“We have these,” Hera’s voice called my attention to the backpack. She held it open, revealing a heap of vials that looked similar to those Kale gave us when we arrived at the base station. “One of the guards at the execution sector helped us rig the Capsule, and gave these to us.”
“Yeah,” Jet said. “And the risk he took with his life to help us get out of here will be for nothing if we don’t leave right now.”
“Come with us, Skylla,” Hera said, her beautiful eyes boring down at me. The dark wisps of her straight hair framed her innocent face. “I know you don’t feel it, but you love my brother. And he loves you. Please, we need you.”
My eyes flitted to Jet’s, and he looked away, his expression cold and guarded. “Well?” he asked, keeping his gaze trained straight ahead. “What’s it going to be?”
Kale called my name again, and I couldn’t help looking back. His expression was full of concern, his body arched and ready to spring toward me. The others restrained him, muttering things I couldn’t make out. My fingers clenched tight around the photo viewer Hera had handed me, and I turned to give it back to her, my thoughts solemn. “What are you going to do when you get back to Prototype Seven?”
“Going back to Rico. Going to show everyone these photos, then keep fighting these things until every last one of them is gone. And then find another way off the planet.”
Now it was my turn to ask. “Do you hear yourself, Jet? You’re on a suicide mission.”
He still didn’t look at me, but I could tell my words stung him. “At least it’s my choice. I won’t let them decide my fate. I’ll go down fighting.” He adjusted his harness and directed Hera to do the same. “Leave, Skylla. Now.”
Hera straightened in her seat while Jet’s fingers danced over the Capsule’s control panel. The vehicle’s lid began to slide shut above them, and my arms flung forward, lifting me up the side.
“Jet, wait!” Hera yelled, garnering her brother’s attention.
“Hurry,” I said, slipping in behind Hera. One look out the Capsule window as it clamped down over our heads, and my stomach dropped. The anger and disbelief etched on everyone’s faces fueled my desperation. “Go!” I screamed, urging Jet to move faster.
“Hang tight,” he said, launching us off the ground.
“Drink one of these, Skylla.” Hera passed an invincibility vial to me over her shoulder, along with a knife and bandage. “And you should cut your chip out so they can’t track us once we’re out.”
“You’re sure about this?” Jet said, his intense stare finding mine in the rearview mirror.
“Not at all. Just go!” I caught a glimpse of Kale’s anxious face as we shot forward and entered the hangar pad’s launch-port tunnel, and then we were gone, surging away from the hangar and en route back to Earth.
What the hell was I doing? I didn’t care about these humans, no matter how much history my memories told me I had with them. My fellow Shepherds and my Creators were back there, waiting for me. Trusting me to do the right thing. Not just for them, but for the entire human species. And Kale … God, what must Kale think, after what we’d just discussed?
Only one thing boomed loud in my mind as we rocketed into the tunnel’s darkness. The Invaders were executing those innocent recruits instead of sending them back to Prototype Seven.
No matter my desire to be loyal to them, some instinct told me this was the truth, and I didn’t need Jet and Hera’s photos to get on board with the claim. The truth was written all over Elara’s enraged features when she ordered me to stop Jet and Hera from escaping. It was plastered all over this place, and the secrets lurking in its depths. Didn’t I at least owe it to the other Shepherds—to myself and the remainder of the human population—to see if the Invaders really could be trusted?
Right and wrong, black, white, and gray, all swirled through my mind at a dizzying pace. Who was I to believe, and who could I trust? Even more importantly, could I sleep at night once I’d chosen a side? I shook my head, staring down at the knife and bandage in my lap.
Hadn’t I just chosen a side?
That was the thing about goodness, about truth and honesty—sometimes what seemed right was wrong, and sometimes, what you were so sure was wrong was actually right. The Invaders were identified as the enemies from day one. Yet here they were, with the very key to our survival in their hands, offering us a new future. That had to count for something good, right?
The Capsule jerked and jolted as it sped forward, and I could feel the gears shift as Jet guided us up and out of the tunnel, into a vertical shoot toward a blinding light.
