The great escape to the brave new world
In his anger, Logan shoved the exoskeleton, hard, and then looked for
something he could good and truly break. A whirring sound from behind
him was the salvation of a very ugly, moderately valuable vase. Logan
turned his head and saw the exoskeleton twitching on the floor.
Sometimes all electronics needed was a good slap to get them working.
Funny how it all worked out sometimes.
_ _ _
"You have to fight them, Max."
"I can't," she protested. She didn't want to open her eyes, because
she was having a conversation with Zack, and Zack was dead. If she
opened her eyes, she'd know he wasn't there and that she'd cracked.
"Is this really the life you wanted?" he demanded.
"Shut up!" Max wailed, covering her head with both hands, trying to
get away from the sound of his voice. But when she did that, she
could just hear her heart beating harder in her ears. His heart,
beating in her chest. Driving her insane.
But then she felt him, too. His hands on her hands, pushing them away.
Smoothing back her ratty, tangled hair. Cool against her fevered
skin. Taking a deep breath, Max looked.
He was there. He was real.
"But you're dead," she protested.
"No more than you are," he assured her. Max stared at him. It looked
like Zack. His hair was a little longer, but his eyes were the same,
the lines around his mouth that on anyone else would be called "smile
lines" except Zack rarely smiled.
"I'm dreaming this." She'd had weird dreams before. Like the one with
Logan up and dancing with her, the one she'd thought they'd shared.
Of course they hadn't, no one could share dreams, not even through
the flow of blood. Max looked at Zack again, her eyes widening. Was
Zack dreaming this past death and transmitting it to her through her
heart?
Now that was just whack, Max told herself.
"Tell me I'm not dreaming this," she said to Zack.
He just looked at her. Not saying yes, not saying no. "She's been
lying to you," he said.
"You think?" Max asked sarcastically.
"They tried to break you, to find out where the others are."
"But I don't know where they are," Max said. It occurred to her that
this could just be another stage of brainwashing, somehow. Another
trick to try to convince her to rat out her brothers and sisters.
"I do. And they've been trying to get it out of me," Zack said.
"For six months?"
"Gets old after a while," Zack agreed. "But we're breaking out of
here, Maxie. Tonight. We have to."
His last words were desperate. "Then tell me something to convince me
it's you. Something only I would know," Max said.
"If this is a hallucination, that'd be no problem," Zack pointed out.
"Is this a hallucination?" she searched his eyes, but didn't find any
answers.
"Does it matter?" Zack asked. He glanced toward the door. "Someone's
coming." Max turned her head to try to hear what he was hearing, but
couldn't. When she turned again, she was alone in the room.
Her stomach tightened. So this is what it felt like to know they'd
won. That's she'd lost the battle, the war, and her mind.
But then she heard the footsteps. Someone really was coming.
_ _ _
Jondy sighed and shifted her weight. The line that stretched between
her and the sector gate was long, and it wasn't moving. She had
passes, but she should have bypassed through the woods, she thought.
Such things were always clear in retrospect. She'd thought playing by
the book would set the journey off on the right foot. Could have been
there by now, she thought.
Horns honked furiously behind her and she heard some shouting. If
there was a riot, it would probably distract the sector police enough
that she could slip past the checkpoint. She'd been thinking about
pretending to give up on the line and head back, but she also thought
it would attract attention.
A spray of gravel flew from the tires of the queue-jumper. Jondy
turned to look as it braked to a hard stop. She recognized the blue
vehicle at once, even as the window motored down to reveal Logan Cale
in the driver's seat. She set her features and whipped her head to
look away from him, staring at the sector police as though she could
dissolve them with her eyes.
"You look like your brother when you pout," Logan said, his voice
gentle.
"Nice of you to see me off, but I know you had other plans, so..."
Jondy let her voice trail off. The sector police finished searching
the van at the front of the line, so traffic inched forward.
"I'm coming with you," Logan said.
Something brushed against her and she turned to see him standing
there. "Got your seven-league boots working again," she remarked.
He almost smiled at her description of the exoskeleton. "Yeah," he
said.
They shared the look for a long moment, during which Jondy was overly
aware that his hand was on her shoulder. "You been on a bike before,"
she said. It wasn't exactly an invitation, but it would have to do.
"Actually, I haven't," Logan said, with a hint of irony in his eyes.
"There's only one rule," Jondy informed him as he gingerly got onto
the bike behind her. She revved the engine. "Hang on," she ordered,
engine screaming as she peeled out of the line. Logan's arms
tightened around her and she flinched, not fully recovered from her
earlier gunshot wound. The sector police noticed and started shouting
as she headed kamikaze into the woods.
The motorcycle bounced down here and there. Jondy struggled to control
it. She thought this path might have once been a road. There seemed
to be pavement peeking here and there through the vegetation.
Definitely a road, she thought as she saw the barrier up ahead. The
"End of Road" signs hadn't quite faded.
"Uh, Jondy --" Logan sounded worried.
"Just remember what I told you," she commanded through gritted teeth
as they built up speed. She hadn't thought he could clutch her any
tighter, but he proved her wrong as she lifted the handlebars at the
last moment, pulling the bike up. They soared over the cement
barrier, landing with a hard bounce that knocked the breath out of
them both.
Jondy whooped and gunned the throttle, checking the rearview mirrors
as she veered back onto the road, well past the sector checkpoint.
She turned her head to look at Logan. His face was white. She laughed
and he managed to smile faintly.
She brought the bike to a hard stop and nudged the kickstand down,
then turned again. "I thought you were gonna go save the world."
"I changed my mind," he said, blinking as though offended by her
question.
Jondy just stared at him. "You're crazy," she said.
