Embattlement: The Undergrounders Series Book Two (A Young Adult Science Fiction Dystopian Novel)

by Hinkens, Norma

  Izzy’s tiny heart drums against my shoulder. My jaw quivers, the crushing weight of responsibility for the child on my back hitting me front and center. I blow a wisp of hair out of my face and stare fixedly ahead. If it was Rogues who killed Izzy’s parents, they might have come back. And Blade might have joined them.

  5

  I blow a hot, silent breath through my lips, my senses electrified. We’re almost certain to be outnumbered, and Izzy will hamper my ability to be effective in any attack. I signal to Trout and we beat a hasty retreat to the nearest clump of trees and take cover.

  Seconds later, a scurrying sound grabs my attention. Too light for Rogues, too heavy for squirrels. I chamber a round in my gun and adjust my stance. Tucker growls, and I frantically motion to him to stay. He knows better than to give away our location like that, but he’s been acting strangely today. The foliage swishes again, and my breath sticks in my throat as I take aim. The leaves part, and a family of raccoons breaks through, watchful and twitching with curiosity as they trip forward. They lumber by in single file, beady, black eyes examining us, before they disappear into a thicket on the other side of the clearing.

  Trout falls to one side, laughing hysterically. Tucker barks and runs over to him, hoping it’s time to play.

  Izzy slides down from my back and looks up at me from beneath a thatch of cocoa-colored curls, the first hint of a smile on her face. “Them’s coons!”

  “Yeah!” I say, with exaggerated exuberance. “Them’s coons all right!” I grin down at her grubby face, relieved she wasn’t forced to confront the macabre faces of Rogues for a second time. I don’t know when her parents died, but she can’t have been out here by herself for very long. I wonder how she escaped the raid. Probably crawled into the kind of tiny hiding place only a kid can find, and huddled there undetected until the Rogues took off. That conversation will have to wait until we’re in a safer place and she’s ready to open up. I pick up my pack with a growing sense of conviction. There’ll be plenty of time to uncover what happened along the way. It’s not like I can leave her behind now that I’ve felt the desperation in those tiny arms around my neck, trusting me to keep her safe. “How old are you, Izzy?”

  She hides her face behind six fingers, then jams her thumb in her mouth.

  I grin down at her. “That’s old enough to be in my camp.”

  Izzy pulls her thumb back out. “You’re pretty.”

  “So are you!” I smile and brush a curl behind her ear the way Ma used to do with me. “I think we’re gonna be good friends. And I could use a friend. How about you?”

  She gives a cautious nod.

  I reach for my pack and give a low whistle for Tucker. Trout sits up as I stride past, clutching Izzy’s hand. He stares at me, eyes wide as beacons. “What are you doing?”

  “Got a better idea, Einstein?”

  “Yeah! Look for survivors from her camp. She can’t come with us.”

  “Who says there are any survivors?”

  I pretend to act cocky to cover my unease. Bringing Izzy along could definitely jeopardize the entire mission, but if we waste time looking for the rest of her camp, we have less chance of finding Owen alive. It’s a weakness of mine, wanting to save everyone. Which is why I’ll never forgive myself for letting Owen talk me into leaving him behind in the Craniopolis. I even brought Rummy out of that hell-hole—one rescue mutt I wish I’d left to his fate.

  And now I have a pint-sized stray at my side, who I’ve no business bringing with me, because I don’t know the first thing about kids. Jakob would know what to do with her. The Septites all have huge extended families—which is part of the reason they moved off grid to begin with. They were opposed to the population quotas the world government enforced. I let out a heavy sigh. It was easier in the bunkers to overlook our differences, but Jakob’s Septite ways are not my ways, and his clan are not my people.

  “We can’t go chasing after Blade with a kid along,” Trout whispers in my ear. “And you can hardly expect the Undergrounders to babysit her. You’re asking enough of them already.”

  I glance down at the nest of curls bobbing along at my side. “I know. We’ll explain the situation to them. Then we’ll figure out what to do.”

  Izzy jerks on my hand. “It’s rude to whispah,” she says, her clipped voice radiating disapproval.

  I swallow hard. Halfway between a chuckle and a sob. It’s the first time I’ve been told to mind my manners since Ma died.

