Resist

how to react to Ronan, so I know for sure he had nothing to do with this raid. Not that I really believed he’d betray us. No.

“Wendy’s been up and down those stairs twenty times this week. And then, while you were out this morning, I heard someone sneeze,” Niamh says, her voice a quiver, trying to repair the fact that she’s informed on her own brother. “That’s what I was coming to your room to tell you,” she says, glancing at me.

I am standing apart from the other Resistance members and Ronan turns to me suddenly. Roughly, he turns my face to the light. “Bea Whitcraft?” he says.

Niamh watches Ronan and me, and covers her mouth with her hand. “What should we do with her?” she asks Ronan through her fingers. “She was wandering around the house. She could’ve killed us in our beds.”

“Tried for treason. Her parents provoked the revolt,” Ronan says calmly, keeping his eyes on me. I hope he knows what he’s doing.

“When she’s found guilty she’ll be put to death,” the Pod Minister says. He is quiet and testing. Ronan doesn’t flinch. And neither do any of the Resistance. If I didn’t know Ronan better, I’d believe he was washing his hands of me.

Vine’s mouth twitches. “It doesn’t look good that it’s your studio, Ronan. But if you’re prepared to let this ugly little sub die, the Ministry will have some reason to believe you aren’t part of this.” He sweeps his arm out wide, taking in the room.

“Arrest me, if you think I’m involved. I’ll happily answer your questions,” Ronan says. His expression is cool.

Niamh looks at the stewards. “Go to the annex and arrest our servant.” The stewards look at the Pod Minister, who nods. Niamh speaks again. “And get these RATS out of my house!” She is shrieking, suddenly on the verge of hysteria.

A steward binds my wrists in plastic twine and uses the cold barrel of her rifle against my neck to drive me down the stairs behind the other Resistance members. Without warning, Niamh is beside me, grabbing my arm and spinning me around.

“You and yours are going to pay for what happened to my father,” she snarls, and pushes me down the last few steps so that I fall forward onto my face. When I lick my lips, there’s blood. I roll over and she looks down at me under the lights of the chandelier with nothing but contempt.

A few weeks ago, I’d have whimpered if Niamh touched me. Instead, I pick myself up and stand nose to nose with her. Harriet tries to pull me away, but I won’t be moved, not today. “You don’t scare me, Niamh,” I say.

“Well, you should be terrified,” she says.

I shrug. “If you have to hurt me, that’s your choice.”

But how I react is mine. And I won’t cower to anyone anymore.

47 RONAN

I’m pacing a Zone Three alleyway waiting for Jude, who’s late. I check my pad for the third time. Only a meager light steals its way between the apartment blocks. It’s as dingy as ever. I can’t believe Bea spent her whole life here.

“The senate meeting ran over,” Jude says, appearing at the end of the alleyway. He strides toward me and we shake hands. “Were you followed?”

“Two stewards. I lost them in Zone Two,” I say. “Is Bea okay? What about Wendy?” I’ve been awake all night worrying, and even though Niamh knows what’s happening, I can’t ask her. She hasn’t spoken to me since they found Bea and the Resistance in my studio. I’m just lucky she hasn’t informed on me.

“Lance Vine proposed a private trial and public execution for Wendy and everyone found in the studio. No one opposed.”

“So we’ll stop it,” I say.

Jude takes off his hat and scratches his head. “I have a family, Ronan. I didn’t come here to plot a rescue with you, I came to tell you that . . . I’m out. I’ve given the Resistance members I was keeping in my house airtanks and access to an empty apartment in Zone Two.” He is unapologetic.

How can a man charged with protecting the pod and leading the army give up so easily? I stare at him, wavering between anger and disappointment. “But the soldiers you’re training?”

“I’m discharging them tomorrow for ineptitude.”

“How can you be such a coward?” I say. I thought he’d changed.

But he isn’t hurt by my words. He puts his hat back on and straightens it. “When you’re a father, maybe you’ll understand.”

“Well, I’m not giving up,” I say.

He turns to leave when a siren whistles through Zone Three and winds its way down the alleyway. Jude punches the wall. “NO!” he shouts.

“What’s happening?” I ask. Instinctively, I take the gun I have hidden in the band of my pants and release the safety catch.

Jude pulls me along the alleyway. “It’s the border alarm,” he says. “The pod is under attack.”

Jude pings all the soldiers, Resistance and non-Resistance, and gathers them in the gymnasium. With their uniforms on, I can hardly tell them apart. The walls vibrate with uneasy chatter.

Jude puts his lips to the megaphone. “The pod is under attack. We don’t know from whom, but we have to pull together.”

Robyn has returned from The Outlands and is standing beside me. “Another joke of a war. I’m sick of it.” She’s lost weight and has dark rings beneath her eyes.

“I think this is the real thing,” I tell her. I wish it weren’t. I wish we could have used these recruits to change things in the pod instead of sending them out to fight a war that was never theirs.

“Many of you are inexperienced and scared. I would be, too, but you have to be strong. We are all going to keep it together and . . . live.” He pauses. “Are you ready?” He is shouting, trying to rally the troops like he did at The Grove. The gymnasium crackles with silence.

They aren’t close to ready. Not that it matters. We’re going out to fight. Ministry and Resistance together.

Now.

48 QUINN

The pod is still only this tiny speck in the distance when we hear blasts across the city. The horizon’s clouding over with silver-gray dust. My gut wrenches. If we’re too late, I’ll never forgive myself. Never.

“We have to move faster,” I say, and Alina picks up the pace, jumping over unstrung guitars and a ton of other trash.

I wish I could run faster. Silas and Alina keep stopping so I can catch up, which isn’t all that helpful because as soon as I do, they move on again and I never get to rest. Not that I want to. I have to get to the pod. I have to tell my father what’s happening and find Bea.

As we get closer, the pod becomes clearer, and so do the recycling stations connected to it. “They’re still working,” I call out. Four steam clouds spiral into the sky from the tops of the stations.

Alina stops. “What?” She pushes her hair out of her face with both hands. Her ears are red from the cold, but she’s also sweating from the run.

I’m too out of breath to repeat myself. I point and she nods, taking off after Silas. But no sooner has she caught him up than they both stop and stare. The air is vibrating. It can’t be. But it is.