Renegade (26 page)

She grew to hate free will. She believed she had a pure vision of a perfect society—a perfect family—but the Citizens did not comply. She saw the city falling apart before her eyes. The harder she worked to bring her vision to the city, the more the people rebelled against her rules. She wanted them to be more docile, so she worked with a scientist to experiment with gene manipulation.

At first it was only by controlling breeding, like cross-pollinating plants or breeding out the venom in bees as we’ve done. Then her experiments with creating the ideal secret police force began, and her experience in training the Enforcers showed her she could get even better results with Conditioning—an idea Dr. Friar had brought with him from the Surface.

There’s a large section in her personal code around this time, but eventually she achieved her dream. The entries are filled with tales of her success and the development of the Citizen’s Code of Conduct.

Then I reach another section in code. I can’t make out much, but the dates correspond with the journal from Sector One. Finally, I find a blue hyperlink within the code and I know I have to see where it leads.

I sneak a quick glance over my shoulder and click the link. The screen shimmers, then another window pops up and shows me what looks like video footage of Sector One. At first there doesn’t appear to be anything unusual. Just the normal wanderings of Citizens milling around the Square. But at two minutes and fifty seconds in, a man in a white coat dashes across the Square. It’s hard to see him in detail, but he seems familiar to me.

He runs toward the wall where Gavin and I found the room, followed by a swarm of others. The man in the white coat doesn’t make it far, though, when he grabs his head with both hands and falls to his knees. His mouth is open in what appears to be a scream, but there’s no sound.

A nearby woman reaches out to him, presumably to help him, before she, too, grabs her head and falls over. The rest of the people gathered around quickly follow suit, and by five minutes and fifty seconds into the video, everyone in the Sector has collapsed and is lying on the ground.

I narrow my eyes when Mother steps into the camera view and walks over with a group of Guards behind her. She gestures to the bodies and one of the Guards kicks the woman hard in the ribs. She doesn’t even flinch. Mother glances up at the camera, then says something and walks away.

The video continues for another few minutes while the Guards pack the bodies into black bags, proving what I already know. The Citizens are all dead.

Macie makes a small noise and, startled, I glance over. She’s staring at the screen, her eyes filled with tears, her hand covering her mouth.

“She’s insane!” Macie whispers.

“Well, yeah, that’s nothing new,” Gavin says.

“No, I mean, really, really insane. She should be locked in a padded cell in the Medical Sector,” Macie says. She moves her eyes from the screen to mine. “You guys need to get out of here, now. There’s no time to waste.” She’s quiet for a moment as she glances over the screen, where the video has started to replay. She stares at it for a long moment, before meeting my eyes. “And I’m coming with you.”

Gavin and I exchange a look before he shrugs and I nod. “Absolutely.”

“Just … let me just go find Nick. I can’t leave without him.”

She tosses a few things into her bag, then saves the files on the data cubes to two more and hands one to me and one to Gavin. “In case we get separated,” she says. “At least someone will know of all this.”

She leads the way to the door and throws it open. Standing there is a tall man—taller than Gavin—with short, curly blond hair and light blue eyes.

“Nick!”

He grins back when he sees her. “Hey, there’s my girl.”

Before he can pull her in for a hug, she’s tugging on his hand. “Oh, wow, thank Mother you came—” I can only assume she’s trying to pull him into the hallway. “We’ve got to go, Nick. Now.”

“Go where?” Nick asks, laughing, tugging back on her hand.

“To the Surface. It isn’t safe here anymore.” She tugs on his hand again, but he doesn’t budge.

“Mace? What—” His voice trails off when he sees me, then Gavin standing protectively at my side. His eyes focus on the front of my dress … and that’s when I remember I’m still covered with my own blood.

His fists clench at his side and his eyes swirl with anger. Little warning bells go off in my head. It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite place it.

“What is
he
doing here?” he demands, staring right at Gavin. Then before anyone can answer him, he takes a step toward Gavin. “What are you doing here?” The veins in his neck bulge with each word and his face is turning red.

