Reboot (8 page)

“Sit,” Leb said, turning away as he closed the driver’s door.

Forty-three just stood there. Lissy yanked on his shirt and he whirled around, his hand smacking across her face. She gasped and shot to her feet, shoving her hands against his shoulders so hard he stumbled.

Leb strode across the shuttle and grabbed Forty-three by the front of his collar. He roughly shoved him into his seat, gesturing for Lissy to sit as well. She glared at her trainee as she strapped in.

Forty-three’s breathing was still heavy, his gold eyes fixed on Leb. The officer didn’t notice. Leb sat down and stared at his hands, lost in thought.

Forty-three’s mouth twisted, hate spewing from his every pore. I’d seen newbies have similar reactions after their first assignment, although many of them were better at concealing it. The hatred of humans, particularly of HARC officers, was understandable in a new Reboot. They were shoving guns in our faces and yelling and making us do their dirty work. It didn’t bother me anymore, but I remembered the feeling as a newbie. I’d understood my trainer didn’t have a choice any more than I did. It was the humans who made us do this.

I tried to catch Lissy’s eye, to get her to control her trainee before Leb noticed, but she was biting her nails, her gaze on the shuttle wall.

Forty-three thrust his hand into his pocket. I saw only the flash of silver as he jumped up from his seat, but I knew it was a knife. The scream echoed across the shuttle as he ran for Leb, blade aimed at his chest.

I threw off my straps and shot to my feet. The officer’s eyes were wide, his hand nowhere near his gun yet. I dove in front of Leb as Forty-three thrust the knife at him. It slid into my stomach like it was a good piece of rare steak.

Forty-three pulled the blade out, red and shaking in his hand. I kicked his leg, easily grabbing the knife as he went down. He rolled onto his knees, sobs shaking his body. He would be eliminated for bringing a weapon onto the shuttle, so I could almost understand the tears.

Some officers might have killed him right away, but Leb was the type to let Officer Mayer deal out the more permanent punishments.

“Great,” Lissy muttered under her breath, making no move to help Forty-Three.

I wiped the blood dripping from the blade on my pants and held the knife out to Leb. He still sat there, the poor, slow human. He stared at me and I raised my eyebrows and held the knife a bit closer. He took it.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

I frowned at that response. He lowered his head and I wished I’d nodded or said, “You’re welcome.” I hadn’t been expecting a thank-you. I wasn’t even sure why I’d done it. I supposed he was my favorite HARC officer, but that was a bit like having a favorite vegetable. They were all pretty uninteresting.

I went back to my seat, my hand drifting to my stomach. My shirt was soaked through with blood.

Twenty-two’s head was in his hands. I focused on the floor, glad I didn’t have to meet those panicked, horrified eyes again.

TWENTY-TWO SAT SLUMPED OVER HIS BREAKFAST, POKING AT the oats with his spoon. His hand rested against his cheek and his eyes drooped. His head was practically on the cafeteria table.

Ever and I sat down across from him, and she gave me a worried glance when she caught sight of his sullen expression. She looked somewhat better today. No growling last night. I actually slept.

“You all right?” Ever asked Twenty-two. I wished she hadn’t. He obviously wasn’t all right. The newbies rarely were after their first assignment.

“There’s no point,” he mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Ever asked.

Twenty-two looked up at me. “You’re wasting your time with me. You should have picked One-twenty-one. I’ll never be able to do this.”

Ever glanced from me to him, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. “It gets better,” she said. I could tell she was lying.

Twenty-two saw the lie as well. He frowned at her, then turned his head away, his dark eyes hard and angry.

“That guy shot you four times,” he said. “You didn’t even blink. It’s like it didn’t register with you.”

“I’ve been shot a lot. You adjust,” I said.

“
You
adjust. I can’t do that.”

“Her trainer shot her over and over,” Ever said quietly, and I stiffened. “She was scared, too, so he and the guards shot her until she wasn’t scared anymore.”

It was true, but I frowned at Ever for sharing. Bullets paralyzed me at first, reminded me of my human death, and my trainer found that unacceptable. He instructed the guards to shoot me until I became desensitized to it.

