“Six,” Kyntak said.
Six didn’t respond. He stared out the window at Harry’s broken body, waiting for him to move. He didn’t.
“Six!” Kyntak shouted. “We have to keep moving!”
Six slid to the floor. He heard Kyntak’s words, but he wasn’t sure how to respond to them. He kept watching Harry, his room-mate of eight months, his rescuer a dozen times over, the last of his kind.
Kyntak swore and grabbed the controls of the tank. Six heard him shove the levers forward, but the sound seemed to come from a distance. The left treads spun much faster than the right ones, which had been crippled by the fire from the EMU, and the tank plowed crazily through the bunks of the barracks.
Harry’s dead, Six thought. Two is dead. Methryn Crexe is dead. All the soldiers killed by the sniper in the Timeout are dead. Half the soldiers in this room could be dead by now. Everyone was alive this morning, and now everybody’s dead. And we’ll be joining them any second…
Overbalanced by the mismatched speeds of the treads, the tank slipped over sideways. Six was thrown backward against the wall; he barely felt the impact. Kyntak screamed as the side of the tank scraped across the concrete floor. The shouts of soldiers could be heard as they were knocked out of the way, and Six made out the noise of a few more shots spitting out of the EMU before it was crushed beneath the sliding tank.
Thump! The cabin shook as the tank collided with something, and then everything was still. Six sat on the wall. Crow and Eagle bullets were still pinging off the hull, but all seemed to be focused on the underbelly of the tank; Six could see the soldiers taking aim through the holes left by the EMU.
Kyntak was opening the hatch. “Get up,” he said. “We’re nearly out.”
Six didn’t move. There was no way out. He’d be beaten up and shot at, blown up and thrown off things until the day he died. The upside was that today was probably the day.
“Six,” Kyntak said. “The tank has blocked off the entrance to the armory. We have a clear run to the elevator. We can be on the surface in minutes.”
Six looked up at him. Kyntak was covered in grit, blood, and broken glass.
“I know you’re tired,” Kyntak said urgently. “But, please, Six, trust me. Do what I tell you and you’ll be glad you did later.”
Six nodded. He did trust Kyntak. He hadn’t always, but he did now. He got to his feet.
“Good,” Kyntak said, and he grabbed Six’s arm and dragged him through the hatch. The noise of bullets hitting the tank faded as they stepped into the darkness of the armory.
Kyntak was right. The tank had completely blocked the doorway between the armory and the barracks. There was no way for the ChaoSonic or Vanish soldiers to get inside, unless there were more coming down in the elevator at the other end.
Kyntak pulled him through the armory and pushed the button to call the elevator. He handed Six into the shadows beside the racks of helmets. Six slid to the floor again—Kyntak didn’t stop him; he just stood on the other side of the corridor. Six sat staring at his hands.
The doors slid open. The elevator was empty.
Kyntak ran towards it. “Come on!”
Six climbed to his feet and followed Kyntak to the elevator. The doors closed behind them. “Is there a button I have to push?” asked Kyntak, scouting around.
Six shook his head. The elevator started moving a second or two later. He glanced up at the surveillance camera—the lens had been smashed, probably by a gun butt. The ChaoSonic soldiers presumably didn’t want Vanish to know how many troops were being transported down into the facility.
“Six,” Kyntak said. Six turned to face him. “Are you all here?”
“Who?”
“You,” Kyntak said. “Do you remember who I am?”
“You’re Kyntak,” Six said. He remembered Kyntak.
“I’m scared, Six. I’ve never seen you like this.”
The doors slid open. Kyntak peered out into the warehouse; it looked empty to Six. Some corner of his mind told him that the soldiers must all be going in through the abseiling hole now.
They stepped out. “Almost there,” Kyntak reassured him. “The Deck agents will—”
“Freeze!”
Six did. Kyntak turned his head quickly from side to side.
“Cockroaches,” he hissed. “One on either side, three meters away, one Crow each.”
“Put your hands on your head,” said a voice on Six’s left. He did, and Kyntak followed suit.
“If we duck, will they shoot each other?” Six asked. The question was automatic. The part of his brain used for situational analysis had taken over.
“No,” Kyntak replied. “They’re not quite parallel.”
“Turn to face the elevator,” said the soldier on the other side of Kyntak. Six turned, and heard Kyntak do the same.
“On your knees,” the soldier said. They both complied.
“I didn’t come this far to be shot by a couple of grunts,” Kyntak whispered.
“You didn’t come this far?” Six muttered. “I did all the work.”
“Shut up,” one of the soldiers said. There was a long silence.
They’re deciding whether to execute us or take us prisoner, Six thought. Presumably mouthing the words, or doing one-handed sign language. He breathed deeply, and the City air filled his lungs. Someone had opened the giant warehouse door, so air from the outside was blowing in gently. The polluted fog in it was overpowered by the sweetness of the predawn chill. Six couldn’t look at his watch, but he guessed it was probably around 6:00 am.
It wasn’t perfect, as far as last breaths went. But nothing ever was—and maybe it would do.
Six took a moment to remember all the good things in his life. Making King proud of the work he had done. Saving lives in the City, be they good or evil. Watching Nai rise from a crawl to a walk for the first time. Seeing Earle Shuji’s remorse, and realizing that people could change. Cheating death a thousand times, because he still had work to do—but maybe now he’d done enough.
That was more or less all of them—Six hadn’t often been happy in his life. But those few things were rewards for his suffering, and perhaps now he could finally rest.
He turned his head slightly to meet Kyntak’s gaze. Kyntak’s eyes were narrow, and his mouth was a hard line. At last, Six thought. My brother has finally grown up.
Two shots echoed through the night. Six and Kyntak dropped to the floor and lay still.