Reboot (22 page)

“Yes.”

“So all the HARC shuttles went in that direction. Do you think they know where it is?”

“Yes. That seems logical.”

“You really don’t think it’s there, do you?” he asked.

“No, I never did. If anything it’s probably just some Reboots running from place to place, hiding from HARC.” I sighed as his face dropped in disappointment. “I’m sorry. Is that the sort of thing I should lie about to make you feel better?”

He laughed. “No. I like that you always tell the truth.”

“I don’t really see the point in lying.”

“That’s very cool.”

“Thank you,” I said, a warmth spreading through my chest and all the way up to my cheeks. At least he didn’t seem alarmed by the fact that we had no idea what we were doing. His optimism was comforting, and I reached for his hand as we walked.

As the sun began to rise the thick trees gave way to open land, the green and brown grass spreading out in front of us. We were still a good ten miles or so from Austin, and we’d be easily visible to any passing HARC shuttle.

I ran a hand over my face as I stopped. We should have run. If we’d run we’d already be there, and we could have found food more easily in Austin.

“Should we rest for a while?” Callum asked.

“I think we have to until the sun sets,” I said, turning to trudge back to a thicker area of the trees. I plopped down against one, stretching my legs out in front of me. Callum stayed where he was, turning his head as he surveyed the area.

“How far from Austin are we?” he asked.

“We’re about halfway. Ten miles or so.”

“I’m going to go look for food,” he said, facing me. “You want to wait here? I won’t go too far.”

“Look for food where?” I asked, casting a baffled glance at the trees around us.

“I’m going to go that way,” he said, pointing. “Uh . . .” He turned around a few times. “East. Right? That way is east?”

I nodded. “What do you expect to find out there?”

He quirked an eyebrow at me. “They do have food outside a cafeteria, Wren.”

I tried to hold back a smile, but it tugged at the corners of my mouth anyway. “I have heard that. You really think you’re just going to find food?”

“I worked the fields. I know what to look for. And me and some of the others used to scrounge on the walk back to the city when the HARC farmers weren’t looking.”

I started to get to my feet, but he shook his head.

“You can rest,” he said. “I won’t go far. There’s no one around here anyway.”

I looked up at the sky. He was right: It was blue and clear and there wasn’t a shuttle in sight. If I was being honest, my body had no interest in walking anyway.

“Just don’t get lost,” I said, leaning my head back against the tree. “Yell if you run into trouble.”

He nodded and turned to walk away, tossing a smile in my direction even though his pace was slow and heavy. He must have been tired as well, and just as hungry, but he was hiding it better. I had to admire his ability to keep that smile on his face, even when things sucked.

I squinted my eyes as the sun peeked out from behind the leaves, my head beginning to droop to one side. I wanted to keep my eyes open, but they kept falling shut, and eventually I let them stay that way.

I woke with a start, my legs jerking against the dirt as my eyes flew open. A leaf was tickling my arm, and I pushed it away, quickly turning to look at the sun. It was higher, up above the trees now.

“Callum?” I called softly, getting to my feet. I turned in a circle, but I was alone, the only sound the flapping of wings as a bird took off from somewhere nearby.

I pulled my jacket tighter around me, glancing at the sun again. Where had it been before? I couldn’t have slept that long. Maybe an hour. Less, probably. It had been dumb to let him go by himself. Getting separated was the worst thing that could happen to us right now, and I had let him wander off in the middle of the wilderness by himself.

The bird overheard screeched and I jumped, stuffing my cold hands into my pockets. Escaping from HARC in the summer would have been a much smarter plan. Actually, any plan except for this one would have been a much smarter plan.

I swallowed, trying not to panic as the minutes stretched out with no sign of Callum. I shifted from foot to foot as I pushed back the urge to run into the trees and find him. He was fine. If I kept repeating it to myself it had to be true.

A rustling noise made me turn, and I tensed, my hand flying to my gun. Callum’s triumphant face appeared a moment later and I exhaled, returning his grin.

“Sorry it took so long,” he said. “I went a little farther than I thought I would.”