Gavin stands his ground, even moves slightly in front of me.

Macie seems puzzled by Nick’s reaction, but she steps in front of him. “Nick. We have to leave. Mother is insane. She
murdered
an entire Sector. It isn’t safe here.”

Nick doesn’t even spare Macie a look, he’s so focused on Gavin. “Escape where? To the Surface?”

“Yes,” she says slowly, and looks over to us, her eyes wide.

“You want to
leave
the safety of our
home.
To go to the Surface. A place filled with horrors we can only imagine. Because this
Surface Dweller
has made up some
lie
about Mother?”

“It’s not a lie, Nick. I saw it myself. You can see it, too, if you want,” she says, and starts to turn toward the screen.

He finally faces her. “Are you telling me I’m wrong?” he asks with his teeth clenched. “That
I’m
wrong and this Surface Dweller is right?”

Gavin looks at me, and I’m sure his face mirrors mine: eyes wide with shock and filled with a mix of terror and misery.

Macie turns back around. “Nick? What’s wrong? Why are you so angry?”

“Why am I angry?” he asks. “You have to ask why I’m angry?”

She shakes her head and steps back, seeking the safety of our trio.

“Could it have anything to do with the fact that the woman I’m supposed to couple with trusts a Surface Dweller over me?
”
Nick yells, startling all of us.

“That’s not it. We have proof, Nick,” I say, taking a step forward. Gavin yanks me back toward him.

Nick ignores me and continues to glare at Macie.

“Surface Dwellers are manipulative and dangerous.”

“Oh shit,” Gavin says under his breath and exchanges a look with me.

Macie, however, takes another step back. “She’s right. That’s not—” She’s cut off when he shoots an arm out and grabs her neck, his fingers wrapping around her throat.

In a flash, he’s got her pressed against the wall with her feet dangling about a meter from the ground. Her head almost touches the ceiling. And she’s clawing at his forearms. Blood oozes from the scratches.

“Nick!” I yell.

Nick growls at me and then squeezes harder on Macie’s throat.

“His kind is the reason for the fall of man and our exile to the ocean. Surface Dwellers are manipulative and dangerous and should be shot on sight.”

Macie’s kicking the wall now, and her eyes are bugging out of her face. There’s a blue tint to her lips, but Nick just keeps repeating the words I recognize from my own Conditioned responses.

Gavin stands next to me and I can practically hear the gears in his head as he frantically tries to come up with a solution. His eyes roam the room, but he doesn’t act. He’s probably just as afraid as I am to make the wrong move.

“Nick. Please listen to me. You need to put Macie down. You’re hurting her,” I say as if I’m talking to a toddler who’s having a tantrum. I don’t want to do anything that will set him off, but I can’t just let him kill my best friend.

I slide my eyes to the side. Gavin’s fists are clenching and unclenching again and that tick is back in his jaw.

Macie squeaks and I turn my attention back to them. Her whole face is a reddish purple and the blood on her fingers is not just Nick’s anymore. Her struggles to tear Nick’s fingers from her throat have caused her to break her nails back.

I walk slowly to Nick, still begging him to let Macie go, apologizing to him. Promising we won’t leave. That it was just a bad joke. I’d say anything to get him to let Macie go. At first he doesn’t listen, then his fingers loosen and Macie takes a large breath. Relieved, I stop walking.

When he turns around, the strange look is still in his eyes. It’s a look that will haunt me forever.

Macie tries to get away from him, but he suddenly tightens his grip on her. I start forward, automatically trying to help her, and he throws her across the room.

