Rebel (25 page)

He nodded, squeezing my hand. “Okay.”

“But not right now,” I said, glancing down at my dirty clothes. “I could really use a shower first. Does the water still work here?”

“It does. HARC cut the power, but we got it back up.” He stood and offered me his hand. “Gabe got some people working
on it before we left. He got shot in New Dallas, but Tony thinks he’s going to be okay.”

I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. I vaguely remembered a commotion in the shuttle and someone yelling about a human.

“Hop on,” he said, leaning down and gesturing to his back. “I’ll give you a ride.”

I felt steadier on my feet after the food, but the world was still swaying. I gave Callum a grateful look and hoisted myself onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He walked into the hallway. The rooms we passed were empty until we turned a corner. There was a group of Reboots standing in the hallway ahead, and more gathered in some rooms. I recognized a few and they waved at me.

“This isn’t everyone, is it?” I asked, twisting around as Callum reached the stairwell. There were maybe twenty or thirty Reboots here.

“No, most of them stayed in the city. Took over houses and apartments human vacated. Some of them built tents. Said it creeped them out to be in here.”

Maybe it should have creeped me out, but it didn’t. Not now that HARC was out. A HARC facility had been my home for five years. It felt familiar. And safe, oddly enough.

“But we lost some in New Dallas,” he said softly. “Beth. A few other Austin Reboots.”

I squeezed his shoulders gently. I hadn’t really known Beth
or any of them, but I knew it must have been hard for him to lose people on a mission he’d been in charge of.

Callum turned into the girl’s shower and gently set me down on the ground. It was similar to the Rosa facility, with stalls lined up and curtains down every row. I opened the shelf to my right and found a small stack of towels.

“Oh, I have some of your clothes,” Callum said, stepping backward. “You mind waiting a minute? I’ll grab them.”

I nodded and he disappeared out the door. I slowly walked across the tile floor and sank down in front of one of the shower stalls.

It was eerily quiet, the only sound a leaky tap dripping water somewhere. The showers had always been a source of discomfort for me. I’d hated watching the Reboots run around, flirting and laughing, half naked.

It seemed silly now to judge them when they were simply trying to make the best of a terrible situation. I ran my fingers over my scars through my shirt. It really seemed ridiculous to worry about my scars so much. I had probably made a bigger deal out of them by being so weird about it.

The door opened and Callum sauntered in, a bag in his hand. He set it down next to me. “It’s just some of your stuff from the reservation.”

“Thank you.” I grasped the edge of the shower stall to help me to my feet.

“I’m going to go shower on the other side,” he said, taking
a step back. “You okay by yourself?”

I nodded and he smiled at me before turning away. “Callum.” I hooked my fingers into the collar of my shirt before I could change my mind and pulled the material down to expose the center of my chest.

He turned around, surprise coloring his features as he registered the state of my shirt. He glanced up at my face, then back down to the staples that stretched across my skin before disappearing inside my bra. He looked for several seconds, then met my eyes.

“I’m sort of disappointed,” he said, his voice amused. “I thought they’d be bigger.”

I burst out laughing, dropping my hands from my shirt. He took two big steps forward and ran a hand under my chin as he leaned down to kiss me.

“Thank you for letting me see,” he said quietly, more seriously.

“Thanks for wanting to see.”

“Heck yeah, I want to see.” He leaned forward, eyes on my shirt. “Can I see again right now?”

I grinned, rising up on my toes to kiss him again. He laughed against my lips and I melted into his arms, making the decision to forget about the insanity around us for as long as possible.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I WALKED ACROSS THE FRONT LAWN OF THE AUSTIN HARC
facility that evening, fingers laced through Wren’s. After a shower, more food, and several hours’ rest, she had finally healed fully and looked like her usual slightly scary self.

Well, almost. She caught me watching her and smiled, an easy, relaxed smile. She hadn’t talked about her experiences the last few days much, but it was like they’d unburdened her in some way instead of adding to the weight on her shoulders. She seemed lighter, happier. She’d even whipped off her shirt to let me see her scars again earlier, when I’d jokingly asked.

