Stronger (24 page)

The next afternoon, Dad and Uncle Charlie meet with my team. I’ve already met Zac and Spencer, and take a quick liking to Eddie, a huge Val with an amazing burn scar on his left bicep. We spend the day moving the ram over small obstacles and setting it up while Charlie times us. The good news is the ram destroys every object we use it on. The bad news is it’s heavy and incredibly awkward to move. Zac, our team leader, has to count out steps as we move so we don’t trip over each other. The practice doesn’t exactly buoy our spirits. I wish we had another day or two to practice, but Uncle Charlie believes we need to move immediately.

Before he dismisses us, Uncle Charlie calls us around him. He paces back and forth, his arms folded behind his back. “From what the Musks have told us, the idols only need to be broken open for the oxygen to destroy them. Once all four are cracked, hit the big red button on the bomb. That will give you fifteen seconds to get out.” He grins. “And make sure you seal the doors on your way out. We don’t want the oxygen killing our warriors fighting outside.”

My dad hands us each a nutri-drink. “Hopefully destroying the idols will take out the Orions and leave us only with the confused Vals to contend with.”

“A lot of people are going to die,” Spencer says.

“We know.” My Uncle Charlie rubs his hand across his beard. “We’ll be using tranqs when possible. We’ll try to keep the loss of life down.”

Eddie folds his arms across his chest, pulling his burned bicep taut. “They won’t be holding back against us.”

“We all knew there would be risks when we agreed to this plan,” Dad says. “There’s no avoiding them.”

That silences the complaints.

“We’ve all run the simulations, and we know what to do. We’re ready. As ready as we can be,” Uncle Charlie says. “The years of preparing all come down to this.”

“Everyone understand their orders?” my dad asks.

My team stomps their feet and thump their chests as a chorus of the warrior chant erupts. I join in, feeling like I truly belong as one of them.

When the ruckus dies down, Uncle Charlie speaks. “I’ve got to go meet with the other teams. We’ll be leaving at first light. Sleep well, and dream of victory.”

I know I should sleep but I can’t. After an hour of tossing and turning, I slip outside and find a place to sit and stare into the sky. The moment I’ve dedicated my whole life to is here. The whole world will change tomorrow. If we succeed, we’ll be free of the Orions. If we fail, the resistance won’t survive. I’ve got everything I ever wanted in life: strength, my family, Bryant. It could all end tomorrow.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Bryant says as he settles beside me. His arm goes around me and I instinctively tuck into his side.

“Can’t sleep?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Didn’t bother trying.” He stares up at the stars. “We’re going to win tomorrow. I heard you’re working the ram, and I’ll be outside fighting. I promise to not let them get past me. I’ll give you the time you need.”

The vow in his voice makes me shiver. “I believe you. Are you worried at all?” I bite my lip before saying, “You know Starburst will be there.”

“I know.”

“And what if she kills you?”

“Stop worrying about it,” he says, wrapping his fingers in my hair. “Either way it will be worth it. I’d rather die fighting than go out their slave.”

“Oh, we’ve finally brainwashed you?”

He laughs. “Yeah.” His amusement fades, his eyes series. “The time I’ve spent here. With you. I’ve grown into myself. I found out what it feels like to be me. To experience something real.” He nuzzles my neck. “All the times I thought of being a full fledged warrior, fighting on alien planets, I always thought dying with honor was the most important thing. Because I never had something to live for. Now I do. There’s no way I’m dying tomorrow. I want more time with you.”

“Same here.”

He clears his throat and it’s dark but I swear his cheeks look flushed. “I, uh, got this tonight.” He rolls up the sleeve on his shirt and shows me a new patch of ink work. It looks like the same expanding ink of a textured henna, but it’s not of a scar. Instead, it depicts a beautiful flower, my favorite. The bright pink petals of the Sarallin stand out against his tanned skin. “It reminds me of you, strong and beautiful.”

Words clog in my throat and tears blur my vision. He gently touches my chin and slides closer to me. “Do you like it?”

I manage a nod, unable to speak.

He smiles and gives me a gentle kiss. I hope with all I am that we’ll have more nights like this, kissing under the stars.

The Vals are all suited up and ready for battle, and I’m with them, wearing one of their black uniforms. Ty grabs me in a headlock. “I had no idea those came in such small sizes.”

“They don’t,” I admit, punching him in the ribs. He releases me with a grunt. “I had to alter it.”

Bryant stops abruptly when he sees me.

“What?” I ask.

Ty smacks him on the back of the head. “Yeah, what?”

