The Rift Uprising (33 page)

Duncan lunges for me and instead of dodging him, I meet his force. I take a step forward and kick out, nailing him hard in the pelvis. He rallies, returning quickly, and with his good arm tries to get me in a choke hold. I'm guessing, based on his size and weight, his specialty is jujitsu, which is all about getting someone down to the ground. His center of gravity is so low that he can inflict the most damage to his opponent when they are on the floor, like a wrestler. I cannot let him get me there.

I manage to break free of his choke hold and swing around, rolling over his back to deliver another blow to his side. Duncan falls to one knee and I see my opening. I keep kicking in short, powerful bursts to keep him from flying and also so that I know, even through the suit, I'm doing damage. I get a
good one off to his face, and his mouth explodes with blood. I go to kick again, but he surprises me by reaching around with his good hand and holding on to my leg. I struggle to break free quickly because in this position, it would be easy enough for him to break my leg. I arch backward and plant my hands on the increasingly muddy ground. I use the one free foot I have to slide under his knee and throw him off balance. He wobbles and falls but doesn't release my leg. I push off with my hands, using a fair bit of strength to throw us both up and back into an awkward cartwheel.

The maneuver works, and Duncan has been thrown clear, but he quickly scrambles to where I have landed in a crouch and manages to get me down on my side. I look over and see another Citadel lying unmoving on the ground five feet away from me. He's one of the younger ones, a year or two even younger than me. I don't really recognize him. I have no idea whether or not he was one of Duncan's or mine.

I hate this.

With his good hand, Duncan tries to throw a punch, and because I'm thrown by the boy in the mud, by the blood on his face and his neck, which is lying at an obviously unnatural angle, Duncan's punch lands squarely in my eye. I kick out and grab Duncan by his bad wrist and his other fist before he can punch me again. I throw his body behind me and flip around to sit on his neck, keeping his legs restrained by leaning back and shoving them into the ground with my hands. He can punch me with his uninjured arm, but through my suit he won't do any damage. I squeeze around his face with my thighs. “Stop this, Duncan!” I yell. “We're going to kill each other.”

His face is an atlas of bruises. I've won this fight and I don't see why he can't accept that. “Of course we are,” he
spits back at me. “What in the fuck did you think was going to happen here?”

I look around, trying to see my friends, my team. They are all deep in combat. Ezra is standing as close as possible to The Rift. Henry has gotten close to him, protecting him as best he can while fighting, literally, for his life. Still, Duncan's question unnerves me. I thought there might be a scuffle. I assumed some Citadels would be more difficult to win over than others. I even allowed that one or two would be fanatical like Audrey, but not this many.

I never thought in a million years it would be so bad. This whole episode out here strikes me as ridiculous and very,
very
wrong. I squeeze harder, keeping Duncan's face between my legs like a vise. His skin is getting purple. “Nobody else has to die—so enough,” I scream in his face. “We are smart, we can find a way to work through this.” I feel Duncan stop struggling beneath me. There is hatred in his eyes, but he knows that he's been beaten. As I said to him before, with us, it's self-preservation at all costs.

“Okay,” he manages to wheeze out, and I release him. I stand over him and offer him my hand to help him up, which he bats away. “Just get away from me.”

I open my mouth to say something else, to try to convince him that I'm right, but I stop myself. The truth didn't work. Fighting didn't work. There has to be another way to get these Citadels back on our side.

I step away from him, toward Ezra. I wonder if Edo will know what to do. If everyone was conditioned to believe ARC's propaganda, then I suppose they can be reconditioned to see it for the bullshit it is. I hate the idea of brainwashing my peers again, but I'm running out of options. Now I'm worried about the remaining Citadels who have yet to hear my
story. How will my team handle telling them? And how can we trust them once we do? I wonder, and not unreasonably so, if the Roones have some kind of test to verify whether someone is telling the truth, some way of watching our brains light up like a pinball machine if we are lying.

Watching all this chaos around me only strengthens my resolve to go. I may be a hero to some Citadels, but after what just happened with Duncan, I realize that some truly see me as the enemy. It's best that I take a step back for a little while and let the other, less polarizing Citadels push forward.

