City 1 (10 page)

KEVIN LAY IN A DITCH, UNDER TREE COVER, JUST A FEW HUNDRED
yards outside the City. It may even have been the same ditch that he and Nick and Cass had lain in, what seemed like a lifetime ago, when they were first scouting the City—it certainly had a similar view. Next to him rested the Wall unit, humming gently, and between the unit and the road crouched Wynn. Apparently, Kevin thought, looking at the scar on her cheek while she stared at the nearby City, she was his go-to babysitter.

It had been twenty minutes since Grennel, three other men, and two women, all laden down with as much weaponry and explosives as they could carry, had donned their vests and disappeared when Kevin triggered the Wall unit. The
City remained quiet and calm, and the anticipation was killing Kevin. Even Wynn seemed agitated, shifting her weight quietly back and forth from foot to foot, tapping silently but steadily on the barrel of her rifle with her left forefinger.

And then, finally, the first explosion came, louder than Kevin had imagined it would be. The ground beneath him vibrated. Another explosion followed, and another. Those would be the first strikes on the central administration and communication centers.

“Here we go,” whispered Wynn, gripping her burst rifle, her eyes locked on the City. Kevin quickly slipped on the extra vest he had hidden in the bottom of his pack and flicked the dampening clamp from full block to thirty percent.

It seemed to be working, according to the readouts, but he wasn't sure until Wynn glanced back, then jumped to her feet, a look of alarm on her face. “What the hell?” she said. “Kevin!”

Kevin quickly ran past Wynn, careful not to make any sound, then jogged up the road and into the City, grinning like an idiot.

On the outskirts of the City people were milling about, on the sidewalks, in the streets next to their abandoned scoots, confused and nervous, looking into the center of the City. Kevin carefully made his way around them, unnoticed, and it was the strangest feeling—both exhilarating, like he was an invisible superhero, and unnerving, like he was dead, a ghost.

And then there was another explosion, this one much louder, just a few blocks away. It knocked Kevin back a step. A ball of fire rose into the air, and a five-story building collapsed with a rumbling roar. Up the road a Petey hurried past. Lase bursts flared with their crackling hums.

A woman near Kevin screamed, and suddenly everyone on the street was running, scattering in different directions, scrambling for shelter. A man slammed into Kevin, sending Kevin crashing painfully onto the street. The man stopped and looked around wildly for a moment, then kept running. Kevin got up as quickly as he could, and hurried over to crouch next to an overturned scoot. His shoulder was bruised, but he was otherwise unhurt. He nervously checked the vest. The wiring seemed intact, and the clamp seemed to be working fine—still receiving energy, still dampening it to thirty percent.

The exhilaration was now gone, replaced by something that Kevin had to admit felt a lot like fear. He waited a moment, steadying himself. Nick, of course, rust him, had been right: This was a war zone. He needed to pay attention, or, invisible or not, he was going to get himself killed.

A sphere bot shot past, and then another, and Kevin instinctively ducked for cover before forcing himself to stand up. “Come on, idiot,” he whispered. “Let's get this over with.”

As he made his way carefully across the City toward his parents' neighborhood, he saw fewer people outside—they had all taken shelter where they could. The explosions continued,
as well as the lase blasts, but whenever he saw a flash he moved in a different direction. He didn't want to catch any crossfire. From what he saw of the bots, before quickly ducking away, they were being decimated—they were firing shots wildly, indiscriminately, while the shots aimed at them were deadly accurate. The cloaking devices were obviously working fine for the others as well.

More and more buildings were burning and shattered as he crossed the City, and Kevin began seeing human bodies crushed and burned, lying in the rubble. It was the Island all over again, on a larger scale. He hurried forward as quickly as he could, trying not to look at the dead.

He paused to get his bearings, and he realized that he was near the re-education center, which was good, very good. . . . His parents were nearby. If, of course, they were in the same apartment. He didn't let himself linger on that thought. They had to be there. He had built a rusted
invisibility suit
so he could come and get them.

