Enclave

everything as we moved in and out of the shadows, avoiding detection. I had been born in the dark. Once, torchlight was the brightest light I’d ever seen, so this felt like coming home.

I listened for them, eyes closed. They came after us in twos and threes. It was almost unfair. Because they searched for Fade, we made sure they found him, time and again. When I joined the fight, their expressions shocked me. You’d think they had never seen a girl who knew how to use a weapon before. Stupidity kills.

“How many was that?” Tegan asked, breathless.

Fade looked at me. “I counted ten. You.”

“Twelve. You forgot the two that tried to run.”

Tegan wiped off the club. I’d have to explain to her how the blood would damage the wood if we didn’t keep it clean. Later, if we could find supplies, I’d oil it.

“Then we’re more than halfway there,” she said.

My mouth tightened. “It’s not over. We have to teach Stalker a lesson.”

“Agreed.” Fade led us deeper into a knot of old machinery and rusted metal.

More Wolves came hunting for easy prey. Too bad they didn’t find it. I put a blade in one and then ran to retrieve it. Fade guarded me from a distance, as I pretended to be unaware of the boy sneaking up from behind. He got a knife for his trouble.

“My turn,” Tegan said. “I’ve been dreaming of this.”

We let her take the next two. She had good reason to be angry. It twisted me up when I thought of what she’d suffered — and just because she was born a girl. Wolves — and maybe all gangers — had a sickness in their brains that didn’t let them grasp the truth: People’s value came from their actions. In the enclave, the strong and the physically perfect survived, but if you were strong, you protected the weak until they had an opportunity to grow into their own power. At least, that was the ideal. In practice, it hadn’t always worked that way in our settlement, and maybe in other enclaves, like Nassau, it had been even worse.

But I saw none of that balance Topside, and it sickened me.

At last, by my count, we had only two left: Stalker and whomever he hunted with. Footsteps warned us of their approach. I motioned Tegan to stillness because she had the least skill in stealth. Though she frowned at me, she complied, pressing herself against the crate.

“He dropped Mickey and Howe,” a new voice said. “And there’s blood all over. I’ve lost count of the bodies. Maybe we should let this one go.” He sounded scared. And young. That bothered me until I remembered the gleeful way the brats had attacked me. It might even have been him that clocked me, and that possibility steeled my resolve. “Stalker, I don’t think there’s anyone else left. We still have the girl. That could be fun, huh?”

“The meat has teeth,” Stalker replied. He sounded serene and certain. “But we’ll take him.”

“That’s what you think,” I whispered.

Rush

Stalker was every bit as fierce as I’d first thought. But he was smarter too. When the three of us stepped out into his path, he stilled. He didn’t seem surprised to see me somehow. I’d guessed right about the test, but I couldn’t believe he had been willing to see so many of his own injured in order to assess my skills. It was certainly an honest challenge, but it carried such a high price that it told me a lot about his character.

Silk would’ve approved.

His pale gaze touched on Tegan and he shook his head. “You’re going to regret this.”

So he hadn’t foreseen her help. He’d thought I would best her and escape on my own. Good to know.

He winged a dagger at me and I dove wide. Instead of pressing the attack, as Fade charged toward him, he tapped his cub and they both took off running. I started to give chase, but Tegan snagged my arm.

“Don’t. He isn’t stupid.”

Deferring to her greater experience, I called to Fade, “Wait!”

After he returned, she added, “He won’t return until he has enough Wolves to deal with us. The hunt is over, and it’s a matter of pride now.”

My heart sank. “You mean there are more of them?”

“Those were just the cubs, who needed their first blood. The more experienced Wolves are guarding the den.”

Kind of like the naming day ritual, I guessed, except we didn’t hunt down some poor person to get our names. It came down to personal bravery instead. I didn’t like much of what I’d seen from the surface so far.

“Sounds like you have some experience with this,” he said.

She nodded. “We have one chance to get away. This is it.”

I glanced at Fade. “Can you find Pearl’s place from here?”

“I think so.”

Before we took off, I wrapped his arms; we didn’t want to leave a trail this time. It was a quick patch job, nothing more. Once we found a safe place to hide, he needed better care and some of Banner’s salve. But as usual, he didn’t show any pain.

It was dark again, thankfully, as we trekked through the city. I found the silence disconcerting. In the enclave, you could always hear human noises. Here, the buildings stood like dying sentinels, and I had the unnerving fear they could topple over at any second, crushing us in dust and rubble. Down below, I’d possessed the sense of being a valuable part of the community. Up here, I felt like nothing. The space filled me with disquiet, and I found it nearly impossible to believe this place had once been filled with people. I couldn’t imagine it.

At dawn, Fade found us shelter. The building bore no paint, and the front windows were shattered. That made it easy for us to enter, but I held myself ready in case we ran into trouble. Though the place smelled of animal musk, I saw no signs of human habitation. Whoever had broken in first, they were long gone.

“We’re far enough from the Wolves to risk a rest,” Tegan said. “With any luck, they’ve lost our trail in the time Stalker took getting the rest of them.”

“How much do we need to look over our shoulders?” I asked.

“He’s a good tracker, but we covered a lot of ground.”

My aching feet could attest to that. Walking Topside was nothing like traveling in the tunnels. Our cured-skin slippers worked down below, but here, we needed something heavier.

Fade said, “I hope it will be enough.”

After crawling carefully past the broken glass, we found a shop, similar to the one where we’d sheltered before, but bigger, with row after row of metal shelves. A huge blue and red sign hung sideways from the ceiling. Tilting my head, I read some of the letters: CAL’S MEGAMART. Wonderingly, I walked up and down between the shelves. Most had been picked clean, but I found a few tins. Those I slipped into my bag.

We split up by mutual consent to explore the place thoroughly. A few minutes later, when Tegan started yelling, I drew my daggers and sprinted in her direction. I stopped short when I realized she was excited, not scared. Clothing surrounded her. The styles and colors were bright and unfamiliar; the fabrics felt cool and slick. A few items tore when I picked them up, but others seemed to be in perfect condition.

“I haven’t had anything that was mine since the Wolves took me,” Tegan said, and her voice broke in a way that tugged at my heart.

“Find some that fit,” I suggested. “If these traders had food and clothes, then they probably have a bag around here for you too.”

Thanks to her work with the knife, I needed a spare outfit as well. Life in the enclave had taught me one didn’t need more than could be easily carried, but I didn’t like not owning anything to change into when what I wore got too dirty to bear. And I was getting there.

I prowled through the garments until I spotted a green combination of shirt and pants. The shirt had a metal strip running down the center; I yanked it up and down before deciding it was meant to make it easier to get dressed. The pants were as simple as I was used to with a simple string to tighten the waist. This would do; it was light, smooth and should be comfortable. The material was a little dusty, so I beat it against the wall; the slick,