The Defiant (23 page)

“Yes! Here he is,” the scientist says. “Liam Bernal. He's a new arrival. I can take you to him.”

I nod. “Do it fast.”

We push and prod him along. He leads us down a narrow corridor. I can hear screams of guards and kids alike, as well as loud gunfire.

“Faster!” Gadya yells at the scientist, slamming the gun against the back of his head.

I think about the scientists on Island Alpha, including my own parents, who got snatched because they refused to work for the corrupt UNA. Yet this man wearing a lab coat clearly has no qualms about working for a government that chooses to enslave and experiment on its own people. I don't feel any pity for him. I only feel anger and disgust.

The scientist keeps walking and we follow, down endless hallways in this strange, ominous laboratory.

Boys rush past us. One of them is about to strike the scientist
with his fist, but we stop him, telling him that the scientist is our prisoner. They listen to me and Gadya because we are the ones who rescued them. They probably think we know a lot more than we actually do.

The scientist finally reaches a door and pauses, breathing hard. He's starting to look pale from blood loss. “He's in here.”

“Open the door,” I say.

He hesitates for a moment.

“Do it!” Gadya adds, raising the gun. I'm pretty sure she's out of bullets, but the scientist doesn't know that.

The scientist taps a code into the door. Then he presses his thumb against a fingerprint reader. I hear a whirring sound and then the click of a lock being opened. My heart is in my throat. I don't know what condition Liam is going to be in.

The door starts to slide open.

Right then, the scientist swings around and slams a fist into Gadya's face. Gadya yells and stumbles, firing off a round into the ceiling. The sound is deafening. For a moment, I'm stunned. The scientist grapples with Gadya, trying to get the gun. He's taken her off guard, and she's having trouble recovering her balance.

I snap into action. I raise the knife in a fluid motion and slide it straight into the scientist's stomach. The blade goes in cleanly, right to the hilt.

The scientist yelps and falls back, as blood cascades out of him, down his white lab coat. Gadya gets her balance again and aims the gun at his chest.

He stares at us, eyes burning with fury. “You girls don't know what—”

“Sweet dreams,” Gadya mutters as she pulls the trigger. The bullet blasts a hole in his chest and he staggers against the wall.

I lean down and wipe my knife clean on his white lab coat.

“That was my last bullet,” Gadya mutters, pulling the trigger and hearing an empty click. “At least I didn't waste it.”

Then Gadya and I turn and walk into the room where Liam is being held.

I'm not sure what I'm expecting. Maybe something weird and creepy, like when I found him encased in that fluid-filled pod in the specimen archive. Or something even worse. After seeing what happened to David, I realize anything is possible. Not that it would matter—I would love Liam no matter what the UNA has done to him.

What I don't expect is that Liam is sitting there on a hospital bed in a stark white room, staring right at the door. He has an IV line running directly into his right arm, dripping some mysterious clear fluid from a bag hanging on a pole. He's wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

“Liam!” I say, rushing over to him. I hug him as hard as I can. He looks fine. He hasn't been mutilated. “Thank god!” Gadya rushes over too.

But then I pull away from Liam. He's staring at me blankly. And he hasn't hugged me back.

“Liam, it's me!” I yell at him, confused and scared. This is the boy I love most in the world, and he doesn't even seem to recognize me.

He tries to form a word but his mouth barely moves. “Who . . . ,” he begins.

Without thinking, I raise my knife and slash the IV line. Gadya comes around and starts pulling the IV needle out of his skin.

“Who . . . are . . . you . . . ,” Liam begins again.

“They've done something to him,” I say, feeling sick.

“I know.” Gadya sounds just as worried as I am.

“Maybe it's just a sedative,” I tell her, glancing down at the liquid now dripping onto the floor.

“Maybe.”

Gadya and I help him off the table.

“Is it time . . . for my surgery?” he asks us. His eyes are closing, as though he's about to fall asleep.

“No,” I tell him. “No surgery today. We're getting out of here.”

Gadya and I get him standing on two legs. He seems like he's about to pass out, but he manages to stay upright.

