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When I’m nervous about something, I try and distract myself. And so, as I march to my position, I keep thinking about the new army boots on my feet and how there’s a layer of rubber between me and the earth, and how much more connected and in tune I’d feel if I was bare foot. And the whole thing about needing a distraction now is ridiculous, since this is it: the moment we’ve waited years for. Bhavesh is behind me, and I’ve got the radio, currently turned to silent, in my belt. I should be concentrating on all of this, should be as alert as possible.
The sun is just rising.
Bhavesh and I skirt quickly and lightly around the pharmacy buildings, and then head down a backroad that has long shadows.
I used to be scared of shadows. Jaqueline and I both were. We’d play this game when we were with the clansmen, where we had to get from the hut we shared with her family to the food hut without letting any shadows touch us. We thought we’d get burnt. It was a game, but it was also our fear—that’s what made it all the more real. Now, as we merge with the shadows, the adrenaline pulsing through my veins is comforting, it’s one of my favorite feelings in the world. The shadows are my friends. They protect me. And they make me feel close to Jaqueline—my best friend. The girl I didn’t save. My Beast only saved me and the baby, the baby who I then abandoned, and I can’t help but feel guilty about all of it, even though I know it’s not a productive feeling. Feeling guilt won’t change the past. It won’t bring Jaqueline back. It won’t bring the baby back. He’d be ten now. The same age as Clive.
I swallow hard. I need to focus on the task at hand.
I glance at the sky—see a narrow strip of it above, in the space between the two large buildings either side of us. I can’t see the moon. Or any stars. Too much light pollution. Not like at D’Elinous.
Bhavesh and I make it out to the other side of the alleyway. We scale an eight-foot fence, dropping lightly to our feet on the other side. I bounce on the balls of my feet, saving the energy. Letting it dissipate is silly, especially when I’m going to need to run. And climb.
We have the most dangerous job—scaling the tower. It’s the Enhanced Ones’ headquarters, and so far only Maggot’s been inside. She scaled the tower to the third floor and managed to get enough of her bearings to make some rough floor plans when she got back to our tunnels.
“It has to be on the top floor,” she’d said, talking of the Enhanced Ones’ communication hub, their network that allows them to talk with the nearby towns.
And that’s what Bhavesh and I need to disable before the siege on New Zeralzi fully begins. Can’t have them calling for backup. We’ve worked out how we can neutralize the population here—but if more arrive, we’d be doomed.
The tower is in sight now, and seeing it—all twelve floors of it—fills me with energy and excitement, awe and wonder. It’s massive—and it doesn’t matter how many times I see the tower, I always have this reaction.
I rub my hands a little as I walk, keep an eye on the surroundings. No movements in the shadows. Good. But I pat the pistol in my belt, check it’s there, all the same.
Maggot’s instructed Bhavesh and me to climb the tower from opposite sides. East and west. It’s still dark enough that we shouldn’t be seen, but if one of us somehow is—by an Enhanced One looking out of their dorm window or something—then only one of us should be spotted. Likely, a commotion will occur and the Enhanced will put their effort into catching whichever one of us they’ve seen, leaving the other free to continue.
And we’re both quick. Chances are that if one of us is spotted when we’re a few stories up, we’ll still be able to get higher—possibly to the top and disable their comms—before the Enhanced drag us down.
I rub my hands together and smile. Climbing is what I’m good at. They’re not going to catch me.
But if they do, you can just kill them. It’s the voice of the Beast, and I squash him down quickly. He’s not supposed to be able to speak, not when this much adrenaline’s flooding me!
He’s not part of me, he’s not me, and soon I’m going to find out a way to get rid of him.
“Shit.” Bhavesh’s voice.
I turn to look at him, and then I follow his gaze to the...the mirror men.
And they’re not our guards. These mirror men are real. And they’re coming for us.
Bhavesh pulls his pistol from his belt.
I widen my eyes at him with a shake of my head. A gunshot will alert the other Enhanced—and we planned everything down to the very last second, including when we fire the first shot. Because when that happens, we all have to be in position. Most Enhanced should be sleeping right now in the dormitory blocks. We’ve got runners covering their entrances, barricading the Enhanced in. There’s only so long the augmenter supplies in their rooms will last. Meanwhile, Maggot and her team will be at the factory, smashing the augmenters, destroying them all. Ada’s team and Kazem’s team will kill any who try and hurt us.
And only then—when we’ve got all the Enhanced Ones locked up—can we fire any bullets. And that’s just if we discover a lone Enhanced out and about.
Like these ones. Shit.
“Don’t come any closer,” I say to the mirror men. My heart speeds up. We need to keep them talking long enough for the clock to strike the hour—that’s the point at which we can fire gunshots. Assuming everyone safely makes it to their places. But that’s—what? three minutes away? more?
“Stay back!” I yell, my voice a little louder. I pull my pistol from my belt, hold it threateningly toward them. Safety’s still on. I give Bhavesh a glance and he nods, the movement small.
“We’ll shoot if we have to,” he growls.
“You need to put your weapons down,” one of the mirror men says. His voice is horrible and grating.
