Judgement: The Undergrounders Series Book Three (A Young Adult Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction Thriller) (15 page)

"
H
ostiles spotted
!" one of the guards shouts down.

My gut twists.
They're here already!

The guards sound the warning horn in the watchtower. Within minutes, the barricade is crawling with activity. Undergrounders rush to take up their positions, their faces pinched with fear.

"Can you see who it is?" I yell up to the guard.

"Not yet." He peers through his binoculars for a few minutes. "It's Rogues!"

Trout and I exchange surprised looks.

"I can't believe they took out the Schutz Clones," Trout says.

I grimace. "They must have hiked all night. Get everyone into position."

"I'll lock Rocco up in the courthouse," Sven says. "We'll deal with him later."

I slide my gun from my shoulder and watch as two of the military clones march Rocco away. We could use his help now, but I can't trust him after what happened. Not to mention the fact that if Viktor or Dimitri run into Rocco there'll be war on both sides of the barricade.

Blackbeard strides over, his features rigid. "The riders and Undergrounders are ready. Most of the city has turned out to help."

"No one fires until I give the command," I say. "We can't afford to waste bullets until they're within range."

Blackbeard moves off down the barricade issuing clipped orders to his men. I join Trout and Sven beneath the guard tower and peer through the twisted steel and concrete at the ant-like figures in the distance. I rest the barrel of my gun on a tangled piece of metal and breathe in and out as I line up my sight. They're advancing slowly for an attacking force–too slowly. As they edge closer I can tell some of them are injured. I push down a repulsive thought. Surely they're not coming to us for refuge.

"White flag aloft!" a guard shouts down from the tower. "Hold your fire!"

I scrunch up my eyes and peer through the barricade. Minutes go by before I make out a long, white strip tied to a stick, fluttering in the cool breeze. Or maybe someone's waving it back and forth. It's impossible to tell without binoculars from this distance. My brain races to make sense of it. Is it a ruse to get inside the city? Or do the Rogues really want to surrender to us?

"Do you think The Ghost's dead?" I ask.

Trout throws me an uneasy look. "I don't know, but I don't like it. Knowing them, they're up to something."

I study the figures as they move closer and clamber over the debris. A small group, thirty Rogues at most. The losses at the Craniopolis must have been substantial. Unless this is some kind of trick and the rest of them are hiding somewhere.

"They're almost within range," Sven says, keeping his eyes forward. "What do you want to do?"

I smooth a few strands of hair out of my face. What I want to do is rid us of the Rogues once and for all. If we let them through the gate, they become our problem all over again. But I can't stoop to killing anyone carrying a white flag.

"We'll hear them out," I say.

Sven nods and walks off to spread the word.

I grip Trout by the sleeve when I spot The Ghost limping along to the right of the pack. "I can't believe he got out of there alive."

"I'm more shocked that he might be here to beg for mercy," Trout says. "Maybe they didn't defeat the Schutz Clones. Maybe they fled."

My heart thunders in my chest. "What if the Schutz Clones are pursuing them?"

"Bad idea all around to open that gate," Trout says.

The riders and Undergrounders along the barricade fall silent as the Rogues approach.

"Stay alert," Sven says, walking up to us. "They might try and mow us down once they're within firing range."

"They don't look like they're in any state to attack," Trout says.

Thirty feet from the barricade the Rogues come to a halt. Several agonizing minutes of silence go by before The Ghost calls out. "We had a deal, Connolly. I helped you stage the Craniopolis and fool the Sweepers."

"The land you wanted is yours. Go for it," I yell back.

"You left me and my men to die at the hands of monsters," he calls back in a tone that tells me the land won't be enough anymore.

"You blew our cover," I say. "We had no choice but to flee. I set you free to fight, something you keep reminding me you're good at."

"We killed every last Schutz Clone in the docking station," The Ghost says. "You owe the wounded refuge."

"I don't owe you anything. You've got your freedom now."

"There is no freedom," The Ghost says. "The sweeps have resumed."

