Beat (20 page)

“Are you crazy?” Melisa clipped her shoulder against a wall as we rounded the corner, always trying to keep a house between us and the shouting Enforsers. “Why would we go there?”

“We have to make sure!” Running and the pain in my arm and back were making it hard to speak. Each word was a breath. “Proof. We need proof.”

In that moment the plan that had come to me earlier crystallized. We had to stop.

“Wait.” I reached for her arm. “Wait. We’ve gotta stop.”

“But they’ll catch us.” Despite what she said, she slowed to a walk, sucking deep breaths. She wasn’t used to running like this. I’d been Pushing longer and more often than her.

“We have to do this right. We can’t spam it up.” I drew closer to her and crouched next to her.

“Then what’s your plan?” She dropped to a knee and leaned on her other knee.

“First, you have to know what’s been happening.” I swallowed. “Or at least what I
think
has been going on.”

“Hurry up.”

“Shut up.” I tried to figure out where to start. “Okay. I guess I should start with last night.” I told her about the race Bren and I had done. I told her about hearing him cough and watching him die. The closer I got to his last seconds, the smaller I felt; she was staring at me hard.

“Finish,” she said.

“I didn’t know last night. I still don’t really know for sure. But it was like what the Teachers said. It was like his heart exp—” I choked on the last word. My mind was full of his eyes and his last word.

“Stop.”

I looked up at her. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Don’t talk about him like that. Just tell me what came after. What’s been going on?” She wiped her face and sucked wind.

Wait a minute. I recalled moments I’d seen, here and there, over the last couple of months. Bren and Melisa talking. With each other more than with anyone else. “You.”

She turned to meet my eyes.

“You and Bren?”

Her shoulders hunched. She nodded.

Oh drek.
I’d ruined her life. too. But we didn’t have time to dwell on how much it hurt. “After that, I ran away. Got on my cycle and went to the Enjineering Dome.” In the next minute, I gave her the outline of what had happened in the last day. Then I told her about the vial and the knockout and the Bug. I talked so fast that by the time I was done, I felt almost dizzy.

“Are you sure?” Her high cheeks had gone strange-looking. Like they’d lost their bones a little bit—or had gone a little flat.

“No. But you figured it out because it makes sense, doesn’t it? And it would work, wouldn’t it?”

“Sure, but that’s . . . ” she seemed to be searching the oxi-grass for the words. “That’s just evil. I mean, so evil.”

“I know. We have to get proof.”

“And tell everyone.” Melisa stood. “Come on.”

“Wait. No.” This was it. We had one chance at this. “We have to split up.”

“That’s stupid.” She pointed at my arm with her chin. “You need help.”

“Not with what I’m going to do.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You need to get in, I’ll tell you how. You’ve got to get another vial and test it. Here.”

“Me? Why do I have to do that?” She stuck her hand in her zip pocket and pulled out the pale green liquid. “And why another one? We have this.”

“Because it’s the only one we have. And I might need it.” I grabbed the vial with my good hand and rolled it carefully. “You’ll be able to get another in the main lab.”

“But why me? You know your way around there.” Melisa glared at me. 

“You have to do it. And you have to send a skreenshot of what you find to your IM-box, then get to the Prime Administrator’s broadcast room and send it out. The shot and the vids.” My heart was trying to hammer out through my chest.

“Nik. Answer me. Why do I have to do that? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to distract them.”

“How?”

I forced a smile. “I don’t know yet.”

“That’s stupid.”

“You said that already.”

“Because it
is
.”

“But I don’t think they’ll expect it. We have to be smart.”

Melisa cocked her head at me. “How are you going to distract them?”

I heard shouting around the corner of the house. They were going to find us soon. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.” I took off running back toward the maintenance shed. “I saw a schematic. The broadcast room is on an upper level of Prime One. I think the second floor.” As we ran, I told her about the conveyor belt tunnels and how to find the lab level and the stairs.

We rounded a house about a block away from the maintenance shed. I dug into my pocket. “Here.” I handed her the little green card. “You take it. Open the door. Prop it open.”

“What?”

I explained between puffs. “Go. They’ll know. The door. Was opened. If we’re quick. They’ll think. It’s me.”

She must have understood. She took the card with a glance at my face. Stuffing it into one of her zip pockets, she reached up and pulled her hair pin out. “Here. Just in case.” She pulled to a stop and handed it to me, then shocked me by kissing me on the cheek. “Be safe.” She took off running. As I started running again, her hair pin in my pants pocket, I watched the gap between us lengthen. Melisa and Bren. He would have been so pissed at me for bringing her into this. But she’d wanted to.