He was holding his shirt out in front of him, and I frowned as he dropped to his knees and emptied the contents before me. I knelt down and picked up a small, black, round object.

“A squishy black thing?” I asked, eyebrows raised. I looked down at the hard brown balls mixed in with them. “Are those ones nuts?”

“Wren,” he said with a laugh, scooting over and taking the nut. “It’s a pecan. You’ve never seen a pecan?”

“Oh. Never in the shell, I guess.”

He glanced around and selected a rock, placing the pecan on the ground. “We’re going to have to get a little creative, since we don’t have a nutcracker.” He smashed the rock down and the shell shattered. He picked out the pieces of the nut and plunked them into my free hand.

“Thank you,” I said, blinking at them in surprise.

“And that’s a persimmon,” he said, pointing to the black fruit. “You just kind of squeeze it into your mouth. Not my favorite, but it’ll do.”

I ate a couple pieces of pecan as Callum continued cracking them on the ground, then I squished the persimmon with my fingers and held it over my mouth. It was sweet and messy, and my hands were black with juices as I tossed the skin aside.

We ate in silence and I wiped my hands on my pants when we’d polished everything off. Callum scooted back against a tree, opened his arm up, and I gladly crawled over next to him.

“Thank you,” I said, resting my head on his chest.

“You’re welcome.” He rested his chin on top of my head as he trailed his fingers down my arm. He was quiet for a long time, and I closed my eyes as my head moved up and down with his breath.

“Did you always intend to go to Austin?”

“What do you mean?” I blinked my eyes open, startled at the sound of his voice.

“When you promised Leb you would go get his daughter. Did you really mean it? Or were you thinking about just running away?”

“I didn’t know where I’d go,” I said. “If the reservation is real I’d like to know where it is. Clearly I’m not exactly equipped to survive in the wild.”

He chuckled. “I think you’d do fine.”

“And I don’t want to prove him right,” I said softly. “I know Leb is expecting us to run off. They don’t trust us, and I don’t want to prove them right.”

He reached up and pressed his hand to my cheek, and I felt him plant a soft kiss on top of my head. “Good point,” he whispered.

WE LEFT OUR HIDING SPOT AFTER THE SUN SET. TWO HARC shuttles had passed during the day, but I hadn’t seen any in hours.

I’d fallen asleep again for a little while but Callum was awake and alert. He still hadn’t slept at all since we left the facility and I could see his hands shaking again. Although he saw me notice, we both said nothing. He hadn’t displayed any of the other signs of insanity and I refused to talk about something that very likely wouldn’t happen.

That
couldn’t
happen.

We headed to the edge of the trees and I took in a deep breath as I glanced at the sky. All clear.

We took off, boots pounding the ground as we sprinted across the grass. The wind whipped through the bullet holes in my jacket and I scrunched up my face against the cold. My chest was tight and my throat burned as we sprinted, but we kept up a quick pace, casting nervous glances into the sky.

It was about five miles before a patch of trees appeared again, and we slowed to a walk as we disappeared into them. I took in a deep breath, crossing my arms over my chest to trap some of the warmth.

“How long is it going to take us to get through this tunnel thing?” Callum asked after we’d caught our breath.

“No idea. It just says
tunnel
on the map. We can always hop the fence again if it’s not there.”

“Awesome. That wasn’t at all hard last time.” He swung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.

The trees were thinner here, scattered and providing less cover than the ones closer to Rosa, but we walked anyway, both too tired to run anymore.

The skyline of Austin came into view as we got closer, and a trace of a smile crossed Callum’s lips. “It’s nicer than Rosa.”

“We’re coming in from the
rico
side.” The tops of the buildings looked vaguely familiar. There were three tall glass structures, surrounded by a few shorter ones I could barely see over the trees. The tallest building was on the west side of town, and the very top was bright white, like it was guiding people home. It was amusing, considering the rico side of Austin had no interest in letting anyone in.

“Have you seen this side of the city before?” Callum asked.

“No. We passed through on the way to the holding facility after I died, but I think I was still in shock. I don’t really remember it.”

“Do you remember dying?” he asked. “Or waking up?”

