The Defiant (37 page)

We head toward the stairway. David is waiting for us, seventy flights up, and I have some questions for him.

T
HIRTY MINUTES LATER WE
reach the top floor of the building. My mind is fading in and out. I can barely feel my legs. I keep thinking over and over about Cass.

Dr. Vargas-Ruiz leads us out of the stairway, back into the luxurious hallway. I glance out a huge window and see the streets beneath us. Even from here I can see the bodies and all the carnage. The mutants are still roaming below us.

“Is it like this everywhere?” I ask. “I mean, in the other cities?

Dr. Vargas-Ruiz nods. “Worse.”

“How can it be worse?”

“In New Washington and New Los Angeles there are almost no survivors.”

“What about the next wave? When the travelers get here?” Liam asks.

“They're still coming, but now we know what we're up against. This is going to be a tougher battle than we thought.”

“So we were the guinea pigs?” I ask her. “We were supposed to sacrifice our lives so you guys could figure out what kinds of secret weapons the UNA possessed?”

Dr. Vargas-Ruiz shakes her head. “No. You are soldiers. Rebels,
just like me. And just like the ones who will come after us. In war, nothing can be predicted. We had no more idea of what to expect than you did. I thought our plan of creating the EMP might destroy enough UNA technology to bring us victory.” She pauses. “But it didn't turn out that way. At least not yet.”

“So there's still hope?” I ask. “Did David know about the mutants?”

She nods. “David will explain everything. Come with me to the penthouse conference room.”

Gadya looks at me. “David better have a great trick up his sleeve to get us out of here.”

“I hope he does,” I tell her.

We continue to follow Dr. Vargas-Ruiz. She leads us to a giant opening with two huge doors.

“Guns,” she says, holding out her hand to receive our weapons. “For security reasons.”

I shake my head. There is no way I'm giving up my gun after what happened outside.

“You have to, or I can't let you into the room,” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz says. Liam and I pause.

Gadya suddenly steps forward, gun raised, and kicks open the door to the penthouse conference room.

“Wait!” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz calls out furiously.

But it's too late. We barge inside the room right after her. The room is massive and bright, with three glass walls, which make it an excellent vantage point to watch the streets below. It is completely empty of furniture.

I instantly stop moving and stagger backward. Liam grabs me.

David is standing there in the center of the room, facing the door. Since I last saw him, he has undergone additional
transformations. His body is larger and bulkier, and his stomach is swollen as though he is bloated with some sort of terminal disease. Metal braces help support his legs.

More wires come out of him, attached to a computer system resting on wheels next to him, like an old person's oxygen tank.

“Oh my god,” Gadya says. The three of us stand there staring.

I can't even speak.

Because it's not only David's appearance that has shocked us.

It's the fact that he is not alone in the room.

Standing around him are five horrific and terrifying figures in black UNA military uniforms, their lapels draped with ribbons and medals.

These are Minister Harka's body doubles.

I recognize Minister Hiram instantly. The others look similar—malformed, with plastic faces, dyed-black hair, and deranged eyes.

“You were supposed to take their guns!” David snaps at Dr. Vargas-Ruiz.

“I couldn't get them in time.” Dr. Vargas-Ruiz shuts and locks the door behind us. She remains in the room.

“What the hell is going on?” Liam says, raising his weapon.

David gives him a mock salute. “Welcome to your future.”

For once, Gadya is too stunned to say anything.

I look from David to Dr. Vargas-Ruiz and back again. My finger finds the trigger of my weapon.

“I know this is not what you expected,” David begins, taking a step toward me, dragging the computer system on wheels along with him.

“Don't move,” I warn him. “Those mutants might be immune to my bullets, but I know you aren't. David, what are you doing?”

A few of the body doubles chuckle.

“I told you she was feisty,” Minister Hiram says to another nearly identical-looking man in black.

