Chapter 12 #2
We get ourselves free in less than a minute. Timothy says he snuck past the guards by the stairs after he’d created a distraction, but it will be harder to sneak on our way up.
“We don’t need any more distractions,” River says and runs up the stairs. We wait a minute, then climb up to find him standing next to three unconscious guards. I’m glad he didn’t kill them.
“Grab their weapons,” Lyla says. “The cliff is not far, but I’m the one who set up the alarm system around here. If we’re spotted, we’ll have a hundred guards after us in no time.”
I pick up a rifle, hating the weight of the thing.
We follow Lyla through quiet hallways, staying clear of the ballroom area where servants should still be cleaning.
Lyla walks with confidence, leading us through pathways and occasionally telling us to wait as she listens to movement up ahead.
We finally reach the front garden, where there are too many guards for us to not get noticed.
I wait with Timothy behind a bush while Lyla and River take care of the guards.
They manage to do so without anyone firing a single shot.
We continue walking low until we reach a path that curves around the mountain and turns into a steep climb.
I can barely see a thing, but River holds my hand and guides me.
We reach the cliff where Remy is waiting for us next to the ledge, holding a lamp.
Behind him, the full moon is half covered by clouds. Two jetpacks are lying on the ground.
“I couldn’t carry more than these,” he says, his brow shiny with sweat.
“It’s fine.” Lyla picks one of the jetpacks from the ground and starts strapping it to my back, while the rifle I took is hanging at my front. “I’m staying here for now.”
“No!” River calls.
“Shh. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, brother.”
“I… I don’t think it’s the right time,” Remy says, breathing heavily.
“I won’t be allowed to return here after today, so it’s either now or likely never. You’re ready for this, so put away your fear and follow the plan.”
“What’s the plan?” I ask, barely able to stand with the weight of the jetpack. It carries an unpleasant scent of fuel.
Lyla straps the second jetpack to River’s back. “The plan is to dethrone a king.”
I’m not sure I’ve heard her right. “What?”
“I told you that he’s been acting strange for the last year, but he’s also been making people disappear if they ask too many questions. I like this city, and I’m not about to let it fall because of a corrupt king.” She taps Remy’s shoulder. “We might have a new king soon.”
Remy rubs his face, looking ghostly under the light of the moon.
“Find us when you can,” River tells Lyla. “I can’t wait for you.”
“I know. You just make sure to—”
A shrill alarm cuts through the silence of the night.
“Took them long enough,” Lyla says and picks up Timothy from the ground. She hands him over to River.
“I don’t know how to fly a jetpack,” I say.
Lyla quickly explains to us how to hold the hand grips, how to make the jetpack go up, and how to land. She warns us about pushing the speed up to the max because it will make navigating difficult.
“River, you go first. Finn, you stay close to him and make sure to land wherever he’s landing. From up high, every shift in direction can end up with miles between you two. If you need to get free in a hurry, pull this buckle hard, but make sure you’re not too high, or it won’t end well.”
I try to take it all in, but there’s too much to remember. “Are you secured, Timothy?”
“I hope so, but your heart is beating too fast. Focus on remaining calm, like when you wake up.”
He means like when I wake up terrified from a nightmare. I have a rhythm that helps me relax if I repeat it enough times.
In like wind,
Soft and slow.
Out like clouds,
Watch them go.
I begin to hear people shouting and running toward us on the same narrow path we used to climb here. “Lyla, kill the king for me,” River says.
“And please help the Defenders who came with us,” I add.
“I’ll do what I can. Try to cover as much ground as possible while in the air. You might still spot those buggies if you’re lucky.”
River walks close to the ledge and turns on his jetpack.
The engine hums and rustles, spreading an unpleasant scent of burning fuel.
He and Timothy rise from the ground and fly forward.
Worried I might lose them if I stall, I turn my jetpack on, my body shaking with the vibration of the waking engine.
Before I can get up in the air, bullets hit the ground next to me.
“Go!” Lyla shouts.
My feet leave the ground as Lyla fires back at the approaching troops.
