I’D ONLY JUST LEFT CALLUM AND STEPPED INTO THE TENT WHEN I heard the rustle of noise behind me. A hand on my neck.
Then the crack.
And everything went numb.
My eyes were covered with something and I opened my mouth to yell but someone wrapped a cloth around it and tied it tightly behind my head.
I tried to struggle, or reach out, but my body wouldn’t move.
The sliver of light peeking in from my blindfold disappeared suddenly, and my face was pressed up against my knees and I was being jostled against some kind of material.
I was in a bag. I tried to scream, but then I couldn’t breathe. I tried to suck oxygen in through my nose but it wouldn’t come, and the beginnings of panic started to set in.
Everything went black.
“Can you kill a Reboot from lack of oxygen?”
I tried to blink but my eyes weren’t cooperating yet.
“No.” It was Micah’s voice. “Trust me, I’ve been through that experiment.”
I sucked in a breath suddenly and Micah chuckled.
“See?” he said. “She’s fine.”
“I wouldn’t have been heartbroken if she were dead,” Jules replied.
“Micah doesn’t kill Reboots. He’s superior to humans in that way.” It was Addie’s voice, dripping with disdain.
I knew the sounds around us. The rush of air, the hum of an engine.
I blinked open my eyes. We were in a shuttle.
Micah and Jules sat in the Reboot seats, guns in their laps. Addie was on the floor across from me, a rope tied around her chest.
I looked down. My own arms were bound tightly to my torso, but someone had taken the gag off my mouth.
I glanced back at Addie. She was keeping her panic under control, but her chest rose and fell too quickly, her eyes wide as they met mine.
Callum. I twisted around, trying to see the rest of the shuttle. Empty. It was only the four of us and whoever was piloting the shuttle.
“I told you living at the reservation was a privilege,” Micah said.
I managed to struggle up to a seated position, leaning back against the shuttle wall. “We were leaving your stupid reservation.”
“I figured that. Lucky you, I’m going to help you out.”
I tried to twist my body against the rope but it was no use. Micah knew not to take any chances with me.
I met his gaze. “Callum?” I’d tried to keep my voice steady but it shook, just slightly.
Micah raised one eyebrow. “Do you see him in here?”
“Did you hurt him?”
“By ‘hurt’ I’ll assume you mean ‘killed,’” Micah said. He leaned forward, putting his forearms on his thighs. “As your friend here pointed out, I don’t kill Reboots. Your boyfriend is fine. I’ll deal with him when I get back.”
Why wouldn’t he bring Callum along? I saw no reason to trust Callum, since he’d made it clear he was on my side.
Maybe because I was the only one who’d been openly defiant of him? Micah seemed to have an odd moral code, one he felt strongly about. Maybe Callum hadn’t warranted this kind of punishment yet.
I took a deep breath and forced myself to believe that.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Micah smiled as he leaned back in his seat.
That was all the answer I got.
We flew for a long time. Too long. Hours. If we were headed south, we were to the cities, if not past them. If we were headed north, I had no idea where we were.
My stomach clenched at the thought. Finding my way back was going to be hard. Maybe impossible.
The shuttle had slowed and Micah walked to the pilot and murmured something before returning. He nodded at Addie, and Jules sprang out of her seat and grabbed her by the hair.
Micah yanked me up by the ropes binding my arms and spun me around to look at him. Behind me, a sudden whoosh of air blew my hair into my face.
My eyes slid to the shuttle door, where Jules held Addie perilously close to the edge. Outside was nothing but blue sky. The ground was small beneath us, dotted with trees.
Were they going to drop us out of the shuttle? I tried to take a steadying breath but the panic was beginning to spread into every limb.
Micah dragged me to the edge by my shirt collar.
“Say hello the humans you love so much for me,” Jules said to Addie, a crazed smile on her face.
I felt something on my fingers and found Addie’s hand fumbling for mine. I grabbed it and held tightly, trying to meet her panicked expression with calm. I wasn’t sure it worked.
Micah pulled me close to him, so he could stare straight at me. “Don’t hit your head,” he hissed.
He released my collar and slammed his hands against my chest.
I shot out of the shuttle with Addie, my fingers tightly wrapped around hers.