Compliance (35 page)

Clinging, I turn and look down. Forty stories below us, the Hub’s in chaos.

He reaches the top of the building and pulls us onto the roof. I drop off his back onto its surface.

Two Comps race toward us, Shockers pointed. Burn pushes me behind him and charges. One of the Comps shoots and misses. Burn swats the gun out of his hands and then throws the uniformed man across the roof as if he weighs nothing.

“Look out,” I yell, but I’m too late. The second Comp shoots, and his aim’s better. The electrically charged tag
strikes Burn’s bare neck and sticks. He convulses and drops to his knees.

The Comp moves toward Burn, turning up the charge on the tag. I race forward and grab the Comp from behind, trapping his arms. He’s too big and easily breaks my hold. Anticipating this, I drop off him and land in a strong stance.

He turns. I tuck, reach for one of his arms, and flip him over me onto his back. He lands with a thud, and I straddle his chest, pinning his arms, then flip up his visor to expose his eyes.

It’s Williams, a Comp who often helped Larsson during our combat training.

I latch onto him with my Deviance, fighting to remember how I put that rat to sleep. Can I do it again? Can I disable this man without killing him? I focus on his brain, concentrate on making him sleep. His body goes slack. I’ve done it—I hope—and I dig my fingers under the side of his helmet to feel for a pulse. He’s still alive.

Burn, about fifteen feet across the roof from me, has changed back into his normal self but he’s still convulsing from the Shocker tag. Angry with myself for not helping him sooner, I lunge for Williams’ weapon and turn it off. I race to Burn and pull the tag off his neck. It leaves an angry red ring.

“Glory.” His voice is weak. He brings his hands to his head. “What happened?”

“You’ve got to get up,” I tell him. “More Comps will be here any moment.”

He stands, but it’s clear that he’s weakened. I’m not used to seeing Burn this way, and I drape his arm over my shoulders and walk, his body heavy above mine. We reach the edge of the roof. The next building’s close, its roof no more than ten feet across and twenty feet down.

“Can you make it?”

He nods, and I jump first, rolling after I land. He follows, but when he gets up, he’s sluggish, limping. We need to find somewhere to hide.

“Over here,” a voice calls out and a man’s head pokes out of a hatch on the other side of the roof. “Hide here.”

Hearing a sound behind me, I turn, seeking the source but not seeing one. If the Comps don’t know where we are already, they’ll find us—soon. Burn needs time to recover, but what if the man in the hatch is leading us into a trap? Burn staggers, nearly losing his balance. We don’t have a choice.

“Come on,” I tell Burn and we run for the hatch. A few feet away, I recognize Larsson.

Burn and I follow him under the hatch.

The space is small. The three of us barely fit. Larsson has a small lantern and cranks its handle once the hatch is sealed.

He raises a finger to his lips.

The thump of Comp boots penetrates the space, vibrating through the walls around us. I wonder whether this small space leads somewhere else, whether we should move, but Larsson remains still. Burn sits with his head in his hands and we wait. Any moment the hatch might
lift and we’ll be exposed. The lantern fades away to darkness.

What feels like twenty minutes later, Larsson cranks his lantern and light fills the space. “I think they’ve moved on. I’ll check.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“We need to get to the west quad,” Burn says. “Do you know the best route?”

Larsson nods. “I’ll take you there.”

“Why the west quad?” I ask.

“Best route out,” Burn says. “There are Comps all around the North side of the dome because of the invasion and the expunging.”

I panic at the word expunging. Is Cal already outside the dome being torn apart by Shredders?

Larsson opens the hatch a few inches and looks out. “Stay down. I’ll be back as soon as I make sure the coast is clear.” He climbs out and closes the hatch above us.

“I need to get Cal.” I watch Burn carefully. Mentioning Cal might be a huge mistake—what if he changes again?—but I mean what I say. There is no way I’ll leave Haven without Cal, not if there’s a chance he’s still alive.

“You’re too late,” Burn says. “He was exed.”

“You don’t know that. We never saw the door open, and I won’t let another one of my friends die.”

“Another?” Burn asks.

I nod, my eyes prickling with tears. “Scout’s dead. They killed him in the Hospital. Plus, Tobin and Jayma were expunged.”

“Who told you that?” he asks.

“Mrs. Kalin.”

