Parched (38 page)

“Come on. Now.”

“Wait,” I hear Ling say. “Why should we trust you?”

“Because I'm the only one who can get you out of here.”

“He's right,” Achilles says. “Let's go.”

We're moving. Hunter holds my head close to his body, cradling my skull protectively. My vision is slowly returning, and I glimpse the bodies of fallen Tranqs. Everything is surreally quiet. The only sounds are the smacks of my friends' feet and the raspy rhythm of their panting.

Voices. Tranqs yelling, not far away. “Security's all down! Nothing's working!” Hunter pulls to an immediate halt.

I hear the heavy sound of boots hitting the floor, but they're not coming this way. I still can't move; I'm still only half conscious. I shift in Hunter's arms. He responds by holding me tighter.

“We need to get to a flight deck,” Hunter says, voice low. “I've jammed the elevators, we'll take the stairs.”

“Are you coming with us?” Ling asks.

“Yes,” Hunter says. “But I need to get the mirror matter first.”

“Okay,” Naz says. “Where are—”

Her words cut off by the sound of razer fire.

“Get behind me!” Hunter yells. Holding me tight, he swings his body in a semicircle. I feel his back spasm as he takes the full force of three razer blasts.

Ling cries out in shock.

“I'm okay.” Hunter runs back around the corner, putting me down as carefully as he can. “Stay here. Give her this.”

I try to move, to speak, but I'm limp and nearly lifeless.

I'm aware of Ling crouching over me, something in her hand. “Tess? Tess, he said to give you this.” I feel a pinprick of pain in my arm and wince. A needle.

Cold seeps into a vein.

And then . . . 
Bam!

Electric energy slams through me. I gasp, bolting upright. I'm coming up for air after drowning, heart racing a million miles an hour, the needle still hanging from my arm. Ling is staring at me openmouthed. “What was that?”

I can see everything. My vision is diamond-sharp, my focus clear as day. “Adrenaline,” I pant, as if I'd just finished a sprint. Adrenaline and who knows what else.

I'm back.

I scramble to join Achilles and Naz. From our vantage point at the end of a corridor, we watch Hunter race toward six Tranqs. His skin absorbs their razer blasts as if they are no more than sunbeams. He easily wrenches a razer gun from one of them and turns it on the others. Half of them run, half of them try to fight back, but in less than five seconds, all six bodies lie smoking on the floor. I'm still panting as his eyes whip to meet mine. Relief courses over his face when he sees me upright.

“Let's go!” Ling yells. She darts for the smoking bodies, snatching up a gun. Naz, Achilles, and I do the same. When I pry the razer from the Tranquil's fingers, another surge of power hits me.
I am so ready
.

“This way!” Hunter gestures, and we're running past the Tranqs, through the blue, windowless corridors of the Three Towers. We have razers. We have Hunter. For the first time since I woke up here, I'm filled with real hope. I glance at Ling, running next to me, and I know she feels it too. Her eyes are alive with fire, her mouth set in fierce determination. It's the old Ling, the one who believes she can change the world. She catches my gaze and we grin at each other.

We zip around a corner—and straight into the oncoming path of a dozen Quicks. We yell in fright, almost falling as we try to stop short. In a panic, I swing my razer in front of me. It's only as my finger pulls the trigger that I remember razer power charges the Quicks.

“Stop!” yells Hunter, but it's too late—my razer blast hits a Quick clean in the chest. Its legs blur as it sprints toward us.

“Run!” Ling yells, swinging in the other direction, but Hunter grabs her.

“It's okay,” he says. “They're with us.”

The Quicks reach us, but instead of attacking, they assemble into a silent semicircle.

“What?” Ling asks, backing away from them.

“He's serfing them—reprogramming them,” Achilles says, staring at the Quicks. “Look at their eyes.”

“They're white,” I note. “Not red.” Just like outside the florist shop in Orange Grove Plaza.

Hunter nods quickly. “Figured we'd need backup.”

The sight of the white-eyed Quicks suddenly becoming our allies is bizarre. But it doesn't take Ling long to make the mental leap. “Get an army's worth!”

Hunter shakes his head. “I'll lose too much power. Let's keep moving.”

With the Quicks forming a protective wall around us, we keep running down the corridor. “But what about Orange Grove Plaza?” I ask Hunter, panting as we run side by side. “You serfed fifty Quicks there.”