The door of the building in front of him exploded outward, the windows of the first floor shattering in a rain of glass, and Kevin was flung to the street by the blast. He landed hard on his stomach, awkwardly twisting to try to block his fall with his hands. He lay on the ground for a moment, stunned.
Did the blast come from inside the building?
he wondered, trying to pull his scattered thoughts together. He pushed himself to his feet and looked down, and his heart froze.

The dampening clamp was cracked and hung off his vest by two loose, frayed wires.

“Rust!” he said. “Rust, rust, rust!” He checked the readouts, which were of course dead.

The vest began to feel warm, and for a moment Kevin thought he was just imagining it, but then the warmth intensified, becoming a burning heat, and Kevin tore the vest off his body. It was beginning to glow and smoke; it burned his hand, so he dropped it to the ground. He bent down, to try to disengage the faulty clamp—it was obviously drawing in a full load of energy, overloading the vest circuit. He touched the clamp, to turn it toward him, and it burned his fingers. “Damn!” he said, shaking his hand, sticking his fingers in his mouth. The vest's glow intensified, and Kevin took a step back, and then the vest began to emit a high-pitched whine and the glow became painfully bright.

“Crap,” Kevin whispered. He scrambled backward, tripping over the street curb, landing on his butt, and then he ducked his head as the vest flared even brighter and burst into flames.

Kevin lay on the ground, watching the vest burn, black smoke rising up into the sky. He was in the middle of the City. Alone. During a battle.

Completely, starkly, utterly visible.

Kevin heard the rumbling of a Petey up ahead, to the left, and he scrambled to his feet and began to run. He ducked to
the right and ran hard, down the street that led toward the re-education center. He wildly tried to formulate a new plan—should he find somewhere to hide until Clay's main forces took control? Try to get back out of the City? Should he just move forward with his original plan, broken camo vest be damned, and find his parents?

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the Petey raising its lase arm, and he tried for an extra burst of speed, to make the next intersection so he could cut away. His legs and lungs were aching. Then the pavement below his feet was lifting, separating into chunks, and there was a roar in his ears, and he pinwheeled his arms and legs as he flew. He landed hard on his left side. His head slapped against the ground, and he plunged into blackness.

THERE WAS AN ORANGE FLASH, NEAR THE CENTER OF THE CITY, FOLLOWED
a moment later by a rumbling roar that pushed Nick and Lexi backward a step. The rest of the rebels were quickly on their feet, guns at the ready, staring at the City. Another explosion hit, and then another. Smoke began to rise. Nick thought he could see lase flashes among the buildings. He strained to see, and then his bot eye suddenly engaged. His vision tunneled and zoomed, and he could clearly see Hightown, two buildings reduced to rubble, a third in flames, and lase bursts flickering through the streets. Instinctively he started to move toward the City; Lexi and others around him were doing the same.

“Hold your positions!” shouted Ro.

“Nobody moves until given the order!” added Helena.

Nick froze, and returned to his position behind a dirt mound. Another explosion rocked the ground, and then a third. He gritted his teeth and gripped his blast rifle hard. Lexi sat close to him, their shoulders touching. They waited. Five minutes passed. There were more explosions, more lase bursts. A fire began spreading through Hightown. Ten minutes went by, agony for Nick. He wanted to be in there, killing bots, finding his parents, somehow keeping Kevin from doing something stupid. . . . He couldn't stand any more waiting.

He was so intent on watching the City that he didn't notice Cass until she was at his side, hugging him. He started, tensed, and then relaxed when he saw who it was.

“Be careful,” Cass said.

“I will,” Nick said. He hesitated. “I'll try to find your birth parents,” he said. There was another rumbling explosion, a big one that Nick could feel in his feet, and he quickly looked at the City, then back to Cass.

“You don't even know what they look like, or where they live, you idiot,” she said. She smiled. “But thank you.”