“This way,” I say, dragging him toward the door as Gadya helps me.

Guns continue to fire all around us, as bullets ping off the metal corridors.

Liam sways unsteadily at the doorway.

“Liam, we need to go fast,” I tell him. Although he's clearly under the influence of a drug, some part of him seems to understand. We start navigating the hallways at a rapid pace.

I'm on his left and Gadya is on his right. We are rushing down the halls, trying to find a way out.

I hear more gunfire. And from outside, the sound of feelers in the air. Boys are using guns taken off dead guards to fire back at the feelers. For now they are keeping the remaining guards and the machines at bay, but eventually the buildings will be overrun by the UNA.

“We need to get out of here,” I say, as Gadya and I hold on to Liam, dragging him along with us.

“And where do we go?” Gadya asks, as we keep moving.

My mind is racing. “There must be vehicles here somewhere. I mean, we're not back on Island Alpha. There are roads and cities
nearby. The scientists and guards must have cars so they can get to and from work.”

“Maybe it's a residential lockdown facility and they all live here,” Gadya says.

“Maybe.” I turn to Liam. “Do you know if there are any cars here? Any vehicles we can use to escape?”

He looks at me blankly. “Cars . . .”

“Liam's not gonna be any help to us yet,” Gadya points out.

“I can see that.”

I start looking around for any indication of a parking lot or carport. There has to be something.

A boy races past. I grab his arm. “Cars. Vehicles,” I say in a rush. “Have you seen any?”

“No, but if I do, I'm gonna destroy them! We're going to burn this place to the ground!”

He shoves me aside as he keeps running.

“Thanks for nothing!” I yell after him.

But then another boy comes up behind us. This boy is lean with dark skin and a shaved head. His fingers and knuckles are bloody, as though he's just beaten someone up. “I heard what you said,” he tells me and Gadya. “I think I can help.”

“You know where the vehicles are?” I ask.

“This way. I've seen some in a hangar out back. Come with me.”

We start following him as he darts down the hallway. Liam is coming back to life—or at least his body is. He starts moving faster and faster. We race along the hallway after the boy.

Finally we reach a metal doorway and he steps through it. “Be quick, or other kids are going to tear them to pieces,” he says.

We step through the doorway after him.

I see the vehicles sitting there, gleaming and untouched. But they are not normal-looking cars. They are armor-plated trucks, with huge tires and thick glass.

Gadya and I rush over to the nearest one with Liam.

“Are there keys inside?” I ask.

The boy opens his hand. “No. But there are keys right here.” He tosses them to me. I catch them.

“Want to come with us?” Gadya asks the boy.

Surprising me, the boy shakes his head. “I'm going to stay here. I have to get revenge on the people who tortured me.” He pauses. “This is the start of the revolution, though, right?”

“You're the second person to ask me that,” I tell him. “So yeah, I guess it is. We came back here from Island Alpha to take over the UNA.”

The boy's eyes widen.

“Rip this place up for us,” Gadya tells the boy. “Burn it to ashes and kill all the guards that you can.”

The boy nods.

We hear crashing noises from somewhere in the laboratory and then a dull thump of an explosion. An instant later I feel the floor ripple. Someone is setting off grenades.

“You better hurry,” the boy says.

I open the door of the truck, and I get into the driver's side. I put the keys in the ignition, and start the engine. The boy helps Gadya get Liam inside. Liam sits between us in the front, as Gadya climbs on board too and swings the door shut.

The boy reaches down and passes Gadya a gun through the open window. “I got this off a guard. Careful—it's loaded.”

“Awesome,” Gadya replies. “Thanks!” She discards the empty gun in the back and clutches the new one.

The boy darts back to join the melee.

“I assume you don't know how to drive this thing,” Gadya says to me, as she rolls her window up.

“Neither do you,” I point out. “And Liam's no use to us right now.”

“Fine. Then you work on driving, and I'll do the shooting.” She lowers her window a crack and sticks the muzzle of the gun out of it. “Let's get out of here!”

