I FROWNED AT THE CRUSHED FLIGHT CONTROLS IN FRONT OF ME, touching the spot where a button used to be. This shuttle was in worse shape than the one Wren and Micah had just taken off in, but it was possibly still salvageable.
“Need any of these?”
Isaac stood next to the shuttle door, a bag of assorted shuttle parts in his hands.
“Maybe,” I said, taking the bag and plopping it down on the seat next to me. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He slid his hands into his pockets and leaned against the shuttle door. His tendency to slouch made him look even shorter than he was. “You know, shuttle cleanup was the job most people were avoiding.”
I smiled as I sifted through the bag. “Probably because we had to haul out some body parts first.” I shrugged. “But I’m pretty good with tech stuff. I thought I might be useful.”
“Very,” he said. “Most Reboots come in without knowing much besides how to punch people.”
I rolled my eyes. HARC and their dumb priorities. “I’m sure.”
“Where did you say you were from?” he asked.
“Austin.”
“Never been. Never been to any of the cities, actually. Is it nice?”
I gave him a confused look. “You’ve never been to the cities? Were you born out here?”
“Yep.”
“Oh, were you born a Reboot?” I asked, surprised. Hadn’t they said the Reboot babies didn’t get numbers?
“Nope.”
“Oh.” I waited for more of an explanation, but he didn’t give one. He was holding something back and, given the way he was avoiding my eyes and frowning, it wasn’t good.
I took a quick look at the scene behind him. About ten Reboots milled around, picking up shuttle parts or working on the fence. Some of the somberness of yesterday was gone, but the reservation Reboots didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to talk to the new arrivals. In fact, no one except Isaac had approached me.
I returned my attention to the mess in front of me. I hadn’t approached any of them, either, so maybe we were all still adjusting. I picked out a button and tried to fit it in the hole on the dash. No luck.
“So, Austin,” Isaac said, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s nice?”
I shrugged. “It’s okay.” When I thought of Austin all I could see were my parents slamming the door in my face. All I could hear was the gasp of that man I killed as I wrapped my fingers around his throat.
I closed my eyes, swallowing. Part of me was relieved the memories were returning from the time I’d lost. They’d started slipping back, little by little, last night. Jumping on top of that woman in the restaurant, the smell of her flesh overwhelming me. Waiting for Wren to grab Addie and getting distracted by movement in the next house over. Breaking the door in and pouncing on the man.
I opened my eyes with a sigh. Isaac was staring at me, his face scrunched in sympathy.
“You HARC people are seriously messed up, huh?”
“Probably,” I said with a hint of amusement.
“What’s it like there?”
“Being in the facility isn’t so bad. I got beat up a lot the first couple of days, but then that stopped and it was just Wren kicking the crap out of me and that was sort of fun.”
He gave me a baffled look. “Seriously messed up. All of you.”
“She was my trainer,” I said with a laugh. “She was nice about it.”
“Oh, well, if she was nice about it.”
“The assignments, where we had to go out and capture humans, were kind of awful. I’d probably have died in less than a year if I’d stayed.” I sighed. “The humans really hate us.”
Isaac nodded as he took a step back. “Well, they sort of have a point sometimes, you know?”
I looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I’d be scared of us, if I were them. We’re tougher and stronger and most of you can kick their asses, thanks to HARC.”
He did have a point. As a human I’d been more curious about Reboots, but I was definitely still scared of them. I never encountered a Reboot until I became one myself, but I might have run away, too.
Although I could say for sure that I never would have grabbed a baseball bat and tried to bash their heads in. I shivered at the memory of being attacked by humans in Rosa. I had understood Wren’s dislike of them, for a moment.
“Do you like it here?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I mean, it could be worse, right? I could be at HARC.”
“True.”
“It’s not so bad. By the time I got here, most of the kinks were ironed out. They’ve got stable crops and everyone is fed and clothed.”
“I used to work the fields in Austin, before I Rebooted,” I said. “I could help with that here.”
“Nice,” Isaac said, like he was genuinely impressed. “More useful skills. Micah might start liking you as much as he likes your girlfriend.”
I gave him an annoyed look and he snorted in amusement. It faded as he caught sight of something in the distance, and I leaned out the shuttle door to see Beth and Addie headed in my direction, their faces grim. I turned to Isaac again but he was already walking away.
I jumped from the shuttle, wiping my hands on my pants as they approached. Addie was pale and Beth was nervously tugging on her hair.
“Have you seen Wren?” Addie asked.
“She left with Micah.” I lowered my voice, stepping closer to her. “She’ll be back tonight. Is everything okay?”
Beth and Addie exchanged a horrified expression and a sick feeling started to build in my stomach.
“On the hunt?” Addie said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Technically she went to find the Reboots who didn’t come back, but I think they were going to hunt if they could.” I swallowed. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Did they tell her what the hunt was?” Addie’s eyes were big, worry mixing with fear.
“I . . . I don’t know.” I glanced from her to Beth. “What’s the hunt?”