The Defiant (33 page)

I shut my eyes. I can picture Alun's wide face, with his black eye patch, and I can hear his jubilant voice. I can see his shaved head and the caps he always wore to keep it warm. He was instrumental in helping us survive on the wheel, and bring it under control. It's so hard to believe that he's no longer alive.

And David lives now in some strange in-between—part human and part machine. He is never far from my thoughts. I wish I could talk to him right now. I only hope that I will see him again soon.

I find my voice. “We need to let their deaths give us motivation to keep fighting,” I say. “They would never want us to stop.”

“I second that,” Cass says, nodding.

“So we're heading to New Chicago to fight, right?” Liam asks, as our helicopter continues heading north.

Cass nods. “We're landing where some of the other protected
machinery is located. There are several ground convoys and more helicopters that were shielded from the blast. A few trusted rebels were told about David's secret plan in advance, so they were able to shield the equipment. We're going to use the equipment to take control of the air and the streets. We're going to get the people to rise up—if it isn't happening already.”

“How do you have more information than any of us, when we're supposed to be the heart of this rebellion?” Gadya asks her.

Cass smiles. “I just eavesdrop and spy on everyone. It's the easiest way to figure out what's really going on.”

“Why didn't the scientists just tell us the real plan from the start?”

“They thought total secrecy would ensure its success. Looks like it worked.”

“What about the rest of the UNA?” I ask her. “New Chicago is only one city.”

Cass nods. “The same revolutions are apparently taking place simultaneously in four other major urban areas across the country—­New Los Angeles, New Manhattan, New Dallas, and New Washington, DC. These are the power bases of the UNA. Rebel cells are orchestrating everything.” Cass glances behind her. “And we have more guns. Bullets, too.”

“Yeah, bullets are pretty helpful,” Gadya says.

“Why those cities?” Liam asks Cass.

“The UNA has multiple headquarters, like a snake with many heads. They all work together. We have to take them all out at once.” She pauses. “New Chicago is the most fortified. It's where the main leader is.”

“The main leader?” I ask.

“Yes,” Cass replies. “No one knows who he is.”

“I met one of the UNA leaders, in New Dallas,” I suddenly say. “He called himself Minister Hiram. He was one of Minister Harka's former body doubles. He seemed nearly insane. He was keeping a mutant locked up in his office.”

“Yeah, what's up with these mutants we keep seeing?” Gadya asks.

Cass shakes her head. “We don't know their purpose, but we assume military. We're going to have to fight them.”

I stare out the window again. We're moving fast. At this rate, we'll be in Chicago within an hour.

“The sky looks so weird,” I say, suddenly realizing that I haven't seen the sun unobstructed by clouds since the nuclear blasts. Liam puts his arm around me.

I remember Dr. Urbancic's words. That there's a potential we doomed the planet by taking action.

“The sun will come back out,” Cass says. “Might take a few weeks. Obviously the nuclear blasts disrupted the typical weather patterns.” Cass sounds unconcerned. But of course she didn't hear the warnings that we did from Dr. Urbancic.

Liam rubs my back. “Don't worry,” he says.

I suddenly smile. “I guess I shouldn't even think about the sun coming out yet. It won't matter if we're not around to see it.”

“Exactly,” Cass says. “First we fight and conquer the UNA, then we figure out what to do after that.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Gadya says. But she doesn't sound annoyed. In fact, she's grinning. “Let's hope it goes down that way.”

“That part is up to us,” I say in the ensuing silence.

Everyone nods.

“So how did you find us, anyway?” I ask Cass.

“Easy. Remember those pills we had to take to get on board the airships back at Southern Arc?”

“Sure,” I say. “The antidote to the chemicals on the wheel. Meant to prevent the Suffering.”

“Those are the ones. It turns out some of them had microscopic tracking devices inside them. Tiny microchips that attached themselves to the intestines of anyone who took one of the pills. The guards were instructed to only give those special tracking pills to certain people. Dr. Barrett told them which ones, before he went insane.”