  I don’t let Trout know the full extent of the apprehension I feel about showing back up with an emaciated six-year-old in tow. The Council members are already leery of my judgement, only too quick to question my leadership. I’m not stupid enough to even consider exposing Izzy to the risks that lie ahead. We need to find someplace safe to take her. But, if I divert our mission, it could spark another showdown between the Council members and me. I kick at a clod of dirt in my path. Maybe it’s best to hash things out between us before we go any farther. It’s time to set them straight on a few things anyway.

  “She’s dragging her feet already.” Trout gestures at Izzy. “You’ll have to carry her or we’ll never catch up with the others. Give me your pack.”

  I shrug my shoulders out of the straps and hand my pack to Trout with a grateful smile. I trust him to side with me on this no matter what the Undergrounders say. My instincts about Trout have been spot on so far.

  I pick Izzy up in my arms and begin making my way through a tangle of brush back to the trail. Tucker plods along at my side, sniffing under the odd downed tree or lichen-covered rock. He isn’t wasting any time second-guessing the new addition. It was love at first sight for him.

  I take a closer look at Izzy’s clothes as I walk—long-sleeved shirt, tattered blue skirt that reaches to her mud-caked boots. Her family was Septite homesteaders, I’m guessing.

  “Where’s your bonnet, little lady?” I whisper into her ear.

  There’s a long pause, as if she’s trying to remember.

  Her voice warbles when she speaks. “I pulled it over my eyes so I didn’t see them.”

  I chew on my lip. I’m not sure if she means the Rogues or her murdered parents. Best not to press for details.

  “Listen!” Trout holds up a hand, and Izzy and I come to an abrupt stop behind him. I set her down and peer through the trees.

  “I think I hear them,” Trout says. He gives a signal whistle and an Undergrounder whistles twice in response.

  I lock eyes with Trout and tilt my head toward Izzy. “Are you with me on this.”

  He gives a curt nod. “Brace yourself. It could turn ugly.”

  I take a deep breath and follow him into the fray.

  Izzy grips my hand tightly as Sven and the Undergrounders cluster around. A chilled silence descends. They stare at Izzy, then turn to me, a mixture of fear and disbelief in their eyes. A lone child can mean only one thing. Dead Undergrounders.

  “Rogues raided her bunker,” Trout says.

  Jett steps forward. “Are you mad? What are we supposed to do with her? We can’t take her along.”

  I look at him coldly. “Her name’s Izzy, and we can’t just leave her here. She has no family left.”

  “Do too!”

  I startle at Izzy’s indignant voice. Trout raises his brows questioningly.

  I drop down on one knee in front of Izzy. “I thought you said your parents were dead.”

  She crosses her arms and holds them stiffly an inch or two beneath her grubby chin. “My brother ran away with the others.”

  “What do you mean? What others?”

  “The ones what lived in our bunker.”

  My heart races. So there were survivors.

  I lay my hands on Izzy’s shoulders. “Do you know where they went?”

  She stares at me solemnly. “Yup.” She twists her lips sideways, gives a quick, defiant scan of the faces around her, and then leans over and cups her hand over my ear. “Shoshane City. The bad guy what told me to run away
said that.”

  I rock back on my heels. Does she mean a Rogue? If one of them helped her escape, they aren’t all as heartless as I thought. My mind races to assemble my thoughts. If the Undergrounders from her bunker are fleeing to Shoshane City, it must be at least partly habitable. It’s time I got some details from Rummy on the city’s condition when he fled the reeducation center. I stand and turn to Trout. “Get someone to take Izzy over to that knoll for a few minutes while I talk to Rummy. I don’t want him scaring her.”

  I pull Sven aside. “I need to have a conversation with Rummy, in private,” I say. “If the city is habitable, we can take Izzy there before we leave for the wilderness.”

  “I’m not sure the Council members will go for it,” Sven says. “I had a tough time convincing them not to return to the base as it is. You and Trout were gone so long, they got skittish.”

  I knot my brow. “We didn’t plan on finding Izzy.”

  Sven’s mouth curls into a smile. “I’m glad it was her and not Blade, because it means you’re safe.”