He shakes his head. “She was lying. Jayma and the kid are in the storage room where you and I met.”

“No, I checked. They aren’t there.”

“They’re in a tunnel waiting for me to get you.”

Happiness pushes through my fear and anxiety. “I looked for a tunnel entrance in that room. I couldn’t find it.”

“Good,” Burn says. “It’s well hidden.”

The hatch opens.

“Now,” Larsson says. “Quickly, while the Comps are all focused on the riots in the Hub. We’ve got a chance to escape, but it’s got to be now.”

We climb out and Burn and Larsson start across the roof heading west. I don’t move.

Burn notices and turns back. “Now, Glory.”

I shake my head. “I have to get Cal.”

“It’s too late.” He widens his stance.

Larsson’s mouth twists. He knows something.

“Is it too late?” I grab Larsson’s arm. “Have they exed Cal already?”

Larsson lifts a hand to his ear and adjusts his communicator. “Cal’s still inside the dome. The Comps holding him by the door are waiting for new orders. With the chaos, they don’t know what to do.”

I straighten my shoulders. “Then we need to get him.”

“No.” Burn shakes his head. “It’s the opposite direction. It’s him or those kids.”

I back away. “I can’t leave Cal. I won’t. Promise me you’ll get Tobin and Jayma to safety.”

Without waiting for him to reply, I run north and jump off the edge of the roof.

I
RACE ACROSS
rooftops toward the north edge of Haven. If I can get into the tunnel where our class watched the expunging, I can find the door out of the dome. I’m certain.

Spotlights bounce off the sky and the air’s filled with sirens and smoke. Every route I try is blocked, but I can’t stop to figure out what’s happening or who’s winning the battle. There’s no time to be careful.

I leap to lower and lower buildings, and the sky comes closer above me on each one as the dome slopes toward the edge. Finally I spot it: the building that leads to the tunnel.

Finding a rope, I climb down four stories to the street surface. I run nine or ten blocks, my lungs burning and a copper tang in my mouth.

The door’s marked, “Danger. No Entrance.” Hanging at the back of the group that day, I didn’t see the door before it
opened but I’m sure it’s the one Larsson led us through. At least it’s my best guess.

I open it and enter a dark hallway. About five feet along, lights snap on, and as I race forward, more lights follow as if they’re chasing me down the hall.

The corridor ends at a door, and when I open it I’m certain I’ve found the right place. This is definitely the hall we traveled down to view the expunging. Passing the door to the viewing room where our class watched, I hear voices around the next corner—the corner that should be near the door leading Outside. I stop and then move forward with more caution.

“How do you know it wouldn’t be better?” a male voice asks.

“Haven equals safety,” replies another. “Without Management, without the P&P, Haven will devolve into chaos, Shredders will break in, holes will open in the dome, and we’ll all drown in dust.”

“Maybe we’d just get better food,” the other man says. “Maybe what we’ve got would be divided up more fairly. You heard what that guy with the megaphone said.”

I peek around the corner. Cal is sitting against the wall, his hands and feet tied, a gag in his mouth. Two Comps in full gear are leaning against either side of the corridor, their visors raised.

The larger of the two turns. He sees me.

“What are you doing here?” He points his gun—an Aut with bullets. From his voice, I know he’s the one who
wondered about the better food. The smaller one quoted Haven rhetoric. Perhaps I can divide and conquer.

I raise my hands in surrender. “I’m one of the COT recruits. Captain Larsson sent me here to observe the expunging.”

Cal opens his eyes wide and struggles, but he’s bound too tightly.

“We weren’t briefed,” the big one says. “We didn’t get any notice we’d be assigned a recruit today.”

“You’re not even in uniform.” The smaller one frowns. “Unless torn red dresses are the new issue at COT.” He laughs.

“It’s her.” The big one charges toward me. “You’re the girl who tried to kill the President. We saw it on screen.” He points to a TV high on the wall. “You’re Mrs. Kalin’s daughter. She’s got everyone looking for you.”

“She also calmed that Shredder who killed the President,” the smaller one says. “She saved people’s lives. That thing would have killed everyone.” He turns to me. “How did you do that?”

He thinks Burn’s a Shredder. I don’t correct him.

The smaller Comp reaches for his gun. Cal swings his bound legs and knocks him off his feet. The larger Comp turns on his communicator. “Assistance required. Code Red. Location NQ15.”