I’d wanted to lay low in the HARC facility for the night, but she’d really wanted to go see the rebels.

I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Part of me was happy she’d come around, the other part wanted to scoop her up and make a run for it before she got hurt again. But she seemed so calm and pleased about her decision that I’d dropped the idea of leaving when she refused a second time. Despite my annoyance with the humans, I had to admit I was relieved she’d changed her mind about staying to help.

I glanced at her again. It wasn’t just her that was slightly different, but everything. The air between us seemed lighter and heavier at the same time since she’d shown me her scars. She kept giving me this look that made me want to grab her and crush her against me.

She turned her head toward a pile of rubble that used to be a house as we walked past it. “This is pretty impressive, Callum.”

“What? That I destroyed everything?”

“No. That you managed to unite the Reboots and take over Austin. I thought it would be years before we could that, if ever.”

“I went with a ‘I’m coming, deal with it,’ approach.” But I smiled at the compliment and squeezed her hand.

“I approve of that approach.” She paused. “Did you go check on your family?”

“David came and found me,” I said. “He wants me to go see our parents. I told him they could come to me if they wanted.”

“But he came.”

I smiled at her. “Yes.”

We turned onto Tony’s street and the usual chaos came into view. Humans streamed in and out the front door, and several people sat on the front lawn. I recognized one of them immediately as David, and he hopped to his feet when he saw us coming. A flash of recognition crossed his face as he looked at Wren.

“Hey,” he said as we approached.

“Hi.” I tilted my head toward Wren. “This is Wren. This is my brother, David.”

“Nice to meet you.” She held her hand out, and when David shook it I saw him blink in surprise, likely from her cool skin. He cast a quick glance down at her wrist and his eyes widened slightly.

“You too,” he said, glancing from her to me.

A yell sounded from inside, and I raised my eyebrows. “What’s going on in there?”

“I don’t know. They’ve been yelling at each other since I got here. I decided to stay outside.”

Wren slipped her hand from mine and headed up the stairs to the house. I followed her with David close behind, pushing through some humans crowded near the doorway.

Tony and Desmond stood at the edge of the kitchen, matching angry expressions on their faces. There were grumpy humans everywhere, actually. Gabe, pale but still alive, sat on the couch with Addie and Riley. A white bandage poked out from his right shoulder, and he smiled when he spotted me and Wren.

The room grew silent as they noticed Wren, and Desmond ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

“Hey, One-seventy-eight,” he said. “Good to see you.”

She gave him an amused look, since his tone said the exact opposite. “You too. What’s going on here?”

“There have been attacks on Richards and Bonito,” Tony said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Reboot attacks on the cities. And they tried to get the Reboots out of the facilities. Without any regard for human life. Word is, the cities are mostly destroyed and lots of humans are dead.”

Wren took a quick glance back at me and I shook my head.

“That’s not us,” I said to Tony. “Everyone is here. It has to be Micah and the few that stayed with him.”

“That’s what Addie thought, too.” Tony twisted his mouth around. “They were outnumbered and it didn’t go well. HARC killed all the Reboots in those facilities. And in New Dallas.”

Wren cast a horrified look in my direction before returning her attention to Tony. “All of them?”

“That’s what they’re saying.”

“What about Rosa?”

“The facility is still running, and remaining personnel have been transferred there. New Dallas was open for longer, but we think they must have decided to eliminate all the Reboots because of the attack. But . . .” Tony winced and glanced at Desmond.

“But they’ll probably be eliminated in Rosa, too,” Desmond
finished. “HARC doesn’t want to risk another incident like here. They don’t want any more Reboots escaping.”

“Word is they’re shutting down the program,” Tony said. “Suzanna was the biggest supporter of the Reboot experiment, and apparently she’s dead.”

“Yep, last time I saw her she was definitely dead,” Wren said.

“She had some other supporters,” Tony continued. “But with everything that’s happened, it’s not looking good. It won’t be long.”

