Rebel (16 page)

He ignored me, his attention focused on Riley. As the higher number, Riley was probably sort of his superior. I swallowed
down the urge to grab him by the neck and demand he tell us everything.

“There’s a shuttle missing,” Riley said.

“Yeah,” Kyle replied.

“What are Micah and Jules doing with it?” Riley kept his voice even, calm.

Kyle sort of winced. “Micah will be back by tonight.”

“After he does what?”

Kyle stared at us blankly.

“A drop?” Riley asked quietly.

I looked at him quickly. What was a “drop”?

“Yes,” Kyle said, his lip curling as he sneered at me. “I mean, it’s sort of expected, right?”

Riley ran his hands through his hair, his face worried. “Micah’s dropped bad Reboots in bounty hunter territory before. But it’s been years. I heard it made people around here antsy.”

“What? Where is that?”

Riley turned to Kyle for the answer and he shrugged. “Micah said he was going to look for them from the sky. He wasn’t sure.”

“They’re usually near Austin,” Riley said. “Because the majority of escaped Reboots come from there.”

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “And with the human situation in Austin . . .”

HARC probably had bounty hunters all over the place, to deal with the humans trying to escape.

Riley glanced at me, but I was still glaring at Kyle. He’d known Micah was taking Wren and he hadn’t tried to stop him.

I took a step forward, narrowing my eyes at him.

“What happens when he drops Reboots in bounty hunter territory?” I asked slowly.

“Bounty hunters deliver Reboots back to HARC,” Kyle said, meeting my gaze. “But I couldn’t say for sure. None of them ever come back.”

I took a small step back. Clenched my fist. Swung.

Kyle hit the ground and a brief pain radiated through my hand and up my arm. I’d never hit anyone that hard before.

He was on his feet in seconds and I ducked his attempt at a punch. Wren was five times faster, and he missed by so much he stumbled. I clocked him under the chin and he hit the ground again.

I turned to see Riley’s eyebrows raised, barely masking his surprise. He motioned with his hand and I heard the sound of over a hundred Reboots running.

I wanted to hit Kyle again, but instead I took a deep breath and tried to pull the panic away from the logic in my head. That’s what Wren would have done. She would have been rational about it. Calm.

I pulled my gun out and raised it as I heard the Reboots stop behind me. I fixed my eyes on Kyle’s.

“You’re going to want to get out of my way.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I COULDN’T MOVE
.

Judging by the pain radiating through my body I’d broken more bones than I could count. I suspected one of them was an important neck or backbone, given the paralysis. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see one of my legs bent at a funny angle.

The sun was directly in my line of vision, low in the sky. It was late afternoon. It was somewhat warmer than it had been at the reservation, which made me think Micah had taken us south. Or west?

I swallowed back panic as I squinted and tried to find Addie in my limited view. I was on a road, broken bits of asphalt and
gravel surrounding me. A plain white building was to my right, a brick building to my left, and both were taller than any building I’d ever seen. Had Micah dropped us in one of the cities?

“Addie?” I yelled. “Addie!”

Silence answered me and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Maybe she’d fallen too far away to hear me.

The pain was reaching a scream-worthy level, which must have meant I was about to start healing. I sighed and tried to concentrate on anything else. Callum. Addie. Bashing Micah’s face in.

I was suddenly able to move my hands again, and I struggled to a sitting position against the rope still tied around my chest. The impact had loosened it and I squirmed my arms free and yanked my leg back into its normal position.

I frowned at the scene in front of me. I was in the middle of a street, tall buildings with trees in between them lining either side down the block. But it was totally deserted. Micah had said, “
Say hello to the humans you love so much for me
,” implying he was dropping us in an area he knew was full of humans.

But I didn’t see any. I didn’t see any signs of life, actually.

I could stand a minute later, and I whipped my head around as I looked for Addie. Considering she was a Thirty-nine, I doubted she’d healed at the same speed as me. She was probably still on the ground somewhere.

Not dead. Definitely not dead.