“Why are all the girls in my life constantly calling me an idiot?” Nick said.

Cass and Lexi laughed. “Because you are,” Cass said.

Farryn limped up to Nick and shook his hand. “Good luck,” he said.

“Watch out for my sister while I'm gone,” Nick said.

“I promise,” said Farryn solemnly.

Nick nodded. He was grateful that Cass had Farryn; he knew that Farryn would do everything he could to protect his sister. “Stay safe,” he said to Cass, giving her another quick hug. “I'll see you when I get back.”

Nick was about to turn back to the City, but Cass had a strange look on her face that caught his eye. It was almost a look of guilt. . . . “What is it, Cass?” he said.

Cass hesitated, looking away from him, biting her lip, shaking her head, then she took a deep breath and turned back to him, and Nick felt a sense of dread even before she opened her mouth. “Nick,” Cass said quietly. “I'm getting my family out. My birth parents, and my sister.”

“What?” Nick said. “That's crazy. . . . You've got to stay back, with Farryn. . . .”

“Look, Nick,” Cass began, but stopped when Ro approached.

“It's time,” Ro said. “Nick and Lexi, you're with me. Cass, Farryn, you're hanging back in reserve.”

Ro began to walk away.

“Cass,” said Nick, “you've got to stay back. Please.”

“Nick!” said Ro, glancing back. “I said
with me
! Now!”

“Don't worry about me,” Cass said.

Nick knew his sister, and he knew that look of determination on her face. He groaned with frustration and anger and worry. He had to go . . . but he couldn't leave his sister, just to let her sneak into the City and get killed. “Damn it, Cass.”

“Nick!” shouted Ro.

Nick gave Cass a quick hug and grabbed her shoulders hard. “Don't,” he said, looking her in the eyes. “Please.” Cass shrugged out of his grip, and didn't say anything.

“Nick, Lexi,
now
!” said Ro.

Nick let go of Cass, and he and Lexi hurried after Ro. Tears threatened to well up in Nick's human eye. First his brother, now his sister . . .
Were they going to end up scattered again? Dead?
If anything happened to either one of them . . . he could barely handle even the thought. He'd never forgive himself.

Ro gathered his forces into two groups of fifteen. “This is hopefully a mop-up,” Ro said. “Our advance team has knocked out key comm sites and defenses, but there will be bots remaining. We go in, we find all the bots we can, we kill them, and we evacuate the survivors who can move quickly. We need to be gone before the bots from another City figure out what's going on and scramble air defenses. One hour. Understood?” Everyone nodded. “Comm check.” He tapped his wrist comm. Nick's comm flickered at his wrist. He tapped it, sending a clear signal to Ro. He took one last look into the camp, looking for Cass, but he couldn't see her.

Ro smiled grimly. “Let's go take this rusted City back.”

ONCE THE EXPLOSIONS BEGAN, IT WAS EASY FOR CASS AND FARRYN TO
slip away with backpacks, a few packets of energy paste, a hunting knife, and a lase pistol. Cass carried the gun; she was the better shot.

They made their way carefully toward the City, ducking the sparks from the disabled power grid. Cass had to slow her pace for Farryn. She felt selfish for agreeing to let him come, and fearful, because his awkwardness might get them both killed. She pushed the thoughts aside. It was too late now. What was it her mom used to say? “You made your bed—you lie in it.”

The City streets, at the edge of the town, were empty. Everyone seemed to be taking shelter. Cass found an abandoned scoot that had been left on its side in the street. Farryn
climbed on behind her, and they began heading for Hightown. The street was still devoid of people, and bots. She leaned forward and increased her speed.
Is it really going to be this easy?
she let herself wonder.

There was a crackle of lase fire a block ahead of her, and then an explosion, followed by a shower of glass, and the road buckled, sending Cass and Farryn flying over the handlebars.

