Rebel (26 page)

I broke into a run. Riley and a few other Reboots pounded the dirt behind me as I sprinted after Micah. The shuttle I’d seen earlier began to spin erratically and plummeted to the ground with a loud bang.

The grocery store and the other shops made up the center of the Austin slums, and as I approached the wooden buildings I saw smoke billowing from several of them. I darted in between two shops and came out on the wide, dirt road that ran through the center of town.

Micah stood a few yards away, legs on either side of his
motorcycle as he aimed a rocket launcher at a nearby store. He whooped and glanced behind him, doing a quick double take when he caught sight of me. He quickly masked his surprise with a wide smirk that looked anything but happy.

He kicked the stand on the motorcycle and hopped off. “Wren! Nice to see you again. How’d the bounty hunters treat you?”

I reached for my gun, even though we were both wearing helmets. I had no interest in anymore chitchat with him. He grabbed his own gun, and I fired off a quick shot to his hand. The gun flew through the air and landed a few feet away. I aimed again as Micah charged me, and I squeezed off the next one too quickly. The bullet sailed past his ear as he tackled me.

We hit the ground together, the gun falling from my hand in the scuffle. Micah tried to wrap his fingers around my throat and I kicked him off before scurrying through the dirt and hopping to my feet.

His eyes were furious as he stood, his mouth set in a hard line. He rushed at me again and I slammed my foot into his knee. With a gasp he stumbled back, and I punched him across the jaw.

He retaliated so quickly I didn’t know he was swinging until the punch hit my stomach, and then my cheek. I wheezed as I ducked his next punch, slamming both my fists into his chest.

He hit the ground with a grunt. “You should be ashamed,” he said as he hopped up on one leg.

“About which part? I’m not the one who pushed a couple Reboots out of an airborne shuttle.”

“No, you’re the one who ensured we’re going extinct.”

I laughed as I inched my fingers closer to the knife hanging off my belt. “I’d say you’re the one killing us. Hundreds of Reboots in the facilities were killed because of you.”

His eyes narrowed, his fingers balling into fists. He screamed as he ran for me, limping on his left leg.

I pulled the knife from my pants. Swung it through the air.

Micah’s body crumpled to the ground. His head rolled off in the opposite direction.

I winced as I turned away, wiping the bloody blade on my pants. Riley stood over another dead Reboot body a block or so away, and he raised his arms like,
“Victory!”

It didn’t feel like a victory. Callum had said once it was only appropriate to kill someone in self-defense, which this had been, but it still made me feel uncomfortable in a new, unwelcome way.

I slipped the knife back in my pocket and picked up both guns off the ground. With a sigh, I headed in the direction of gunfire.

There wasn’t much left of Austin an hour or so later. Homes all around me were destroyed. I was still on the wide road in the middle of town, and the shops and apartment buildings had huge holes in them.

I holstered my gun as I watched Riley and Addie drag Micah’s body into the pile we’d made. Burying Micah and his crew was impractical, so we’d decided to get them all together to transfer them to the edge of town for cremation.

Riley sighed, wiping a dirty hand across his forehead. It was late, the sky was black, and my body felt heavy and tired. The bodies had all been cleared and piled up, and when Addie said she was going to Tony’s house, we followed.

The roads were filled with humans, all headed in the direction of the schoolhouse. One glanced at me and I braced myself for a yell, or a glare, but one side of his mouth lifted in a smile. I blinked in surprise and turned a confused look at Riley and Addie, but a tall figure at the end of the street caught my eye.

I quickened my step and Callum’s face lit up when he saw me. A young boy was on his back, his arms wrapped around Callum’s neck.

“Hey,” Callum said, reaching for me. He leaned down for a kiss. “Everything okay?”

I nodded, glancing at the trail of humans behind him and the boy on his back. “Who is this?”

“I don’t know. I pulled him out of the rubble but he won’t talk.”

The boy frowned at me and buried his head in Callum’s shoulder.

“I’m going to the schoolhouse to see if anyone knows him.
A lot of the humans are gathering there for the night. Come with me?”