I put the truck in reverse and begin backing out of the garage. While it's true I don't know how to drive a vehicle like this, it seems pretty straightforward. Not much different from a car. I push the pedal down, and hear the engine roar.

“Faster!” Gadya yells.

It's easier to steer the vehicle than I expected. I glance over at Liam. His eyes are looking a little clearer.

I keep backing up, picking up speed.

“How do we open the garage door?” I ask. There is a large, fortified metal door blocking the garage off from the outside world.

“I don't know! The kid didn't say.”

“Great,” I reply, gritting my teeth. “We're going to have to drive right through it. Brace yourselves.” But as we approach, going even faster, the door begins opening on its own. It must have an automatic sensor.

For a split second, I feel relief.

But then I see what's waiting outside, beyond the door.

There's a battle raging between the kids and the guards. There are people everywhere fighting, and the endless flash of gunfire.

I spin the wheel as we pass through the opening, tires squealing, so that we're facing forward. My wounded arm aches, but I ignore the pain.

“This isn't good,” Gadya mutters, surveying the carnage.

I see several feelers in the sky, zooming down and firing at kids. I also see guards swarming out of the trees, with even more guns. Still, the boys are fighting with everything they have.

I press the pedal to the floor and we tear forward across the grassy field. We need to get out of here as fast as possible, and into the forest, where we can flee on foot.

Gadya begins shooting as we drive. She lowers her window even more and leans out with the gun, firing at guards as we pass them.

“Be careful!” I yell at her, afraid that she's going to get hit.

“I'm fine!” she calls back over the constant noise of gunfire. “Worry about yourself!”

A group of armed soldiers in full riot gear is headed our way. Our vehicle, and Gadya's gun, has attracted attention. I push the vehicle to go even faster. Liam is still out of it, his head lolling sideways.

The guards open up their guns on us and we're suddenly peppered with bullets. The windshield splinters but holds even under the heavy barrage. The glass must be bulletproof. Gadya screams and pulls away from the window. She hurries to close it as fast as she can.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Just got nicked,” she says. It looks worse than a nick. Her arm is bleeding badly. She tears off part of her shirt and uses it as a makeshift tourniquet.

More bullets hit our vehicle. I keep driving, aiming at the forest beyond this battle.

Suddenly, a large explosion rocks the truck, and part of the ground opens up right in front of us. The windshield is pelted with debris.

I cry out in surprise and spin the wheel, trying to avoid the
hole in the ground. The truck almost topples into it. I manage to avoid the pit at the last second.

“Grenades!” Gadya yells.

I gun the engine again, and we continue forward. I see the grenade launcher now, sitting on the shoulder of a soldier only a few hundred yards away. He's preparing to fire again. We are his target.

Gadya rolls down her window an inch.

“Gadya, no!” I tell her, worried that she'll get shot for a second time.

But she just puts the muzzle through the open part of the window and begins firing right at the soldier.

Gadya's bullets strike their target just as the soldier unleashes another rocket-propelled grenade at us.

He topples backward and the grenade shoots straight into the sky.

“Nice work,” I tell her.

Then I take one hand off the wheel for a second to check on Liam. I find his hand and squeeze it. I need him to be okay, or else none of this will have been worth it.

But he doesn't squeeze my hand back. I feel sick with worry.

“Liam, are you okay?” I ask. I risk a glance at him. His eyes still look glazed. He must still be recovering. I turn back and put both hands on the wheel. I keep driving as fast as I can. Gadya closes her window. I hear a detonation as the grenade lands somewhere behind us in the fray of the battle.

Feelers zoom overhead, no doubt tracking us, and preparing to shoot. But there's nothing we can do about them. I just keep driving, headed toward the nearby forest and hoping that we can make it there before we all get killed.

A
MINUTE LATER
,
WE
reach the edge of the clearing without being shot or blown up by a grenade. I keep driving straight into the forest, dodging trees without stopping. The vehicle shakes as we run over rocks and thick underbrush. Thin trees get snapped by the force of our momentum and the weight of the truck.