by Ramona Finn
Which was why I hesitated when I brought my idea to Syeth.
“I found a few places they could be keeping John, but I don’t want to go into this blindly. Do you think Isra would have more insight?”
Syeth rubbed the back of his neck. “She has access to all of the schematics from the raids. More than what’s on that drive.”
I chewed on my lip, thinking through the consequences. The worst Isra could say was no. Her turning us down wasn’t going to give me any more hope for our cause, but I had to do something for John. I only had the information from the servers. I wasn’t Unpaired, and without a little outside help, we could go into this mission blindly. I had a feeling we only had one chance to go up against BioPure to rescue John and Marisha, though, and I had to do it right. I swallowed any hesitation and did what I had to do in order to get them back. “Let’s go then.”
General Isra Youngston was the youngest commander of the Unpaired. From the moment she’d stepped inside the city lines of the Chicago rebel base, she’d taken control. I had always admired her resilience and strength. She was tougher than I’d expected and hard to decipher, but when it came to defending the rebel mission against BioPure, I trusted her.
If only she would trust me and not think I was a traitor just because I was still on Jarid’s side.
Outside the building, Syeth and I walked across the street and I took in the rest of the damage in the surrounding streets. Two SUVs were blocking the road at unnatural angles. Their noses touched, and I wondered if it had been a last-minute maneuver or a crash.
There were Unpaired soldiers in the streets, leading rebel citizens away from ground zero of where the attack had taken place. The warehouse, where Syeth and the others had gone during the attack, was a few streets over. The Unpaired bunker was next door to it, beneath a three-story office building. It was the most inconspicuous of places. The exterior had been burned in a fire some time ago, and it was windowless on the charred side. Yellow tape surrounded the building, and a red X was slashed across the main door.
Syeth led me around it, our boots crunching over the frosted ground. There wasn’t any grass, only dirt, and no one would suspect this to be the headquarters of our army. The attached parking garage was similarly disheveled, with deep cracks along the concrete.
I’d never been inside the headquarters, only even having learned of its location a few months ago. From what Syeth had mentioned of Isra, he rarely came in contact with her. As the twin brother of her ex and someone she considered a traitor, he wasn’t exactly on her good side. She always assigned him to missions on a different team, far away from her. She had a reputation for ruthlessness, which always made that something of a relief, but she also had the information we needed.
Under the cover of the parking garage, the absence of the sun brought an even deeper chill to my bones. Cold air snaked down the back of my jacket and I burrowed my chin deeper into my collar to keep myself warm.
Our footsteps echoed across the jagged concrete, and once again, I wondered how safe this structure was.
We reached a door at the end and Syeth opened it for me.
I hesitated. “The soldiers know you.”
“They all know of you, Lora. Finding John is your mission, and you need to show Isra that.”
I sighed and stepped forward.
Voices carried in the space, and I hesitated as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The stairwell was barely lit, but as the room came more into focus, I spotted dim circles on the floor. Then a body stepped forward, sharpening as she came nearer.
“Isra,” I said, not having expected her to be waiting for me.
“Lora,” she said through her teeth. “I heard you were on the way.” She wore the Unpaired uniform—dark shirt, pants, boots, and the signature armband. Her hair was shorter than I remembered, as it barely brushed over her shoulders. It used to be as long as mine, and shiny. Now the edges were jagged, as if she had cut it in a hurry.
I glanced at Syeth.
“News travels fast,” he said, rocking on his heels.
“I don’t have much time,” she said, turning around. “Drop your phones and weapons and come with me.”
Another Unpaired stood there with a small plastic box. Syeth dropped his devices and checked his gun before depositing it inside. I gripped my phone, hovering my hand over the box.
“We can’t be too careful,” the Unpaired guy said with pinched lips. He glanced at Isra, who stood there with raised eyebrows.
I dropped the phone and followed her.
Syeth squeezed my hand as we walked down a set of about ten steps. At the bottom, a hallway was brightly lit with lanterns against a craggy cement wall. As we walked, the sounds of water moving through pipes filled the space above us. There were alcoves carved from the claustrophobic underground fortress. I spotted an eating area with tables and at least ten soldiers gathered around them. An armory which could rival the one we’d raided in Denver.
The hallway seemed to go on forever, and I wondered how long it had taken to create this space for the rebels to live in this part of the city without recognition.
As we went further into the fortress, the space opened up further. It had gone from concrete walls to a basement level filled with rooms of varying sizes. The larger ones had beds stacked side by side while some of the smaller storage areas held shelving units of supplies. More Unpaired were moving from space to space. I recognized a few, but most were new faces entirely. I stopped counting them around seventy. I’d never seen so many before in one place. Were they gearing up to retaliate for the attack?
Without warning, Isra turned into a small room, and I skidded to a stop before following her inside.
“Close the door,” Isra said, motioning to Syeth.
