The Ones (26 page)

As Cody considered the events of the past day, the moment finally arrived. Down below her in the mine, the silence of the clear, beautiful morning was broken by the crackle of a bullhorn set atop one of the Equality vehicles.

“By order of the United States Congress, you are lawfully required to report to your assigned camps. This is your last opportunity to do so peacefully. If you do not, we will take you into custody by force.”

The screech of the bullhorn echoed off the limestone walls, and the mine was quiet again. After a few moments, the Humvees disgorged two dozen Equality agents—all armed to the teeth—plus a few civilians decked out in hunting gear. They began to scan the walls of the mine and inch forward.

Cody hefted the shotgun into her hands. Its weight was surprisingly comforting. She had been practicing only a day or so, shooting at tree branches, but she was an adequate shot. Ready to fire, she scanned the other tunnels where she knew the Ones were hiding. Brandon had his eye pressed against a rifle sight, perfectly prepared. Daphne knelt calmly, looking like her heart rate had barely changed. J-Dog stared down at the agents intently, his hair spiked in a wild mane and his nostrils flaring with every breath. When the moment was right, they would all try to shoot as many agents as they could. But from this distance and with the old rifles and pistols they had scrounged up, she wasn't sure if their fire would actually hit anyone. Instead, it would hopefully draw the Equality Team into the mining tunnels.

Bam!

Cody jumped as the first shot rang out from above her. She saw dust kick up near a Humvee, and then all the agents were facing her direction, unleashing a volley of rifle fire. Cody ducked back into her tunnel, not even firing a shot. She heard other guns firing from around the mine, but they sounded pitiful next to the loud automatic weapons of the Equality Team. The hot, acrid smell of gunpowder quickly drifted into her cavern. Crawling back to the edge of her tunnel, she looked down into the basin. The Humvees had been driven into a tight circle, and now the agents stood in the center, shooting up from their covered position. Shots continued to ring out from the Ones, but they clearly weren't effective. The two sides were at an impasse. Cody knew that was fine for the Ones. They had stockpiled food and water for days, and they knew the Equality Team wanted no part in a drawn-out siege. The Ones were supposed to all be in the camps by the end of the day. If a few kids hiding in the woods managed to hold out, it would be a national embarrassment.

Cody decided to leave her position and check in with Kai. She backtracked through the tunnels and found her way to Kai's perch.

“What do you think?” she asked as she knelt next to him.

“We're fine. We keep taking these potshots at them, and they'll be forced to come after us. Once we start popping the tunnels, you know where to go, right?”

Cody nodded and pulled up her shirtsleeve. An intricate map of lines was drawn in pen and snaked all the way up her arm.

Kai smiled. “Great. Now just don't break a sweat.” Then he saw something below. “What are they doing?”

Cody peered out also and saw an Equality agent loading a grenade launcher on his shoulder. He aimed at the slope of the mine and fired into the farthest-left tunnel. There was a burst of flames, dust erupted into the air, and then the tunnel was gone, collapsed into the hillside. The agent rotated a little and fired at the next tunnel on the left. This time he hit a location that the Ones had rigged to blow. The explosion was massive, and now this tunnel suddenly disappeared, too. Cody knew someone was in there. That person was dead now.

Kai looked on in horror. “They're not going to set foot in these tunnels…”

And as Cody watched a third grenade get launched, this one shaking the walls around her, she realized it, too. “They don't care about capturing us. They're happy to bury us alive.”

It was the first time Cody had ever seen Kai look scared. His hair had grown in a little more, and it made him look younger—more his actual age. He was still a young man, too. And he was probably going to die today.

Kai leaned outside, exposing himself but trying to get an angle to shoot the agent firing the grenade launcher. It was impossible, though: The agent was too protected by the Humvees. Cody saw that their plans were now falling apart. If the Equality Team was willing to patiently destroy the entrance to every tunnel instead of coming after them, all their traps were useless.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing Kai's shoulder. “We have to get out of here before all the exits collapse.”