“Jet, be careful!” Hera screeched, her knuckles turning white on the back of Jet’s headrest.
“I’ve never flown one of these things, kiddo. Just hang on, we’re almost there.”
I gripped the knife and bandage tighter against my thighs. Now certainly wasn’t the time to go cutting a hole in my neck. But Hera was right. I’d have to do it soon, or the Invaders would track us the second we made it out of the San Francisco base station. Jet and Hera said they’d rigged the Capsule, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Invaders were already working on a way to track it right now. What would I do when I made it out of here? I was a traitor to the humans now—the very worst kind. Would Jet still protect me, as he had in the past? He had no reason to trust me, but it seemed he did, or he never would’ve let me escape with him.
“You with me, Skylla?” Jet called from the front seat.
“Yeah,” I managed, my teeth chattering as the Capsule shook our bodies to a pulp.
“I’ll protect you when we get to Earth, you know.”
“How did you know what I was—?”
“I know you.” His brown eyes jumped to mine. “You’ll remember that soon enough.”
Before I could respond to that, a fierce flash of light—gunfire—zoomed by on the left. Hera cried out, and something bumped us from behind. More fire rained at the Capsule’s sides, our visibility lessening as we blasted vertically toward the wall of light.
“They’re going to shoot us down,” Hera screamed, throwing her head into her hands. To see this girl who once seemed so fearless terrified now made my heart clench. I never liked to see any child suffer, let alone a stranger who was blindly putting so much faith into me and whatever bond she thought I shared with her brother. My hand found her dainty shoulder, and I clamped my fingers down to grip it while I whispered words of assurance from behind.
“Son of a bitch,” Jet barked, his voice rippling with the Capsule’s shaky ascent. “Drink that damn vial, Skylla!”
The vial. Which sat buried beneath the knife and bandage. I popped open the top and tossed the liquid back, feeling it drip down my throat.
Next came the knife, and the certainty that it was now or never.
I braced myself on Hera’s headrest with one hand and brought the knife to the back of my neck with the other. Pushing my hair out of the way, I pressed the blade to my skin and made a small, horizontal slice, feeling the warm blood ooze down my fingers. The vehicle bumped again before I could dig out the chip, and collided hard with the tunnel wall. The knife was knocked from my grasp, and I heard it clink as gravity tossed it to the back of the Capsule, behind my head. An alarm sounded and blue light flashed throughout the vehicle’s enclosure.
“We’re hit,” Jet said. “We’ll have to evacuate as soon as we make it out of this tunnel. Check your harnesses and weapons, now!”
I could hear Jet and Hera scramble as they prepared for emergency ejection. I forced myself to ignore the steady flow of crimson dripping onto my cheeks from the back of my neck, and hurried to adjust my own harness and weapon holsters. “I’m good,” I said, planting my feet tight against the floor to gain traction before we were hauled from the Capsule and sent soaring into the sky. Just as Jet told us to prepare for launch, a face came flashing in the side mirrors. “Kale! It’s Kale shooting at us!”
Kale’s sandy-blond hair glinted in the sunlight, and h
is eyes were narrow with crazed focus as he zoomed behind us, shooting fire over our bow.
The sight infuriated me. One minute he was my friend, and the next he was hell-bent on shooting me into oblivion. Then again, I’d just abandoned him.
“We’re out of time,” I yelled, closing my eyes. Whatever was about to happen when we were launched from this Capsule had better happen fast, because I was on the verge of losing myself to the same terror that had overtaken Hera just moments ago.
“When we land, we regroup and haul ass for cover, got it?” Jet yelled back. “On my mark …”
Warm sunlight hit us in a fiery blaze and we were thrust up and out of the tunnel, the Capsule alarm and the alarm’s blue light now mixing with a plume of smoke. “Now!” Jet yelled, jamming a button to his right.
A deafening crash exploded around us and ice-cold air slammed into my cheeks. Just as quickly as we were thrown from the Capsule, we were sent plummeting, straight for the Pacific Ocean. My body spiraled and the small, lightweight parachute device appeared over my head, popping open in a blast of color, jolting my body’s speed. The Capsule’s pieces plunged toward the ocean, and I stole a glance at the base station’s landing pad. A glimmer of the Golden Gate caught my attention, but didn’t hold it for long. An assembly of Invader Capsules were headed straight toward us, and I knew exactly who was at the head of that formation.