Bryant pushes Ty away. “I’ve just never seen a girl in one of our uniforms.”

I hadn’t thought of that before but the female Vals are usually in lab coats or plain clothes, not this skintight material.

“Does it look bad?” I ask, fiddling with the knife strapped to my thigh.

“We’re about to march into war to dethrone our overlords and you’re worried about your outfit.” Ty shakes his head. “You’re such a girl.”

My elbow finds my brother’s gut. “Shut it, Ty.”

Ty swings his gun over his shoulder and goes to find Dad.

I shift from foot to foot and cross and uncross my arms as Bryant stares at me. “Do I look dumb?”

“Uh, no. Not even slightly.” Bryant steps close and threads his fingers through mine. Leaning in close, he whispers, “It looks… hot. I like it, a lot.”

His lips graze my ear and I pull back, my cheeks pink, my mouth open. “You didn’t just say that.”

“Yeah, I did and I kinda wish the other guys weren’t staring at you.”

I glance around and a lot of heads swivel away. “That’s just weird.”

“The attention can’t be new for you. You caught my notice when I thought you were a normal Deb.”

“I caught your notice because I killed a grizzle.”

He tilts his head to the side considering. “Partially, but the most lasting impression was your gorgeous face that day we were cleaning the Sacred Square.”

“I sure hope I’m interrupting,” my brother says, pulling me away from Bryant. “It’s time to go.”

I take a deep breath, pushing away the bullfrogs of joy hopping inside me and concentrate on our mission, the first and possibly final stand of the rebellion.

We all enter the city at different times, from different locations. My hair is stuffed into a beret and I’m wearing an extra vest to help hide my curves. It’s more important now than ever to not stand out. Ty and I take the long route and enter through the Deb section of the city. It’s eerily quiet. Usually there would be hordes of Debs scurrying to their various jobs, but the wind whistling through the buildings is the only thing moving.

“Where is everyone?” I ask Ty.

“I don’t know.” He squints into the shadows of one of the warehouses we pass. “What’s that smell?”

The wind shifts and I gag. It smells rotten, even worse than the Musk we’d met. Ty pulls me to a halt and points toward the concrete. The whole area is splotched with dark red stains. As we move further down the block, Ty points out a rivulet of dark liquid seeping out from under a warehouse entryway. He shoves open the door and we both stare with wide eyes at the piles of dead bodies. Debs. Thousands of them.

My stomach clenches and my gorge rises. I see hands, hair, a tiny shoe. For a moment I’m back in the electro-truck, digging my way out of a sea of corpses. I sway back forth unable to look away.

“It’s just another nightmare,” I whisper. I pinch myself. I blink. Finally I slap my own face. But nothing stops the horror.

It’s real. It won’t end when Bryant knocks on my door.

Ty swears and moves from my side. Some part of me is aware as he opens door after door of the businesses. A bakery, a tat shop, a shoe store, all filled with dead Debs. Ty hurries back to me, looking pale. He pulls me to his chest, but my eyes stay on the pile of dead.

“Don’t look,” he says, forcing my chin to move until I’m staring into his eyes.

“Why?” I ask. My fingers are clenched so tight my fingernails are driving into my skin, drawing blood. A few drops fall to the concrete, joining with that of my fellow Debs.

At the corner, a newsfeed is playing on a loop, Sunflare’s face contorted in anger. “We know the alien criminal is hiding among you Debs, that you are sheltering her. If she is not brought to us immediately, there will be consequences. Do not try our patience any longer.”

I spin around, gaping at the genocide of my people. “Me? They did this because of me?”

My legs give out but Ty catches me. “They didn’t do this because of you. They did this because of them.”

“But these people, they didn’t have a chance of fighting back.”

“You’re right; they didn’t. But we do.”

I collapse in sobs, my breathing ragged, snot running from my nose, tears from my eyes. Ty grabs my shoulders and gives me a little shake. “We’ll do this for them.”

“How?”

“You take all that rage, all that anger, and you channel it into this mission. You make them pay.”

I wipe my cheeks and bend my head, gathering my writhing emotions. If only I could become emotionally harder, the way my body could become stronger. I’m far from okay, but I stuff it all inside. I’m a bomb waiting to explode.

I stand and nod to Ty. “Let’s do this.”

The Val section of the city is bursting with activity but it’s edgy, jumpy.

“Their control is already slipping,” Ty whispers. “Wiping out the Debs was a mistake.”

“What’s to keep them from killing us next?” I hear a shopkeeper mutter as we pass.