The cold wind slaps my face, and I don’t dare to look down into the darkness below.
I wish I felt more secure in my harness, but gravity is pulling me down, stretching the straps as if I’m about to plunge to my death.
My arms and shoulders hurt from grabbing the hand grips so tightly, but I don’t dare to loosen my hold.
In like wind,
Soft and slow.
Out like clouds,
Watch them go.
River’s jetpack is a bright dot in the vast night sky, and I feel safer knowing I have that to guide me.
I only need to make small corrections whenever I stir too far to the sides.
A few minutes later, I hear a strange sound from behind me.
By the time I figure out those are other jetpacks chasing me, they already start shooting.
I don’t know how the hell they can shoot and fly at the same time, but they have a lot more experience controlling these things than I have. I remember Lyla’s warning about pushing the engine to the max and still being able to navigate, but those behind me clearly don’t fly at normal speed.
I squeeze the fuel handle, my body jerking forward and increasing the wind’s slaps at my face. “River, we need to land!”
I don’t know if he can hear me, but maybe he can hear the gunfire.
I close the distance between us, but before I can reach him, he starts to descend.
I take it as a sign he decided we should hide in the darkness below.
I follow him downward, but I can’t see the ground.
It might be covered with trees, rocks, or water for all I know.
I tell myself that River can see what’s below us, so I need to make sure to land as close to him as possible.
More bullets fly around me, but none of them is as loud as the drumming of my heart.
Closer to the ground, I can finally see the terrain.
The trees are less clustered, and there’s a gushing river to my right that I better stay clear of.
Behind me, I can still hear my pursuers, closer than before.
They’re likely seconds away from closing the distance between us.
I’m roughly sixty feet above ground when my body violently jerks with an explosion of my engine.
A bullet must have finally found its target.
I spiral in the air. The scent of smoke is suffocating, and the fire behind me is blistering hot.
If it wasn’t for the blowing wind, my head would have caught fire instantly.
“River!”
I can barely hear my own shout, and I can’t see River at all with how fast I’m spiraling.
I have to pull the buckle and detach myself from the burning jetpack, but doing so without knowing how high I am will likely end with broken bones—if I’m lucky.
I do everything I can to fly east, where I saw the river earlier.
The skin at the back of my neck is about to melt, so I draw a sharp breath and pull the buckle.
I slip out of the harness immediately, slamming the rifle around my neck against my chin.
I brace myself to hit the ground, but the freezing water smashes into me like concrete, knocking the air out of my lungs.
Before I can reach the surface, the current swipes me away.
I manage to get free of the rifle, my muscles throbbing as I thrash my way upward.
The second my head breaks through the surface, I suck in a mouthful of air, but the current pulls me down again.
It takes all of my remaining strength to kick myself up and try to swim to the shoreline while avoiding smashing into rocks, but I can’t see anything.
The strain on my back and arms is unbearable, yet I finally manage to get close enough to the shoreline.
I growl as I drag my exhausted body out of the water, only stopping when I feel soft grass underneath me.
I turn to lie on my back, panting while the moon and the stars spin above me.
Everything hurts, but the cold is even worse; it slips through my skin and clings to my bones with icy fingers. I’ve no idea where I am or how far I drifted from where River landed, but at least I’m still alive.
The steady flow of the water sounds soothing now that I’m not being dragged by it.
I force myself to sit and wait for the dizziness to pass.
I know my destination should be north, where River landed, though it’s likely where the guards from High Hope have landed as well.
It might be wise to wait for the sun to rise, but I can’t risk losing track of River and Timothy.
I stand up, shivering in my wet clothes, and start to follow the river upstream.
I walk for about twenty minutes, barely feeling any warmer, when I notice flashes of light up ahead.
I hurry to hide behind a tree, listening closely until I hear multiple footsteps coming closer.
They must have seen me crash-landing into the river.
I look around to find somewhere better to hide, but it’s too dark.
I debate whether to return to the river and attempt to swim to the other side, but the current is likely to drag me south for miles.
I find a rock to use as a weapon and hold it as I remain crouched.