Kale.
I didn’t have another second to think. I was hurled downward in flight, being pulled toward the roaring waves of the Pacific. That sound filled my ears as salt stung my nose, eyes, and throat. Survival instinct took over; even as I slammed into the water, I reached for the knife on my belt. Struggling to cut the parachute harness and lift the metal rungs from the straps, I thrashed around under water, fighting against the current. The saltwater assaulted the cut on the back of my neck, and I bit down on my lip and squeezed my eyes shut to push back the pain.
Swimming out from underneath the parachute, I chanced opening my eyes. The roaring sound of the surface hit me, and I gasped in a lungful of water and air. A vibrating hum sounded beside me and I looked up, past the choppy waves and toward the hand reaching out to me.
There was Kale, hovered over the ocean surface in his Capsule, reaching over the side to pull me up.
“No!” I shouted, coughing wildly.
“Damn it, Skylla, give me your hand! Get in and I’ll get you out of here!”
“You tried to shoot us down!”
“And you left me to the wolves! I was pissed, and I had to make it look convincing. Now cut me a friggin’ break and give me your damn hand.”
I gave him a vigorous shake of my head, swimming backward and looking around for Jet and Hera. A heavy thrum loomed from above, drawing my eyes to the sky. Gunfire rained down in every direction as the throng of Invaders soared straight toward us.
“They’re here!” Kale yelled, leaning down to the other end of the Capsule to lower his arms and pull Hera from the water. My frantic gaze located Jet, right behind her, lifting her into Kale’s arms. Why the hell was he trusting Kale? Last I checked, they didn’t exactly get along, and the fact that Kale attempted to shoot us down—and technically succeeded—didn’t seem like something that would sit well with Jet’s temper.
Kale pulled Jet up next, and made his way back to me. I swam forward and gave him my hand, allowing him to yank me up and into the Capsule. The second I was crouched into the seat, Jet lunged for Kale and delivered a hard blow across his jaw.
“Jet!” I screamed. “We don’t have time for this!” Hera covered her head and huddled down in the seat behind me, her body soaking wet and shaking. Kale reached for his gun, but Jet was faster. A shot rang out and fire-engine red exploded from Kale’s shoulder. His body was thrown back, and Jet reached down to shove him into the middle seat.
“Keep your weapon on him, Skylla,” he said, jumping into the driver’s seat. “Let’s hope I can fly this one.” The Capsule’s top closed over us and Jet sent us racing away from the surface, toward land. Fire shot over our bow and on every side of our vehicle, while Jet flipped and spun us to dodge the Invaders’ aim. His driving was shaky, and he struggled to understand some of the controls, but he was managing to keep us alive.
“You bastard!” Kale hollered from the middle seat, clutching his shoulder and gritting his teeth. “You aimed for my shoulder on purpose!”
“I’ve been waiting for that,” Jet shot back with a smug smile.
“You sadistic son of a—”
“Hey!” I shouted. “Shut the hell up, both of you! Now what do we do?” I was holding Hera in the seat behind Kale, scanning her shoulder for signs of her backpack. If we ever needed those invincibility vials, it was right now.
“Now? Now we’re screwed,” Jet snapped. “They’re just going to take us all out, thanks to your genius boyfriend here.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Right. I was. But I guess you prefer your own kind now, huh? Bet you that Mr. Genius here doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.”
“Will you shove it, you arrogant prick?” Kale said, punching the back of Jet’s chair with his knee. “She doesn’t want you anymore. Get over it, will you?”
My hand connected with the back of Kale’s head. “I said, stop— Ow.” I reached back to the open wound on my neck, remembering the chip. After grabbing my knife, I peeled Hera’s wet backpack from her cold hands and found the flap open. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Jet asked.
“The invincibility vials. They’re gone. Must’ve lost them in the crash.”
“Great.”
