The Ones (27 page)
Authors: Daniel Sweren-Becker
But as they gathered on the riverbank, catching their breath, Cody felt utter defeat. The river was moving way too fast. If they tried to wade across, they would be carried away and smashed on the rocks. Cody glanced to the west and the east. The wildfires were soon going to meet on top of them.
“See! We can't cross!” Kai yelled at James.
James, too winded to speak, motioned for them to follow him down the riverbank. They jogged along the shore for a hundred yards, and then Cody saw it.
The beaver dam.
It was a well-known hiking destination, a marvel of animal ingenuity, and maybe today, a lifeline out of the fire.
The dam extended from the near bank about halfway across the river. It was built up against a giant boulder that rested in the middle of the rapids. The boulder took up another quarter of the river's width. Once they traversed the dam and the adjoining rock, the boulder might be high enough for them to leap over the surging water and land in the shallows on the far bank. They'd have to try. The other choices were fire, fire, or the Equality Team.
James led them out over the beaver dam. It was hard to find footing on the uneven piles of gnawed-down sticks. A fall would send them into the rapids, so they proceeded slowly. When they all crowded onto the boulder in the middle of the river, they peered over the side that faced the far bank. A running leap would be enough to land in a safe area. And best of all, the fire hadn't jumped the river. It looked like Eden over there.
As they prepared to leap, Cody saw the Equality Team emerge from the woods at the same spot a few hundred yards up the river. She pointed them out to everyone else.
“Let's goâthey'll be here in a minute.”
Taryn stared at the agents, an angry look falling over her face. She turned to James. “Not to be a buzzkill, but aren't they just going to follow us over the dam?”
James smiled at her. “Only if they want to get roasted,” he said, then knelt down and ripped open his backpack. He took out a can of lighter fluid and a matchbook, and Cody smiled, too. He was going to burn down the only way out behind them.
For the first time all day, Cody felt like she was going to survive. They had escaped the fire. They had one more jump to clear the river. And the Equality Team would be stranded on the other side, forced to backtrack as quickly as possible toward Shasta or die in the inferno. Waves of joy flooded Cody's brain. She had been willing to die, but she wanted to live. The Ones' fight wasn't over. Agent Norton still breathed free air. And the boy she loved had saved her life again. This time she wouldn't push him away.
James went to work at the point where the dam met the boulder in the middle of the river. He doused the wood with lighter fluid and threw a match on. A few sticks caught the flame, but the fire didn't spread back across the dam to the first bank. James shook out more fluid, but the flames stubbornly wouldn't move.
Then Cody saw James look up at the sky as pure horror spread across his face. The winds had shifted.
Cody had felt it, too, but she didn't realize the magnitude of the change. There had been a strong easterly wind all morning, and if only that had persisted, James could easily burn the dam back to the shore by setting the fire from this side. Not anymore. He started walking toward their original riverbank.
“I have to set it from that side,” he shouted, already moving.
“James, wait!” she yelled.
But he rushed back to the bank, shaking out more lighter fluid, even as the Equality Team was racing toward him. Kai grabbed Cody and pulled her to the edge of the boulder.
“Cody, we have to jump!”
Taryn took a running start, leaped, and made it across.
“Now you go!” Kai yelled.
“We have to wait for James!”
Cody looked on as James tried to start a fire on the far side of the dam. But instead of standing on the dam so he could backtrack toward the boulder ahead of the flames, James was kneeling on the shore. He was going to be on the wrong side of the burning dam.
“Jamesâ” she began to shout so she could correct him, but then she saw why he was positioned that way. He got the fire started, and immediately the wind propelled the flames straight across the butane-soaked dam toward the boulder. The whole structure was on fire now, and anyone who had been standing on it would have been burned immediately.
“Cody, come on, jump!” Kai yelled. He shook her as hard as he could, but she didn't move.
Cody stood motionless, staring at James. He stood on the side of the river staring back at her. The dam burned in between them, crumbling into the water. “Go,” she saw him say as he held his hands up to his heart.
Then Kai grabbed her arm, started running, and pulled her with him into the air over the river. They landed with a vicious thud and a splash but managed to scramble out of the rapids. Cody tried to turn around, but Kai pulled her up into the tree line. With enough cover to avoid getting shot, Cody finally looked back for James.
The Equality agents were almost on top of him, and James had knelt down and raised his arms in surrender. The agents surrounded him, guns pointed at his head. Cody covered her mouth in horror when she recognized one of the civilians who had pursued them alongside the Equality Team.
It was Michael.
She saw James's face when he looked up and found his brother pointing a gun at him. It was a picture of total devastation, and her heart broke for him.
Then James turned to search for Cody across the river. Amid the chaos of the roaring fire, the swirling smoke, the falling ash, the raging rapids, and the shouting agents, their eyes met for one final moment. They were far away, and only had a second to communicate before someone pulled a bag over his head, but Cody stared deep into his eyes and knew that James understood.
No matter where they take you, I will find you. No matter what it costs, I will save you. No matter how they change you, you will always be my one.
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I can't thank some people enough for the ways in which they contributed to this book. So I will start here and try to put a dent in my enormous debt of gratitude.
Lifelong thanks to:
Jonathan Berry, for being the first person who had the crazy idea that this could be a book. Pretty essential! And Richard Abate, half man, half wizard, half agent, for taking a leap of faith and sticking his neck out for me.
Erin Stein, my patient and savvy editor, for making this book much better, often in spite of my cluelessness. And to everyone else at Imprint and Macmillan, for busting their humps to make this book real.
Caitlin Gamble and Danny Nussbaum, for explaining a lot of science that I tried my best not to mangle.
My sister, Little E, for setting the standard with your work ethic and moral compass, which I aimed for every day while writing.
DK, the yang to my yang, for granting me the joy of finding a One.
And lastly, to several decades' worth of teachers and professors whose gifts of inspiration, wisdom, and support I lean on every day of my life: Nancy Schustek, Mark Greenwald, Jeremy Rosenholtz, Barbara Ellis, Bob Montera, Joe Algrant, Elizabeth Bobrick, Richard Slotkin, Kit & Joe Reed, Mark Dickerman, Charlie Rubin, and George Malko.
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Daniel Sweren-Becker
is an author, a television writer, and a playwright. Born and raised in Manhattan, he now resides in Los Angeles. This is his first young adult novel. You can sign up for email updates
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CONTENTS
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Copyright © 2016 by Daniel Sweren-Becker
Imprint
A part of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sweren-Becker, Daniel, author.
Title: The Ones / Daniel Sweren-Becker.
Description: First edition. | New York: Imprint, 2016. | Summary: “Genetically engineered teenagers called âThe Ones' go to extremes fighting for their rights as society turns against them”â Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN
2015042697
(print)Â |Â LCCN
2016021397
(ebook)Â |Â ISBN 9781250083142 (hardback)Â |Â ISBN 9781250083159 (ebook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Science fiction. | Adventure and adventurersâFiction. | Genetic engineeringâFiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Science Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S946 One 2016 (print)Â |Â LCC PZ7.1.S946 (ebook)Â |Â DDC [Fic]âdc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2015042697
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by e-mail at
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Imprint logo designed by Amanda Spielman
First hardcover edition 2016
eBook edition September 2016
eISBN 9781250083159
If this book shall be took by hook or by crook, then a thousand-year curse shall never be shook.
