by Ramona Finn
The closer we got to the more populated areas, the more security we saw ahead. They instructed the civilians to clear the concourse and go find their seats. To those who weren’t rebels, it might have seemed as if the rally was about to begin, but I knew the security forces were clearing the hallways in order to find us.
Syeth and I ducked away into a small alcove leading to seats. Jarid slowed and nodded at the security passing us.
Xavier and Pieter moved off to the other side of the concourse, heading toward more seating. There were still enough civilians milling around to hide us, but I wasn’t sure for how long.
“I heard there’s a breach,” Jarid said to security.
“What is he doing?” I hissed.
“Buying us time. But we can’t go anywhere.” Syeth checked inside the stadium and hurried back to me. “This place is crawling with security. I don’t see a way out.”
I looked around our immediate area. If we moved from our spots, then we would appear in the open and there was no way we wouldn’t get caught. Across the alcove was a closed concession stand. I risked moving from our spot to the stand and walked around the side to see if we could get in. The door was locked, but I tried it a few times for good measure.
Syeth joined me and kicked a panel. It let out a tinny sound and both of us turned to make sure security hadn’t heard him. He reached down and pulled the panel away from the wall. Syeth bent down. “There’s room for only one of us. You should hide.”
“No.” If I hid, Syeth would be at risk.
“They’re looking for you.”
“And they won’t stop until they find me! At least if you’re hidden, then they won’t take you, too.”
Jarid found us, still arguing about who would crawl in. He looked up from his watch and frowned at us. “I’m sorry.” Before I could ask, Jarid turned toward security and called out, “They’re over here!”
“What?” I screeched as six security rushed over to him.
“Jarid, what the hell?” Syeth screamed.
Jarid stepped back and then walked away from us without a second glance.
Syeth grabbed my arm, yanking me behind him. Security descended, all six raising their guns in our direction. I couldn’t believe Jarid would do that. Not after everything. It didn’t make sense. Security shouted at us, but I couldn’t make out the words over the rush of blood in my head. He’d betrayed us.
Three stun patches slammed into Syeth’s chest, and he went down almost immediately. Before I could move, something hard slapped me in the forehead. The mild zing from the patch radiated from my head and down my body. The world went black before the electricity flowed down to my toes.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I could feel my body swaying, and my head felt thick, as if I’d been drinking too much home brew. The nausea came next, so I took slow, deep breaths, willing my stomach to calm, but the constant sway of my body only seemed to make it worse.
A buzzing filled my ears. It started low, as if I was next to a humming computer. As I continued to sway side to side, the rush of sound intensified to deafening levels. I reached up to cover my ears, but my arms didn’t move. I tried again. Pressure built around my arms and chest.
“Stop squirming,” a gruff voice said from above me. It wasn’t Syeth or Jarid, or anyone I recognized.
Focusing on the voice, my vision cleared and I could see that I was being carried by two BioPure soldiers. One had his arms wrapped tightly around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides, while the other gripped my legs, holding them against his hip. The soldier holding my torso lifted me higher against him, which gave my body a bit of a shake and renewed my nausea. I stopped trying to look around and closed my eyes again.
The buzzing noise was increasing in volume again, and I opened my mouth to scream, but was silenced when the soldier holding my legs shoved fabric into my mouth. My tongue pushed forward to get rid of it, but there was too much of it.
Patting my leg as if I were some sort of the pet, the soldier chuckled. “You don’t want to choke now. The boss has an important job for you.”
The boss. Sledge. That was why Jarid had wanted to run. He had wanted to protect himself.
I couldn’t believe I had trusted him, only to be betrayed—again. I wasn’t sure what Sledge wanted with me. I thought of how he’d ordered his security to kill John and wondered if I would leave the stadium alive.
Thumping music filtered down the hallway we were walking through. Was Sledge going to hold me there until after he spewed his lies to New Manhattan? Then what? A voice echoed in the distance and then the screams and applause from the civilians got even louder.
They brought me behind a thick, black curtain that dampened the light from the hallway and dropped me onto a padded table.
The room looked to be a staging area, and from the deafening sound of thousands of voices screaming and yelling, we must have been just below the stage. The soldiers wore violet armbands. During our strategy meetings, we’d been informed that those bands were only given to the most elite soldiers—Sledge’s personal bodyguards. I knew I was in trouble, and I started to try to get up so I could run.
One of the bodyguards pressed a hand to my chest, pushing me back down. The padding under me was paper thin and the cool metal radiated against my back. I knew what was coming as I fought them, kicking and flailing my arms; anything to stop what was going to happen next. I’d managed to kick one of the bodyguards, and with a growl, he pinned my legs to the table before strapping them tightly down. Then he helped the other guard strap my torso and then my arms to the table. I thrashed against the bindings, but it was no use. I wasn’t getting off the table on my own.
They stepped away from the table and stood at attention.
I screamed against the gag, shaking my head to help dislodge it from my mouth, but it clung to me.