I nodded and wiped a streak of dirt off his forehead. He was covered in dust, from his neck down to his pants, which had two huge holes in the knees.

“Is your brother okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. The other side of town wasn’t hit as hard, so he went back home. He was good. Helped me sort through the rubble of a lot of houses and get people out.”

I ran a hand down his arm and we turned to head toward the schoolhouse. Humans were spilled out onto the front lawn, and a woman shot across the dirt as soon as she spotted us, making some sort of weird, strangled noise that made me want to take a step back.

Callum knelt down, sliding the boy off his back and the woman whisked him into her arms, crying as she kissed his cheeks.

“Thank you, thank you,” she said, grabbing Callum. She hugged him with one arm, blubbering something I couldn’t understand.

“You’re welcome,” Callum said hesitantly, shooting me a baffled look as she released him.

Tony was across the lawn next. He grabbed Callum and wrapped his arms around him. He thanked him, his voice cracking slightly, and turned to quickly walk away.

“Why is everyone hugging you?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m likeable?”

I grinned at him, because I knew exactly why everyone was hugging him, and so did he. A human caught his eye and smiled, and he nodded at her. Callum had said that saving people was one of my favorite things, but it was he who needed that, who could muster up that kind of passion for people he barely knew.

“Rumor has it the HARC facility wasn’t hit,” he said. “I could use a rest before we figure out what to do.”

“Me too.” I laced my fingers through his and pulled him closer as we headed away from the schoolhouse. We walked in comfortable silence, his thumb occasionally rubbing circles on my hand. I considered telling him I’d killed Micah, but the words died in my throat. I was happy he was gone, but I didn’t want to celebrate, or brag, or even talk about it. Callum didn’t ask, so maybe someone had already told him.

Although the look he was giving me suggested he wasn’t thinking about Micah at all. He should be exhausted, but his eyes were bright as they met mine.

When I stopped at the entrance of the facility and rose up on my toes to give him a kiss, he grabbed me around the waist and pressed his hands into my back, bringing my body closer to his. I traced my fingers across his jaw as his lips met mine. He started to pull me closer, then stepped back, glancing down at his clothes.

“Maybe I should shower before . . .” He let his voice trail off, leaving me to imagine what we’d be doing after.

“Me too.” My cheeks were warm, but I held his gaze, his dark eyes burning into mine.

We walked to our room for new clothes and back down to the showers. I cast a smile over my shoulder at Callum as I pushed the door open to girls’ bathroom.

I was the first back to the room, and I sat down on the bed, swallowing down a sudden flurry of nerves. How exactly did this work? Was I supposed to say “Hey, let’s have sex!” or did he already understand? I thought we’d sort of been giving each other signals, but maybe it was in my head.

I looked over at the glass wall. The other Reboots were around the corner, out of sight, but I certainly wasn’t getting naked for everyone to see.

The other bed still had sheets on it, so I hopped up and pulled them off. I pushed a dresser closer to the door and stepped on top. I shoved the edges of the sheet into the crack between the glass and the wall and released it. It fell down almost to the ground, covering half the room. I grabbed the other one and put it on the adjacent side, so the whole room was obscured. It was kind of obvious what we were doing in here, but maybe that worked in my favor. I wouldn’t have to say anything to Callum. He’d pick up on the hint by himself.

The sheets moved as I pushed the dresser back in its place, and Callum emerged from behind them.

He looked from them to me, a small smile on his face. “Good idea.”

“I spent long enough with those stupid glass walls,” I said, sitting down on the bed. He walked to me slowly, hands in his pockets, his expression nervous. I was relieved he wasn’t totally calm, because my hand was shaking as I reached for his arm. When I ran my fingers over his skin, he slipped his hands from his pockets and leaned closer to me.

I looped my arms around his neck and scooted forward on the bed until my legs touched his. He placed his hands on the bed on either side of me, his lips barely brushing against mine. I grabbed the buttons of his shirt and brought him closer to me, until his soft lips on mine made warmth zip through my body.

