Rise of the Elgen

  Ian stopped abruptly. “Change of plans,” he said. “Lieutenant Cox is back in action and buzzing like a mad hornet. Follow me.”

  We ducked down the first hall we came to just as Cox and two guards stormed past us.

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Into the hive,” Ian said.

  The doors to the assembly hall opened automatically at our approach and we walked into a room full of hundreds of guards. Most of the guards were gathered in small clusters. Then I saw him. Hatch was standing in a corner of the room. I froze.

  “What is it?” Ian asked.

  “Hatch,” I said.

  He was surrounded by a group of guards dressed in black and red. Standing near them were three of the electric kids I had seen pictures of in my room at the academy: Quentin, Tara, and Bryan. There was also a kid I’d never seen before..

  “Who’s the other kid?” I asked.

  “His name is Torstyn,” Ian said. “You don’t want to meet him.”

  “He’s electric?”

  “Yeah. He’s dangerous. Let’s get out of here.”

  I turned back. “Where’s Jack?”

  “Oh no,” Ian said.

  Jack was already twenty feet from us. He had his hand on his belt and was walking toward Hatch. I pushed through the guards, catching up to him halfway across the floor. “What are you doing?”

  His jaw was clenched. “He burned down my house.”

  “You won’t make it within twenty feet of him.”

  He kept walking. “I’ll take my chances.”

  “They’ll capture you.”

  “Let them try.”

  We were now only fifty feet away from Hatch.

  “He’ll capture us.”

  Only then did he stop.

  “This isn’t the time,” I said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Jack took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “This isn’t over.”

  We turned and walked east through the assembly hall, then, meeting up with Ian and my mom, went out into the yard.

  “Where are we going?” my mother asked.

  “Back to the others,” I said. “They’re in the power plant.”

  “Others?”

  “There are a bunch of us.”

  We had to walk past the Re-Ed entrance again to get to the power plant, so we waited for a large group of guards to pass by and blended in with them. When we arrived at the plant, we found a guard standing in front of the main entrance. It had been so easy getting out that I hadn’t considered the difficulty of getting back in.

  “Can we walk around to the ranchers’ entrance?” Jack asked.

  Ian shook his head. “There’s a twelve-foot fence with razor wire.”

  “Whatever we’re doing, we better decide fast,” Jack said. “Cox is back and gathering a crowd.”

  Lieutenant Cox was talking to a dozen other guards, who were passing around an electronic tablet.

  “Ian, what are they looking at?” I asked.

  He turned to me with a grim expression. “Us.”

  “We need to create a distraction,” Jack said.

  As I looked at the guarded door I had an idea. “Maybe the guard can be the distraction. Ian, can you see his ID?”

  “It’s lying on the platform,” Ian said. “Cal . . . Calvin Gunnel.”

  “Cal’s my new best friend,” I said. “Go along with me.” I turned to my mother. “You better keep a few yards back. I don’t think there are any female guards down here.”

  She looked nervous but nodded.

  “Ready?” Ian said.

  I took a deep breath to get my twitching under control. “Let’s do it.”

  We walked up to the guard, a broad-shouldered man with a scar on his cheek partially concealed by a sandy beard. He reminded me of a lumberjack.

  “Cal?” I said.

  He looked up at me.

  “Cal Gunnel?” I walked closer to him, pointing to myself with both thumbs. “It’s me. Michael.”

  His brow furrowed. I could tell he was trying to place me.

  “I’ve been looking for you for days. I owe you big-time, man. And don’t you think I’ve forgotten. I never forget a favor.”

  “Wait,” Ian said. “This is the Cal you were talking about?”

  “I told you it was him.” I turned back to the guard. “When’s your next leave?”

  The guard was glancing back and forth between us, looking more confused by the moment. “Tuesday. What—”

  I didn’t let him finish. “Okay. I’m going to have to trade some shifts, but you and I are going to Lima. I know this club, and let’s just say you’re going to be glad you did me a favor.”

