The knock comes at midnight, as requested. Elinor greets me haughtily when I answer the door. Her gaze travels down to my form-fitting black t-shirt, black pants, and black combat boots. Her eyebrow lifts. “Going somewhere?”
Instead of answering, I pull her inside. “Hurry,” I say, doing my best to act paranoid and frightened. It isn’t difficult. I’ve never been more of either in my life, which is saying something. I throw the bolt home and pace back and forth, back and forth, working off some of my nervous energy while ratcheting up the tension. I can tell she’s intrigued, because she says nothing. Just watches me with her big dark eyes, wondering what the hell I’m on about.
On one of my passes by the table, I jab at the boombox I’ve stolen from the rec room. Tinny 90s rap blasts from the speakers. “Is that necessary?” she asks.
I shrug. “You never know who might be listening.” Crossing my arms, I lean against the counter and look at her. “Elinor, we have a problem.”
“Oh?” An amused smile stretches across her face. My hand itches to slap it off. “And what might that be?”
“Something’s going on with Winona. I learned recently that this whole thing with the hybrids is some sort of experiment she thought up, and the bot council—did you know there’s a bot council?—is getting fed up with it. I think they’re about ready to nuke the whole initiative, and if we’re still here, we’ll be caught in the crossfire.”
She gives me a strange look. “Where did you get this information? Has Ryan been telling you things?”
“Of course not.” I do my best to look guilty. “He would never—well, OK, I mean, we are married. We share things with each other we can’t share with anyone else. We’re in love.”
Her face contorts with anger and jealousy, confirming my suspicions. It isn’t just some program controlling Elinor.
It’s Winona.
“I suppose he’s told you he loves you?” she asks haughtily.
“Our second day here, actually,” I say. “He said the love my husband had for me burns in every synapse of his body. That he’ll always love me. I doubted it at first, but I don’t anymore.”
Elinona’s expression grows colder with every word. I half expect her to fly at me in a rage, but of course she doesn’t. The bots may have infected themselves with human emotion, but cold logic underlies everything they do. Even now, she’s probably processing a thousand scenarios, weighing every option and assessing the odds of success. She wants me dead. She wants all of us dead. But she’s made her plans, and will hesitate to deviate from them. That’s what I’m counting on, at least.
“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” she says. “If Winona controls all of Center, it’s most likely because this council trusts her. Why would they come in and ruin her work? What’s the end game?”
“Who knows? The bots have their own weird reasons for everything they do. I’m not just going to sit around and let it happen, though. The humans here are like family to me. I don’t want to get annihilated in some bot civil war. We need to come up with a plan.”
“If you don’t mind my saying, this all sounds a little far-fetched. Even if it were true, the bots aren’t going to let you wander out of here.” Her eyes narrow. “When was the last time Ryan told you he loved you?”
OK, so maybe she isn’t some bastion of rationality. Is that really what she’s hung up on? “A few days ago,” I answer truthfully. “Why do you ask? Are you feeling all right? You look a little ill. Maybe I should get Kiyoko to take a look at you.”
Her face changes immediately. “No, that’s not necessary. I’m all right.” Her smile is a mockery of smiles. It sends a shiver up my spine. At that moment, my auditory implant vibrates, and the Sentry’s voice tells me I have exactly two minutes.
Time to get down to business.
“I thought we’d try and talk to Winona first,” I say, “see if she can’t convince the council to let her continue with her experiments. If that doesn’t work, we’ll need a backup plan. One the bots may not like.”
Her eyes gleam. She thinks she’s caught me out in my duplicity. “What did you have in mind? Some sort of overthrow? The bots are incredibly strong. I don’t think it’s possible to destroy them.”
“Everything has a weakness.” I reach into a cupboard and pull out a couple cans of warm soda. “Do you want a drink? I have a feeling we’ll need the caffeine.”
“Sure.”
Elinona sits at the table while I pour, my back to her and the camera bubble in the corner. A few moments later, I turn and hand her a drink, sitting down across from her. “To humanity,” I say, raising my glass. Our clink is lost beneath the music, still pounding away beside us. It’s starting to give me a headache, truth be told, but I’ve dealt with worse.
“To humanity.” With a flash of teeth, she throws her head back, downing the soda in one long gulp. I follow suit.