"No, I think we can safely reserve that adjective for you," Logan
said, and gave a wild, wicked little laugh.
"How long does it take to get to Gillette?" Jondy asked.
"It's a thousand miles," Logan said.
"Then we're gonna need gas," Jondy said. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Logan said, obviously lying because he was braiding her
hair. "I could just live without having it in my face for the next
ten hours."
"And here I thought it was so pretty you couldn't resist touching it,"
Jondy sighed sarcastically. "You know, I've killed men for --"
"Playing with your hair?" Logan finished. "You must be a fun date." He
pushed the braid over her shoulder. "You ready?"
"Manticore, here I come," Jondy muttered, getting back on the bike.
_ _ _
Max smashed the guard's head into the wall as soon as he opened the
door. He grunted, but his skull must have been pretty thick, because
he fought against her. To no avail, of course. Max kicked the tazer
out of his hand and then relieved him of his key ring. As an
afterthought, she fished out his handcuffs and fastened his arms
behind his back.
Max picked up the tazer, turning it over in her hands.
"Please," he whimpered pathetically.
"Don't you want to find out what it feels like?" Max leaned down in
his face to ask.
He started to tremble, blubbering louder. "Please --"
"Shut up," Max whispered urgently, but he didn't. She'd threatened him
a little too well and now she was going to have to follow through,
just to get him to shut up. Her stomach fluttered as she flicked the
tazer on. The guard yelled, but as soon as she stung him with it, the
scream was silenced.
Max tucked the weapon into the waist of her pants, so she'd have it if
she needed it. The keys rattled as she turned them over. They weren't
labeled. She checked the windows into the cells as she made her way
down the familiar basement hallway. Empty. Maybe there weren't any
nomalies left, after the one that had been killed the other day.
She almost passed by the cell at the end of the hall, thinking it
empty, too, at first glance. Then she saw the figure huddled in the
corner, arms wrapped around knees, head down. Beaten. Which key, Max
asked herself, sorting through them. Annoyed, she cut the process
short and kicked the door from its hinges.
"I knew you'd come." The wobbly voice came from the person in the
corner of the cell. She recognized the voice before he raised his
head.
"Zack," Max breathed. "How is it possible?"
"They lied to you," he said.
"But..." Max had the sudden urge to look down the front of her chest
at the fading scar there.
"You healed yourself," Zack told her. "It's in our blood. You know
that."
"They said you --" She trailed off. Maybe she shouldn't bring up the
mind- bending fairy tale they'd told her to try to win her loyalty.
Zack gave her a hard look. "I tried to," he said seriously. "I was out
of ammo."
Max couldn't help but laugh, but then had to explain herself at Zack's
wounded expression. "How embarrassing," she said.
"It happens," Zack said. He hadn't changed a bit. "Let's get the hell
out of here."
They moved silently down the hall. No one crossed their path. The
halls were almost eerily silent. There was a faint buzzing noise,
which Max realized came from the surveillance cameras mounted near
the ceiling. If their escape from custody wasn't news yet, it would
be soon. It didn't give them much time to work.
Max headed for the stairs and Zack yanked her back. "Did you forget
the way out?" he demanded. There was an emergency exit at the
opposite end of the hall and he jerked his head toward it,
indicating.
"We have to set them all free," Max said.
"We have to save ourselves," Zack informed her.
"You were in that cell because you wouldn't give the others up," Max
said.
"It's suicide, Max. They don't want to be saved. You'd just be wasting
your time." Zack held her gaze. He was just as serious as she was.
And no one could win an argument with Zack. It had never been done.
She didn't back down.
"The X-7s have been planning to escape," Max said.
Zack jumped slightly, like an electrical charge shooting through him.
She'd surprised him. "So they say," he started to argue.
Max just turned her back on him and crept silently toward the stairs.
Behind her, she heard him heave a deep, defeated sigh. He passed her
to take the lead. Some things didn't change, she thought.
They reached the X-7s dorm without incident. The lack of security
guards spooked Max, but she tried not to give it too much thought. It
was a happy coincidence, nothing more. Zack took the key ring from
her hand and selected the right one, turning it in the lock.
Crossing through the doorway was like stepping ten years into the
past. Two neat rows of beds, young soldiers pretending to sleep with
their heads on their pillows and sheets pulled up to their chests.
Max picked up a chair and shattered the window furthest from the
door. Closest to the perimeter fence.
Shoulders lifted from mattresses, eyes blinked in her direction.
"Tonight's the night," she whispered to them. Instantly, they formed
two straight lines, proceeding to the broken window as though it was
an airplane evacuation drill.
Zack broke the silence by shattering another window. He had a sour
look on his face, as though he was disappointed in the X-7s lack of
imagination, that none of them had broken the window. Half the line
diverted to the second entrance, and soon Max and Zack stood alone in
the room.
Cool night air blew in. Max watched as the kids ran for the fence,
easily vaulting over it. And it was that easy, she thought, as the
last of them disappeared into the woods. She turned to Zack.
His back was stiff. He was on alert, and when Max glanced toward the
door, she saw why. Renfro stood there, a sick smile twisting her
face. She clapped her hands twice, quickly. "Well done," she said,
approaching them. "After our talk the other day, I'd been debating
whether a field trip was appropriate for our little ones."
"You let them escape," Zack said.
"Just like you let us escape," Max said, and was aware of Zack's eyes
on her, questioning. He hadn't known. "Made it kinda easy for them,
don't you think?"
"They're implanted with tracking devices," Renfro said, as though
Max's suggestion was absurd.
"At least you learned something," Max said, her tone still wavering on
the edge of sarcastic.
"Oh, we learned so much from your group," Renfro said, and for a
second, she almost sounded sincere. "That makes this that much more
of a tragedy." Predictably, she pulled a gun.