I pulled him closer and closer, until we were tangled together and he was running his fingers down my scars and I was laughing when he told me I was like a hot cyborg. Then there was nothing but the sound of his breath and his warm skin against mine and I forgot to keep one ear on the door or watch for threats or scan the closest location of weapons in my head. It was just him, his smile against my lips, his arms around me, and I was gone.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING TO WREN ASLEEP AGAINST MY CHEST
, her arms tucked up underneath her chin. She was wearing my shirt, which I’d wrapped around her when her arms had begun to prick with goose bumps. She’d buttoned it crooked, and I could see the tip of her scars, the first few of the metal staples holding the skin together. I tightened my arms around her and pressed my lips to the top of her head.

I hadn’t slept so well or so long in weeks—not since I was a human—and I blinked in the dark room. Was it too much to hope that everyone would leave us alone and I could spend the day right here?

Murmured voices trickled in from the hallway and I sighed
inwardly. Of course it was. HARC was still out there and, thanks to Micah, we could already be too late to save the Reboots in the Rosa facility.

Wren stirred, and a smile crossed her lips before she even opened her eyes. She snuggled closer to me so her face was in my neck.

“Good morning,” she mumbled.

“Good morning.” I brushed a kiss against her cheek.

“Is it too late to take you up on your offer to leave and forget about everyone else?” she asked, humor in her voice.

I laughed. “Never. Let’s go right now.”

She grinned at me, because we both knew it was way too late for that.

“Hey, is Callum Twenty-two in here somewhere?” a voice nearby yelled.

I sighed as I swung my legs over the bed. “Yeah?”

“There’re people downstairs in the lobby for you. They say they’re your parents.”

I blinked in surprise. Even though David had said he thought they wanted to see me, I didn’t think they’d actually come.

Wren rolled out of bed and reached for her clothes. “Want me to come with you?”

“Yes. Please.”

I pulled on my clothes and shoes so slowly that Wren was standing by the hung-up sheets, watching me in amusement as I tied my boots.

“We could sneak out another door,” I said, half joking. “Or jump off the roof.”

“Breaking our legs just to avoid your parents is a little extreme.”

I released an exaggerated sigh as I stood. “Fine.”

Wren reached for my hand and tugged me from the room and down the stairs to the ground level. She pushed open the door and light flooded the stairwell. I walked out onto the black floor.

My parents and David sat in the chairs at the far side of the room, like they were waiting for an appointment with HARC officials. I took a tentative step forward and David, spotting me, jumped to his feet, a big smile on his face. My parents stood, too, and started toward me.

We all met them in the middle of the lobby. My mom looked like she was going to cry, and I wasn’t sure what to make of that. My dad just seemed nervous.

“This is Wren,” I said, glad to have something to start the conversation with. She dropped my hand to offer it to my parents, and my dad shook it first, his gaze falling to her bar code.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, noticing his glance. “It’s One-seventy-eight.”

My mom’s eyes widened briefly but she shook Wren’s hand and turned a tentative smile to me.

“We heard . . .” My mom cleared her throat. “Well, we heard a lot of things.”

“I hope some of them were good,” I said.

My dad laughed. “Of course.”

I felt awkward with them staring at me like I was a hero. It was better than last time, though, when they saw me as a monster. I tightened my hand around Wren’s. “Is everything okay at the house? David said you weren’t hit too bad by the attacks.”

My mom nodded. “It took a bit of a beating, but it’s still in one piece. Nothing that can’t be repaired.”

“Good.” I felt a rush of relief, even though I never planned to live there again.

The front doors banged open and Riley and Addie walked through with several other Reboots. He gestured at Wren and she looked up at me.

“Go ahead,” I said, slipping my hand out of hers. “I’ll be over in a second.”

My parents watched her walk away, and my mom turned to me with a questioning look on her face.

“She was there, that night you came to see us.”

“Yes. We were in the Rosa facility together. She helped me escape.”

“Oh.” My mom smiled. “That’s wonderful. I didn’t know Reboots escaped.”

My dad eyed my bar code. “Rosa? What’s it like there?”

“Rosa is . . . a mess. I like it better here.”