Abandon

Director Hightower waved a needle across my line of sight, but I didn’t feel him inject me. “This will help.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but I wasn’t in a position to argue.

“Now, Zenn, let’s chat, shall we?” The Director pressed a button and the bed brought me to a seated position. I found myself in a small room, a p-screen broadcasting my prognosis on the wall. A narrow window in the door showed a much larger lab outside my room.

Director Hightower sat across from me, his legs crossed and one hand stroking his beard.

I didn’t remember him having a beard. For some reason it struck me as funny. I laughed, though no sound came out. I didn’t see how I could “chat” while silenced. Director Hightower didn’t seem concerned. In fact, he smiled again. “Here’s how this is going to go,” he said.

* * *

I flew toward the beach, because that’s where Saffediene had said she’d wait. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, or how long the “chat” with Director Hightower had lasted. I did know the sun was halfway through the sky, and I did see three jagged lines had been carved into the sand on the beach. If connected, they’d make a Z. I believed Saffediene had drawn them. Sure enough, within seconds of landing, she launched herself at me, crying and talking and hugging.

I held on to her, afraid I might collapse if I didn’t. My throat hurt from the silencer. My brain hurt from the talk with Director Hightower.

But nothing hurt when Saffediene formed her mouth to mine. Nothing at all. For once I didn’t think. I just let my body do what it wanted.

And it wanted to kiss Saffediene Brown.

* * *

We arrived at the safe house in Grande to find it empty. It appeared the hideout had been evacuated in a hurry.

“How long was I gone?” I asked.

“A day and a half,” Saffediene said. “I told Thane I’d wait for you. He didn’t say they’d be going anywhere else.” She frowned as she released my hand and moved into the abandoned room. “Why would they leave us behind?”

“Jag doesn’t operate that way. He’s forever forging ahead.” I followed her into the hideout, closing the door behind me. We made our way to the war room, where Saffediene trailed her fingers over the table.

“We lost a lot of people,” she said. “Thane said our rescue teams were annihilated. The maintenance crew met resistance, but Jag managed to get some of the Insiders out of Twelve. The tech team didn’t even make it out of the orchards.”

“Pace?” I asked.

She shook her head, tears falling. “Indy,” she said, her voice shaking. “They didn’t make it out of the city. We don’t know where they are.”

My chest tightened. I swallowed back the emotion, wondering if I had the strength to carry on. To do what needed to be done. Director Hightower’s words rang in my ears: You have two choices, Zenn.

Pace didn’t have two choices. Not anymore.

“Gunner?” I asked.

Again, Saffediene shook her head. “Not sure.”

“Thane?”

“He made it out. He waited with me the longest. Said he’d do what he could for us.”

Which was nothing. Director Hightower had been clear on his feelings for Thane. Don’t let him trick you, Zenn. The man hasn’t spoken the truth in a decade.

But I hadn’t either.

“Vi?” I asked next, scared of the answer but needing to know.

“She took control of someone’s body and brought down an entire army before Hightower could retaliate.”

My mouth went dry. “Is she—?”

“She was unconscious last time I saw her, but she was breathing.”

I sighed with relief, even though taking control of someone else’s body was crazy-talented in a crazy-creepy way.

I crashed into a chair and hung my head in my hands. With my eyes closed, the world felt heavier. Director Hightower’s words looped through my head. You could be Director, Zenn. Big things are happening here. Are you sure you’re on the right side?

The right side, the right side, the right side.

“Saffediene, what’s the right side?” I asked.

The chair next to me squeaked as she sat down. She didn’t answer immediately, and I didn’t move my head from my hands, but somehow, being with her relaxed me.

“I think the right side is the one that feels like home,” she said. “Like you’d be welcomed back no matter what you’ve done, no matter when you show up.”

I scrubbed my hands through my hair. “Should I let Director Hightower recruit me?”

“I don’t know, Zenn. You said you couldn’t go undercover again.” She sighed. “Besides, what will you do? Live it up in Rise One, eating stacks of toast and waiting for the end?”

I pressed my palms to the tabletop. “It’s better than waiting for the end in a cave, eating rations from a pouch.”

“Is it?” She stood up and paced over to the window. I watched her unbraid her hair and cross her arms. Tension knotted her muscles, and I wanted nothing more than to erase it.

I joined her at the window. “I don’t know what to do,” I whispered.

She turned toward me, her mouth set into an angry line. “That’s not what you told me when you recruited me.”

“Remind me what I said.”

“You said we could win. You said that a functioning government wasn’t necessarily better than living freely. That there was a better way to live than being brainwashed. You said I could choose. Everyone could choose. You said—” Her voice cracked.

I stood there, not sure what to do.

“Saffediene, don’t cry,” I finally said. I reached for her and drew her close. She buried her face in my chest and sobbed.

I did the same thing I’d done when Vi had had her mini-breakdowns. I simply held her and stroked her hair. Words weren’t needed. Only the physical presence of someone who cared.

Saffediene finally composed herself, wrapping her arms around me and holding on tight. Just as I started thinking about kissing her again, a crackling sound emanated behind me. Saffediene and I turned to find the table wavering with light.

Static confused the words coming over the transmission. The entire surface blazed with an image of a man. A fire burned behind him on the right, and smoke obscured everything on the left.

I tapped the table to open the communication portal. “Repeat, please.”

The man in the destroyed city threw a panicked look over his shoulder. He leaned closer and his mouth moved. All that came through the feed was, “. . . demolished . . . Baybridge is in . . . evacuate to . . . Darke.”

“Baybridge,” Saffediene whispered.

“One of our strongest cities,” I said. “Starr was there.” Had I lost another friend?

“I’m checking Castledale,” she said, pressing her fingers to the table. Another of our major cities, with an ultra-sympathetic Director. Had General Darke destroyed it too?

The feed switched from the smoky, chaotic city of Baybridge to the absolute stillness of Castledale. Not a soul moved in the street. No one flew in the skies; the train sat dormant. The buildings were various shades of blue and gray that didn’t seem natural.

“Weird,” Saffediene said. “It’s midafternoon. Where is everyone?”

“Can you rotate the feed? The buildings don’t look right.”