by Harper North
I sit and take long, slow breaths as I survey the apartment and Emma’s cousin. His dark skin and determined gaze match Emma’s. The room is simple. A basic hologram player flashes our images in front of us. Karim releases Emma and moves toward the image and waves a hand. It vanishes, but not before showing our group running down the alley.
“There are cameras everywhere,” Talen says. “It won’t be long before they’ll track us down.”
Emma sighs. “Either that, or they’ll check our potential family connections.”
Elias turns to Sky. “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” Sky says, still out of breath. “Thanks for keeping Fin safe.”
Elias nods. “More like she’s kept us safe.”
Sky sits forward. “Hey, where’s Lacy? And Jase and the others?”
“It’s just us now,” Elias says, avoiding eye contact with any of us.
Sky’s eyes widen. “They’re dead?”
“Not all of them,” I say, turning my gaze down. “Lacy’s with the EHC now. They turned her into a monster.” I avoid looking at Talen.
“What?” Sky asks.
“She didn’t have a choice.” Talen looks out the window at the other end of the room. “Once they inject those nanos, you’re not you anymore.”
I stand and make my way across the room to him. “Thank you for coming back,” I say. “You didn’t have to stick around and save us.”
“Of course I did,” he replies, glancing back to me. “I meant it when I said I could never go back to the way I was. I don’t want to be a monster anymore. I owe you for bringing me back.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You’re right,” Talen cuts me off. “I was a monster. I hurt a lot of good people, and I have to live with that. But we have to bring the EHC down.”
I nod, but again my mind spins through the ways to do so. Stuck in the middle of Ethos, the whole city either turned against us or afraid of us, with almost no supplies or help…
I dig my nails into my palms, refusing to feel hopeless. We’ve come too far.
Karim hands us each some fruit and crackers. “If I knew… I would have more to offer.”
“It’s okay,” Emma says. Her face is tight, and she turns and paces the room. “This is fine.” She takes an apple and eats it.
“My wife and daughter are gone for the day. But they have clothes you can wear,” he says, pointing Emma and me to a room down the hall. He looks back toward the guys and then down at himself. “I’m shorter than any of you, but I think my shirts should work.”
Emma nods her thanks.
He returns his attention to us. “Please, find whatever you need and take it. There are others like me who know the broadcast you sent out was true, no matter how the EHC tried to spin it.”
“Thank you,” I say, following Emma toward the back room. I rush to find a change of gray, slim fit pants, and a green shirt. I slip off my prison wear and put on his daughter’s clothes, examining myself in the mirror. I look just like a citizen of Ethos now.
Emma does the same, choosing a black pair of pants and a simple button-down shirt. “We must go,” she says, fastening the last button, urgency in her voice.
I follow her back out to the sitting area where the others wait, already changed. Each of them wears a new shirt, but the same pants we received back at the holding center.
Elias has a bag strapped across his chest and is loading it with the fruit and water bottles Karim offers. “There’s no telling how long it will take for us to get out of Ethos.”
“Is that the plan?” I ask.
There’s determination in Elias’ eyes. “We can get back to the desert, hide out, regroup. We’ll find another way to fight.”
Emma’s eyes well with tears as she wraps her arms around her cousin. “Thank you,” she whispers.
I pull back my shoulders and follow the others out of the apartment. Again, we head down the stairs and back out onto the street. It’s dark and quiet, still early morning. Too quiet. My pulse picks up. My eyes dart to every corner of the alley and the top of every building as I try to stay alert.
We’re only half a block away from Karim’s building when a terrible blast rips through the air behind us. I cover my ears and turn back in time to see the dark smoke pouring from the apartment building. Piles of debris litter the ground. Screams echo through the alley, and the sound of gunfire follows.
Emma’s eyes go wide. She covers her heart with one hand and cries out, but Elias pulls her away.
“It’s too late,” Elias says to her. “He’s dead by now.”
“No!” Emma sobs.
Drape turns her around and links arms with Emma, pulling her down the street and away from the chaos behind us.
My heart pounds in my chest. I stand rooted to the ground until Sky shakes my arm. “We have to go,” he says, jarring me back to reality. “If they catch us down here, we’ll be back in that cell in less than an hour and forget about a second chance at escaping.”
I nod and let him guide me down the alley. We follow in Emma and Drape’s footsteps. I shake free from Sky and chase after Elias and Talen, pulling out the weapon Emma gave me. I’ve had enough. I’m ready to use it again. I’m not going back to that cell. No one is going to stop us from helping the forgotten people underground—my people.
As we turn the corner, disappearing deeper into the city, a broadcast alert flashes overhead on a large digital display nearby. Escaped terrorists, it reads, again showing our faces one by one, have now blown up a residential apartment, killing an EHC citizen.
Karim’s face shows on the screen, and my stomach drops as I realize what the EHC’s strongest weapon is.
“Manipulation,” I whisper, wondering how we’ll ever fight something so powerful.
CHAPTER 6
“THIS WAY!” Elias shouts.
