The Resisters (6 page)

In the blink of an eye, Madison’s dragonfly darted past the machine and out into the open air.

There was no time to waste. Any shred of doubt Ethan had about climbing into the insect vanished. If he stayed out here, he’d get crushed.

Ethan backed into the cockpit, setting one leg and then the other into the hollow insect limbs, and then reached for its arms.

Even before he got his hands in place, the suit closed around him.

A second contoured piece rotated around his front and pressed in place. A liquid filled the insect’s limbs. It was squishy … and then Ethan couldn’t feel his hands or feet anymore. Pinpricks crawled up his arms and legs and gave them that “falling asleep” sensation up to his spine.

He panicked and squirmed, feeling like he was smothering—and then the view screens came on and fresh air blasted in from the vents.

Three screens in front showed a panoramic view—a
smaller screen showed the ant’s back—one fixed on the stinger—one locked onto Felix’s beetle—and three tracked the giant spider machine.

What would happen if he had to look up or down?

When Ethan thought this, the cameras shifted as if he had turned his own head.

It had to have guessed what he wanted—or if the Ch’zar had mind-control technology, could this part-living, part-machine ant have
read
his thoughts?

Felix’s voice came from a speaker. “I’ll take care of this guy. Move out after me.”

The spider robot reached for them with huge, crushing hydraulic pincers.

Felix’s beetle jumped at the machine.

He closed the distance in a single bound—hit the robot’s metal frame—and punched
through
the body of the machine.

One of Ethan’s view screens automatically zoomed and showed the beetle ripping chunks of solid steel from the robot’s spider body like it was Styrofoam.

But two more robots appeared behind that first one and pushed past it, tearing into the mountainside—coming straight for Ethan!

How do I make this thing move?

Ethan’s heart raced, sweat trickled down his sides, and he hyperventilated.

It was like the first time he’d been strapped into an athletic
suit—he’d freaked out then, too. But Coach hadn’t taken him out. He’d told Ethan he had to work through it or he’d never get inside one of the suits again.

That’s what he had to do now. Work through his fear.

If this Ch’zar fighting suit was anything like the athletic suit he’d played soccer in, then all Ethan had to do was move his legs and arms like he was running or jumping, and the machine would translate his motion into action.

He tried it.

The instant he took a step forward, the suit seemed to anticipate—
jumping
through the opening and landing fifty feet away on open ground.

It happened so fast. Ethan twisted his head around, trying to get his bearings.

Spider robots and Felix’s beetle and the flash of dragonfly wings whipped across his view screens.

On one screen, though, a pincer leg got bigger and bigger, aimed right at him!

Ethan threw up his arms—and caught it.

It had hit him, but instead of it skewering the ant, Ethan had stopped it.

He struggled with the enormous weight … and held it immobilized.

“Ha!” Ethan grunted in triumph.

He pulled the spider robot closer and (even though he thought it’d be impossible) tossed it aside like it was a toy.

All hundred tons of metal went flying end over end,
landed on its back—skidded across the ridge—and into another robot. It knocked down that spider robot like a bowling pin, and both of them went over the edge of the mountain.

For a split second, Ethan felt like he’d just kicked a match-winning goal.

Then he remembered where he was. This wasn’t a game.

More robots crawled onto the top of the mountain.

Ethan’s view screens focused on that floating hive ship as it drifted closer … and more drones dropped free and rocketed toward them.

Felix’s beetle landed next to him. “Stay close,” he told Ethan over the radio.

Ethan was panting, too much in shock to reply.

The beetle ducked its head and pointed its horns at the closest robot. Lightning flashed between the beetle’s horns, and lasers appeared, intersected, and shot out in a single sparkling beam that hit the machine.

It blasted a smoldering hole in the spider robot’s body big enough to drive a bus through.

The mechanical monstrosity tumbled off the ridge.

“We have
lasers
?” Ethan cried.

“You and Madison have lasers,” Felix said. “That was a class-C particle beam. Targets at three o’clock—blast ’em!”

Ethan turned. A robot scrambled toward him.

He had no idea how to use his suit’s lasers … but he narrowed his eyes and focused his fear at the incoming machine.

Targeting circles appeared on-screen, spun, and locked on the approaching figure.

The suit’s stinger curled toward the enemy.

There was a blast of heat that Ethan felt inside the suit.

A ruby red beam cut through the air, illuminating the thin nighttime mist, and sliced off five of the spider robot’s legs.

The machine tumbled and ground to a halt.

Madison’s voice came over the speakers: “That was just the welcoming committee. They’re deploying warrior ’bots.”

Her dragonfly flew through a swarm of drones—so fast Ethan barely tracked her.

She dodged and spun. Lasers flashed from her forward-pointing pincers, leaving smoldering drone wreckage that fell from the air.

The dragonfly rocketed toward the floating hive.

A red warning light buzzed over another screen, and Ethan saw a new type of spider robot climb over the ridge. This one was black and red and twice as big as the others. It had sixteen hydraulically powered pincer legs. It ran toward him, quickly building speed.

Felix was nowhere in sight.

Ethan would have to defend himself.

He spun around, crouched, and jumped.

His fighting suit landed on the mechanical monster’s body. He grabbed its head with serrated limbs and—before the robot could swat him—jumped away, ripping off the metal head.

He dropped the mass of steel.

And then realized his mistake.

He had jumped away, all right … probably avoided getting squished. But when he’d jumped off the robot, he’d jumped
too
far—over the edge of the ridge. He was falling toward the valley floor a thousand feet below.

