by Greg Dragon
“Vance.”
“What?”
“What exactly is my part in the settlement mission?”
He looked at me, his face drawn in resignation. “They want you to be the bait.”
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The flying part was getting easier at least. Or maybe I was just too distracted by the impending doom to worry about falling out of the sky. As terrifying as a crash would be, at least there was a tiny chance of survival. But me, alone, at the hands of an entire outlander settlement? It was suicide.
We flew east toward the mountains, far outside NORA’s borders. Below us somewhere were the ruined cities of what had once been the United States before the two government parties had declared war and nearly killed each other off. Supposedly my grandparents’ generation had salvaged what they could and left the rest to waste away.
The vibration of the metal beneath my feet was a little more familiar this time but I still wished it wasn’t so dark. In other circumstances, I’d be thrilled to finally see what a real forest looked like.
I glanced down at my clothing. This time we wore horrid brown coats and combat boots. Mine were way too big. It seemed that destiny wanted me to drown in men’s clothing for the remainder of my two weeks in EPIC. Assuming I survived that long.
When the chopper landed, we filed out quietly. The cold wind literally took my breath away, whipping my hair into my face and stinging my eyes. The coat did little to keep out the cold. Poly’s chopper landed in the next clearing over, then both the machines rose together. They’d deposited us on the opposite side of the mountain from our destination to avoid detection, which meant we got to hike for several hours before arriving. That was fine with me. If we had to navigate the entire continent before arriving, I’d be perfectly content.
“Don’t forget what I told you,” Vance whispered as we started after our guide. I’d clung to every word of his instruction on the way here, knowing it was my lifeline. “Any questions?”
“What if they don’t buy it?”
“I’ll be right behind you, hidden in the trees.”
I shot him a look, and he shook his head. “I’ll cover you this time, I swear.”
Another gust of wind pulled a sharp smell into my senses. I leaned forward and took in a deep breath. It was the trees. Even in the darkness I could see their branches outstretched like fingers guarding the frozen earth. NORA trees stood straight and tall, each with the same number of carefully spaced branches, but the twisted trunks out here were raw and beautifully asymmetrical.
The ground wasn’t flat like at home either. It was uneven and covered in debris, sometimes turning sharply upward and other times rocky, sloped, and slippery. I focused intently on the ground so I didn’t fall. We had hand lights, but they barely lit up two meters at a time.
“Step onto your heel first,” Vance said, “and rock toward your toe. It’ll help you step quieter.”
I glanced at him, but he was already looking away. Looking up, actually. A peaceful calm had settled over his features. He looked almost reverent.
“This isn’t exactly the way I imagined it,” I said. “It’s so cold. Why isn’t there any snow?”
He shook his head. “We only get snow on the peaks. And even then it’s only for a month or two in the winter.”
“Oh. Well, have you ever seen it? I mean, what does it feel like?”
He scanned the forest, stepping confidently as he considered my question. “Only twice, on hunting expeditions, and I’ve only seen it fall out of the sky once. It was . . .” He gave a sideways smile. “Cold.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for that.”
“Anytime.”
We’d hoped the exercise would warm us, but I was numb by the time we reached the clearing. I checked my techband for the time before remembering that it didn’t work out here. According to Poly, punishment mode could still be activated if the techband was tampered with, but it had no network signal. It felt strange to be off the radar.
The soft white glow of a handful of lanterns greeted us. The lights were concealed deep within the branches of the trees, so they didn’t do much more than guide us to the dark outline of the waiting group of soldiers. From what Vance had said, these three hundred were only a third of our troops on the mountain. Apparently NORA wasn’t taking any chances this time.
Poly motioned for us to stay here as he and Vance pushed their way through the ranks. Major Murphy waited stiffly in front of a makeshift shelter in the center, arms folded, wearing the typical armored military uniform. A shorter figure came out of the shelter and stopped next to him. I squinted, trying to see better in the low light, wondering why the man seemed familiar. I leaned toward Neb. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Commander Denoux himself,” he said in wonder. “I can’t believe it. He’s overseeing this mission? This must be really important. “
A sick feeling crept through my stomach, but there was nothing I could do now. I’d already agreed to this. Well, I’d been ordered to do it, and that was the same thing. Nine hundred soldiers waited to be led by the commander and the EPIC team. Was this the commander’s way of punishing us for Vance’s earlier outburst? But if that was the case, what was my part in all this?
If the empress really needed me to catch a traitor, why march me in front of an armed settlement?
After a few minutes, Poly and Vance approached with somber faces. Everyone was alert, stretching sore legs and arms and checking their weapons.
“Why is the commander here?” Neb asked when the EPIC leaders reached us.
Poly glanced away. “This is the first time we’ve combined forces with the military. He wants it to go smoothly.”
“He doesn’t trust us,” Daymond said.
“So what are the orders?” Semias grumbled.