A ripple of fear shoots through me. A heavy silence descends over the barricade like a shroud. I've been dreading hearing those words. The Sweepers must have deployed the ships as soon as Iskra alerted the Megamedes.

"How do you know?" I yell through the barricade.

"Half my men were extracted on the way here." The Ghost pauses to catch his breath. "We're too weak to run. If you don't give us refuge we'll die out here."

Blackbeard appears at my side fingering his thick beard. "Do you think he's lying about the sweeps?"

"I don't know, but we can't take a chance," I say. "Send a message to Viktor and Dimitri to switch the Superconductor back on."

Blackbeard nods and flags down a couple of Undergrounders scuttling back and forth with ammunition.

I turn my attention back to The Ghost. "Tell your men to lay down their weapons. Then we'll talk."

The Ghost exchanges a few words with the Rogues. They disarm without hesitation and toss their weapons in a heap behind them, before shuffling the rest of the way to the barricade.

For a long moment, I stare out at their sunken eyes looking at me like I'm Caesar holding their fate in my hands.

I grit my teeth and give a thumbs up to the guards in the watchtower to open the gate. A familiar creaking breaks the silence. I keep one eye on the horizon to make sure there are no Schutz Clones bearing down on the city.

The Rogues traipse through the container gate exchanging wary looks with the Undergrounders who keep their weapons trained on them. The riders gallop past in the opposite direction to retrieve the discarded weapons.

I turn to Trout. "Go to the courthouse and warn the guards to keep Rummy out of sight. We can't risk The Ghost finding out he's here. Sven and I will take the injured Rogues to the clinic. It will give me an excuse to check up on Big Ed."

"I'll have my men take the rest of the Rogues to an unused building and set up a guard outside," Blackbeard says.

I give him a grateful nod. "Tell the guards in the watchtower to sound the alarm if they spot anyone else coming."

Sven and I separate out the Rogues who need medical attention and escort them to the clinic with the help of several military clones. I push open the door and peer inside. Hannah is at the far end of the room, mopping the floor, her hair neatly tucked beneath her cap.

"Hannah! We have wounded men," I call through the door to her.

She drops her mop and comes running, calling for assistance. Several other Undergrounders appear and help the Rogues into the examining rooms.

"Where's the doctor?" I ask.

"He went with Jakob to check up on Big Ed." Hannah throws me a look of apology. "Big Ed refused to let us move him to the clinic. He was pretty energetic about it too." She grins. "I think he's on the mend."

A smile breaks out across my face at the welcome news. It's a drop of hope in the sea of desperation we're swimming in. "Thanks for taking such good care of him," I say.

Hannah examines each of the Rogues, in turn, directing the Undergrounders to clean and bandage wounds as needed. I watch discreetly as she stitches up a Rogue's leg, talking quietly to him as she works.

"Hey! How 'bout I get some o' that lovin'?" a Rogue calls across to her. "He ain't hurt
that
bad."

Hannah rolls her eyes at me and I smile back.

All of a sudden there's a commotion at the door and a military clone bursts into the room. "Rocco's been shot!" he yells.

Sven jumps to his feet. "Is he alive?"

"Barely," the clone replies.

Sven grabs a stretcher and I toss some compresses and trauma dressing on it.

Hannah lays a hand on my arm. "I'll send for Jakob. He can take out the bullet."

I give her a grateful nod and hurry out of the clinic after Sven and the military clone. My mind spins with confusion. The only people who have any reason to shoot Rocco are Dimitri and Viktor and they're at the Superconductor. My thoughts gravitate to Rummy. He's at the courthouse too. Surely he couldn't have had something to do with this.

When we arrive at the courthouse Rocco is unconscious, cradled in Trout's arms, a blood-soaked rag pressed to his chest. The cell is splattered with enough blood to make me think he was hit more than once. A sign of unchecked rage. I clap my hand over my mouth, trapping the bile rising up from my gut.

Trout looks up with relief when he sees us. "We have to get him to the clinic before he bleeds out."

"Did you see who did this?" I ask.

