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“The crowd will turn to the right when we break through the doors,” said Marcus, grunting with the exertion. “Go left and head for the stairs.”
The crowd behind was pushing forward too strongly, but there was nowhere to go; Kira’s chest compacted under the pressure, the air slowly squeezed out of her lungs. She saw spots, felt her head go light, and suddenly the dam broke. Rioters surged ahead through the doors, pressing the soldiers back or simply swarming around them. Kira ran forward blindly, carried by the crowd, trying simply to stay upright. She passed through the doors and into the wide foyer, picking up speed as the crowd spread out beyond the bottleneck. She shook her head, trying to clear it, then remembered the stairs and cut left, weaving through the angry mob, keeping her eyes on the unmarked door to the stairwell. Marcus reached it just as she did, and Xochi just after; they pulled it open and dove through into blessed empty silence.
Kira panted, slowly getting her breath back. Her leg throbbed dully. “Anyone following us?”
“Doesn’t look like it,” said Xochi. “Let’s blaze—we have to go now, before the soldiers regain control.”
“Assuming they even can,” said Marcus, leaping up the stairs two at a time. He turned the corner, and his voice echoed down. “We’ll be lucky if we have an island left to save after this.”
Kira pulled out her pistol and moved up after him, Xochi close behind. Fourth floor, thought Kira, counting each flight of stairs as they passed it. Will the Grid pull guards away from Samm to help downstairs, or will they see what’s happening and add even more?
They reached the fourth floor, and Kira crouched by the door, bracing herself.
“Give me a minute to get out my shotgun,” she said, reaching for her bag. “If we’re starting a firefight with armed soldiers, I don’t want to be stuck with this peashooter—”
She was interrupted by the loud crack of a gunshot on the other side of the door. She looked up in alarm.
“They’re already firing?”
“That wasn’t toward us,” said Xochi. “Somebody’s beat us to the Partial’s room.”
“The other stairwell,” said Kira, and threw open the door. Halfway down the corridor the soldiers were crouched low, facing the other direction, guns trained on the far end of the hall. She gasped: Haru was there, and Jayden, and three other armed rioters, though Kira couldn’t tell who was with who. She dropped to the floor and brought her pistol forward, though at this range it would barely do anything.
“Behind us!” shouted one of the soldiers, turning toward Kira, and in that instant one of the rioters landed a lucky shot on the man’s shoulder. The soldier cried out and fell prone, and Haru swung his rifle around and shot the rioter. The lone remaining soldier pressed himself even farther into the doorway.
“We’re surrounded!” he shouted, thumbing his radio. “We need backup on the fourth floor ASAP!”
“They’re going to kill Samm,” Kira growled, racing forward. “Haru! Jayden!”
The second soldier was down, and at least one of the rioters lay sprawled on the floor several yards behind the rest. The group swung up their rifles, but Haru and Jayden recognized Kira and ordered everyone to lower them again.
“Kira,” said Haru, “can’t say it’s a surprise to see you here.” He checked his chamber and racked the slide, pointing back the way they had come. “Barricade those doors. Most of the mob hasn’t figured out he’s up here yet, but they’re going to eventually.”
“We’re not here to guard him,” said Kira. “We’re here to break him out.”
Haru stared, then laughed and shook his head. “Are you serious? Are you crazy? We brought that thing here so we could interrogate and dissect it, and now you want to make a deal with it? I was with you before, Kira, but this has gone too far.” He pointed his rifle at her chest. Xochi and Marcus pointed their guns at him, and Jayden and the other three pointed their guns back. Kira stood in the middle, breathing slowly, trying desperately to stay calm. Her head swam with the morphine.
“Samm is innocent,” said Kira. “The group we met on the island was coming to East Meadow to offer us a truce. Peace, Haru.”
“How do you know this?”
“He told us.”
Haru looked around, as if to ask if he was the only one who hadn’t lost his mind.
“It’s true,” said Marcus.
“He tried to kill us,” said Haru, turning his gun on Marcus. “They took our scout, shot Gabe in the face, and chased us off the island with a squad full of rifles, and all of a sudden that means they wanted peace? That’s not the kind of peace I want any part of.”
“He’s an ally,” Kira insisted. “He can help us rebuild.”
Haru shook his head, as if the world had gone mad. “Damn plague babies—do you have any idea what we lost the last time we trusted the Partials?” He gestured angrily toward the city. “Every one of the houses out there used to be filled. Every building was still standing—every school was full of children. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the population died, Kira: If that happened again, we’d have two people left. Two, on the entire island. We will never rebuild anything.”
