“Why am I not surprised to see you here?” Commander Reyes said to Simon, as she directed us down a narrow street and then out onto the main road slowly filling with people.

  “I know how much you like surprises, Reyes, sorry to disappoint.” Simon walked a bit too close to her, and I couldn’t help but note the uneasiness between them both, though Reyes didn’t move away. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

  Reyes gave Simon an incredulous look before turning to me. “You need to leave Cytos, today.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  A subtle beep began moving its way down the street through speakers attached to every building, then the sound of a loud crackle as the speakers came to life.

  “That’s why,” Reyes said.

  A large Linked screen covered half of a building with the sweet, smiling face of Governor Grayson like a hologram before us.

  “Citizens of Cytos,” she began. “We are conducting a new security protocol to ensure all citizens are safe within our borders. As such, we ask that each of you comply with the guards now entering the streets and register with our main database. This is for your safety and the safety of our wonderful city. Please see the nearest guard for admission. Failure to do so in the next forty-eight hours may result in disciplinary actions, and anyone harboring those who do not comply will be held to the same consequences. Thank you, have a wonderful day.”

  The Linked image of the screen disappeared, but a warning continued to circle across the screen. The people around us began to whisper. And then the guards came.

  “What does it mean?” I asked.

  “It means she’s moved on to phase two,” Simon said, his eyes fixed on Reyes. We threw our hoods back up and began shoving our way through the streets. We had to get back to the apartment before anyone saw us.

  “Grayson is testing everyone, to find those who are immune to the virus,” Reyes said.

  “Aren’t all humans immune?” Em asked.

  “So to speak, yes. But some can be carriers of the virus, even if it does not affect them. And some…” Reyes didn’t finish her statement as she glanced over to me, her eyes weary for only a minute before she blinked it back, and determination settled back in. “It doesn’t matter what her reasoning is; she is already looking for you three, so I’d suggest you get the hell out of here if you want to live. She will not hesitate to kill any one of you or those who help you.”

  I understood what she was not quite spelling out. Reyes had found us to warn us but also to save her own ass, as she was directly connected to all three of us.

  “The Watchers aren’t mobilizing?” I asked casually.

  She shot me a look. “No, they’re not. We would set off too many red flags if we left our duties now. We’ve been asked to assist in the collection.”

  “Right,” I mumbled.

  I turned my attention to the streets where neat lines began to form, citizens waiting their turn to be documented by the guards at the front of each line. I noticed the one closest to us, Officer Cortez, had a firm grimace on his face as we swiftly moved past. We were almost at our apartment, and in the confusion and slight chaos, we were lost in the crowd.

  “And what will she do with this information?” I asked over my shoulder, watching as more people filtered out of buildings.

  “Nothing, for now. But self-preservation can be a strong motivator for someone who has already lived a long life. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Cytos if I were to come on her radar.”

  “You mean if someone was carrying the virus?” Simon asked.

  “I mean if someone was immune,” Reyes said.

  Death is a better ending than what she has planned, Holden had said.

  “We’ll need a clear path to the North,” I said. “We have a few... extra people to transport.”

  “I’ll do what I can, but that’s the best I can promise,” Reyes said.

  We reached my apartment building and slid in through the doors, past the guards escorting people out.

  “Pack up, essentials only,” I ordered Em, but she hesitated, and I knew why. “Get word to your parents to be ready, but we can’t risk going there.” With her jaw clenched, Em nodded her reluctant agreement and swiftly headed upstairs.

  “I assume you have a place for us to go?” I turned back to Reyes.

  Her eyes flickered to Simon’s for only a moment before she cleared her throat. “I have a contact in Eres that will be expecting you,” she said, and I was quick to notice the tension in Simon’s shoulders.

  “Good,” I said, moving towards the elevator. “This is goodbye, then?”

  Reyes sighed. “I will help as much as I can from here, but the rest is up to you.” She moved to leave.

  “Not just me—us.” I glanced to Simon, who gave a strong nod.

  “Be ready, two hours.” Reyes didn’t say goodbye before she disappeared into the crowd.

  JAYLA

  “We should wait ’til night, too many people out there with Greyson’s new protocol,” Simon said, as he glanced over the edge of the building.

  “We don’t have time to wait,” I replied.

  “You don’t think I know a thing or two about getting through this city unnoticed?” Simon shook his head.

  “You weren’t so sneaky when we found you.” Em dripped with sarcasm. She looked nearly ready to toss him off the building if he kept talking.

  Simon clenched his jaw, but he turned his gaze away from Em.

  Leanna had Logan under one shoulder, and they moved with difficulty to where we stood on the rooftop of our apartment building. Commander Reyes hadn’t told us what she would do to help, but I knew she would come through. So now we waited, impatient and cold.

  My eyes drifted to the lone wicker chair Leanna helped Logan into, and it was an effort to pull my gaze away and focus on the task at hand. If I wanted to see Cas again, we had to get out of here alive first.

  Em was tightening the belt around her waist and securing her gloves before moving over to check Logan’s belt. He swatted her hand away, but she ignored him and moved on to pulling his one glove tighter and repositioning the brace around his arm.