Some of the anger had fallen off Twenty-two’s face as he turned to me. “Who was your trainer?” he asked, disgust in every word. He shouldn’t have been disgusted. The only reason I was alive today was because I had a good trainer.

“One-fifty-seven. He died in the field a few months ago.” That was what Leb had told me, anyway. He’d been close to twenty years old.

“Shame I couldn’t meet that guy,” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“The point is, it got better for her,” Ever said, ignoring my frown. “It’ll get better for you.”

“I don’t want it to get better. I don’t want to do it at all.” He reminded me of a three-year-old with his arms folded and his lips in a bit of a pout. It was almost cute.

“You don’t get a choice,” I said.

“I should. None of this is my fault. I didn’t ask to die and rise from the dead.”

My eyes darted around the room. I hoped the humans weren’t listening. That was the sort of thing they eliminated Reboots for.

“Pull it together,” I said, lowering my voice. “The first time is the hardest. You’ll adapt.”

“I won’t adapt. I don’t want to turn into some monster who enjoys hunting people.”

And then he gestured at me.

A knife sliced through my chest. I blinked, not sure what to make of the pain. His words echoed in my ears and it was suddenly hard to breathe.

Some monster who enjoys hunting people
. I didn’t like the words, didn’t want him to think of me that way.

Since when did I care what my newbies thought of me?

“Why don’t you just piss off?” Ever’s voice, harsh and icy, made me look up. She glared at Twenty-two, gripping her fork like she was considering using it as a weapon.

He grabbed his tray and got to his feet. I stole a glance at him and saw confusion and surprise written all over his face. I wasn’t sure where either emotion came from. He opened his mouth, looked at Ever, and seemed to think better of it. He spun around and slunk away.

Ever exhaled, relaxing her grip on her fork. “That was crap. You know that, right? Utter crap.”

“What?” I was still having trouble gathering air into my lungs. His words kept spinning around my brain, taunting me.

“You’re not a monster who enjoys hunting people.”

I frowned. That assessment seemed fair. I could see his point.

“Hey. Wren.”

I looked up at Ever and she put her hand over mine. “He’s wrong. Okay?”

I nodded, slipping my hand out from under hers. Her skin was warm, much warmer than mine, and it made the tightness in my chest worse.

“I still can’t believe you picked Callum,” she said, taking a bite of her oats.

“It’s a challenge, I suppose,” I said.

“But you always pick the highest number,” she said. “You always do things exactly the same.”

I lifted my eyes to hers to find her staring at me intently. She’d been giving me that look since our conversation in the shower. She didn’t seem sure what to make of me.

“He asked me to pick him.”

“That’s it? He asked, so you did it?”

“He needed me more.”

Her eyebrows lifted and she slowly smiled at me. “True.” She popped a piece of bacon in her mouth. “Plus he’s pretty cute when he’s not being an ass.”

“He’s . . .” I didn’t know where I was going with that. I couldn’t say
not
. That wasn’t true. Anyone could see he was cute. Anyone could see those eyes and that smile.

I felt warmth on my face. Was I blushing? I’d never had those kinds of thoughts about a boy.

Ever’s mouth dropped open. She’d been kidding about the “cute” thing. She clearly never expected me to agree. She burst out laughing, muffling it with her hand.

I shrugged, embarrassed to have given myself away. Embarrassed to have those feelings at all.

But it clearly pleased Ever. She looked happier than she had in days, and I returned her smile.

“Softie,” she teased under her breath.

I entered the gym to see Twenty-two standing in the corner by himself, his back to the other trainers and newbies. He still wore the same miserable expression.

I started at the flash of rage that shot through my body. The sight of him made my heart beat funny, sent prickles of anger rushing over my skin. What right did he have to be miserable, when he was the one calling
me
a monster? I wanted to shake him and scream at him that he had no right to judge me.

I wanted to bash his face in until he took it back.

He looked up as I stomped over, his expression softening just slightly.

“Wren, I—”

“Shut it and get in position.”

He didn’t get in position. He stood rooted to his spot and reached out to touch me. I quickly stepped away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Get your arms up!” I yelled so loudly he jumped. I didn’t like the tentative smile he was giving me.

He didn’t put his arms up, so I threw a hard fast punch straight into his face. He stumbled and fell on his butt.