Kai pushed her away. “We can't beat them in the open. We have to hold the mine.”

“Kai, the mine is a death trap now! They are going to level it.”

Several other Ones had joined them in the tunnel. Every few seconds, explosions rang out around them, each one getting closer and shaking dust onto their heads.

“Fine!” Kai shouted. “Let's get out through the back and then fan out on the ridge above the mine. Maybe we can keep them pinned in the basin from there.”

Kai grabbed his rifle and started jogging deeper into the mine. Cody and the other Ones followed. After a few minutes of switching tunnels and climbing upward, they emerged in the woods near the top of the mine. Cody was grateful that she hadn't been forced to escape on her own—the map on her arm was now an ink splotch streaked with sweat.

The Ones rushed back to the area above the mine and spread out through the trees that edged up to the cliffs. Below them, the Equality Team was still firing grenades into the tunnels. When the Ones shot from above, they'd draw the attention of the agents, but they had no choice. The first plan had backfired, and this was as good a defensive position as they could hope for now. It was fight here or run.

Cody hunkered down next to Kai and Taryn, and they began firing down at the Humvees. The agents reacted, half of them firing back and the others jumping into the vehicles and driving out of the basin. Cody followed the curve of the mining road and saw that they would soon be attacked from the side, as well. Still, they held their position and kept shooting into the belly of the mine.

As they fought, Cody got her first whiff of the smoke.

The wind began to bring a powerful scent of scorched wood, and she looked up to the horizon and froze. Coming toward them from the east, in front of the rising sun, a gigantic cloud of black smoke had started to conceal the sky. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once, and Cody was so transfixed that she lowered her gun. Kai looked over to see why she had stopped shooting and saw for himself.

“Holy shit,” he said. He nudged Taryn to look, and the three of them stared at the horizon as a wall of flames marched toward them.

The entire forest was on fire.

Even from a great distance, they could already feel the heat. Thick smoke drifted over them now. And a faint roar grew ever louder—the sound of the fire crackling everything in its path.

At that moment, the Equality Team that had driven up to outflank them started shooting from the side. The Ones were now being fired upon from two directions, and the agents who had reached the top of the cliff were advancing easily. A bullet struck the rock next to Cody's head, pelting her with shards of stone. She ducked down and fired back, but it was clear that their fight was almost over. Cody started to accept that she might die on this ridge. She certainly wasn't going to surrender.

Cody shared a look with Kai and knew he was thinking the same thing. He nodded to her gravely but with admiration in his eyes. The enemy they opposed was formidable, but they hadn't backed down. They had fought to protect the rights and the lives of the Ones. They had fought for freedom. If this was how that fight ended, they could die with pride.

“I wish I could have shown you the Ark one day,” Kai said. “I think you would have really liked it. And I think you would have liked Edith Vale.”

What did he just say?
Cody jerked her head toward him.

“Edith Vale? The Ark? Kai, tell me what you're talking about!”

A volley of bullets whistled past their ears, and they dove to the ground. All Cody wanted now was to hear Kai explain himself, but he simply held her gaze, reached out to take her hand, and squeezed it. Cody felt the charge in his fingertips and realized that this was all she'd ever share with him. It wasn't enough, she thought. Kai's mysteries were infinite, and she suddenly felt desperate to unravel them.

Wishing couldn't save them, though, so Cody lay shoulder to shoulder with Kai and Taryn, firing their last bullets at the advancing Equality Team. As they emptied their guns, Cody heard someone step on a branch directly behind them. All three wheeled around, ready to charge and fight with tooth and nail.

But standing in front of them was James.

“If you follow me right now, I can get you out of here,” he said.

Cody was too startled to answer. She couldn't believe he had joined them. And she really wanted to slap him across the face.

“We're not running from this fight,” Kai said. He turned to Cody and Taryn. “We promised we wouldn't run. They'll just chase us down and take us away.”

“No, they won't,” James said.