Poly glared at him but continued. “The settlers are getting smarter. They won’t be taken easily. The perimeter wall is made of NeoSteel, electrified and too smooth to climb. We can’t go in with an aerial attack or we’ll destroy too many targets. So a decoy is our only choice. Treena, you will pose as a beggar, approach their front gate, and convince them to let you in. Once you’re inside, get this device as close to the center of the camp as you can.” He handed me a small metal rectangle and pointed to a switch on the side. It gave off a warm vibration even through my gloves. I stuck it in my pocket, feeling another wave of nervousness as Poly continued. “It should disable every electronic lock within a two-hundred-meter radius of the center point, allowing us to surround and penetrate the camp. EPIC will be the front line. These soldiers aren’t familiar with settlers at all, so they’ve been ordered to follow our lead. Oh, and, men, set your guns to stun. Under no circumstance will you shoot to kill.”
“I don’t like this,” Vance muttered.
“Just obey orders this time, Vance,” Poly growled. “Time to get your personal feelings out of the way.”
“How many people in the settlement?” I asked.
“Preliminary estimates are a thousand,” Poly said.
“A thousand!” Neb exclaimed, his voice cracking.
“Poly,” Vance said. “I can’t lead a unit of NORA soldiers. You know how they see me.”
“You can, and you will,” Poly said, his voice low and hard. “I understand your feelings, but if you care about these people, you’ll stun as many of them as possible. It’s the ones who fight back that will get hurt.”
“But the soldiers—”
Poly whirled to face him. “You are a soldier. Act like it, or I’ll turn you over to the commander.”
Vance recoiled, his face hard. Our group was silent for a moment, everyone suddenly very interested in the ground.
“Yes, sir,” Vance said.
The order came to move out. The hike to the structure was slow. There was no clear-cut trail, and at times we had to climb over sharp rocks and leap across streams—all in the darkness of night. I had a dozen cuts and bruises under my uniform, but I didn’t dare st
op for fear I’d end up at the bottom of a ravine. I caught Vance’s gaze once, but he turned away in frustration, his body stiff as he looked into the night. No doubt this was bringing back awful memories for him. Except that he was the attacker this time.
After a couple of agonizing hours, the scouts detected four watchers up in the trees, two men and two women. I didn’t know what was happening until the scouts retrieved the bodies from the ground, their movements coldly efficient. I felt sick. The lookouts were probably parents, moms and dads trying to protect their children from danger.
Before the wall was even visible, the order came to halt and take cover. Poly scattered the EPIC team to various checkpoints, then spoke to someone in sharp whispers on his feed. My heart thudded so painfully I could barely hear anything else.
Finally Poly nodded to me.
I took a deep, ragged breath, and Neb and Ross whispered their encouragement as I walked slowly past. Vance clenched his fists and watched me go.
My body shivered violently as I forced one foot in front of the other, feeling hundreds of eyes on my back. The walk to the gate felt like several kilometers, but it probably only took a few minutes. It was the longest walk of my life. The giant steel wall was just in front of me now. A reinforced metal gate at least six meters tall lay silently in the distance between two trees. A faint electric buzz sounded from somewhere. These people were serious about their security.
There was no sound behind the wall. Maybe the settlement really didn’t know we were here. I didn’t dare touch the wall, let alone knock. It was too dark to see anything, so I just stood there and called in a shaky voice, “Hello?”
No answer, but I heard shuffling. Finally a head popped up over the wall. It was a boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen. “Stay where you are and put your hands up.”
I complied. At least he hadn’t shot me on the spot.
“Bert,” the boy whispered, and I saw a small radio in his hand. It looked old and clunky. “There’s a girl here. She has red numbers on her head. Want me to shoot her?”
“Please,” I said, trying to hide my sudden horror. “I’m so cold. Do you have an extra blanket? That’s all I ask.”
“Shut up, girl,” the boy said. “Don’t move. I never miss.” He tapped a long wooden stick—a rifle, probably—and halfheartedly aimed it at me.
“If you won’t give me a blanket, can I at least go through your garbage?” The word garbage seemed strange on my tongue, but Vance had insisted. If I said refuse, they’d get suspicious. “I haven’t eaten anything in days.”
The boy hesitated. “You’re from NORA. How’d you get out?”
“They destroyed my settlement a couple of years ago—burned it down, integrated us. I worked with the smugglers for a while, but we got attacked in Meridian. I was lucky to get out in a transport full of apples.”
The boy stared at me, bug-eyed, his gun still trained on my head. “The Meridian hub was attacked?” The gun lowered a bit. “Hang on a sec.” There was a one-sided whispered conversation again, low enough that I couldn’t hear anything this time.
My legs shook so badly I worried they’d give way. After walking for hours, standing still was utter agony. The device in my pocket seemed to burn a hole through the thin layer under my coat, despite the rest of me being past feeling. Just get inside, Treena. Deploy the device and get out—that’s all they want.
“My backup is on the way, but first I’m supposed to ask you a question,” the boy said. “If you’re really an Integrant, what was your clan leader’s nickname?”
Oh no. My stomach sank. Vance’s last name was Hawking, I remembered. But surely that wasn’t what the settlers wanted. I wore an earpiece—the earring kind again, so I knew Vance was listening. But revealing this code word meant betraying his people in a very big way. All he had to do was stay silent, and I’d be arrested. Or shot. Our entire operation would be buried before it even began. There was no sound in my earpiece except the muttering of soldiers in the background.