“They’re dying,” Kira insisted, “just like we are. If we work together, we can save us both—”
“I don’t want to save us both!” Haru shouted. “I want to save my child and murder every Partial on Earth!”
“Saving your child is why we’re here!” Kira said, raising her voice. “You can guard him all night if you want but the Senate is going to kill him in the morning, and we don’t have a cure yet. If I go with him, we can find one.”
Haru stared at her, rage and confusion warring in his eyes. “I’m not letting you take it.”
“She named her, Haru.” Kira felt her voice crack and forced herself to stay firm. “Your baby has a name: Arwen Sato. Your daughter is Arwen Sato.” She glanced at Jayden. “Your niece is Arwen Sato.” She looked back at Haru, drilling into him with her eyes. “We can save her.”
“Not in time,” said Haru. His eyes were wet, his face red, his teeth bared.
“No.” It was Jayden. He moved his arm, swinging his rifle around from Marcus to Haru. “Kira’s right. Put down your gun.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I hate the Partials as much as you do,” said Jayden, “but Maddy is relying on us. If there’s any chance we can save my sister’s baby, I’m willing to take it.”
“So you’re going to kill her husband instead?”
“Not if he puts down his gun.” Jayden’s eyes were cold. “The rest of you too, put them all on the floor.”
Slowly Haru complied, and the other three men behind him. Xochi gathered their weapons while Jayden kept them covered with his rifle. Kira tried the door, rattling the locked knob, then dug through the pockets of the dead soldier until she found a ring of keys.
“This one’s still alive,” said Marcus, examining the other downed soldier.
“Stable?” asked Kira.
“If we stop the bleeding.”
“Wrap it,” said Kira, standing up. “We’ll lock him in with the others and they can help him after the riot.”
“Speaking of which,” said Xochi, “we need to get out of here. These guys called for backup, and the instant this riot comes even partly under control they’re going to send every soldier they have up here.”
Kira nodded. “See if you can see how they’re doing.” Xochi ran back to the stairs. Kira turned to the door, trying several keys before finding the right one. The room beyond was dark, and Samm was chained to a chair in the middle of it, speckled with cuts and scabs and bruises.
“You look like hell,” said Kira.
“It’s okay,” said Samm, grunting in pain, but Kira could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile. “I have a very advanced platelet system.”
Kira ran forward painfully and searched through her key ring for something to unlock the chains. There were two pairs of manacles and three different padlocks, and she opened each one with a turn and a click.
“You didn’t have to save me,” said Samm.
“You didn’t have to save me.” She opened the last lock, pulled away the chains, and paused there, crouching beside him. He turned his eyes from the door and looked at her for a split second, their eyes only centimeters apart, his breath on her cheek. When she spoke again, it was a whisper. “Thank you.”
Samm stood and followed her into the hallway, squinting at the light and rolling his head back and forth to work out the kinks.
Jayden led Haru and the others into the room as they left it; Haru spit on Samm as they passed, but Samm didn’t respond. Marcus finished binding the soldier’s wound and put him into the dark room with the others, and Kira locked the door tightly.
The door at the end of the hall swung open, and Jayden and Kira spun to face it, guns ready, but it was only Xochi; she ran toward them anxiously.
“We have to get out of here now. The soldiers gave up on the decoy room and fell back to guard the maternity ward, so the mob’s searching the whole building for this thing.” She motioned to Samm with her chin. “It’s only a matter of time before they make it up here.”
“Give me one of their guns,” said Samm.
“Do we trust him with a gun?” asked Jayden.
“We’re a long way past that,” said Xochi, handing over Haru’s rifle. Kira unconsciously tensed as Samm took the weapon, but if Samm noticed he didn’t show it. He checked the gun expertly, then squatted down and quickly gathered the remaining ammo from the discarded packs on the floor.
He stood calmly. “How do we get out?”
“There’s a back service stairwell in the north wing,” said Marcus. “It’s locked on all floors, so no one will be in it, but we could shoot the lock.”
“And so could the mob,” said Samm and Jayden, almost in unison. They looked at each other, and Jayden raised an eyebrow.
“The elevator shaft, then,” said Kira. “There’s a ladder that runs down to the ground level—we used to play around in there when Marcus and I worked custodial during school. We can take that to the basement and look for the service door out the back.”
