Fledge (16 page)

In those few seconds he's killed off a good number of pledges and I am patient as he looks around for his next target.

My head is bowed, but my eyes are up to keep him in view.

He sweeps around, desperate for another target.

Finds the swirl of glowing colors in my eyes.

And I spring up like a lion going for the wolf.

My hands are around his throat and my knee slams into his chest, knocking all the air out of him as he falls backwards. I choke him until he goes limp and crumbles, then rip my talons across his throat to seal the deal.

Sound returns to my world like the rush of the wind across the tallgrass and I pick out Isec's scream of panic. I whirl around and see him fighting off a girl with razors so long they could belong to Kush.

She swipes at his face twice before I can cover the ground and she's about to draw them across his throat when CG plunges down and lands on her back.

Isec goes reeling down with razor girl and I am just about to clean up when CG snaps the girl's neck, pushing her away with disgust.

Things are getting less chaotic and I know the buzzer is about to blow, but I scan the area once more to make sure. The four of us have acquired the top level of the spiral. I look back at CG and I'm about to congratulate her when one last politico pulls himself up over the ledge behind Isec and grabs him by the throat.

"No!" I scream and everything is silent and in slow motion again as I book it on foot towards Isec. I see Kush on the other side of the platform in my peripheral vision. He turns and begins to react, too late.

Isec reaches up for his throat and wiggles free.

CG hurls herself at the politico as the buzzer wails in my ears.

And I watch as the asshole cheats and slits her throat midair.

Real time catches up and CG is thrown down the spiral and lands in a heap at the bottom, next to a pile of bodies, broken just like hers.

Isec is screaming.

Kush is walking slowly towards me.

And I just stand there and feel a little rush of relief that it's her and not Isec.

The moderator is on the speakers telling us to line up on the spirals to be shunted up to Level Three and life comes back to me.

Until I hear my name.

"Junco, Aves 039, you will remain behind for pickup. Junco, Aves 039, you will remain behind for pickup."

I step off the spiral and have just enough time to see Isec run forward in a panic before they stun me from behind with a bolt of plasma and I fall to the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

I come to in an operating theater, bright lights shining on me from above, my hands and feet strapped down, and the blood from the battle crusting over my ears so I can't hear right. My back flames from the plasma burn as I struggle and my coughing gets out of control. My lungs try to do complicated tasks like inhale and don't seem to be making much progress.

There is chaos and I hear the 039 yelling – at least most of them. Braun is not present. My head bobs around, trying to take things in and get a grip on the situation as quickly as possible, when I spy Tier.

He's strapped to a gurney just like me. Mere inches separate our eyes.

"Tier," I croak.

"Don't trust them, Junco."

I manage a smile between coughs. "Thank you."

"For wha?" he says, slurring his words in a drugged-out stupor.

I whisper between my smile. "For making that real."

Ashur is down in my face then, yelling at me to shut up.

My head bobs around again and I see Isten and Lucan screaming at each other, pushing each other, until razors come out and other Aves step in to break it up.

It all becomes too much.

My eyes close and I am gone.

When I wake Tier has vanished and the room is quiet. Life is clear and the nightmare I witnessed before is over.

"Witness is awake and conscious."

"Witness, can you tell us your name?"

Who the fuck is the witness? The words type out on my vision screen automatically.

Then a reply:
You are the witness, Junco.

"I'm the witness?"

"Correct," says the voice in the room.

Do not answer out loud unless I instruct you to
, the vision screen types.

"OK."

That was out loud.

I had no idea vision data displays could be testy.

"Witness will say her full name for the court."

Say:
Junco Abigail Coot.

I say it.

"Physician will confirm that the drugs have been administered and are working correctly."

A voice next to my head. "Confirmed. The cortical feedback loop has been enhanced, witness has normal vital signs, and witness is in full complacency and submissive mode as described by Psyche Cluster Protocol 41."

"Witness will recall the evening of November 9, 2152. Does witness recall?"

Say: Yes.
"Yes."

"Witness will describe events which occurred from 1830 hours to 1915 hours."

Say: Aren attacked Tier after I agreed to go with him.

Say: Tier attacked Aren.

Say: I burned Tier with a plasma rifle.

Say: Aren and I escaped.

Say: Aren poisoned me so he could take me back and hand me over to the Mountain Republic.

Say: Tier grabbed me and administered first aid to combat paralysis from the wound.

Say: Tier took me back to a cave which he was using as base camp and completed treatment from the poison.

Say no more until instructed.

It's a lie. My thoughts type it out on the display.

Of course it's a lie, Junco. You want to save Tier, correct?

Yes.

Well, one charge at a time. This one we can knock off tonight.

Who is we?

Silence from the data display, but the room is murmuring like cicadas on a summer night.

The murmuring stops and the voice is active again. "Did witness see a treaty exchanged between parties during this time?"

Say: Yes.

"Did witness see Captain Raubtier read the treaty and submit to it?"

Say: Yes.

"Did witness see Captain Raubtier break the treaty?"

Say: No.

The murmuring gets excited and loud until the voice commands silence.

"Did witness hear Captain Raubtier mention that he killed numerous humans without orders?"