“Get on your feet and put your arms up,” I said tightly. “Block the next one.”

He looked dazed, and blood trickled from his nose, but he stood up and stuck his arms in front of his face.

I purposefully threw punches he couldn’t block. Hard, fast, angry. My chest burned in a way I had never felt before. My throat ached from the growing lump.

He hit the mat for the tenth time, his face a barely recognizable bloody mess. He didn’t get up this time. He collapsed, breathing heavily.

“You’re right,” I said. “I should have picked One-twenty-one. But now I’m stuck with you, so I suggest you quit your whining and pull it together. There are no more choices, rich boy. This is it, forever. Get used to it.”

I whirled around and stormed out of the gym, the eyes of all the other trainers and newbies on me.

“Nice work, One-seventy-eight,” a guard said to me with a nod.

A sick feeling washed over me. I’d heard those words many times in my five years at HARC, but there was no pride or satisfaction on my part this time.

I made a sharp turn into the showers and rushed to a sink. I smeared Twenty-two’s blood on the faucet as I clumsily turned the knob.

The water ran red as it dripped from my fingers and I pressed my lips together and turned away. I’d never been squeamish at the sight of blood, but this was different. I saw his face in the red.

I washed my hands four times. When I finished I looked up at my reflection. I couldn’t remember the last time I had looked in the mirror. It had been years.

Human memories faded faster the younger a Reboot died. I remembered broad strokes of my life before the age of twelve, but the details were fuzzy. But I remembered my eyes. In my head my eyes were the same light blue they’d been before I died.

My reflection was different. The blue was bright, piercing, unnatural. Inhuman. I would have guessed my eyes would be scarier. Cold and emotionless. But they were . . . pretty? It seemed weird to describe myself that way. But my eyes were big and sad, and the deep blue color was actually kind of nice.

At first glance I was not intimidating. Cute, even. I was the shortest person in most rooms, often shorter than the thirteen-and fourteen-year-old newbies. A tuft of blond hair stuck out the end of my ponytail, hair I’d chopped off to just above my shoulders myself.

I wasn’t as scary-looking as I’d imagined. I barely looked scary at all, to be honest.

I certainly didn’t look like a monster who enjoyed hunting people.

THE NIGHT AIR WAS STILL AS I OPENED THE STAIRWELL DOOR and stepped onto the roof of the facility. The humans waited for me near the edge and I headed toward them, adjusting my helmet so it was straight on my head.

“I trust you, One-seventy-eight.” Officer Mayer put his hands on his wide hips and gave me a look like I was to respond to that.

“Thank you,” I said automatically. Officer Mayer told me he trusted me every time he saw me, as if trying to convince himself. I was the only Reboot to have regular contact with the commanding officer.

I doubted anyone was jealous.

I saw him often, as Rosa was the biggest facility and he kept an office here. I saw the woman standing next to him, Suzanna Palm, very rarely. She was the chairman of HARC, and I had no idea what it was she did, exactly, but her presence tonight couldn’t be a good thing.

“I trust you’ve been told this mission is confidential?” Suzanna asked. She was squinting at me in a way that felt disapproving. Perhaps she was just uncomfortable in her ridiculous heels. Or maybe those wild silver-streaked brown curls blowing all over the place annoyed her. They would have annoyed me.

I nodded as the shuttle landed on the roof. Officer Mayer stepped away as the door opened, giving me a look that was meant to be encouraging. I didn’t feel encouraged. The last thing I wanted to do tonight was go on a surprise solo mission. But I did have to admit that I hoped the assignment was a runner. I wouldn’t mind smashing a human’s face into the ground tonight.

A vision of Twenty-two’s bloody face flashed in front of my eyes and I pushed the image back. It wouldn’t stay away for long, though. All day I’d seen it and felt the heaviness in my chest. I wanted to tell my brain to stop being dumb. He’d been healed for hours; it wasn’t like I’d done any permanent damage.

Leb twisted his hands together as I entered the small shuttle, and he barely glanced at me. His palpable discomfort almost made me nervous. Officer Mayer’s solo assignments were rarely good, but Leb was usually the officer on duty for them. They “trusted” him, too, apparently.