XLIV

Elodie had never run as fast as she’d run from the MediCenter. Somewhere along the way, as Westfall’s downtown buildings blurred past, Aiden had yelled and told her to head toward the Warehouse District. Elodie hadn’t needed the instruction. Even through the metallic tang of blood crusted against her lips and the burnt-earth scent of gunpowder seared into her nostrils, she still had her wits about her. She could still remember what Sparkman had told them.

I’ll send them out to make one pass through this district at exactly twenty-three thirty.

Elodie and Aiden would be picked up soon. It was almost over. Her legs shook as she reached the Warehouse District and slowed down. They wanted to keep moving, keep the world at a blur so she didn’t have time to think about Astrid and Cath, the guns and their lives being over. They’d died so easily, so quickly.

When they reached the Eos warehouse, Elodie slipped into the shadows next to Aiden and flattened herself against the concrete exterior. She tried her best to calm her ragged breathing and fill her burning lungs by inhaling smoothly, deeply.

“I used to think my life was boring,” she said, her breath finally calming. “If only I could have seen into the future.” Elodie couldn’t help but smile. A cheerless, sardonic smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Aiden’s boot scraped against the pavement. “Bet you wish you could have that life back.”

Elodie chewed the inside of her cheek. “Not completely,” she said and smoothed her collar between her fingers. “But somewhere in the middle, without the death.”

Aiden continued to grind the sole of his boot against the ground. “Yeah, well, we can’t go back now.”

“What about your sister?” Elodie bit her lip. “Blair said that as long as Cath confessed, we could go free, and that she would sort everything out with the Council. We could pretend none of this ever happened.”

“She only said those things to get what she wanted. She’s always been that way.” Aiden kicked a broken piece of concrete. It tumbled off the sidewalk and disappeared down the sewer grate.

“You’re her brother. She loves you. And now you’re the only family she has left.”

Aiden wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Blair doesn’t love me. She doesn’t know how.”

A nearby streetlight flickered before resuming its steady waterfall of light.

Elodie stood silently as Aiden continued to kick at the concrete beneath his boots. Clouds had hidden the stars, and all at once Elodie felt caged. “No one is supposed to die in VR.” She felt the words leave her lips but wasn’t sure why she’d said them.

Aiden stopped scuffing his boot against the sidewalk but remained quiet.

She brushed away the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Sparkman’s team will pick us up and take us to a safehouse.” She rested her head against the building and sighed. “It’s almost over.”

“We’re not going to a safehouse,” Aiden said as he stared at the flickering lamplight. “There’s only one place where no one will look for us—where we can truly hide.”

Bile burned the back of Elodie’s throat. “Zone Seven.” She’d known all along but hadn’t wanted it to be real. She’d hoped something magical would happen and they’d all be rescued. But magic was only in stories, and all of those stories were banned.

Aiden twined his fingers together with hers. “New Dawn is out there. It has to be. We’ll be safe, Elodie,” he lifted her hand to his lips. They brushed against her skin as he spoke. “This time, I’ll make sure of it.”

An alert beamed bright white from her blood-spattered cuff, illuminating the mossy depths of Aiden’s eyes.

“Shit!” He dropped her hand, yanked off his cuff, and threw it to the ground. “Take yours off. We have to destroy them.” He stomped on his cuff. It flashed green then red then went dark. “We can’t be traced. Not again.”

Elodie scrambled to remove her cuff. It had been years since she’d taken it off. It was as much a part of her as the implant embedded behind her ear at birth. She followed Aiden’s lead and drove her heel into the cuff until red light sputtered and it went dark. Elodie closed her opposite hand over wrist. Goosebumps rose against the soft skin once covered by the circle of plastic.

Aiden’s fingertips grazed behind his ear. “Tech deleted your VR profile, but we’ll still have to get this.” He tapped the spot where the implant was inserted.

Headlights bobbed along the street and Aiden craned his neck to get a better look.

Before she could question him, Aiden rushed toward the truck. With another surge of adrenaline, Elodie matched his stride. The unmarked black box truck seemed to grumble as it idled in the street between warehouses. Her breath stuck in her chest as she rounded the vehicle. A helmeted Key Corp soldier stood by the back of the truck, automatic weapon slung across the chest of his red uniform like a purse strap. He remained still and unfazed even as Elodie, blood smeared and frazzled, skidded to a stop. Her gaze flicked to Aiden, but he was stoic, unreadable. He had been since they’d left the MediCenter. Since Cath . . .

The soldier unlatched the door and pushed it open enough for them to climb through. “Sparkman said you’d need a way to Zone Seven.” His nostrils flared under the visor covering his eyes.

Aiden nodded.

“My partner and I are making a run out there to drop off some gear and oxygen tanks.” He motioned to the silver cannisters and stacks of black bins lining what they could see of the inside of the truck. “It’ll be a week before we make another trip.”

With another nod, Aiden gripped the side of the truck and hefted himself up into the cargo compartment.

The soldier checked something on his cuff before fixing his shielded gaze onto Elodie. “You in?”

Her hands were numb as she traced Aiden’s steps and hoisted herself into the crowded back of the truck and onto the slim metal bench next to him.

The soldier followed her in and pulled a glowstick out of his vest pocket before closing the door. It was pitch black for a moment, followed by the crunching snap of the glowstick and a cloud of white light.