Max was faster with the tazer she'd lifted from the guard. She shocked
Renfro and the other woman went down hard, gasping. Zack grabbed the
gun as sirens began to blare through the building.
"Get the others," Max told Zack. He didn't move. "I'll take care of
her."
Zack held Max's eyes for several seconds. Then he handed her Renfro's
gun. Max nodded and Zack ran from the room.
"You won't do it, X5-452," Renfro said, then forced a smile.
"But you turned me into a killer," Max pointed out, her voice icy.
"Max," Renfro said. Still not taking her seriously.
Max pulled the trigger and ran after Zack.
_ _ _
They'd gotten into a comfortable pace of riding, stopping to refuel,
and continuing on. Jondy had to admit that Logan was a good
passenger. He didn't make demands to eat, rest, or piss, and he
didn't ask how much longer it would be or whether they were there
yet.
But they were there, almost. The spotlights from Manticore's watch
towers cut through the darkness, swinging this way and that. Jondy
thought she could hear a siren. She was just about to ask whether
Logan heard it too when he murmured, "I hope we're not too late."
She stopped the bike and pushed it into the trees, camouflaging it as
best she could with the brush and twigs that were lying around. Now
that she was here again, she could feel the fear flowing through her.
She looked at Logan. He was nervous, too.
The lights, bright now from the complex, shut off suddenly. The sirens
wailed to a stop. Jondy tensed, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing did. Logan's eyes were on her, waiting for her signal.
"Scared?" she asked him.
"Petrified."
She was impressed by his honesty. "We had some good times," she said
philosophically. There wouldn't be much to regret if she was
re-captured, except for the capture itself.
Logan wasn't sure who she meant by "we." But he said, "Yeah," and he
meant it.
"In case I don't make it out of there..." Jondy began.
He knew how dangerous Manticore was. He didn't need to be reminded.
Didn't want to think morose thoughts this late in the game. "Don't
--" Logan interrupted, but she'd never intended to finish the thought
in words. She leaned over and kissed him, her lips surprisingly soft
against his. His hands came up, out of surprise, to push her away,
but she ducked back before he could. "Jondy --" She knew he was in
love with Max.
"Don't mention it," she said, her eyes on the ground. It had been an
impulse, a stupid one, but giving in to it was what made her human
and not a soldier. "Let's do this." She set out for the complex that
lay just over the hill with long strides.
_ _ _
Zack burst into the X-5 dorm, throwing the door back so hard it
clanged and bounced back when it struck the wall. "Everybody out," he
shouted. They'd been preparing to mobilize anyway, thanks to the
alert siren screaming through the building.
Brin was the first on her feet. "Don't move. That's an order."
"Don't do this, Brin," Zack warned. They were toe to toe, glaring at
each other. He turned his head and looked to the others, the brothers
and sisters he hadn't seen since they were children. He raised a hand
to signal to them and saw some of them move to follow it. The ones
who'd been left behind.
"You can't tell me what to do anymore, Zack," Brin spat the words at
him.
"Grow up," Zack suggested.
The lights went out then, plunging the room into darkness. It didn't
matter; due to their enhanced DNA, they could all see in the dark.
The siren cut off mid- wail. Zack sensed Max in the doorway. "You do
that?" he asked her.
She shook her head once.
"Doesn't matter," Zack decided. "Let's move." Brin moved for her gun,
pointing it at Zack.
"Don't even think about it." Eva's voice, cool as steel, sliced
through the tension. Her gun pointed at Brin.
"Renfro's dead," Max announced, mostly for Brin's benefit.
"Manticore's over."
The building rocked then, slightly, side to side. The noise of the
explosion reached them seconds later. "Sounds like someone agrees,"
Zack added.
"Sounds like someone's using ICBMs," Trev, who was standing behind
Eva, announced.
"How archaic," Max retorted. Standing closest to the door, she glanced
down the hall and saw fire approaching. More bombs exploded from
overhead. "We don't really have time to discuss it."
"Go! Go!" Eva shouted, because no one was moving. They were caught up
in this drama, struck by indecision. Stay or go. Once the order was
given, their decisions were made. After all, these were the ones
who'd been too slow or too unlucky to get out in '09, and spent the
intervening years wondering what the world was like out there. Her
siblings followed her order. Just like the X-7s, they hit the ground
running, scattering into the woods. That left the four
stubborn ones in the room. "Zack," Eva shouted, another order.
"We have an obligation to defend --" Brin stated.
"You've lost," Eva said. Her voice was sharp, strong. As though the
nine-year- old had returned to overtake the soft-voiced soldier she'd
become. "You can choose to come with us, or come as a prisoner of
war, but you're not staying here."
"In a couple seconds, there's not gonna be a here," Zack pointed out.
Part of the far ceiling collapsed, taking with it a large chunk of
the floor. Fire licked its way around the door.
Brin raised her gun.
But she wasn't pointing it at them.
Two shots rang out, and Brin hit the floor.
Eva's eyes were wide. "I didn't --"
Zack clapped his hand on her shoulder. "We know." Eva had shot to
wound, to stop Brin from firing the gun into her own skull, taking
her own life. Brin had been faster. Blood leaked quickly across the
floor and Max lingered, shuddering at the sight of her sister's
sightless eyes, staring at the ceiling.
Eva went through the window. Zack paused before he, too, dropped.
"Max," he said.
"Right behind you," Max promised, bending down press Brin's eyelids
down. She heard Zack hit the ground. But then she heard someone
behind her. She turned, expecting to see Renfro standing there like a
horror movie demon, risen from the mostly-dead to get in a parting
shot.
But it was Logan in the doorway, his skin blackened from the smoke of
the burning building. "Max," he said.