“How are we supposed to survive without the Debs doing their part?” a woman asks a soldier on a street corner.

His face looks stricken. “I don’t know. I was there when it happened. It was awful.”

“I heard the screams,” another Val says. “I’ll never forget it. Those Debs never did anything wrong.”

“They couldn’t fight back,” a different warrior says. “They never had a chance. It was our duty to protect them, not slaughter them.”

The snippets of conversation add to the tense atmosphere. The people are afraid. The perfect veneer of the Orions has cracked.

The foot traffic on the road is fairly congested. Hover buses and cars zoom along above us, swirling snow in their wake, but I can’t really see any of it. Instead my brain is stuffed with the grimaces and twisted faces of the Debs in the buildings, my nostrils still smelling the decay of their bodies.

When we arrive at our designated area, Ty and I take a seat on a bench a few yards from the dome. I shift the duffel bag on my shoulder and duck my head, hiding my features.

My hands tremble as I glance around at the other team members randomly scattered throughout the area. Zac and Eddie are standing by a vendor’s cart, sipping hot drinks, while Spencer, wearing an apron, offers them refills. Seeing the team in place, it suddenly feels real. We can end this. Today.

Or die trying.

The dome is heavily guarded. A group of Vals stand near the entrance and others make a loose circle around the entire perimeter. A few Orions are with them. One of them, Galaxy, is fluttering nearby. The chiming of his wings carries on the breeze. It’s enough to wind me tighter than a hamstring before it snaps.

The other teams have also gathered. My eyes search out Bryant. I find him sitting on a bench alongside the road that passes behind the dome, a box at his feet. He keeps moving his jaw back and forth, rubbing at his ears. His face is drawn and he’s sweating, his legs bouncing up and down like a child’s ball. The movement is drawing too much attention.

The roar of three boxy, old electro-trucks coming around the corner rumbles through the air, drawing the attention of Val guard and Orion alike. The first truck lurches to a stop as a barricade of armed Vals cut it off and the other two grind to a halt behind it. The soldiers eye the trucks cautiously, and one of the Orions approaches the first truck’s driver.

I hear the crystalline tinkle of wings as another Orion lands near where Ty and I have stopped. It’s Starburst.

Son of a Musk!

I turn to Bryant.

As his eyes land on her, his face brightens, a huge smile spreading across his face. “Starburst!” he yells. He jumps to his feet, almost tripping over himself in his rush to get to her.

“Starburst! It’s me, Bryant.” He drops to his knees a few feet in front of her, arms outstretched. “Starburst, my love, please take me back. I never wanted to leave you.”

Most of the guards are amused by this, others are leery, their hands resting on their weapons. Some of them spit on the ground as if disgusted. I’m nauseated, unable to take my eyes from the horrible scene. My hand goes to the hilt of my knife, grasping it savagely.

“I’ve been lost without you. Please.” Bryant sags forward, his forehead resting on the cold cement. Starburst’s flapping wings catch the sun and reflect rainbows of color, the beautiful music of her wings pulling me from my shock and lulling me into an almost peaceful sedation. Her waist length, tawny hair undulates in the breeze. She’s beautiful, irresistible. Perfect.

Starburst flies up just enough to hover near him. “Bryant, you’ve come back to me.”

He lifts his head and the smile on his face is radiant. “Starburst.” She holds out a hand and he clambers to his feet. “I’ve missed you.” He takes the hand and kisses it.

“You left me,” she says with a pout. The tips of her toes brush the ground.

“They took me. I tried to escape and they captured me. But I’m free now.”

She touches his face and I start to rise. My brother kicks me. I glare at Ty and rub my throbbing shin.

She tilts Bryant’s face up, cradling his cheek in her hand. “How can I be sure you still love me?”

He turns his face and kisses her palm. “Because I brought you a present.”

The fluttering of her wings quickens. “You did?”

He nods and points right to me. “Her.”

This isn’t part of the plan. It feels like I was kicked in the chest as all the eyes in the courtyard turn toward me. I spin around and start to run but Bryant lunges after me, catching me in a few strides and pulling me to him, my back against his chest. I’m too stunned to put up any real struggle, and soon I’m staring into the golden eyes of Starburst. She’s so close I can see the flecks of silver in her irises, like a constellation of stars. Her cruel smile is dripping with satisfaction. I peer sideways and see the dopey smile on Bryant’s face. The Val guards form a circle around me. Other Orions are joining us, hovering like deity.

“Well done, Bryant,” Starburst says.