Cass ducked and rolled, landing hard against the curb, and the breath was knocked out of her. When she could breathe again she did a quick scan of her body—some scrapes, but nothing broken or cut too badly—and then she hurried over to Farryn, who had come to rest a few feet away from her.

He was slowly getting to his feet, groaning.

“Are you okay?” she said. Sarah's lessons on first aid rushed through her head—how to apply a tourniquet to stop bleeding, immobilize breaks and fractures, gauge the probability of concussion.

Farryn began patting his body, starting at his shoulders, working down to his legs, and when he touched his right calf, he gave an exaggerated look of panic and said, “My leg! I can't feel my leg!”

Cass punched him on the shoulder, hard. “Hilarious,” she said, suppressing a laugh.

Farryn grinned, rubbing his shoulder.

There was another burst of lase fire, farther away, but still close, and Farryn and Cass ducked for cover into an alleyway.
They waited, watching the street ahead of them. Cass gripped her pistol hard, and Farryn held his knife ready.
What are we doing?
she thought.
How in the world are we going to fight a City full of bots with a lase pistol and a hunting knife?
She almost laughed—it was ridiculous.

The street remained clear. Cass was about to step out, when a Petey and a sphere bot appeared in the intersection ahead. Farryn grabbed her shoulder and yanked her hard against the alley wall.

“I see them!” she hissed.

“Sorry,” whispered Farryn.

The Petey raised its arm, and began firing its lase down the connecting street, at something Cass couldn't see. There was a burst of return fire that missed the Petey and crashed into a nearby storefront, shattering the glass. The sphere bot bobbed, and with a burst of sudden speed began coming down the street toward their hiding spot. The Petey ducked, continuing to fire its lase, and then a burst hit it, and another, and a third, knocking the bot back, and the Petey's lase arm flailed wildly, releasing a burst that struck the wall fifteen feet above Cass's and Farryn's heads and showered them with chips of concrete and glass. They both hunkered down instinctively, Farryn wrapping his arms around Cass and covering her with his body.

Cass quickly shrugged Farryn off, looking for the sphere bot—there, it was still coming toward them; it would see them
soon. Cass thumbed her pistol to full burst, praying that it would be enough to take down the sphere. She aimed, trying to track the bot's flight, held her breath, and squeezed the trigger. The burst hit the sphere with a crackling thump and the bot dropped to the ground like a stone, cracked open and smoking.

After that they stayed on foot, moving in quick bursts of speed—as best as Farryn was able—from cover to cover. They saw three Peteys destroyed, and four sphere bots. Cass took down another sphere on her own.

As they drew closer to Hightown—the center of the bot control, where Cass knew the rebels had focused their initial surprise attacks—the damage to the City grew more devastating. Entire buildings were reduced to pieces, aflame. Burned and broken human bodies were scattered among the rubble.
How many people are buried inside each collapsed building?
Cass thought angrily.
Hundreds? Thousands? Are my parents among the dead? My sister? My birth parents? Lexi's parents? Farryn's father?
She forced the thought back.
Stay alive
, she told herself.
Keep Farryn alive. Get to Hightown. Find your birth parents and Penny. Nick will get Mom and Dad.

They neared the Hightown block that Cass remembered—Cass hoped her fuzzy memory wasn't letting her down—and she held her breath as they turned the corner. She let her breath out. There was the high-rise, still standing. Two other structures on the street were crumbled, but her birth parents' building stood tall and untouched.

She was about to run for the entrance, but Farryn grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back against a wall. A group of rebels entered the street from the north, walking quickly, fanned out to cover all angles of attack. Cass recognized some of them from the camp, and then she saw Nick, in the front next to Ro, and she felt a dizzy rush—he had blood on his cheek but he was okay, he seemed okay—and she wanted to call out to him, but she kept her mouth shut and crouched down deeper into the shadow of the wall. Ro would not be happy to see her and Farryn in the City. She quietly watched her brother walk away, his face lit by the flickering fires of the burning City, and she felt like crying.