There was barely enough room for the three of us inside, as a desk took up an entire wall, along with three computer screens on the surface.
Isra stood in front of a swivel chair and crossed her arms. I pressed against the door to give us both distance. “Sorry to hear about your lab,” she began. “I know how important it was to you.”
“It’s important to everyone,” I said.
She dropped into the chair, facing away from us, and flicked her finger over the mouse, concentrating on the screen in front of her. It had one of those black privacy screens, so I couldn’t tell what she was doing.
Syeth locked eyes with me and nodded for me to speak.
“BioPure security forces took John and another lab tech today,” I said.
Isra didn’t turn around. “I’m aware.”
I stepped forward, getting a better glimpse of the screen. “We need to get them back so we can finish the cure. After the raid, there isn’t much left of our samples. Once we get John, we can finish the cure and start distributing it to the other rebels who’ve been infected.”
“No,” she said.
My hands fisted at my sides. “What do you mean, no?”
“The cure is a pipe dream,” Isra said.
“How do you figure?” Syeth asked.
Isra swiveled around and sighed, as if no matter what we said, it wouldn’t be as important as her next mission. “Unlike someone fiddling around with whatever it is you do in that lab, I have a war to fight. If that’s all you wanted of me, I can’t help you. You can see yourself out and retrieve your belongings.”
“Isra…” Syeth said.
“Neither of you see the bigger picture here.”
I couldn’t leave yet. Not without a plan to get John and Marisha back. “Those people you need to help fight that war are suffering from New Zero. With our own version of the cure, we can make them whole again so they can be participating members capable of helping to take BioPure down. Isn’t that what you want?”
Isra narrowed her eyes at me. I had a feeling she was going to try to kick us out again. I opened my mouth to speak, but she grunted instead, stopping me. Somehow, I had her.
“We tracked the helicopter, which escaped to Point Blac
k. It’s a heavily guarded BioPure airbase south of us, along the border of the city. It’s behind a fortified wall, so you might want to think about this.”
“Thank you,” I said as my heart filled with just the hope it had needed.
“Don’t waste too many resources going after him. And don’t make me regret sharing the information.”
“We won’t,” I said, fighting the urge to hug her or somehow show my appreciation. It wasn’t our relationship, though, so I settled on a smile and a nod.
She did the same—well, without a smile.
Syeth was already outside the office when she spoke again. “He’s been trying to contact you, you know.”
I turned back. “What did you say?”
Isra was at her desk again, her back to me. She tilted her head to the side so that all I saw was her profile. Her voice was low, and I could almost hear a hint of emotion within it. “Jarid. We’ve intercepted several of his messages.”
“He’s alive?”
Isra snorted. “Of course, he is. Traitors like that seem to live forever. Like cockroaches.” She finally turned around, her eyes slits and her lips pursed tightly. “If he gets a message through to you, don’t get suckered into his lies. He’s a traitor. Never forget that.”
My heart skittered in my chest. Jarid was alive. After all these months, I could barely believe it. A smile almost broke out across my face, but Isra’s expression hardened. She must have hated him for abandoning our group, and for leaving her. While it wasn’t right for her to keep the messages away from Syeth and me, I couldn’t help the lightness spreading through me now that I knew Jarid was okay.
“Don’t make me regret telling you any of this,” she reminded me.
Without another word, I headed out into the hallway to tell Syeth the good news.
Chapter Seven
Syeth and I celebrated the news about Jarid by promising ourselves we’d locate him after we found John and Marisha. The more we researched Point Black, though, the more we realized that it was too much for us to handle on our own. If Isra and more of her Unpaired had been willing to help us, we might have stood a chance. But from the research we could do on getting there—never mind battling the massive security forces on the campus—it wasn’t going to happen with just us and the few Unpaired we had recruited for our cause. Point Black itself was heavily fortified, with a massive wall built around it, and it sat too deep into BioPure territory for us to raid it directly.
For the next two days, I stayed in the lab trying to figure out the best way inside of Point Black and ended each day without a resolution. Syeth pried me from my work each night so that I could get some rest. While I was focusing on finding John and Marisha, I shut the whole world away—even my parents. I hadn’t visited them since losing John. There was no way I could face them and not feel like an utter failure for losing a family member.
The staff gave me daily updates in the same way they had John, and that was enough for me to know that neither of my parents’ conditions was getting either worse or better—especially with the depletion of the treatment throughout the town, we really couldn’t expect them to get better right now. My stomach twisted with guilt every time I thought of the way I’d stayed away, but my rational mind knew they probably had no idea that I hadn’t been there for them. Those thoughts then spiraled into more guilt.
“I think I’ve found a way to find out more about John,” Syeth said as he crossed the lab.
He kissed me, and I melted into him momentarily before pulling away, shaking my head. “What are you talking about? Point Black is impossible. We’ve been over every scenario—”
“It’s not Point Black.”
