45Rain falls lightly over the forest, pattering in an acrid drizzle through the slivers in the canopy to plop sporadically on the forest floor below. Though the meager trickle is a poor substitute for the heavy rains of the past, in this endless drought, I take the fall as a good omen for what’s to come.

I discreetly roll an eyeball up to the sky. Though the third drone is still hanging invisibly over my head somewhere in stealth mode, I can catch glimpses of the other two flashing through the trees as they endlessly circle the camp. With their weapons, speed, and high-tech sensors, they make formidable foes, ones that can shoot us down at will and track us anywhere we go. If we can’t lose them, the war is effectively over. The only way to shake our watchdogs is to lead them into a trap, and as it just so happens, we have the perfect bait.

Me.

I lightly finger the chit embedded in the palm of my hand. They’ve been using our chit signatures to track us, locking on to our signals and monitoring our every move. It’s the most logical explanation for how the third drone has been able to follow me so easily even through the thick growth of the Rainforest. Though I can’t turn my chit off—the bio components wired into my nervous system make that impossible—I can damp the signal. To the MDs hovering overhead, it will be like I’ve completely disappeared, fallen off the grid in the blink of an eye. They’ll find the signal again eventually, but for a short time, it’ll be like I’m invisible.

A frisson of fear runs through me as I think about what we’re about to do. The enemy has identified me as the leader, and in doing so has coded me as their primary threat. The moment I fall off their radar, they’ll do everything in their power to find me again, and once they do, they won’t stop until they’ve hunted me down and neutralized me. Neutralized me . . .

 . . . or eliminated me.

I take a quick breath. Four or five minutes—that’s all I’ll have before they pick up my signal again. I pray it will be enough.

Glancing down at my hand, I check our position. We’ve been drifting west for the better part of the morning, and now we’re directly south of our goal. It’s the closest we can get without alerting the MDs. Raising my head, I glance out over the crowd, catching eyes and silently communicating to the others one by one: It’s time.

Tension fills the air like a rope being pulled taut, and I can almost sense the others gathering themselves together as they prepare to move. I catch Hegit’s eye last. As both a tech head and one of the fastest runners in camp, she’s the key to my plan, the one other person who will be going dark with me while the others remain live. It’s her job to spring the trap once I’ve drawn the drones in. I tilt my head at her in question. Though apprehension fills her eyes, she gives me a game nod. I nod back; then with a flick of my fingers, I start the clock, texting the countdown across everyone’s hands at once.

Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .

Run!

Chaos erupts as the entire group breaks, scattering north through the trees as fast as they can go. The quickest disappear first, plunging deep into the jungle within seconds, while the remainder strings out behind them in ever-widening intervals as the average runners separate themselves out from the slowest in relatively short order. Already on the move, I quickly damp my signal before daring a glance up. The two visible drones are pulling up, breaking their patrol circuit as what was essentially one stationary target becomes more than thirty moving ones. A moment later, the third drone suddenly materializes out of the air beside them, dropping out of stealth as it searches for its lost target. Together, the three hover in the air, unmoving as their processors recalculate their tactics in the face of our unexpected move. It’s a delay I counted on, but it won’t last long.

Leaping a fallen tree, I sprint to the north, driving myself hard across the uneven terrain until I’m well into the middle of the pack. Vines snap and trees snarl, their low-hanging branches threatening to knock me off my feet at every turn, but I don’t dare slow down. I have half a klick to cover and only four minutes to do it. That those drones will catch up to me eventually is inevitable, but if they catch up too soon . . .

Tssseewww!

The sound of stun beams rips through the air, accompanied by a flash of light. The drones are on the move!

I queue up the tracker program on my chit. The MDs are coming up fast, their high-tech engines quickly eating up the distance between us and them. Within seconds, they’ve reached the back of the pack. Their targeting sensors sweep the chaos below, searching for a lock . . .

Tseew! Tseew! Tseew!

Three shots and three students go down, dropping to the forest floor like flies. Screams break out behind me, students scattering wildly through the trees in an attempt to evade the drones, but the MDs are relentless, splitting apart and spreading out through the forest to harry us, fast and slow alike, at all turns. Again and again they come at us, metal bodies flashing and stun beams flaring, and yet as powerful as they are, they can’t shoot all of us—at least not right away. There’s simply too many of us. Though they continue to pick us off, those of us who remain just keep leading them closer and closer to our intended trap.