"I'm hallucinating again," Max breathed. Maybe it was the smoke. Or
maybe none of this was real. Maybe she was still locked up in the
basement.
"Building's clear!" A female voice shouted from the hall.
"This isn't real," Max said, her voice rising.
"Max," Logan said. He'd thought when he saw her again, he'd
immediately go to her and throw his arms around her. But he was
stunned. He couldn't believe it was her, after months of being
convinced that she was dead. He took a step, reached for her. But she
was looking through him as though he wasn't there.
Calmly she went to the window and climbed out, dropping easily to the
ground. She paused to look back, but of course Logan wasn't there.
He'd never been there. Max ran for the perimeter.
Jondy stepped into the X-5 dorm. "What're you waiting for?" she
demanded.
"Max," Logan choked, overcome by the smoke in the room.
Jondy glanced around. No Max. Just Brin, dead in the middle of the
floor. She felt something twist inside her. Another sister dead. But
there wasn't time for that. Fresh air poured in through a broken
window, feeding the growing fire. Logan was fighting for air. Jondy
put her arm around him just as he started to pass out from lack of
oxygen, dragging him over to the window.
She couldn't just throw him out and hope he'd be okay when he hit the
ground. He was murmuring nonsense, only half-conscious. Civilians
were a pain in the ass, Jondy thought, lifting him over her shoulder
and cautiously climbing out, her feet finding purchase between the
bricks that made up the building. She reached for the drainpipe,
thinking to climb down, but it was hot from the fire and she
burned her hand.
Then something else exploded and they both fell.
_ _ _
Zack had realized Max wasn't right behind him as she'd promised to be,
and he waited for her. When she finally appeared, he grabbed her hand
so they wouldn't become separated. They ran, not turning back to see
the final ruin of the project that had created them.
It seemed like they walked miles in the woods. "Zack, do you have any
sense of direction?" Max demanded, then stopped, looking sharply into
the trees.
Zack tugged at her hand. "We have to keep moving."
Max broke away from him, moving all right, but with purpose, deeper
into the woods. Zack sighed at her eternal stubbornness, but followed
her.
"This is my bike." Max was frowning even as she ran loving hands over
the smooth metal.
It didn't make any sense to Zack. "Road's over there," he reported,
glad they'd finally located it.
"It was real," Max said, straightening up, her eyes wide with alarm.
"Zack, I have to go back there."
He blocked her path with his body. "You can't."
"But Logan --" Max saw the tension shoot through Zack's body when she
said the name, and he opened his mouth to protest. But he didn't say
anything, focusing behind her.
"Get down," Zack ordered. "Someone's coming." She didn't move, so he
grabbed her arm to try to pull her out of sight, but it was useless.
No one could make Max do something she didn't want to do. He just
hoped this wouldn't lead to her standing there like an idiot while a
soldier still loyal to Manticore shot her. Like last time.
"Logan!" Max screamed.
Zack looked back. It really was the civilian.
"I thought... I didn't...how...?" Max didn't even try to make the
words make sense. They didn't matter, as she bounded across the space
between them. She threw her arms around him, and he was warm and
alive and real. Max kissed him, and he kissed her back. Reunited at
long last.
"So, Zack, good to see you," Jondy said awkwardly, averting her eyes
from the very private moment being enacted right in front of them.
"Jondy," he nodded civilly toward her. But he put out his arm and she
accepted it, moving in close for a brotherly hug and kiss on the
cheek. "You shouldn't be here."
"I never thought I'd see you again," Logan murmured to Max, still
holding her. He wasn't ever going to let go.
"You made it out," Jondy said. "That's what counts."
_ _ _
Epilogue
Manticore burned. No one came to put the fire out, and the orange
light was visible from the top of Devil's Tower, the rock formation
several miles from the military site.
Logan looked at Max, because he wasn't going to look down at the
ground, thousands of feet below. "You okay?"
"I will be," she said, her expression dark for a second as she thought
about the past. "It's going to be different, knowing it's gone."
"It's all going to be different," Logan said, thinking of Ned, the X-3
leader of the May 22 terrorist group. Or maybe he'd changed his mind
after hitting Manticore. They'd find out when they got back to
civilization.
"I still want to know how you two hooked up," Max said, looking from
Logan over to Jondy, who was sitting on the very edge of the cliff
with her feet dangling down.
"She broke into my house," Logan began.
"Sounds familiar," Max smiled. "She hasn't said much."
Neither has Zack, Logan thought, glancing at the other man, who was
standing away from all of them. Hovering protectively. "She's
processing."
"You know more about my little sister than I do," Max said, meeting
Logan's eyes. "I love you so much," she said, unable to avoid the
subject or keep the words from spilling out. "Sometimes I think it's
the only thing that kept me going in there. And you never gave up on
me."
Except he had, hadn't he? That would be a secret he kept with him to
the grave. He'd have saved her so much pain if he'd refused to
believe them when they told him she was dead; if he'd refused to
believe what his own senses insisted on when he held her those months
ago. He kissed her, because he couldn't tell her those things.
"They keep it up and their lips are going to fall off," Jondy
muttered.
"Hey, I heard that," Max called, breaking away from Logan. She went to
stand over where Jondy was sitting. "I can't believe you took my
bike. I should kick your ass for that."
"I'd like to see you try," Jondy challenged, but she was grinning.
"I don't think you wanna take her up on it, Max," Zack cautioned.
"Don't tell me she beat you, too?" Max teased Zack, sharing a
conspiratorial smile with Jondy. Then she turned serious. "I'm glad
you're here."
"I'm glad you're safe," Jondy echoed.
"Sun's coming up," Zack reported.
"We've got all the time in the world," Max said. And it was the
truth.