“I remember waking up.”

“Did you know you were dead? I didn’t know.”

“Sort of,” I replied. “I was hysterical, so everything is jumbled. I only remember waking up in the Dead Room and screaming.”

“They took you out of the Rising Room? That’s terrible.”

“Yes. They thought I was permanently dead.” The hospital moved all young people who might Reboot to the Rising Room, where they were strapped down to beds. If they Rebooted they moved on to the holding facility; if they didn’t, they went to the Dead Room.

No one should have to wake up in the Dead Room, surrounded by the day’s deceased humans, waiting for cremation. It had been a full room the day I was there.

I glanced at Callum, pushing the memory away. “You didn’t realize you were dead?”

“No. I thought I’d gone to sleep. I kept asking for my parents. I thought I’d feel different as a Reboot. But I feel the same. It never felt real until I got to Rosa.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

The trees grew thicker as we neared the city, and as I pushed a low branch away from my face, the gray wire fence and flashing red lights came into view. I stopped and pulled out the map. The fence was making a soft buzzing sound, indicating that this one was electrified, too.

We retreated back farther into the trees, until the fence was no longer visible. If Leb’s map was correct, the tunnel should be right in this area.

“It’s here?” Callum asked, peering over my shoulder at the map.

“Supposedly,” I said, squinting at the ground. It was too dark to see much at all. I tilted the map in his direction. “Are we in the right area? It looks like the tunnel should come out not far from downtown.”

Callum glanced at the map, then at darkness around us. “Let’s try a little farther west,” he said, pointing. “I don’t think we’re close enough to downtown.”

I nodded and followed him, kicking at the dirt and every suspicious rock. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I probably should have asked Leb what the tunnel looked like. Or what they used it for. Or if Leb was sure it was still there.

I stuffed the map in my pocket and let out a sigh. Callum and I walked west, then back east, then west again, combing the area and searching through fallen leaves and branches.

“We’re going to have to get electrocuted again, aren’t we?” Callum asked, squinting up at the sky. The first hints of morning light were creeping through.

“Maybe.”

“Wonderful. I think my insides liquefied last time. It was all jiggly in there.”

I shot an amused smile his way. “Let’s try a little closer to the fence.”

He followed me as I headed toward it, stopping when I could hear the hum of electricity. I turned when Callum dropped to his knees and pushed aside a pile of branches. He pointed at a small hole and grinned, bracing his hands against the sides as he peered inside.

“It looks tiny.”

“I’ll go first,” I said.

I knelt down next to him and looked into what seemed like nothing more than a poorly constructed hole in the ground. I paused, glancing back at Callum. Crawling through a tiny, dark hole in the ground actually made me a little nervous. I had no idea what was in there, but I had to believe that Leb wouldn’t lead us into danger with his daughter at stake.

“We can still get electrocuted if you want,” Callum said, pointing back at the fence.

“I think we should go with the quieter approach.” I ignored my nerves and crawled into the hole. I heard Callum follow a moment later.

The tunnel was barely big enough for us to fit through on our hands and knees. I had a bit of breathing room, but when I twisted around to look at Callum, I could just make out the outline of his back brushing up against the top of the tunnel.

The ceiling was supported by some sort of white wooden beams that looked less than sturdy. Other than that it was nothing but dirt underneath my fingers.

“What happens if this caves in?” Callum asked. “Are we just stuck in here buried alive forever?”

“Yes, probably.”

“Oh, good. Thanks for making me feel better about that.”

I wanted to turn around and smile at him, but the idea of the tunnel caving in and trapping us wasn’t that far-fetched. Perhaps as little movement as possible was the way to go. Besides, it was too dark for him to see it anyway.

I shuffled forward on my hands and knees, taking a deep breath in an effort to slow the rapid bursts of air coming from my lungs. Despite his words, Callum’s breathing was slow and steady, and when I closed my eyes and listened, it calmed me as well.

I crawled until my head bumped against something solid. I stopped, reaching out to touch it.

Was the tunnel sealed?

Callum ran into my feet and I felt him come to a stop as well. “What?”