Wasteland (Flight) (3 page)

“The brother. H004. He took on Ciar’s vicious nature. It’s very possible that he is trying to take over power,” Rupert ponders aloud.

“And if that happens, we’re going to be knee-deep in the biggest war since the Devastation,” David finishes.

Silence covers the room at the word;
Devastation.
The war that had changed the world forever, forcing Humans underground and setting the chain in motion for Harpies to evolve into the beasts they now were. A war against the Harpies would mean thousands of lives lost, no matter how prepared we were.

“So what do we do?” Rassler asks finally. His voice is gruff and impatient. Rupert ponders for a moment, tapping his fingers on his desk.

“Listen to me. You three are of my best. We need to move ahead quietly from here. We don’t want to spark any fear in the rest of the team, or in the general populace, agreed?” He eyes each of us until we nod. “I’m putting together a task force. We need to be hyper-vigilant. We need to be scouting the outer walls constantly for any sign of intrusion, and we need to work on intel to confirm exactly what is happening in the Harpy Capital,” he says.

The outer walls. No one scouts that far; it’s too risky with all of the radiation leaking down from outside. Those areas have become a complete wasteland.

“I don’t mean to downplay any of us as workers, but I think we need more than three Hunters to do this job right,” David voices.

Rupert nods. “You’re right, Madden. As much as the three of you are the top of the top, we need more manpower on this. The taskforce is going to include some programmers from the other headquarters, as well as some other Hunters to handle the areas just before the Wasteland.”

“And what about that ring of land? There should be at least four of us,” David continues.

Instead of answering, Rupert taps on his intercom.

“Charlene, please send her in,” he says to the speaker. The door to the office opens, and we all turn to see a tall, thin Hunter with long dark dreadlocks and piercing blue eyes. She walks over to us cautiously but confidently.

“I hope you’ve all met Essa,” Rupert says. Jessa. Her face looks so familiar. I know that I’ve seen her around the Corp before, but there’s something else about her that I can’t quite put my finger on.

“It is my honor to be a part of this team,” she says, standing at attention and saluting Rupert. Rassler looks at Rupert, incredulous.

“You’re giving us a rookie?” he asks. The girl’s bravado deteriorates, but she tries her best to keep her posture straight.

“I think that Essa will be a good addition to your team,” Rupert replies simply.

“With all due respect, I’m not a rookie. I’ve been working my ass off for a long time,” Essa snips. The quiet demeanor that followed her into the room has dissipated, and I can’t help but smirk. Serves Rassler right.

“Actually Rassler, Essa’s scores range just a bit higher than your own,” Rupert adds.

Rassler growls and stomps to the back of the room. He’s always had a ridiculous temper. Now Rupert’s just egging him on.

“We all know Virtual Reality scores are just numbers. How do I know I can rely on her?”

“You’ll have to trust her,” I interrupt. “Just like she’ll have to trust the rest of us. Come on, Rass. We need more talent, you know that. The number of Hunters being born is falling each year.”

He harrumphs, but doesn’t return to the desk. Essa is visibly shaking, but keeps her focus straight ahead.

“Welcome to the team, Essa. Don’t mind him; he’s just being an asshole,” David says to her. He flashes her a grin, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Of course he’s going to be friendly-flirty to the next pretty girl he sees.

“All joking aside, we need to start training and scouting. There will be very little free time for you until we can rest assured that peace will remain intact. Piper, I want you to start training with Essa, to show her some advanced techniques,” Rupert continues. I nod. David looks disappointed that it isn’t him.

“Rassler and David, I want you two to interview some of our contacts, to see if they’re telling the same stories about what happened in the Harpy city. I’ll have a few other teams doing routine scouts along the borders.”

It all sounded good to me, except for the creeping fears that I would see that Harpy again, and the fact that I let him go would get out. What would I do then?

To my surprise, Rupert dismisses David and Rassler, and asks me and Essa to stay. David eyes me, confused, as he leaves the room. I straighten my back, waiting for whatever Rupert has to say that he doesn’t want the other two to know.

“There’s another reason I brought Essa onto this team, Piper,” he begins. I raise my eyebrows expectantly, trying hard not to seem too impatient. “I have a special task for you, and I don’t think David or Rassler are going to be your best partners for this. You’ll have to be quiet, stealthy, and completely in control.”

“What’s the mission?” I ask. Rupert looks down, and it’s almost as if he’s smiling just a little.

“You and Essa will be charged with finding H002 and bringing him to me, alive.”

I stared at him for a moment. The girl beside me was wide-eyed and speechless.

“This is a suicide mission,” I protested, but Rupert would have none of it.