She hits the wall across the room with a sound like eggs breaking. She slides down the wall, leaving a trail of blood behind her, then crumples onto the floor like a rag doll.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-ONE

E
NFORCER
T
ESTING
R
EQUIREMENTS

In order to pass training, an Enforcer must:

1. Lift 5 times her own body weight (bare minimum)

2. Have mastered at least 100 different forms of martial art techniques

3. Be able to name, dismantle, repair, and correctly use weaponry available to them

4. Endure emotional, pain tolerance, and healing tests

5. Possess varied computer skills, including but not limited to: extensive knowledge of all operating systems (past and present), coding, and software for the express purpose of “hacking,” and forensics

I stare at Macie, her pretty little doll’s face still perfect, except for the trail of blood coming from her mouth and nose.

“No,” I whisper.

A red haze funnels in from the sides of my eyes, and there’s a click inside of me. Something I haven’t felt in so long, but is as familiar to me as breathing.

Nick growls, his eyes still flashing and rolling with madness. Gavin yanks me behind him and tries pushing me toward the door, but I won’t have it. Not from a Surface Dweller. How
dare
he touch me. But Nick must be taken care of first. Nick broke the law. There must be payment. And I’m just the one to exact it.

Before I can stop myself, I shove past Gavin, practically shoving him to the floor, and charge Nick, knocking him down to the ground near the kitchen door. He struggles to grab me, growling and snapping his teeth in frustration, but I don’t give him the chance. I slide around behind him and grab a hold of his head. Before either of us can blink, I twist.

There’s a sound like a branch cracking, then he lies still in my arms. Disgusted, I let go and his head hangs limply on his shoulders. He finally resembles the man he did when we first saw him at the door.

I look over at Gavin, intent on completing my duties, but I’m bombarded with so many memories that I’m forced to my knees by the tide of them. They surface so quickly I can’t focus on just one before another is pushing it away.

“Congratulations! Evelyn has been chosen for the Enforcer program … She must begin her Conditioning immediately. There is no time to waste.”

“
Failure will not be tolerated again. You will do as you’re told. Do you understand, Evelyn?”

An older man refuses to bow his head to Mother as she passes on her way to Sorting. I sneak behind him, then grab him by his arm and pull him into the shadows. Although he struggles, it’s a simple matter of injecting him with the syringe of medication Enforcers use to calm the unwilling, then I place my hands around his head and twist
.

“Very good, Evelyn. You’ve gotten a perfect score in martial arts. Let’s move on to weapons training.”

Bone-chilling sounds of screams and gunshots from the crowd ring in my ears, then sounds of sobbing replace the screaming in my head as the clouds of smoke clear, revealing dozens of men, women, and children lying in blood. But relief fills me as I realize that I’d kept my real father safe. He’d escaped in the confusion. Hopefully along with my real mother.

“Subject 121, Enforcer Evelyn Winters, will be undergoing yet another Conditioning session, due to her repeated resistance to previous attempts.”

“Evelyn Winters, you have been accused of failing in your mission to protect Mother, resulting in the death of an Enforcer. Mother finds you guilty and condemns you to have your memories wiped until she decides on your final judgment.”

“I was an Enforcer
,”
I whisper to myself, bile threatening to rise and choke me. Then I see Macie lying on the ground across the room.

I rush to her, but Gavin is already there. The expression on his face as he looks up at me tells me it’s already too late.

“No, no, no,” I moan.

I kneel next to her and pull her limp body into my lap. The face is a lie, I think. It’s perfect, giving the resemblance of life, but she’s broken. Gavin stares at me, his hands shaking where they rest on Macie’s arm, but I don’t look at him.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. I killed Nick. Because he killed Macie. I was going to kill Gavin. And that’s what Enforcers do. I’m an Enforcer. A trained killer. I killed my best friend’s betrothed.

Everything about me is numb now. The click that had fueled my need to kill Nick is gone, leaving an empty space—and overwhelming exhaustion. The pain in my shoulder flares like I’ve been shot again, but I ignore it. Macie is gone. My best friend. Who is as close to me as any sister. Who I had almost carelessly tossed aside. The one who’d loved her boyfriend more than anything, who would never see her dreams come true. And it was my fault.