Seeing all the body doubles here at once is surreal, and it makes me feel sick. There are essentially five Minister Harkas. It is as though they have multiplied in my absence from the UNA. We have done nothing to stop them. And David seems to be on their side.
So does Dr.
Vargas-Ruiz.
I feel lost.

“Explain this to me,” I say to David angrily.

He nods. “Sure. The scientists and I made a wrong prediction. Just a single one. We didn't realize how far along the UNA had come in developing the mutants as weapons of war.” He pauses. “We really did think that we could win. But after today, we realize that it is no longer a possibility.”

I feel like I'm going to throw up.

“What are you saying?” Liam asks him, his voice low and dangerous. “Have you gone crazy?”

Dr. Vargas-Ruiz steps past us and over to David's side. “He's saying that we've decided to negotiate a civilized surrender.”

“A what?” I'm shocked.

“Civilized?” Gadya yells. “Is that what you call the massacre down there?”

David nods. “Those were necessary casualties. Collateral damage. We can't overcome the mutants,” he says. “The other cities have been recaptured by the UNA.”

“This can't be happening,” Gadya says, sounding dazed.

“We're going to work together,” David continues smoothly. “I've convinced Dr. Vargas-Ruiz and the others that it is for the best. The only other choice is death for all of us. In fact, the ministers want to help us—if we help them.”

“You mean betray everything we stand for!” I say.

I'm stunned.

Liam, Gadya, and I all have our guns ready now.

I never believed that David would turn on us like this. “How could you do this to us? It doesn't make sense! When did your views change? You're supposed to be a rebel, not some fascistic UNA supporter!”

“My views never changed. The situation changed. I had to be flexible and change with it.” He pauses. “What I learned was that the UNA is not so different from us. The ministers will do anything to keep their power. And we will try anything to take it away from them. We are like two equal but opposing forces. Yet if we put those forces together, then who knows what can be achieved? I don't want to die, or rot in a UNA jail cell. I want to have access to their technology and continue my research.” He lifts a hand. “They are interested in the future of the human race. So am I.”

“You've lost your way,” I tell him. “You're not thinking straight anymore.”

“Look. We did our best,” David said. “We must be gracious in our defeat. The ministers could have killed us by now if they wanted to. Remember that.”

I see Minister Hiram and two of the other body doubles nodding in the corner.

“We need you,” Minister Hiram says to me, Liam, and Gadya. “To help bridge a gap between us and the populace. Come and work for us and David. We can restore the power, because we have hidden generators deep underground. We will rebuild everything, and turn a corner in the UNA, so that we can defend ourselves against the European Coalition. You will have every luxury that you desire—”

“Luxuries mean nothing to me,” I spit.

“Me either,” Gadya seconds.

“What if we say no?” Liam asks in the silence. “Then you kill us, right? That's how this works.”

Minister Hiram shrugs. “Not necessarily.”

I look at David. I stare into his remaining human eye. I wonder whether this is some kind of elaborate scheme to help us win against the UNA. For a moment, my heart leaps with hope. But I don't see that in his eye. I see something dark and resolute. It's like his physical change has created a mental change.

“David?” I ask.

“Yes?”

“Did you always know this would happen? Did you plan this all along?”

“No,” he says. “How could I have known?”

“Because you know everything. More than anyone else. You always have.”

“I think on my feet.”

But for once, I'm not confused anymore. I have known him long enough. I see something behind his eye that lets me know he is lying.
He planned this. He knew it would end this way.
With him in a position of power. Working with the very people who destroyed the country, for his own personal gain. This is not some arbitrary decision on his part.

I now realize in horror that he only wanted to defeat the UNA so that he could take it over. He is power-mad.

He never wanted to kill these leaders.

He merely wanted to become one of them.

I raise my gun. “You're lying.  You've always been an egomaniac and a monster. I was just foolish enough to believe in you, and help you.”

“That's not true!”

I aim my gun at his chest. “Prove it.”