“Fat chance of that.” I grit my teeth, look around. There are only four of them. If Bhavesh and I take two each, and disarm them—hell, even kill them as silently as we can—then we’ve still got a chance to complete the plan. We can’t be the ones to let everyone down.
“We know what you’re planning,” the man shouts. “You’re not going to win, you can’t take over a whole town! You’re all going to get crushed if you don’t join us willingly. Tell the others to step down.”
They know?
No, they can’t. They’re bluffing.
“We know you’re trying to take over. It’s not going to end well—and we’d rather have you join us alive than be shot dead when we’re defending our town.”
Bhavesh shoots a glance at me.
“You’d hurt us?” I snort. “Even though you hate violence?” My heart pounds.
Just kill them! The others will be in place by now! the Beast begs.
“I know you, Kacey. We all know you,” the mirror man says.
“How?” I don’t like the way he says my name—he shouldn’t even know my name—and the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Because we know all of you. And we know that at least one of your group isn’t as polluted by the Untamed parasite. They came to their senses and told us.”
“Someone told you?” Bhavesh’s voice is low. “One of us?”
A traitor. My eyes widen.
“I also know your boyfriend is injured,” one of the men says. “An injury, in an operation such as the one you’re planning to carry out, will only lead to unnecessary deaths.”
My breathing quickens. Shweta? She’s the traitor. She has to be. She’s the only one I told about Kazem’s injury. And she was acting odd last night. There was something off about her. And she looked older—have they taken the real Shweta and put an imposter in her place? I’ve heard their appearance-altering augmenters can be wonders.
“Join us willingly, and we won’t have to kill anyone,” the Enhanced say.
“Fat chance of that!” I yell.
The men step toward me. Then their hands go to their belts in unison, and at the same time, each of them pulls out a gun.
My heart hammers. Adrenaline courses through me.
“Kacey?” Bhavesh’s voice is sharp.
“Fire!” It takes everything in me to say the word, and as I do so, I line my gun up and pull the trigger, all in one movement. It’s fluid—and the Beast is happy—and my bullet gets the man and—
Another gunshot.
I flinch, duck, and the movement judders my teeth together. Energy thrums through me. Bhavesh is shooting and a mirror-eyed man falls and—
A scream.
“You can’t take over the whole town!” another Enhanced man shouts. “This is our town. It doesn’t belong to people like you. We’re prepared—we’ve got people waiting at the points where your people are going. Call it off now, Kacey, and save the lives of your people.”
I fire my gun at them in quick succession, somehow managing to get them all. The gunshots seem so loud, and part of me flinches—but the other part of me, the part that’s home to the Beast, doesn’t blanche at all.
I look around for Bhavesh—but he’s gone. Just...nowhere.
But more Enhanced will be coming here now.
I run and grab my radio, hold it to my mouth. “Abort, the enemy knows what we’re doing.” My breaths come in short, sharp bursts and it’s all I can hear in my ears. “I repeat—abort the mission! The enemy know the plan. Do you copy?”
I listen for someone to acknowledge receipt, but the line’s fuzzy, crackly and I’m breathing too hard, too fast, anyway. Can’t hear any words, any voice. Just static. Don’t know if my message got through. Or if it was in time.
The clock hasn’t struck the hour yet, but I can’t think. Would I even hear it from here? I look around. I’m in the lowest part of town. Worst for radio signal—I know that. But am I too far away from the clock tower?
My head pounds. An entrance to our tunnels is nearby. I need to get the abort message out, and I can boost the signal in there, thanks to Markus’s tech.
Sweat covers me like a second skin as I run. Adrenaline pounds through me. Shweta told them. Oh Gods. I knew she was acting weirdly this morning. I should’ve said something to Maggot. Should’ve realized that the Shweta I spoke to most likely wasn’t her. Maggot and I could’ve evacuated the tunnels completely. Because taking over this town—that’s out of the question now. I can feel it in my gut—there’s going to be blood spilled because of this. A lot of blood.
The Beast smiles.
I reach the tunnels in record time, entering through the emergency exit, and run through them, my feet pounding, my heart pounding, my head pounding. Everything pounding.
“They know the plan!” I yell into my radio, trying it again. It crackles and buzzes.
No one answers.
I run farther, getting nearer to the amplification port. It should be automatic, as soon as I’m in range. I try again, shouting the words. My fingers are slippery with sweat, and I nearly drop the radio, fumble with it just as it buzzes.
“Copy that,” a voice says—Celena’s on the radio. “Everyone, fall back to the tunnels!”
Oh, thank the Gods. Never before have I been so pleased to hear her voice. She got the message. Someone heard me. Someone—
“Ah!” I scream as a hand lands on my shoulder, and I whirl around to face mirror eyes.
They’re in here.
“Nice to meet you, Kacey,” he says. A broad-shouldered Enhanced man. Dark hair. Pale skin.
He lines up his gun—and somehow it all happens in slow motion.
He pulls the trigger, and he’s smiling, and I see myself reflected in his eyes. See the way my mouth falls open a fraction of a second before I feel the pain like a hot ember in my chest, an ember that grows and grows.
And then I feel nothing.