END. Thanks :)
In his anger, Logan shoved the exoskeleton, hard, and then looked for
something he could good and truly break. A whirring sound from behind
him was the salvation of a very ugly, moderately valuable vase. Logan
turned his head and saw the exoskeleton twitching on the floor.
Sometimes all electronics needed was a good slap to get them working.
Funny how it all worked out sometimes.
_ _ _
"You have to fight them, Max."
"I can't," she protested. She didn't want to open her eyes, because
she was having a conversation with Zack, and Zack was dead. If she
opened her eyes, she'd know he wasn't there and that she'd cracked.
"Is this really the life you wanted?" he demanded.
"Shut up!" Max wailed, covering her head with both hands, trying to
get away from the sound of his voice. But when she did that, she
could just hear her heart beating harder in her ears. His heart,
beating in her chest. Driving her insane.
But then she felt him, too. His hands on her hands, pushing them away.
Smoothing back her ratty, tangled hair. Cool against her fevered
skin. Taking a deep breath, Max looked.
He was there. He was real.
"But you're dead," she protested.
"No more than you are," he assured her. Max stared at him. It looked
like Zack. His hair was a little longer, but his eyes were the same,
the lines around his mouth that on anyone else would be called "smile
lines" except Zack rarely smiled.
"I'm dreaming this." She'd had weird dreams before. Like the one with
Logan up and dancing with her, the one she'd thought they'd shared.
Of course they hadn't, no one could share dreams, not even through
the flow of blood. Max looked at Zack again, her eyes widening. Was
Zack dreaming this past death and transmitting it to her through her
heart?
Now that was just whack, Max told herself.
"Tell me I'm not dreaming this," she said to Zack.
He just looked at her. Not saying yes, not saying no. "She's been
lying to you," he said.
"You think?" Max asked sarcastically.
"They tried to break you, to find out where the others are."
"But I don't know where they are," Max said. It occurred to her that
this could just be another stage of brainwashing, somehow. Another
trick to try to convince her to rat out her brothers and sisters.
"I do. And they've been trying to get it out of me," Zack said.
"For six months?"
"Gets old after a while," Zack agreed. "But we're breaking out of
here, Maxie. Tonight. We have to."
His last words were desperate. "Then tell me something to convince me
it's you. Something only I would know," Max said.
"If this is a hallucination, that'd be no problem," Zack pointed out.
"Is this a hallucination?" she searched his eyes, but didn't find any
answers.
"Does it matter?" Zack asked. He glanced toward the door. "Someone's
coming." Max turned her head to try to hear what he was hearing, but
couldn't. When she turned again, she was alone in the room.
Her stomach tightened. So this is what it felt like to know they'd
won. That's she'd lost the battle, the war, and her mind.
But then she heard the footsteps. Someone really was coming.
_ _ _
Jondy sighed and shifted her weight. The line that stretched between
her and the sector gate was long, and it wasn't moving. She had
passes, but she should have bypassed through the woods, she thought.
Such things were always clear in retrospect. She'd thought playing by
the book would set the journey off on the right foot. Could have been
there by now, she thought.
Horns honked furiously behind her and she heard some shouting. If
there was a riot, it would probably distract the sector police enough
that she could slip past the checkpoint. She'd been thinking about
pretending to give up on the line and head back, but she also thought
it would attract attention.
A spray of gravel flew from the tires of the queue-jumper. Jondy
turned to look as it braked to a hard stop. She recognized the blue
vehicle at once, even as the window motored down to reveal Logan Cale
in the driver's seat. She set her features and whipped her head to
look away from him, staring at the sector police as though she could
dissolve them with her eyes.
"You look like your brother when you pout," Logan said, his voice
gentle.
"Nice of you to see me off, but I know you had other plans, so..."
Jondy let her voice trail off. The sector police finished searching
the van at the front of the line, so traffic inched forward.
"I'm coming with you," Logan said.
Something brushed against her and she turned to see him standing
there. "Got your seven-league boots working again," she remarked.
He almost smiled at her description of the exoskeleton. "Yeah," he
said.
They shared the look for a long moment, during which Jondy was overly
aware that his hand was on her shoulder. "You been on a bike before,"
she said. It wasn't exactly an invitation, but it would have to do.
"Actually, I haven't," Logan said, with a hint of irony in his eyes.
"There's only one rule," Jondy informed him as he gingerly got onto
the bike behind her. She revved the engine. "Hang on," she ordered,
engine screaming as she peeled out of the line. Logan's arms
tightened around her and she flinched, not fully recovered from her
earlier gunshot wound. The sector police noticed and started shouting
as she headed kamikaze into the woods.
The motorcycle bounced down here and there. Jondy struggled to control
it. She thought this path might have once been a road. There seemed
to be pavement peeking here and there through the vegetation.
Definitely a road, she thought as she saw the barrier up ahead. The
"End of Road" signs hadn't quite faded.
"Uh, Jondy --" Logan sounded worried.
"Just remember what I told you," she commanded through gritted teeth
as they built up speed. She hadn't thought he could clutch her any
tighter, but he proved her wrong as she lifted the handlebars at the
last moment, pulling the bike up. They soared over the cement
barrier, landing with a hard bounce that knocked the breath out of
them both.
Jondy whooped and gunned the throttle, checking the rearview mirrors
as she veered back onto the road, well past the sector checkpoint.
She turned her head to look at Logan. His face was white. She laughed
and he managed to smile faintly.
She brought the bike to a hard stop and nudged the kickstand down,
then turned again. "I thought you were gonna go save the world."
"I changed my mind," he said, blinking as though offended by her
question.
Jondy just stared at him. "You're crazy," she said.
"No, I think we can safely reserve that adjective for you," Logan
said, and gave a wild, wicked little laugh.
