It’s dark in the Deadzone. Our headlights illuminate filthy streets, unkempt sidewalks, and the occasional group of Deadzoners huddled around an urban fire. Vats of Slip boil over the flames. I only know what it is because of Trinity. She taught me about it when we lived together in the Kennel and I was attacked by a man high on it.
New Generation Ag (NGA) supplies all the legally obtainable food to the Green Republic. Farming is illegal, so all meat is made in a lab by coaxing a meat cell to grow and multiply into a full piece of meat. The animal is never alive, just the cells. I don’t know exactly how it works, but the byproduct of the process is an acidic substance called Slip. NGA stores Slip in steel vats and dumps them in the Deadzone. Any type of pollution is illegal in the Green Republic, so it’s a convenient way for NGA to get rid of a substance they can’t eliminate legally. The Deadzoners boil the Slip into a tar and then smoke it. Trinity told me she suspected it was NGA that figured out Slip could make you high and taught the first Deadzoners how to use it. I’d like to think that no one would be as evil as to purposely addict people, but I have to admit it’s awfully convenient for NGA. Their pollution problem literally goes up in smoke.
Slip gives its users almost unlimited energy and a high that lasts for days. Eventually though, it’s deadly. People who use it forget to eat and sleep. Longtime users become ill from nutritional deficiencies and have red, swollen eyes.
“Don’t stop here,” I say, wary of the way the men on the side of the road eye our vehicle. “We’ll have to hide the jeep.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Twelve minutes,” I say. My heart sinks. “We can make it.”
“We’ll make it,” Korwin repeats.
“They’re boiling Slip everywhere. I’ve seen at least three vats in the last mile. Was it always this bad?” A malicious-looking lot watches us pass, sucking on their pipes and darting twitchy glances between each other.
“No. This is definitely worse. I’m not sure I’ve seen this many Deadzoners in the streets before.”
“Yeah.”
Korwin quickly finds a backstreet empty of Deadzoners, cuts the lights, and pulls into the first alley. He parks in a three-space parking lot adjacent to an abandoned office building. I jump out and meet him around the back.
“Ten minutes. Which way?” I look up and down the alley, but I don’t recognize our location.
He nods and motions with his head. At a jog, I follow him through the office building and out a broken window to another street. I can see the Kennel. The building used to be a prison and is surrounded by a tall, barbed-wire-topped wall. The rows of tiny windows in the cells-turned-apartments are dark.
“It won’t do for us to walk in the front door. If we go in the way we broke out, we might have the element of surprise.”
When the Greens raided the Kennel, we escaped by blowing a hole in the wall of a private bathroom available only to pack leadership. Dr. Konrad’s hologram looked like he was in the Kennel’s warehouse-sized main room, where Korwin and other clan members used to prizefight for units. “It’s the best chance we’ve got.”
Korwin leads me into the alley where we escaped. A piece of wood has been nailed over the hole, but the job is haphazard. We easily pry the nails out and slip inside, closing the hole behind us.
“No one has been here since we left,” I say, running my finger through a thick coat of dust on the lip of the clawfoot tub.
Pausing at the door, Korwin holds out his hand. “Together?”
I nod. He leads the way through the door into the dark hall, the subtle glow from our bodies lighting our way.
Korwin sniffs and scowls. I smell it too. Sulfur. Dr. Konrad is close. Too close.
We approach the end of the hall, and I press my back against the wall. Around the corner is the main floor of the Kennel. Korwin places a finger over his lips and points his thumb over his shoulder. He mouths, Ready?
A sinister laugh cuts through the darkness, followed by a woman’s sob. “Do you think after all this time I can’t sense when you are in the same room?” Dr. Konrad’s menacing voice cuts through the empty space like a knife. “Come out, dear betas, and face your maker.”
Korwin looks at me and extinguishes his spark. I do the same. Without our glow, we turn the corner shrouded in darkness. I inhale sharply. There is a circle of light in the center of the main floor. Trinity is bound and gagged in a chair under the beam, the heavy black vest of explosives with its looping wires a vivid reminder of the danger we’re in.
“I knew you’d come.” Dr. Konrad walks into the light and looks directly at us, as if he can see us in the dark. “Your friend Trinity was adamant that you’d been hiding in the Deadzone.” He lowers his voice. “She was lying, of course, a liar just like her filthy, politician father. Minds like hers are open books to me now.” He tugs Trinity’s hair, bending her neck back at a painful angle and flashing us the red rims of her eyes. She moans in pain.
“It worked. We’re here. Let her go,” Korwin says, taking on a faint blue glow with his anger.
“Where is SC-13?”
“Somewhere safe. We’ll hand him over when you release Trinity,” Korwin says.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What did I just say about liars?” Dr. Konrad claws at his unruly hair. “I can tell when you’re lying. I hear it. I hear everything. Now, bring me the womb.”
