Chaos (23 page)

Fangs clamped over my arm, sending a shock of pain screaming up to my shoulder. I opened my mouth to cry out, but a clawed hand closed around my throat. I kicked my captor, but he deflected and gestured to two others. They grabbed my arms between their teeth and pulled, a grisly game of tug-of-war. A rending agony knifed down the center of my body as the Mazikin in front of me raised his claws, preparing to tear me to shreds.

Suddenly, the world heaved and shook, knocking us all to the ground. Rocks rained down, and the Mazikin who’d had my arms let go, yelping. I began to crawl toward the open square, stones hitting my back and legs. Then one hit me hard in the head. The cement beneath me was churning like ocean waves, making it impossible to get to my feet.

Arms closed around my chest and dragged me forward. My feet skimmed along the ground as Takeshi said, “I think our work here is done, Lela.”

We were both thrown to the roiling ground as a fissure opened below the archway next to the platform and streaked its way across the square, creating a five-foot-wide chasm separating us from our vehicle. Malachi and Ana were already on top of the loader, though Malachi looked like he was about to leap off again to get to me.

“Get up!” shouted Takeshi as I felt a strange sensation.

Water. It gushed up out of the fissure at an incredible rate, flowing over my hands and soaking my knees. I shoved myself up and held Takeshi’s hand as we jumped over the widening fissure, splashing onto the cement and stumbling against the side of the front loader. The engine coughed and roared as Treasa began to back it up. Takeshi pushed me up the ladder, and Malachi grabbed my outstretched hand and pulled, wincing as he saw the torn places on my forearms. He laid me down on top of the loader and helped Takeshi up as a massive explosion sent a shock wave over the square. I raised my head to see a huge geyser of water rocket up from the ruins of the Bone Palace and hit the dome.

“Go!” I screamed to Treasa.

She slammed her foot against the pedal. We shot out of the square and headed west as the river rained down.

TWENTY-FOUR

T
REASA WAS A TOTAL
badass behind the wheel, crashing through anything that got in our way as we raced back to the Smith’s compound. Malachi held me close, doing what he could to heal my arms as we huddled on the top of the front loader. Takeshi was doing the same for Ana, but her wound was much worse—she’d nearly been disemboweled by Mazikin claws. She was pale, and so was he. He’d buried his face against her neck as he murmured to her, his desperation palpable. We’d have to fight to get to the gates, and she was barely conscious. The grenade belt was coiled around his arm, and I tugged it away from him and counted—we still had five left.

Malachi watched my shaking hands as I stroked the little spheres. “Do you think it worked? Do you think the people will head south?” he asked, bowing his head over mine as the deflected river water poured down.

“If our words didn’t do it, the river will.” It was a few inches deep on the roads now, flowing south. The force of the water hadn’t overcome the thick dam—instead, it had found another route, bubbling up and into the city. With nowhere else for the water to go, the place would fill up. We might have to swim to the gates.

Treasa motored back through the barricade and hit the horn as she shot along the road where the rest of the vehicles were parked. We were to be the lead, and the rest of the drivers shifted into gear, the fighters holding on to the sides, weapons at the ready.

The Smith’s voice boomed over us—he had a bullhorn pressed to his lips as his vehicle, another one with a plow attached, pulled away from the courtyard fence. “Help anyone who needs a ride. Kill any Mazikin who attempt to stop us. We only get out of this if we’re together!” He took a noisy breath and then repeated his message in two other languages before handing the bullhorn to Nazir, who repeated it in a few others. Already, other humans were flocking to the vehicles, which were sagging toward the flooded streets as their loads grew heavier. We’d never be able to take everyone. I could only hope the rest would follow after.

Malachi pulled his hands away from my arms. “They’re a little better,” he said as water dripped from his hair and into my eyes.

“They’re a lot better,” I said, flexing my fingers.

He ran a finger down my cheek. “You know why.”

I nodded, leaning in for a quick, devastatingly sweet kiss. I trusted his love completely. All I wanted was a future where I could explore that with him, and now it felt within reach. “How are you feeling?”

“Strong enough for one more fight,” he said as we lurched forward again.

I hung on while Treasa plowed through yet another barrier. The Mazikin were scarce here, but the humans were swarming. The Smith’s people grabbed the injured and heaved them onto the carts, calling to the others in at least a dozen languages, urging them to follow. The direction was hardly necessary; the water was rolling in waves over ankles and lapping at cloaks, threatening to weigh people down. One man sprinted toward us from the south, away from the gates. He waved his arms, and Treasa slowed enough for him to grab our ladder. He had a cloak over his head and grimy hands that grasped the rungs. “English?” he yelped as Malachi heaved him up to join us. The man pushed his hood back. He was covered in mud and soot, maybe having come up from the mines, and immediately threw himself down on his belly to keep from sliding off the side. “Name’s Keller,” he said. “Heard someone tellin’ everyone to run south!”