I feel ill. “There's a tracking device inside me?”

“Inside you, and me, and Liam. Anyone who had been singled out for some reason as potentially important or crucial in the battle ahead. Apparently your mom made sure that you and Liam got them, probably so she could keep an eye on you.”

“So I've been tracked all this time? You always knew where I was?” I'm incredulous.

“The signal comes and goes. It's not perfect, but it's pretty accurate.”

“Unbelievable,” I say.

“How did it survive the nuclear blast?” Liam asks Cass.

“The scientists designed it to withstand the EMP. They knew what they were doing this whole time.”

“They should never have bothered lying to us,” Liam says. “Not to me, Alenna, and Gadya.”

“Can I get the device out of me?” I ask.

“They biodegrade naturally,” Cass says. “At least that's what I heard. Even if they don't, who cares?”

“So the pills were another secret.”

“Sort of,” Cass says. “I mean, they really do protect against the
UNA drugs. But ours just had a little something extra in them.”

“So you located us using the pills?”

“The pilot did,” Cass says, gesturing at the man flying our helicopter. “He knew the general vicinity that you were in, and then homed in on your signals. Each pill broadcasts a specific sixteen-digit code, so they knew who you were.”

“I'm glad I don't have one in me,” Gadya says proudly.

“You're lucky you stuck with Alenna and Liam, or you would have gotten lost,” Cass points out.

“Can anyone else trace them?” Liam asks.

Cass shakes her head. “No. It's encrypted. And they don't emit a signal. They have to be scanned by radio waves to get picked up. You're totally safe.”

“I still feel weird about it,” I tell Cass.

She grins. “I felt the same way too. But now it makes me feel kind of safe. Even protected in a strange way.”

It still makes me feel uneasy. I am now a number in a database. It makes me think of the metal creatures implanted into Rika and the other girl back at the laboratory. Or the tubes that the UNA implanted in my neck.

The pills also remind me of David and his transformation into some kind of cyborg. I don't want to end up the same way. But what if I don't have a choice? What if defeating the UNA demands such a transformation?

“We should have been told the truth about the pills,” I say, sharing a glance with Liam.

“Does it matter now?” Cass asks. “You still would have taken it. I would have too. They wouldn't have let us come back to the wheel otherwise. We would have been stuck at Southern Arc.”

I nod. What she's saying is true. I never would have refused
the pill, because that would have meant not seeing Liam again. But that doesn't really make me feel any better about what is inside my body. I just stare out the window again, anticipating our arrival in New Chicago.

•  •  •

Within an hour, I see the New Chicago skyline emerging on the horizon. We're flying over rolling hills and trees right now, dotted with suburban houses. Some of the houses have burned down, but most are still standing.

I see people on the ground, watching us in stupefaction. They have no idea how this helicopter can still be in the air. Some of them wave at us.

We move over them rapidly. The countryside is giving way to more roads and more houses. There are no other aircraft of any kind in the air with us yet—no airplanes, no helicopters, and no feelers.

I finally see a group of trucks on the road. I think they're UNA vehicles for a moment, until I realize that it's a contingent of rebels. A large one, of at least ten trucks. There's probably a hundred people on board them. I'm relieved to see some sign of rebel activity.

We get closer to the city. All the skyscrapers are dark. The sun is setting already, and there is no electricity left to power them. At nighttime, the city is going to be a very scary place. But I am not afraid. The wheel has trained me well. I'm used to fighting in darkness, and in places without any human comforts.

The only bright light now comes from fires below us. Some of them rage out of control, but others are clearly coming from torches. I wonder how long it will take until the UNA spirals completely out of control.

“So we fight in the dark?” I ask. “Is that the plan?”

Cass shakes her head. “No. In the day. With nothing else lit up, this helicopter is way too easy a target. If there are any UNA weapons that survived the EMP somehow, we could get shot down. In the day we'll have a lot more visibility and it'll be safer. Rebel scouts are going door-to-door, trying to round up UNA soldiers to arrest them.”