The soldier held his gun against his chest as he struggled to fit his bulky gear between bins and boxes. He braced himself as the truck seemed to cough before it lumbered forward. “I have a couple packs for you,” he said and dug through one of the bins. He pulled out two backpacks and dropped them in front of Elodie and Aiden before reaching back into the open box. “Some clothes too. By the looks of it, you need ’em.” He set two pairs of neatly folded fatigues next to Elodie before he continued. “Sparkman got all of this together quick. I’m not sure each bag has everything you’ll need, but one thing I do know is that you can’t fit any type of shelter in there.” His lips ticked with a frown. “You’ll have to find New Dawn before you’re out of food and water, or the elements,” another frown, “or anything worse gets you.”

Elodie twisted the bottom of her shirt around her finger. They were really going, and whether or not New Dawn existed no longer mattered. If they stayed in Westfall, they’d meet the same end as Astrid, as Cath.

Rhett now knew of Elodie’s betrayal. There would be no more room for doubt when he found that she’d disappeared with Aiden instead of staying to seek forgiveness and nurse her fiancé back to health. Rhett wasn’t a good man, but he was law abiding and determined. He’d hunt Elodie and Aiden down and make them pay. At least now, on their way toward the mystery of New Dawn, they had a chance. At least now they had hope.

Elodie stared down at her blood-spattered, grimy white tennis shoes. It was funny, the things she used to think were so important—the things that most of Westfall’s citizens thought were so important. Only a short while ago she never would have gone in public with a spot of dirt on her shoes. Her attention slid to Aiden’s mud-caked boots. His lived-in messiness had been one of the things that had drawn her toward him. And look at her now . . .

Maybe this is payback, the universe punishing me for my sins.

Or maybe this is freedom. The war before the peace. The storm before the sweet breath of a newly cleansed day.

But what about Astrid? What about Cath? Their bodies painted the inside of Elodie’s eyelids, haunting her with every blink.

Aiden cleared his throat and stuffed the fatigues into the backpack before he zipped it up and rested it between his feet. He offered Elodie a smile. It was meant to comfort her, but it didn’t. The emptiness behind his eyes tainted his once bright, toothy grin. Now it was hollow. His lips performing an act he didn’t feel.

She was losing him to the nightmare they’d just been through.

In the chemiluminescent glow of the back of the truck, time lost all meaning. Had it been minutes or hours since they’d left the warehouse district? Elodie closed her eyes and rested her head against the metal wall. Finally, the truck stopped. Elodie’s breath hitched and her eyelids flew open. The Key Corp soldier pressed a gloved finger against his thin lips. They weren’t in danger of Elodie speaking. She had nothing to say. The muffled voices of the guards outside the truck were nearly indistinguishable from the rumbling of the vehicle’s engine. After a few sharp yeses from the driver, the truck jerked forward.

The soldier dropped his hand and steadied himself against the row of bins as he spoke. “We’re crossing into Zone Seven. Almost at the drop-off point.”

The ground became uneven, the ride bumpy as they bounced along the path into Zone Seven. Elodie gripped the edge of the steel bench. She desperately wanted a window. Even if their surroundings were horrible, it was better than letting her imagination run wild.

The acrid scent of charred earth crept into the truck. Aiden pulled a square of red cloth from his pack and covered his nose and mouth before tying it behind his head.

“Front pocket,” he said, and pointed to her backpack.

Elodie lifted the bag onto her lap and unzipped the front. She pushed aside a flashlight and a few clear disks before finding her own handkerchief and knotting it behind her head. She rolled up her fatigues, stuffed them inside, clutched her pack against her chest and readied herself for what waited outside.

Aiden slid over, closing the distance between them. “We’ll be okay. You know that, right?” He still smelled like pine, the trees after the rain, skateboarding dates, corn on the cob, kisses at the fair.

The truck stopped and the soldier again clutched his gun against his chest as he maneuvered around the boxes and back to the door. The door clattered as the soldier slid it up its track. He peered out into the dusty gray dawn and waited a moment before pounding his fist on the side of the truck and jumping out into the wilds of Zone Seven.

Ash floated around the guard like snow. His red uniform stood out from the muted grays and whites and blacks of the destroyed landscape like a tear in the skin of reality.

“All clear,” he said, and motioned for them to follow.

Before Aiden had finished sliding the backpack over his shoulders, Elodie was at the edge of the truck.

This was her life and she was going to live it. That’s the mistake she had made before—waiting. Waiting for life to happen to her. Life had happened all right. Too much. Too fast. Never again. She’d be in control from now on.

She hooked her thumbs around her straps and looked over her shoulder at Aiden. “I know we’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.” Without another thought, she leapt out of the truck. Ash plumed around her feet when they hit the ground.

Aiden followed, tightening the straps of his pack as he joined her.

The soldier climbed back into the cargo hold. “Good luck,” he called as he cracked another glowstick and threw it into the depths of the truck. The door closed and the truck began its return journey, following the tire-worn path back to the only city Elodie had ever known.

Aiden shoved his hands into his pockets. “You okay?”

Elodie turned and faced the path not yet explored. She let out a hot breath against the handkerchief. “No,” she answered honestly.

Aiden’s backpack bobbed with a shrug. “Yeah, me either.”

Elodie tightened the knot behind her head and tilted her chin toward the sky. Dirty white clouds pressed down above her. The same dingy pall as the ashen ground beneath her feet. She was trapped in a layer of the earth unfit for life.

The sky cracked overhead, and droplets speckled her ash-
covered sleeves. Hope burned hot within Elodie’s chest as the air thickened and the heavens thundered.

After the storm comes the dawn.