William helped Max catch Hawk, and all three of them dropped into a hunch, the dog’s fire shooting over their heads. But the gap proved too much, and the creature fell, immobilised by its heavy landing.
Dog after dog attempted the jump. Every one of them came up short, falling with the others, an ever-growing pile on the stairs below. Many of them survived the fall, but not a single one attempted to climb the stairs again.
“How did you know you’d be safe?” William said.
Hawk shook his head. “I didn’t. But from how they climbed the stairs, I assumed they’d struggle with the jump.”
William nodded down at their retreat. “It looks like they know it too.”
“We’re not out of this yet,” Gracie said. “The dogs might be down, but we still have to think about the drones.”
Chapter 13
They might have been far from the ground on the tower’s roof, but at least they could see where they were heading. The moon shone as if it lit the way specifically for them. Exhausted, battered, and bruised, William ran with heavy steps, his mouth wide as he gasped for air.
The gaps between the buildings only stretched a few feet. Easy enough when they weren’t twenty stories up. Every jump sent a flip through William’s stomach. He focused ahead. Don’t look down!
They were several buildings away from the one they’d lost the dogs on. Every roof had a doorway leading back inside. Gracie chose this one to re-enter the dark stairwell.
As he had before, William took up the rear, Matilda directly in front. The hum of a drone froze him to the spot. The machine’s brilliant white torch pinned him where he stood. “Shit!”
The drone’s guns whirred. Red rings of heat. Bullets burst towards him.
Matilda grabbed William’s shirt and dragged him inside. The bullets hit the closing steel door. “What were you doing?” she said.
William’s words had left him. He shook his head. “I … I …” He should have run the second he’d heard them.
“Come on!” Matilda dragged him down the stairs with her, the stampede of the others at least three to four floors below. “We have drones on our tail,” she called.
Gracie’s reply snapped over the staccato beat of their descent. “Fuck it!”
The drones weren’t stupid. They’d find them. But with no windows in the stairwell, maybe they could still get away.
The open door let in enough light to reveal the floor number. They were down to the tenth floor when Gracie made her move. Like she’d done with the other buildings, she turned into a room with a balcony that faced an opposing tower. The one they’d only just crossed the roof of. Were it not for her leadership, they’d all be dead by now.
William leaped last. An easy jump, his arms windmilled during his moment of weightlessness. The glow from a drone shone down on him. Splinters of brickwork sprayed from where the bullets chewed into the wall.
Gracie led them to another stairwell. She took them down several more floors before they jumped across to another building.
This time, William, as the last runner, got clear with no sign of the drones.
A sparse layout of windows lit the next stairwell. Gracie led them past the ground floor to the end of the stairs in the basement. She charged through the final steel door. The others followed, but before William could run after them, Matilda subtly raised her hand in his direction. He knew her well enough to read her intention. Stay the fuck back!
The door closed on William, but not before he saw why she’d encouraged him to wait. Twenty to thirty boys, girls, men, and women in red uniforms sat around a fire in an underground space, ramps leading out of there. One of the men got to his feet. Thankfully, he only carried a baton. They could fight batons. But could they fight twenty to thirty of them?
William had to do something. He ran, retreating up the stairs. As he rounded the first bend back to the ground floor, a deep male voice echoed in the cavernous space. The man addressed his friends. “Well, well, what have we here, then?”
Chapter 14
William’s legs burned, sweat stung his eyes, and his lungs were so tight he had permanent stars swimming in his vision. But he climbed the stairs to the ground floor and out into the foyer.
His steps heavy, his feet slapping against the tiled floor, William stumbled towards the road outside and waited in the open. They’d taken so many twists and turns he’d lost his bearings. Had they gotten clear of the area filled with mines? He’d have to take his chances. The hum of the drones in the distance told him everything he needed to know. The swarm was on its way.
First, the low thrum of their engines, and then their bright white glow. As the whir grew louder and the lights shone brighter, William jogged along the front of the tower, watching over his shoulder for the drones.
And he’d timed it to perfection. The drones rounded the corner and fixed on him just as he turned and sprinted away. The collective buzz of the flying machines came after him. They flew in a V formation. At least fifteen to twenty of them, they had him in their sights.
By the time William had rounded the next bend, they’d halved his lead and were closing in fast. Another spray of bullets ate into a wall close to him.
His steps clumsy, his stomach knotted. The bullets chewed into the asphalt just feet behind him. William charged around the next corner. A slope led to the space beneath the tower. A ramp of some sort. He let gravity carry him down.
As one, the soldiers in red turned towards William, his own breathing the loudest thing in that moment.
The man who’d approached his friends threw his arms wide. He had black bags beneath his blue eyes and scars
