20

 

WE RIDE HARD across the desert land that is blazing copper and blasted with heat. I push the horse at full gallop for the first thirty minutes, relishing the hard, jaunty bounce, the impossibility of coherent thought in my rattling skull. I try to ignore the feel of Sissy’s arms and legs around me, the soft press of her on my back whenever we take a hard bounce. The wind in my ears, the harsh glare of sunlight in my eyes, it is all a welcome distraction.

When the Palace has shrunk to a distant dot behind us, we stop by a pile of large boulders. We disembark, lead the hard-breathing horse to the shade by the boulders. Its eyes are wild with exhaustion, it muscles bunched with fatigue.

“You’re pushing the horse too hard,” Sissy says, concern on her face. “It’ll keel over and die before we reach the metropolis. Go slower, Gene.”

I don’t reply. She’s right, but I’m not in the mood to admit it.

She stares hard at me. “Something’s different about you. What’s going on?”

I ignore her, and busy myself tending to the horse. She sighs with frustration, then scrambles up one boulder, then another.

The horse side-gazes me with large, accusatory eyes as if it knows my true motives. It snorts, spraying me. I return a hard stare, then climb up the boulders to join Sissy. The granite is blistering to the touch, almost singeing my hands. Sissy is staring into the horizon, through wavy bands of heat undulating off the boulders.

“You don’t have to worry about the Originators chasing us down,” I tell her. “The chief advisor can’t leave the Ruler’s side. Not at a time like this. And the other Originators won’t leave without him.”

But she’s not looking in that direction. Instead, she’s staring toward the metropolis, her hands placed over her eyes like an awning.

“I can see buildings. The metropolis isn’t too far,” she says. “Maybe an hour away.”

“An hour and a half,” I say. “I’ll slow down. You’re right.”

She doesn’t reply, but her expression softens a touch. “What’s that sparkle over there?” she asks. “That glimmer in the distance.”

I follow the trajectory of her pointing arm. There. “That’s the Domain Building. The tallest skyscraper in the metropolis.”

“Where your father worked.”

I nod.

Sissy whistles. “Look at all those skyscrapers. The metropolis is so much bigger than I imagined, Gene.” She looks at me with awe. And deep pity. “How did you ever survive? Living right in the midst of them? For all these years?”

“You just learn. Adapt. Survive.”

“It’s so massive,” Sissy says in a quieter, subdued voice. “How are we ever going to find Ashley June in there? It’ll be like searching for a needle in a haystack.”

“We don’t have to search. We have a time and place certain where she’ll be. The Convention Center. At dusk. We go there and let her come to us. Then we take her down.”

She doesn’t say anything, but I can see the idea taking hold. “And how do we find Epap?”

I reach into my pocket, take out the TextTrans. “We keep trying to reach out to him,” I say. I quickly explain how the TextTrans functions as I type out a brief message.

It’s Gene and Sissy. Where are you?

“Let him know we’re heading for the metropolis,” Sissy says. “Tell him we’ll be there in about an hour and a half.”

I pause. “I don’t know. Maybe we should leave out the details. Just in case his TextTrans has fallen into the wrong hands. It’d be better not to give away too much.”

She looks away. She knows what I’m insinuating about Epap, that he might not be alive. She gives a quick, almost imperceptible nod.

I hit SEND. “We do this every few hours,” I say. “Maybe we’ll get a reply.”

Her jawline juts out. “He’s probably dead, isn’t he?”

I don’t say anything.

“He is, isn’t he?”

“I won’t lie to you, Sissy.” My voice is softer now. “He probably is. But we can’t let that get to us. We need to think of David, okay? Even if we can’t find Epap, we still have David to rescue. Which means we still need to get to Ashley June. For David’s sake.”

Sissy stares hard at me. A wind gusts then, blowing the hot air rising off the boulders through our hair.

“I keep thinking of David,” she says. A vertical line creases down the middle of her forehead. “That right now while we’re free under blue skies, the sun on our faces, able to talk, able to breathe fresh air, he’s confined in a tank. He’s submerged in liquid, alone, in almost pitch-darkness.” She clamps her jaw, her teeth grinding. “It’s more than I can bear.”

Sissy gazes back at the Palace. Muscle juts out of her arms, tinseled with sweat. “I feel like I’m deserting him. I’d do just about anything to take his place; I’d be willing to die a thousand deaths. I should go back for him.”

“You can’t,” I say, almost too quickly.

She pulls her hair behind her ear. “You go to the metropolis, get Epap. I return to the Palace, get David.”

“No, Sissy,” I say urgently. “We stay together.” I can’t let us separate; I need her; I need her blood. How I get it—how I’ll explain why to her—that I haven’t figured out yet. But I can’t rush things, not without a proper container to store her blood, not with so many hours for her blood to spoil in the heat. Not while she still has a chance to walk away.

She squares her body with mine, and her look is surprisingly tender. Sweat droplets bead her forehead, dot her upper lip. She sees the desperation in my face, and something in her relents. She presses her forehead against my collarbone. I wrap my arms around her damp back.

“We stay together, okay, Sissy?”

She nods against my chest.

I close my eyes, swallow hard. Hoping she’ll forgive me when this is all over.

*   *   *

We test out the weapons. Better to practice firing the weapons here at the boulders than in the metropolis where the loud bangs would attract attention.

Sissy is a quick study when it comes to the handgun. She figures out how to load it and, after only a few minutes, is able to do so with eyes closed, her fingers snapping in cartridge after cartridge, all in under five seconds. She picks out a rock as a target, and after only a few practice rounds she’s nailing the target each time.

My weapon of choice is the sniper rifle, which I find only after opening the silver briefcase. Also embedded in the case are two tube-like cylinders.

“Silencers,” Sissy says with awe, taking one. “I read about them in the dome.” She stares down at the handgun. “I think this silencer is compatible with both the sniper rifle and this handgun!” she exclaims, screwing it in. “I always wanted to try one of these.” When she shoots, instead of an explosive report a whistled zip is all that sounds. She nods approvingly.

“You keep that one,” I tell her.

Turns out, I’m a crackerjack at the sniper. From the moment I place my eye on the eyepiece and stare down the scope, the stock pressed snugly into my shoulder, it feels right. I’m overeager at first, too hungry to feel the sniper’s power, and end up pulling the trigger too hastily. But after the first few shots, I steady my breathing, slow my finger on the trigger. My shots are still a bit off, a touch to my left each time. I make some minor tweaks on the scope, and from that point on I bull’s-eye every one of my shots.

“Hotshot, you are,” Sissy says, smiling. Her face turns serious. “This is good. In terms of strategy. When we take out Ashley June, we’ll position ourselves both close and far from her. You get the first shot, from afar. I’ll be up close with a short-range weapon, in case you miss. Two chances at the same target.”

I nod in fake agreement, glancing up at the sun. “Let’s get going,” I say. I break down the sniper and pack the parts back into the case.

“Check the TextTrans,” she says.

But there’s nothing.

Silently we slide down the boulder, untether the horse. But despite Epap’s TT silence, I can tell that Sissy’s mood has lifted. Her skin glows; her body seems more vibrant. The weapons, the shooting, the sense of working toward a goal—these have all buoyed her spirits.

I secure the backpack to the saddle and am about to mount the horse when she puts her hand on my shoulder. “This time,” she says with a grin, “I’ll ride in front. It’s your turn to sit behind and be the useless seat belt wrapped all around me.”