“If there was ever a Hunter who could do it, it would be you, Piper. I’m counting on you.”

I leave with Essa, my mind whirling. How the hell am I going to pull this one off? The worst part about it is that I can’t tell anyone about it. I’m alone in this except for an inexperienced Hunter partner.

This could be a disaster. Or, it could be legendary. I’m hoping for the latter.

My body screams in pain, but I keep pushing myself, keep working it until I can barely move. Remembering my previous strength is like remembering a dream; I can think of it, but can’t quite realize that it was true.

My daily routine includes a variety of cardio and strength-training exercises, and slowly but surely it all comes back; my movement, my old ability. Even the experiments are easier to handle.

I am in the middle of a set of push ups when the fluorescent lights at the top of the cell buzz and die, leaving me swathed in black. I stand up, fumbling with my hands out to try to find the wall. What the hell is going on? An alarm blares, and then I hear it; the unmistakable
click
of my cell door unlocking. Is this a test?

But I can’t stop to think about why; this could be my one chance for escape. I stumble toward the door and push it open. Outside of the cell is a narrow hallway dimly lit by red emergency lights. The guards outside my cell are gone; the hallway is empty.

My instincts kick in, and adrenaline courses through my body. I run. My chest burns as I clear the main hallway and stumble around the first corner. The lights flicker, and I realize that I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. How am I going to get out of here?

Voices echo from behind me. I hear shouting. They must have realized I’ve escaped.
Shit
. I gun it in the opposite direction, weaving between hallways, listening for other voices or footsteps.

My eyes adjust to the darkness, and I hear a group of loud guards running toward me. In front of me is an old set of stairs. In a flash I slide down and under them, trying to breathe as silently as possible as the guards approach.

They stop at the staircase, three of them. Their boots are only inches from my face. I hold my breath. I can smell the pungent stink of fake leather and dirt.
Please don’t let them find me
, I think.

Two more booted guards approach from the other hallway.

“This area’s all clear. No sign of her,” one of them squeaks. He must be young. His voice trembles with nervousness.

“Damn it. How the hell did she get out in the first place?” another guard swears.

“I—It appears she escaped approximately ten minutes before tripping the alarm,” the young one stammers. The statement causes my eyebrows to furrow. Ten minutes before the alarm. Who are they talking about?

“Well if we don’t find her soon, all hell is going to break loose. You, search the sewers beneath the complex,” the main guard orders. The guard barks his acceptance and runs down the hall.

“What about the rest of us?” the young guard asks timidly. The main guard seems to sigh, exasperated.

“You come with me. We’re going to have to start checking above ground. If she gets loose in public, we’re going to have a big problem, and all of our asses will be fired, you hear me?”

The guards all snapped their boots together and ran off in the direction I’d come in. After a minute, I let go of my breath and crawl out from the stairwell. I have no clue who the guards were talking about, but since it isn’t me… I might just have a chance of getting out of here.

The main guard had mentioned sewers and complex. I must be deep underground. I listen carefully for any sound before I hustle up the stairs, my lungs already burning.

And then… I can hardly believe my eyes. Light shines a few flights up. Even if it’s holographic, it’s still sunlight, which I haven’t seen in I don’t know how long anymore.

I rush up the stairs, tears streaming down my face as I make it closer and closer to the light. It’s a window, I can tell. There must be a way out through that.

Just as I make it to the landing before the window, the unmistakable sound of a metal door opening echoes the stairwell. I stop dead. I have no way out of this. If I run, they’ll hear me, but if I stay and they start moving downstairs, I’m dead.

So I run toward them. I’m hoping to shock them and possibly kick away their consciousness, but when I see the two figures standing by the door, I screech to a stop, my mouth hanging wide open.

I could never mistake these two; him, with his gruff face and patchy beard; her, with her wicked dreadlocks and fierce eyes. Rassler and Essa. Are they here to save me?

“Oh my god, Piper,” Essa voices. She looks at me in shock, then looks to Rassler for approval. I frown. Shouldn’t they be happy to see me?

“Let’s get out of here, guys. Please, you have to take me away. They’ve been running experiments on me, and—”

“Piper, just stop,” Rassler commands. There is a growl in his voice that I don’t understand. They both look at me with pity in their eyes. Am I really so wretched?

“Piper, it’s all going to be okay. I’m sorry, but we have to do this,” Essa says. Her eyes well up with tears. I look past them, but there’s no way to escape. Rassler holds his wristband to his mouth.

“We have Case 451 on the Upper North Stairwell. Please advise,” he said. He waited, keeping his eyes averted from me.

“Essa, what’s happening?” I plead. She bites her lower lip.

“It’s not time. I promise you it will come, just not right now,” she whispers.

