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Page 40

 

  She ran the wood along the edges of the broken panes, knocking out the small remaining shards.

  The truck stopped right outside.

  The last thing I saw as I fell from the window was Ms. Vaughn in the doorway, staring at me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  She’s coming,” I said, grabbing Becky’s hand and running for the forest.

  Ms. Vaughn shouted something behind us, though I couldn’t make out a word. I hoped she was yelling at us, not calling for backup.

  The ground was uneven, dense with tangled brush and fallen branches, and Becky and I were both struggling. We’d failed. They had come straight to the barn, so they must have known what we were doing, what we were planning. We’d been too careless, too public. We hadn’t posted constant guards to make sure no one listened at the windows. We discussed too much in the barracks that first night.

  Becky stumbled on something and grunted, and I turned again to see Ms. Vaughn. She was gaining on us.

  Becky turned down a slope, running along the center of a dry streambed. But it was rockier than it looked, and steeper, and we had to go slow. I searched for a stick, something to even the odds, give me a fighting chance.

  There. A broken limb of a pine tree, about as thick as a baseball bat and maybe three feet long. I could grab it as I ran, scoop it up and spin around and hit Ms. Vaughn. She’d never see it coming.

  Becky stumbled on a loose patch of pebbles, and then I did, too. Neither of us fell, but Ms. Vaughn was right behind us. I was fifteen steps from the limb.

  Becky turned, up and out of the dry streambed.

  Dammit.

  I followed her, leaving the limb. Ms. Vaughn’s footsteps were loud and close.

  No more time.

  I turned at the top of the slope and jumped, screaming as I did it. Ms. Vaughn tried to stop, tried to raise her Taser, but I collided with her and the two of us tumbled back down into the stream.

  I smacked at her armpit, like Harvard had told me, but now realized how useless that was. Unless her arms were above her head, it wouldn’t ever be exposed.

  I grappled with her, but she was far stronger than me. I pounded my fists down into her side, but her arm was in the way.

  Becky was there, a branch in her hands.

  Ms. Vaughn got her elbow around my neck, and then punched me in the back. Pain burst across my ribs. I gasped for air.

  There was a crash, wooden and hollow, and Ms. Vaughn dropped me.

  I sucked at the air, forcing myself to stand.

  Ms. Vaughn was between us now, her scalp bloodied. The branch in Becky’s hand was broken, only about a foot long. She changed her grip, threatening to stab with the sharp, jagged points.

  “More are coming,” Ms. Vaughn said. “Give up. ” She glanced back behind her.

  As soon as she looked away, I jumped at her. Becky shrieked and—

  Pain rocketed through my body, a sudden intense ache that was both sharp and dull, abrasive and blunt. I collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

  I couldn’t think. I was seeing things, but they were a fog. I couldn’t force myself to understand them.

  Becky. Ms. Vaughn.

  I’d been Tased. The electric darts were in me somewhere, but I couldn’t tell where. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think.

  Then Ms. Vaughn fell. Becky was next to me now, swinging her bloodied stick at something in the air.

  I took a breath. The paralysis was gone, but the pain was still there.

  “Bense,” she said. The long electric filaments were tangled around her stick, and she threw it aside.

  I sat up, and my eyes went wide. I had time only to point. Ms. Vaughn was up again, and she pounced.

  I was weak, unable to make my muscles move the way they should. Becky was on the ground, pinned beneath Ms. Vaughn, screaming.

  I put one foot under me, and then another. I felt drunk.

  Ms. Vaughn punched, and Becky yelped.

  I grabbed Becky’s stick, shaking off the Taser’s wires. I tried to take aim, but was unsteady on my feet. I had no strength.

  Ms. Vaughn had something silver—handcuffs. She slapped one onto Becky’s wrist, and then roughly rolled her onto her face in the dirt, fighting for her other hand.

  I brought down the stake, squarely into Ms. Vaughn’s back.

  The tip drove into the skin, but only an inch, and I couldn’t do any more. In a flash, Ms. Vaughn whipped her arm out, hitting me below the knees with the strength of a bear. I dropped.

  Ms. Vaughn had Becky’s other arm now—her injured arm—and was cranking it behind Becky’s back.

  I lashed out again, and Ms. Vaughn batted me away in one fluid motion.

  I landed face-first in the dirt, dazed, and as I turned my head I saw it. The discarded Taser.

  I tore off the cartridge, like Gabby had done, flipped a switch, and rammed the sparking gun into Ms. Vaughn’s neck.

  Without a sound, Ms. Vaughn collapsed, falling on top of Becky and then rolling down into the center of the stream. She was lifeless, limp and silent.

  Becky was gritting her teeth, sitting up and cradling her injured arm against her chest.

  I dug through Ms. Vaughn’s pockets and found the truck keys, but the handcuff key wasn’t there. I stuffed those into my pocket and kept looking.

  “How did you stop her?” Becky said, standing. I handed her the Taser.

  “I can’t find the key. ”

  “It’s okay. We need to go. ”

  I took her hand and we jogged ahead. We had no food, no weapons. Becky didn’t have a coat. We couldn’t escape now. We’d have to wait until things died down, and get back inside. Maybe our attack into the elevator could even still work.

  I couldn’t see the town, but I smelled the wood smoke. And even out here, I heard the rumble. It was still there.

  “Thank you,” Becky said after several minutes. “For coming for me. ”

  “Always. ”

  By the time we made it back, we could hear four-wheelers in the forest behind us. They were searching.

  We crouched in a patch of tall grass at the tree line and watched the town. There was a cloud of dust in the center, swirling in the cold wind.

  “Are they grading the road?” Becky asked.

  “I don’t even know what that means,” I said with a smile.

  Becky smirked. “We can’t all grow up in the country. Only the lucky ones. ”

  “It sounds like an engine. But something big. ”

  Becky turned and looked back into the forest. “We need to get out of here. ”

  I pointed to the fort. “If we can get back into the Basement, we can hide there until they leave. ”

  “Which Basement? The fort or the tunnel?”

  “The fort. We can’t lead them to the tunnel. ”

  “Back into the center of everything?” she said, and stood. “Well, at least they won’t be expecting it. ” She was pretending to be healthy, but her breathing had been labored since the fight, never really calming back down, and her hand shook in mine.

  We walked the perimeter of the town, staying deep enough inside the trees to avoid being seen. It took about ten minutes to get behind the fort. From the back we couldn’t see any sign of the androids. Even the rumble seemed to have dissipated. I couldn’t hear the four-wheelers anymore.

  We waited and listened. Nothing changed, in front of us or behind. There wasn’t much here—no reason for anyone to be watching. In all the time I’d been at the town, this was the first time I’d even seen the fort from the back.