Resist (3 page)

He didn’t. Hollow pain
lived in his eyes. He blinked, and the anger returned. “Fine.
You’re dismissed.”

I turned to leave,
thinking this meeting might be one of my last. Part of me mourned
that, and another part rejoiced.

“
Zenn,” Jag said, quieter
this time. “We will meet again soon. I have a feeling your loyalty
isn’t as strong as it once was.”

“
My loyalty is where it
should be,” I replied before crossing the threshold into the hall.
It wasn’t entirely a lie.

Winter faded into spring, and spring burst
into summer. I’d survived the next meeting with Jag, where he’d
trashed me for “defecting.”

I’d tried to tell him so
many times. But Jag was the most stubborn person I knew, and he’d
interrupt me before I could plead my case. I never got a chance to
tell him that I’d only given Director Myers information he already
knew. Over the past six months I hadn’t told him a single thing
that led him any closer to caging Jag.

But I felt buried alive.
Trapped under six feet of solid rock that I couldn’t claw my way
through.

Dealing with my dad
brought only sadness at what could’ve been. He continued to work
for the Resistance. We no longer shared the same secrets. That hurt
more than I wanted to admit. So it became easier if I lived inside
the four walls of my bedroom.

In March, my fifteenth
birthday came and went with the traditional, simple celebration. Vi
had climbed through my window after curfew and erased some of the
confining feelings for at least a little while. The sound of her
voice released the tightening in my chest. The forbidden,
whisper-soft touch of her fingers against mine chased away the
loneliness for hours. Sharing secrets with Vi almost made up for
the ones I’d lost with my dad.

I’d been right about
Director Myers. The deal I’d made with him would haunt me for the
rest of my life. He didn’t hound me for the non-information I fed
him about Jag, but he’d taken to directing the intricacies of my
life. He wanted me to apply for the Special Forces, and when I put
it off and put it off, his request became a demand.

So this fine morning in
June, I finished filling out my application forms for the Forces
and sent it off to my counselor. I had no doubt I’d be chosen. I
almost welcomed the escape from the confines that had become my
house, my life without the Resistance. Without something to live
and die for.

I felt caged inside a life
with no purpose, with no way out.

I reminded myself that I
had Vi, and she was all that mattered. I would tell Director Myers
what he wanted to know if it would keep her safe. I would live and
die for her. The Forces training would be one year away from her,
and then we’d be able to be together.

After sending Myers a
message:
It’s done
, I put my hand in my pocket to feel the birthday gift I’d
made for Vi. My stomach flipped when I thought of how she might
thank me after she opened it.

Evening couldn’t come fast
enough. She’d sneak over after an unsatisfactory dinner with her
bitter mother; she always did. Birthdays were hardest on Vi, what
with her mother blaming her for things she couldn’t control. I knew
how Vi felt. Knew it deeply.

By the time she finally
climbed through my window, I’d gone running, completed my homework,
and filled out my planner for the following day. Dotted all the I’s
and crossed all the T’s. Mr. Perfect living his perfect caged
life.

“
Hey, beautiful,” I said,
itching to reach out and help her up. I didn’t. I wouldn’t break
the rules like that with the shades wide open. Once they closed,
though, I wouldn’t be able to resist touching her
skin-to-skin.

“
Hey,” she said, and I
knew immediately that something was off.

“
Rough day?” I shut the
window and lowered the blinds.

“
My mom,” she said. She
didn’t need to say more.

“
Forget about her,” I
said, harsher than I meant to. Vi didn’t flinch and she didn’t
defend her mother. There was nothing to defend.

“
I have something for
you.” I couldn’t contain my grin, or the way my muscles tensed when
she returned the gesture. The beauty of her face made my head spin.
I pulled out the gift and handed it to her. “Happy
birthday.”

She took her time peeling
off the green paper. Then she stared at it, a mixture of awe and
love in her eyes. I wondered if that’s how I looked when I watched
her.

“
It tells time,” I told
her. “I know you can’t wear it in public, and it doesn’t have a
fancy GPS or iris recognizer, but well…” I paused, suddenly feeling
foolish. “I think it’s real gold.”

“
Where did you get it?”
she whispered.

“
In the Abandoned Area. It
wasn’t working, but I fixed it up.” The words tumbled out of my
mouth uncensored. “I thought, well, I thought you’d like it. It
reminded me of you.”

Broken. But
fixable
, I thought, but didn’t
say.

When she looked up at me,
tears skated down her cheeks.