A flash of red bursts in the corner of my eye, and I glance over just in time to see Xylla hit the ground. My heart stutters, but I force myself on. Stopping will only make things worse not better. Those drones may not be able to track my chit yet, but my body heat will still show up on the infrared. Even without my chit signal, they could still target and stun me. They could . . . but hopefully they won’t. Not with thirty-three other warm bodies, all logged as targets in their systems, to distract them.

Threading between two trees, I sneak a quick glance at the time—it’s been over four minutes now. Any second now those drones will find me, they’ll come for me! More stun bolts rip through the forest. A jolt of fear goes through me, but it’s just the MDs continuing their current attack, strafing the others without mercy as they search for my lost signal. Giving the others a wide berth, I keep on going, pushing myself relentlessly across the land. I can do this, I can!

A sharp buzz goes through my hand. I glance down, and my heart plummets. All three drones have suddenly pulled up, arresting their trajectories in a single instant. Their signals freeze for one heart-stopping second . . . and then all at once, they turn and make a beeline straight for me.

The drones have found my signal!

Barely have I realized the enemy is on to me when the first flash comes sailing through the trees. Seconds later, the other two follow, swooping out of the forest from opposite directions in streaks of silver. I scan the trees wildly for my destination, terrified the drones will catch up before I can make it, and suddenly I see it.

The lazaretto!

Tseew!

The bolt hits a branch just above my head, and I let out an involuntary cry as a shower of splinters comes raining down.

Tseew!

Another bolt, and another branch is hit, sending particles of leaves exploding into my face. I let out a curse. Slag! Slag, slag, slag! As close as I am, there’s no possible way I can make it now, not with three drones on my tail! Though the forest has shielded me so far, this overgrown canopy can’t stop them forever. Eventually it will thin out, and when it does, I’ll be done.

Despair crashes through me, and for an instant my steps falter, but then—

“Need an escort?”

Barely are the words out when Jovan, Kieran, and Trey leap from the surrounding trees. Effortlessly, they match my stride, bunching up around me in an attempt to use their larger bodies to shelter me from the drones. We sprint through the forest, eyes trained on the gates of the ancient town, which hang open to the jungle. We’re almost there now—thirty meters, twenty, ten . . .

Tseew! Tseew, tseew!

With a yell, Trey goes down on my right, followed a moment later by Jovan at my back. Heart pounding, I queue up my link. “Hegit, tell me you’re ready!”

“Almost. Thirty seconds!”

Only two of us left now. Kieran and I exchange a single terrified look. As one, we plunge into the lazaretto.

Together we run through the old town, twisting and turning through the broken buildings as we desperately try to stave off our pursuers. Since we left this place all those months ago, the forest here has only grown thicker, wrapping around the town like a giant boa constrictor, every vine, leaf, and branch only squeezing tighter with every street we pass. Our pace is dropping fast now, sapped by exhaustion and confounded by the terrain, and a jolt of despair shoots through me.

We’re too slow!

But the drones are slowing too, unable to navigate through the twining branches above any better than we can move through the maze of roots below. Three stun bolts rip through the air in rapid succession—tsew, tsew, tsew! The first two miss us by a mile, thwarted by the dense foliage that makes it almost impossible to get off a good shot, but the third just manages to make it, sliding through the tangle to take Kieran square in the back.

“Kieran’s down!” I scream into my chit as he crashes to the ground. “He’s in the lazaretto, and he’s down!”

Terrified I’m about to be next, I whip my head around wildly, searching for anything that might afford me some cover. There! The hospital!

I lunge for the door, stun beams hot on my heels. Debris litters the floor and the walls have begun to cave in, but the roof is still intact, momentarily shielding me from the drones. I slow slightly, using the temporary respite to catch my breath. I’m halfway down the main hall when suddenly, like a voice from on high—

“I’ve got it!” Hegit’s voice calls through the link. “Just tell me when.”