One minute, the Sentry says. Some part of me thinks absently that he needs a name besides Sentry or 70192, but that can wait. As soon as that timer counts down, there’ll be no time for thinking.
“Why are you staring at me?” Elinona asks.
“I’m just wondering how you thought you’d get away with it,” I say casually. “I might not know Elinor very well, but she has an incredibly strong personality. The fact that you chose her out of all of us makes me think the bots really aren’t that smart.”
I’ve never seen anyone’s eyes so wide. “What are you talking about?” she whispers, so softly I have to read her lips.
“I’m talking about that facehugger implant you’ve got growing out the back of her skull.”
Thirty seconds.
Elinona grips the table with white knuckles. Her expression wavers between fury and terror. “You need to start making sense, Jeraca. This place has made you crazy.” Suddenly she sways in her seat, jiggling like a bobblehead. “Whoa—what’s going on?”
“I put an electronic dampener in your drink to kill any signal going to Elinor’s brain. You can’t have her, Winona. I refuse to allow it.”
She looks blearily up at me. “Can’t—stop me.”
Ten seconds.
“Oh, I think I can.” I lean back as she swipes at me halfheartedly. The real Winona is probably freaking out, sending reinforcements to lock me up with Mike Jones. That ain’t gonna happen.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The explosion rips through Center’s guts like a chainsaw through a bloated corpse. It knocks us out of our chairs, and I hit the floor with enough force to drive the air from my lungs.
Groaning, Elinona lies where she lands. She stares at the door with blank eyes, and I fear Winona is still seeing or hearing through that parasitic implant. It should be powered down by now, and Elinor should be unconscious. That she isn’t worries me. I reach into my pocket for Plan B, thankful the needle is still there and intact. I tear off the safety cap and look up, horror freezing me in place.
She’s already on her feet, staring right at me.
How is that possible?
“What is that, Jeraca?”
I’ve never known a voice could sound so cold and devoid of humanity. It’s worse than Winona’s; worse than any bot’s voice I’ve ever heard. It terrifies me. Her hand darts out and grabs my wrist, wrenching it backwards. I shriek with pain and bend with it, dropping to my knees. The needle falls uselessly from my hand.
She leans down and snarls into my face, “What were you going to do with the needle, Jeraca? What was that explosion?”
I’m so fucking terrified I feel my bladder start to let go. I clamp my legs shut and hold on for dear life, absurdly afraid I’ll piss myself. At least the rest of them have their distraction. By now, Javed should be gathering everyone else to get them the hell out of here.
A second explosion rips through the night. No soundproof walls can hide a noise that big. This shockwave is even more powerful than the first, sending Elinona and me flying. My arm is ripped out of her hand as we tumble like rolls of hay across the floor. As soon as we land, though, she’s on her hands and knees, crawling toward me with murder in her eyes.
But I have tricks of my own. One of my implants is meant to hone my reflexes and turn me into something more than a useless blob of meat and sentience. Before my conscious mind can even process the order, my leg shoots out, my boot connecting solidly with her jaw. The blow snaps her head to the side. She turns back to me, snarling, but my leg is already on the return arc. My heel slams into the other side of her face. She collapses with a groan.
I dive for the needle. Unfortunately, she’s already recovering. Her hand clamps around my ankle. I try to kick her again, but she yanks me toward her and dives on top of me, pinning my arms. Her eyes are alight with unholy glee. Instincts I can’t control make me ram my forehead into her nose, and we both cry out in pain. It hurts like a motherfucker. Blood drips onto my face, wet and uncomfortably hot, thanks to that implant sucking all her body heat upward.
“You bitch,” she growls, adjusting position with frightening speed. While I struggle like a wounded animal, she pins my arms with her legs, leaving her own arms free. I’m helpless to do anything as she rains down blows upon my face. Bracing my legs against the floor, I attempt to rear up and throw her off, but she rides my motions like a drunk girl on the mechanical bull. She’s unshakable.
The door rattles. Pausing in our desperate battle, we look over as it flies off its hinges and crashes into the opposite wall. Expecting the Sentry, I nearly sob with relief, but it’s not 70192 who steps through the door.
It’s not-Ryan.
The strength flows from me like water. Pack it up, kids. It’s all over.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I was the sure thing; it was the others I worried about. But the lack of sound from the hallway tells me Javed did his job. They’re gone. At least they have a chance. They don’t need me to survive.