“What do you know?” I crossed my arms, waiting for him to explain.
“I got in contact with an Unpaired intelligence officer and talked him into letting us tag along on the next rendezvous with an agent they have inside Point Black. They said we could talk to him to ask questions about John. It’s the least we can do for now, right?”
“Syeth!” I said, wrapping my arms around him.
“You like the plan?”
“It’s better than anything I’ve come up with. How did you get that past Isra?”
“Well, I sort of went behind her back. With Isra telling us that Jarid was alive and sending messages, I figured it could happen the other way, too. The officer owed me a favor for helping out his little brother during one of the raids.”
“When do we get to talk to this agent?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. We have to leave around seven to travel into the city for the meeting. Are you okay with that?”
“Into the city?”
“Yeah. It’s the only way. But he’s been inside before; they have a safe route. We won’t be in there long, but this might be the only chance we have.”
“Okay.”
“We should head back and get some rest. It’s going to be a long day, and we need to be at our best.”
It was already late, and I knew I wasn’t going to rest much, but Syeth was right that we had to be alert, especially since we were traveling into enemy territory the next day. At least, by the end, we’d hopefully find out something about John and Marisha. That was certainly the hope.
The next morning, I woke early after only a few hours of sleep to head over to the hospital to visit with my parents. We would be back within the day, but I had already delayed seeing them for too long.
With the constant worry about when the next raid would happen and wondering if I’d ever see John and Marisha again, I wanted to appreciate this time spent with my parents. I wanted them to know I loved them no matter what. Seeing them again might also boost my confidence and push me to do my best to find John and Marisha. Once they were back with us, we could get our research back on track to help everyone suffering from New Zero.
Syeth was still asleep, but his alarm would go off in less than an hour. I wanted to let one of us sleep and not wake him before I needed to. Besides, I’d be back at the apartment in enough time for us to leave on schedule. I left a note and headed out.
Since it was winter, the sun didn’t peek out from the horizon until after seven. Now, at almost five-thirty, the stars still twinkled and the temperatures made the grass stiff with frost. The world seemed to be asleep around me as I trudged toward the hospital.
A part of me wished my parents were blissfully asleep, but since the raid and security forces had destroyed most of the treatment we’d had left at the warehouse, the patients were being given lower doses until more could be made. From the updates, it seemed as if many of the patients were up at all hours of the day and night because of that inconsistency in their medication. The treatment wasn’t fighting New Zero as it should, but instead showcasing more of the symptoms.
When I arrived at the barrier for Dad’s room, the guard called the interior desk, but no one picked up.
“I can check inside for you,” he said.
I didn’t have a lot of time. “Can you? I’ll come right back.”
He nodded and I headed toward Mom’s room. She wasn’t inside, but she sat at her usual spot on the couch in the common area, facing the television. Instead of making more of her remarks about the news from BioPure, her eyes were glazed and unblinking as she took in the reporting.
“Elsie,” I said.
Mom blinked, but she didn’t look at me.
“Mom,” I said louder.
Then, she looked at me. Another blink, and she narrowed her eyes. “Can I help you?”
“Lora.” Lukas waved me over from across the space as he sipped from his coffee. He sat at the farthest table with two other patients. They sat next to each other, flipping cards and playing a game of War. It seemed fitting.
“She’s worse,” I said to Lukas.
“Most of them are,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “These last few days have been rough. They’re trying to ration the treatment for as many affected as possible.”
“How much longer do w
e have until it’s all gone?”
“I don’t know. The generals are keeping that information to themselves. I just hand it out.”
I glanced at Mom, who hadn’t moved from her spot. She looked like a shell of the person I knew. I had no idea what to expect when I saw Dad. I almost didn’t want to.
“If we can get them back to full treatment soon, then the memory loss has a higher chance of being reversible. I can’t promise that with these low doses, though.”
And I couldn’t promise there was any way to get the lab back in working order anytime soon, even with John. Which was why we needed him back at our home, not locked away in some prison where we couldn’t get to him.
“I’m going to be away for the rest of the day,” I said to Lukas. “Out of touch.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to visit. If either of them becomes lucid, will you let them know that?”
He squeezed my arm reassuringly. “Absolutely. Be safe out there.”
“I will.”
I couldn’t help walking slowly toward Mom, crossing my fingers that she’d turn around and recognize me. Each step thundered in my heart, but as fitted most of my luck lately, she didn’t turn around. As I left the common area behind, I glanced over my shoulder a few times before I got far enough away that I couldn’t see her. It was a good thing, too, so that she didn’t have to wonder why the unrecognizable girl walking away from her was close to tears.
When I passed the guard outside of the hallway of the wing where Dad stayed, he shook his head slowly. “He’s still asleep.”
I sighed in disappointment, but I knew that Lukas would let him know I had stopped by. That was if Dad remembered me at all.