Dom shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous.’
‘Yes, it is, and that’s why we’re both doing it.’
Besides, it was her idea.
‘Come on, Anya...’
She folded her arms. ‘Make me.’
He gave her a withering stare, but Anya stayed put.
‘I guess we’re at an impasse.’ She stared ahead of her. ‘Let’s go. June needs us to get in there.’
Dom shook his head and rolled up the window. ‘Okay, but hold on to something. The lack of seatbelts in this thing will be a problem if we meet resistance.’
Her hands started to sweat, thanks to the kick of adrenaline pumping through her body. She wiped them on her combats and gripped the door handle. Dom stuck the truck into first and floored it, quickly shifting up through the gears. The truck swapped the dirt road for a paved one that marked the main entrance into Praesidium. The Business District was to the left and accommodation to the right, separated by a deep strip of grass that created a buffer between the city and the real world.
Dom increased the speed as he aimed for the entrance. It would either have a barrier or it wouldn’t.
Anya’s breaths shortened to fine points. If this didn’t work, little would protect them from the kickback. Dom couldn’t have looked more nervous if he tried. He kept his wide-eyed gaze ahead. Anya rattled out a breath as the entrance grew closer.
The wheels of the truck hit a bump designed to slow vehicles down. The truck skidded to the left, and their speed slowed. Dom righted the truck and launched it at the open entrance. A screech built up in Anya’s throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact.
But it never came. She opened her eyes to see Dom still driving. Along the central road. Inside Praesidium. They had made it. A laugh bubbled out of her. Dom screeched to a halt next to a tag machine just past the Business District. Anya checked behind her to see the other trucks filing in. The barrier was down. She looked ahead of her, her chest still tight with stress.
The place was too quiet. Where was the welcome party?
‘This doesn’t feel right,’ she said, huffing out her stress.
Dom loosened his stiff posture, but only a little. ‘No it doesn’t.’
A knock on the window startled them both. It was Jacob.
They climbed out of the truck. Three dozen armed soldiers filled the spaces between the vehicles.
Anya and Dom gathered with Charlie, Vanessa, Jacob and Carissa.
‘Where’s the resistance?’ asked Dom.
Jacob shook his head. ‘I thought there’d be an army waiting for us.’
Anya had dreaded this moment, but to get revenge on the Collective, this was where she needed to be. If her parents’ deaths had pushed her out of reality, Jason’s death had pushed her back into it.
In truth, that had already happened with the return of her memories from Arcis. Knowing the Collective had forced her through nine floors of hell, all while she had to watch her friends die, was reason enough to make it pay.
But standing in this city, she felt as empty as the city looked.
Dom handed her a weapon. One of the revolvers, for defensive purposes only. He carried a more lethal weapon: the Disruptor. But it only worked by stealing the power from the machines. Without any power present, the gun was currently empty.
Sheila, June, Imogen, Kaylie and Thomas got out of their respective trucks. Kaylie instructed her team to set up a defensive arc.
Anya walked along the central road, putting a little distance between them and the trucks. A high wall stood to one side of them; the entrance to a large, three-tiered accommodation block lay to the other. It felt strange to be back in the city while free.
To her left, inset into the wall, was the door they’d used to escape from the underground tunnels. In the distance, a large, white building sat taller than the rest.
‘It’s the Learning Centre,’ said Carissa.
Anya frowned. ‘What’s in there?’
‘There’s a download/upload room. But it’s also where the Collective live, or rather where its program does.’
Anya examined the building at the heart of Praesidium. With no sun and no barrier, the plain, white exterior looked duller than she remembered. In fact, the entire place looked flat.
‘Do you think they’re still in there?’
Carissa shrugged. ‘I can’t sense them.’
Jacob came to stand next to her. He cupped his hand over his eyes and looked into the distance. ‘That doesn’t mean anything, miss. You’ve disconnected yourself from the Collective.’
‘But I can still hear Quintus.’
That was news to Anya.
Jacob looked down at her, apparently not shocked by the news. ‘Was it your memory or was it him?’
Carissa blushed. ‘I don’t know. It sounded new.’
‘What did he say? Tell me.’
Carissa shifted on the spot, as if uncomfortable. ‘He wants me to come home. But he said that same thing to me on the battlefield, so I can’t be sure it wasn’t a replay.’
Jacob patted her on the back. ‘It’s okay.’ He frowned at the Learning Centre. ‘We’ll be okay.’
At one time, Anya would have blamed the Copies for everything. But the more time she spent with Carissa, the more she saw that the girl had only been following orders. Humans were to blame for this mess. They’d blindly followed the Collective inside Essention. Anya had permitted it to enrol her in Arcis and she’d lost her memories because of it. If humans followed less and took action more, perhaps this world would be a different one today.
She lifted her gun, glad to have chosen a side that cared enough to fight.
But still, the empty city chilled her. Their group walked towards the Learning Centre. Anya glanced at the accommodation block to their right and the
