‘Reach out to me using your NMC and I’ll hear the connection.’
‘Can you hear my thoughts, Quintus?’
‘No, 173-C. Only your voice when you facilitate the connection.’
That settled her worry. It also explained why she’d been able to switch between speaking to the Inventor and Quintus on the battlefield without Quintus knowing.
She thought of something else. ‘Are there more Copies in the city, Quintus?’
‘Just the ones you encountered. We might be gone, but we still need to know the location of the Beyond.’
‘Why?’
‘So we may have our answers, 173-C. It’s been our purpose all along. It’s what we’ve all been working towards for months.’
For so long, Carissa had given her unwavering loyalty and trust to the unseen Collective. Yes, Quintus had tried to kill her friends, but he’d always protected her. Regardless, if the Collective wasn’t really gone and her NMC was still active, it could still terminate her, like in the old days.
She nodded.
‘Say it, 173-C. I need to hear you promise you’ll help.’
‘I promise, Quintus.’
Quintus sounded relieved. ‘I knew I could trust you, 173-C.’
The voice in her head vanished. Carissa ran back to the others. On the way, she dug out the sketch of her and a pencil she’d stolen from Thomas’ bag when he wasn’t looking. She scribbled something down on the back of her portrait. Concentrating hard on her picture, she didn’t see someone in front of her.
A pair of legs stopped her cold, causing a breath to rush out of her.
‘Steady there, miss. What are you doing back?’
She put a finger to her lips. All eyes were on her, including 148-C’s. She showed the page to the Inventor.
His lips moved as he read it. He gasped and passed it to Dom.
She replayed her own scrawl in her head. The last line stuck with her.
This is a trap.
16
Anya
Anya watched in confusion as Dom grabbed the piece of paper from Jacob.
He frowned at it, then looked at Carissa. ‘Are you sure?’
The girl nodded. Anya’s skin chilled. What was she sure of?
Without explaining, Dom pushed the others on.
‘Back to the medical facility now,’ he hissed in a low voice.
He grabbed Anya’s hand tightly and pulled her along.
She stumbled and almost dropped her gun. ‘What’s happening?’
Dom looked ahead of him. His jaw twitched—a sign he was stressed.
She stumbled alongside him, feeling like a naughty child being led to her room. Dom rarely got angry, but when he did it was for good reason. That’s why she didn’t stop him or demand answers. She allowed him to pull her along.
The grey exterior of the medical facility came into view. Dom pointed silently, covertly, for everyone to go back inside. Anya looked around her. Maybe there were Copies watching them. Or, worse, orbs. She clutched her gun tight, a difficult task with Dom gripping one of her hands. She tried to release it, to give her more control. But Dom gripped her with his super strong arm.
With a gentle sigh, she jogged along.
Vanessa and Thomas ran on ahead. Sheila and Imogen followed them, their guns raised too high to settle Anya’s nerves. She finally eased her hand out of Dom’s. He glanced at their parting hands, but nodded when she pointed to her gun. Jacob and Charlie shuffled along. Carissa and Jerome stayed with both of them. Rover popped his head up from behind a cluster of bushes. Then he came running and his mate followed. Carissa, who’d been terrified of these beasts once, regarded the sniffing pair with mild curiosity.
The Electro Gun slipped in Anya’s sweaty hands. Vanessa and Thomas made it to the double doors and disappeared inside. Charlie and Jerome followed. Ahead, the soldiers pushed the Copy prisoner towards the double doors. Sheila and Imogen waited by the doors for the others. When the Copy resisted, Sheila poked him in the back with her gun.
The tension around Anya made her hands sweat more. Still, she could only guess what was happening.
Jacob and Carissa idled by the door. Rover whined and nuzzled Jacob’s hand.
Carissa looked up at the father figure beside her. ‘Can we bring them inside, Jacob?’
Jacob patted the wolf’s nose. His mate came in for the same attention. Both beasts whined with excitable energy.
‘No, miss. They’re too big.’
‘But we got Rover into the bunker after we escaped the city.’
Anya remembered it. They’d found solace in the basement of a nearby town while the city searched for them.
‘Will they protect us out here?’ said Anya.
‘I don’t know,’ said Jacob. ‘Rover will, but this one?’ He patted the other wolf’s head. ‘She might still be programmed to listen to the Collective. If it recalls her, she may turn on us.’
Everyone’s haste made sense now. Anya glanced around her nervously. ‘The Collective, it’s here?’
Dom looked around him, too, as though worried about who might be listening. ‘Quintus contacted Carissa just now.’ He glanced at the double doors. ‘We need to get off the streets.’
Jacob whispered in his wolf’s ear. Rover whined and nuzzled his hand.
‘Come on, miss. Rover and his mate will patrol for us outside.’
They hurried inside the medical facility. Anya’s spine stiffened at the thought of the Collective watching them. It was Arcis all over again. She’d spent three months in that place, being watched by a set of invisible beings. On the other side of the doors, her fear lessened. Dom and Jacob picked up a discarded chain from the floor and wrapped it around the handles of the door. Anya remembered that chain. During their escape, she and the others had found the door locked and guards ready to kill them. If it hadn’t been for her Copy medic, they might not be alive. Yasmin had not been so lucky that day.
Anya wondered if her Copy medic