“Never,” I murmur.
Dr. Konrad narrows his eyes at me. He shouldn’t be able to see me in the dark. Or hear what I said. But he did. Without taking his eyes off me, he reaches behind him to a stainless steel rolling table that supports his black bag of horrors. Silver flashes and blood pours from Trinity’s cheek. She screams around the gag.
“Stop,” I yell. “Please!”
“We had a deal.” He presses the scalpel into her jugular. “SC-13 for Trinity’s life.”
“Take me,” Korwin says. “I’ll go in Trinity’s place. You can do whatever experiments you want on me.”
“The knight in shining armor throws himself on his sword. Honestly, do you ever tire of trying to play the hero, Korwin?” Dr. Konrad hunches as if the weight of the world rests on his shoulders. “It bores me. Allow me to put this plainly. I don’t want you. Either of you. Although nothing would make me happier than to take you apart cell by cell for my own pleasure. Alas, you are useless to me aside from a petty diversion. What I want is—”
The baby, I think.
“Yes, Lydia, the baby.” Dr. Konrad rolls his eyes. “I. Can. Hear. You!”
“He can read minds,” Korwin says, incredulously.
“One of my many, new abilities.” Dr. Konrad runs his finger through the blood oozing from Trinity’s cheek. She whimpers. He rubs the blood between his fingers, then opens his hand to show the gory mess. “Blood is such a precious thing. As it turns out, yours is something of a phenomenon.”
“Then why not take us instead?” Korwin asks.
“The gene that makes you what you are is a rare mutation. If I combine the genetic material of two alphas, only one in one million would result in a live birth with your genetic makeup. The fact there are two of you, born at the same time, is nothing short of a statistical miracle.” He paces behind Trinity, stepping in her bright red blood and leaving footprints on the concrete.
Trinity weeps. He ignores her.
“The same is true of the gamma generation. The combination of your genetic material took me hundreds of trials to figure out. My creations kept dying. One of the chromosomes bends during gestation and the fetus self-destructs. No one understands. I had to have a gamma. I extracted DNA from the dying embryos, accomplished a bit of scientific hocus-pocus, and created a retrovirus that made me what I am.”
“You injected the dead gamma cells into yourself?” Korwin asks, as if the mere thought sickens him.
“The gammas were alive when I took the cells,” Dr. Konrad says coldly. “I had no choice but to experiment on myself once Daddy Pierce pulled my funding. My new benefactor required complete discretion and quick results. The injection was a raving success. Little buggers gave me a host of new psychic abilities. Unfortunately, the side effects are rather insufferable. I’m as unstable as the Alpha Eight. Radioactive jaundice isn’t for cowards. The situation was dire. But then a miracle.”
“SC-13,” I say.
“Yes. The fetus is the key to my stability. Hair of the dog, you see. I quite literally must have SC-13 back. My life depends on it. Even if you hadn’t destroyed all of the remaining genetic material in my lab, producing another living gamma could take years. I need the tiny miracle in your possession. Now.”
“No! You can’t have him.” My voice is strained. I’m on dangerous ground. My wolf appears at my side and my head spins with her need to take control.
“You don’t think you can keep it, do you? SC-13 needs me as much as I need it. It won’t survive another three weeks in that artificial womb without my intervention. You have no idea the delicate balance it took to keep it alive thus far. It is useless to you.”
“Shut up!” The tiny baby inside the pod flashes through my mind and I squeeze my eyes shut. The thought of anything happening to SC-13 fills me with fury. I seethe at Dr. Konrad. I will kill him. I will end him before he can lay a finger on my baby. I hold my hand out and the wolf comes to me, melding into my side.
Korwin notices the change, the way I stiffen and become eerily calm. “Stay with me,” he whispers.
Dr. Konrad narrows his eyes. “Yes, stay with us, Lydia. Now is not the time to run away. Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to bring SC-13 to me.”
“No.”
“I realize Trinity’s life isn’t enough motivation for you, but how about Korwin’s?”
Korwin’s hand is wrenched from mine. I dive for it, but I’m not fast enough. His body launches into the air, arms and legs flailing. He groans as if Konrad’s power is crushing him.
Dr. Konrad’s lips are still moving. He’s spewing threats, but I can’t hear them. All I can hear is the rush of breath against the back of my throat and the growl of the wolf in my head. Blue arcs of electricity orbit me.
“Still not enough,” I say in a voice three octaves lower than my own. Electricity flies from my hand and plows into Dr. Konrad’s chest. His face morphs into a mask of surprise as his body convulses and Korwin drops more than two stories to the concrete. I don’t check on him. The wolf doesn’t care. I take a step forward, breaking a sweat in my attempt to hold Konrad in my electrokinetic grip.