I’m nearly out of breath as we turn yet another corner through the winding maze of Ethos. Elias waves us toward what looks like the end of an alleyway. A brick wall that seems out of place in this high-tech setting looms ahead. Above us, the thrumming sound of hovercrafts echo in the near-dawn sky. Several waste receptacles line the two sides of the buildings that we stand between, and the air is thick with the smell of chemicals that will only get worse once the hot sun is up.
“Where are we?” Drape asks once we come to a stop.
I try to swallow, but my throat is dry, and the taste of dust lingers on my tongue. “What are you doing?” I ask Elias as he drops to the ground and pushes back dirt and other debris.
A siren wails behind us, followed by several loud shouts. They’re almost here. My heart pounds as I turn back to see Emma kneeling on the ground beside Elias.
“It’s still here,” she says, choking back sobs.
I don’t know what it is they’re looking for, but I crouch down to help them. As we brush away more dirt, something rectangular and metallic appears.
“A little help, please.” Emma gestures to Talen, and I move back to give him some space.
Talen bends down, and in one swift movement he rips open the covering, revealing a three-foot hole. A cool wind blows over all of us. Without saying a word, Elias shoves both of his legs into the hole. Half of his body disappears as he slowly descends a ladder into what looks like it might be an old sewer system.
“Come on,” he orders.
Emma immediately follows.
My chest tightens, and I dart my attention to Sky and Drape. The sound of the siren nears. I shove my weapon in the back of my pants and with a trembling hand, I grab hold of the edges of the ladder and lower myself onto the first rung, then slowly, step by step, climb down into the dark, subterranean world.
A familiar but dank, musty smell sinks in. My hands grasp the cold metal of the ladder. I glance down, not knowing how far I’ll have to climb. Already, Elias and Emma have disappeared. Following me, Drape and Sky are silhouetted by the soft glow of morning until Talen steps foot onto the ladder and slides the hatch
above us shut.
Suddenly, I’m plunged into darkness. Only the sounds of the other’s breathing are of some comfort now as I continue to lower myself. My mind travels back to the days of living underground. There’s something reassuring in the dark, but also somehow terrifying at the same time.
My foot slips and I let out a scream.
“Fin!” Sky calls.
I find my footing. “I’m fine,” I call back, comforted by his voice. This should be easy, but my nerves are getting the best of me.
“You’re almost there,” Elias says. His voice sounds close. I lower myself several steps until a dim light begins to give shape to the forms below. Emma’s face is twenty feet beneath me. I sigh and take a deep breath, then descend the rungs, jumping down the last four or five feet.
Once I’m on solid ground, I scan the area. It’s not a sewer at all. There’s no waste or filthy water. Earthen smells mingle with the scent of sawdust and other building supplies.
Sky jumps down from the ladder, and we wait until Drape and Talen reach the bottom to join us.
“Where are we?” I ask, searching Elias’ eyes.
“It’s an old transit tunnel,” explains says. “Most of the larger EHC cities have them. They were used before hover tech was implemented.”
Without hesitating, Sky runs ahead.
“Where’s he going?” Talen asks.
“To survey the tunnel, I’m sure,” I say, remembering how Sky always took lead on scouting when we tried to make our way out of the Slack and old mining tunnels.
Emma, Talen, and Elias whisper together while Drape presses his back against the wall, catching his breath. I step next to the smooth wall and trace the perfectly constructed surface with my hand. The ten-foot-wide space is lit every few feet with a built-in lighting system. Some of the lights flicker, but it’s enough to see up and down the long stretch of path. Everything the EHC builds is done with precision and confidence.
My breath hitches as I realize it won’t be long before they figure out where we are. The cameras on the streets would have tracked our movements to the alley. I reach back into my waistband for the gun, cradling it between my hands and vowing never to let them take me back to that, or any other cell again.
Sky rushes back to our group. “There’s an abandoned shaft up ahead.”
“Excellent,” Elias says. “We should hide out there.”
“It’s dark, though,” Sky says. “It hasn’t been completed.”
“Perfect,” Talen replies as he begins to move ahead. “Then it won’t be on the EHC maps.”
Emma nods her agreement. “It’s our best chance for now.”
We follow Sky down the dimly lit tunnel. I keep one hand on my gun and the other on the cold, hard surface of the tunnel wall until we get to the turn. Once there, my heart sinks. The unfinished tunnel is worse than Sky said. It’s not just dark, it’s pitch black. I strain my eyes as I try to make sense of where we’re heading.
As if thinking the same thing, Talen says, “I can rewire the lights. Make a connection between the main tunnel and—”
“No,” Emma stops him. “Then, they’ll know where we are. They’ll be on to us in no time.”
“We can’t travel in the dark,” I argue.
She presses her lips together and turns to head back the way we came. Moments later, she returns with something in her hands.
I squint, trying to see what she’s holding. “What’s that?”
“A makeshift torch. I remember passing some old tunneling equipment back there. Those things are filled with machine grease. And this dirty rag and piece of rebar will work just fine.”
She pulls out her pulse weapon and extends the torch in her other hand. A quick tap of the gun and a short burst of blue plasma ignites the grease, illuminating our surroundings.
Elias jumps into action gathering rags and loose pieces of metal from the ground. A few minutes later, we all have lit torches.
