couldn’t tell whether I’d hit anything—if so, the injured aircraft had crashed somewhere out of sight.

  A heavy ringing lingered in my ears, and I shook my head again to clear it.

  What was going on?

  Figures began streaming out of nearby buildings, watching the sky and sprinting across the street to the border wall. I forced myself to my feet and beckoned them on, motioning for them to escape while our enemies were distracted.

  The realization hit moments later. Coltrane’s EMP. That had to be it.

  The EMP was supposed to be a last resort. My thoughts instantly turned to Treena. I recalled Denoux’s shouting and the blast over the feed and felt instant alarm. They hadn’t tried to communicate since then, which was a very bad sign. I lifted the radio. “Is anyone there?” My voice sounded distant.

  There was only static.

  Chiu frowned and pinched his nose, muttering in Chinese. His guards replied, and he nodded.

  To my surprise, Guard Lady was with him. She walked unsteadily and looked a little sick, but she had obviously awakened from the stunner blast. I saw the bulge of Denoux’s small gun at her side.

  The pellets. I could feel the weight of the bag in my pocket.

  The group approached the generator, still discussing something softly in Chinese. Had they followed me here? No, they hadn’t sent guards around the room to look for me. In fact, they seemed intent on the generator itself. Perhaps checking to make sure it hadn’t been impacted by the EMP?

  They stopped right in front of it, just two yards away from where I hid.

  I held my breath, trying to think quickly. Denoux had said to shoot the pellets and they’d explode within seconds. If I could just get that special gun from her without anyone knowing.

  But that would be impossible anytime soon. She lingered at the far side of the group on the other side of Chiu.

  I examined the generator’s back side, looking for anything resembling a power switch. There were no exposed wires to cut, and I had nothing sharp anyway. The lights overhead were controlled by a panel near the door, far across the room, so I couldn’t turn those off.

  Chiu turned on one of his guards and began to argue with him. I peeked around the generator. The poor man looked stunned, bowing his head and taking the harsh words with an admirable humility.

  Then Guard Lady looked at me.

  With a shout, she pulled her gun around. Chiu turned, surprised, as the other guards brought out their weapons. Then he said something quick and harsh in Chinese. The guards lowered their weapons, looking embarrassed, and moved to circle the generator.

  Ah. Chiu didn’t want them shooting bullets in here, so close to the equipment. Even stunners could be dangerous. Perfect. I shoved my hand into my pocket and slid the bag open. Then I quietly dumped some of the lightweight pellets on the ground.

  The guards had almost surrounded me now. Just before they made their move, I bolted from behind my perch, heading straight for Guard Lady, who had just put her gun away. Her eyes went wide as I tackled her.

  I fumbled at her pockets and came out with the weapon, but a heavy blow to the eye sent me rolling. The gun flew out of my hand and hit the floor, sliding centimeters from my hand. The room spun around me as I felt my face beginning to swell.

  Guard Lady recovered before I did. She scrambled over and grabbed the gun, then stood up, looming over me.

  “What is this?” she asked. “I have never seen one like it.”

  “Give it to me,” Chiu commanded.

  I groaned and sat up. The other guards rushed over and pulled me to my feet as Guard Lady brought the weapon to Chiu and handed it to him with a small bow. The guards shoved me toward where the president stood, then shoved me to my knees at his feet. I glared up at him. The man’s shirt was covered in dried blood. My father’s blood.

  “No bullets,” he said thoughtfully, turning the weapon over. “Yet it is not designed like a stun device. Tell me what it does, young empress.”

  “That secret will go down with me.” I swayed to the side a bit, allowing the open bag in my pocket to spill its contents quietly onto the ground.

  He nodded and leveled the gun at me. “As you say.”

  Guard Lady’s smile froze as she noticed the pellets beneath my hands. “No—”

  I hit the ground and rolled as Chiu pulled the trigger. A strange vibration rippled through the air, but nothing else happened. I reached the generator and yanked the bag out, scattering what was left of the pellets around the giant machine. Then I took off at a sprint toward the door.

  “What is this?” Chiu demanded, staring at the tiny circles on the ground. “Stop her, you idiots—”

  Heat exploded at my back. I stumbled as a rush of air threw me forward but managed to keep my footing. I turned to see Chiu shrieking and leaping around. The pellets on the ground had caught fire, and the flames spread to his injured leg. With a collective yell, his guards rushed over and started whacking at the blaze that now engulfed half his leg. They were so occupied they didn’t seem to notice the flames moving quickly toward the generator.

