New World Order (28 page)

“But you told us we were gaining on them,” Reyes said to Eli. “I thought we were trying to intercept them
before
they got to the city.”

“We’ve come across so many different sets of tracks…” Eli said, rubbing the back of his neck. He cast an apologetic glance at Jin-Sook. “I hate to say it, but Ryan is the first piece of solid evidence that our men even passed this way. Trouble is, I can’t tell how long the bones have been there.”

An uncomfortable silence followed his statement. We all knew Eli didn’t want to reduce Ryan to
a “piece of evidence,” but his body held information we needed to save the others. Time mattered. It was the difference between finding them at the city and losing them to a plasticmine of an unknown location.

“Right now, heading straight to Ryder is still our best bet,” I said.

“But taking
that
,” Hayley said, pointing at the bear-drawn wagon, “is going to slow us down.”

“Maybe not,” I
said. “As long as the bears can keep up the pace, we can stop for short periods to rest them. Summer, Reyes, and I can guide the animals at night while you guys sleep, and you can walk during the day while we sleep.” I motioned toward Jin and Zach, the latter still out cold from the recruiters’ arrow. “Better transportation for them, too.”

“I’ll go along with it, Sunny,” Summer said. “But I’m
not putting on someone’s gross disgusting clothes.”

“You can be a prisoner,” I said with a smile. “We just have to tie you up in the back once we get close to the city.”

“Much better,” Summer said mockingly.

Hayley ignored our banter. “What about the bikes?”

Eli’s face suddenly brightened. “The bikes! They’re our ticket to getting to Ryder. No one’s going to care who we are—their attention
will be on those bikes.”

Hayley looked a little confused. “I thought they recruited people.”

Eli nodded. “Ryder recruits people to risk their lives to find plastic and technology for him. He rewards well for technology.”

“It’s settled then? We’ll take the wagon?” I asked.

“I’m in,” Reyes said.

The stern set of Hayley’s face led me to think she was going to balk, so I was surprised when
she said, “It had better work.”

The weight of all the bikes plus four bodies proved to be a little heavy for the bears to haul, so we just put one bike in the back and Summer, Reyes and I rode the three others alongside the wagon. The animals were huge and moved at a good pace, but it was still a slow speed for the bikes. At least the bears were well trained, so once we got them moving in
one direction, they plodded along steadily. We only had to pick up the ropes on occasion to steer them. They were okay with the bikes, as long as we stayed by the wagon and didn’t ride directly beside them.

We headed straight for the river, following our own tracks back to it. Eli had told us that when he’d escaped Ryder, he’d followed a river into the mountains, which eventually led him to
the Nation. He was using the river to guide him back to the city.

As we traveled through the night, the low, deep growl of a tiger always seemed to be about the same distance away. There was no doubt it was following us, and it was unnerving. Hayley and Eli frequently awoke with a start, grabbing for their weapons, when the growls came too close. So far I hadn’t seen an actual cat, but Eli said that wasn’t unusual. They were stealthy, and when they did attack,
they usually attacked from behind. His explanation didn’t ease my mind.

Going at the bears’ pace, it took us a few hours to get back to the river. The foothills were beginning to smooth out as we traveled toward the plains, so access to the river shore was easier than it had been. We stopped for a quick break to refill our water flasks and allow the bears to drink. I took the opportunity to
dip the clothes I had stolen from the recruiters into the river, agitate as much dirt and smell out of them as I could, and hang them to dry over the rail on the wagon. Reyes explored the contents of a small crate built into the cart and found plastic containers with chunks of raw meat. He fed it to the animals, and they seemed to relax a bit around us.

Having a pee break was a little awkward
since we decided with a tiger following us, it wasn’t a good idea to stray away from the group. We relied on each other to “not look.” With the amount of peeing my pregnant body liked to do, I imagined the trip was going to be a long one.

The bears ambled along the trail all night, but by the time the sun crested the horizon it was obvious they needed a break. We steered them back down to the
river’s edge, and as they lapped up water, I wondered how we were going to let them rest.

“Do you think we should unharness them?” I asked Summer and Reyes.

Reyes looked at me as if I was crazy. “No.”

Hayley hopped down from the cart and stretched. “The harness is long enough that they can lie down. We’re not stopping for long anyway.”

