Rebel (2 page)

Micah’s smile disappeared. His face was expressionless, his mouth open a tiny bit. His eyes flicked over the crowd again.

“That”—he pointed—“is the entire Austin facility?”

“Yes.”

“You released all of them?”

“Yes.”

He stared a moment longer before taking a step closer to Wren. He put his hands on her face and I saw her body jolt. I resisted the urge to tell him only a dumbass would touch Wren without her permission. He’d discover that one for himself if she decided she didn’t like it.

His hands covered most of her cheeks as he gazed down at her. “You. Are my new favorite person.”

Yeah, get in line, dude.

Wren laughed and stepped away from his grasp. She tossed
a look back in my direction like,
“Really? You made me deal with this guy?”
I grinned, stepping forward and offering her my hand. She slid her fingers between mine.

Micah stepped back to address the group. “Well, come on then. Welcome.”

A few cheers erupted, and people began talking excitedly all around us.

“We already took their trackers out,” Wren said to Micah. “Way back near Austin.”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter,” he said with a chortle.

It didn’t?
I frowned in confusion and saw a matching expression on Wren’s face, but Micah had already turned away to talk to a cluster of eager young Reboots. He began leading the way to the reservation and I started to follow, but I felt a tug on my hand as Wren stood her ground, watching the Reboots stream after Micah.

She was nervous, although it had taken me a while to learn what that particular expression looked like. She took in a small breath, her eyes darting over the scene in front of us.

“Everything okay?” I asked. I was nervous, too. When Wren was nervous, I was nervous.

“Yeah,” she said softly like it wasn’t. I knew she wasn’t as excited to go to the reservation as I was. She’d told me she would have stayed at HARC if it weren’t for me. I couldn’t begin to understand that, and it occurred to me for the first time that maybe she hadn’t just convinced herself she was
happy as a HARC slave. Maybe she really was.

I wanted to think that she’d adjust and be happy here, too, but it was hard to say. I wasn’t even entirely sure what made Wren happy, besides beating people up. Of course, if I were as good at that as she was, it might make me pretty happy, too.

She barely nodded, as if convincing herself of something and began walking in the direction of the reservation. The Reboots lining the gate were still as we approached, their guns all pointed at us.

Micah stepped away from the group, holding one hand up to his troops. “Weapons down! Hold your positions!”

As soon as he shouted the command, every Reboot lowered their gun. Their bright eyes were glued to us, and I took in a breath as I glanced down the line. There were so many. Most of them were about my age, but I spotted a few who seemed closer to thirty or forty.

The reservation Reboots were dressed in loose, light-colored cotton clothes, nothing like the black uniforms HARC made us wear, with the exception of the helmets on their heads. They were strong and well fed, and even though they were positioned for what they thought was an attack, no one seemed scared. If anything they were . . . excited?

Micah lifted a black box to his mouth that looked like one of the coms HARC used. He spoke into it, glancing up at the tower to our right. He listened for a moment, nodded, and said a few more words into it before sliding it into his pocket.

He took a step backward and beckoned in our direction with two fingers. “Wren.”

She stood still next to me, her shoulders tense. Micah gestured with his head for her to come and she let out a tiny sigh as she slipped her fingers from mine. People moved aside as she walked toward him and I felt uncomfortable on her behalf. They were all staring.

Micah beamed as she stopped next to him. He reached down and grabbed her hand, making her jump. He had an expression of such pure adoration on his face that I would have been jealous if she weren’t looking at him like he was an alien.

Okay, maybe I was slightly jealous. She’d looked at me like I was an alien at first, too, but now I was pretty sure she liked me.

Well, more than pretty sure. Mostly sure. As close as you can get to sure without being totally sure. She had left her “home” (prison) for me, and then risked her life and took down an entire HARC facility to save me. I thought that was like Wren’s version of “I’m totally into you.” I’d take it.

Wren yanked her hand from his, but Micah seemed oblivious, beaming as he faced the reservation Reboots.

“Guys, this is Wren One-seventy-eight.”