  Get out, a primitive voice screamed deep inside me.

  Chiu had done horrible things. He wore my fathe
r’s blood, for fate’s sake. If anyone in the world deserved to die, it was this man. But I wasn’t a monster.

  “You’d better run,” I called across the room.

  Guard Lady’s head jerked up, and she whipped out her gun. A shot rang out and fire sliced through my side like a hot knife. I gasped, feeling my knees buckle beneath me. I struggled to stay upright.

  Get out.

  I tensed my stomach muscles to take a step, but that small movement was excruciating. I gritted my teeth and placed a mental wall between myself and the pain, counted to three, and shoved myself forward. A wrenching scream tore from my throat and I stumbled, hitting a wall. The heat at my back grew unbearable. Those last pellets would combust any second.

  Get out.

  Each step was utter agony. I blinked away the blackness closing in on my vision and shoved the door open, stepping outside. The cooler outside air hit my heated skin, bringing with it a burst of clarity. The water-treatment plant was about to blow.

  Get out, get out, get out, get—

  Then the blast came.

  The Chinese formation swooped by without dropping their bombs. As we looked on, they closed their lower hatches and began circling the city instead. We took that opportunity to focus on evacuations, eyeing the sky in confusion. What had happened?

  Less than an hour later, they separated—some landing in the city, others going back the way they’d come. A massive cheer went up among our remaining refugees.

  Now, two hours later, the sun was low in the sky. Three quarters of NORA’s citizens had evacuated, most of them choosing to take Anton’s underground tunnel even though any immediate threat was gone. The ECA’s strange departure was a relief, but it bothered me how suddenly it had occurred. I stood watching the city, looking for any sign of Treena.

  I lifted the radio again. “Vance here. Come in, anyone.”

  Static.

  Treena had never told me where the base was, or I’d be there already. Even now I was torn between looking for her and fulfilling my promise to help the last of the citizens—mostly the elderly and hospital patients—escape.

  The refugees shuffled along, keeping their loved ones close. Their stricken faces revealed they were just now grasping the reality of their situation. A deathly silence hovered over the entire city. The distant shooting had stopped. No humming of transports, no citizens on their way to work, no children heading for school. These people had been uprooted.

  I understood that feeling. I’d lost my home too.

  Selia approached from the direction of the gate, several smaller figures at her side. Her children. Two of them broke into a brisk walk when they saw me. Laura bounded across the street, Lucy just steps behind her. They looked a little shaky and pale, but they were finally walking around. Practically running, in Laura’s case.

  Selia smiled as I crouched and let Laura run into my arms. “There you are,” she said breathlessly. “I know I was supposed to wait until it was all clear, but the girls couldn’t wait any longer to see you.” She leaned in. “I heard about the Council Building and the palace. Is it true they’ve both been completely leveled?”

  That described most of the city, from where I stood. Where tall buildings had once loomed, there were broken shards, like fingers pointing to the atmosphere above. I’d seen destruction like this only once before—a few blocks away at the palace, just months earlier. Now half the city looked like that. Or worse, I thought as I glanced over to the black smoke streaming into the sky.

  “We’re going to cross the desert,” Laura said to me matter-of-factly. “Everyone is. We’ll find a place to live and build a new house that’s really big. Now that our family’s all together, can we go?”

  “Actually, there’s one person missing, and I’m a little worried about her. Can you stay with Selia a little longer?” I gave Selia an apologetic look.

  She immediately understood. “She hasn’t returned?”

  “No.”

  “We’ll send a search party out, then,” she said.

  That was where things got complicated. The streets were too torn up for transports, and there simply wasn’t the manpower to comb the city right now. All I knew was that the center of military operations had been moved to a warehouse somewhere.

  “Just keep the girls another hour or two, and I’ll meet you back here,” I said. “You still have the stunner?”

  “Of course.”

  My parents’ deaths had created a void inside me, a gaping hole. Treena had somehow managed to wriggle inside it and set up shop there, softening the painful edges and filling it with laughter and warmth. Now that she was missing, the emptiness seemed harsher than ever. It was impossible to see anything else.

