hold on me, but I can’t take my eyes off it. I’ve gotten used to the chill that runs up my arm when I hold it. Now all I want to do is look at the tiny reflection of my face in its gleaming walls.
I’ve never looked worse. Scratches and bruises cover my face. My hair sticks to my scalp, matted by dirt and sweat. A cut splits my bottom lip. I picture all of the insects from the swarm running around on top of me, fighting to crawl up my nose or under my eyes. It’s a miracle I’m still walking at all.
I reach under my shirt and feel the scars on my chest. They seem to fade with each passing hour. The sting is gone too, replaced with a dull, sick feeling every time I touch them.
I am already here.
Ryel’s words repeat in my head. I wish I knew what they really meant.
The cockpit door opens and a pair of footsteps approach us. I turn to see Avery supporting Cassius, who grips his wrist.
“He’s a Shifter alright.” Cassius sits against the wall. “My bracelet… he was able to control it.”
I grab my wrist instinctively. “You wanna drop him now?”
“No,” he replies. “He’s out. I’ve got plenty of tranquilizers. He doesn’t seem to know anything about it. It’s like he becomes a different person.”
“The red in his eyes,” Skandar says. “Like back outside the swarm.”
Cassius nods.
Eva glances at the radar. “We’ve still got approximately two hours until we can think about landing outside Lenbrg.”
“The stunner’ll keep him down at least that long,” he says. “But nobody disturb him. It doesn’t end well.”
I drop the cube into my pocket. “And then what?”
“And then I hit him with another round from the stunner,” Cassius replies. “I can’t shake the feeling… If you can free some more Drifters, maybe they can tell us something about him. If he’s an enemy, he may be more use to us alive.”
Avery frowns. “That’s something Madame would say.”
“Well,” he started. “You don’t grow up in the Lodge without learning a thing or two.”
– 10:30 PM. Our ship sets down a quarter mile from the north end of Lenbrg. The closer we get, the more I start to recognize the scenery. Last time we were here, we were speeding from a Unified Party battalion on our way to Seattle.
After Avery kills the radar, Eva shuts down the engines and we crowd into the cabin. Theo comes to almost immediately, sitting upright. Groggy, he eyes us one by one. He doesn’t smile.
I glance at Cassius. He grips the handle of a stunner and takes a step forward until he’s about two yards from Theo’s chest.
Theo smiles. “You coward.”
Cassius pulls the trigger as his reply. Then twice more. Three darts of tranquilizer pierce just below Theo’s left shoulder. The boy barely reacts, even at the loud thwack, thwack, thwack as the darts stick in his skin. He keeps his eyes locked on Cassius’s the entire time. In moments, his head slumps forward. His fingers loosen on the arm rests and, eventually, his eyes close.
Cassius lowers the pistol. “We have six hours. Maybe seven, given his size. Keep an eye on the time. We get in, we get food… rest. Then we’re out before dawn.”
With that we leave the comfort of the ship for the unbearable warmth outside. We must look like one motley bunch as we approach Lenbrg. We could all use a shower, to say the least.
The moon lights our way, casting a glow on the hilly fringe landscape. We’re heading into the coolest time of the night, not that it means much out here.
Heaps of trash form dark mounds in front of us. They’re the first signs of civilization, George Barkley’s collection of junk piled outside the back of his farmhouse on the northern edge of the town. It’s where the Unified Party ambushed us before. A shiver runs down my spine. I glance at the stars, half-expecting to see the outlines of cruisers following us.
Up until that point, this had been my one good experience on the Surface. Avery and I had been shocked to find a colony in the Fringes banding together to instill some sense of order. Rather than give in to chaos, they scavenge food and power a generator. There are bound to be other Fringe Towns like Lenbrg, but it’s not something you hear about often.
We continue to approach the piles. With every step, the smell worsens. From what I can remember, most of Barkley’s collection is nothing more than mass old junk he finds in the ruins of Seattle, but who knows how long it’s been since he’s seen the bottoms of the heaps. Things could be rotting down there. The oppressive heat definitely isn’t helping.
A few more steps and we’re bathed in floodlights. Everyone freezes. Sheets of light blare down at us from both sides, so bright at first that I have to shield my eyes. Before I acclimate to the glare, I hear the cock of a gun. Then a voice.
“Oh, hell no.” Barkley’s gruff, unimpressed drawl comes from somewhere in front of me. I rub my eyes and watch him appear from the light, walking forward with an oldfashioned revolver pointed in front of him. “It can’t be,” he continues. “Y’all are temptin’ fate.”
I raise my hands in the air, even as I take a step forward. There’s no way Barkley’d recognize Cassius, and probably not Skandar or Eva either, but he obviously hasn’t forgotten me. The old man looks more beaten down since the last time I saw him. Tired. He’d helped us get to Seattle and it hadn’t turned out well for him.
“Installed these floodlights myself,” he continues. “Part of a new precautionary system, thanks to the likes of you. You here with Unified Party cruisers trailin’ you again?”
I glance over his shoulder, relieved to see that his farmhouse is still standing. Madame could’ve easily leveled it last spring.
Avery moves to my side. “How’s your son, George?” The man’s eyes narrow. “Alive. You’ve got a lot of balls coming back here. We pride ourselves on staying out of the eye of the government. You brought ‘em straight to us. Still haven’t recovered completely.” He waves the nozzle of the revolver. “Go back. Wherever you came from, go back. We don’t want you.”
I slowly lower my hands, sighing. “We need your help.”
He chuckles. “Heard that one before.”
“It’s not like last time. It’s… we just need a place to stay for a few hours. Somewhere safe.”
George keeps the gun cocked, not saying a word.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Cassius standing behind me. “Come on. Let’s just take our chances back in the shuttle. This wasn’t a good idea.”
Barkley shakes his head. “Always knew you’d be back eventually. Didn’t think it would be so soon. How’d that army of Unified Party troops work out for you, anyway?”
“We didn’t mean any harm,” I say.
“Sure you didn’t. It was a mistake helping you in the first place. In fact, I ought to-”
A second voice interrupts him from beyond the lights.
“Dude, no way!” Bobby Henderson jumps into sight, a smear of oil on his cheek, black hair grown into a shag since the last time I saw him. Last spring, when Avery and I had stumbled into the town, he’d been the first to find us. Without his help, we’d have never made it to Seattle. Out of everyone we could’ve found out here, he’s the one I was hoping for the most.
Bobby’s about the same age as me, yet seems ten times more untroubled. He wears a broad smile on his face as he bounds toward us. Before I can move, he grabs my shoulders and forces me into an awkward hug. When he’s done, he moves onto Avery. “Oh, man, you don’t know how many nights I thought about you guys. Barkley told me you were ambushed by Unified Party soldiers as soon as you got to Seattle. I hope you didn’t worry about us. Those bozos left as soon as they realized they weren’t a match for you Shippers.”
He steps back and takes us all in. “Most exciting thing that’s happened to Lenbrg ever. Of course, my pops doesn’t agree, but who cares about him?”
George lowers the gun, shaking his head. “Why the hell are you out here, Henderson?”
Bobby brushes him off. “Don’t you worry about it.”
“This is my property,” he replies. “I’ll worry as much as I like. I’ve told you again and again. Too many times