I spring toward her but Bryant’s iron grip holds me back. Starburst bursts into laughter and despite myself it makes me happy. With a decisive shake of my head I leap for her once more only to be brought short by Bryant again.

I’m screaming at him, at her, calling them names.

“Have I made you happy?” Bryant asks her over my shouts. The hopeful tone in his voice is like a knife twisting in my back.

Starburst strokes Bryant’s face. “Yes. Very.”

Bryant shoves me aside and I eat dirt. I flip over and grimace to see him engulf her in a hug. She smirks at me and folds her arms around Bryant. The satisfaction on her face freezes a second later and her wings go limp. Starburst falls beside me with a solid thud. The other Orions fall too, stumbling and falling to hands and knees. I blink at Starburst’s frozen face and turn in time to see Bryant give me a wink right before all chaos breaks loose.

Almost as one, the sides of the trucks fall open, and soldiers rush out, thirty or so rebels with mag-guns and swords, and maybe twenty Musks with even larger guns and huge battle-axes. My dad and Uncle Charlie are with them.

Shots are fired on both sides as Ty helps me up and hands me my bag. We run around to the front of the dome pulling out our tranq-loaded guns. Zac, Spencer, and Eddie are sprinting to the door as well, pushing the wheeled cart—where the ram and bomb are hidden—toward the opening. Rebels emerge from the crowd, falling in behind us.

Bullets whizz by me and a few rebels in our ranks fall as we approach the dome’s entrance. By the time we reach the door, the guards are down, chemical darts protruding from their unconscious forms.

“The Orions are coming to,” Eddie shouts. “Get us inside.”

“Working on it,” Zac says typing a series of numbers into the keypad. “Done.”

The doors swing open just as the shiver-inducing roar of a Musk tears through the air. I spin around in time to see Sul’Von lower his horns as he charges toward Galaxy.

Galaxy sweeps his wings forward at the approaching Musk. The razor edge of his wing flails out, decapitating the huge beast, before he sails into the air again.

“That did not just happen,” Eddie says, adding an admirable slew of swear words. I nod my head in agreement, watching as the proud beast’s body falls into the trampled snow. He’d been taken out with a flick of a wing. Do we even stand a chance?

Ty grabs my shoulders, tearing my eyes away. “The ram, Lexie. Focus!”

Adrenaline has my pulse pounding in my ears as I break away the cart’s false top.

Eddie, Spencer and I each go to our respective corners grabbing one of the four handles of the pneumatic ram waiting for Zac’s orders to lift.

“Heave!” Zac shouts, hoisting his corner. “And one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.” We match our steps to the rhythm he calls. Ty and Ian bring the oxygen bomb in behind us and set it in the center of the room, then join the rebels facing the door, a line of defense to give us more time to crack open the statues. Through the glass, I see other Orions rising to fight and a few others swooping in to join the battle raging outside.

We carry the ram to the first statue and set it on its thick tripod legs. Zac hits the button and a sound like the charging of a mag-gun emanates from the ram before its tip shoots out like a spear. Even with the tripod the ram has a huge kick and I almost lose my balance. The sound is deafening, resonating like a giant bell. Through the glass I see the Orions all turn to face us in unison.

“They felt that,” Zac says just as Spencer says, “Oh crap! This better work.”

The second time the tip impacts, the sound isn’t as loud, but maybe that’s because my ears are still ringing. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flying Orion drop a few feet, almost crashing. “Oorah!” Eddie says as the tip retracts. “We cracked it.”

When the ram hits a third time, a gaping whole opens, and a thin, misty smoke escapes.

“It’s snowing Orions,” Eddie says. “But we’re losing good men.”

“Next idol,” Zac shouts. “Heave! One. Two. Three. Four.”

We are staggering toward the next idol when a body crashes against the dome, a red smear splattering the glass. Acid coats my tongue and bile washes up my throat. Through the gore my eyes take in the battle, rebels fighting Vals, Musks and Orions locked in deadly dances. A Musk slices off an Orion’s wing with his bloodied axe. People fall, shots are fired, but I shove the disturbing images and sounds out of my mind, concentrating on Zac’s counting, making sure my friends aren’t dying in vain.

Clutching my handle, I brace for the next impact and the reverberation leaves my head aching. A small crack forms after the first hit. The next impact opens a spider web crack and pieces of the shell fall to the floor, releasing more of the misty smoke. Two down, two to go.

As we move to the next idol, Zac hits the button before we even have the ram set, but by the time it’s charged, we’ve got it locked in place.