Wasteland (Flight) Read online

  “This is a suicide mission,” I protested, but Rupert would have none of it.

  “If there was ever a Hunter who could do it, it would be you, Piper. I’m counting on you.”

  I leave with Essa, my mind whirling. How the hell am I going to pull this one off? The worst part about it is that I can’t tell anyone about it. I’m alone in this except for an inexperienced Hunter partner.

  This could be a disaster. Or, it could be legendary. I’m hoping for the latter.

  3

  My body screams in pain, but I keep pushing myself, keep working it until I can barely move. Remembering my previous strength is like remembering a dream; I can think of it, but can’t quite realize that it was true.

  My daily routine includes a variety of cardio and strength-training exercises, and slowly but surely it all comes back; my movement, my old ability. Even the experiments are easier to handle.

  I am in the middle of a set of push ups when the fluorescent lights at the top of the cell buzz and die, leaving me swathed in black. I stand up, fumbling with my hands out to try to find the wall. What the hell is going on? An alarm blares, and then I hear it; the unmistakable click of my cell door unlocking. Is this a test?

  But I can’t stop to think about why; this could be my one chance for escape. I stumble toward the door and push it open. Outside of the cell is a narrow hallway dimly lit by red emergency lights. The guards outside my cell are gone; the hallway is empty.

  My instincts kick in, and adrenaline courses through my body. I run. My chest burns as I clear the main hallway and stumble around the first corner. The lights flicker, and I realize that I have absolutely no idea where I’m going. How am I going to get out of here?

  Voices echo from behind me. I hear shouting. They must have realized I’ve escaped. Shit. I gun it in the opposite direction, weaving between hallways, listening for other voices or footsteps.

  My eyes adjust to the darkness, and I hear a group of loud guards running toward me. In front of me is an old set of stairs. In a flash I slide down and under them, trying to breathe as silently as possible as the guards approach.

  They stop at the staircase, three of them. Their boots are only inches from my face. I hold my breath. I can smell the pungent stink of fake leather and dirt. Please don’t let them find me, I think.

  Two more booted guards approach from the other hallway.

  “This area’s all clear. No sign of her,” one of them squeaks. He must be young. His voice trembles with nervousness.

  “Damn it. How the hell did she get out in the first place?” another guard swears.

  “I—It appears she escaped approximately ten minutes before tripping the alarm,” the young one stammers. The statement causes my eyebrows to furrow. Ten minutes before the alarm. Who are they talking about?

  “Well if we don’t find her soon, all hell is going to break loose. You, search the sewers beneath the complex,” the main guard orders. The guard barks his acceptance and runs down the hall.

  “What about the rest of us?” the young guard asks timidly. The main guard seems to sigh, exasperated.

  “You come with me. We’re going to have to start checking above ground. If she gets loose in public, we’re going to have a big problem, and all of our asses will be fired, you hear me?”

  The guards all snapped their boots together and ran off in the direction I’d come in. After a minute, I let go of my breath and crawl out from the stairwell. I have no clue who the guards were talking about, but since it isn’t me… I might just have a chance of getting out of here.

  The main guard had mentioned sewers and complex. I must be deep underground. I listen carefully for any sound before I hustle up the stairs, my lungs already burning.

  And then… I can hardly believe my eyes. Light shines a few flights up. Even if it’s holographic, it’s still sunlight, which I haven’t seen in I don’t know how long anymore.

  I rush up the stairs, tears streaming down my face as I make it closer and closer to the light. It’s a window, I can tell. There must be a way out through that.

  Just as I make it to the landing before the window, the unmistakable sound of a metal door opening echoes the stairwell. I stop dead. I have no way out of this. If I run, they’ll hear me, but if I stay and they start moving downstairs, I’m dead.

  So I run toward them. I’m hoping to shock them and possibly kick away their consciousness, but when I see the two figures standing by the door, I screech to a stop, my mouth hanging wide open.