"How long does it take to get to Gillette?" Jondy asked.
"It's a thousand miles," Logan said.
"Then we're gonna need gas," Jondy said. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Logan said, obviously lying because he was braiding her
hair. "I could just live without having it in my face for the next
ten hours."
"And here I thought it was so pretty you couldn't resist touching it,"
Jondy sighed sarcastically. "You know, I've killed men for --"
"Playing with your hair?" Logan finished. "You must be a fun date." He
pushed the braid over her shoulder. "You ready?"
"Manticore, here I come," Jondy muttered, getting back on the bike.
_ _ _
Max smashed the guard's head into the wall as soon as he opened the
door. He grunted, but his skull must have been pretty thick, because
he fought against her. To no avail, of course. Max kicked the tazer
out of his hand and then relieved him of his key ring. As an
afterthought, she fished out his handcuffs and fastened his arms
behind his back.
Max picked up the tazer, turning it over in her hands.
"Please," he whimpered pathetically.
"Don't you want to find out what it feels like?" Max leaned down in
his face to ask.
He started to tremble, blubbering louder. "Please --"
"Shut up," Max whispered urgently, but he didn't. She'd threatened him
a little too well and now she was going to have to follow through,
just to get him to shut up. Her stomach fluttered as she flicked the
tazer on. The guard yelled, but as soon as she stung him with it, the
scream was silenced.
Max tucked the weapon into the waist of her pants, so she'd have it if
she needed it. The keys rattled as she turned them over. They weren't
labeled. She checked the windows into the cells as she made her way
down the familiar basement hallway. Empty. Maybe there weren't any
nomalies left, after the one that had been killed the other day.
She almost passed by the cell at the end of the hall, thinking it
empty, too, at first glance. Then she saw the figure huddled in the
corner, arms wrapped around knees, head down. Beaten. Which key, Max
asked herself, sorting through them. Annoyed, she cut the process
short and kicked the door from its hinges.
"I knew you'd come." The wobbly voice came from the person in the
corner of the cell. She recognized the voice before he raised his
head.
"Zack," Max breathed. "How is it possible?"
"They lied to you," he said.
"But..." Max had the sudden urge to look down the front of her chest
at the fading scar there.
"You healed yourself," Zack told her. "It's in our blood. You know
that."
"They said you --" She trailed off. Maybe she shouldn't bring up the
mind- bending fairy tale they'd told her to try to win her loyalty.
Zack gave her a hard look. "I tried to," he said seriously. "I was out
of ammo."
Max couldn't help but laugh, but then had to explain herself at Zack's
wounded expression. "How embarrassing," she said.
"It happens," Zack said. He hadn't changed a bit. "Let's get the hell
out of here."
They moved silently down the hall. No one crossed their path. The
halls were almost eerily silent. There was a faint buzzing noise,
which Max realized came from the surveillance cameras mounted near
the ceiling. If their escape from custody wasn't news yet, it would
be soon. It didn't give them much time to work.
Max headed for the stairs and Zack yanked her back. "Did you forget
the way out?" he demanded. There was an emergency exit at the
opposite end of the hall and he jerked his head toward it,
indicating.
"We have to set them all free," Max said.
"We have to save ourselves," Zack informed her.
"You were in that cell because you wouldn't give the others up," Max
said.
"It's suicide, Max. They don't want to be saved. You'd just be wasting
your time." Zack held her gaze. He was just as serious as she was.
And no one could win an argument with Zack. It had never been done.
She didn't back down.
"The X-7s have been planning to escape," Max said.
Zack jumped slightly, like an electrical charge shooting through him.
She'd surprised him. "So they say," he started to argue.
Max just turned her back on him and crept silently toward the stairs.
Behind her, she heard him heave a deep, defeated sigh. He passed her
to take the lead. Some things didn't change, she thought.
They reached the X-7s dorm without incident. The lack of security
guards spooked Max, but she tried not to give it too much thought. It
was a happy coincidence, nothing more. Zack took the key ring from
her hand and selected the right one, turning it in the lock.
Crossing through the doorway was like stepping ten years into the
past. Two neat rows of beds, young soldiers pretending to sleep with
their heads on their pillows and sheets pulled up to their chests.
Max picked up a chair and shattered the window furthest from the
door. Closest to the perimeter fence.
Shoulders lifted from mattresses, eyes blinked in her direction.
"Tonight's the night," she whispered to them. Instantly, they formed
two straight lines, proceeding to the broken window as though it was
an airplane evacuation drill.
Zack broke the silence by shattering another window. He had a sour
look on his face, as though he was disappointed in the X-7s lack of
imagination, that none of them had broken the window. Half the line
diverted to the second entrance, and soon Max and Zack stood alone in
the room.
Cool night air blew in. Max watched as the kids ran for the fence,
easily vaulting over it. And it was that easy, she thought, as the
last of them disappeared into the woods. She turned to Zack.
His back was stiff. He was on alert, and when Max glanced toward the
door, she saw why. Renfro stood there, a sick smile twisting her
face. She clapped her hands twice, quickly. "Well done," she said,
approaching them. "After our talk the other day, I'd been debating
whether a field trip was appropriate for our little ones."
"You let them escape," Zack said.
"Just like you let us escape," Max said, and was aware of Zack's eyes
on her, questioning. He hadn't known. "Made it kinda easy for them,
don't you think?"
"They're implanted with tracking devices," Renfro said, as though
Max's suggestion was absurd.
"At least you learned something," Max said, her tone still wavering on
the edge of sarcastic.
"Oh, we learned so much from your group," Renfro said, and for a
second, she almost sounded sincere. "That makes this that much more
of a tragedy." Predictably, she pulled a gun.