“Let’s move,” Elias says.
We start down the tunnel. Building supplies litter the floor. Occasional tools, scattered bolts and brackets, as well as wiring lay exposed every few feet.
I try to calculate how far this tunnel goes based on the length of the earlier tunnel shafts. Each one leads further down into the core of this underground system. After a few more minutes of walking, a scratchy cough works its way into my throat. I try to swallow, but my throat is still dry. Elias notices and tosses me a water bottle from his bag. Not wanting to waste it all, I take a small sip to sooth the scratch.
“Thanks,” I say, tossing it back.
He nods and smiles.
“We should camp here,” Emma suggests.
I nod, grateful for a break. I slide my gun back into my waistband. We prop up our torches around us.
“Let’s get a fire going. These torches won’t last long,” Elias says, pointing to a pile of building planks in the corner.
Drape and Sky quickly gather the different sized planks while Talen and I dump out bags of nails and begin to tear apart the paper to make kindling. Elias retrieves his torch and makes his way to the fire pit. I stand back as he leans into our makeshift fire and ignites the planks. Our paper bags shrivel to ash in seconds and float around, blowing gently in the tunnel’s cool ventilation. Within minutes, a small fire glows, illuminating the tunnel and replacing the cool air with warmth and light.
I ease back to the wall and sit down, noticing my torch is already out. Good thing we got the fire going.
Sky slides down to sit beside me. “Have you heard any news about the Dwellers that stayed behind?”
My eyes flash to his. In the soft glow of the fire, his eyes are desperate, searching mine for answers. I know he wants news of his mother and Cia. If only I could tell him something hopeful, but I can’t.
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
He runs his hands through his hair. “I need to find out if they’re okay. If they’re safe.”
I want to reassure him they’ve probably hidden themselves even deeper inside the intricate tunnels, but I don’t know, and a part of me feels confident that the EHC has done their best to kill or capture every last one of the Dwellers who had anything to do with the rebellion. I can’t say anything.
“It should never have happened!” Emma yells from across the tunnel and marches away from Elias. Her shadowy fist pounds the side of the wall as she turns and sinks to the ground. Even in the dim light, her eyes glisten with tears.
Elias eases away to the wall, holding his head in his hands.
“I should check on him,” I say.
Sky stands as I do but stays behind as I walk around the fire to Elias.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
His brow is furrowed, and his jaw is tight. “My mother—the EHC will come for her.”
I crouch at his side.
“I know she’s prepared,” he says. “Ever since Mason started forming a resistance, she knew there would be risks. She will do whatever she has to—”
I place my hand on his arm. He glances to where it rests and looks back up at me.
“I’m scared for her.”
Beside the fire, Elias’ dark eyes shine, and his tough exterior softens. I draw in a slow breath. “If your mother is anything like Mason or you, she’ll be just fine.”
Elias’s lips force themselves a strained smile. “She does have a safe house. Maybe she went there.”
“I’m sure she did.” I glance back across the tunnel to Sky, who gives me a confused look.
As I stand, Talen comes closer to us. “I’m sure my family is secured by the EHC already. It’s what they do.”
A part of me knows Talen is right. Anyone connected to us is doomed. We brought so much suffering to the people we care about.
I twist away from Sky and Talen. What are we doing here? Why’d we ever start this fight?
“None of this is right!” Drape shouts. “We’re back underground—this is where we started! They killed our friends, o
ur family, our resistance. What are we doing here?”
“What choice do we have?” I yell back. “We’ll get captured if we go back to the surface.”
“Or killed,” Emma moans.
“What, now you’re giving up, too?” Drape asks, marching toward me.
Pulling my shoulders back, I step closer to him. His green eyes are full of fury now. He stands firm and juts out his chin.
“I’m not giving up,” I say. “I just don’t want to get killed.”
“We can’t keep running,” Drape argues.
I shake my head. The thought of going back to that cell again makes me shudder.
“He’s right,” Sky agrees. “We’re hiding like frightened mice in the dark.”
I turn to face him. “I’m just trying to stay alive.”
“None of us will be alive if we do nothing,” Drape says defiantly. He turns to face the others. “We’ve made it to the capital city of the EHC. I never thought we’d get this far, and we have.”
I flit my eyes from face to face. A part of me begins to wonder if Drape is losing it, or if he’s the voice of reason. “You saw what they’re capable of. Reinhart was right. His technology is superior to ours.”
“That doesn’t mean we give up!” Drape shouts.
“What do you want to do?” Talen asks.
“Let’s take them head-on,” he says.
My spine stiffens. I shake my head and look to Sky. This can’t be a good idea.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Sky says. “Soon all of our friends and family will be found in the Slack, and the underground habitats will only be stripped of even more humanity as they lock it down. We have to fight.”
I turn to Elias, waiting for him to say something, to take a stand against this suicide mission, but he’s on his feet. His soft expression is gone, replaced by something more determined.
“The city thinks we’re terrorists,” I plead with him
“Then let’s beat them at their own game,” Elias whispers.
A slow smile spreads across Drape’s face. “It’s time to turn the tables,” he says. “We have to make Ethos see the EHC for who they really are.”