  “I’m not useless you know. I can fix it myself,” Logan snarled. Em just ignored him and pulled the brace a little tighter. The two often bickered, and most of the time Em won, but Logan was getting stronger and really didn’t need Em continuing to baby him so much, but I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell her that.

  “And what use would you be?” Em drawled.

  “I can… I can fly!” Logan said, his eyes lit.

  Simon snorted. “How much pain medication have you been giving the kid? He’s hallucinating now.”

  “Shuttles I mean, I’m a good pilot.” Logan glared at Simon who smirked back.

  “We don’t need a pilot,” Em replied. “And last I heard, pilots need two arms.”

  “But you will, soon. Won’t you?” Logan pressed. We hadn’t told him or Leanna our full plan yet, but neither were idiots.

  With what we had learned from Governor Wallace’s tablet, and now that Governor Grayson was moving onto the second portion of her plan to take full control of Cytos and eventually all of Armestes, the Void was not our only concern.

  Em pointedly ignored Logan and moved towards the edge of the rooftop to survey the busy streets below.

  “No, we won’t,” I answered for her.

  “Just leave it alone, Logan. They don’t want our help any more than we want theirs,” Leanna said, and I was inclined to nod along with her. They weren’t exactly dead weight, but close enough. Leanna had gotten us into her dad’s tablet, got us some information I still didn’t know what to do with, but they were useless to me now. If they weren’t also being hunted, and I didn’t have a conscience, they wouldn’t be coming along.

  Logan sat up straighter, leaning forward on his good arm. “You think I’m an idiot, don’t you?” I gave a non-committal shrug.

  “You won’t tell us where that guy Caspian is,” Logan began, and I flinched at the sound of his name, “but there it is. That look you try to hide every time his name is even mentioned. None of you will outright say it, but you’re going in there, aren’t you? The Void? That’s where Caspian is?”

  Leanna’s eyes widened a little, and for some reason a pang of jealousy shot through me. The connection I had to Caspian was mine and mine alone; I didn’t need her love-struck look of worry for him as well.

  “The less you know the safer you are.”

  “Someone just tried to kill us. I don’t think we’re safe, no matter what we know,” Logan argued. “If you just tell us what’s going on, we can help.”

  “You can help when you can stand on your own two feet.” Em turned the slightest bit of attention to Logan as she watched the city below. “You can help when we need your help. Until then, just keep your mouth shut like your wise sister told you to and listen to orders.”

  Logan scowled back at her, but he wisely didn’t say anything, his mouth a thin, angry line. Beside him, Leanna looked as though she were very interested in a string on her pant leg, but I was well aware she knew by keeping her mouth shut she could hear our whispers better.

  Ignoring the sudden need to make sure neither of them messed things up for us, I turned my attention back to my own harness tight around my body. The straps dug uncomfortably into the inside of my legs, but I welcomed the pain over what could happen without these harnesses.

  Only three of us knew how to get off this rooftop without killing ourselves; Leanna and Logan would be getting a crash course as we went. But neither of them could be left behind if Reyes’ warnings were true. They’d be banging down our doors soon enough.

  I stepped over to Simon and said in a low-enough voice only he heard, “I assume you can vouch for these people in Eres who Reyes said can help us?”

  Simon kept his gaze on the streets below. “They can be trusted about as much as I can… but if Reyes trusts them, then so do I.”

  “Not friends of yours I take it?”

  Simon shook his head. He was silent for a moment before he set his eyes on me, and I noted the slight tremble in his voice when he said, “These were the people who were supposed to get us both out of Cytos… before—”

  I nodded my understanding. Before he made the decision haunting him so badly he was willing to partner with me to make it right.

  I opened my mouth to say something just as an explosion sounded in the distance from the south.

  Em and I didn’t jump like the others; we didn’t even glance that way as we moved towards the opposite end of the building. “Let’s go,” I said.

  Simon was the first to strap himself onto the line strung from our building to the one across the narrow alley. A dead wire we’d used for some time now to move through Cytos unseen across the rooftops, only we were a lot more visible in the daylight, and the sun was shining high in the clear sky. But we didn’t have time to wait for night.

  Em strapped in Leanna next, then Logan. The guards and people below us scattered towards the sound of the explosion, the people gliding above them going unnoticed.

  Em began strapping herself to the line and glanced over her shoulder to where I stood a few feet away. “Be quick about it and don’t be late,” Em said before she swiftly jumped over the edge, letting gravity pull her across the open space before her feet touched down lightly on the rooftop across from me.

  I gave her a wry smile from the distance and a curt nod before I cut the wire and let it fall into the space between us.

  I didn’t wait to see them go. I knew Em would get them where we needed to be as long as I held up my end of the plan. So I moved to the south side of the building and connected myself to the tether secured to the rooftop. Then I leaned over the edge, took a deep breath of cool, brisk wind, and let gravity pull me over.

  The tether tightened around my waist and chest, slowing down the initial drop, so I was able to slide my feet along the smooth glass side of the building while I watched the ground near. My steps were silent against the glass wall. The only sound was the wire rope sliding through my holster until I gripped the loose end, pulling it tight against the stopper, so my momentum slowed enough I landed soundlessly on the ground below.