“That was us. What’s going on up there?” I couldn’t see more than a few blocks ahead. The light at the gates was so bright that it was blinding.

“The beasts have put up roadblocks and barricades. They’re not letting anyone through,” Keller replied, his head low over the bar we were clinging to. “No humans allowed beyond the edge of the mining zone. You might want to turn back.”

“Not a chance,” Treasa yelled.

“The mining zone ends about ten blocks north of the gates,” Takeshi shouted over the belching of the engines. He was stroking Ana’s hair. She was starting to come around, but she still didn’t look good.

Takeshi looked at the grenades in the belt, which I’d slung over my shoulder, and raised his eyebrows. “You’re the ranking officer. What do you want to do?”

I exhaled slowly, reminding myself that I had been Captain once before. I could do this. “We have to get as close as we can before we use the grenades,” I said. “We only have five, and we’re going to need at least one to blow the gates.” We were streaking by the jagged rock formations that marked the mining zone, heading for a light so bright it was now impossible to look at directly.

Treasa crossed an intersection where the water was only an inch or so deep. “There they are,” she shouted, pointing over the wheel at a brown mass of bodies on the other side of a roadblock.

“One block to the end of the mining zone!” Takeshi yelled back. “Get ready!”

We all drew weapons, and I handed one of mine to Keller. Treasa accelerated. “Hold on tight!” she called, looking over her shoulder. She did a double take when she saw Keller.

He grinned at her—then lunged forward and plunged his knife into her neck.

Treasa arched back helplessly as Keller bared his teeth, revealing his bright-red tongue. He shoved Treasa’s lifeless body off the edge of the truck before any of us could stop him. She disappeared beneath our wheels even as we called her name. The loader immediately slowed, then lurched forward as the vehicle behind us crashed into our rear, followed by echoing crashes all the way down the line. I threw myself at Keller as he tried to wrench the wheel and take us off the road. He’d been too covered in soot for us to see the truth until it was too late—he was one of the Tanner’s people and belonged to the city. He didn’t want to be freed.

I wrapped my arm around his neck in a stranglehold, but he jammed his blade back, forcing me to let go or lose an eye. Distantly, I was aware of Takeshi and Malachi shouting at each other about getting Treasa back on the vehicle, and of loping brown figures emerging from the buildings on either side of us and hanging out of the windows. This was an ambush, but since we were the lead vehicle, we had to get through or everyone else would be stuck. I jerked my knee up and hit Keller in the belly, then nailed him with an elbow strike to the jaw as he bent double. I tried to shove him over the side, but the asshole hung on, kicking at me.

I drew a knife and stabbed him in the leg. He toppled over the front of the loader, his arms waving.

Behind me, Takeshi shouted a warning as Mazikin jumped from the windows and onto our front loader. Ana was blinking and starting to stir, but she was still vulnerable. I wanted to protect her, but I had to get us moving again. With my shoulders hunched, protecting my neck against the claws I expected any second, I forced my way into the driver’s seat and glanced behind me. Malachi was clinging to the side of the loader, and Takeshi was on board, Treasa lying at his feet next to Ana. Somehow, Takeshi had unscrewed the bar we’d been holding on to and was swinging it like a staff. It took only a few seconds for him to clear the top of the loader, sending Mazikin flying in all directions. As he knelt to grab Malachi, I pressed the gas and moved us forward, crunching over Keller’s body. If we stayed still any longer, it was clear we were going to be overrun.

The Smith was bellowing into his bullhorn, telling everyone to go south, away from the water, but there were Mazikin crowded at a barrier a block in front of us. Their cloaks bore black triangles, and they were wielding blades. I slipped the grenade belt over my head and handed it back to Malachi. “Throw one to clear the way,” I said to him.

He pulled a grenade from its pouch, then got to his knees, trying to stay balanced as I bumped forward on the potholed road. He stared at a spot beyond the barrier and, with a smooth arcing motion, hurled the grenade into the air.

It landed quietly in the churning crowd, and Malachi began to count. “Slow down, Lela!” he shouted between numbers. “You’ll get there too—”

The explosion rattled my teeth. Screeches and shrieks and angry roars came from the smoky haze up ahead, but I merely squinted and hit the gas, bumping over Mazikin bodies toward the bright light ahead. The water below our tires was rising again, and far behind us, the deep booms of buildings collapsing continued to shake the ground. The whole city was caving in on itself, falling into the maze of caverns belowground, and our trailing vehicles could get caught in the destruction if I didn’t find a way through it fast.