Cody heard the authority in his voice, and a glimmer of hope grew inside of her. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“I started the fire,” he said, which Cody now realized should have been obvious, considering his haggard look, the soot all over his face, and the ax hooked into his belt. “I set it up so there's only one way out of this valley. If we go right now, we can still make it.”

Gunshots rang out above their heads, and they all ducked down together.

Kai looked into the distance at the fire approaching from the east. “Set it up?” he scoffed. “That's a forest fire—we have no idea how it will move! We can't run toward it and expect to live. We might as well stay and fight.”

“I know exactly how it will move. I started a blaze on the valley floor that's moving toward us on the easterly winds. And I just set another blaze higher up on Mount Shasta. It's going to travel west, following the slope of the hill. Picture elevator doors that meet in the middle,” James said, and demonstrated by slowly pushing his palms together. “We don't want to be here when they close.”

Cody craned her neck to look to the west. Sure enough, she saw the first wisps of smoke drifting up from the trees on Mount Shasta. James had placed them in a vise that was slowly getting tighter. But she had faith he could get them out of it. And she almost smiled—leave it to James to finally know which way the wind was blowing.

“Great, a wall of wildfire coming from both directions,” Taryn said. “The river cuts us off to the north, and the Equality assholes are blocking us from the town. I hope you brought some marshmallows.”

“We can cross the river.”

“There are only rapids up here. We'll get crushed,” Kai said.

James turned and set his gaze solely on Kai for the first time. Cody saw the fury building in his eyes. He grabbed Kai by the collar and in one powerful motion slammed his back against the rock they were hiding behind.

“Then stay here and burn, for all I care!” James said through clenched teeth.

Kai and James held their position, faces almost touching, bodies tense. And then Kai put his hands up and gave an almost imperceptible nod of submission. Cody knew it wasn't over between these two, but now wasn't the time.

“James, he's right about the rapids. What are we going to do at the river?” Cody said, trying to get them back on track.

“There's one spot we can cross. If you follow me, I'll get us out. But I'm leaving right now,” James said.

And then Cody saw him stare only at her. He didn't speak for a moment, even as the bullets and the smoke and the roar of the flames threatened to overwhelm them. “I'm sorry, Cody. I always knew exactly who you were. And I
did
love you. I still do.”

Cody stared right back into his eyes. Her heart burst open, and a tiny smile snuck onto her face. “Then we better start running.”

James pivoted instantly and took off into the trees, his backpack and ax bouncing with every stride. Cody followed right behind, and she could feel Kai and Taryn join them. Unfortunately, there was no time and no way to alert their comrades. It was just the four of them now—running at a dead sprint, ducking bullets and winding through the thickening smoke. James set a torrid pace, but Cody had no trouble staying right with him. Kai and Taryn were game to keep up, and the four teenagers crashed through the woods like a landslide. The only thing louder than their relentless stomping was the roar of the fire next to them.

The blaze from the east had rushed up the slope of the valley, and now sparks and ashes rained down on them. Cody saw James veer to the west a little, but that was hardly any better. She could already hear the wall of wildfire rolling down Mount Shasta. The safe passage of their corridor was narrowing by the second on both sides.

They ran harder still, leaping over logs, scrambling over rocks, and bouncing off the sturdy pine trees. As they crossed an open meadow, gunshots rang out from behind them. The Equality Team had kept up their pursuit and drawn near. Forced to go faster, Cody felt her lungs start to burn from the smoke and her eyes begin to tear. It was hard to keep sight of James through the haze, but she followed the sounds of his crashing footsteps. Sweat poured off her now, and she felt as if her body were being baked from the inside. But she knew how to run when her body begged her not to. She turned her brain off, kept her legs churning, and found her final gear. Just a normal run through the woods.

At last, Cody heard something other than the roar of the fire. She made out the sounds of the rapids; the rush of the river was just ahead of them.
Come hell or high water
, Cody thought. They'd really decided to prove the old saying—and also added some sadistic federal agents to the mix.