“I think I’ll do some fishing,” Eli said. “I’m running
low on dried meat.”

“Me too,” Jin said. She stood up, wincing at the pain in her side.

“Any better today?” I asked.

She gave me a weak smile. “Yes,” she said, but I didn’t believe her. “I’m just stiff from sitting too long. I need to get up and move.”

Eli took a small fishing net out of his leather pouch and carefully unfolded it. Spread out, it was a rectangle of about five feet by
two feet. Jin took one side while Eli took the other, and they waded a little way into the cold river and stretched it across the shallows. We all watched them with interest until I noticed Hayley wasn’t with us. I turned around and found her close to the edge of the forest, frozen in midstride.

“Hayley?” I called.

Reyes’ head snapped up at the alarm in my voice.

“My gun,” she said, although
her voice was so low that I almost didn’t hear her. A quick check in the back of the wagon showed me her rifle was still there.

Reyes went into a full run. Summer drew her pistol. I grabbed Hayley’s rifle. Eli dropped the end of his net and nocked two arrows. A massive flash of orange leaped out of the trees and sailed in the air as if in slow motion, claws pointed, mouth open with four thick,
long teeth ready to tear into Hayley.

Reyes propelled himself at the tiger and bellowed “Move!”
at Hayley. Summer and I took off toward them. Hayley finally moved, scrambling to get out of the way of the giant set of teeth coming at her.

Reyes collided with the animal in midair, drilling his fist down on the cat’s snout the second they made contact. What happened next was a blur. I heard,
rather than saw, the cat’s mouth slam shut. An ear-piercing noise escaped it, sounding like a cross between a growl and a scream. Reyes lost his hold on the beast as they hit the ground. The tiger was on its feet in a second, mouth open and lips drawn back to show its deadly daggers. It made a low hiss as it pounced on Reyes. I aimed the rifle and almost took the shot, but Reyes shifted to hold the
animal at bay with both hands.

“Shoot it!” he yelled.

I would have, but Reyes didn’t have his hood up. His head was completely unprotected if I missed. Aiming at the tiger’s flank, where I was sure if the bullet missed it would hit Reyes’ suit, I took the shot at the same time that two arrows flew toward the animal. A roar
burst from the tiger when my bullet hit its hind leg and one of Eli’s
arrows struck its back. The injuries didn’t stop it though; they just enraged the animal. With its snout crinkled into a snarl, it raised a paw to take a swipe at Reyes. I took another shot, aiming for the belly this time. The bullet ripped through its ribcage, the force of the impact throwing the cat back. Instead of taking a swipe at Reyes, the animal was forced to use its paw for balance.

While he still held it by the head, Reyes scrambled to regain his footing. He stood at six foot four, and the head of the cat came level with his chest. The animal’s eyes were locked on Reyes’ face, its tail twitching and mouth open and panting.

I shifted to get a better angle and shot again. The big cat finally went down. Reyes let go and took four quick steps backward, ready to fend off the
predator if it got back up. Summer and I approached it with caution, our fingers wrapped around the triggers on our weapons.

Hayley screamed an f-bomb and dropped to the ground. All color had drained from her complexion, and her big brown eyes looked like saucers in her pale face. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she raised them to cover her open mouth.

“You got this?” Reyes asked, looking
at the tiger. I nodded. He went to Hayley.

Inching closer, I pointed my rifle at the cat’s head. Its breath came in short, labored gasps, and as I came into view, its eyes sought mine. Green eyes rimmed in a yellow-gold with an intelligence I didn’t expect. They didn’t show fear or plead for life. The only thing I saw in them was acknowledgement that it was at my mercy.

My finger faltered
on the trigger. It was truly one of the scariest animals I had ever encountered, but also one of the most beautiful. Eli’s arrow rose up and down with each short breath, and every beat of its heart spilled more blood from the bullet wounds I’d inflicted. It was dying a slow, painful death. And that above all else made me pull the trigger and help it find its release a little faster. The light in
its eyes froze for one stubborn moment before death robbed them of expression.

I turned my head so no one could see me rub tears away with the heel of my hand. The cat was a man-eater. If we hadn’t killed it, it would’ve killed us. Winning was nothing to cry over. Clearing my throat, I gave my head a shake and turned to find Hayley. That’s when Summer grabbed my arm and subtly motioned with
her head.