  I could never mistake these two; him, with his gruff face and patchy beard; her, with her wicked dreadlocks and fierce eyes. Rassler and Essa. Are they here to save me?

  “Oh my god, Piper,” Essa voices. She looks at me in shock, then looks to Rassler for approval. I frown. Shouldn’t they be happy to see me?

  “Let’s get out of here, guys. Please, you have to take me away. They’ve been running experiments on me, and—”

  “Piper, just stop,” Rassler commands. There is a growl in his voice that I don’t understand. They both look at me with pity in their eyes. Am I really so wretched?

  “Piper, it’s all going to be okay. I’m sorry, but we have to do this,” Essa says. Her eyes well up with tears. I look past them, but there’s no way to escape. Rassler holds his wristband to his mouth.

  “We have Case 451 on the Upper North Stairwell. Please advise,” he said. He waited, keeping his eyes averted from me.

  “Essa, what’s happening?” I plead. She bites her lower lip.

  “It’s not time. I promise you it will come, just not right now,” she whispers.

  Rassler’s wrist band rings loudly. He presses the “answer” button.

  “Put her in lockdown on Level Four. Make sure she’s chained this time.” It was Rupert’s voice, I could tell just by the way his words formed through the radio.

  “Rassler, you can get me out of here. You can both get me out of here,” I cried. Then a sharp prick stung my arm, and immediately the world became… mushier. Like liquid. I barely heard Essa speak as Rassler threw me up over his shoulder.

  “She’s already getting stronger. We might be able to launch the plan sooner.”

  “Not yet, Essa. We still have to find Asher.”

  I swirl a tiny straw around and around in my drink; a fruity cocktail that I’ve had one too many of. After Essa and I were released, David had suggested we go to the Hunter Lounge to get to know each other and take the edge off things. The edges were gone, all right. Everything was just a little bit spinny.

  Across from me, Essa sips from a glass-bottled beer, Rassler beside her holds a thick pint glass in his hand, and David swirls the ice around in his glass of faux-bourbon. I don’t know why he ordered it; maybe he wants to impress the new girl. There is still something about her that jogs my memory. I’ve met her before… somewhere.

  “What do you think about this mission, Piper?” Rassler asks, knocking me out of my daze. I try not to frown. I don’t know what I think, especially not after the task Rupert gave me and Essa. Secret-keeping was never really one of my strong skills.

  I glance at Essa before moving my gaze over to Rassler.

  “I think the Corp is scared. I think the threat is really serious,” I reply. David turns to me, cocking an eyebrow.

  “You really think Rupert is scared?”

  “Look at how locked-tight this mission is. He doesn’t want people to know that there’s a threat, because if he announces something and we don’t quell it, the Corp will lose its control and there will be so much chaos,” I explain, raising an eyebrow in return. Why is he questioning me?

  “But if he was scared, wouldn’t it make more sense to pull out all the stops, to show the people how powerful the Hunter Division is?”

  “And what if nothing happens? We waste resources. And if something does happen and we don’t catch it before it comes to that, well that’s just a scary thought,” Essa pipes in.

  “I guess that makes sense,” David adm
its. Rassler says nothing, staring off into the distance with beer in hand. I never really know what Rassler is thinking. I don’t know if he agrees or not, or whether he even cares. But then he speaks up.

  “I think Ruper is scared shitless. There are only four Hunters on the field for this, and one of them’s a rookie. He doesn’t want to risk anything. Collateral damage means nothing to him. Basically, if we can’t stop it, no one can,” he says. Essa glares at him from the corner of her eye. I just sigh deeply.

  “So what do we do? Do we just go along even though we know there might be the very real danger of us being killed? Or do we say something?” I say. David bites his lower lip.

  “We can’t say anything, Piper. This is our job. We need to do our best. If we die on the field, then we die with honor,” he states. I mentally roll my eyes. Now he’s on to a valiant kick.

  “Let’s not get dramatic here,” Rassler butts in. “We need to keep moving as usual, but keep our eyes open. I suggest that we all start training a little harder, just in case,” he adds.