  I bite my bottom lip, wondering if he can hear how loudly my heart is thumping. He turns and walks over to a cluster of trees a short distance from the trail and hauls Rummy and Won to their feet. Izzy’s eyes widen when she glimpses Rummy’s face. She pales and trots off with a red-headed Council member without a word of protest.

  Rummy flicks his eyes over Izzy’s retreating back as he approaches. Tucker sits up on his haunches, alert and mistrustful.

  “She your little sistah?” Rummy sneers.

  I stare at him coldly. “Maybe I just like collecting strays. Brought you along, didn’t I?”

  He scrunches his eyes up for a moment and then drops his gaze. When he looks up again, he sniffs hard. “That clone told me what you did for me in the Craniopolis.”

  “Can’t say I haven’t had my regrets.”

  “So I owe you one.” He scratches at his stubble. “Don’t mean I like you any better.”

  “That’s fair.” I cross my arms. “You can start working off your debt of gratitude by talking the Rogues out of this killing spree they’re on. Taking out innocent Undergrounders, like that little girl’s parents.”

  He picks at his teeth with his thumbnail. “It’s the dang snitches, see. Selling us out to the Sweepers. Gotta clean out the rats or we all die.”

  Sven’s eyes meet mine. His brows flick questioningly upward as he balls his fists at his sides.

  I give a subtle shake of my head. I need Rummy to cooperate, and if he does it without being coerced, it will be less unsettling for the Undergrounders who are already skeptical about our alliance.

  I level my eyes at him. “You call off the Rogues, and I’ll take care of the snitches.”

  He laughs silently, his ribs shaking as he appraises me. “How you gonna stop them punks, eh?” He fingers his pierced brow, and then leans menacingly toward me. “You don’t even know which o’ them’s the snitches.”

  I hesitate for a moment. I can’t tell him everything, but Rummy’s going to need something solid to offer the Rogues. I do a quick gut check and opt for a compromise. “Sven found out something.”

  Rummy raises his brow in mock expectation.

  I make a show of glancing over my shoulder and then lean in close. “The bootlegged clones all have the same circular tattoo on their right ankle.”

  Rummy’s expression darkens. “You dissin’ me, or what?” His brows come together in a deep crevasse. “Gangster clones with a lousy tattoo on their dang legs.”

  I fix him with an icy stare. “That’s exactly what they are, and they specialize in extractions.”

  “Hey!” Jett elbows his way past Trout and Sven, and glowers at me. “Enough of this secret pow-wowing!” He jerks his head in Izzy’s direction. “We wanna know what you’re gonna do about her.”

  The other Council members close in behind him. I steel myself, remembering Trout’s warning. I haven’t had time to weigh the pros and cons of my decision, but it’s the only reasonable course of action.

  “The Undergrounders are fleeing to Shoshane City,” I say. “That’s where Izzy’s brother is and that’s where we’ll take her.”

  A chorus of protests ring out, but it’s the dull background murmuring, that unsettles me most. An uneasy anthem of dissent that heralds mutiny. Sven moves swiftly to my side, silent as a shadow. Trout rubs his jaw, surveying the group.

  “Nobody said anything about going to Shoshane City when we took the vote,” Jett says. “No one’s been back there since the meltdown. The air could still be toxic at that low of an altitude. And what about militia? If there are survivors in the city, they’ve probably armed themselves by now.”

  “If it’s true the Undergrounders are fleeing there, we should at least try and reunite Izzy with her brother,” Trout says. “He’s the only family she has left.”

  “Then let him come looking for her,” Jett retorts.

  Trout rumples his brow in frustration. “We can’t leave her by herself.”

  “We could take her back to Big Ed,” Panju suggests.

  I hesitate. If we’re on Blade’s trail I don’t want to lose it, but I can’t tell the Council members that. “We can’t afford to waste time going back. Shoshane City’s not far out of our way, and I’m sure Izzy would rather be with her brother than Big Ed.”

  Jett shoves Trout in the chest. “I didn’t sign up for this.” He turns to the others. “This is messed up. I’m going back to the base. Who’s coming with me?”

  I grab him by the arm and swing him around. “Wait! Just listen for a second! Going to Shoshane City might not be such a bad idea. If Undergrounders are fleeing there, we can recruit more help before we head for the wilderness. Supplies, weapons, and anything else we can get our hands on.”