“Come on, Emile. Why don’t you show me your new skills?” I ask through my teeth. “You don’t want to pick on a girl stronger than you? You worthless waste of a heartbeat.”
Konrad writhes, gripped in the throes of blue lightning. I take a step closer. I have him.
Without warning, the blue beam I’m sending into Konrad flickers and fails. I stare down at my traitorous hand. Shaking my arms, I try to call it back, but I can’t even manage a glow.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Dr. Konrad says, shaking off the effects of my attack. He narrows his eyes on me and my feet leave the floor. I soar through the air, desperately snapping my arm at the elbow, but I can’t spark. I slam into the second-floor balcony railing and then drop like a rock. My spark engages enough to protect me from the worst of the impact, and then fizzles, leaving me aching and breathless on the cold concrete.
“You’re wasting my time,” Konrad bellows. “Trinity won’t thank you when her blood and brains are splattered across this building. When I’m done with her?” He steps up to my face so that all I can see are his shoes as I try to catch my breath. There’s a rustle of paper. He squats to show me the picture Korwin drew of me in my apron and kapp. “Once Trinity is dead, I might find some suitable motivation for you behind the wall of the Amish preservation.”
I stop breathing. My vision blurs. Rage coils like a fist in my gut.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” he says. “I don’t give you permission to die.”
Oh, but I am not dead. I’m listening to my wolf. With a surge of energy, I drive my fist into his lower leg, all my weight twisting into the punch. The bone cracks and Konrad falls, a howl pouring from his lungs. I tackle him on all fours, kicking, scratching. My nails dig into his face and my thumbs press into his eyes.
With a cross punch to my temple, he sends me rolling off his body. Power grips me like a vise. I struggle to breathe as Konrad’s gaze squeezes my torso and lifts me into the air again. He staggers to his feet, limping toward me. My ribs crack.
“Did you forget something, Dr. Konrad?” Korwin says.
My eyes flick to find Korwin holding the explosive vest. Trinity is gone. The chair lies in pieces at his feet. Dr. Konrad doesn’t fall for the distraction. His eyes don’t move from me. The crushing pressure strengthens.
“If I forgot something, it was to kill you sooner,” he says.
My lips curve into a wicked smirk. Korwin knows what to do.
A shot of electricity whips from Korwin’s hand and wraps around Dr. Konrad’s ankle. The doctor topples, knocking over the cart and his bag of terrors. Metal implements rattle and clang across the floor. I’m released from Konrad’s hold and fall. This time, my spark doesn’t protect me. I land on my back, scalpels and pliers stabbing into my flesh.
The doctor seizes as Korwin hits him with another blast.
As I struggle to pull myself up, extracting a scalpel from my shoulder in the process, I see a plastic detonator among the tools scattered across the floor. I dive for it, blood dripping down my arm.
I hold up the detonator. “Throw the vest, Korwin,” I yell.
He looks at me in confusion. “No. No, Lydia.” He shakes his head and doubles his efforts to fry Dr. Konrad.
In a wide arc, I round Dr. Konrad’s seizing body to Korwin’s side. “He won’t stop. He won’t ever stop,” I say. “He knows about the preservation. I have to end this.” It comes out as low as a growl. I am not afraid. My wolf has made me carelessly brave.
“Put it d-down, girl. D-Don’t be stupid. You’ll t-take down the entire b-building. Without your spark, you’ll be crushed,” Dr. Konrad warns in the throws of electrocution. He peels his lips back from his teeth.
My finger hovers over the button. He’s right. Without my power to protect me, I’ll die. My heart races. Sweat drips from my hairline. I have no spark left, but my wolf doesn’t care. She chants, push, push, push, in my head.
“Please, Lydia, no,” Korwin says. His eyes dart toward me, even while he concentrates on holding Konrad within the lightning that flows from his hand.
The wolf howls within my skull. She wants Dr. Konrad dead. So do I. The hand holding the detonator trembles as I try to hold her back.
“You d-don’t have the guts,” Konrad says through clenched teeth. “You won’t hurt your beloved boyfriend.”
“Ten, nine, eight, seven,” I say loudly. I grab Korwin’s forearm. He groans as hot energy flows up my arm and into me. My spark flames to life. It takes all my effort, but drawing on Korwin, I’m able to produce a shield.
Korwin’s head shakes. The beam between him and Konrad weakens. “Lydia,” he pleads.
“Four, three, two…” My hand steadies over the detonator and I grin at Konrad. Any doubts I may have had about pushing the trigger melt away with the wolf’s howl in my brain and the revolving blue atoms that tell me my shield is in place. I am going to end this, once and for all.
Korwin throws the vest and covers his head with his free arm.
Abruptly, Dr. Konrad’s persona shifts from confidence to fear. He turns on his heel and tries for the exit. But my wolf wants blood.
I push the button.