Say: No.

"Did witness hear Captain Raubtier mention that he killed children without orders?"

Say: No.

"This witness' question list is completed."

The bright light above me grows dimmer and dimmer until I am left in total darkness.

Chapter Sixteen

I come to again. This time I'm in a pale yellow room and there are machines beeping around me. I rip out the IV and sit all the way up before Ryse pushes me back down on the bed and Arel slaps a towel over the blood spurting out from my arm.

"Relax, Junco. You're with us now," Ashur says, his voice even and disinterested.

I'm filled with rage. "You asshole, I told you he'd live. And so fucking much for not spying on me back on Earth, right? You piece of shit! Did you have fun watching me all that time?"

Arel steps back, a little annoyed. "What the fuck is she talking about now, Ashur?"

Isten comes up to the bed and then Mish and Rikan follow. They are all here, except Braun. "Junco," Isten starts. "It wasn't like that."

I swallow hard and cough. "He did, Isten!" The tears well up in my eyes and I am about to cry from all the stress and drugs. "He knows all my counter-attacks and I only ever practiced them in one place!" I scream it, I am so angry my head wants to explode. I dial it down and the words come out as a whisper instead. "One secret place, Ashur. Down on the holomat in my bedroom. And you know every single move. Every single counter-move."

His face is a mixture of anger and guilt as he looks up at his team. "How the fuck do you think we could bring her back if we couldn't control her, huh?"

They stare at him in silence.

"He watched me in my room. And not," I stress, "the princess room. He watched me in my real bedroom." I turn away and push Ryse off the bed. The towel Arel placed slips and the blood starts to flow again. It gives up and coagulates half way down my wrist, then becomes sticky until I absently wipe it on the sheets.

The silence is broken by Lucan's voice across the room. "You will all leave now."

They don't even say goodbye, either. They just file out and leave me there.

"Would you like to stay here tonight, Junco?"

I shake my head and more tears spill out. "No. It's not fair that everyone else has to sit there tonight knowing that we killed all those people and I get a choice."

I turn around and his face is so sad I almost take it back.

But I don't, I just let the tears slide down my cheeks.

"I should have to see what I did, witness the number of bunks shrinking as the space between them grows wider, so that I know what a fucked-up piece of shit you've turned me into and how much worse you avians are than–" I let out a sob and take a moment to wipe my wrist across my nose and pull myself together.

When I speak again my voice is low, but even. "I hope you got everything you needed, by the way. That was a classy fucking move, pulling me out after the fight and filling me up with drugs – you fucking
shot
me!"

He just stands there, looking at me. I watch as he swallows hard but even if he is sorry, it won't make it better. Not this time. "I trusted you." I turn back over so he can't see my face.

Tier was right all along. Trust no one.

Not Ashur.

Not Lucan.

And certainly not Braun who hasn't even come back to see me once since the day I left.

"You wanted to break me, right? That's what you said?"

"Junco–"

"Well, congratulations. You should feel very proud of yourself."

Lucan's private flyer drives me back to Fledge. I'm pushed up against the door on one side, my face pressed against the cool glass as I watch the high atmosphere mist part around us. Lucan is sitting, straight-backed, on the other side of the rear seat. I've got the blanket from the bed wrapped around me because the drugs have tricked my body into thinking I'm freezing-ass cold even as sweat pours down my back and puddles inside the waist of my pants.

The ride takes a lot longer than I thought it would and when we finally stop I'm almost asleep, still half intoxicated and the other half exhausted. Lucan gets out and walks with me into the Fledge building. He palms the elevator and the moderators watch with long frowns on their faces as I try to walk straight, but can't.

We ride up to level three and he takes my arm and leads me into the dorm. The lights are all on, but everyone is in bed, sitting up looking confused.

Kush gets up and runs over, then Isec joins him.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Isec demands. He takes my hand. "Junco?" His little voice is full of fear and he begins to cry.

Kush drags me away from Lucan and takes me over to a bed.

My dried-up sobs are just small hiccups as I lie down shaking.

I hear Isec's little bare feet pad a few paces out into the center of the room. Then he screams at the receding click of expensive shoes on the tile, "She doesn't
like you
anymore, Lucan. She doesn't like you
anymore
!"

A fading laugh wakes me up and the first thing I think is that I'm dead. Eventually, as the seconds pass, I realize I'm not dead, I just wish I was. My entire body hurts. I shuffle and kick the heavy blanket until I unwind my legs, then push myself up and look around the room.

There are only single beds now and we've got a large portion of the room dedicated to a casual sitting area filled with couches, chairs, and tables. The news is on a screen that takes up one entire wall, almost floor to ceiling, but the sound is turned down.

Ashur is sitting on the next bed over.

I don't look at him, but I know he's there. I swing my aching legs out the side that faces an empty bunk and rest my feet on the cold tile floor, massaging my head to make the throbbing recede. It doesn't work.

I stand up and give the dizziness a second as well. Then slowly shuffle over towards the showers.

"We need to talk, Junco."

I ignore him.

I've got the hot water spraying down and I'm just about to try and remove my shirt when I see him standing in the doorway. "You will talk to me."