would’ve died. A new society would’ve emerged, and Vi would have been long gone.
But I’d still be sixteen, my body frozen in time while my mind advanced through decades of endless darkness and excruciating heat.
I imagined myself with hair down to my waist, and a beard to match, when I finally took my first step outside the capsule. Of course, I wouldn’t even be able to walk, because the muscles in my legs would have atrophied from disuse.
Oh, the dreams I dreamed.
In each one, Vi was long dead. It was merciful, really. I didn’t want to think of her struggling along in a crap world. Without me.
An Insider in Rancho Port rescued me from the capsule. He brought me up from the depths of hell and told me to run until I met the ocean. He said a boat would be waiting to take me to Fort Houston, and I’d be able to recover there under the protection of Director Ramirez. I knew Ramirez, and I knew how to run fast.
The way the man spoke stirred a memory inside my muddy mind. “Who are you?” I asked, though my voice was still silenced. But the man understood.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter who I am.”
“Were you part of my Resistance in the Badlands?” I asked.
“You don’t have much time.” He paled as several voices shouted. “Go!”
I went. I ran as hard as I could. My legs were weak from disuse, and I stumbled over patches of grass on the uneven ground. I fell with the first round of taser fire, but I wasn’t hit.
“Xander Bower,” a voice boomed. “I should’ve known you’d be the one to deceive me.”
I stayed down, incredulous that Zenn’s father had released me from the capsule. That, and I recognized the fury-lined voice chastising him.
Thane Myers had found me again. My heart pumped double time with fear, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaping up. Across the distance, my eyes met Thane’s. He looked toward me as guards flowed around him. I saw a guard pick up Xander Bower, his bright, blue eyes open and staring into nothingness.
I spun and ran, but not fast enough. There is no escape from the haunting blue eyes that belong to both Zenn and his father.
“Hey, you alive?” Raine asked, nudging me with her booted toe.
I made an indistinguishable noise. The ocean rocked me, and I didn’t want to open my eyes and release that comfort yet.
“Dinner’s on,” she added. “And Vi’s looking for you.” She started to move away, her boots making sucking sounds in the surf.
“Raine,” I said.
“Yeah?”
I pushed myself up on my elbows. “How well did you know Zenn?” Raine froze with her back to me, her shoulders very, very still. She remembered almost everything about her life now. Surely she could tell me what Zenn had been like in Freedom.
“Not that well,” she said, her voice guarded.
“Did he ever talk about his father?”
Raine turned toward me. “No, never.” She sat just out of reach of the waves. “I lived with Vi for months.”
I wasn’t sure what she really was trying to say. “I heard you were the one who woke her up.” But when I studied her, I found the true meaning behind her words. She’d lived with Vi, and that’s how Raine knew about me. “Thank you for not draining me.” My voice barely left my throat, but it was loud enough.
“Thank you for coming to get me before I could drain Thane.”
I stood up and waded to shore. “How’s Gunn?”
“He woke up about an hour ago,” Raine said. “He’ll survive.”
“He’s tough,” I said. “I need to talk to him.”
“I think you better find Vi first,” Raine said, pulling herself to her feet.
“I’m sorry about your dad,” I said, and I meant it.
Raine paused. “Thank you,” she said simply, and left.
I returned to my troubling thoughts about Xander Bower. Why was Zenn’s dad in Rancho Port? He’d worked with Blaze before he became Assistant Director of Seaside. I’d heard of Xander Bower’s fame, mostly from Zenn before he quit the Resistance the first time.
After Zenn defected, Xander kept our transportation hub alive in the Goodgrounds. Then his older son joined the Resistance, and they both requested new assignments out east. I’d let Indy take care of it, as I’d just started training with Ty in Seaside. My chest filled with bitter pain as my mind flashed with memories.
Ty and Pace and how they used to smile and hold hands. Both now gone.
Zenn, defected again.
Indy, lost before I had a real chance to say good-bye.
Everyone in the Resistance had a list of people they’d lost. Mine was particularly long, and I didn’t know how many more names would be added before this war ended.
Terror edged out excitement when I saw Vi walking toward me. Walking didn’t adequately describe her movement. Stomping was a more accurate word.
“I hate it when you disappear,” she said. “Would it have killed you to say, ‘Hey Vi, I’m going to swim out fifty miles into the water, then float back to shore. Don’t freak out, okay?’ ” She cocked her hip and crossed her arms.
I couldn’t help it—I laughed. This didn’t help her anger, and she threw her hands into the air and stormed back down the beach.
I gathered my clothes and rejoined the group, who had set up camp where the land met the sand. And by camp, I mean a huddled heap of backpacks. I wiggled in between Vi and Raine, ignoring my girlfriend’s heavy sigh of annoyance.
“For the record,” I said to her, my voice low, “I’m going to swim out fifty miles in the water, then float back to shore again in the morning. Don’t freak out, okay?”
She slammed her fist into my thigh. A strangled grunt tore through my throat on impact. “That’s nice,” I said.
“For the record,” she said, not bothering to keep her voice down. “You infuriate—”
I didn’t let her finish that sentence. She’d regret it later, and besides, I liked kissing her when she was mad. It always made her less-mad.
Except for this time. She actually bit my lip.
“Dammit,” I said, putting my fingers to my mouth and tasting the stickiness of blood on my tongue. I leaned closer. “Are you really that mad?”
“Yes, Jag, I’m really that mad.” Vi got up and stormed away, leaving me gaping at Raine.
“What the hell happened while I was swimming?”
Raine edged closer to Gunner, and I wanted to voice-control them both to sleep. “You went swimming,” she said.
“We’ve established that.”
Raine glanced at River, and I almost commanded them to tell me the truth. Girls had this thing about protecting each other. This girl rule had frustrated me in the Resistance, just as it did now. “Someone tell me.”
“She was left here alone, and she didn’t know where you were,” Raine said. “She doesn’t like being alone.”
I wanted to argue that Vi had just left the group to be alone, but I didn’t. “Thanks,” I said, standing and following Vi into the darkness.
She’d tried to hide from me, but her feelings were too strong. I found her leaning against a rock, staring out over the moonlit water.
“I’m sorry,” I said right up front, hoping to avoid getting punched and/or bit again.