The thought of Addie being dead made panic grip my
stomach. She couldn’t be.

“Addie?” I called, turning in a circle. If she’d landed on top of a building maybe she’d be able to see me down here. I waved my arms as I turned around again. Something that looked like a HARC shuttle caught my eye at the end of the street, and my heart jumped, my fingers searching for a weapon.

I squinted. It was the wrong color to be a HARC shuttle. All HARC vehicles were black, and this one was red, and the front end was completely smashed.

It was a car. But HARC had banned all cars when they built the Republic of Texas. I cocked my head, turning around slowly. Were we in one of the old cities?

A head popped up suddenly and I almost laughed with relief as Addie raised one arm to wave at me. I ran to the corner of the brick building and sank down on my knees next to her, taking a quick glance down at her body. She was dirty, her black pants covered in dust and pieces of a tree it appeared she’d taken down with her. She cradled one arm like it was still broken and her face was bloody, a giant lump on one side of her cheek. She pointed to her face and shook her head.

“Broken jaw?” I asked.

She nodded. I let out a tiny sigh of relief and got to my feet, putting my hands on my hips as I surveyed the area. I was going to have to guess which direction—

A HARC transport van was headed toward us.

A real one this time.

It sped over the hill and zoomed in our direction, dodging giant potholes as it made its way down the street.

“Get up!” I grabbed Addie’s arm and hauled her to her feet. She stumbled a bit and winced as she put pressure on one leg. Her eyes widened as she spotted the vehicle.

I took off for the intersection in front of me, Addie at my side. I whipped my head both ways as we reached a wide street, but I saw nothing but tall buildings and a few abandoned cars. Hiding in one of the buildings seemed like a shortsighted plan, and a quick pat of my pockets revealed that Micah had taken my gun and knife.

We rounded a corner as the van swerved to my right as it raced toward us. If they jumped out maybe I could overpower them. If I could get one of their guns I might—

I gasped as something sharp hit my neck. Addie made a similar noise as a needle sank into her neck.

The van was right next to us now, the side door open. Two men hung out the opening, weapons poised.

Beside me, Addie yelped, and I turned just in time to see her hit the ground, a rope wrapped around her ankles. I barely dodged a second rope, blinking stars out of my eyes. What had they given us?

I snatched the needle out of my neck and tossed it away as one of the men jumped out of the van, gun pointed at my face.

The world spun as I grabbed the barrel of the weapon, thrusting it up so quickly it slammed into his chin. I turned it
around and fired it in his general direction. Fog was beginning to invade my brain, and I could no longer see him clearly.

I caught a glimpse of Addie’s motionless figure on the ground as something crashed against me. I hit the pavement so hard I could hear my arm crack. A hand grabbed for my neck, my weapon, and the darkness was starting to seep into the corner of my eyes.

A human face floated across my vision and I pushed a hand against his stomach, aiming the gun directly for his chest.

His body made a thump as it fell. Then, silence. My eyes drifted closed.

I woke to the sun barely peeking out from behind one of the buildings. I had to open and close my eyes a few times before they cleared, and I immediately felt the pressure of something on my leg.

My arm burned as I tried to prop myself up on my elbows, and a quick glance revealed it was still broken. My neck burned from where the needle had punctured it, and I looked at the sun in confusion. It was much lower in the sky. I must have been out for at least an hour.

The pressure on my leg turned out to be a dead human collapsed on me, and I squirmed out from under him. The other human lay dead beside the van, and I quickly found Addie a few feet away. Her leg was bent at a funny angle, but it looked like her jaw had healed. I poked her shoulder, but she didn’t move.

I jumped over the potholes in the road and wrenched open the back of the HARC van. The driver had run straight into a building and was slumped over the steering wheel, dead. Otherwise, the vehicle was clear of humans.

There were two shotguns inside, and I slung them over my shoulder and walked to the humans. They each had a handgun and one had a knife, so I relieved them of everything.

