Rebel (3 page)

To my right were several much larger rectangular tents. The material they’d used was dirty and worn in some places. How
long had they been here? Why didn’t they build more permanent structures?

To the left, near the fence, were two long, wooden buildings that looked like they might be a shower area. Pipes ran up the side of the building and the ground around it was wet. At least we didn’t have to bathe in the lake.

I scanned the lines of Reboots. When I discovered rebels were helping Reboots get away from HARC, Leb told me that my trainer, Riley One-fifty-seven, had escaped to the reservation and wasn’t dead like I’d previously been told. But I didn’t see One-fifty-seven in the crowd.

I stopped behind Micah as we approached a tent and he pulled back the flap, gesturing for us to enter. I ducked my head and stepped inside, followed by Callum and the five One-twenties from Austin.

Weapons. Everywhere.

I’d never seen so many weapons in my life. Guns of all sizes lined every wall, were stacked on the dozens of shelves around the tent. There were grenades and axes and knives and swords and things I didn’t even recognize. They had enough weapons to arm the entirety of Texas. There were a bunch of empty shelves, but I assumed those weapons had gone to the Reboots outside. Still, they had enough to give everyone a second weapon. Or a third.

“Impressive, right?” Micah said with a grin.

There was a bit of nervous laughter and I took another quick
glance around. It was certainly impressive. And maybe a little comforting. A long wooden table ran down the middle of the tent, its legs disappearing into the dirt. A large bed stood in the back right corner, and I wondered if this was where Micah lived. There were two fire pits surrounded by rocks on either side of the tent, with smoke holes cut out of the fabric above them.

“We don’t have time to do much of an introduction here,” Micah said. “HARC will be here soon, and they will likely bring the big guns this time.”

“Whoop whoop!”

I jumped at the sudden outburst and turned to see several reservation Reboots standing behind us. Their penchant for yelling random noises was going to take some getting used to.

“I’m going to get you all weapons, do a very fast tour, and assign you a location.” He turned and started pulling guns off the shelf.

“This time,” Callum said quietly.

I looked up at him. “What?”

“He said ‘this time.’ Like HARC has come here before.”

“They’ve been here several times,” Micah said, holding a handgun out to me. “We always win.”

I took the gun, eyebrows raised. “Always?”

“Every time.” Micah offered a gun to Callum.

Callum glanced from the weapon to me and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to take it. Guns were not Callum’s thing. I’d had to escape HARC with him because he refused to
use one to kill an adult Reboot. HARC saw no point in keeping Reboots who didn’t follow orders.

But he took the gun from Micah without a word. I doubted he’d use it.

“Why would they come back if you always win?” I asked as he distributed the guns and extra ammo.

“They regroup, figure out what they learned, and try again. They’ve gotten smarter. It’s been almost a year since the last attack.” Micah strode out of the tent and we followed him. “That’s one of the reasons we don’t build many permanent structures.” He gestured at the tents. “The bombs will bring a lot of stuff down today.”

“The bombs?” Callum repeated.

“Yes. We’ll stop some of the shuttles in the air but expect some bombing.” Micah stopped near the fire pit and faced us. “All right. Shuttles coming in from the south. You’ll stay here with the second wave. Protect the reservation, don’t die. That’s all you gotta do. If you lose a body part in a bombing, don’t panic. We’ve got a bunch of kits to sew parts back on. Don’t take other people’s body parts. Unless you know the person is already dead, then have at it.”

Callum’s face twisted. “Seriously? We can just put our body parts back on?”

“Yes,” I said. “If you sew it on fast enough. It’s like when you have a broken bone. Get it back where it belongs and it’ll reconnect.”

“That’s disgusting.” He looked at me in horror. “Has that ever happened to you?”

“Yeah, I lost a few fingers on an assignment once. It’s not that big of a deal. Feels funny going back on, though.”

Callum winced, examining his own fingers.

Micah chuckled as he stopped in front of me. “Newbie?”

“Yes,” I replied. Sometimes I forgot that Callum had only been at HARC a few weeks before I figured out an escape to save his life. This last month or so felt more like a year.