Please, Vance.
“Well, girl?” the boy said. He clicked something on his weapon and closed one eye as if to aim.
Please.
“His name was Sebastian Hawking,” Vance whispered, his voice hoarse. “His nickname was Iron Belt.”
Hiding my relief, I repeated the words. The boy looked surprised, but he lowered his gun and raised his radio to his lips. “She passed, Bert. Another one of Old Man Iron’s clan.”
The gate didn’t open immediately. I shivered for several minutes while he conferred with two men who had joined him. The three figures kept turning toward me, then talking some more.
I was about to speak when a section of the wall opened. It swung inward into blackness, revealing an opening just large enough for a person to slip through. The large gate had been a decoy.
I allowed myself a tiny shred of hope. If they were going to shoot me, at least it wouldn’t be here.
Several heartbeats later I made my way to the wall and stepped inside. It wasn’t three people who greeted me there but eight, all armed and suspiciously staring me down.
A woman stepped forward. “Hold your arms out. I’m checking you for weapons.”
“Sure,” I said and obeyed. She ran a detector across my arms and down to my feet. I held my breath, but it didn’t make a sound when it ran over the unlocking device in my pocket. Luckily Poly had insisted I come unarmed.
“Nothing registered,” she said.
“See? Told you she’d pass,” the boy said. “Can I take her in?”
The woman hesitated. “Valor, go with them. Keep your weapon trained on her, just in case. I’ll meet you inside.”
A balding man nodded and stepped forward. The boy barely seemed to notice and motioned for me to follow him. “I’m Lowry. My Uncle Drumlin’s the clan leader. Least, he was, before we combined. I guess our clan doesn’t really exist anymore.”
“This is huge,” I said with genuine awe at the settlement that opened up in front of me. Even in the darkness, I could see hundreds of dark structures. Cabins. They surrounded a huge building in the center. I’d never seen so many wooden buildings in my life. We used concrete and steel in NORA. I’d heard that some cities to the east had real trees, but I’d never seen them. Here, there was hardly anything in sight that wasn’t made of trees, a stark contrast to the modern wall that enclosed the place. The low rumbling of a generator grew louder with each step. The ground was packed hard from foot traffic, so it was much easier to walk here than in the forest.
“Four times larger than yours was,” the boy replied with a proud tone. “I’m supposed to take you to that center building. That’s the kitchen. Bet you’re excited to have real food after so long, right?”
“Absolutely,” I said, feeling the nervousness flare up again. Uh-oh.
“I hoped they’d let you in right off. Red numbers are fine. It’s the ones with green numbers you have to watch out for, you know?”
“How long have you been here?” I asked, eager to change the subject.
“Almost a year,” he replied proudly. “Built two of these cabins with my dad. NORA doesn’t know it, but our buildings are lined with metal stolen from their own military base. We have fire extinguishers in each building, and every person has an air mask in case they try to use knockout gas. It’s crazy high-tech. This is the safest place for you, trust me.”
“Impressive. You really think NORA would attack you here?”
“My uncle thinks so, but I doubt it. They wouldn’t dare.”
“Lowry,” the older man, Valor, said from behind us. I had forgotten he was there. “Quit running that mouth of yours. She hasn’t been cleared yet, you know.”
“Sorry.” The boy shot me an apologetic look, then leaned closer and pointed to my forehead. “Does that thing hurt?”
I touched my Rating with one gloved finger. I didn’t even notice it anymore. “No.” Yes. Every day, but not in the way you think.
“Weird. Well, they’ll probably
take it out tomorrow, regardless. Here we are.” He headed for a steel door in the north-facing wall of the largest building. Four short knocks and the door opened with a moan. A figure stood in the darkness of the opening.
“This is her,” Lowry said.
“Let’s get started,” a deep feminine voice said from the doorway, and she stepped aside, holding the door open for me. Her smile was forced, her eyes strained and tired. They’d probably woken her up for me.
“Doing what?” I asked.
“Why, your dinner. It should all come back to you pretty quickly. Assuming you are who you say you are.”
I forced my shoulders to relax. “That sounds great.”
The door slammed shut behind me.
21
What’s taking her so long?” someone grumbled. “She must be close enough by now.”
“They’re making her eat something,” I said, only half listening. I mentally kicked myself for not preparing her better. Of course they’d offer food. It was the best way to test a former settler. Treena wasn’t handling it well—she was choking like a goat trying to swallow an entire transport at once. “Chew carefully for twenty seconds, then swallow it just like a pill. Wash it down with water if you need to.”
The men in my charge stood there, shifting their weight from one leg to the other, muttering quietly to themselves. One of them shot me an icy glare. I stood a little straighter, meeting his expression. I was the youngest guy in the group, an Integrant, and a red—yet they were supposed to obey me. Blasted commander.
“Whoa there, honey,” the woman’s voice said over the feed. “Take smaller bites.”
“I’m sorry,” Treena responded, her mouth still full. “It’s just that it’s been so long—my jaw must’ve—ugh—forgotten how to chew.”