Perhaps more than that, I'm tired. I'm done fighting. My head hurts. The skin on my knuckles is raw. I cannot take a full breath; one of my ribs is cracked. I look down at Duncan. His hand is covering his face. I can't imagine what he's thinking. Does he realize now that he's been used horribly? Or was it truly hatred I saw in his eyes? How can he think I'm a traitor for not wanting to be a weapon? It's too much. It's time for me to go. Ezra and The Rift are close, maybe thirty feet. He's as near to it as I've ever seen anyone, though he has his back to it. He's been watching me this whole time, probably worried out of his mind, feeling helpless knowing that there was nothing he could do. His mission was to keep the packs and equipment safe. Every time he had to witness Duncan hit me must have killed him. He's smart, though. He knew that if he tried to get involved he would have put both of our lives in danger.

The Citadels are still fighting. I walk briskly to Ezra. I get close enough to read the relief on his face. We're going to get out of here, together. I'm almost there.

And then in an instant, a split second, everything goes to shit. Levi leaps into the air from out of nowhere, like he's been shot out of a cannon. He pushes Ezra hard. He pushes him with such force that Ezra goes flying into The Rift. I don't even
have time to register what has truly happened because Levi tackles me to the ground, and that's when I hear the shot go off. I look over my shoulder to see Duncan, still on his back in the mud but with his one good arm extended out, the gun pointed right where I had been standing. Levi rolls me over so that the second shot Duncan takes misses us both. We scramble up to our feet, ready to dodge another bullet, but that's not what happens. Instead, Duncan's arm drops. I look around and watch as the other Citadels in his group fall one by one. I've seen many things over the years in this job, but nothing, I don't think, as disturbing as this is. One minute they are fighting, alive, wondrous even, in their fury.

The next, they are gone without warning, just bodies on the ground.

The faction of Citadels who remain look around, stunned. Before I left Levi at Command, I told him to call Edo. I know in an instant this was her doing. Her choice has taught me a horrific lesson: The Citadels aren't nearly as important to the Roones as I thought they were, and this terrifies me. She must have been watching the whole time, carefully gathering the names of those against us so that she could enact the Midnight Protocol. I have no idea why she did this. Was it Duncan's gun? Was it all the other Citadels on my “side” that she was protecting, or was it just me? Whatever the reasoning, this will never happen again. I will remove every implant, in every Citadel, myself—
today,
if I have to. Ezra and I . . .

I bury my face in my hands. It finally hits me that Ezra is gone. I stare into The Rift. I look at Levi and I just want to kick him, but I can't. Edo's hand could very well still be on the kill switch and I'm not about to lose another Citadel, even one I'm furious with. Beta Team comes running toward me. Maybe they expect some kind of explanation as to why I was going to
leave with Ezra. I don't feel like explaining myself to anyone right now. “Henry,” I say with gentle authority, “divide the remaining Citadels up. You and Boone need to go back to the base and secure it with one group and then round everyone up, civilians and military, and put them in the training arena. I'll be there in a few to talk to them. Vi, you need to stay here with another group to defend The Rift.” The three of them stand there looking at me as if they are waiting for me to say something else. Instead I say, “Go,” with more intensity and volume in my voice.

Surprisingly, they hustle to do as I've ordered. When Boone tries to pick up one of the dead Citadels, I stop him. “Don't do that. Put her down,” I tell him authoritatively. “The next shift will be arriving at the base soon. I want them to see what ARC can do to us if we don't assume command.”

Boone puts the girl down gently; her eyes remain open, staring lifelessly at the opaque sky.

I just stand there among the corpses with Levi as my friends organize the remaining troops. Boone and Henry head toward the base with a large group. Violet reforms teams and places them all back into position. She joins Kappa Team on point behind the rock closest to The Rift. A better, more experienced leader might have gone with Boone and Henry right away to deal with the bunker, but I don't feel entirely connected to my own body. I need a moment to let the enormity of what's just happened sink in. I don't feel responsible for these deaths. That fault lies squarely on ARC's shoulders and, to a lesser degree, on Edo's. But there's no denying that they would all be alive if I hadn't started this. I need to sit with the idea that I am both entirely to blame and not at all to blame for what has happened here.