  She could be dead. My heart rebelled at the words, but I forced myself to consider it all the same. If she were alive, she’d be here.

  A citizen boy holding a toy airplane had trotted up. I recognized him from the hospital. He held his plane out to Lucy, who smiled and took it. She threw it. It slanted sideways and hit the ground. The boy picked it up and placed it back in her hand, then started to teach her how to throw it.

  A citizen boy and a settler girl, playing together as though nothing had ever happened.

  I thanked Selia and strode toward the center of town. First I’d check the hospital, then I’d go to the older section of town where the warehouses stood—

  A figure limped up the street through the dust-filled air ahead.

  I kept my breathing even. The girl could be anyone. She could be a citizen or a settler, someone who simply looked like Treena.

  My feet ignored my objections, and I found myself running. It had to be her. Her clothing was caked in dust, one side of her drenched in blood. She’d fashioned a makeshift bandage around her waist. One eye was swollen and dark, and she dragged her feet as if ready to collapse.

  She looked up and blinked as if she couldn’t believe what she saw, and then I knew. Treena had made it.

  She stumbled forward. I caught her, lifting her off her feet and cradling her gently in my arms.

  “The water plant,” she whispered. “I destroyed it. Chiu—he was in there—I didn’t mean to kill him.”

  I stared at her in wonder. “You did what?”

  “They’re looking for his body.” Her words slurred a bit, and I realized she probably had a concussion. Amazing she’d even made it here. It had to be a three-mile walk at least.

  I headed back to Selia, who ran over and gripped Treena’s hand. “You’re alive. Oh, thank goodness.”

  “Her mother works at the hospital, Selia. She might be there now. I’m taking Treena there. I’ll send for the girls in a little while.”

  My sisters, who had quickly lost interest in Treena’s condition, went back to playing with their new citizen friend.

  “No problem,” Selia said with a knowing smile. “Good luck.”

  Treena leaned her head against my chest as I began to walk through the rubble. I’d carried her to the hospital before, but this time would be more pleasant with her awake. Relief that she was alive hummed through me, and the darkness of today’s tragedy melted away.

  “Do you think they’ll be okay now?” she asked.

  I turned back to the wreckage of NORA’s capital city. The storm overhead had finally passed, and the evening sun had painted a spectacular sunset.

  All our supply vehicles were already out in the desert, loaded with nutrition pills and water packets. It would take a few days to gather everyone and organize them into groups again, but with the settlers’ help, I knew these people could survive.

  “Yes,” I told Treena softly. “Yes, I really think they’ll be okay.”

  My mom examined me when I reached the hospital. She was one of the few workers left. As she cleaned the wound, she explained what had happened.

  “I broke away from your friends to come help,” she told me with a grim smile. “I got back just in time to watch Jasper’s death u
nfold. And then you ran away, and I—I did the same. It was just such a shock.”

  My throat tightened, and I stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

  “No more than I. I’m just glad you got to have a relationship with him, even if I was too stubborn to seize my chance when I had it. You must have been close if he was willing to sacrifice so much for you.”

  “We were,” I admitted. It hadn’t always been that way. But his caring advice in the transport on the way back and his trust and support today made me realize my anger toward him was gone. He was my dad in every sense of the word. His loss felt like someone had squeezed some of the breath out of me, and try as I might, I couldn’t quite get it back.

  The bullet had entered my side and gone clean through, thankfully missing any major organs. Mom had drugged me up well before spending two hours stitching me together again, grumbling about all the physicians being gone. When she was finished, she ordered me move slowly and carefully and handed Vance a bag of painkiller.

  “She needs time to heal,” Mom said. She looked at me and winced. “And maybe a little ice for that eye.”

  Vance sent some men to retrieve my father’s body, and we cremated it that evening in the same place where Ruby had been turned to dust. Her ashes hadn’t been cleaned out yet—there hadn’t been time—but I liked the thought of their ashes mixing together. It seemed fitting for an aunt and her nephew. Besides, they were similar in all the ways that counted.

  I allowed myself to dwell on thoughts of my father’s adventurous spirit, on his kindness, his vulnerability. On his love for my mother, whose eyes were now swollen and pink. I mourned for the time we could have spent together and the victory we should have shared.

  When it was over, Vance swept their ashes into a container with a lid and placed it in my bag with Richard Peak’s diary. I would spread their ashes across the desert on our journey.