Trout shakes his head. "I heard the shot and came running."

"What about the guards?"

"There's only one outside Rummy's cell. All the others are on the barricade."

Sven grabs a trauma pad and does what he can to stem the bleeding, before lifting Rocco onto the stretcher. Trout and Sven grasp the handles and lift their cargo. I follow a few feet behind as they charge down the main corridor and out through the front entry.

We make it to the bottom of the courthouse steps before Rocco's hulking frame recedes to gray, shrinking in on itself like a tiny mummified child.

S
ven falls
to one knee and leans over the stretcher, his massive shoulders twitching with grief.

I want to reach out and comfort him, but I'm terrified to touch him in case he crumbles to dust too. The unrelenting fear I keep pushing down has surfaced with a vengeance. I can't stop shaking. All I can think about is that Sven could be next.

I take a deep, calming breath and try to pull myself together. "I'll find whoever's responsible," I say to Sven. "You stay here and take care of Rocco. I'm going to the Superconductor with Trout."

I nod to Trout and he falls into step beside me. I'm thankful he seems to realize without a word who it is I'm going after. If Dimitri and Viktor had anything to do with this I'll track them down and have them arrested.

One harrowing scenario after another races through my head. Things are spinning out of control. The clones might attack the Undergrounders once they find out that Rocco's been murdered. And what if the Superconductor doesn't kick back on before the Hovermedes arrive? What if Viktor and Dimitri sabotaged the Superconductor and fled like fugitives? I swallow back a sob. I need Big Ed and his wise words now more than ever.

"You okay?" Trout throws me a sidelong glance.

I shake my head. "I can't put out the fires quickly enough."

"One blaze at a time," Trout says. "Let's find Viktor and Dimitri first."

When we reach the Superconductor, I breathe a small sigh of relief. The charged whirring sound assures me it's up and running again. One less thing to worry about. We enter through the main doors and race up to the second level. Dimitri is stationed at the CommCenter with another scientist, his forehead furrowed in concentration. He looks up when he sees us. His eyes are bloodshot from crying. "Derry! What are you doing here?"

"Where's your father?" I ask, fighting to keep the emotion out of my voice.

Something in my expression grabs his attention. He gets to his feet and scrutinizes me. "Is something wrong?"

"Is he here or not?" Trout asks.

"He went back to his quarters to lie down. It was too difficult for him to be here." Dimitri swallows hard. "I've been trying to locate the Megamedes. I have to finish this for Iskra. She was so close to finding the coordinates."

I throw a quick glance Trout's way. Dimitri's response seems genuine enough. If I had to hazard a guess, I reckon he doesn't know anything about what happened at the courthouse. "Rocco's been shot," I say. "He's dead."

Dimitri's eyes widen. He clutches the edge of the counter. "You killed him?"

"We arrested him. Someone else got to him in the holding cell."

"We don't know who," Trout adds. "The courthouse was unmanned except for the guard outside Rummy's cell. Anyone could have got in there."

Dimitri traces his fingers back and forth across his forehead. "Did he ... confess?"

"Yes," I say. "I'm sorry."

Dimitri gives a somber nod. "He would have been executed anyway after he was tried by the Council," he says as if reasoning with himself.

I chew on my lip but don't respond. It serves no purpose to tell Dimitri we were planning on helping Rocco flee the city.

"Thank you for letting me know," Dimitri says. "I'll break the news to my father."

"We need to speak to him," I say.

Dimitri frowns. "Why?"

"We can't have vigilantes," Trout mutters.

Dimitri shoots a glance in Trout's direction. "You can't possibly think my father had anything to do with this. He doesn't have it in him."

"Everyone has it in them," Trout says, gruffly. "It's like a lock, just takes the right combination."

Dimitri staggers backward, as though contemplating the possibility. He snatches up his jacket and walks toward the door. "Let's sort this out right now. Come with me."

My stomach churns as I follow Dimitri out of the Superconductor. I hope we're not making a huge mistake. Viktor may not have had anything to do with Rocco's death. If we're wrong, it's a devastating accusation to make against a man who's just lost his daughter.