“
Hey, don’t cry.” I took a
step toward her. I couldn’t stand it when she cried, mostly because
I didn’t know how to make her stop.

Without thinking, I
reached out and wiped her tears away. Her skin felt dangerous, and
because she didn’t flinch away from the forbidden touch, I slid my
hands over hers and up her sleeves. I’d always choose to be with Vi
this way.

There we stood, in my
bedroom, breaking the rules. I didn’t care. I didn’t think. I
didn’t waver.

I kissed her.

And finally, I was
free.

Read how it all
started

in POSSESSION

by Elana Johnson

Good girls don’t walk with boys. Even if
they’re good boys—and Zenn is the best. He strolled next to me, all
military with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing the black
uniform of a Forces recruit. The green stripes on his shirtsleeves
flashed with silver tech lights, probably recording everything.
Probably? Who am I kidding? Those damn stripes were definitely
recording everything.

Walking through the park in the
evening is not technically against the rules. Good people do it all
the time. But walking through the park with a boy could get me in
trouble.

When darkness fell, another rule
would be broken.

The whir of a hovercopter echoed
high above the trees.

In this park, the saplings stood
an inch or two taller than me. Some trees in the City of Water are
ancient—at least a century old. But the forest is off-limits, and
even I know better than to break that rule.

The filthy charcoal shade of the
sky matched the impurities I’d filtered from the lake in class
today. I imagined the color to be similar to the factory walls
where my dad worked, but I had never been there and hadn’t seen him
for years, so I couldn’t say for sure.

People don’t return from the
Badlands.

“
Vi, I’m glad you finally answered
my e-comm,” Zenn said, his voice smooth, just like his skin and the
perfectly fluid way he walked.

“
You know my mom.” I didn’t have
to elaborate. Not with Zenn. “I told her I was coming whether she
said yes or not.” I tried to hide how desperate I’d been to see
him, how happy his e-comm invitation had made me. He could’ve asked
me to the moon and I would’ve gladly gone. And taken whatever
punishment followed.

I’d left school during the
afternoon break. The Special Forces compound is a two-hour walk
south of the City of Water. I’d crossed the border and trekked for
half a mile in the Fire Region just to see him. Crossing borders is
also against the rules, but Zenn was worth every step.

I watched the hovercopters circle
closer, comfortable in the silence with Zenn. Sometimes it said
more than we did.

The sidewalks had stopped
functioning thirty minutes ago, clearly curfew for this park. As
one hovercopter dipped nearer, it took every ounce of courage I had
to keep from reaching out, grabbing Zenn’s hand, and
running.

Before, I might have done it. But
there was something different about him. Something that made me
think he wouldn’t run with me this time.

Another quick glance confirmed it.
His eyes. They held no sparkle. No life. Maybe the Forces worked
him too hard.

My sweet, wonderful Zenn. I hoped
he was okay here. His eyes worried me.

“
Well, now that you’re here, I’ve
got something for you,” he said, smiling.

I angled my body toward him.
Zenn’s e-comm had said he had a surprise for me—surely something
he’d tinkered with until it was absolutely perfect. Like he
was.

“
The Forces have
kept me busy,” Zenn continued, reach
ing into his pocket. He didn’t seem
concerned about the cir
cling hovercopters, but he wasn’t
always living one breath away from getting arrested. “But we might
not get to see each other again for a while. Your birthday is in a
couple weeks, and you’re my—”

“
You down there!” An electronic
voice cut through Zenn’s throaty tone. I flinched and took a half
step behind Zenn. A one-manned tech-craft, the hovercopter was
invented especially for ruining lives. No one ever escapes from
one. Not even me.

On the bottom rudder, a red rose
winked through the twilight. My breath shuddered through my
chest—I’d been caught by this hovercopter before. Maybe since Zenn
was a Forces recruit and had invited me here, I wouldn’t get in
trouble.

Yeah, right. Fairness isn’t
something the Director cares about.

“
Cards!” the mechanical voice
shouted. Zenn pulled out his lime green activity card and held it
straight up. An electric arm grew from the side of the police
vehicle and flew down to scan the bar code on the back of Zenn’s
card.

I slowly retrieved my own ID. No
one in the Goodgrounds can so much as step onto the sidewalk
without an electronic record of their activity.

My card was blue for the City of
Water. I raised it halfway as the arm jangled at me, trying to get
a better angle to scan the bar code. Then I’d be busted for being
out of bounds—after dark.