  He stared at me for a moment, then said, “I have no idea who you are.”

  I faked a laugh. “Yeah, right.” Then I looked into his face. “You’re not kidding, are you?” I pointed to myself. “Cal, it’s me.”

  “You sure you got the right guy?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “How many Cal Gunnels are there in Puerto Maldonado?”

  He squinted. “Michael, right?”

  “Michael. Who else? Whatever you told Anderson made the difference. I can’t thank you enough for helping me.”

  “Anderson,” he said, nodding. “It helped, huh?”

  “I’ll say. I don’t know what you have on him, but you, my friend, have clout.” I turned to Jack. “You don’t want to get on Cal’s bad side, you know what I mean? This guy is powerful.” I turned back. “Next Tuesday. You can leave your dinero at home, this party is on me. I guarantee you will never forget this trip.” I put out my hand. “See you then?”

  “All right,” he said. “Next Tuesday.” He took my hand.

  I dropped him like a bad habit. As I had anticipated, at least a dozen guards saw him fall.

  “Get everything you can from him,” I said to Jack. “But act like you’re helping him.”

  Jack knelt down next to him, ripping the magnetic key from around his neck, then going through his pockets.

  “Medic!” I shouted. “Medic!”

  Guards began to move in toward us.

  When there was a circle around us I said, “I think it’s sunstroke.”

  “Clear out,” one of the guards in a purple uniform said. “Give me room.”

  We stepped away from the crowd and the guard knelt down next to Cal, putting his fingers on the man’s neck. “Heartbeat’s strong. Looks like sunstroke.” He stood, grabbing the phone from the podium. “We need a stretcher at Starxource west. Another sunstroke.”

  As the crowd milled around him, I caught my mother’s eye and gestured toward the door. With more than twenty guards standing around us, the four of us opened the locked door and walked into the plant unnoticed.

  At least I thought we had.

  Once we were back inside the cool of the plant I asked Ian, “Where are they?”

  “They’re over that way,” Ian said, pointing toward the center of the building. “The trick is getting to them. This place is built like a rat’s maze.”

  “Fitting,” I said. “What are they doing?”

  “They’re near some breaker-looking things. I think they’re trying to figure out how to shut the grid down.”

  “It’s too late for that,” I said. “We’ve got to get out of here before they discover my mother’s gone.”

  Almost in answer to my words, the shrill scream of a siren sounded and yellow strobes began flashing in the hallways.

  “Too late,” Jack said.

  “Run!” Ian said.

  With my mother in tow, we ran as fast as we could through the long, vacant corridors, winding our way toward our friends. The halls were covered with a metallic, slate-colored material and were lined with stainless steel water pipes about a foot in diameter, spaced six feet apart. We caught sight of the rest of our group in a long, dark hallway halfway from the plant’s entrance. Taylor was leading, with McKenna at her side providing light. They stopped when they
saw us.

  “Tay—” I started to say. Suddenly my head felt like it was caught in a clamp. All four of us dropped to our knees. Then Zeus shot Jack and me with electric bolts. Jack screamed out in pain, but the effect of the electricity on me was opposite. With renewed strength I took a deep breath and stood. Even Taylor’s scrambling was no longer able to affect me.

  “It’s us!” I shouted.

  “Stop!” Ostin shouted, raising his hands. “It’s Michael!”

  “Sorry!” Taylor said, clasping her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know it was you!” She ran to me. “And there are four of you.”

  “Taylor?” my mother said, taking off her helmet.

  “Mrs. Vey!” Taylor said. “They found you.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s a long story,” Taylor said.

  “Your parents are going to kill me,” my mother said.

  “Hi, Mrs. Vey,” Ostin said.

  “You too, Ostin?”

  “And a good thing too,” I said. “He’s saved us more than once.”

  Ostin grinned. “Just doing my job.”

  Zeus walked over to Jack and put out his hand. “Dude, I’m so sorry.”

  “Really?” Jack said. “Again?”

  “We thought you were guards,” he said anxiously.