They didn’t even blink. The last time I had been strapped down against my will had been in New Manhattan in the VaxWell labs with Esperanza Rothkind. The thought of Jarid forced heat through me. He had betrayed us in the end. Sucking air into my mouth through the gag, I puffed up my cheeks, blowing out as much air as I could. The gag shifted enough that I could spit it out.
I opened my mouth to scream. The guard closest to me reached down to retrieve the gag and waved it in front of my face.
“You want this again?”
I turned away from him, pressing my lips together.
“Then be quiet. He’s almost here.”
Before he finished his sentence, the curtain opened and Sledge walked through, looking exactly the same as he had at the lab with not a hair out of place.
“Lora Flannigan,” Sledge said, walking around the table. In my position, he seemed much taller, but not menacing enough for me to cower under his gaze. He was the enemy I’d sworn to take down. His lower lip jutted out. “This is it?” He glanced at his bodyguards. “This is all John Wingum’s protege has to offer? A half-baked assassination plan thwarted by a stun patch to the forehead?” He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “You hardly seem worthy of him. A little chick barely out of the nest.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“Oh yes, I do. Well, maybe what you used to be capable of. With the scans of your unusual brain completed, there’s no use for you anymore.” Sledge’s finger moved my hair aside, and my stomach rolled at his touch. I moved my head to avoid his touch.
A slow smile moved across his mouth, and he did it again. “At least that was what I thought. I have the perfect end to your silly, weak rebellion.”
“You’re not going to win,” I said through gritted teeth.
He leaned closer to me, enough that his hot breath seared my cheeks. “I already have.”
“Mr. Hornmeister,” a voice said from the entrance.
He winked at me and then stood up straight as if nothing had occurred between us.
The woman walked up to him, her gaze flicking to me with momentary interest before moving
back to him. A headset curled around one ear and she referenced the tablet splayed across her palm. She leaned closer to him and whispered something.
“Excellent,” he said to her, and she scurried out of the room without a second look in my direction. I didn’t like the sparkle of excitement in Sledge’s eyes. His shoulders pulled back and his bright smile made my stomach churn. “Now, it’s time to put you to good use.” He reached for something at my side. I could hear the whir of a motor, and the table began to tilt. I tensed as my feet began to drop and my head rise. Soon enough, I was upright, coming face-to-face with my enemy. His bodyguards shifted their weight and strode out of the room, leaving us alone. Then Sledge leaned in and snarled, “Showtime.”
A loud clunk sounded and the ceiling above us began to separate. I blinked at the bright light as I felt us start to rise. “What’s happening?”
“It’s your debut,” he said, throwing on his fake, camera-ready smile. He laughed, and the roaring crowd swallowed his voice. They were even louder than before.
The sun shone down on me as a breeze of cold air rippled over my clothes. I blinked a few times to get my bearings, and I couldn’t stop the gasp that crossed my lips as I took in the thousands of people who surrounded us. The stage was positioned at one end of the stadium, and it looked as though every seat was filled. That sickening nausea was coming back, but this time, I knew it was from fear.
Once we were level with the stage, Sledge stepped away from me and toward a microphone stand. He opened his arms wide, and the crowd went crazy for him as he spun around in a circle, doing a little dance before throwing his arms in the air again. With each crazy dance move he made, the crowd ate it up, screaming for more.
He lifted the microphone from the stand. “I want to see which side is the loudest. How about here?” He held out the mic toward the center of the stadium in front of him. They screamed and cheered. He laughed and moved on to the other side of the stage. He carried on as if he were a rock star, churning up the excitement from the crowd who worshipped him.
I screamed out in frustration and fear, but my voice didn’t carry against the deafening roar of the crowd. A warning look from Sledge silenced me, and I looked out at the audience. We were surrounded on three sides. The seats closest to the stage were filled with white-clad people, though the colors darkened toward the higher levels. All of the levels were represented, and everyone watched him with rapt attention. No doubt, they wanted this cure to help their families. I didn’t blame them, but they needed to know the truth.
“It’s so lovely to see you all here today,” Sledge said to more cheering. “I know you’ve been waiting on this news, and I’m so proud to stand here in one of my favorite cities in the country and tell you that we have found a cure for New Zero.”
I went deaf as the stadium erupted once more.
“Yes!” Sledge called out. “Your suffering will end soon!” Even his voice was being swallowed by the cheers. “The virus that has been hanging over us for so long will cease being a threat to you! To me! To the country!”
He held the microphone at his side and soaked up the attention like a sponge. After a few seconds, he held his hands out in front of him and bounced his hands in a “quiet-down” gesture.
The voices began to quiet until there was only a dull roar of activity among them.
“While that is the reason I’m here, I want to share even more good news.” He made a show of walking across the stage, nodding his head and pressing his lips together. He let out a bark of laughter as he looked at me. “The rebellion responsible for creating New Zero in the first place has been crushed.”
Creating New Zero?
“Its leaders are dead or captured; its fighting units are out of commission.” He gestured to me, and the excited and bright expressions that had been sent in Sledge’s direction turned to sour and hateful scowls centered right on me.
Sledge turned to me. “In fact, we’ve captured the woman responsible for New Zero.”