I wince as I try to take a deep breath. I turn my back on the
dead soldiers around me and cross my arms. Once again, I stare into The Rift and ignore the way it's tugging at my gut. I can feel Levi's eyes on me.

“Tell me what you're thinking, Ryn,” Levi says softly. I still can't even look at him, let alone share my thoughts. I don't say anything. I hear him sigh loudly. “Don't do this, don't shut me out,” he warns. “If you had just been honest with me. If you had come to me from the beginning, then all of this could have been avoided.”

I grit my teeth, which hurts. My jaw must be bruised. “Don't go there, Levi. Don't you dare. There was no avoiding this.” I finally turn to face him. “All of this,” I say, sweeping my arms out, gesturing to the fallen Citadels and the blood on the field, “would have happened eventually. ARC needs to be brought down. That means war.”

“But if you had just told me, we could have come up with a plan. Jesus, Ryn.” He sighs in frustration. “I know what you think of me, but look at what I've done for you! I let you deal with those thugs who tried to rape my sister. I helped you get into the Village. How much more proof do you need?”

I look at him, truly baffled. “Proof of what?” I ask, my mouth gaping. By way of an answer, Levi just shakes his head and purses his lips as if I should totally get it. I throw up my hands. “I seriously don't know what you're talking about. The only proof I have when it comes to you is that while you are an excellent Citadel, you are as mean as a snake and probably the angriest and most judgmental person I've ever met.”

“I'm not this way with everyone, you moron!”

“What are you? Six years old? I can't believe you want to get into this right now, but it's so typical. Levi,” I say with as much conviction as I can muster, “
this is war,
” I tell him, desperate to get through.

“But you were just going to leave with him! Is that how you think you're going to win a war? I don't believe
you
. You were going to run away and leave us with this colossal mess to clean up.”

I don't know why I feel compelled to justify my choice to Levi, especially when I'm so pissed at him, but for some reason I do. “I made a deal. A deal that would secure an alliance with the Roones, prove that the Rifts are navigable, and which offered up a significant amount of intel about ARC and Roone technology. I got all that by agreeing to Rift off this Earth. I was
not
running away,” I assert.

We stand there, eyes blazing at each other. It's clear by the look on Levi's face that he's hearing me but not really listening. “Are you serious right now?” He practically spits at me. “Rifting out shouldn't have even been an option. You must know that
you
are the most valuable asset to this cause, to this lovely new war that
you
began. You send someone else, someone less vital. Even the greenest Citadel knows that much.”

I narrow my eyes and take a step closer to him. “You could have grabbed the gun from Duncan. Shit, you could have shot Duncan yourself. You didn't need to throw Ezra in there. You're hateful.”

Levi rears back like I've slapped him. “I saved your life. That's all that mattered to me. It was a gut reaction. Besides, he was going through anyway.”

I shake my head and look up. The rain has stopped for now, but I am wet and cold and fed up. “We don't put civilians in harm's way. We protect Immigrants. It's our job. It's why we're made the way that we were. God, Levi, he might be dead already.” I sigh and press my palms into the back of my neck, then I move them over my eyes and press even harder. I feel tears threatening, but I don't want Levi to see. “He's smarter
than us. I know that will come as a shock to you, but he understands computing and physics in a way that we don't. You aren't getting that the deal I made was conditional upon Ezra and I Rifting out
together
.”

“Fuck the deal. You can't leave.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

It's almost funny that Levi expected me to confide in him, that he thinks I should
magically know
how he feels about me. Especially since I don't even think he really knows and that's been the problem since I discovered the first bits and pieces of the truth about the Citadels. How can I trust someone who is so angry and irrational? He claims that he could never hate me, but he acts like he does. He says he doesn't think I'm a child, but he's reprimanding me like I am one. His emotional landscape is a minefield. If I say the wrong thing, he'll blow up at me. I don't have the time or energy for that. We are standing in a graveyard. It's disrespectful of him to play games. “Are you trying to tell me that between you and Boone and Henry and Violet you can't secure the base? You can't come up with a plan to dismantle ARC?”