  Jack looked at him, then started to laugh. He took his hand. “I would have done the same thing.”

  Abigail walked up to Jack and hugged him. “I’m so glad you made it.”

  “Me too,” Jack said.

  I counted the group. There were ten of us. Two were missing. “Where are Raúl and Tanner?”

  “Raúl took Tanner to the mechanical room,” Taylor said. “He was having trouble walking. He said if there’s trouble they’ll escape through the pipe.”

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “We’re right under the bowl,” Ostin said. “These pipes are all water mains to cool the grid.”

  “So how do we get out of here?” Zeus asked. “You can bet they’ve sealed off the compound. We’d never make it to the fence by car.”

  “I say we join Raúl at the escape pipe,” I said. I turned to Ian. “How do we get there?”

  “Three corridors down, on the left, there’s an air duct in the ceiling that leads back to the butchery.”

  “All right,” I said. “This way.”

  Suddenly the flashing lights around us stopped. Then a voice boomed from overhead speakers, echoing down the hallway. “Michael Vey. So pleased you could join us.”

  Hatch’s voice continued over the speakers. “You should have told us you were coming, Michael. I would have prepared something special. As usual you’ve made a mess of things. And, Frank, I knew you’d come back. Couldn’t resist, could you? You and I are going to have some fun. We’ll bob for apples. Throw water balloons. Good times for all.”

  “The name’s Zeus,” I said.

  “Inconsequential,” Hatch said. “Be advised that we have you completely sealed in and surrounded. So you have a choice. You and Frank can surrender yourselves, and your friends will have reasonably humane treatment. Or you can resist and you will all die painful deaths. It’s your call. Either way will amuse me.”

  “Eat my shorts!” Ostin shouted.

  “Oh, Ostin. You just can’t keep out of this, can you? Tell you what. I’ll up the ante. If Michael and Frank surrender, I’ll spare all of your lives and throw in a box of jelly doughnuts for Ostin. So let’s see how much Michael really cares for you.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Taylor said.

  “You want us, Hatch?” I shouted. “Come and get us!”

  Hatch laughed. “I was hoping you’d say that. Captain Welch, make sure the cameras are all recording, I’m going to want a replay of this. Are we set?”

  “Yes, sir,” a voice said. “Gate is opening.”

  “Wonderful. Just wonderful. You know I always enjoy feeding my pets.”

  From the bowels of the corridor came a loud, echoing groan like the sound of a heavy metal gate. Suddenly a high-pitched screeching echoed down the hall, shrill as a fork on a chalkboard.

  “What’s that sound?” Taylor asked.

  Ostin turned white. “It sounds like . . . rats.”

  “Run to the air duct!” I shouted. I put my arm around my mother and helped her. The darkness behind us began to turn amber, the corridor distantly illuminated by some strange source of light. The first wave of rats came into view like the initial stream of a river, growing steadily heavier and thicker as the rodents began overlapping and running on top of one another, their bodies glowing like lava. They quickly closed the gap between us.

  Jack threw a concussion grenade behind us, which killed a few of them but barely slowed the mass.

  “Taylor, can you stop them?” I shouted.

  “I’ll try.”

  She turned and faced them, her hands on her temples. Ten yards in front of us the flow stopped as some of the rats began running in circles, confused.

  “It’s working,” I said.

  I was premature. The first wave of rats were quickly overcome by the rats behind them, as they pushed forward and climbed or jumped over them.

  “There are too many of them!” Taylor shouted.

  It was difficult to hear her over the squeals, which had grown in volume until the mass of them sounded like the braking of a train on metal tracks. They continued to pour toward us.

  “Up the pipes!” I shouted, pointing to the walls.

  Everyone grabbed onto the pipes and began climbing. I pushed my mother up the nearest pipe, and she hooked the utility belt of her uniform onto a bracket, holding her in place. I looked back down the hall. Everyone was up a pipe except Abigail, who was standing in the middle of the corridor staring at the oncoming rats, paralyzed by fear.