  I had the harness off and my gun drawn instantly.

  People still lingered. A few citizens and guards had stayed at their post while others checked out the cause of the explosion. There were too many guards to expect them all to be distracted, so I would have to deal with the rest.

  The black smoke was already diminishing in the distance. Now, it was my turn.

  I took no more than three steps before I heard the order to stop, the guards quick to notice the presence of a shadow in daylight. Time to even the playing field, I thought to myself, as I pulled out the small object in my pocket, no larger than a marble. With a smirk, I smashed it to the ground at my feet, and it exploded in a cloud of black smoke.

  I disappeared in the black mist and ran.

  The guards trailed me south. I had used up the entire stock of smoke bombs and moved onto the real explosives. At the south end of Cytos, the tall buildings and city line thinned out, making it harder to stick to the alleys and canals.

  Two shuttles weaved in and out of the main streets as I slunk into the narrow alleys they couldn’t navigate, taking back turns and circling around to disorient them from where I was going.

  In the distance from the sounds of it, more shuttles arrived. I was running out of time and luck and still too far from my intended location.

  I skidded to a stop at the end of the alley as a shuttle pulled up in front of me. I was just quick enough to dodge out of the way of the bullets screaming for my head.

  “Stop, show your hands,” the loudspeaker echoed down the backstreet.

  Not a chance.

  I slid back, using the cover of a large dumpster before sprinting in the opposite direction towards the wide streets. I peeked around the corner, gun drawn, even though it would do nothing against the shuttles.

  The road between me and the DEZ was currently empty, but I knew the minute I stepped onto that street every shuttle in Cytos would have its guns aimed at my head.

  But what choice did I have?

  I gritted my teeth, securing my gun back in its holster and pulling out the last two explosives I had. Without looking back, I sprinted towards the entrance of the DEZ.

  I could feel the shuttles humming nearby. The magnetic roadway beneath my feet began to rumble and vibrate as they turned a corner and drew nearer to where I ran.

  “Stop or we’ll shoot!” someone yelled from one of the shuttles overhead.

  “You already have shot at me,” I said under my breath as I kept running.

  I got two more steps before a bullet flew by me so close it took a chunk of hair with it. Swearing under my breath, I pulled the pin of the first bomb and threw it towards the shuttle trailing me. I didn’t look to see if my aim had been good. I could tell by the loud boom and explosion, followed by the heat now singeing my back, the shuttle had gone down.

  I was getting close to the DEZ, but more shuttles swerved into my path, and I didn’t think they’d warn me this time when they shot.

  I was right.

  A stream of bullets smashed through pavement directly in my path, and I sprung back on my heels, dodging out of the way just in time. Two more shuttles circled behind, guns aimed at me.

  I stopped, glancing back. No way out.

  I took a deep breath and pulled the last pin of the grenade in my hand. Keeping the clip secure, I raised my hand in warning. Shoot me, and we all go down, my stance silently told them.

  The shuttles hovered around me. A large circle of guards had caught up to the chase, huffing and struggling to catch their breath, standing a few feet away with guns trained at my head.

  “Put the grenade down, ma’am!” someone called from one of the shuttles.

  “Why does everyone keep calling me ma’am? I’m nineteen!” I said to no one in particular.

  “We will shoot,” another guard said.

  “Guess you guys aren’t that smart then, are you?” I waved my hand holding the grenade. “Or you don’t fear death, which is it?”

  Silence answered back.

  “That’s what I thought,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got something I’d like to finish.” I took a step forwards, and a bullet bounced off the spot of my next step.

  I glared at the ground and tilted my head to the side. “You’re a stubborn bunch, aren’t you?” I mumbled. “Oh well, your funeral…”

  I took another step just as a burst of gunfire sounded overhead, but not one bullet was aimed at me. The guards on the ground hesitated, looking up to the shuttles surrounding us to see one rogue dark grey shuttle with its guns aimed at them.

  The bullets carved out a path between me and the DEZ, and I took off before anyone could decipher who was friend and who was foe.

  Above me, the rogue shuttle began taking out the others, aiming for the energy packs at the bottom of their metal hull, the ones linking them to the magnetic roadway. Some of the guards literally leapt from the shuttle as it burst into a red and black inferno.

  On the ground, the guards had stopped following me and were taking cover behind buildings and anywhere the bullets couldn’t reach.

  Two guards were left in front of me, and they quickly jumped out of the way as my last grenade flew for the front entrance of the DEZ, blowing the doors and the entrance wide open.

  I stalked inside, hearing the sirens blaring loudly through the hallways and the sound of footsteps sprinting down the hall. It was oddly bare inside… I’d expected more guards. Maybe they’d all been dispatched to the city streets on Governor Grayson’s orders?

  The first feet to round the corner were three wide-eyed kids. I lowered my gun.

  “Out the front and head west. Don’t stop until you’re at the wall. Someone will be there to get you,” I said, and they paused, weighing my words against what they’d spent their whole lives believing—I was the enemy. “I’m not your enemy—this place is. You’ll be safe out there, trust me. Please.”