“Where are we going to spend the night?” Gadya asks her.

Cass points out the window. “See that building?”

She's pointing to the tallest skyscraper around. It's massive, nearly a hundred stories tall, with a large flat roof. It's made of gleaming black glass. I can see the helicopter's reflection in its smooth dark surface.

Gadya nods.

“There's a helipad on the top level. We're going to land there and spend the night inside the building.”

“Is that safe?” I ask.

“The building has been evacuated,” Cass tells me. “It was a hotel for the very top UNA government officials. They rushed everyone out right after the EMP and took them to another location. The hotel is empty—or at least that's what we've been told.”

The helicopter keeps zooming through the night sky, heading toward the dark building. Then I see orange flares appear on the roof, outlining the square of the helipad.

“Who's down there?” Liam asks, scrutinizing the scene out the window.

“Rebels. They've already secured the top floors of the building for us. I'm telling you, it's safe.”

In some ways, Cass's confidence is reassuring. But then again, she hasn't seen all the things that we have since being back in the
UNA. She never saw the Hellgrounds or met Miss Caroldean and Mikal. She didn't see Rika get killed. And she didn't have to press a button that might have meant the end of the world. Sometimes it's easy to be confident when you don't know all the facts.

“Don't worry,” Cass says, seeing the expression on my face. “We're going to be fine.”

“I hope so.”

Liam squeezes my hand. “We'll be there soon,” he says.

I keep looking out the window as we fly lower in the night sky, approaching our landing zone. I see figures down there in the dark, moving around at the edges of the helipad. Some of them clutch burning torches. They're helping wave our helicopter down and into position.

“How many rebels are there?” I ask Cass.

“At the hotel? Probably a hundred or so. But more are amassing. Soon there will be thousands.”

“Are there more helicopters like this one?” Liam asks.

“Of course. A whole fleet. And some armored personnel carriers too. The rebels worked in secret to build ones that would be able to survive the EMP.”

I nod. “Good.”

Cass grins. “For once, we'll have the technology on our side. Let's see how the UNA bosses like it.”

Gadya cracks her knuckles in expectation. “I can't wait.”

“We hope we have it on our side,” I tell them. “The UNA has a nasty habit of surprising us—or have you forgotten?”

Cass doesn't answer, but Gadya looks my way. “Alenna's right. We need to keep our guard up. They might have EMP-resistant vehicles or weapons somewhere too, as a precaution.”

“If they do, I haven't seen them yet,” Cass says. “I think they
were too arrogant to ever think that someone would challenge them on their home turf. I doubt that they're prepared for it.”

We fly even lower, reducing our speed.

I feel my whole body tense up, so I try to relax. I was ready for battle, but that will be postponed until tomorrow. I have to save my strength until then. I exhale shakily, looking forward to getting out of the air and back on solid ground—even if that ground is soon going to become a battlefield.

A
FEW MINUTES LATER
, the helicopter lands, guided down to the roof of the skyscraper by the men with orange flares.

Before the rotors stop turning, we already fling open the doors and step out onto the helipad. It's so loud, I can barely hear. The wind blasts my face, blowing back my hair. It's cold up here. I see about ten people standing outside, all with friendly faces, watching us.

A few of them step forward to help us away from the helicopter.

We are led away from the helipad and toward a small structure on the roof, with an open door. There's a concrete stairway beyond the doorway, leading down into the building.

Liam, Gadya, Cass, and I follow the people into the stairway and out of the wind.

More flares and torches line the passageway. All the power is off. The electric lights in the stairway are dead.

“This way,” one of the rebels says.

We follow him quickly into the stairwell and down the stairs. He opens a metal door for us. We head through it.

It takes me a moment to get my bearings. I realize we've
stepped into the wide hallway of a luxurious hotel. Gas lanterns light it up for us. The white carpet is thick and plush. The ceiling is high. It smells good in here, and it's warm.