Max was faster with the tazer she'd lifted from the guard. She shocked
Renfro and the other woman went down hard, gasping. Zack grabbed the
gun as sirens began to blare through the building.
"Get the others," Max told Zack. He didn't move. "I'll take care of
her."
Zack held Max's eyes for several seconds. Then he handed her Renfro's
gun. Max nodded and Zack ran from the room.
"You won't do it, X5-452," Renfro said, then forced a smile.
"But you turned me into a killer," Max pointed out, her voice icy.
"Max," Renfro said. Still not taking her seriously.
Max pulled the trigger and ran after Zack.
_ _ _
They'd gotten into a comfortable pace of riding, stopping to refuel,
and continuing on. Jondy had to admit that Logan was a good
passenger. He didn't make demands to eat, rest, or piss, and he
didn't ask how much longer it would be or whether they were there
yet.
But they were there, almost. The spotlights from Manticore's watch
towers cut through the darkness, swinging this way and that. Jondy
thought she could hear a siren. She was just about to ask whether
Logan heard it too when he murmured, "I hope we're not too late."
She stopped the bike and pushed it into the trees, camouflaging it as
best she could with the brush and twigs that were lying around. Now
that she was here again, she could feel the fear flowing through her.
She looked at Logan. He was nervous, too.
The lights, bright now from the complex, shut off suddenly. The sirens
wailed to a stop. Jondy tensed, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing did. Logan's eyes were on her, waiting for her signal.
"Scared?" she asked him.
"Petrified."
She was impressed by his honesty. "We had some good times," she said
philosophically. There wouldn't be much to regret if she was
re-captured, except for the capture itself.
Logan wasn't sure who she meant by "we." But he said, "Yeah," and he
meant it.
"In case I don't make it out of there..." Jondy began.
He knew how dangerous Manticore was. He didn't need to be reminded.
Didn't want to think morose thoughts this late in the game. "Don't
--" Logan interrupted, but she'd never intended to finish the thought
in words. She leaned over and kissed him, her lips surprisingly soft
against his. His hands came up, out of surprise, to push her away,
but she ducked back before he could. "Jondy --" She knew he was in
love with Max.
"Don't mention it," she said, her eyes on the ground. It had been an
impulse, a stupid one, but giving in to it was what made her human
and not a soldier. "Let's do this." She set out for the complex that
lay just over the hill with long strides.
_ _ _
Zack burst into the X-5 dorm, throwing the door back so hard it
clanged and bounced back when it struck the wall. "Everybody out," he
shouted. They'd been preparing to mobilize anyway, thanks to the
alert siren screaming through the building.
Brin was the first on her feet. "Don't move. That's an order."
"Don't do this, Brin," Zack warned. They were toe to toe, glaring at
each other. He turned his head and looked to the others, the brothers
and sisters he hadn't seen since they were children. He raised a hand
to signal to them and saw some of them move to follow it. The ones
who'd been left behind.
"You can't tell me what to do anymore, Zack," Brin spat the words at
him.
"Grow up," Zack suggested.
The lights went out then, plunging the room into darkness. It didn't
matter; due to their enhanced DNA, they could all see in the dark.
The siren cut off mid- wail. Zack sensed Max in the doorway. "You do
that?" he asked her.
She shook her head once.
"Doesn't matter," Zack decided. "Let's move." Brin moved for her gun,
pointing it at Zack.
"Don't even think about it." Eva's voice, cool as steel, sliced
through the tension. Her gun pointed at Brin.
"Renfro's dead," Max announced, mostly for Brin's benefit.
"Manticore's over."
The building rocked then, slightly, side to side. The noise of the
explosion reached them seconds later. "Sounds like someone agrees,"
Zack added.
"Sounds like someone's using ICBMs," Trev, who was standing behind
Eva, announced.
"How archaic," Max retorted. Standing closest to the door, she glanced
down the hall and saw fire approaching. More bombs exploded from
overhead. "We don't really have time to discuss it."
"Go! Go!" Eva shouted, because no one was moving. They were caught up
in this drama, struck by indecision. Stay or go. Once the order was
given, their decisions were made. After all, these were the ones
who'd been too slow or too unlucky to get out in '09, and spent the
intervening years wondering what the world was like out there. Her
siblings followed her order. Just like the X-7s, they hit the ground
running, scattering into the woods. That left the four
stubborn ones in the room. "Zack," Eva shouted, another order.
"We have an obligation to defend --" Brin stated.
"You've lost," Eva said. Her voice was sharp, strong. As though the
nine-year- old had returned to overtake the soft-voiced soldier she'd
become. "You can choose to come with us, or come as a prisoner of
war, but you're not staying here."
"In a couple seconds, there's not gonna be a here," Zack pointed out.
Part of the far ceiling collapsed, taking with it a large chunk of
the floor. Fire licked its way around the door.
Brin raised her gun.
But she wasn't pointing it at them.
Two shots rang out, and Brin hit the floor.
Eva's eyes were wide. "I didn't --"
Zack clapped his hand on her shoulder. "We know." Eva had shot to
wound, to stop Brin from firing the gun into her own skull, taking
her own life. Brin had been faster. Blood leaked quickly across the
floor and Max lingered, shuddering at the sight of her sister's
sightless eyes, staring at the ceiling.
Eva went through the window. Zack paused before he, too, dropped.
"Max," he said.
"Right behind you," Max promised, bending down press Brin's eyelids
down. She heard Zack hit the ground. But then she heard someone
behind her. She turned, expecting to see Renfro standing there like a
horror movie demon, risen from the mostly-dead to get in a parting
shot.
But it was Logan in the doorway, his skin blackened from the smoke of
the burning building. "Max," he said.