I took a step forward. “We need to move quickly then. Come up with a plan of attack.” The room was silent. The humans avoided my eyes, and I couldn’t say I was surprised.

“You want to let them all die,” Wren said quietly.

“Apparently it’s the smarter plan,” Riley spat out.

“Considering what the Reboots did to Richards and Bonito, it’s the only choice we have,” Desmond said.

“We didn’t have anything to do with that.” Wren’s voice was still calm, but I could hear the anger beginning to seep through. “We worked against Micah from the beginning. Callum risked his life to get word to you guys about what he was planning!”

“And we appreciate that,” Tony said quietly.

“You appreciate it so much you’re going to let hundreds of our fellow Reboots die,” Addie said.

Silence again, for several seconds, until I spoke. “We can’t
go in alone. We tried it in New Dallas and it failed. HARC has beefed up their security. We need human support if we’re going to have any chance of doing this.”

Tony looked at Desmond. “They could help us take down HARC.”

Desmond threw up his arms. “We’ve been through this! I don’t—”

Shouting overtook the room again and Wren turned to me, a worried expression on her face.

“Wait.” Riley’s voice rose over the others. “Stop. Stop!” The humans fell silent as he jumped from the couch, his hand on the com in his ear as he listened to something. “There are shuttles at the fences. Several already on their way into the slums.” His eyes flicked to the other Reboots in the room. “They’re saying they think they’re Reboot piloted.”

Micah.
I balled my fingers into fists.

“We need to—”

Riley’s words were lost as a giant explosion rocked the ground. I flung myself over David as the house crumbled around me.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I COUGHED AS I PUSHED PIECES OF WOOD AND DEBRIS OFF MY
legs and struggled to a standing position in what was left of the living room.

It wasn’t much. The house was almost entirely gone. About half the kitchen was still standing, and some of the back wall was there, but a hole had been blown completely through the living room and I could see the sky. I spotted a few dead humans, and others were shouting and moaning beneath the rubble.

“Wren? Wren!”

I jumped over a piece of the kitchen table to where I could hear Callum yelling. He had a hand on his brother’s arm,
pulling him from the wreckage. His expression turned to relief when he spotted me.

David looked fine except for some cuts on his arms. It appeared Callum had taken the brunt of the blast for him. One of his arms was cut so deep I could see bone, and the front of his shirt had been ripped open and his chest was black and red.

“You all right?” Callum asked David, taking a quick survey of him.

He nodded, his eyes wide and horrified as he surveyed Callum’s injuries.

I heard a rustle behind me and turned to see Riley, Addie, and Gabe limping out of the house. Riley shouted something into his com.

I grabbed Callum’s arm. “You have weapons, don’t you? Where are you storing them?”

“In the shuttle that’s parked by the schoolhouse.” He ran his hands through his hair as he looked around. “Some of them are alive under there. I need to get them out.”

“I can help,” David said.

I rose up on my toes and planted a kiss on Callum’s lips. No matter what he said about us leaving and not working with the humans, his first instinct was to stay and save them and I liked that about him. I hadn’t realized it at first, but I liked that he had a deep sense of right and wrong and stuck to what he believed.

“Be careful,” he said quietly.

“You too.” I gave his hand a squeeze before turning to take off down the street behind Riley.

There were only two shuttles in my line of sight, and Reboots ran past me on all sides with weapons. One of the shuttles hovered over a clump of houses at the other side of the street, firing until they were nothing but a pile of rubble.

Riley made it to the shuttles in front of the schoolhouse first, and threw a handgun and giant knife in my direction, along with a helmet. “There’s not much left!” he yelled as he slipped a gun into his own pocket.

“This is fine,” I called over my shoulder as I plopped the helmet on my head and bolted down the street. The roar of motorcycles made me turn, and I spotted Micah, Kyle, and Jules speeding past on their way to the heart of the slums. About ten or fifteen other reservation Reboots dashed in the opposite direction, guns raised.