“Does newbie want to stay here with the second wave? Because I’m going to put all the Austin Reboots in a third wave at the back of the reservation, except you guys. I don’t want to throw them into the fire and scare them their first day here.”

I hesitated, glancing at Callum. He’d be safer in the third wave.
I’d
be safer in the third wave, but I didn’t think anyone would appreciate that. The strong Reboots needed to be on the front lines. I met his eyes and he nodded at me like he understood.

“That’s fine,” he said to Micah. “I’ll go with the other Under-sixties.”

Callum started to walk away and I grabbed his hand, turning aside from Micah. “Use it if you have to, okay?” I said quietly, glancing down at his gun.

He nodded, but our definitions of “have to” were likely very different. He probably wouldn’t even take the safety off.

He squeezed my hand, his dark eyes soft when he looked down at me. “Be careful.”

I watched as he walked away, wishing I’d mentioned the whole fleeing idea. Maybe he would have gone for it.

“Wren, do you want to come with me?” Micah asked. He glanced at the other One-twenties. “You guys stay here.”

I took a quick look back at Beth. She was the highest number in the Austin facility, but had told me on the way here that she’d only Rebooted five months ago. She seemed comfortable stepping up as the voice of the Austin Reboots, but I wasn’t so sure how she felt about preparing them for battle. Her face was neutral, but she was frantically twisting a strand of hair around one finger.

“Okay with you to stay here in the second wave?” I asked quietly.

She swallowed, her expression unsure. “Yeah.”

A guy with dark hair stepped forward, his expression calm and reassuring. “We’ll catch them up on what’s going on.”

Beth nodded, gesturing for me to go, and I ran to catch up with Micah. I followed him out the reservation gate, glancing around at the first wave of Reboots. They were relaxed now, leaning against the wooden gate and chatting. The atmosphere was calm, yet still filled with anticipation. I’d always enjoyed the thrill of chasing and fighting, so I could almost understand how some of them seemed eager for the fight. Summoning up some excitement helped to take away the fear.

“How’d you do driving that shuttle?” Micah asked, stopping and squinting into the distance.

“Okay, except for the landing. Mine took a pretty good beating.”

“We’ll have someone else drive then. You and I are going to go up in a shuttle, and we’ll pick off as many in the air as we can before they get here.” He gave me an approving look. “Awesome idea, stealing some HARC shuttles to escape. How’d you do it?”

“We had help from the rebels. Tony and Desmond and some others. You know them, right?”

Micah laughed, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. “Yeah, I’ve known them a while. Helpful bunch.”

Truthfully “helpful bunch” might have been an understatement. I wouldn’t have made it into the Austin facility to get the antidote for Callum if it weren’t for them. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to free all the Reboots and escape without them. I probably owed them something now. That was unfortunate.

Micah paced as we waited for the shuttles, occasionally speaking to one of the towers on his com. I almost wanted to pace back and forth with him. I wanted this to be over. I wanted to crawl into Callum’s arms and sleep until spring.

The shuttles we’d stolen appeared in the distance a short time later and landed softly on the ground not far from us. The one I’d piloted was dented on both sides and there was a long crack across the front window, but it seemed to fly fine.

The door to the other shuttle opened and Addie jumped out, cocking her head in confusion at something behind me. I turned to see two guys jogging in our direction, holding something that looked like a giant gun in each hand. Two more Reboots were close behind them, carrying the same things.

“What are those?” I asked as they stopped next to Micah.

“Grenade launchers.” He pointed to the Reboots at the gate. “They’ve got some launchers over there, too. It’s our best antiaircraft defense.”

Where did they get all this?

“Nice job,” Micah said to Addie. “Go on inside and they’ll get you a weapon. Under-sixties are with the third wave at the back.”

She walked past us, barely nodding at me. She looked about as thrilled as I was to be thrust into this fight.

Micah ordered everyone onto shuttles and I piled into the one Addie had piloted. Two of the guys holding grenade launchers followed me inside.

“I’ve never shot these from the air before, but I’m pumped to try,” Micah said, handing me one of the launchers. It was heavier than a gun, maybe ten pounds or so, but not unmanageable. It was like a really giant revolver with a much longer barrel.