I ran over dozens of Mazikin before they got smart and began to dodge out of the way. We were within five or six blocks of the gates now. Takeshi and Malachi were fighting off Mazikin who kept leaping onto the sides of the front loader. Ana was up, too, lying on her stomach and hurling knives at the charging beasts. But Treasa was completely lifeless, her body destroyed. One look at her told me there was nothing of her left to protect. Malachi had positioned himself near my back to prevent any of the Mazikin from climbing up the side and taking me down. At block four, I had him toss another grenade to clear the way again. I stomped on the gas pedal before the smoke had even cleared.

Hugely stupid move. The explosion had hit a weak spot in the road and created a deep crater, and before I could swerve, we hit it at top speed. The impact crunched me against the steering wheel and threw all my passengers to the ground as the loader flipped on its side. My shoulder hit the cement. I couldn’t draw breath, and by the time I managed to get to my feet, I was behind a wall of people. Ana, Takeshi, and Malachi, plus several of the Smith’s men, were all trying to push forward through the vicious Mazikin to get to the gates. Over the noise of battle, I could hear a growling voice over a bullhorn.

“It’s Ibram,” shouted Malachi. “He says to give up or we’ll all be gutted and stashed in a cavern to rot.”

The Smith shouted back, standing high on his vehicle as his people circled him, desperately trying to hold back the Mazikin who had climbed the sides of his loader. He was yelling encouragement in as many languages as he knew, but the Mazikin were closing in. We were only two blocks from the gates, and now I could see the rows of cloaked Mazikin barring the way. Ibram stood in front of them with his bullhorn, snarling in Mazikin. His fanged smile was visible, even from a distance.

“Keep pushing forward,” Ana screamed, her voice cracking as Mazikin overwhelmed the Smith’s loader. They tore the bullhorn from his hands, and horror filled his eyes as one of the monsters locked its jaws onto his throat. He toppled backward, even as his people fought to save him and themselves. His voice fell silent, and Ibram filled the gap with his hateful growling. Frightened faces turned to me, to us, to the Guards, searching for a signal. I spun and looked toward the light, so close but out of reach.

“We can’t win,” I whispered to myself. We had no choice but to try, though. The people behind us had to keep moving or they’d be caught by the water, crushed by the collapsing buildings, maybe trapped for eternity. We couldn’t surrender.

Ana must have agreed. Clutching at her barely healed stomach, she shouted, “Malachi, throw another grenade!”

“We’re too far,” he called out as he jammed his knife through the skull of an oncoming Mazikin. “We only have two left, and if I miss—” He stopped abruptly and looked over his shoulder at me, then fell back. The human fighters in front closed the gap to keep trying to push ahead. Takeshi was still swinging his staff, holding the creatures off while Ana slashed weakly with her knives. But there were so many Mazikin in front of us that we’d reached our limit. We couldn’t move forward. And now that the Smith had been overwhelmed, more were closing in from behind. Malachi’s hand closed over my shoulder, and then he swung me close. “I can get us out.”

“What? You said it was too far, too much of a risk—”

He pulled my face to his, his kiss hard and searching. It was over quickly, and when I looked down, he had our last two grenades in his hands. “Malachi—”

“I love you,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine, so close our noses touched. “I’m in love with your strength, your determination, the way you never
ever
give up. These people need those things from you now.” He closed his eyes for the barest second, then kissed me again and smiled—a beautiful smile. “And they need this from me. This is my atonement, Lela. This is what I was meant for.”

He let me go and tossed one of the grenades high in the air, landing it halfway between where we stood and the gate. Then he plunged forward into the Mazikin horde, and never in all the times I’d seen him fight had he been more deadly. With his short, sharp, devastating movements, he downed Mazikin after Mazikin, breaking bones, slashing with brutal accuracy and decisive strength, moving so quickly that none of them could stop him.

I started to follow, but the explosion knocked me back, and I landed on Nazir. He blinked at the sky for a moment before his hands closed around my arms. We shoved up to our feet. My ears were ringing, but my vision was clear.

Within the haze, a single figure ran toward the locked gates, into the knot of elite Mazikin defenders tasked with keeping that metal barrier closed at all costs. Malachi was nearly there, having cleared away most of the horde within a one-block radius, but the Mazikin he’d passed were chasing him. He was surrounded by at least thirty of them. Ibram had tossed his bullhorn aside and charged forward.

He landed on Malachi’s back, taking him down only feet from the gates. Takeshi, Ana, and I surged toward the Mazikin who were piling onto Malachi. A horrible sense of certainty washed over me as one of them raised its curving razor claws and slashed them down.

I don’t know if they ever hit home. The explosion ripped sound from my mind. Heat enveloped me as I watched in silent, terrible realization. Bodies tumbled through the air, and smoke billowed. My voice broke as I tried to call Malachi’s name. He’d set off the last grenade. Right there at the gates. In the midst of all the Mazikin. He had been right there. I crawled forward. All around me, people sprinted past. And when the smoke cleared, I saw smiles, eyes filled with hope. Ahead of me, beyond a smoking black crater, there was nothing but open space.