Farryn put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “He'll be fine,” he whispered.

Cass put her hand on top of Farryn's, and nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Nick and Ro and the other rebels turned the corner, and Cass stood, making a dash for the building. The front door was unlocked—the locks must not work with the power grid out, she realized—and she entered the dark foyer, Farryn behind her. Cass reached for the elevator controls, then stopped herself.
Foolish. Elevator isn't going to work without power.
“Come on,” she said. “The stairs.”

Cass took the stairs two at a time, feeling the adrenaline rush of being so close. After a few flights she glanced back, and slowed herself down. Farryn was laboring to keep up,
his prosthetic awkward on the steps. His face was pale and streaked with sweat.

He shouldn't be here
, Cass thought.
I shouldn't have let him come. He just lost his leg last week.
Cass waited for him to catch up. “Farryn—” she began, but he cut her off.

“I'm fine,” he said angrily. “I'll keep up. Go.”

She resumed climbing, but set a slower pace, Farryn breathing hard behind her. Finally they reached the twelfth floor. The hallway was dim; only the emergency lightstrips were working. Cass knocked hard on the first doorway. She thought this was the right one, but she wasn't entirely sure. It might have been the next one. . . .

“Mother!” she yelled. “Father!” It felt artificial, forced, to be calling them that, but it was what they would recognize. “Penny!” There was no answer. She pounded harder and kicked, but there was still no response, so she moved to the next door, hoping that she had been confused. She couldn't imagine coming all this way, risking all this, dragging Farryn into this, all for nothing. . . .

She began pounding and calling on the second door, and it was flung open, and Penny stood there. “Cass!” she screamed, and flung herself into Cass's arms. Cass hugged her tightly, and all her doubt vanished. Her sister needed her. Cass had come to save her. She could smell her little sister's shampoo, a flowery soapy scent that was unlike anything from out in the woods.

“I'm back,” she said, pressing her nose into the top of her little sister's head and breathing in.

“Cass!” her mother said. “It's really you!” She rushed forward and joined in the hug, crushing Penny between them. After a long moment she let go and stepped back, keeping her hands on Cass's shoulders. “What happened to you?” she said. “Are you okay? You have to come in. . . . There's something terrible happening outside, we have to stay inside, where it's safe. . . .”

“No,” Cass said. “We have to go. It's not safe here.”

“We can't leave now,” said Cass's father, who stood in the background, near the entrance to the kitchen. Cass hadn't even seen him there, in the dim emergency lighting, until he had spoken. “There's something happening, some sort of power grid failure, explosions. . . . We need to stay inside, and stay out of the robots' way so they can get it under control.”

“It's an attack,” Cass said. “The rebels . . .” she began, then stopped. There was so much her parents didn't understand. She tried again. “A group of humans from the woods is attacking. They're destroying the bots. They're taking the City back.”

Her mother went pale, and dropped her hands to her sides, and her father shook his head. “No, that can't be,” he said. “The City can't exist without the robots. You must be confused. . . .”

“There's no time for this!” Cass snapped. “Look out the window! The City is under attack, and half of Hightown is
burning, and this building could be next! We have to get out of here, now!”

It was Penny who crossed over to the window. “Window, clear,” she said. Nothing happened. She looked back at her parents, confused, and her father walked over to a control box in the living room and played with the settings. The emergency lights dimmed even more, leaving them in murky near-darkness. “Try it now,” he said.

“Window, clear,” Penny repeated, and the window slowly clarified from opaque to transparent. She looked out, and her father crossed the room to join her. Cass's mother stayed back, away from the window, one hand over her mouth, the other hugging her waist.

Penny began to shake and cry. “It's all burning,” she said. Her father hugged her.

“Cass,” Farryn said, “we need to go.”

Cass stepped into the room. “If you want to stay alive, we need to go now,” she said firmly. Her father looked at her, a blank, lost expression on his face, and then he slowly nodded.