I slowed a little. I needed to be the only thing the Enforsers paid attention to when they saw me. I still held the vial in my left hand. I needed to hide it. In my cast?

Shouts made me glance over my shoulder. Three Enforsers were maybe thirty meters behind me. I’d been spotted. I zigged left just as I heard some explosions come from their direction. Something slammed past my ear, crushing the air around it.

I kept swerving, ran around a house and saw the maintenance shed’s door closing. I dug deep, plowing forward through the exhaustion in my legs. They were beginning to feel wobbly again. Another bunch of explosions behind me reminded me to dodge to the side. Not fast enough. Something hot sliced along my neck. Pain flared on my left shoulder.

“Halt!”

I reached the shed, saw a small rock wedging it open. I passed my empty hand in front of the sensor and yanked the door open.

“Don’t move!”

I kicked the rock and ducked toward the doorway as explosions tore the metal door out of my hands. The heavy metal door slammed painfully into my right shoulder and arm. I almost dropped the vial.

“Get down!” The Enforsers were meters away. I let the door close and leaned on it, dropping to my knees. On my knees, I stuffed the vial into my sock and glanced at my Papa. 05:20. The early morning had grown a little brighter, although it was still kind of dim.

“Down! On the ground!”

“I
am
on the ground.” I looked around, forcing panic into my voice and face. It wasn’t hard. “Help! They’re trying to kill me!” My voice felt small. But people had to be waking up.

“Shut up!” The harsh voice was a woman’s. “Get down!”

I yelled again. “They’re going to kill me! Someone! It’s all a lie!”

The biggest Enforser lifted his Keeper. I stared at his black face mask, wondering if he cared, if he knew the truth. I sucked in a breath. “It’s a lie! The knockout! Someone help m—”

An explosion next to my eye. White pain. Everything went dark.

Pale, hazy light stabbed through my eyes, right into my brain. A high-pitched whine from outside matched the ringing in my rears. I blinked, clearing my vision and realized I was sitting, my arms cuffed in front of me and my body restrained against the wall of a pod. A pod. I looked around. I was surrounded by Enforsers. The vial in my sock and shoe dug painfully at my ankle. I hoped it wouldn’t break. That would be a bugging stupid way for this to end.

“Subject’s awake.” The voice felt like a knife through my ears.

I let my eyes roam the interior of the pod, acting like I was more disoriented than I really felt. No Melisa. She’d made it. Either that or she was on a different pod.

I had to believe they hadn’t caught her.

“Let me go.” I tried to shout it, but my mouth felt like somebody had stuffed a shirt into it. “Don’t you know what’s going on?”

“Shut up,” the Enforser to my right growled, his voice muffled by his menacing mask.

“You don’t know!” I had to keep them thinking only about me. They had to think I was desperate.

Okay, well, I was desperate.

“Keep the subject quiet.” A woman’s voice. It sounded like the same commander of the squad that had taken me from the Ranjers. The forest felt like so long ago.

“Or what? Why do I have to be quiet?”

The Enforser to my left leaned over me and slapped his hand against my mouth. I felt something adhere to my face and wrap around the back of my head. When he pulled his hand away, some kind of tape was left behind. I couldn’t move my mouth. I struggled a bit, but it was pointless. Pointless and painful. It felt like really sticky, metallic tape with a sharp edge.

I glared at the Enforser, but he didn’t seem to care. Then it struck me; my back didn’t feel chewed up anymore. My shirt was down, but my back felt different. I shifted my torso and realized bandages were wrapped around me and something had been put on my back to soothe the pain. I was surprised the Enforsers had done that; I thought they were going to kill me.

But I wasn’t going to question their kindness. As I thought about it, I got the answer. Something must have changed, making them not want to kill me now. They had something else they were going to do to me, so whatever that was included cleaning and bandaging the skin on my back.

Despite the relief on my back, a sick feeling settled in me as I wondered what they were going to do.

The rest of the ride consisted of me trying to move my right arm enough to scratch an itch that had started just inside my elbow. Up in the cockpit, I heard voices, but couldn’t make anything out.

I’d just done this. But this time I didn’t have the spoke or my zip.

The thought came to me again. Why hadn’t they killed me? I knew the answer before the question had fully formed in my head. They’d caught up to me at the beginning of the day. People had been waking up for sure. They couldn’t take the chance of killing me in public.

I was probably heading to where they would finish me off. It was sure nice of them to fix up my back before they wasted me.