“No, I just erased their memories of seeing you.” Hunter is not panting, his words coming as evenly as if he were walking. “Full serfing takes a lot more power.”

Something swoops low and fast over my head. I start in fright. It's a crimson parrot, flying above us down the corridor. Another, then another fly after it, all squawking loudly. It takes me a few moments to realize where they came from. With the security down, Gyan's pets are loose.

“Look!” Ling points at an open meeting room. Two gold-and-black cheetahs are poised, ready to spring. One crouches on the floor; the other, a large table. As we run past, the two animals jump at each other, meeting midair in a snarling crash of teeth and claws.

“Here!” Hunter pops a heavy door open with one slam of his fist. “Down, all the way down!” The Quicks and Kudzu shoot past him, down the stairs.

“Are you sure you're okay?” he asks me, as I pause for a second to catch my breath. “Are the nanites working?”

I nod. “Nanites and adrenaline. Killer combination.”

Hunter grazes my cheek with his hand, sending a flurry of tingles down my spine. “Tess.” His voice is full of emotion, eyes distressed. “What have they done to you?”

“I'm okay,” I say. “Let's go.”

I lose count of the flights of stairs after about twenty, but soon after that, I barrel into Ling, Naz, Achilles, and the cluster of Quicks. Everyone's waiting at the bottom of the stairwell in front of a door stamped with the words
FLIGHT DECK
15.

Hunter quietly pushes the door open.

The large expanse of the flight deck looks empty except for nine blue-and-white Trust cargo ships parked in a neat square. A handful of regular buzzcars are behind them. The space yawns out toward the opening of the hangar, which lets in pale lemon sunlight. Even from our position at the doorway, I can see the townships of Eden, located far beyond the mountains we're in now. An icy wind blows in from the mouth of the deck, sending stray handfuls of snow in a dance around the cavernous space.

“Can't see anyone,” murmurs Ling, sounding surprised.

Hunter nods. “They're running the internal procedure for an attack. That means they'll be directing personnel to start closing the larger flight decks first—this is one of the smaller ones.”

Movement on the deck. We all freeze—but it's just a spotted deer, galloping gracefully across the empty expanse. Ling and I exchange bemused glances. The sound of its hooves echoes musically around the enormous space.

Hunter pushes the door open, speaking quietly. “Cargo ship in the front on the far left.”

Still surrounded by our Quick bodyguards, we run for the ship. The clatter of the Quicks' metal feet hitting the hard surface of the flight deck seems terrifyingly loud. My body is clenched, waiting for someone to fire at us, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around.

The ship's nose faces the hangar's opening, ready for takeoff. It's the same kind of ship we saw on Simutech's roof: a good, sturdy ship that'll easily fit all of us. The entrance is around the back, facing the flight deck, but it's disguised by the crowd of other ships around it. Naz punches the ramp Exit button with her one good fist. The entrance slides open and a ramp extends down toward us.

“Achilles, see if you can get the ship off-cycle,” Ling says. “Naz, check what weapons they have and make sure this thing is charged.”

“I'll get the mirror matter,” Hunter says.

My words tumble. “But how do you know where it is?”

He gives me a complicated look. “Same way I knew where it was at Simutech.”

“How long will you be?” Ling asks him.

“Three minutes,” he replies. “If I'm not back by then, leave without me.”

I'm too shocked to even protest. Leave without him? He just saved our lives.

“Then I better start her up,” Ling says. “We'll be ready to roll as soon as you get back. Tess—”

“I'm going with Hunter,” I interrupt, before she can give me an order.

Hunter's reaction is immediate. “No.”

I open my mouth, but Ling stops me with a raised hand. “We don't have time for an argument. Whatever you do, do it fast.”

The white-eyed Quicks start streaming up the ship's ramp. Ling runs to join them.

I sling my razer over my back and hurry to follow Hunter as he strides away from the ship.

“Hunter—” My words are cut off by the ship's huge engines spluttering to life. “Hunter,” I call, grabbing his arm. “I'm coming with you!” Part of me knows this isn't the best plan, but I can't help it.

“No!” he calls back, gently pulling my hand from his arm. “Stay here!”

“But what if they serf you like you're serfing the Quicks?” I demand. “What if something happens to you? What if I never see you again when—” I can't finish the sentence:
when I just got you back
.