  We all nod. I think that deep inside, we all know that something is wrong, but none of us are really ready to admit it. To admit it would be to accept that war could me among us soon.

  And nothing is more terrifying than war.

  “I’m going out for a bit,” I call to David the next morning. He’s doing push-ups by the window, the morning sunlight reflecting from his sweat. He jumps up when he hears me, and threatens to wrap me up in a big, sweaty hug.

  “Who are you going out with?” he asks as I fend him off with disgust. He has to know already I’m not going out with Tor this morning. I’m in training gear; slim pants and sneakers.

  “Essa and I are having coffee, if you must know,” I reply. Immediately his interest is piqued.

  “You should find out, you know, whether she has a boyfriend or not.” I slap his arm, leaving a red mark on his skin.

  “Stop being a perverted jerk. You don’t need to hit on every girl you meet,” I chide. He just grins widely, and my annoyance with him melts away.

  “I’m just being curious, Pie, chill out,” he says. I growl at him as I turn toward the staircase. I’m actually kind of excited to have coffee with another girl. Since Shelley got posted in Ichton, I haven’t really had many females in my life, besides my Mom. Girls are either intimidated by me or jealous because of David.

  “I’m leaving now, go back to being a perv,” I shout, then jog down the stairs. I find my mom in the kitchen before I leave. She’s busy rolling bread for dinner tonight. She has always hated the store-bought variety, because of the anti-biotics stuffed into it.

  “Where are you off to, honey?” she asks.

  “Just coffee with a friend,” I lie. Mom knows everything about me and David, about Hunters, about the Corp, but I couldn’t divulge even a single, minute detail about the cases I was working on. I hate it, but realize how it was necessary.

  “Is it a boy?” she questions, wiggling her eyebrows. I roll my eyes.

  “No. Tor is back in town, you know,” I say. Even though he was like a second son to her, my mother has never really caught on to the Piper-Tor train. Just like David.

  “I’m just teasing. Have fun. I love you,” she says. At this moment she looks so beautiful with her big blue eyes and naturally curly hair. I wrap her up into my arms and kiss her on the forehead.

  “Love you too,” I say.

  Essa is already at the coffee shop when I get there. She has some notes in front of her that she’s reviewing, and smiles at me as I enter through the swinging door. I join her, and am relieved to see a steaming hot coffee—or, the best coffee we can manufacture—on my side of the table.

  “Did you have a good night last night?” I ask as I tuck in. She giggles a little, and I eye her warily.

  “I think you need to tell your brother that I’m not into dudes. He tried to walk me home last night,” she says. My eyes widen and I burst out laughing; I can’t wait to tell him when I get home.

  Then I look at her a little more closely, and I recognize where I know her from.

  “You dated Shelley for a little while,” I say. I remember now. Shelley and I had gone out one night, and she’d told me about this girl she was seeing. At first I was a little shocked—Shelley had always been kind of boy obsessed—but the one time I’d seen them together they looked cute and happy.

  “Yeah, I did for a little bit. I didn’t think you’d remember me. She’s a sweet girl, but I don’t think she was ready for the same kind of relationship I was,” Essa replies. I know what she means. Serious. Committed. These words are just not in Shelley’s relationship vernacular. “How’s she doing, by the way?” Essa adds.

  “She’s good. She’s designing Rad Gear in Ichton right now. I miss her tons.” Essa smiles, and gestures to the notes in front of her.

  “I’ve been working for a bit, trying to think of some angles we might try to complete our mission,” she says. I lean over the table to look at them. Most of them are maps; detailed maps of the dead forests and fields above ground. Wasteland.

  “Do you think H002 is really so close to home?” I ponder aloud. There are really two options here: He’s been kidnapped and/or killed, or he’s run away on his own. Would he stay above ground?

  “Well, from the reports I’ve read, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that the younger brother could have done anything to him, and the sister is also missing, but she left on her own accord to take what they call a ‘wilding’ quest, where they live off the land for a period of time. This leads me to the idea that he’s left on his own,” she says.

