Caleb leapt into the first vehicle’s cab while the others piled into the rears of both vehicles. Pablo shouted something through the second cab’s open window, his words mangled by the hooting alarm, but his message still clear. Hurry!
Kevin flashed Caleb a swift grin, as though it was all great fun, then reached over and helped Irene cram herself into the seat next to Caleb. Gradually the gatehouse alarm faded as they drove.
Kevin asked, “Where to?”
“Straight! Straight!” Caleb’s racing heart and the grinding motor and the faint shouts from militia guards and the alarm all made it difficult to think. But the map contained in Maddie’s last image was still clear before his eyes.
Kevin raced down the street, scattering pedestrians and cyclists alike. Then a trio of militia ran out from one building, waving their arms and shouting. Kevin gave the horn a cheery beep and took aim. They leapt aside at the very last minute, as though unable to believe someone would actually defy their authority. Kevin and Irene both laughed out loud.
“Left!” Caleb shouted. “Turn left!”
The truck shot around the corner so fast it reared up on two wheels, then bounced down hard. The steering wheel skittered beneath Kevin’s hands like the reins of a nervous horse. He fought for control, slapped the gearshift, and accelerated.
Caleb could not believe his ears. The man was actually humming. “What has gotten into you?”
“I always get like this before going into action.”
Caleb wanted to tell him how insane that sounded, but Irene chose that moment to say, “Maddie says to tell you she’s ready.”
The woman’s calm was as jarring as Kevin’s bouncy tune. “She knows?”
“We’ve been talking since the alarm started.” Irene clutched for a handhold as the truck swept around a sharp bend. “There’s no longer any need for secrecy.”
“But . . . Those buildings!” Caleb pointed down a long, empty road to a trio of structures standing by themselves. “That’s them!”
A trench had been started, and massive earth-moving machinery glistened in the dank grey light. The unfinished boundary fence formed an arc around the left-hand building, stretching back to where it met with the taller city wall. The buildings themselves were smallish, only two stories, with no windows on the ground floor. They appeared as blankly hostile as the militia barracks.
The earth gleamed a rich red where it had been dug up and reshaped into a curved mound, almost as tall as a man. Atop this rose a series of metal staves, thick as young trees. Bales of barbed wire lay in the grass in front of the mound. There were no vehicles along this road, or cyclists or idling groups of students. Nor was there any need of warning signs. The unfinished barricade said it all.
As Kevin raced down the empty lane, the door to the central building opened and a mass of troops spilled out. Forrest leaned through the rear window and shouted, “Suits! Suits!”
“I see them.” Kevin slowed only slightly, then turned the wheel and steered the truck through a wide arc until it faced the road. He yelled, “Mentats!”
Caleb was fearful of how exposed they all were. Relying on untrained mentats seemed ludicrous, but he had no better idea. He opened the truck door and spilled onto the pavement because he refused to take his eyes off the militia clambering up the embankment, settling into protected positions, and taking aim . . .
“Guns!” Forrest’s voice had risen to that of a young girl’s. “They’re taking aim at—”
The dismal, overcast day was shattered by a scream.
It was unlike anything Caleb had ever known or even thought might exist. The scream was in fact made from no sound at all. Instead, it emanated from every surface. The grass shimmered in time to the high-pitched shriek. The air crystallized and reknit and blasted apart. Over and over and over, until Caleb was certain his brain would shatter as well.
Then silence.
He found himself curled into a tight little ball on the wet asphalt. He lifted his head to find Kevin sprawled half inside and half outside the truck. Irene lay beside him, her hands clamped to either side of her head. From the truck’s rear cabin came the sound of wails and weeping.
Kevin groaned, “What . . .”
Between the two trucks and the barricade, Pablo walked alone. His arms were extended slightly to either side of his body. He moved very slowly, approaching the barricade like he was offering himself as a sacrifice. Only there was no one to accept his surrender. The troopers and suits writhed on the muddy bank.
Caleb forced himself to stand, and in that instant he realized that Pablo was causing the strident scream. The mental noise was pointed forward. As Pablo passed, so too did the chaotic din.
Caleb shouted, “Everybody come with me!” He did not recognize his own voice. His throat felt constricted from the impact of Pablo’s attack. His limbs rebelled against the need to carry his weight forward. Still he moved. “Kevin!”
“Here.” The man gasped and staggered, but he came.
“Everyone! Help us!”
Caleb did not turn to see who came. He heard footsteps. How many, he had no idea. He accelerated until he moved just behind Pablo. The silence here was exquisite. He was sheltered behind the man’s horrible aim, while ahead of him dozens upon dozens of the enemy writhed in torment. “Gather their weapons!”
Pablo continued to walk forward, which meant the first line of the enemy was now behind them. They had been impacted by the assault far longer than Caleb, and none of them could focus or bring their limbs under control. Yet.
The barricade hill was a mass of slippery mud. Caleb found it easier to reach up and grab an ankle or arm and haul the groaning, weeping soldiers and suits down to where he could strip away their guns. He searched them as quickly as he could, tossing everything into a growing pile on the lawn behind them. More and more of his team joined in until the weaponry was waist high and still growing.
Caleb reached the end of the gathering just as Pablo turned around. Their gazes met across the expanse of mud and moat and groaning men. Pablo offered him a fierce grin. For the first time in his life, Caleb understood what it meant to be a warrior on attack, the adrenaline rush that overcame all fear.
He yelled, “Mentats!”
A young voice turned younger still by everything that was happening called back, “Here!”
“Tell the enemy to run for their lives!”
The suits and militia staggered to their feet and fled. Then the door to the left-hand building burst open. Six suits and twice as many militia poured out, their faces stretched taut in terror. Still more stumbled from the central building. They were joined by another group from the third structure, a veritable flood of panic-stricken troopers. Two of them passed so close to Caleb he heard their wheezing gasps for breath they could not find. Their eyes were glazed with tears. They clawed the air as they stumbled and crawled and wept and fled.
Far in the distance, the alarm continued to wail.
Then they were alone, just a clutch of mud-streaked and bedraggled adepts, staring wondrously at the fleeing mob.
“Caleb!”
He whirled about as Maddie stepped through the portal, leapt down the stairs, and flew into his arms.