Hunter grasps my shoulders firmly, as if to pass me strength. He holds my gaze calmly. “Please don't worry, Tess. I have to go.”

“Okay,” I whisper. He pulls me close and presses his mouth to my forehead. His lips are warm and unexpectedly soft. For a split second, the fear disappears. But before I can even raise my hands to touch him back, he's gone, racing away from me between the blue-and-white ships.

I should get back to the others. But I need to see him leave safely. After a moment's hesitation, I dash past the last parked ship.

As I clear the ships, I freeze. The flight deck is no longer empty.

Tranquils.

Quicks.

Guiders.

Naz, Ling, and Achilles, weaponless and rigid with fear. Ling and Achilles are cuffed. Naz has her arm behind her head. A dozen razers are trained on each of them.

Hunter stands stock still in front of it all. He is staring at someone.

Gyan's honeyed voice rings out over the roar of the cargo ship's engines. He says to Hunter, “I assume you're looking for this,” opening his palm to reveal the glowing mirror matter.

The roar of the engines begins to die; our escape plan being powered back down. No one moves. I glance at Ling. She widens her eyes a little, nodding behind me. No, not behind me. At the razer that's still slung on my back. I might get one shot before they return fire. Before I can decide what to do, Gyan pulls out the device with the red button. I ready for a question or a demand. But neither come. With the ghost of a smile, Gyan presses the red button.

I brace myself, but instead of a slam of pain, I only feel a dull, heavy ache. Painful. Distracting. But not enough to stop me. I catch Hunter's eye and he's nodding a little, looking grimly relieved. I wonder if he has something to do with this, if he jammed it somehow. Breathing hard, I stay upright. I can take this. In one swift movement, I sling the razer off my back.

“Get the girl!” Gyan yells.

Bodies rush for me. I catch Hunter's eye and hurl him the razer. As soon as it leaves my hands, I'm tackled to the ground. The wind is knocked out of me, palms and knees bashing against the concrete.

I hear a mass of Quicks and Tranquils crash into Hunter. I'm hauled to my feet, hands twisted so painfully behind my back that I cry out. But Hunter is fighting everything off, tossing the Quicks like toys and firing once, twice at the Tranquils with my razer. A wave of white-eyed Quicks, the ones Hunter is still serfing, race toward us, ready to do battle.

“Stop!” Gyan shouts. “Or we kill the girl.”

Hunter's head snaps up. He freezes. The white-eyed Quicks stop dead in their tracks.

I yell, “No!” but a Tranq clamps a white-gloved hand over my mouth. Red-eyed Quicks move swiftly to hold Hunter in place. He could easily fight them off. But he doesn't. He's not fighting back because of me. Once again, we are prisoners of the Trust.

“Interesting,” Gyan murmurs, glancing between Hunter and me.
His words are barely audible above the final splutters of the cargo ship's engines. “I had no idea . . .” His words trail off, but I can guess why he is surprised. The power of an artilect's emotions. Desperately, I will Hunter to keep fighting, not to sacrifice himself for me. But a part of me knows it's hopeless. Hunter, like Magnus, will act illogically, even recklessly, for love. Just like a human.

Hunter's voice shakes with anger. “If you hurt her—”

“Silence!” Gyan orders. Hunter's words stop. Gyan spins to face me, his gaze dark and victorious. “You were right. It is surprisingly powerful, their ability to
feel things.”
He spits these last two words out as if they taste disgusting. “But it's just another level of control, isn't it?”

White-robed Tower Officials spill from the stairwell, brandishing thick, long prods and armfuls of wire net. The ends of the prods spit white light. The officials fan out to approach Hunter warily, but he can't see them; his body is angled toward the hangar's opening. They're going to capture him like an animal. I try to shout but the hand over my mouth muffles my cry.

The officials rush Hunter. As soon as he realizes, he throws the Quicks holding him off, but the officials surround him with prods. They stab at him, white light crackling like spitting oil. He's thrown to his knees. I cry out again.
He can't feel it
, I tell myself desperately. But it still brings tears to my eyes, watching someone so beautiful and strong be overpowered so cruelly. The wire net flies above him, spreading out like the wings of a great gray bird. It falls heavily, clattering onto the flight deck. Hunter writhes beneath it, yelling and tearing at the wire, but it's too much for him. Too many prods, too much netting, too many officials, too many Quicks.