What? This wasn’t true. I fought against the bindings, but they were too tight, and I couldn’t loosen the straps. I shook my head, trying to tell them he was lying.
The booing intensified until it was a dissatisfied roar among the crowd. Sledge waited a beat before continuing. He smirked at me as if we were both in on a joke.
“A rebel leader who led the Denver raid, which left so many out west without their memories.”
“Kill her!” several people in the front shouted. “Her blood for their blood!” The chanting grew louder, and people whistled and booed even more.
My heart raced. They had no idea Sledge had lied and tricked them. They believed in him and that I was the enemy. I had tried to save them, but they would never know that with Sledge holding the microphone.
“He’s lying!” I screamed until my throat when raw. “He’s the one spreading New Zero!” I thrashed against the bindings so hard that the table rocked. I had to try to get through to them. If I could convince one person to listen, maybe they could find a way to stop him. But no one heard me, or no one wanted to hear me, as all eyes remained fixed on Sledge.
“This is a message to all of those who choose to go against BioPure. We’re here for the people and always will protect you!” Sledge said.
He stepped closer to me, and our faces flickered on the holograms scattered around the stadium.
“Lora Flannigan, I sentence you to death by lethal injection.”
My fear was reflected by the holograms. I wasn’t getting off of the stage until I was in a body bag. This was it.
A shimmering object flashed to my left and I looked sideways to see a mechanical arm with a syringe attached to the end come out from behind me.
“Shall we count it down?” Sledge asked the crowd. “Ten, nine, eight—”
Numbers flashed above me on the holograms, and the audience counted down the seconds to my death as if it was an entertaining sports game they were witnessing.
My thrashing intensified as the straps cut into my skin. I thought of Syeth, wondering where he was. Was he already dead, or was he going to watch me die on this stage? I screamed and cried out with everything I had as the needle got closer, but there was nothing I could do to escape it, and the tip punctured my arm.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The pinch of the needle into my upper left arm felt more like someone had grabbed my arm and twisted it. Or maybe that was due to me thrashing against the bonds, trying to prevent all of the serum from getting inside of me. When the needle pulled away, a dot of blood erupted from the spot where it had injected me. My breathing intensified and I began to pant like a dog, even though I knew I shouldn’t give the serum a quicker route to my heart. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to die. Tears streamed down my face as I thought of never seeing my parents or Syeth again.
The stadium had grown silent as everyone watched me get injected and then seemed to hold their collective breaths, waiting for me to die.
“Let this serve as a lesson for anyone who wants to defy BioPure!” Sledge’s voice echoed around the now quiet stadium. “We will not tolerate these terrorists breaking down our way of life.”
The searing pain began to move up my arm and spread throughout my body, and I couldn’t stop the scream that came out of me. I could almost trace the path it took to my heart and whatever other organs the drug was about to destroy. My chest heaved with the effort of breathing. Fire blazed in my veins until I was sure I was about to explode. The venom raced toward my rapidly beating heart as I writhed in agony, sobbing from the pain.
I’d never expected to be injected to die like this, but it seemed much more painful than I thought it should be.
A flash of Mia’s face appeared in my vision. It wasn’t her dead on the floor, but we were back in the main building of BioPure. After she had injected herself to treat her wounds.
As quickly as the pain surged through me, it died down. I sucked in a breath of air and looked around the stadium. Something was
wrong. Was there a numbing effect before my final seconds?
I spotted the faces of those in the first few rows. Their features were sharper. I could almost see the dilation of their pupils as they watched Sledge speak lies about the rebellion. The feedback from the microphone scraped at my ears, and I winced. Yet, no one else seemed bothered by it.
My hands curled into fists as warmth spread through my biceps. Something had gone wrong. I didn’t want to die, but why wasn’t I dying?
My heart rate slowed, but curling tendrils of strength tensed my muscles. I strained against the straps, leaning forward to give myself more room, and they seemed to stretch with me.
“The good must outweigh the evil in this world if we are to survive and thrive!” Sledge continued.
I lifted my right foot up a couple of inches and then pushed against the strap holding my legs, and I felt the strap start to loosen. I wasn’t dying. I was stronger. Whatever they had injected me with wasn’t about to kill me. No wonder Mia’s face had appeared in my vision. That night in Denver, she had injected herself with a biomod to keep her strong. This had to be similar. How else could I explain the sharpness of my sight and suddenly keener hearing? Homing in on individuals in the crowd gave me the ability to hear exactly what they were saying, even from on stage.
A smile split my lips as a shimmering wave of light danced across the crowd. Everyone looked down at their devices—they’d lit up on their own.
Sledge kept on talking as the people in the stadium turned to each other. Confused expressions and panicked discussion suddenly overwhelmed the stadium.
That was when Sledge noticed. He peered around at the now distracted crowd before checking his own device. His face flushed with anger just as four of his violet-armed bodyguards rushed the stage and quickly surrounded him. Suddenly, the BioPure security, who had set up sentries in front of the stage and were standing in the aisles, began to fall to stun patches by the droves. I had no idea how they had gotten inside the stadium after my capture, but rebels were taking down the soldiers. I couldn’t sit idly by while they fought for our cause.