“We’re Shepherds,” Kale said. “The Invaders won’t take us out. At least they can’t touch you, remember? You’re the Seventh.”
“You wanna bet?” I laughed. “Do you not see the legion of Invaders on our ass right now? I think the rules might’ve changed.”
“They’re after Jet and Hera, not us. Elara just sent me after you to bring you back first.”
“You shot us down!” Jet reminded him.
“I shot over your bow to make it look like I was doing my job. I just … missed.”
Jet pitched Kale a hard glare in the mirror.
“Skylla,” Kale said, turning to me, “the best thing we can do is return to Lucenta. We need to stick to the original plan. Elara needs you. She won’t hold this against you.”
“The hell she will,” Jet said. “Skylla, you’re not going back there.”
“How about you ask her what she wants?” Kale fired back. “Because not an hour ago, she knew exactly what she wanted, and it didn’t involve leaving with you—”
“Shit,” Jet muttered. His gaze had snapped to the rearview mirror. Invaders zipped above us and on all sides, gaining speed. Three of them charged ahead in a triangle formation, then flipped around to face us.
Our navigation panel lit up and the Capsule’s speed began to slow, coming to a dead stop in midair. A stream of blue emerged from the panel and scanned the vehicle’s interior, then disappeared. “What the hell was that?” Jet said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Kale?” I looked at him.
“Got me,” he said, shrugging. He winced from the movement and gripped his shoulder. We needed to stop the bleeding and get him bandaged up. Fast.
“What the hell?” At Jet’s words, I shifted my gaze and saw what he’d just seen: the Invaders were reversing directions.
I shifted in my seat and leaned up against the window to peer out. Their Capsules grew small behind us, until they faded from sight. The blue on the navigation panel disappeared, too.
“See?” Kale said, drawing in a relieved sigh. “They won’t take us down. We need to go back, Skylla.” The Capsule purred to life again, bringing us out of our midair stall. Jet increased our speed, sending us back into flight.
“I can’t, Kale,” I said. “Jet and Hera have pictures of an execution sector. The Invaders aren’t sending human recruits in Lucenta’s camps back to Proto
type Seven when they fail testing, they’re executing them. Everything you said … that you thought you made a mistake bringing us there … you might be right.”
“Skylla, that might not be what they saw.”
“It was,” Hera spoke up, her lips trembling. “We have photos. The Invaders are murderers. Just like they are on Earth. Please, Skylla. Don’t go back there.”
“The human population is depending on us,” Kale countered. “Remaining loyal to the Invaders is about more than what we want. More than the good or bad that might be happening in Lucenta. Look, we don’t agree with the way they attacked and overran our planet. We don’t agree on their tactics, but we chose to surrender to the activation anyway. We chose to serve anyway, because the bigger picture is what’s important.”
“How do you know what the bigger picture really is?” Jet asked. “You only know what they tell you, and if they’re lying about this, they could be lying about a shit ton of other things. Wake up, man.”
“Oh, I’m awake. And I’m telling you, the goal should be whatever’s most beneficial for the human race. Sacrifice is a part of that. We can’t escape this without casualties. We have to accept the Invaders—their good and their bad—for the greater good. They have access to Foundation Zero, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve been briefed on the planet. We’ve seen the maps, the images. I’m willing to take a chance in trusting them.”
“Suit yourself, but we won’t be around for it.” Jet lowered the Capsule as we approached what looked to be an abandoned warehouse near some open farmland. I had no idea how fast we’d actually been flying, but judging by our surroundings, we were nowhere near the coast anymore. We touched down with a gentle landing, pulling into the building, and Jet, Hera and I jumped out the instant the clear lid slid open.
Careful of his bloody shoulder, I helped Kale down and we all stopped to sit and catch our breath.
“Give me a minute to figure things out,” Jet said, leaning on his knees.
“Let me look at your wound,” I said to Kale, ripping off a piece of cloth from my suit arm to make a tourniquet.
“We didn’t lose all of the backpack’s contents,” Hera said, coming up behind me to hand me the bag. “Some of these med supplies might still work. The guard who helped us gave us the last of his.”
Curses, Fates & Soul Mates Page 122