Rassler’s wrist band rings loudly. He presses the “answer” button.

“Put her in lockdown on Level Four. Make sure she’s chained this time.” It was Rupert’s voice, I could tell just by the way his words formed through the radio.

“Rassler, you can get me out of here. You can both get me out of here,” I cried. Then a sharp prick stung my arm, and immediately the world became… mushier. Like liquid. I barely heard Essa speak as Rassler threw me up over his shoulder.

“She’s already getting stronger. We might be able to launch the plan sooner.”

“Not yet, Essa. We still have to find Asher.”

I swirl a tiny straw around and around in my drink; a fruity cocktail that I’ve had one too many of. After Essa and I were released, David had suggested we go to the Hunter Lounge to get to know each other and take the edge off things. The edges were gone, all right. Everything was just a little bit spinny.

Across from me, Essa sips from a glass-bottled beer, Rassler beside her holds a thick pint glass in his hand, and David swirls the ice around in his glass of faux-bourbon. I don’t know why he ordered it; maybe he wants to impress the new girl. There is still something about her that jogs my memory. I’ve met her before… somewhere.

“What do you think about this mission, Piper?” Rassler asks, knocking me out of my daze. I try not to frown. I don’t know what I think, especially not after the task Rupert gave me and Essa. Secret-keeping was never really one of my strong skills.

I glance at Essa before moving my gaze over to Rassler.

“I think the Corp is scared. I think the threat is really serious,” I reply. David turns to me, cocking an eyebrow.

“You really think Rupert is scared?”

“Look at how locked-tight this mission is. He doesn’t want people to know that there’s a threat, because if he announces something and we don’t quell it, the Corp will lose its control and there will be so much chaos,” I explain, raising an eyebrow in return. Why is he questioning me?

“But if he was scared, wouldn’t it make more sense to pull out all the stops, to show the people how powerful the Hunter Division is?”

“And what if nothing happens? We waste resources. And if something does happen and we don’t catch it before it comes to that, well that’s just a scary thought,” Essa pipes in.

“I guess that makes sense,” David admits. Rassler says nothing, staring off into the distance with beer in hand. I never really know what Rassler is thinking. I don’t know if he agrees or not, or whether he even cares. But then he speaks up.

“I think Ruper is scared shitless. There are only four Hunters on the field for this, and one of them’s a rookie. He doesn’t want to risk anything. Collateral damage means nothing to him. Basically, if we can’t stop it, no one can,” he says. Essa glares at him from the corner of her eye. I just sigh deeply.

“So what do we do? Do we just go along even though we know there might be the very real danger of us being killed? Or do we say something?” I say. David bites his lower lip.

“We can’t say anything, Piper. This is our job. We need to do our best. If we die on the field, then we die with honor,” he states. I mentally roll my eyes. Now he’s on to a valiant kick.

“Let’s not get dramatic here,” Rassler butts in. “We need to keep moving as usual, but keep our eyes open. I suggest that we all start training a little harder, just in case,” he adds.

We all nod. I think that deep inside, we all know that something is wrong, but none of us are really ready to admit it. To admit it would be to accept that war could me among us soon.

And nothing is more terrifying than war.

“I’m going out for a bit,” I call to David the next morning. He’s doing push-ups by the window, the morning sunlight reflecting from his sweat. He jumps up when he hears me, and threatens to wrap me up in a big, sweaty hug.

“Who are you going out with?” he asks as I fend him off with disgust. He has to know already I’m not going out with Tor this morning. I’m in training gear; slim pants and sneakers.

“Essa and I are having coffee, if you must know,” I reply. Immediately his interest is piqued.

“You should find out, you know, whether she has a boyfriend or not.” I slap his arm, leaving a red mark on his skin.

“Stop being a perverted jerk. You don’t need to hit on every girl you meet,” I chide. He just grins widely, and my annoyance with him melts away.

“I’m just being curious, Pie, chill out,” he says. I growl at him as I turn toward the staircase. I’m actually kind of excited to have coffee with another girl. Since Shelley got posted in Ichton, I haven’t really had many females in my life, besides my Mom. Girls are either intimidated by me or jealous because of David.

“I’m leaving now, go back to being a perv,” I shout, then jog down the stairs. I find my mom in the kitchen before I leave. She’s busy rolling bread for dinner tonight. She has always hated the store-bought variety, because of the anti-biotics stuffed into it.

“Where are you off to, honey?” she asks.

“Just coffee with a friend,” I lie. Mom knows everything about me and David, about Hunters, about the Corp, but I couldn’t divulge even a single, minute detail about the cases I was working on. I hate it, but realize how it was necessary.