My teeth chatter from the cold, so I stick my tongue between them.
The troops from High Hope come closer, casting pillars of light between the trees with their flashlights. I think I’ve seen such flashlights before, attached to rifles. I wonder if they might have gotten orders to bring me back alive, but they wouldn’t have fired on me midair if that was the case.
My heart beats in my ears, and my panic makes it easier to forget that I’m still freezing.
They don’t speak as they walk, but I can hear branches snapping beneath their boots.
The lights are getting so close, they make the night seem like day.
I should have found a better place to hide or returned to the river and let the current carry me away.
I go numb when one of the guards walks past me, shifting his flashlight and rifle from side to side.
He tilts his head toward me, his eyes glancing over the river.
Right when it seems that I’m screwed, he turns his gaze to the front again.
More guards walk by, their lights slowly dimming.
They will soon give up and head back to collect their jetpacks, and I can’t be here when they do.
I place the rock on the ground and slowly walk on all fours away from the tree.
I can just barely see where I’m going, then the light behind me fades completely, leaving me to scramble in total darkness as little rocks dig into my palms. I rise slowly to my feet, determined to gain more distance before I sprint to find River.
I manage a few steps before I accidentally hit my foot on an exposed root.
I lose my balance and stumble against a tree, the impact making birds scatter and chirp in anger.
In seconds, the darkness around me gives way to light from behind.
“Hold!”
I should run, but I can already hear them closing the distance. I raise my hands and shout, “I’m a representative of Unity! This… this is a crime!”
They come closer, their flashlights casting shifting shadows all around me. When I hear the cock of a rifle, I shut my eyes and brace myself for certain death. Something crashes into me from the side. Right as I’m about to hit the ground, firm hands hold me tightly and soften the fall.
Gunshots erupt, smashing into trees and sending wood chips flying. I cover my head as I’m dragged between the nearby bushes.
“Stay here,” River hisses. I open my eyes to catch him sprinting into the night.
I stay on the ground for the next few minutes, listening to the death cries of those who came here to hunt me. I feel no joy hearing them brought down one by one. We should be on the same side instead of killing each other.
When the world finally goes quiet, I sit up. “River?”
He crouches next to me, his pale face and red hair barely visible. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Thank you. Where’s Timothy?”
“Coming!” He runs toward us, emerging from the low vegetation. “I thought we lost you.”
“A bullet hit my jetpack. I aimed for the water.”
“You’re freezing,” River says and stands up. “I’ll bring you dry clothes.”
I wait with Timothy, who rubs my back with two of his palms. My teeth chatter, but I’m no longer worried about making noise. I just want to get warm and find somewhere to rest. Everything aches now that the adrenaline is slipping out of my system.
River returns with a pile of clothes and weapons. He helps me take off my wet clothes because it’s hard for me to close my fingers. The new clothes are too big, but at least they’re dry.
“It will be morning soon,” Timothy says. “We need to find a place to rest and gather supplies for the road.”
“The road to where?” I ask.
“Denver.” River sounds as if the answer is obvious, but I’m not sure it is.
“Denver has thousands of armed Raiders, River.”
“And one Josh.”
I remind myself that he’s upset and scared, so it must fall on me to be the annoying voice of reason, even though I want nothing more than to find Caden and Josh as fast as possible.
“Getting killed because we’re reckless won’t set them free.
We don’t even know for sure where they are—the Raiders have outposts all over the place. ”
River crosses his arms. “Then what are we supposed to do?”
“Is Helena still trying to track them down?”
“Yes, but she can’t see everything.”
“Then I suggest we head north where both Unity and Denver are.”
“I’m not going back to the Hive. They hate me there.”
“Nobody hates you, and I need to find a place where I can send Dino a message about what happened.”
River nods. “I can find us somewhere.”
“Okay, then we’re on the same page.”
“We also need to find supplies and gather our strength,” Timothy says.
He’s talking about me, since he doesn’t eat or sleep, and River can go on for days with barely any rest.
“I don’t want to slow you down,” I say.
“You won’t.” River holds my hand and leads me forward. “I’m not losing you too.”