  I nod in acknowledgment as I skim the reports. Harpy traditions, day-to-day living, the Family. H002, also known as Asher. Asher. To think that the heir to the Harpy throne has such a simple name.

  “I think you’re on to a good start, honestly. This is some great work. So, do you think we should do a trip above ground?”

  She just nods, excitement gleaming from her eyes.

  “I think we should do more than a few days. I think we should do a wilding.”

  4

  Bright, fluorescent light pierces my eyes, even through the soft skin of my eyelids. I open them, groaning at the sharp sting of light.

  My body is stiff, my muscles aching from the remnants of the tranquilizer. Slowly, my memory returns. I had almost escaped, and Rassler and Essa, two whom I had considered my allies, had brought me back to my prison. Why?

  I am now lying on a cold, concrete floor, in a different cell than what I’ve been calling home. I lean up and the jangling of chains calls my attention to my feet; wrapped around my ankles are shiny silver cuffs.

  I wiggle my bare toes slightly and the cuffs automatically tighten, squeezing skin into bone, eliciting a yelp of pain from my throat. I try to relax my feet, and the cuffs loosen just enough that the pain isn’t stabbing.

  “You cannot flex your muscles, or the pain will only get worse,” a small voice sounds behind me. I whip around, wincing, to see that I am not alone. My cell is no longer made of high-quality titanium. There are thick, iron bars locking me in. Across the hall there is another cell, where a young girl sits.

  She is upright in lotus position and her thin lips are curled into a smile. Her skin is ghostly pale, and her hair is the shocked white of an old woman. Even her eyes are strange; beaming violet. She looks to be only seventeen years old at the most.

  “Who are you?” I croak, my voice still hoarse from screaming earlier. Whoever she is, this girl cannot be Human. She has an alien air about her. Not Human. Not Harpy. But then what?

  “I am Io. It’s nice to finally meet you, Piper Madden,” she says delicately. I’m caught off guard. How does she know my name? “I know all about you, and David, and Asher,” she continues. Sweat beads from my forehead. Seeing the shackles on her own feet, I realize that she must have been the one the guards were looking for.

  Io.

  “How?” was all I managed to reply. She smiled larger,
showing off perfect white teeth, maybe even a little translucent.

  “I know just about everything, but it isn’t a skill that I can explain to you so simply. I am the only one of my kind, Piper Madden, but in a way, we are related,” she says.

  Briefly I wonder if I am dreaming. Of all the strange things I’ve seen in my life, this girl is by far the strangest. No pigment in her skin or hair, and so frail; yet for some reason she must be chained and locked away.

  “You said your name was Io? Where are your parents?” I ask softly. She tilts her head, eyeing me queerly, like my question is just completely silly.

  “I don’t have any parents, at least in the conventional sense. I’m just like you,” she replies.

  I frown. I have a mother. I may never know who fathered me and David, but my mother has been enough for me. More than enough.

  “Don’t worry, Piper Madden. Soon everything will begin to make sense. You have an interesting future; filled with love and passion and agony. You are special, even for a Hunter,” she continues.

  “What do you mean, special?” I ask.

  “What do you think they’ve been doing to you here each day, when they’ve been injecting you with all those needles?” she counters. My heart begins to pound. I don’t think I want to know what has been continually injected into my body, but deep down, I need to know.

  “They’ve been testing me,” I answer. Io nods her head, just once.

  “More than just testing. They’ve been preparing you for what is to come, though even they don’t yet know what that is.”

  “Why didn’t they just kill me when they had a chance?” I wonder aloud. Io’s smile fades, leaving a serious, almost spiteful expression on her face.

  “Because Rupert would never allow that. You mean too much to him. He will never let you die if he can help it,” she says.

  I have so many questions boiling within me. How does she know so much? How old is she really? Can she see the future? Why does Rupert protect me, after all that I have done to him? But I don’t have time to ask anything. Io answers first.