Rebellion (3 page)

“And … that is … what?”

She doesn't even bother turning around to face me as we continue at a fast pace away from the half-buildings. “You're aware this was a resort before Mother turned it into what it is now, yes?”

“Yes. Her dad was some sort of hotel tycoon and he used Elysium as a refuge from the war.”

For the first time, she twists her neck to smile at me. “Yes.” She turns back around. “Before that he'd started construction on a new wing to be built into the other trench wall.” She shoots me a quick look. “Where we are now.” She continues forward. “Before his resources and workers were needed for the war effort, they'd managed to dig out a sizeable hole, pump out the seawater, and construct the entrance and airlock. They'd even installed a rudimentary life support system. A smaller one to be used in the interim before the main one would be plumbed into the buildings as they were finished, but enough to keep the hundred or so workers comfortable while they were here.”

I finish with the obvious, “But they never got to finish those buildings.”

She bobs her head once. “Correct.”

I glance around at the walls surrounding us and see little doorways like the one I came from clustered together in two rows of ten. One row is stacked on top of the other and accessible only from decrepit-looking ladders leading to each doorway. “And the room I was just in?”

“We built those ourselves.” Even from behind her I can see her pull herself straighter. It's obvious she's happy with what they managed to do. “They're primitive, but sufficient for our needs.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Only forty.”

My brain tries to wrap itself around the math and logistics and I want to ask more, but she suddenly stops and I almost crash into her.

“We can explain the rest later. Here is your lady now.” My eyes follow her gesture and land on Evie, who's sitting outside yet another hole cut into the wall. She's got her legs drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.

“Evie!” All my other thoughts rush from my brain when she jerks her head up at the sound of my voice. Her eyes are red and there are tracks in the dirt on her cheeks.

She jumps from the ground and rushes to me, her deceptively thin arms wrapping around me in a vise grip. Her scent—the mix of roses and lilies she seems to carry with her always—fills my nose.

“Gavin.” Her voice is like a sigh. Relief pours from her and the way she leans her body into me makes me fold her in my own arms and want to apologize for everything she's worried about since she last saw me.

“You're safe.” I feel the words against my chest, more than I hear them, and in answer I pull her closer to me. “Thank goodness. I'm so sorry I wasn't there when you woke up, but…” She trails off when her voice breaks.

I press my lips against her forehead. “Shh,” I say against her skin. “It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay.”

She glances up, then touches a hand to the goose egg on my temple. “Are you all right?”

“I've been told I've got a hard head.”

A laugh slips out of her lips and she goes back to resting her head against my chest. She just stays like that. As if the key that was giving her her energy for the past however long has suddenly stopped turning and she just can't anymore.

“Mr. Hunter, it appears you are well enough that you don't need me. I will leave you two to yourselves. If you require anything from me, you need only to ask anyone you happen across.” She turns to Evie. “We really must speak soon, Miss Evelyn.”

Evie's whole body stiffens at her words as the woman turns and leaves.

“What's going on?”

“Asher…” Her muffled voice trails off.

“What happened to Asher?” When she doesn't answer me, warning bells clang in my head. “What happened to Asher?”

“He … I…” She sucks in a shaky breath. “I—I made a mistake.” Her whole body trembles.

My blood turns cold and I want to demand she tell me what that means, but she doesn't need that from me right now, and panic has never solved anything. “We'll figure it out. Just tell me what happened.”

“I didn't know what to do. Mother was right there and you were on the floor. Asher was being held by another Enforcer. I thought if I could just get to Mother and hold her hostage, she'd make the Enforcer let go of Asher.” It comes out in a spurt of words I barely understand, but then she just stops with a sob and presses a fist against her lips. She looks up at me. “They shot him, Gavin. Just shot him.” The words are barely a whisper, but it might as well have been a shout.

My entire body goes numb, except my head, which feels like my brain is trying to push its way out through my eyes. “Is he all right?”

She gulps in air and another sob escapes. “When I woke, he was still breathing, but it sounded bad.” Her hands pinch mine as she grasps them, causing my fingertips to go numb. “Like he was drowning, Gavin. And there was nothing I could do about it, because they were pushing and poking at me.”

“Who?”

“Father and the woman that brought you here. I don't even know
how
we got here. They won't tell me anything.”

I remember then that Nadia easily ignored my earlier question, too, but I'll worry about that later. “Why were they poking at you?”

“The bullet went through Asher and into me. My nanos were healing me and they had to get the bullet out because it didn't go all the way through. Right here.” She places my hand on her stomach, holding it with her own against her bare skin. For the first time since I saw her sitting all curled in on herself, I notice there's blood all over her. Her shirt's torn just below where she's pressing and there's a fresh bandage peeking out from the scraps of her shirt.

“Are
you
okay?!” I can't breathe, and my voice comes out all screechy and scratchy, like someone is choking me.

What the hell happened after I got knocked out?

“I'm fine. My nanos protected me. But Asher…”

My head is spinning. I'm worried about Evie, but she says she's fine. But she's crying and Asher's gone. And he's been hurt. Where is he?

“What happened to Asher?”

She turns away from me as if she can't bear to see me when the next words tumble from her lips. “I let them give him nanos,” she whispers.

Dread pools in my stomach and my mind tosses information at me like one of Asher's data screens.

Nanos. Tiny robots everyone in Elysium has. Originally designed to keep people healthy, and heal them should they get hurt. But like most things Mother has a hand in, they had a second, darker function: they were also used as a safety protocol should people escape. They're the reason why Evie forgot everything but her name when we escaped from here the first time. And the reason she can't escape now until Eli finds a way through the EM field surrounding the city, so they don't reset again.

