Rebel (17 page)

The wind whipped across my face as I caught myself looking for Wren again, checking to make sure she was okay, waiting for instruction. I took in a shaky breath as I lowered my eyes to Kyle again.

“Not if I kill him first.”

The shuttle landed outside the gate as the sun started to set.

I tightened my grip on the gun in my right hand and scanned the Reboots around me. Some of our group was pretty beat up, and I cast a worried look at Beth as she finished taking inventory of the Austin Reboots.

Kyle and the rest of them sat tied up or handcuffed a few feet away. We’d positioned the twenty or so Reboots so Micah would have a clear view of them.

The rest of the reservation Reboots appeared to have split in two groups: some were hiding in tents or packing their bags, hoping to avoid all the drama. They had no interest in going to the cities with me or with Micah. The others were with us.

“Two dead,” Beth said quietly, twisting her hair around her finger as she took a spot beside me and stared at the landing shuttle.

I winced, taking a quick glance around. I probably hadn’t known them, but I felt guilty all the same.

“That’s better than I would have expected,” Riley said from my other side.

The shuttle door opened and my heart pounded in anticipation. Wren could still be in there. She could have overpowered Micah or he could have changed his mind.

Micah stepped out, followed by Jules.

Then nothing.

My heart sank.

I released a slow breath. Calm. What chance did a few human bounty hunters stand against Wren? She’d probably already taken them all out and was halfway to Austin by now.

I stepped away from the group and strode toward Micah. The smug, self-satisfied look on his face intensified as he met my eyes, but I could see a flicker of doubt as he took in the
crowd of Reboots behind me and his tied-up cohorts beside us.

I stopped in front of him. “Where’s Wren? And Addie?”

Micah pushed his sleeves up his arms. “I explained that there were rules here. Wren and Addie broke them, so I had to deal with it.”

“You dropped them in bounty hunter territory.”

He smiled at me. Smiled, like he was so proud of himself. Like he’d won. Everything in my body shut down for a split second and I couldn’t move or breathe or think.

I slowly took a step back. The gun felt heavy in my hand suddenly and I gripped it harder.

“Get in,” I called over my shoulder.

There were suddenly Reboots all around me, rushing for the shuttle, yelling. Isaac ran past me with fuel containers in both hands and immediately started refueling the shuttle Micah had returned in. A few reservation Reboots formed a circle around him, protecting him as the rest piled inside.

“Stop!” Micah yelled.

No one even paused. Micah glanced at Kyle and his other loyalists tied up on the ground again, and rage flashed across his features.

He lunged for me and I quickly ducked, darting out of the way so fast he hit the ground. He jumped to his feet and I lifted the gun. Clicked off the safety.

His face was tight with fury, his eyes focused on me.

“Go ahead,” he said, taking a step closer, so the barrel of
the gun was almost touching his forehead. “Please. Prove to everyone you’re no better than a human.” He jerked his head to the reservation. “You’re already doing a bang-up job of killing us all anyway.”

I slowly lowered the gun. He’d taken Wren and he was a murderer and a psychopath and he deserved to die.

But a weight lifted from my chest as I realized I wasn’t going to kill him. Maybe I would have liked to. Maybe it would have made me feel better.

I still wasn’t going to do it.

“We took all the fuel out of the other shuttles,” I said as I clicked the safety back on. “And told the rebels what you were planning.” I nodded at the meager crowd of defeated reservation Reboots behind me. “So there won’t be any further communications with them.”

The shuttles roared to life and I glanced over my shoulder to see Riley waving for me to get on.

I met Micah’s gaze as I took a step backward. “Did you really think you could just get rid of her and everyone would listen to you?” A smile started to form on my lips. “Do you really think you killed her by handing her over to a few humans?”