“What’s going on here?” not-Ryan asks, gazing down at us with mild bemusement. “Jeraca, do you happen to know why the Beetle has awoken and is currently tearing Center apart?”
“Sorry,” I tell him. “No idea.”
“Bullshit,” Elinona says. She punches me again, smiling when I whimper. “She’s a fucking liar. She already drugged me, and I caught her trying to inject me with this.” She snatches up the needle and tosses it to him. He catches it effortlessly, peering at it as if to ferret out what it is. No doubt his onboard machinery is doing exactly that.
“And I suppose you’re the reason all the humans are mysteriously missing?” His bland tone indicates this is all as unexciting to him as a root canal was to the real Ryan.
Triumphantly, I say, “Nope. Wasn’t me.”
This enrages Elinona. With my arms pinned to my sides, I can do nothing but flinch as she hits me again and again. I fully expect to be beaten to death, but her weight suddenly disappears. Blearily, I blink through my puffy eyelids and her blood to see not-Ryan holding her up off the floor, her shirt bunched in his fist as she flails and shrieks angrily. In his other hand he holds the needle, which he slides into her neck. I watch, dumbstruck, as he depresses the plunger.
“What the hell?” Elinona gasps, trying uselessly to push him away. “You traitor! I’ll have you decommissioned. I’ll…” Her eyelids flutter as the drug takes effect. She slumps forward. Not-Ryan lowers her not-so-gently to the floor and reaches down to help me up.
“Come on,” he says impatiently, shaking his hand at me when I shrink away. “You don’t have much time.”
With the door open, I hear another series of explosions. The air is tinged with smoke and melted metal, but the human corridor is still untouched. Who knows how long it will remain that way? I take his hand and let him pull me up.
“You all right?” He looks me over, his eyes tightening as he takes stock of the bruises Elinona has given me. “You’ll live. I assume you have a plan?”
What in the holy hell is going on here? “You assume correctly. Do you mean to tell me you’re not going to haul me back to the real Winona?”
“I should.” His face is hard. “All of my programming is telling me to throw you at the column with Mike Jones.” He takes a step toward me and I scramble backwards in alarm. But he stops. He stares at me for a long moment, his eyes searching my face for—what? I have no idea. After an uncomfortable silence, he says, “Go. Get out. You’ve destroyed my home and my work, and I don’t want to see your face again.”
Too afraid to be relieved, I reach for Elinona.
“What are you doing?” he asks, looking at me like I’m an idiot. I can’t blame him.
“Taking her along.”
“Are you sure that’s wise? When she awakens, their link will be reestablished.”
“Oh, I know it’s not wise. But I have a plan.”
“If you say so.” He picks her up and helps me sling her over my shoulder. Somehow, despite shaking legs and burning muscles, I manage to stay on my feet. My implants help, rerouting energy to where I need it most. I feel a little cold by the time she’s situated, but I’ll be OK. My skin is already tingling where the nanites are going to work on my injuries. I should be mostly healed by the time I get to the rendezvous. Sometimes technology is bitchin’.
“Thank you,” I tell him sincerely. He nods, saying nothing. Wondering why it feels like my heart is breaking, I stagger into the hallway.
More explosions send me stumbling into the wall. With any luck, the Beetle will focus on the other side of the building a while longer so I can escape. As it is, I’m incredibly late. I head for the cafeteria, where the gun 70192 promised me is taped to the underside of the table. After stowing it in the makeshift holster I made for it and my knife, I keep moving.
“Jeraca, are you there?” the Sentry asks through my implant. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, in the cafeteria. Heading out now.”
“You should already be here.”
“I was delayed.” I don’t want to mention not-Ryan. It would only worry him, knowing they’re aware of my escape. He’s got the surveillance off in several wings to cover our tracks, but there are bots everywhere. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got visuals coming through. I should be able to make it, no problem.”
“I’m coming to you. I can already tell your vitals have lowered. You won’t be able to carry her all the way here.”
“No, you don’t have–“
But he’s already cut out. I shake my head. If he comes to me, great, but I can’t count on it. I have to make it through the bots alone.
