52

MIN

My hands were shaking.

The Guardian was gone, but I sensed anarchy in his wake.

“That’s it?” Tack’s hands flew up. He raced to the door and swiped the keycard. When it didn’t open, he grabbed a brick and slammed it against the closest window. The glass didn’t even wobble. Tack grunted in pain, shaking out his fingers.

We’re on our own.

Alarm was rippling through the crowd. People clustered together, whispering frantically. It’s not every day a hologram tells you you’re dead.

My eyes kept darting around the square. Everything looked real. I pressed my hand against a pillar, felt cool, coarse stone beneath my fingertips. Nothing about it felt “virtual,” yet I’d seen for myself that it wasn’t really there.

Whispers became shouts. The group began to froth like a pot of boiling water. No one had any idea what to do. “How can we be dead?” Jessica screeched, clutching Sarah’s arm. “I’m not! I’m right here!” Sarah shrugged her off, hurrying to where Ethan was huddling with Toby and the Nolan twins.

We’ve got to get out of here.

Several students had collapsed, shell-shocked. Hector was crying softly, while Lars and Leighton were slumped side by side on the steps. “This is all just . . . some computer thing?” Lars asked his friend, fluttering a hand at the sky. Glassy-eyed, Leighton didn’t answer.

Tack hustled down to me. “What should we do?”

Heads turned, a circle of desperate faces. I heard “beta” whispered as classmates edged closer to hear my response.

Noah hadn’t moved since the Guardian’s exit. His head rose when I called out, but he didn’t join us. I worried the revelations had been too much for him.

“You know that Guardian dude?” Cash Eaton asked in a shaky voice. “Tell us what he meant! Are we really dead, Min?” The others—perhaps a dozen in total—were listening intently.

“I . . . I think we are. We all saw the programming.”

“Oh my God, they killed us!” Anna was clutching her boyfriend’s arm. “It’s not fair. I don’t wanna be dead!” Aiken patted her shoulder, his other hand running a shaky path through his oily hair. People covered their faces. They were about to panic.

Say something.

“Everything he said might be true,” I began, “but we’re not totally dead. We can’t be. We’re here, right? Still thinking. Still ourselves. Whatever this existence is, maybe it’s a . . . a way to go on.”

Traces of hope lifted a few heads. The tension lessened by a hair.

Gather as many as you can.

I spoke so everyone could hear. “We can cooperate and survive, whatever that monster said. We can’t let a stupid program dictate our lives. If we stick together, maybe—”

“You heard the rules!” Ethan climbed the steps to the position vacated by the Guardian. “Order must be established, and the hierarchy is clear. I’m a beta. I’ve been a part of this project for years. Sarah, too. We’re in charge.”

His gaze shifted to me. “Min’s proven she can’t handle the situation, so she’s out.” He nodded to the Nolans, who’d snuck to the back of the crowd, behind me. They made no move, but I was hemmed in. Damn it.

Ethan swung to Noah. For a second his eyes were poisonous, but he took a deep breath. “Noah, I can’t believe this, but I’m offering you one last chance. You’re a beta, like me. You can join us and run this town. Are you in?”

Noah blinked, as if only slowly becoming aware of what was happening. Then he surprised everyone by laughing in Ethan’s face.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Noah scoffed.

Yes! If we acted fast enough, we could rally a resistance. We were betas, too. Noah and I could give the others an alternative. “You’re falling into a trap!” I shouted. “The Guardian wants us to rip each other apart, but I don’t care. This program doesn’t define me, even if I am dead. I reject it! We have to preserve our humanity, not abandon it.”

Ethan signaled the Nolans. “Grab her.” Then he motioned to Toby, who’d positioned his crew around the group. “Playtime is over. We’re in charge, and that’s all there is to it. Everyone is ordered to the church. Now.”

Mike and Chris each put a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t make a scene,” Chris warned. “You’re going to the cell either way.” Tack tried to shove them off me, but Derrick swooped behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck. “You too, Thumbtack. Captain’s orders.”