  “Abi!” I shouted. “Climb up!”

  She didn’t move.

  “Abi!”

  Suddenly she fainted, falling to the ground.

  Jack jumped down from his pipe and ran for her while Zeus began shooting at the rats heading for them, killing all he could hit. Jack lifted her and ran back to his pipe. He tried to climb with her but couldn’t secure a strong enough handhold to pull them both up.

  I jumped down from my pipe and ran to him. “Jack, climb up! Lift her!”

  I took Abigail in my arms as Jack climbed up. He reached down and with one arm pulled her up. He hooked her blouse around a bracket to keep her from falling, then wrapped himself around her, holding them both in place.

  “Michael!” Taylor shouted. “Look out!”

  Zeus continued to pick off the rats, but it was like shooting rubber bands at a hive of angry hornets. Just as the first wave of rats hit my legs, I pulsed and the rodents that hit me died in a bright flash. But there were far too many. They began to swarm me, jumping higher and higher. I swatted at them, staggering to move away from them.

  “Michael!” McKenna shouted, waving me to her. “Over here!” She was clinging to a pipe directly across from me. I tried to get to it, but walking was like trudging through mud. Slippery, flesh-eating mud.

  Suddenly a rat about the size of a cat hit me in the chest, knocking me over. As I fell to the ground a wave of the rodents covered me. I pulsed with everything I had to keep them from eating me, but they were breaking through and I could feel their sharp teeth tearing at the Elgen uniform. My electricity was nearly exhausted. One last pulse, I told myself. Maybe I could kill enough rats to make a difference.

  I wanted my last act to have some significance. I wanted my death to matter.

  Just then I saw a brilliant light and felt a wave of heat. I could feel the weight of the rats lessen as they began jumping from my body. I opened my eyes to see McKenna standing next to me, raging like a blast furnace. The frenzied rats were running away from her heat.

  “Get up, Michael!” she shouted.

  I pulled myself up, then staggered over to a pipe and used my magnetism to
climb to the top of it. McKenna climbed up after me, keeping only her legs blazing to ward off the rats. She couldn’t get more than three feet from the ground. She was suffering from dehydration and looked pale and dizzy. I reached down, grabbed onto her blouse, and pulled her higher. “You need water, don’t you?”

  Her mouth was too dry to answer. It was cruelly ironic—we were clinging to a twelve-inch water pipe and she was about to pass out from dehydration.

  Hatch’s voice calmly echoed down the corridor. “I’m betting you wish you’d just stayed home about now.”

  With McKenna’s heat gone the rats had returned tenfold, and the tile floor below us was no longer visible, just a rising sea of glowing fur.

  McKenna was panting heavily, and I saw her grip on the pipe loosen.

  “Hang on!” I shouted.

  Her eyes were closed, and she slowly shook her head. “I can’t. . . .”

  I swung my body around hers, pinning her against the pipe. “I’ve got you.”

  The rats continued to pour down the hall, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, swarming below us, waiting for one of us to fall. As their numbers increased they rose like the tide, and as they got closer they started jumping at us. Most of them hit well below us, though I saw Ostin kick one off his leg. For the moment we were too high up the walls for them to reach us, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Soon they would be jumping on us, one or two, then dozens, dragging us down to the undulating fur below.

  I wasn’t the only one who realized our predicament. Zeus, who was twenty feet ahead of me, began shooting out the hallway cameras. “If we’re going to die, it’s not for their entertainment!” he shouted.

  Still they came. As far as I could see, the corridor glowed brilliant orange, like the inside of a toaster. I looked over at Taylor. Her eyes were wide with terror. She looked over at me and for a moment we both just stared. “They just keep coming!” she shouted. “They’re like a river!”

  “That’s it!” Ostin shouted. “Zeus, shoot out the ceiling sprinklers!”

  Zeus turned back and looked at us.

  “Blow out the sprinklers!” Ostin shouted. “They can’t take water. Do it or we’re goners!”