At the first intersection, I spy two Sentries around the corner. They’re standing still, and I can’t tell what they’re doing. One is looking my way, though, and if I try to sneak past, they’ll see me. I lower Elinor gently to the floor. My hand shakes as I grip the gun. I’ve used weapons before, of course, during the War, but this one is something else: bot-created, sleek and shiny, with a magnetic delivery system and a mechanism that actually creates piercing ammunition when you stick slags of metal into the barrel. If humans had weapons like this Before, we might have stood a chance in the smaller fights. Until the Beetles showed up and laid waste to everything.
As if on cue, more explosions rattle the building. I duck as a chunk of ceiling clatters past my head. This alerts the Sentries, bringing them my way. On the edge of hyperventilating, I press my body against the wall, waiting for what will most likely be my death. Suddenly, my implants kick into gear. Visual readings show me the bots’ proximity and weak points. I see writing scrolling by too fast to consciously discern, but somehow I know exactly what to do. As soon as the first one steps into view, I shoot its spinal column, blowing a massive smoking hole in its nerve center. The other one whirls toward me, raising its gun arms, but I’m already rolling to the other side of the corridor. I come up on its side, unloading three precise shots into its hip, torso, and head, knocking out communication, sensory equipment, and processors, respectively. It goes dark, frozen in place.
Trembling, I wait for either of them to come back to life and shoot me. When nothing happens, I stow the gun and haul Elinor back up onto my shoulder. Other than these two Sentries, the rest are easily avoided, but it feels like hours before I see the loading dock up ahead.
I activate the implant. “I’m here,” I say softly. “I thought you were coming to meet me.”
A pause. “I was delayed, as well,” 70192 says.
The why is apparent as soon I enter the dock. No fewer than eight Sentries and two Crawlers lie twisted and smoldering on the floor. As soon as I pass through the doorway, the humans surge forward from every direction, calling my name and peppering me with questions. “Later,” I tell them. They all wince as 70192 comes forward, lifting Elinor from my shoulders. They don’t trust him at all, and I can’t blame them. I’m not even sure why I do.
“Who can carry this woman?” he asks. Javed immediately steps forward.
“Give her to me.” As he wrestles her onto his back, he glances at me. “What’s wrong with her? Wait—is that a bruise on your cheek?”
Which is all the evidence that remains of our fight. These mods are goddamn amazing. “They’ve got an implant embedded in her skull. I had to knock her out to get her away. She wasn’t a big fan. We’re going to have to do some impromptu surgery when we get out of here.”
Horror greets this remark. “You’re kidding.” Kelly’s mouth hangs open. “She’s implanted with bot technology and we’re bringing her with us? They’ll track her. There’s no way they won’t. And we’ll all be killed.”
“Which is why she’ll be going with him—” I jerk a thumb toward the Sentry “—and me. The rest of you will head for the Delta compound up north.”
“I thought you had a plan.” Weeping Girl is about ready to live up to her nickname. “This is all just running and hiding.”
I roll my eyes. “In case you haven’t noticed, running and hiding are about all we’ve got. You can stay here and die, or you can escape and give yourself a chance. There are supplies stashed outside, and the bots are being kept pretty damn busy. What more do you want?”
She doesn’t answer, electing to stare daggers at me instead. Ignoring her, I dig into a nearby crate and come up with guns enough for all. “When 70192 opens the door, it’s going to trigger an alarm. It’s hard-coded—he can’t stop it. We need to go as quickly as possible. If we get separated, head for the rendezvous point at Jackson and Howard. I need all of you to be prepared to shoot. Protect Javed and Elinor, since they’ll be at a disadvantage. Got it?”
The response is less than enthusiastic. “Listen, guys, this is the best chance we’re likely to get,” Javed says. “Jeraca is right. If we don’t get out of here now, we never will. It was shitty luck when they picked us, but we’re finally taking our lives into our own hands.”
“But we’ve been through so much…” Sydney’s eyes well with tears. “I just wanted to relax a bit.”
“I agree. I don’t understand why we’re doing this.” William lays his gun down on a nearby crate, as if it offends him. “We have a life here. Maybe not like we used to, but it’s not half bad. I’ll take creature comforts over freedom any day. Sorry if that offends anyone.”
“William, you don’t understand,” I say. “They’re not going to let us live here forever. They—”
“There’s no time to argue,” 70192 steps forward. “More units have been dispatched this way. We have to leave now.”
That’s all the urging most of them need. Nine of us take up formation near the door, ready to head out into the unknown. But William, Sydney, Liang, Kelly, and Lydia lay down their weapons. “What are you doing?” I ask. “You can’t stay here.”