"I'm hallucinating again," Max breathed. Maybe it was the smoke. Or
maybe none of this was real. Maybe she was still locked up in the
basement.
"Building's clear!" A female voice shouted from the hall.
"This isn't real," Max said, her voice rising.
"Max," Logan said. He'd thought when he saw her again, he'd
immediately go to her and throw his arms around her. But he was
stunned. He couldn't believe it was her, after months of being
convinced that she was dead. He took a step, reached for her. But she
was looking through him as though he wasn't there.
Calmly she went to the window and climbed out, dropping easily to the
ground. She paused to look back, but of course Logan wasn't there.
He'd never been there. Max ran for the perimeter.
Jondy stepped into the X-5 dorm. "What're you waiting for?" she
demanded.
"Max," Logan choked, overcome by the smoke in the room.
Jondy glanced around. No Max. Just Brin, dead in the middle of the
floor. She felt something twist inside her. Another sister dead. But
there wasn't time for that. Fresh air poured in through a broken
window, feeding the growing fire. Logan was fighting for air. Jondy
put her arm around him just as he started to pass out from lack of
oxygen, dragging him over to the window.
She couldn't just throw him out and hope he'd be okay when he hit the
ground. He was murmuring nonsense, only half-conscious. Civilians
were a pain in the ass, Jondy thought, lifting him over her shoulder
and cautiously climbing out, her feet finding purchase between the
bricks that made up the building. She reached for the drainpipe,
thinking to climb down, but it was hot from the fire and she
burned her hand.
Then something else exploded and they both fell.
_ _ _
Zack had realized Max wasn't right behind him as she'd promised to be,
and he waited for her. When she finally appeared, he grabbed her hand
so they wouldn't become separated. They ran, not turning back to see
the final ruin of the project that had created them.
It seemed like they walked miles in the woods. "Zack, do you have any
sense of direction?" Max demanded, then stopped, looking sharply into
the trees.
Zack tugged at her hand. "We have to keep moving."
Max broke away from him, moving all right, but with purpose, deeper
into the woods. Zack sighed at her eternal stubbornness, but followed
her.
"This is my bike." Max was frowning even as she ran loving hands over
the smooth metal.
It didn't make any sense to Zack. "Road's over there," he reported,
glad they'd finally located it.
"It was real," Max said, straightening up, her eyes wide with alarm.
"Zack, I have to go back there."
He blocked her path with his body. "You can't."
"But Logan --" Max saw the tension shoot through Zack's body when she
said the name, and he opened his mouth to protest. But he didn't say
anything, focusing behind her.
"Get down," Zack ordered. "Someone's coming." She didn't move, so he
grabbed her arm to try to pull her out of sight, but it was useless.
No one could make Max do something she didn't want to do. He just
hoped this wouldn't lead to her standing there like an idiot while a
soldier still loyal to Manticore shot her. Like last time.
"Logan!" Max screamed.
Zack looked back. It really was the civilian.
"I thought... I didn't...how...?" Max didn't even try to make the
words make sense. They didn't matter, as she bounded across the space
between them. She threw her arms around him, and he was warm and
alive and real. Max kissed him, and he kissed her back. Reunited at
long last.
"So, Zack, good to see you," Jondy said awkwardly, averting her eyes
from the very private moment being enacted right in front of them.
"Jondy," he nodded civilly toward her. But he put out his arm and she
accepted it, moving in close for a brotherly hug and kiss on the
cheek. "You shouldn't be here."
"I never thought I'd see you again," Logan murmured to Max, still
holding her. He wasn't ever going to let go.
"You made it out," Jondy said. "That's what counts."
_ _ _
Epilogue
Manticore burned. No one came to put the fire out, and the orange
light was visible from the top of Devil's Tower, the rock formation
several miles from the military site.
Logan looked at Max, because he wasn't going to look down at the
ground, thousands of feet below. "You okay?"
"I will be," she said, her expression dark for a second as she thought
about the past. "It's going to be different, knowing it's gone."
"It's all going to be different," Logan said, thinking of Ned, the X-3
leader of the May 22 terrorist group. Or maybe he'd changed his mind
after hitting Manticore. They'd find out when they got back to
civilization.
"I still want to know how you two hooked up," Max said, looking from
Logan over to Jondy, who was sitting on the very edge of the cliff
with her feet dangling down.
"She broke into my house," Logan began.
"Sounds familiar," Max smiled. "She hasn't said much."
Neither has Zack, Logan thought, glancing at the other man, who was
standing away from all of them. Hovering protectively. "She's
processing."
"You know more about my little sister than I do," Max said, meeting
Logan's eyes. "I love you so much," she said, unable to avoid the
subject or keep the words from spilling out. "Sometimes I think it's
the only thing that kept me going in there. And you never gave up on
me."
Except he had, hadn't he? That would be a secret he kept with him to
the grave. He'd have saved her so much pain if he'd refused to
believe them when they told him she was dead; if he'd refused to
believe what his own senses insisted on when he held her those months
ago. He kissed her, because he couldn't tell her those things.
"They keep it up and their lips are going to fall off," Jondy
muttered.
"Hey, I heard that," Max called, breaking away from Logan. She went to
stand over where Jondy was sitting. "I can't believe you took my
bike. I should kick your ass for that."
"I'd like to see you try," Jondy challenged, but she was grinning.
"I don't think you wanna take her up on it, Max," Zack cautioned.
"Don't tell me she beat you, too?" Max teased Zack, sharing a
conspiratorial smile with Jondy. Then she turned serious. "I'm glad
you're here."
"I'm glad you're safe," Jondy echoed.
"Sun's coming up," Zack reported.
"We've got all the time in the world," Max said. And it was the
truth.
END. Thanks :)