He clutched at the air, instinctually grasping, trying to swim, or flap wings that weren’t there—useless!

The world spun on his view screens … except those cameras focused on his back. There, the armor split and wings flicked out—diamond membranes that became a blur.

He snapped to a stop and hovered.

“I can fly?” Ethan whispered, amazed.

Then he understood. This suit of armor wasn’t an ant.

It was a
wasp
.

He imagined himself moving the muscles on his back and running, jumping—anything to make him go up.

He flew higher over the ridge.

This was so cool. Hadn’t he always wanted to fly?

He spotted Madison’s dragonfly, and his happiness faded.

She was in trouble.

Emerging from the floating hive were wasps. Not like Ethan’s. These were black and red and half his size … but there were
ten
of them.

Her dragonfly veered from the hive and the wasps. She barrel rolled, dodging the lasers flashing from their stingers.

One laser hit her and stitched a smoldering line down the side of her dragonfly.

“Incoming!” she cried over the speakers.

Ethan spotted Felix’s beetle. He was in trouble, too.

He was on the ridge. Clawing into the clearing around him were three smaller rhinoceros beetles. Instead of attacking, Felix slowly retreated.

“Fall back,” Felix ordered. “Both of you—before
more
reinforcements come.”

A hundred thoughts whirled through Ethan’s mind, none coming to rest.

He rose higher into the air.

Those other insects weren’t after him … probably because they hadn’t seen him yet.

But could there be another reason? Ethan had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’d been dragged into this fight.

Was it even
his
fight?

He glanced at the forested side of the mountains, down to the valley, and at Santa Blanca. Its streetlights twinkled peacefully, everyone in his neighborhood unaware of the battle up here.

Like it wasn’t a part of this violent, alien world.

“Ethan!” Felix said over the radio. “Fall back. We can escape if you help!”

Felix blasted one smaller beetle with his particle beam. It exploded backward and hit the mountainside, leaving a smoldering crater … from which it got up and crept forward.

Escape
.

Hadn’t just ten minutes ago Ethan been looking for a chance to escape Felix and Madison?

He hadn’t asked them to show him any of this.

He hadn’t asked to fight the Ch’zar.

All he wanted was to go back to his normal old life—truth or no truth.

He wanted to wake up and find out this was a dream.

Madison. Felix. Those two had hit and kidnapped him.

Maybe they weren’t the good guys. And maybe the bugs weren’t the bad guys. Maybe everything they’d told him was a lie.

Ethan trusted only three people in the world: his dad, his mom, and his sister.

He had to tell his parents and Emma about this. They’d help him figure it out.

Madison cried, “Blackwood? Are you there? Are you okay?”

“No,” Ethan whispered.

He turned and flew toward Santa Blanca.

Go home
, he thought to the suit.
Fly as fast as you can!

Something clicked on either side of the suit.

On-screen Ethan saw jet engines pop out from the wasp’s abdomen. They exploded with fury and fire and shot the wasp through the air like a rocket.

BLINDING SUNLIGHT STREAMED THROUGH
Ethan’s bedroom window. His alarm clock buzzed like an angry wasp.

He rolled over and slapped the snooze button.

It was fifteen minutes
after
his alarm usually went off. Had it been buzzing all this time?

He sat up and swung his legs out of bed.

Every muscle in his body ached. He felt like he’d played three soccer matches, worked out in the gym, and run forty laps around the practice field.

He unbuttoned his pajama top (which was covered with rocket ships and astronauts) and found bruises on his chest and arms.

He ran his fingers over the yellowing black circles and scrapes.

If your athletic suit didn’t have a perfect fit, you got
rattled around during a match. Ethan had seen new kids on the team come out of a soccer game looking like they’d been beaten up.

But nothing like
this
.

Besides, Ethan’s suit had been fine-tuned to fit just before last night’s match.

Emma had punched him in the shoulder, but that couldn’t have—

Ethan saw the flash of a big fist aimed right at his nose—then it turned into a huge fist of steel, as big as his room … and he’d caught that one with his own hands.

He blinked. Where had
that
memory come from?

It had to have been part of a dream. Now that he thought about it, though, he couldn’t remember what he’d dreamed last night.

He stood and stretched. Aches and pains creaked up and down his legs. When he looked, he saw more bruises there than on his arms.

He glanced around for some clue to what might’ve happened to him.

Everything looked just the way it should. White shirts and ties and pressed slacks hung in his closet. Folded jeans and T-shirts sat on his dresser for after school. His school-books and the high school catalogs he’d been browsing sat on shelves. Even Mr. Bubbles, his pet betta fish, looked normal as he darted to the top of his tank for his breakfast pellet.

Ethan paused. Something disturbed him as he watched the fish’s organic blue curves.

Weird.

He went to his desk and picked up the framed picture of his mom and dad, him, and Emma. They cradled the just-born twins. It had been taken two years ago. It was hard to believe Dana and Danny had grown up so fast. But that was a good thing. Their potty training was starting to take. Dirty-diaper duty was one thing Ethan would be happy to see go.

He would figure out what had happened later. He got dressed for school.

Ethan noticed the clothes he’d worn last night had been tossed in the corner.

Funny … he was never that sloppy.

From his open bedroom door, Emma cleared her throat.

“What happened last night?” she asked. “I covered for you. Told Mom and Dad you’d gone to sleep. Do you know how much trouble we’d
both
be in if they figured out it was just two pillows in your bed?”

Ethan studied his sister. She wasn’t making any sense.

She was dressed in her school skirt and white blouse. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her arms crossed over her chest, and her normally sparkling eyes narrowed with worry. She was serious.