I ducked as I stepped onto the shuttle, grasping the edge of the door as I looked at him. “There’s no way Wren is dead,” I said as the shuttle began to lift off the ground. “I’d be scared, if I were you.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I TRIED TO START THE VAN AGAIN, BUT APPARENTLY HAVING A DOOR
in its engine wasn’t a good thing. I didn’t know the exact distance from old Austin to New Austin, but it wasn’t too far to walk. Twenty miles, maybe. Once Callum found out what Micah did, he’d head straight for the cities to find me. We’d been planning to go to Austin, and it was our home, so I felt pretty confident he’d go there first.

I left the shotguns and put one handgun in my pants, one in Addie’s. I emptied the vehicle of ammo before I left, but they didn’t have much extra.

I walked to Addie and knelt beside her. “Addie,” I said quietly, shaking her shoulder. I didn’t know why I was being quiet,
because as far as I knew, old Austin had been deserted for over twenty years. The streets were quiet, empty, the only sound the wind rustling the trees.

“Addie!” I shook her harder, but she didn’t stir.

I let out a long sigh as I looked at the HARC van. It was possible they would send someone to check why it had stopped in the middle of old Austin.

I squinted ahead at the capitol. That was north. New Austin was northwest, but I wasn’t exactly sure
how
west. I ran my hand down my face as I tried to remember the old maps of Texas. I couldn’t picture the new cities mixed with the old. I needed a map, even an old one.

I grabbed one of Addie’s arms and hauled her over my shoulder. I groaned under her weight as I stood. Hopefully she’d wake up soon. I didn’t know how far I could carry her.

My leg burned as I limped forward, and I kept my broken arm close to my chest. I steadied Addie with my right arm, hooking it around her neck to keep her in place.

The capitol really was so much bigger. I’d heard about it, and I knew the one in the New Austin
rico
was nothing more than a small knockoff, but I hadn’t realized by how much. The huge, round dome was on top of a massive base, and there appeared to be a statue of a person at the very top. They’d missed that detail in the new version.

I glanced at the buildings on either side of the wide road as I walked. I’d hoped to see one of the old cities with Callum,
and it was too bad he wasn’t here now. He probably would have known more about the city than I did.

There were still cars parked on either side of the street, rusting and missing parts. Some were even abandoned in the middle of the road.

It must have been nice to have access to something with wheels all the time. That would have been really helpful right about now.

I hobbled to the end of the street and turned to look at the capitol as I headed west on the street that ran in front of it. Part of me wanted to go inside, see what was left of it, but I didn’t think going in any building was particularly safe. Nothing was sturdy, and the last thing I needed was to be buried alive in the middle of a dead city.

I turned north again when I reached a street that was somewhat clear. The buildings were huge on this street, twenty, thirty stories tall with hundreds of windows.

There was some destruction, some streets that were more rubble than buildings, but overall it wasn’t as bad as I’d been led to believe. I thought Austin was gone, mostly destroyed, but it was more like it was deserted. Had all these people died of KDH?

It seemed sad they’d rejected Reboots. Micah was right on one count—we had a found a way to survive. Maybe if the humans hadn’t panicked, we could have stayed in this city. Humans or Reboots could have lived in these buildings instead of tents and thrown-together houses.

But HARC had always been about control, so maybe starting their own cities and fencing the humans in was more appealing. Or maybe it really was the only way to contain the virus and keep humans safe. What did I know?

It was just getting dark when my leg finally started to heal and Addie moaned. She squirmed on my shoulder and I stopped and slowly kneeled down as I slid her off onto the concrete.

She blinked at me, rubbing one of her arms. The gashes on her arms and legs were still open, and one of her legs was broken. Given how many hours it had taken me to heal, she had quite a ways to go.

I estimated I’d barely made it two miles, maybe less, and we’d stopped in the middle of the road. A big, redbrick building was to my right, and on my left a gray building with big windows and a blue sign that read
Kerbey Lane Café
. She looked left, then right, then left again.

“Where are we?”

“Austin,” I said. “The original.”

Her head tilted up as she surveyed the building next to us, her eyes wide.

“And those guys in the van?” she asked.

“They tried to grab us.”

She gave me an amused look. “Obviously that didn’t work out so well for them.”