I force myself not to shudder and focus back in on what she's saying. “I didn't know what else to do. He was dying and Father said it was the only thing they could do to make sure he didn't. I just did it. I didn't even think what that would mean. Or what would happen later. I just wanted him to live.”

“Did he?” I ask cautiously.

Her eyes meet mine and she nods. “But how much of a life will that be, when he's stuck
here
? Mother has to know this place is here. It's just a matter of time before she finds us. I screwed up, Gavin, and now he's stuck here. Forever.”

A feeling of insane relief washes over me. I pull her to me again, hugging her tightly, before I push her away slightly and hold her by the shoulders. “But he'll live, Evie.”

She shakes her head like she does when she's going to argue, so I place my finger gently over her lips. “Eli said that he was going to try and find a way around the EM field so you could leave. When that happens, Asher will get to leave too. It was the right call. Maybe the only one. You saved his life. That's all that matters.”

I agree that Mother must know, but Eli had said he'd help. We fulfilled our bargain. We tried to take Mother down. It almost killed us. That's got to be enough for him. He'll have to help us.

Just then Eli steps from Asher's room and Evie immediately turns to him. “Is he all right?”

Eli looks exhausted and much older than he had this morning. The creases in his face seem to have deepened, as have the shadows under his eyes. Even his eyes exude weariness.

“The nanos are doing their job,” is his only response.

“Can we see him?” Evie asks, twisting her fingers together in front of her.

He nods and runs a hand through his hair. “Don't stay long. I have to get more electrolytes. We've already gone through three bags, but the nanos are still trying to eat him alive while they heal him.”

He moves as if to leave and I grab his arm. “What do you mean?”

“The nanites are healing him, and not just from the gunshot wounds, but every injury his body has ever had, including the damage due to the normal processes of aging. They work at an extremely accelerated pace. His body is physically unable to keep up with the metabolic demands. The only way to help is to provide him intravenous hydration with an electrolyte-infused solution.”

Since my brain just exploded from all that information, I let him go and follow Evie, who's already in the room. A room that, despite the fact that it's only slightly larger than the one I woke up in, is filled with surprisingly sophisticated equipment from the looks of it. I couldn't even begin to say what it all is, but everything else I've seen in these caverns so far looks so primitive, I have to wonder how they managed to get their hands on this.

Evie's eyes are wide when she looks at me. They're almost black with how dilated her pupils are. “This room looks just like ones in the Surface hospital. Not Doc's, but the ones in Rushlake.”

I wouldn't know, but I'll take her word for it. It smells like Dr. Gillian's house did from time to time. It's a scent I've long associated with people and animals that are extremely close to dying. It's an easy smell to recognize and one not easily forgotten.

I brush off the thought, shuddering, and focus on Asher instead.

He's so pale, he's gray. His breaths sound wet and I get now what Evie meant when she said he sounded like he was drowning. There's almost a gurgle coming from him—like soap bubbles running down a drain—despite the plastic mask resting over his nose and mouth. A large white bandage splotched with red covers the skin just under his rib cage. Wires spiderweb across his bare chest, leading from white pads on his pale skin to the beeping machines set up just a few feet away. More wires are attached to a cuff wrapped around his right bicep and something wrapped around his left index finger.

For the past six years, I've hated him for what he did to my family. My father. But seeing him splayed out like this terrifies me. He was my best friend once upon a time. And less than two hours ago, he was fine. Now he's at death's door and there's nothing I can do but wait.

He'll be fine. I know he will. Or at least I have to trust he will. Eli's the one that cured the people here of all the diseases that ran rampant on the Surface after the war. Because of his nanos, no one here got so much as a sniffle. He fixed Evie; he'll be able to help Asher.

Evie sits on the floor close to Asher, but out of the way of the staff helping Eli, and I sit next to her. She leans into me and I wind my arm around her waist, taking comfort in our closeness. For the next several hours we sit side by side. Sometimes, I'll feel antsy—Mother is coming, she has to be—and I have to walk around, but Evie stays just as she is. Her legs crossed in front of her. Her hands in her lap. Her eyes stay fixed on Asher or move to watch Eli whenever he changes out the bags of fluids on the metal pole and hook by Asher's head. The only sense of agitation she ever shows is when she twists her hands together as if she's putting lotion on. Whenever she starts doing that, I sit back next to her and pull her into me, and she stops and rests her hands in her lap again.

Finally, color begins to creep back into Asher's face and the awful gurgling sound fades from his breathing. Eli visibly relaxes and for the first time since I woke up, he sits in the only chair in the room.

“Is it over?” Evie whispers.

“I think so.” His voice has the hollowness of bone-deep weariness. The kind you only get from complete exhaustion.

A knock on the wood of the makeshift door pulls my attention from Eli. The woman from earlier steps in. She glances at Asher, nods once, then focuses her attention on Evie. “I'm sorry, ma'am, but we must talk now.”

Evie stands, stumbling a little when she takes her first step forward, but catches herself before she can fall. She starts to follow the woman out, but I say, “Wait! Where are you taking her?
Why
are you taking her?”

The rumble of the woman's accent is thick when she says, “To a place we can talk privately. Not everyone here agrees with what we're doing. But you may come, if you wish.”

I glance toward Evie, who nods once and holds her hand out to me. I jump up and cross the room to take it, then we both follow the woman into the main Cavern. A familiar noise vibrates in my ear, but I can't quite place it. It's kind of like a rumbling, or maybe a crashing, but mixed with something like static.

“What is that noise?” I ask.

“This section of the ocean floor has lava tubes and vents—”

“You're living in a volcano!” My words are pinched as I try to push them out through the lump in my throat.

Evie squeezes my hand. “Dormant. It's a dormant volcano and has been for a very long time. We use its geothermic energy for everything from heating to electricity. It's nothing to worry about.”