The Burn Zone (55 page)

“
I
’
m here now,
”
I said in his ear. I put my hand on the back of his head and ran my fingers through his thick hair.

“
Yeah.
”

When I broke the hug, he didn
’
t try and hang on. I leaned back, my fingers still laced behind his neck.

“
Nix?
”

“
He told me he would take care of you,
”
he said.
“
After ... he told me to go get my clothes, and that he would take care of you.
”

“
Where did he go?
”

“
We let the others out of their cages,
”
he said.
“
Then he took them away from here, to wait until help comes.
”

I got onto my feet and realized that, in my sleep, either Vamp or Nix had dressed me. I bent over and laced my shoes back up.

“
Hey,
”
Vamp said,
“
take it easy. You
’
re still pretty beat up.
”

“
I know, but we don
’
t have time. We could already be too late.
”

Nix, I
’
m coming down,
I said on the 3i.
Where are you?

The room, where they keep their lockers.
Go down—

They took me there when they brought me in. I know where it is, thanks.

I headed down the ramp, feeling more energetic. It wasn
’
t until I saw the body with the bullet hole that I remembered firing the gun, and the way the life had faded out of the man
’
s eyes. He was still lying on the ramp, his eyes open and a fat red trickle drying on his belly.

Skirting around him, I headed quickly down the ramp. The cage doors all hung open, and the captives were gone. Sprawled on the second platform below were two twisted, broken arms trailing ragged skin from their stumps. The planks were covered with dark, tacky blood and I hopped over a trail of discarded guts whose squiggly end trailed off to the floor below.

Nix had done that. I
’
d always been so sure I
’
d known better than most what the haan were, and what they were all about, but not anymore. If I
’
d been asked the day before, I
’
d have said the haan didn
’
t even understand the concept of violence. That even if they did, they lacked the capacity for it, at least in our world. Now I
’
d seen with my own eyes that they weren
’
t only capable of it, but good at it. The haan had hidden a strength from us
that allowed them to pick apart a human being as easily as a child picked the wings off a fly.

He did it to defend me,
I told myself.
No other reason.
To defend me, and because they deserved it.
It
’
s no different from what Dragan did when he rescued us from men like these.

But I couldn
’
t look at their remains, and it was different.

When I got to the bottom of the second ramp, back down onto the concrete floor, I headed back the way I
’
d come in, crossing past the spent tranquilizer dart and the crumpled foil pill sheet that still lay a few feet away from it. In the hallway outside the rendering chamber, I passed the corridor branch where the pocket of cool air had collected, and heard the rush of wind in the distance. Some of the captives had gathered there, sitting and standing along the walls in varying states of dress depending on what they
’
d been able to recover. They couldn
’
t just go out into the rim or they
’
d get lost in the sea of debris and dust. If they didn
’
t choke outright, then the toxins they breathed in would kill them long before they ever found the wall. They waited, frightened eyes following, as I passed by them on my way toward the locker room.

“
Nix!
”

When I pushed open the door, he was standing in front of the lockers. The contents had been arranged neatly on top of the folding table which he
’
d set back up, along with my pocketknife.

“
How do you feel?
”
he asked.

“
For a dead girl?
Pretty good.
”

“
I
’
m glad.
”

I approached him, and cut in front of him as he tried to dig around in the locker some more.

“
You messed those guys up pretty bad.
”

He nodded.
“
I acted rashly.
”

“
I don
’
t blame you, Nix. Nobody would.
”

“
I do.
”

“
But how?
How did you ...?
”

“
I am stronger than I appear,
”
he said, and would say no more on the topic.
“
Do you remember anything after your collapse?
”
he asked instead.

“
Not really,
”
I said, but he wasn
’
t convinced.

“
What do you remember?
”

“
Nothing,
”
I said.
“
Just... a hallucination or something.
Like a near-death experience, I guess.
”

“
What did you see?
”

“
Nothing,
”
I said again.
“
For a second I felt like I was being dragged down into the dark by something horrible. I thought I might have been going down, instead of up.
”

“
Down?
”

“
To hell.
”

I felt vague amusement from him.

“
Your neural pathways had begun to shut down,
”
he said.
“
What you experienced was a by-product of that, nothing more.
”

I shrugged, not certain I believed that.
“
Sure, if you say.
”

“
Your brain activity ceased,
”
he said,
“
but I was able to pass you through jump space and slow your functions long enough to revive you.
”

“
You brought me back to life?
”

“
I revived you using technology you will receive in Phase Seven. I don
’
t have the ability to bring the dead back to life.
”

“
That
’
ll probably be in Phase Eight.
”

I sensed confusion from him for a minute before it clicked.

“
A joke,
”
he said.

“
A bad one.
Thanks, Nix. Either way, you saved my life.
”

“
I told you once that none of us is ever permanently gone,
”
he said, the mass in his head shifting uncomfortably.
“
When I first met you, I knew that it was different for you, but I didn
’
t really understand it. You were the first human who ever cared for me, but it was more than that. I found the longer I stayed with you, the more attached to you I grew.
”

“
You must be a glutton for punishment,
”

“
No,
”
he said.
“
Your death has permanence. It
’
s why you weren
’
t able to let them take the boy back with them, even though it was the easy thing to do, even though it would have helped you. Your feelings for your father, for your friend ... even for a boy, a girl, and an old man you
’
d never met... even for me, the thing that makes them so compelling comes from the fact that you could lose them, forever, at any time. I...
”

His voice box flickered out. He went quiet for a minute.

“
I realized that what holds true for you would also be true for me, since you are human. If you were to die, it wouldn
’
t be like a haan who I would still maintain a connection to. You would be gone forever, even to me.
”

I leaned over and planted a kiss on the cheek of his smooth, glasslike face.

“
Well, that
’
s the nicest thing any haan ever said to me,
”
I told him.
“
Bizarre, but nice.
”

I touched his arm, and winced then as I remembered the concrete saw. The arm felt fine, and completely undamaged, as I ran my fingers down the length of it.

“
Things aren
’
t always as they appear,
”
he said, holding up both arms to show me.

“
Like one arm turning into three?
”

“
I will be fine,
”
he said.
“
The gate activated as an emergency measure, but I will heal.
”

“
Don
’
t duck the question.
”

“
Things aren
’
t always as they appear.
”

He wasn
’
t going to answer me. I decided that, for the time being, it could wait.

“
So, wait, while you were ... reviving me, did you remove that
... ?
”
I pointed down toward my belly, where the invisible umbilicus was perched.

“
No,
”
he said.
“
The fact that it is helping to maintain your systems is one of the only reasons you
’
re still alive. Even if it weren
’
t, it will need to be removed under controlled conditions.
”

I looked down at the spot, pulling up my shirt to probe the spot above my belly button.
“
What
’
s going to happen to me?
”

“
I don
’
t know, but we need to extract the foreign tissue before it begins to grow again. Ideally, I would like to keep it intact for study.
”

“
How long do I have?
”

“
The umbilicus is nearly empty.
”

“
Then we
’
d better get going,
”
I said.

He gestured at the table, where six airbike keys lay in a row.

“
We need to leave this place,
”
he said.
“
Quickly.
A radio signal was transmitted from this location, and we have to assume Hwong knows something has gone wrong here. There are several vehicles in the lot outside we can use.
”