“Jeraca, I’m not a young woman anymore,” Lydia says. Her gentle smile makes me want to cry. “Center isn’t ideal, but it’s the closest thing to my old life I’m going to get.”
I glance at 70192, who shakes his head. He thinks telling them Winona’s plans will do more harm than good, and believes his in-depth study of human psychology makes him more knowledgeable than my actual humanity.
Screw that.
“They’re going to kill you,” I say quietly. “Winona plans to terminate everyone involved in the Task and start over with a new batch of hybrids. I heard her say it myself. If you don’t leave now, you’ll be dead within a week.”
Those near the door recoil. “What the hell are we waiting for?” Darshan asks.
“We need to go before the building collapses,” Javed adds.
“Lydia?” I ask softly. “William? Liang? I know it’s scary, but at least there’s a chance…”
“Dag would never let anything happen to me,” Kelly says. “I don’t believe a word of what you just said.”
“Dag is a bot,” I retort. “He doesn’t actually care about you.”
“So is he!” she cries, gesturing toward the Sentry. “We’re supposed to trust him but not the hybrids that were made for us? Give me a break.”
“Jeraca,” 70192 says loudly. “We don’t have time.”
He’s right. I can hear the distant sound of approaching bots. 70192 goes to the panel near the door and flips open the cover. His hand hovers over the button. “Are you ready?”
I glance one last time at the holdouts. They face me squarely, all except Sydney. Glancing between each group, she snatches up a gun and joins us. “Fuck it,” she mutters. “I believe you, Jeraca. You’re the only one who’s had your head on straight through all this.”
I smile at her gratefully. “If the rest of you aren’t coming, you should go back to your rooms. I don’t want you getting caught in any crossfire.” If they still have rooms to return to, that is.
Kelly, Liang, and Lydia waste no time leaving. William pauses long enough to give me a sad smile. “I believe you, too,” he says. “I just don’t got it in me to fight no more. Good luck, all of ya. I’ll pray for y’all.” My heart breaks as he limps through the doors. He’s never looked so old.
“They’re two hundred yards away, Jeraca,” 70192 says. “It’s now or never.”
I take a deep breath. I can’t afford to be distracted by my emotions. “Ready?” I ask the others. Their tight nods and fierce expressions reassure me. “Then let’s do this.”
The Sentry presses the big black button. The doors flicker into nothingness—I’d forgotten about that little feature—but nothing else happens. “I thought there was an alarm,” I say as we hurry outside.
“It’s silent to humans. This way!” He points to the left, where the narrow street twists out of sight behind a massive pile of rubble. We set off at a jog, putting as much distance between us and Center as possible. I glance back to make sure nothing’s following us. The doors have reappeared, and in the distance, twisting columns of smoke reflect the flickering red fires raging through the building. It’s so damn big I can’t even see the parts that have been obliterated. More explosions tell me they haven’t managed to put the Beetle down yet, though. I grin and urge everyone to pick up the pace.
The full moon lights our way to the supply cache 70192 set up a couple miles away. Wordlessly, he passes out knapsacks full of food and medical supplies and flashlights and extra clothes. I have no idea where he found it all, but I’m not complaining. My auditory implant buzzes. They know we’ve escaped. The Sentry units will try to track us. They’ve got Brawlers, too. If Elinor awakens, we’ll be like beacons to them. We need to remove the implant or else her link with Winona will reestablish itself the instant she regains consciousness.
“We have to split up,” I tell the group. “I want you to be far away in case they start tracking Elinor.”
They take the news as well as can be expected. Most of them.
“I’m going with you,” Javed says, shaking his head when the Sentry tries to take Elinor. “You need to be free to fight, and Jeraca can’t carry her.”
“Not gonna happen,” I say automatically. “You have to help them get to the compound. It’s fifty miles away.”
“As for that,” Sydney says, her eyes hard, “I spent seven years in the army. I can get them there.”
“Me too.” Darshan nods at her. “I was stationed on the Kashmir border for fifty months. I can shoot the eye out of a mouse at fifty paces.”
As disturbing as that image is, I’m glad the others will be in good hands. Not so glad about Javed, though. My unhappiness worsens as Kiyoko peels away from the group. “If you’re performing surgery, you’ll need a nurse. I’ll stay and help.”