A few of them gasped and I sighed inwardly. Any hopes I’d had of our numbers not mattering here were being further dashed by the second. Some of the Reboots were gazing at her with such awe and excitement that I wanted to slap them and tell them to stop being weird.

“She brings with her the entire Austin facility,” Micah continued.

More gasps. At least they were excited to see us.

“I didn’t do it by myself.” Wren scanned the crowd, but didn’t seem to find Addie. “Addie Thirty-nine and I did it together.”

Micah sort of nodded in that way people did when they weren’t really listening. He was grinning at the crowd of reservation Reboots. They were whispering, their faces cautiously optimistic.

Wren cast a confused look at me as Micah raised his hand. The crowd went silent.

“All right then,” he said. “I have good news.”

Thank goodness. I needed good news. I hoped it was something along the lines of “I have food and beds for all of you right now.”

Micah gestured to the tower. “I just got word that there are more HARC shuttles coming. They’re on their way right now.”

Wait. What?

“About a hundred miles out,” Micah continued. “At least seven confirmed.”

Which part was the good news?

“So.” Micah grinned as he lifted one fist in the air. “Ready?”

Every reservation Reboot responded together in one loud yell.

“ATTACK!”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

I FROZE AS CALLUM CAST A HORRIFIED LOOK IN MY DIRECTION.
Attack?

“Wren.” Micah put his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off. “You came in HARC shuttles, didn’t you? Where are they?”

I blinked. How did he know that? How did he know there were more HARC shuttles on the way?

“We left them a couple miles back,” I said. “We didn’t want to alarm you by getting too close in them.”

“We were alarmed, obviously,” Micah said with a laugh, gesturing to the army of Reboots behind him. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled. “Jules!”

A girl a few years older than me joined us. Her red hair was in a braid, and she had a HARC bar code stamped on her wrist, but I couldn’t make out the number.

“Go fetch those shuttles.” Micah lifted his hand, made a sort of circular motion with his finger, and the massive wooden gate immediately began to creak open. The Reboots in front of it scrambled away.

I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Callum behind me. He stared at the opening gate. “What’s going on?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know.”

The gate swung open the rest of the way to reveal about ten Reboots sitting on contraptions I’d never seen before. They had two big wheels—one in back and one in front—and looked sort of like one of those motorcycle things I’d seen pictures of, but bigger. Three people could probably fit on the wide, black seat stretched between the two tires, and they were obviously not made to be discreet, because a loud rumbling noise came from each one.

“Kyle!” Micah said, waving. A tall, beefy Reboot inched his bike away from the others. “Take Jules and—” He stopped and turned to me. “Who flew those here?”

“Me and Addie.”

“The Thirty-nine?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and turned back to Kyle. “Take Jules and
Thirty-nine to the shuttles. Quick. No more than twenty minutes round trip.”

Kyle twisted his hand around one of the handlebars and the bike roared forward, coming to a screeching stop next to Jules. She hopped on and eyed the crowd of Austin Reboots expectantly.

“Thirty-nine!” Micah yelled.

Addie stepped out from the crowd, arms crossed over her chest. She ignored Micah completely and stared at me like she was waiting for something. I wasn’t sure what it was. Did she want me to tell her it was okay to go?

I avoided Micah’s gaze as I strode across the dirt and stopped in front of her.

“They want you to take them to the shuttles,” I said. “And probably fly one over here.”

Her eyes darted behind me. “And you think we should trust them?”

I paused. Of course I didn’t think we should trust them. I’d just met them, and so far, they seemed weird. But we’d strolled up to their home and asked to be let in, so maybe it was too late to think about trust.

“No,” I said quietly.

She looked taken aback by my answer. “No?”

“No.”

She blinked as if waiting for more, and a smile began to appear on her face. “Okay then. I feel better.” She took a deep
breath. “Right. Ride off with the strangers. Hope for the best. Got it.”

She nodded her head as she finished, and I blinked, suddenly realizing what I was asking.

“I can go instead—”

She laughed as she stepped back. “That’s all right. Can’t fault you for being honest.” She jogged across the dirt and hopped on the back of the bike, pointing in the direction we’d come from. Kyle peeled out, the bike spitting dirt as they disappeared.