The Comp whom Cal knocked down isn’t moving and blood drips down his forehead from under his helmet. I need to act. Even with all the chaos, a Code Red will bring more Comps. Too many.

“Hey.” I draw the other one’s attention and instantly lock onto his deep green eyes. I summon my Deviance without even pausing to build my emotions.

It’s not necessary. Using my Deviance is becoming too easy.

But even if that makes me a monster, I can’t afford to think about the consequences now. If I need to kill these Comps to save Cal, so be it. I should have killed Mrs. Kalin when I had the chance. I won’t hesitate again.

Fixed on the Comp’s gaze, I concentrate on slowing his heart rate, slowing his brain waves, and making him sleep. He staggers back into the wall. “What…”

He drops to the floor.

“What the hell did you do to my partner? What
are
you?” The other Comp has regained consciousness. “You didn’t even touch him.”

I spin toward the Comp whom Cal knocked down, and he raises his hands in surrender. He’s removed his helmet and is rubbing his bleeding head. “Don’t hurt me.” He puts his Aut down.

I pick up his gun and tuck it into the back of the belt on my dress. “Give me your knife.”

He pulls the blade from its leg sheath and slides it across the floor. Grabbing it, I slice through the ropes binding Cal’s hands and he removes his gag as I cut the rope around his ankles.

The bigger Comp crawls across the hall to his partner and checks for a pulse. “He’s still alive.”

“He’ll be fine,” I say, although I’m not certain. “Is that the
way out?” I point to a door with a bright red light above it.

“No,” the Comp says. “That leads Outside.”

“Perfect.” I reach for the handle.

Cal puts his hand over mine. “Are you crazy? What are you doing?”

“We need to go out. We’ve got no other choice. Trust me.” We’re too late to go back and join Burn in the tunnels. I have no idea how Cal and I will survive our self-inflicted expunging, but we’ve got to try. It’s not safe inside Haven.

“You’ll die out there without masks,” the Comp says.

I pull out the Aut and point it at him. “Give him your mask,” I tell the Comp. I know I can breathe in some dust without choking or going mad. Cal might die.

“Leave if you want,” the Comp says. “I’m not going to stop you.”

I don’t lower the gun. “Your mask.”

“There are spares. Over there.” He points down the hall.

“Get two,” I tell Cal, then turn back to the Comp.

“Why are you letting us go?” I ask as Cal’s getting the masks.

“I saw what you did on the balcony.”

“So you’re afraid of me?”

“I don’t know.” He wipes blood from his forehead. “Everything’s messed up. I heard what those people said who burst into the Hub about Management controlling our lives. All I could think was maybe they’re right. Maybe we
should
question Management. Maybe things
do
need to change.” He shrugs. “If you’re with those people, I’m not sure I want to stop you.”

Cal returns with two masks. “Are you sure about this?”

I nod. “Put it on.”

The Comp I knocked out stirs.

The one helping us grabs his partner’s Aut and hands it to Cal. “Good luck.”

I sling my mask on and open the door.

The light is blinding. I take Cal’s hand and walk forward, shielding my eyes with my other hand. The wind’s blowing and dust strikes my cheeks like tiny needles. I’m grateful we picked up the masks.

“The light is so bright,” Cal says. “The air’s so hot.”

“It’s the sun.” I wish I had time to explain it, or let him see the miracle of the world for himself, but the dust is thick here and I have no idea what we’re facing. Since an expunging was planned, I feel certain that Shredders must be nearby and waiting. The Comps usually tip them off to make sure that the victims are attacked soon after they get out the door. This guarantees a good show for those watching in the Hub.

My eyes slowly adjust, and as we trudge forward, the air starts to clear. A loud rumbling comes from far off to the right and I turn to see what it is, but Cal tugs on my arm. “Glory.” His voice is low and filled with tension.

Forty feet to our left is a pack of Shredders—at least ten. They spot us and shout.

“Run!” Still holding Cal’s hand, I race diagonally to the right. We need to get away from the dome and away from those Shredders. In the distance, ruins, sections of old
buildings from BTD, jut up from the dust. We might find somewhere to hide if we can outrun the Shredders.

Something whooshes past my ear and a long metal shard lands in the dust. A foot to the left and it would have been in my back—or my head.