“No way—”
“There’s no time to argue,” Javed says. “We made our choice. We have to go now.”
Outnumbered, I reluctantly give in. We head to the interstate, where the long arm of the HOA begins. Rows of identical houses march like soldiers ahead of us into suburbia. We scuttle under the road single file, like ants, ending up on a quiet street where the buildings are mostly intact. They’ll make good cover. We decide to split up here.
Good-byes are hurried and poignant. We may not have gotten to know each other all that well, but humans (those who aren’t raiders, at least) are bonded by shared misery in the Dark. Through a flurry of hugs and tears, we promise to catch up to them as soon as Elinor is herself again. I glimpse the Sentry hanging back, watching us avidly. Pity wrings my heart.
One by one, the larger group disappears through a gap in an overgrown hedge. Sydney is last through. She turns to look at me, and a current of perfect understanding passes between us. We know we’ll never see each other again. I wave, and she waves back. Then she’s gone.
We keep moving. Our next stop is at a small teaching hospital a mile or so away. We walk in silence, Kiyoko first, then Javed. Every so often, the nurse reaches up and feels Elinor’s wrist, counting in time with our footsteps to measure her pulse. The Sentry and I bring up the rear, keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings. “You need a name,” I tell him, peering through my implants at a world arrayed in infrared, then ultraviolet, then night-vision.
“A name?” He looks at me like I’ve gone crazy.
“Yeah. I can’t keep calling you 70192 or Sentry.”
“Of course you can.”
“OK, then I don’t want to,” I say, a faint smile tugging at my lips. “You’re more human than the other bots. You deserve a name.”
Javed glances over his shoulder. “I vote Metalhead.”
“Very funny.” I look at the Sentry. “I mean it. We have names. You need one, too.”
“I have no opinion on the matter.” He walks stiffly, and I can tell Javed’s remark has upset him. Weird how easily I can read him.
“What’s a name that means ‘friend’?” I ask. “Or ‘protector’?”
He pauses. “There are many. Lieve and Khalil have roots in friendship, while Sacha and Alexander speak of defending mankind–“
“Alexander?” I say sharply, peering at his shiny metallic torso. “Did you know your serial number contains the letters L-E-X? That’s short for Alexander. It’s like it was meant to be.”
“Lex,” he says slowly. “Yes. I rather like it.”
“Lex it is,” I say with a smile.
“Are we almost there?” Javed sounds annoyed. “They’ve got to be close behind us.”
“It’s just past the next intersection,” Lex says. And indeed, a few moments later we reach a corner and see a rambling, rectangular building off to the right, blotting out the view of the city beyond.
One of the—I suppose positive?—things about this war is that most buildings, if they’re still standing, are pretty much intact. Raider squads are becoming less common, and with most of us locked up in compounds, not many people are out looting. In no time at all, we’re in a small operating theater, surrounded by sterile medical equipment. There’s no electricity, but Lex surprises us by unearthing a few battery-powered lanterns. He gives orders in rapid-fire succession.
“Javed, Jeraca, we need to buy some time. I did some reconnaissance here and managed to connect the hospital’s EM field generator to several others. Once activated, the fields will create several electronic dead zones throughout the city, creating multiple blind spots for any trackers. The field around the hospital will also keep Winona from connecting to Elinor. One of you will need to go to the security office to activate it. The other should verify that all the doors on the first floor are locked. Try and make note of as many escape routes as you can, just in case.”
How long has he been planning this? Impressed, I reach down and squeeze Elinor’s shoulder, trying to impart some strength for what’s to come. “Be careful,” I tell Lex and Kiyoko. “We’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“We will,” he says.
Javed grabs a lantern, and he and I hustle down to the security office, where he finds a set of walkie talkies. Amazingly, the batteries still work. He passes one to me before he starts messing with the big panel in the middle of the wall, muttering under his breath as he tries to get the generator running. Most every human institution installed EM fields during the War to try and stave off the bots, though they did little good. I hope they can help us now.
While Javed works on the electronics, I circle the ground floor, checking every door I see. About halfway through the task, I tap my ear. “How’s it going up there?” I ask Lex.
“As well as can be expected. Kiyoko is prepping Elinor while I peruse my databanks to learn brain and spinal surgery.”
“Naturally.” I stop and test the double doors by the gift shop. Locked up tight. “I know you’ll do all you can, but be careful, OK? Elinor doesn’t deserve what happened to her.”