I plopped down in the middle of the road with her. “It did not.”

She examined the area around us, wincing as she moved. She rubbed her arm and inspected the long gash.

“They slowed our healing time,” I said. “It took me a few hours.”

She moaned. “If it took you a few hours, it’s going to take me a week.”

“Probably not quite that long,” I said with a smile.

“And so you hoisted me on your back and carried me . . .” Addie glanced behind her. “Have we been going for a while?”

“Only a couple miles.”

“Oh, only a couple miles.” She rolled her eyes, grinning as she bumped her shoulder against mine. “Is it awesome being you? Do you just sit around and revel in your awesomeness?”

I gave her a baffled look, not entirely sure how to respond to that. She laughed, pushing her dark hair behind her shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said more seriously.

“You’re welcome.”

She paused for a moment, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. “I’m sorry I got us into this.”

“I don’t think it was you who pushed us out of a shuttle.”

“But it was me who talked to too many people at the reservation about the plan. This wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for me.”

“I don’t know about that.” I shrugged. “I could have left you up there to get tortured. It’s not like it would have caused any lasting damage.”

She snorted, which turned into a full laugh. “Uh, yeah. I guess you could have. But I think I prefer it this way.” She ran her hands over her hair. “I was losing my mind there.”

“You and me both.” I hopped to my feet, extending my hand to her. “Can you walk? We should probably find somewhere to stay for the night.”

She took my hand and stood slowly, putting all her weight on her left leg. She tried to step forward and winced.

“It’s still broken,” she said. “I could drag it, or—”

“Let’s go in there,” I said, pointing to the café. “The windows are still mostly intact. Looks like it’s not about to cave in.”

She gave me a grateful look and I gestured for her to lean against me. She hobbled across the street slowly with me.

The door had been broken a long time ago, and what was left of it swung open and closed in the wind. As we walked inside, a small animal scurried across the floor and Addie moaned.

“I hate rats.”

“They don’t taste too bad.”

“Oh my God, never tell me that story.”

I shut the door and pulled a chair in front of it to keep it closed. The inside had likely once been bright green, but now the paint was peeled off the walls. Tables and chairs were scattered everywhere, and a row of booths ran along one wall. The plastic was cracked, the stuffing torn out in some places. I decided not to tell Addie there may very well have been more
rats living in those seats as I gently placed her down in one.

I sat down on the other side, brushing cobwebs off the dirty table.

“Where are we going?” Addie asked, scooting back in the booth and leaning against the wall. “Austin? The real one?”

“Yes. If we can find it.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “I don’t suppose you have a map of Texas in your head?”

“Nope, sorry.” She squinted out the dirty window. “Surely we could find a map around here somewhere? At one of those old fueling places maybe? They used to sell, like, a whole bunch of stuff there. I bet back during the war people took the food and left the maps.”

“That’s a good idea, actually.”

“I’m going to pretend you don’t sound all surprised about that.”

I laughed as I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head on them. “Sorry.”

“You think Callum and the Reboots will still go to Austin?” she asked.

I nodded, rubbing my finger across a crack in the table. “They wouldn’t stay at the reservation. And Callum knows Austin’s the first place I’d go to look for him.”

“Agreed. Maybe he murdered Micah when he found out what happened and took over everything.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “Callum isn’t really the murdering type. He has morals.”

“Morals shmorals. I bet when he finds out what Micah did he’ll lose it.” Addie leaned her head against the wall. “The only reason he’s all high and mighty about killing people is because he was only at HARC for a few weeks. He doesn’t understand what we went through.”

I nodded, trying to hide my surprise. “Did he talk about it with you?”

“Not really. Mostly I just noticed it with you guys. Sometimes I wanted to be like, ‘Dude, chill. You’re so uppity sometimes.’”

I laughed, quickly covering it with my hand. I cleared my throat. “He’s not uppity. He’s stubborn.”

“Whatever.” She waved her hand in the air. “I think it would bug me, having to be the bad one all the time.”

I shrugged. “I’m used to it.”