We're halfway between the Superconductor and the boarded-up office building in the old section of town where the scientists are housed when I spot Jakob going up the steps to the clinic.

"Wait here," I say to Trout and Dimitri. "I need to make sure Big Ed's all right."

"Jakob!" I shout as I jog over to him.

He turns and waits for me at the top of the steps.

"You look tired," I say, eying the puffy, purple ovals under his eyes.

He grimaces. "We could have used the homesteaders' help to treat all the injured."

If only Owen hadn't been so thick-headed.

He doesn't come out and say it, but it's a jab all the same, and I don't blame him. Owen left us short-handed.

"How's Big Ed doing?" I ask.

"Hard to believe, but he seems to be on the mend." Jakob rubs his hand over the back of his neck. "He's a feisty old goat, but Hannah can handle him."

"I like her," I say, after an awkward pause. "She's ... capable, like you."

Jakob gives me a strange look. "You mean like
you
. I'm the one who stayed at the clinic while you went off to fight the Sweepers."

"I can't do what you do either," I say.

"You've changed so much, Derry." He gives me a rueful grin. "So much was thrust on you. And you've risen to the challenge. But then you always knew you were destined for more."

He adjusts the peak of his cap and gestures at the clinic door. "They need me inside. I better get back to work."

I walk slowly back to Trout and Dimitri, mulling over Jakob's words. He's right. A few short months ago I was a girl with a dog and a handful of bunker chores. Now the weight of an entire city rests on my shoulders.

W
hen we reach
the building in the old section of town where the scientists are living, I push open the makeshift door and step inside. The stale, trapped air and musty scent of old newspapers hit me right away. Trout wrinkles his nose. "Smells like mold."

Dimitri shoves a decrepit office chair out of his way and peers around the deserted space.

"Viktor?" I call out. "Are you in here?"

A man tromps halfway down the splintered staircase at the back of the room and leans over the sagging railing. "We're upstairs."

Dimitri strides across the floor. Trout and I follow him up the staircase and nod in greeting to the scientists milling around an open seating area.

"Is Viktor here?" Dimitri asks.

"He came in a little while ago, but I haven't seen him since," one of the scientists replies, scratching his head. "He might be having a lie-down." He points down the corridor. "Bedrooms are that way."

I hurry out the door and down the corridor after Dimitri and Trout, taking a quick scout through each of the rooms as I pass by.

"We're in here," Trout shouts, sticking his head out from a doorway.

"Any sign of Viktor?" I ask when I join them inside the room.

Dimitri shakes his head without looking up from the bag he's rummaging through. "None of his stuff's missing. He's not exactly acting like a fugitive planning to hightail it out of here."

It's hard to miss the resentful tone in Dimitri's voice. I don't want to sour my relationship with the only person who might be able to help Sven, but I need to find Viktor as soon as possible. If he didn't shoot Rocco, it means there's an unidentified killer at large.

"Viktor has to be somewhere in the building," Trout says. "None of the scientists saw him leave."

"What about the roof?" I say. "Some of these old office buildings have a patio area up top. If he wanted to be alone that would be a good place to hang out."

Dimitri stops tossing items back into the bag and looks up, a frozen expression on his face. "Where's the roof access?"

"Fire escape would be my guess," Trout says.

Dimitri drops the bag and darts out of the room. Trout and I follow him to the end of the corridor. He clambers out through the empty window frame and onto the fire escape ladder and begins making his way up to the roof, his boots clanging eerily on the rungs with every step. I climb up the ladder after him and wait for Trout at the top. As soon as he appears, we follow Dimitri across the rooftop patio area, weaving our way through a jumble of crumbling concrete, twisted rebar and broken furniture.

"Viktor!" Dimitri calls out, disappearing behind a rickety chimney stack.

I skirt around it after him, and almost slam right into him when he comes to an abrupt stop in front of me.

He holds out his arm to keep me back, but I already know what he's looking at.