New energy jolts through me. I veer right, bursting through a side door and out into the open air. By sheer luck, I pick the correct door, tumbling out of the building just twenty meters from the Rainforest. No time to waste, I sprint for the shield-line, every ounce of my attention fixed on that generator embedded in the ground.

Tsseew!

A stun beam hits the ground perilously close to me. The drones have found me again! I dodge to the left and then the right, zigzagging frantically in order to keep the drones from getting a lock on me. My lungs are burning and my muscles are on fire, but I just push harder, stride stretching to the limit as I fly over the forest floor. Five meters, four, three, I’m almost there . . . and then I am! I leap for the shield-line, screaming, “Now, Heg!”

Heat crackles through the air as the enviro-shield springs up a hairsbreadth behind me, rising from the shield generators just as the first drone comes zipping through. It hits the drone dead-on, shearing through the back end and sending it hurtling through the air. I fling myself to the ground, hands over my head as a slew of metal parts goes whistling past. Rolling over onto my back, I look up just in time to see the second drone smash full speed into the shield. Sparks fly, bursting from the barrier in an explosion of orange and blue. The MD bounces back, repelled by the energy core, only to drop to the ground, a blackened corpse.

Only the third drone manages to pull up in time, detecting the shield and winging a sharp U-turn centimeters from the barrier. It draws back a meter from the shield and stops, hovering in the air as it reassesses the situation. After a moment, it adjusts its trajectory, angling slightly to the right before slowly flying forward again. Once again, it runs up against the shield, stopping short just before hitting the energy field only to draw back, readjust its trajectory, and try again. Time and again, it launches itself toward the shield, clearly sensing its prey but unable to figure out how to reach us.

Rising to my feet, I limp over and watch for several seconds as it tries and fails to circumvent the shield. I let out a rueful laugh. Even the smartest tech isn’t so smart without a human mind behind it, and this drone is obviously on autopilot. If the enemy thought they could stop us with a few unmanned machines, they were gravely mistaken.

“Teal! You made it!”

I glance over in the direction of the voice. It’s Hegit, jogging out of the woods from the direction of the control panel, a massive grin on her face as she takes in the tableau. She gives me a hard hug.

“The panel was far more overgrown than I counted on,” she explains once we part. “It took me almost two minutes just to clear it enough to log on. I was afraid . . .” Her words trail off, but from her stricken look it’s clear what she feared.

“You did great,” I tell her. “Better than great, really.”

At the praise, Hegit immediately brightens, eyes lighting up even more as she takes in the two destroyed drones, though they dim slightly when she sees the final one futilely charging at the barrier.

“You know that shield won’t hold it forever, right?” she asks worriedly. “The tech is too old, and there’s bound to be more than one flaw lurking in the energy matrix. It’ll find a way out eventually.”

“I know, but we’ll be long gone by the time it does. And when it comes back, we’ll be ready for it.”

Hegit nods, not a hint of doubt on her face. Lifting my chit hand, I call the others. Though several have been stunned, many are still on their feet. Even Kieran is safe, if still unconscious. After he went down, Vida, Ri and a few others managed to get him out of the lazaretto while the drones were occupied with me.

“What would you have done if we hadn’t been able to grab him in time?” Hegit asks curiously, giving me a sidelong look while she waits for my answer.

I don’t so much as blink. “Whatever I had to.”

She grins again, clearly mistaking my meaning. I don’t have the heart to tell her otherwise.

It takes a while, but eventually everyone is rounded up, revived, and gathered at the lazaretto. Awed murmurs break out at the sight of the MDs—one destroyed, one incapacitated, and one trapped. Wondering if we might be able to use the broken one for parts, I go for the drone’s remains, then suddenly stop. A small red light flickers on its side.

The camera is still running.

A vicious smile curls over my lips. I reach out with my foot, gently rolling the drone over until the lens is pointing straight up. Leaning over, I angle my body until my face is smack-dab in the camera’s view, look my enemy straight in the eye, and speak.

“This is our planet now, and we’re coming for you.”

Then raising my stunner, I take out the lens in a single shot. Not even the smoldering crackle of the drone’s innards can drown out the cheering of the group behind me.