“Come on,” David says. “This is crazy. We're beyond violence now. Haven't we seen enough murder and killing?”

On either side of me, I see that Gadya and Liam have taken aim as well.

The ministers back away from David, taking out guns of their own. The guns are pointed at us.

David holds out his arms, beseechingly. “If you fire, then you die. We want your abilities on our side. You're smart. You're good fighters. We can use you. Think of your journey to this room as one big test. You've proved yourselves. Don't do anything stupid.”

“You know what, David?” I ask.

“What?”

“Liam always said you were untrustworthy. I should have listened to him.”

“Just put down the gun.”

Everyone is watching us. I can feel the ministers' guns pointed at me. The only reason they aren't firing is because they know that if they do, I will fire on reflex and strike David. My finger is tight on the trigger.

“Think about everything we shared!” David says. “You don't have to do this, Alenna. Calm down and lower the gun, and we can talk about it. There are ways to make this work out for all of us.”

“Why did you want me here so badly?” I ask him, my mind churning. “What was so important about us going to see Dr. Urbancic? You could have gotten anyone to do that. Why us? Why me?”

He stares back. “Because you're the only one who always
believed in me, Alenna.” He lets the words sink in. “You're the only one who never lost faith in me, no matter what I did on Island Alpha. You helped everyone else to trust me. You never wavered. I knew I could count on you to set off that bomb, and to have blind faith in me.”

His words strike me like blows.

He used me.

“There weren't five teams out there, setting off nuclear bombs,” he continues. “Just one team. You guys. When you pressed that button, it detonated the entire network of nuclear bombs and unleashed the EMP. I just made everyone think differently. It was up to you all along.”

“You played us for fools,” I say, trying not to cry, from rage and sorrow.

“You bastard,” Liam says to David. I half-expect Liam or Gadya to fire at him, but they don't. At least not yet. If any one of us shoots, we will probably all die in a hail of bullets.

“I knew that Alenna would make sure that button got pushed,” David says. “Liam, I could have had you killed, but I was afraid that your death would distract her. She's the only reason that you're alive. Same goes for you, Gadya.”

I keep the gun steady on David. I have been trained to be a warrior, but I never thought I would have to aim a gun at David. My hand starts shaking. It's slight, but David sees it.

“It's okay,” he says. “You don't need to kill anyone now. Not ever again. The key to success is working together. We can build a new future, even if it's not the one you were thinking of when you came here.”

“What are your plans?” I ask him, choking the words out. “Become some benevolent ruler? The ministers will never let that
happen and you know it. The UNA will just continue onward, like it is.”

“That's not true. We can change things from within. The ministers have seen how unhappy the people are, and they realize they nearly lost the battle for the country. They want to start over. We can create a fairer and better UNA. It won't be perfect, but we can slowly work to improve conditions for everyone—”

“Stop lying!” I yell at him. My hand starts shaking more. I know that he is lying. I know that I should shoot him. He betrayed me. He was never my friend. He only saw me as someone gullible that he could use as a pawn in his psychotic plans. But I still can't do it. I blink tears away. I know that if I lower the gun, or Liam and Gadya start shooting, one of the ministers will shoot me. My finger loosens on the trigger.

“We've suffered so much,” David continues, in an oddly soothing voice. “Each one of us. We tried our best. It's not wrong to accept a deal with the ministers now. We can have actual lives again. Don't you want that? And who knows—maybe there's a chance for you and me to have a life together, Alenna. I've always liked you. I just need you to see things my way.”

“David—” I begin angrily.

Then I see something. Hidden in his hand is a small object. I don't know what it is, or where it came from.

“Raise your hands,” I yell, tightening my grip on the trigger again. I'm aiming right at his heart.

In that instant, David raises his hands. I see that he has a gun. It must have been hidden up the sleeve of his jacket. And now it's pointed at Liam. No matter what his plans are for me, he's going to shoot the boy I love. I can't let that happen.