Reyes was examining Hayley for injuries and wiping away the tears on her cheek with his thumb. I had never seen him act so tenderly.

Jack

It would be easy to dismiss Joseph Ryder’s discovery of a process for extracting oil from plastic as nothing more than an excellent classroom project. Where I came from, our gasifiers worked cleanly and
efficiently to turn coal into gas. Advanced technology was something we took for granted. Yet, I wasn’t about to underestimate Ryder. Not only was he one hell of a charismatic leader in a world that sorely needed governance, but I also knew full well the impact oil had had on the industrial revolution long before the War. Ryder’s compound wasn’t just the beginning of a new city; it could very well
be the start of a new empire.

I rolled that thought in my head for a moment. An empire built on the fanatical religious logic of a man who liked to keep his flock illiterate so they couldn’t think for themselves. It sounded ludicrous, yet I saw with my own eyes how the entire town had backed the castration of Phillip. How an entire community participated in the effort to dilute the gods’ poison
running through humanity’s veins. If four hundred people believed that crap, who was to say four thousand wouldn’t?

It was not as if I didn’t have experience with dictators and how they operated. How many years had I gone along with President Holt, applauding his handling of the Pit and even
helping
by backing the sterilization program? Just like everyone else in the Dome, I swallowed the propaganda
because it made my life easier. It wasn’t until I had lived in the Pit, gotten a taste of life as a slave, that reality had opened my eyes. But now that they were open, they were staying open.

Men like Joseph Ryder and Damien Holt should not be allowed to rule the world.

Ryder was still looking at me, the lid of the pot in his hand, the black slurry still steaming. I realized he was expecting
my response. Belittling him would accomplish nothing. His ego required stroking.

I did my best to arrange my expression into one of stunned awe, as if I was indeed standing in the glow of a very bright future. “That’s amazing. I’m really…
shocked
.”

His expression was somewhat skeptical, but one side of his mouth curved into a smile. I wasn’t sure if he was buying my act or not. I pressed
on.

“
And you learned how to do this from books?”

His smile faltered, and he scanned the faces of the workers standing around us. “I thank the gods, Jack, not the books.”

“Of course,” I said quickly. But Ryder didn’t look happy. He replaced the lid on the pot.

“The day is wearing on, and you have a hole to dig,” he said.

He thanked the workers, told them to carry on, and strode away.
Fadi and Amos motioned for me to follow, and on my way out I noticed my rifle lying on a table. It looked scratched up, as if someone had forcefully been trying to open it. There was no way their crude plastic and wooden tools were going to crack open that rifle.

Fadi and Amos marched me out of the stifling heat and toxic fumes of the little hut and past the other side of the plastic factory.
The side I had been waiting all day to go to.

“Don’t I get to finish the tour?” I asked in a loud voice so Ryder would hear me.

“The tour’s over, Jack.” He turned and pointed toward the gates. “Take him and get him started. I’ll be there soon.”

I clenched my teeth against the anger and frustration rising up inside me. I had one goal when I started the tour: get my hands on a weapon. That
was it. The one place I knew where I could find one was the only place Ryder wouldn’t take me. Had he read my mind? Did he know that’s what I had planned all along?

The guards opened the gate when they saw us coming, and one of them fetched the shovel. Fadi and Amos led me to the hole I’d been working on. The plastic grate was over the other detention holes, and I squinted, trying to peer down
and see if there were any heads visible.

“Naoki! Talon!” I called out. Fadi cuffed me. I flinched, but listened to see if my friends responded. They didn’t.

“Get to work,” Amos said, pointing at the hole.

The hole was getting deeper and harder to dig. With each heave, I had to squat to reach the earth at the bottom. But I dug into the dirt with all the force of my anger, picturing Ryder’s
throat beneath the tip of the spade, and came up with a big scoop of dirt. I heaved it in the direction of the other detention holes to see if anyone coughed. No one did. Where did they take them during the day? I dug in again, came up with another big scoop, and reminded myself to slow down. If I kept digging at this rate, I’d be sleeping in that hole in a few short hours. Yet driving the spade
into the hard ground was having a cathartic effect on my anger, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was a rock that halted me. The force of the spade slammed into the stone and sent vibrations up my arms, making me drop it.