Before long, I felt the pod bank and descend fast, and saw the walls of Prime One encircle us. Melisa needed to hurry up. And I was going to need to stall. I thought about her question, why she had to be the one to test the knockout and broadcast the proof. It was simple: I hoped the Admins and Enforsers still thought it was only me. If I could make them think I was on my own and keep their attention on me, she might actually be able to move around more freely in Prime One.

The pod settled to the ground. Two heartbeats later, we shifted and bumped and began to drop again. This time I knew what to expect and wondered if Melisa’s pin, now in my pocket, would be picked up by the sensors in the robots’ arms. It looked plastic, so I told myself it should be fine.

Another minute passed, and we stopped. The Enforser to my left punched a couple of wide buttons and the straps holding me to the pod wall and bench retracted. He and the one to my right grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the pod, down the ramp, and to the door with two metal robot guards. Light came from the room at the top of the big elevator shaft and a few strips of light set into the concrete of the shaft.

One of the robots whirred forward, its arm extending. I stood still as I was scanned. No alarm beeps sounded. The vial in my sock was safe. But when the sensor attachment retracted, something new happened. A disc with fine teeth folded out of the robot arm and began spinning. The two Enforsers held me tight, the one on my right yanking my right arm out and forward.

I tasted panic, felt sweat breaking out under my hair. Were they going to cut off my arm? I struggled to shout, but the metallic tape cut into my lips still. I fought to get away, not having to fake fear.

“Don’t move,” the Enforser on my left said. “Unless you want your arm shredded.”

I fought the fear back as well as I could, but I could still hear myself breathing noisily through my nose.

The Enforser on my right gripped my arm tightly. The spinning blade came forward. I tensed, wondering how the robot saw where it was supposed to cut. The blade sank into the cast, the high whine dropping in tone a little. I flinched, but the Enforser held me firmly, probably saving me from getting a deep slash in my arm. The blade cut through the cast as if it weren’t even there, opening a thin line the entire length of the cast in less than a minute.

The terrifying blade stopped its spin and folded back into the robot’s arm. The Enforser on the right grabbed the cast, levered the cut wider, and gave a couple strong yanks. The cast fell to the ground. The Enforser checked my arm, apparently thinking I’d hidden something in the cast. My arm felt like it could finally breathe freely. Dried sweat made it itch and I couldn’t keep from scratching. My arm hair was plastered to my skin. I needed a shower.

“Clear.”

This time, when the door slid open, two Enforsers accompanied me down the hallway, through the first room, and through the cylinder and into the Prime Administrator’s office. They held tightly to my arms the entire way.

The Prime Administrator sat in his chair, his short brown hair combed into the same part as the day before, wearing what looked like the same clothes. When we arrived, he looked up, his face blank. I wondered if the Enforsers knew the truth about him, that he wasn’t entirely human. He looked at the guards. “Please wait at the door.” His voice still grated. “Remove the gag.”

A hand covered the tape, and I felt the tape release. As the Enforser took his hand away, the tape went with it.

“Nik. Please.” The Prime Administrator gestured for me to come forward. I stepped closer. “You’re not making this easy.”

“Why would I?” I stared at him. I needed to make this—
bigger
somehow. I needed more time. I let my thoughts chase each other around as I formed a plan. “You’re lying to everybody. I know the truth now.”

“The truth?” The Prime Administrator smiled at me. It wasn’t a happy smile. “You think you know the truth, but you have no idea what you are talking about.”

“I know you’re controlling everybody! I know you’re not real!” I stepped closer.

A laugh forced its way through his lips. “I am as real as you.” His voice, his words, sounded less stiff than yesterday. He waved away the Enforsers, who I guessed had followed me as I got closer. “Leave us. He’s harmless now.”

I shook away my confusion at how he sounded. Whatever he was, he was probably the only one who knew everything that was going on. I might be able to convince the Enforsers to help me if they knew the truth. I glanced left and right. The Enforsers moved silently out of the room and the door slid shut behind them. I wished they had stayed. Maybe I could have convinced them about the Prime Administrator’s lies. “At least I’m not lying to people, making them sick every fragging day.”

The Prime Administrator stared at me, but it wasn’t an angry stare. It was . . . almost sad. Long seconds passed before he responded. “We do not make people sick every day.”

“Yes, you do! The Bug’s not in the air anymore. Or I’d be dead, and the Wanderers too.”

“The Wanderers are a m—”

“Are a myth, I know. But we both know they’re not.” My heart rate had to be hitting way over 100. “What they are is proof that you’re lying. That this whole thing is a lie.”