“It goes on your shoulder,” Micah said. “One hand at the back, one in the front.”

I grabbed a spot under the barrel and another behind the
revolver. I leaned forward to look through the black tube thing mounted on top and saw a smaller circle inside a bigger circle, to help aim.

“That’s your sight,” Micah said. “I know you’ve never used one before, but just aim best you can and pull the trigger. You have six rounds, then hand it off to one of these guys and they’ll give you a new one and reload for you. I have a feeling you’ll be awesome at it.” He punched me lightly on the shoulder with a grin.

He had a lot of faith in me based solely on my number. Riley must have told him about me, and I guess he approved of me freeing the Austin Reboots, but still, he seemed just as obsessed with my One-seventy-eight as HARC was. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“Take her up!” Micah yelled to the man sitting in the pilot’s seat. He pointed at me. “Scoot back. We’re leaving the door open so we can shoot.”

I edged back until I hit the corner of one of the seats. The shuttle lifted into the air with a jerk and I tucked my chin into my chest as a strong wind swept over me. I watched the shuttle Reboot pilot, who seemed calm and comfortable steering us into the air, even in this weather.

“Has he done this before?” I called over the wind.

Micah nodded, taking a quick glance back at him. “We have a couple old HARC shuttles we repaired after shooting them down. Only one still works, though. And we’re out of fuel.”

“We have visual on four shuttles.”
The voice came from Micah’s com and I gripped my launcher tighter.

Micah pointed, getting on one knee as he rested the launcher on his shoulder. “There they are!”

I took my place beside him as four black HARC shuttles dotted the clear blue sky and soared straight for us.

“Wait until they get closer,” Micah ordered. “Wait . . . wait . . . now!”

One of the shuttles roared past us, and another hung back. The two remaining raced in our direction, and I aimed the launcher at the wide pilot’s window of the nearest shuttle.

I squeezed the trigger. I missed.

A loud bang ripped through the air as Micah’s shot made contact with the side of one shuttle, and the two boys beside us promptly let out a “whoop!”

“Faster!” Micah yelled at me. “Aim for the pilot window!”

I had been, but it wasn’t exactly easy with the wind and new equipment. I decided now wasn’t the time to mention that.

The shuttle I’d missed shot past me and I jumped as an explosion rocked the ground. One of the towers burst into flames and I took in a slow breath.

Focus.

Our pilot whipped us around and I tightened my fingers around the launcher as I peered at the shuttles that had just taken out the tower. I aimed for the window. I took a breath. I fired.

The shuttle lurched as the windshield exploded and I ignored the “whoop whoop!” as I took aim again. The second grenade soared through the open window and what was left of the shuttle hit the ground so hard I’d swear I felt it.

Micah took out the straggler shuttle but three more roared in, one making it past me as it headed for the Reboot shuttle hovering over the reservation. Smoke rose from inside the walls and the gunfire was constant. I felt a twinge of fear for Callum as I discharged my last rounds at a shuttle. Maybe I should have brought him with me.

A blast rocked our shuttle and I was suddenly glad he was on the ground. A large piece of the back end of our shuttle was missing, the metal above a row of seats breaking off and tumbling through the air.

I turned my attention back outside to see even more shuttles. At least ten whizzed around me.

Ten HARC shuttles. And we had two.

I glanced at Micah to see his brow furrowed in concentration, his finger pressing down on the trigger. Another shuttle fell from the sky.

“You gonna watch me, or are you going to do something?” he asked as he handed off his launcher and took a loaded one. Some of his excitement was gone, replaced by intense concentration and maybe even a hint of fear.

I tightened my grip on my launcher as I aimed. I wasn’t going to escape from HARC only to be killed by them a few hours later.

I fired. Again and again, until two more shuttles fell from the sky. I handed off my launcher as our shuttle took another hit and the pilot swung us around so hard I had to grip the door frame to keep from falling out.

“Having a hard time holding them off, guys!” the pilot called.

“Keep trying!” Micah yelled.

We were losing altitude with that second hit, and I shot as fast as I could at the remaining shuttles. There were only four now and, as I watched, someone on the ground destroyed another one.