  He wrenches his arm free and glares at me. Tucker gives a savage growl, and Jett backs away a few steps. “That little kid’s a liability. You’re out of your freaking mind to believe anything she says. You’re not fit to lead a rabbit hunt.”

  I open my mouth to reply, but another Council member jumps in. “Maybe it was Derry’s plan all along to lure us out of the mountains and down to Shoshane City so we’re vulnerable, easier to extract.” He looks around the group for affirmation. “How do we know she’s not a snitch? Owen turned on us, didn’t he? That’s why he stayed in the Craniopolis. Maybe they’re both snitches.”

  Sven tenses at my side. I need to stop this now. Sven could kill someone with a swing of his fist, and then it will be a free-for-all.

  “You’re a pack of cowards!” I yell. “All of you! Panicking at the first hurdle. Backstabbing your leader after he sacrificed himself for you so you could escape from the Craniopolis. What did you think you were joining the Council for anyway? To have some kind of stupid adventure in the woods? I don’t know what Owen ever saw in any of you. You don’t have it in you to do the hard things that need doing.” I flick my eyes over the group and catch Rummy watching me, beady eyes at half-mast. For once I feel a kinship. He’s looking at me like he knows how it feels when the pack pulls against you.

  “Don’t lecture us about cowardice,” Jett hollers back. “Who’d you think rescued your scrawny butt from the Craniopolis?”

  I jut my chin out at him. “You had no intention of even attempting a rescue until Jakob talked you into it. He’s the one led your wuss tails into the vents.”

  I look around at the dubious expressions on the Council members’ faces. “I lead the Council in Owen’s absence, and I make the calls. We’re going to Shoshane City to reunite Izzy with her brother. After that we head for the wilderness. Anyone who wants out is free to leave now.”

  A flurry of cricket chirps fills the silence that follows. Trout catches my eye and gives me a subtle nod of approval. Several Council members shuffle their feet, waiting on someone else to make the first move. Jett curls his lip at me, picks up his pack and slings it over his shoulder. “So long then.” Tucker bares his teeth at him as he passes by.r />
  A blonde-haired girl shrugs, and trudges off after Jett. The hemorrhage of Council members picks up pace. Arms crossed, I hold my ground, inhaling shallow breaths. I won’t grovel and beg. The only Undergrounders worth having on this mission are those who won’t fold when the going gets tough.

  Sven stands like a stone statue off to my left, his eyes boring into the backs of the deserters as they fade from sight. Rummy and Won huddle behind him, their expressions a mixture of shock and dismay. When the last departing steps crunch off into the distance, I survey the damage. Four Council members remain: Buck and Elijah, twin brothers with whom I’ve barely exchanged two words; Trout; and Panju, the cloning expert. Turns out Trout’s a good judge of character. I suspected Panju might have been a snitch, but she’s more loyal than Owen’s handpicked Council.

  I arch a brow at her. “We’re it then?”

  She nods and gives a jaunty salute.

  I throw her a grateful look. It’s a subtle validation, but right now, I badly need the vote of confidence in my leadership. I’m keeping face on the outside, but I’m shaken to the core at what just happened. I reach for my pack. It confirms my decision to head for Shoshane City. Now, more than ever, we’ll need reinforcements, and that’s the only place we have any hope of finding them. “Let’s go,” I say, briskly. “We can get Izzy to her brother in a day or two if we keep up a steady pace.”

  I turn around to call her over. My heart trips in my chest.

  6

  I scan the grassy knoll in both directions. The blood turns cold in my veins. She’s gone!

  “Izzy!” I yell, racing across the trail. I throw a frantic glance around the area she was playing in a few minutes earlier, but there’s no trace of her anywhere, or the red-headed girl who was watching her. My heartbeat jams in my throat. The redhead likely cleared out with the rest of the Council members, but surely they wouldn’t have taken Izzy with them, not after everything they said. I whistle for Tucker, then dart between the trees, desperate to find the little scrapper I might just have sabotaged the entire mission for. She trusted me to protect her, and I’ve lost her already. Maybe she got scared when she saw Blade and ran off.