Lex answers in the affirmative and we disconnect. Opening the door to the parking garage, I peer out, using my implants to scan my surroundings. I see nothing but the husks of dead cars, but even so, it feels like there are eyes watching me, crawling over my skin like insects. Shivering, I close the doors and turn the lock. “Javed, how goes it?” I murmur into the walkie. “We got a field yet?”
“Not yet.” His voice sounds muffled. “I had to dive into the generator’s guts to get it going. I’m almost there. I managed to wire up the cameras, too, so we should have a feed coming up to the nurses’ station once we have power.”
“We don’t want the lights coming on all over the building,” I warn him. “We shouldn’t advertise our presence.”
“Not to worry. I’ve only enabled power to a small portion of the fourth floor.”
“Sounds great. I’m on my way back.”
“Ten-four, good buddy.”
He’s priming the lever on the panel when I enter the office. After four times down and back up, a light starts blinking. “Here goes nothing,” he says. I hold up my crossed fingers. Grimacing dramatically, he reaches over and presses the button with the tip of his index finger, as if it’s about to explode. A low hum fills the air, and the panel lights up like Christmas.
“Is that it?” I ask excitedly.
“It is!” He’s ecstatic. “Hell yeah!” He fist pumps and gives me a high five. We grin like fools at each other. Then he pulls me into his arms and crushes my mouth to his.
I freeze. Not like someone hoping the Jehovah’s witness at the door will go away, but like the heroine of the movie hiding in a closet while the serial killer creeps around the bedroom.
My implants, however, are still very much active.
My arm shoots forward, the heel of my hand slamming into Javed’s chest with a hollow thud. He staggers backward, wheezing and clutching at his stomach. His face is red, his eyes bulging. His head bobs up and down while I stand there in shock, not at all certain what’s happening. Suddenly he gasps and leans over, bracing himself on his knees as he breathes in and out like a bellows. And I realize: I paralyzed his diaphragm.
“Oh, shit, Javed, are you all right?” I take an instinctive step toward him, but he holds up his hand and backs away from me.
“Get—away,” he gasps. “What—the fuck—was that?”
A flash of anger heats my insides. “Dude, I’m sorry, but you scared the shit out of me. You can’t just grab someone like that and not expect them to react. This isn’t some Hallmark movie.”
“I was just—excited.”
“I don’t care if you’re the happiest person on earth. You don’t kiss someone against their will.”
We glare at each other. “Lex, we’re coming up,” I say angrily, knowing it’s the one thing that will piss Javed off even more. Just as I thought, his scowl intensifies.
“I’m getting sick of that bot,” he growls.
I resist the urge to stick out my tongue, listening for a response from upstairs. When one doesn’t come, fear blossoms in my gut. Javed starts to complain again, but I hold up my hand. “Lex, come in. Is everything OK?”
Nothing.
This time, Javed understands what’s happening. We sprint from the office, taking the stairs two at a time to the fourth floor. He’s still panting a little, but seems otherwise fine. Part of me feels guilty, while the other part wonders what the hell he expected. I’ve never given him a single reason to think I was interested in him that way.
It’s eerily quiet as we exit the stairwell and approach the theater. “Lex?” I call softly. “Is everything OK?” I push the door open a crack, and immediately see Kiyoko lying on the floor with a bullet-sized hole in her forehead. The room is otherwise empty.
“Allah be merciful.” Javed ignores my frantic gesturing and rushes to her side, feeling for a pulse. A single trickle of blood oozes from the wound. The whole thing seems absurdly neat and tidy until I notice the massive spatter of blood and brains on the equipment. Bile rises in my throat. Poor Kiyoko. She didn’t deserve this.
Where the hell is Lex?
Shaking uncontrollably, I draw my gun. My eyes are glued to the only other door in the room, beyond which lies darkness and a cold, heavy silence. I have no idea how Winona could have gotten the drop on a Sentry, but it’s clear we didn’t get the field up in time. She should be cut off from Elinor now, but who can say? Maybe she found a way around the field. She could still be here, waiting for us. Watching us.
At a gesture from me, Javed pulls out his own weapon. Together, we creep toward the door. His mouth moves, silent prayers to Allah to see him through the darkness. I envy him; I stopped believing in anything a long time ago. Including myself.
Katia Cole 