He settled back in his chair. His empty eyes were fixated on my face. “The Wanderers are a myth. Humans cannot survive without supervision anymore.”

Now
that
was a strange thing to say. The hairs on my neck felt like they’d suddenly been frozen.

“Like you, Nik.” He moved forward a little in his chair. “We let you and your friends play your games after school and one evening, and this is what happens.”

“This? You mean my best friend dying? Basically murdered by you?”

“He was not murdered. His death is the consequence of your irresponsibility. Your irresponsibility and complete lack of regard for the greater good.”

“Are you kidding me?” The chill I’d felt earlier had become something different. Something hot in my gut. “The greater fragging good? That’s total spam!” I took another step toward him, furious. In his world, he was right, but in reality—Well, I knew the truth. “I’m not the one who puts the Bug in people every day. I’m not the one who says that the knockout saves us from dying of the Bug, when the knockout
is
the Bug.” I moved toward him again. Maybe three meters separated us. “You say the Bug’s still around. That’s only true because you’re infecting us every time we get the knockout.”

“That’s enough.” The Prime Administrator stood, his tall frame looming over his glass desk.

I wondered if Melisa had made it to the Dome yet. I glanced at the wall of skreens to my right. Scenes of a normal, early New Frisko day flashed calmly on each one. I needed to stall.

“It’s not enough. You won’t deny it because it’s true. You’re not even human. He’s a robot or something.”

“Nik, you will calm yourself.”

I spun back. “No, I won’t! You’re trying to control everyone and you killed my best friend!” I knew what I had to do. I launched myself across his desk, reaching for him. He stepped back and shouted. I grabbed for him, and he dodged.

I slid across the desk, jackknifing my body to bring my legs around and landed on my feet. I kicked out at the Prime Administrator, but he jumped away. Yells came from the Enforsers as they came back in the room, but no explosions from their Keepers. I’d hoped they wouldn’t shoot out of fear of hitting him. I pushed myself off the desk and lunged for the door. A powerful hand snagged my right shoulder, pulling me back. I felt myself yanked and slammed onto the hard floor.

“Restrain him!”

The Enforsers each went to put a knee on one of my shoulders, but I threw my legs up, willing the vial to stay in my sock, and tried to kick them. I got one in the faceplate. He stumbled back with a grunt. I wriggled hard and got out from under the other Enforser, I rolled to my left. “He’s lying! You have to help me.” I said, pushing myself to my feet. “I’m not the bad guy. He is!”

The Enforser I’d kicked slammed into me, shoving me against the wall. I crumpled, my back throbbing. He grabbed my right shoulder and broken arm, yanking me to my feet. I yelped at the fresh agony. The other Enforser caught my left shoulder. They hauled me in front of the Prime Administrator’s desk. I swallowed, breathing hard, fury still burning in my gut.

The Prime Administrator brushed part of his desk. “Send up Tek Scot with some knockout.”

I struggled a little, trying to keep the Enforsers’ attention on me. I glanced at the skreens, wondering if Melisa had made it yet.
Come on.
She had to make it through two conveyor belt tunnels, across the Dumps, and then into the lab. It could take her a while. Maybe I hadn’t done the right thing by involving her. I carefully pulled my hand out of my left pocket.

“Looking for something?” The Prime Administrator’s voice cut through my thoughts, drawing my attention from the skreens. I hated having to look up so high. What he’d said before finally registered.
Knockout?
Some Tek was coming with knockout?

“Just looking at all the people you infect every day.” I glared at him.

“Nik. You are too young to understand.” Why did he suddenly sound more natural? From one moment to the next, the Prime Administrator looked more human.

“Wrong. I understand exactly what you’re doing.” I gathered myself.

“But you don’t. And your friend Melisa doesn’t either.”

My legs went weak. All the tension I’d been gathering completely dissipated. “What?”

“You’re a smart boy, but you’re a very bad liar.” The Prime Administrator came out from behind his desk. He moved more smoothly now, too. “We caught her as she entered the Dumps. She will be here soon.”

No. First Bren. Now Melisa. I couldn’t stand. The Enforsers let me fall, probably enjoying my misery.

“What exactly did you have in mind, boy?” He crouched in front of me. “What was she supposed to be doing?”

“Nothing.” It hurt to talk. “Nothing. She doesn’t know anything. Please just let her go.”

His hand lifted my chin, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “A very bad liar. But I am honest. You and she will suffer the very unfortunate consequences of not letting the system keep you calm.” He smiled. “Better calm than dead.” He stood. “Hold him. Tek Scot will be here shortly.”