Samm frowned. “That could be dangerous with a mob searching the building. The elevators will likely be running.”
Marcus whistled. “Now I really want to visit Partialville. You guys have enough juice to run elevators?”
“Ah,” said Samm, nodding. “Unused elevator shaft it is, then.”
They ran quickly down the corridor, searching for the elevators, and found a maintenance door in a side hall. The elevator shaft was a long drop—they were on the fourth floor, plus the hospital had two basements and a sublevel filled with elevator machinery. Kira leaned over the edge, peering deep into the pit. It disappeared into blackness just a few floors below. She summoned her courage and started the climb down. Marcus followed quickly after, then the others one by one; Jayden came last, locking the door behind him. Kira’s backpack seemed heavier than before, dangling over the seven-story drop, and her medkit swung wildly with each new rung of the ladder. She heard voices through the wall on the third floor, and someone on the first floor was banging loudly on the elevator doors. The entire shaft echoed with fierce, metallic clangs.
“Where do we get out?” whispered Xochi.
“At the bottom,” said Kira, trying to speak softly. “If we go all the way to the basement, there’s a loading dock they used to use to bring in supplies—it’s all back corridors and rear exits, so we’re not likely to see anybody.”
“And if we do?” asked Samm.
Kira didn’t have an answer for that.
The halls here were even darker than those above; there was no power on this floor, and no windows to let in the moonlight. Distant shouts and crashes told her that the mob had already made it down here. Kira searched in her bag for a flashlight and clicked it on, shining the thin white beam against the walls. Marcus and the others joined her quietly, searching the shaft for an exit.
“You remember where that loading dock is?” whispered Marcus.
“Sort of.”
“Awesome.”
Kira found the door out of the shaft and turned off her light before opening it, wary of attracting unwanted attention. The hall was dark and empty, and she turned the light back on, covering it with her hand; it glowed soft and red, giving just enough light to see the walls. “This way.” They crept cautiously down the hall. A string of footsteps echoed behind them, rubber shoes squeaking against the linoleum, and then they were gone. Kira held her breath and kept walking. They came to a crossroads and she uncovered her flashlight, risking the full beam: nothing to the left, but sudden faces on the right, eyes shining in the darkness.
Kira reared back, but Samm dove forward, one of the intruders falling limply to the floor before she even knew what was happening. The bright beam of the flashlight shook wildly as she staggered away, and the hallway became a staccato slide show of darkness and terror: Samm’s foot in the side of a screaming man’s knee, Samm’s rifle butt buried in another man’s face. Lances of light strobed across a Grid insignia on a flailing arm, droplets of blood hanging in the air, a man half fallen as he tried to flee. Jayden brought up his rifle at the same time Kira regained control of the flashlight, and by then it was over: Samm stood motionless, poised for a counterattack, and the floor around him was littered with fallen soldiers. Kira counted six men, all unconscious.
“Holy . . . ,” muttered Jayden, staring at the scene. He pointed his rifle at Samm. “What did we let out?”
“None of them are dead,” said Samm. “The blood is from the third one’s nose.”
Kira tried to gather her thoughts. “What just happened?”
Samm dropped to the floor to gather their guns, disassembling them with practiced efficiency. “I’m not used to humans, so I was relying too heavily on the link and they got too close. I think it worked out, though, since we didn’t have to shoot anyone.”
“Well, thanks for not shooting anyone, I guess,” said Marcus. “My contribution was to somehow refrain from peeing myself. You can thank me later.”
“We need to go,” said Samm, standing up; he held the fallen soldiers’ firing pins, and dropped them into his pocket. “There are at least two more groups down here, and maybe more that I can’t hear.”
“Okay,” said Kira slowly, “just . . . don’t do that to any civilians.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kira led the group to the left, then to the right, pausing here and there to read signs on the walls and to listen for more footsteps. There were at least two other groups in the basement, prowling and shouting and cackling in the darkness. She heard a crash of breaking glass. She pressed forward.
She found a wide tunnel capped by a high metal door, and broke into a jog. “This is it—there’s a big ramp on the other side that leads up to the rear parking lot. We head north and we watch for patrols—the Defense Grid will be everywhere, but they’ll be distracted. As long as we don’t call any attention to ourselves, we should be able to slip through the gaps.” She turned to Jayden. “Thanks for your help—we would never have gotten out of there without you.”
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