“One-twenties and over with me!” Micah called to the Austin Reboots. “Let’s do this!” He was practically jumping up and down, he was so excited.

I didn’t understand.

I took a glance behind me at the Austin Reboots to see similar confused expressions on their faces. Beth One-forty-two, a couple girls, and two guys who I assumed were over One-twenties broke off from the group and slowly headed in Micah’s direction, but they kept turning puzzled faces my way. There were less over One-twenties in Austin than there had been in Rosa, but I’d been stationed in the toughest city in Texas. More assignments meant they needed more skilled Reboots. They were all close to my age except for one of the guys, who was probably only twelve or thirteen years old.

“Micah!” I called, following him as he darted for the gate. “What’s going on? How do you know HARC is coming? How
did you know we were coming?”

He stopped. “We have people stationed in strategic places outside the cities, and equipment that monitors air traffic in the area.”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised. I hadn’t expected them to be so advanced.

Micah spread his arms wide, beaming at the Austin Reboots. “Guys! Let’s see some excitement!”

We just stared.

He raised his fist. “Whoop!”

“Whoop whoop!” a hundred reservation Reboots yelled at once, and I jumped. What the hell?

“Oh, come on,” he said with a chuckle. “Who wants to kick some HARC ass?”

That produced a few laughs. Someone at the back of the crowd of Austin Reboots raised his hand. “I’m in!”

I’d actually kicked enough HARC ass this past week to last me a very long time. I glanced at Callum. He’d never wanted to fight anyone, human or Reboot.

Micah chuckled as he caught my expression. “I know you’re probably tired. And you’re going to have to tell me the story soon about how you got out of Rosa, ended up in Austin, and stole two shuttles filled with every Reboot in that facility.” He stepped closer to me. “But right now, we’ve got a bunch of HARC officers on their way here to attack us. So we don’t have much choice.”

I looked at Callum and he lifted his shoulders, like he wasn’t sure what to do.

I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to hightail it out of here before HARC arrived. I didn’t know where we’d go or how we’d get there, but we certainly didn’t have to stay and fight.

Or maybe we did. I regarded the group of Reboots I’d brought here and saw several faces turned in my direction, watching to see how I’d react. I’d busted into the Austin facility and ushered them all into shuttles and dumped them into this situation. If I asked Callum to make a run for it, he would tell me they needed my help. And he would be right, unfortunately.

But this was the last time. If it seemed like there were going to be more attacks from HARC, I’d grab Callum and go. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting off the humans. I’d be perfectly content never to see them again, actually.

I sighed and barely nodded at Micah. He clapped his hand on my back like he approved.

“Under-sixties with me!” a thin guy yelled, stepping from the line.

I shook my head at Callum and held out my hand. We weren’t doing that. A corner of his mouth turned up as he walked toward me.

Micah glanced down at Callum’s wrist. “One-twenty-two?” he asked, squinting.

“Twenty-two,” Callum corrected.

Micah pointed to the crowd gathering around the thin man. “Under-sixties with Jeff.”

“Callum’s with me.” I held his hand tighter.

Micah opened his mouth, but closed it with a hint of a smile. “Fine.” He turned to the reservation entrance, gesturing for us to follow him.

We walked toward the line of bikes guarding the entrance and I glanced back to see the remaining Austin Reboots divided into two groups: Under-sixties on one side, everyone over sixty but under one twenty on the other.

I faced front as we passed the bikes and heard Callum suck in a breath of air as the reservation within the fence came into view.

There were more Reboots inside. This must have been the second wave, and it was maybe half the size of the first. About fifty or so stood in neat lines in front of a giant fire pit, guns in their hands but barrels lowered so they were facing the ground. A Reboot ran past us and started talking excitedly to one of the guys in front.

The reservation was laid out in a circle, with thin dirt paths snaking in between brown-and-tan tents. There were very few permanent structures in the compound, but sturdy tepee-style tents lined each side of the paths. There were tons of them, at least a hundred, as far as I could see.