My arm still burned as I slid the weapons into my pockets, and I frowned as I rubbed at the needle mark on my neck. What had Micah said about those drugs HARC had given them?

I winced as I remembered him mentioning one that slowed his healing time. Great. Why hadn’t I asked him more about that? Like how long “slowed” really was. Why hadn’t I had a conversation with him about what kinds of HARC drugs I should be on the lookout for?

Because he’s an insane person and I didn’t want to spend time with him.
I sighed in annoyance. No excuse.

I ran a hand down my face as I looked at Addie again. No telling how long she’d be out, but I couldn’t sit around and wait for her to wake up. HARC might have been tracking that van.

I looked up, searching for some hint of where we were. A big, white sign hung askew on the building the van had hit, with only the letters
S
and
W
remaining. At the top of the sign was a
P
, surrounded by a whole slew of colors. It looked like it used to have bulbs all over it—I couldn’t imagine why—but most of them were broken or gone now.

I turned to the other side of the street, where an elaborate three-story building stood. It had big windows and columns, and it was nicer than any building I’d seen in the slums. The next building was smaller, but they continued down the street, right next to each other like these humans had to make use of every bit of space.

I squinted at a black sign with white letters on one of the buildings.
Silhouette Restaurant and Bar.

Well, that was no help.

I turned and faced north. My eyes widened. That, on the other hand, was very helpful.

It was the Austin capitol. The original one.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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MY WORDS HUNG IN THE AIR FOR A MOMENT “
YOU’RE GOING TO
want to get out of my way”
—until Kyle took a step forward, gun pointed at my chest.

“Make me.”

I lunged at him and both our guns went off, pain screaming down my left side as the bullet tore through skin. The Reboots around me yelled as they charged forward, and shots rang out from the One-twenties guarding the tents.

“Stay back!” someone yelled. “Don’t make us shoot you!”

Kyle’s fist slammed across my jaw and I hit the dirt. More bullets zipped through the air around me as the Reboots ignored the warning of the One-twenties, and my chest tightened in
fear. I paused on the ground, catching myself as I started to look for Wren to help me out of this situation.

Kyle kicked me in the ribs as I attempted to get to my feet, and I let out a grunt.

“Get on your feet and put your arms up. Block the next one.”
Wren’s voice was in my head as I rolled away from his boot, poised for another kick, and sprang up.

He aimed his gun for me and I realized I had lost mine when I hit the ground. He fired a shot into my shoulder but I swung at him anyway, ignoring the sharp pain that radiated down my arm.

“Confuse me. Surprise me.”

I gripped the barrel of the gun as Kyle fired again. He blinked, giving me a baffled look as I kept it steady with my shoulder. I winced as the bullet tore into flesh that hadn’t healed yet and yanked on the gun so hard Kyle stumbled. I got a grip on it and tried to swipe it across his face, but he moved out of the way too quickly.

“What have I told you? Fast.”

He made a move for the gun and I slammed my head into his so suddenly he gasped. He stumbled backward and I blinked through the sparks in my vision to grab him by the collar. I punched him once, twice, three times, until he hit the ground and tried to scramble away.

I grabbed his foot and hauled him back, glancing up at the sound of my name. Riley tossed cuffs in my direction and they
landed in the dirt next to me. I scooped them up and slapped them around Kyle’s wrist. He sat up and kicked wildly at me, and I pressed my foot into his chest, shoving his back on the ground.

A scream made me turn and I caught sight of the tent just as it collapsed. The support beams folded in and the crash echoed through the reservation as everything went down.

“Move!” Riley pointed a gun into the face of a Reboot and she reluctantly raised her arms, chest heaving up and down.

“Micah’s going to kill you,” Kyle muttered, glaring at me from the dirt.

I raised my eyebrows, glancing at the scene around me. The One-twenties were on the ground, most of them cuffed as the Austin Reboots pointed guns at them. It looked as though Micah was going to be seriously outnumbered when he returned. I didn’t think he was going to get a chance to kill anyone.