Noah still hadn’t moved. None of Ethan’s guys were close to him.

“Noah, run!” I shouted. If he escaped, there was hope.

But he didn’t react. I wasn’t even sure he heard me. Noah’s brow was furrowed, like he was working through a complex math problem.

Commotion to the rear. Tucker and Josh were bouncing Benny Erikson between them like a ping-pong ball. Then Benny spun and kicked Josh where it counts. Josh groaned and fell. Benny tried to lurch past him, but Tucker snagged him by his long black ponytail.

Benny howled, dropping to his knees. “Leave me alone, you prick! Nobody put you in charge. You heard the computer guy—it’s every man for himself.”

Toby strode to where Benny knelt. Shaking his head, he put a gun to Benny’s temple and pulled the trigger.

The shot boomed across the park.

Screams.

Benny slumped to the ground, a red mess where his head had been.

Tucker stared at the fistful of hair still clutched in his fingers, then dropped it as if burned. He shook his hand frantically and rubbed it against his pants, trying to dislodge the loopy strands.

Everyone stopped moving. For a moment, no one breathed.

Then Benny’s body disappeared.

All hell broke loose.

Kids scrambled away from the bloodstained pavement. Ethan was shouting, but I couldn’t hear what he said. I spotted Sarah slipping away with some of the other girls. Toby was pointing at me, but a mass of panicked students blocked his path.

More shots.

Shrieks.

Hysteria.

Tack whirled and elbowed Derrick in the gut, dropping the larger boy. I smashed a fist into Mike’s face and felt his nose crack. Chris grabbed me, but Tack dove at his knees, knocking him over. I kicked Chris in the head twice, and he lay still.

“Let’s go!” Tack yelled.

I pointed to Noah, still frozen like a statue. “We have to help him!”

Tack bugged his eyes, but didn’t waste time arguing, darting forward and seizing Noah’s arm. Toby and the linemen had managed to corral most of the class, but were barely maintaining control. We had precious seconds to escape.

Tack yanked Noah roughly. “Let’s go, you moron!”

Noah stayed rooted to the spot. I ran over, tried to get him to look at me. “Come on, Noah! It’s okay. We’ll figure it out later, but we have to get out of here!”

“Oh, crap,” Tack muttered. My head whipped. Ethan was arrowing straight for us.

“Noah, we have to go right now!”

Ethan tried to shove someone out of his way, but Cole Pritchard was as big as he was. Cole’s farm-boy arm flailed, catching Ethan in the ear. Ethan stumbled and fell. He sat dazed on the pavement for a moment, trying to shake the cobwebs.

I tried to pull Noah in the opposite direction. We could slip behind the building and escape toward the lake. But he shook me off, pointing at Ethan. “We have to get him now, while he’s down!”

I reared back. “What?”

Noah’s eyes burned with intensity. “We can kill him now! That’ll buy us some time!”

“I’m not killing anyone! What’s wrong with you?”

Noah gave me a strange look. “We have to obey the program, Min. It’s all that’s left.”

I couldn’t believe it. I grabbed him by the shoulders. Tried to reach the boy I’d fallen for in that trailer. “That’s insane, Noah. We don’t have to do what the Guardian says!”

Something moved behind his eyes. I prayed I’d gotten through.

He shrugged from my grip. “You’re making a mistake,” he said in a callous voice.

Words like daggers.

“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered.

“Nothing.” His face was granite. I didn’t even recognize him. “For the first time in my life, everything is right.”

Tack tugged my arm, shooting a hateful glance at Noah. “Come on, Min. We have to go.” Unable to speak, I let Tack pull me a step, hoping Noah’s face would soften. It didn’t. So I turned to run, to leave Noah behind, my heart breaking with every footfall.

A loud bang.

Searing pain in my back.

I looked down. There was a smoking hole in my chest.

Tack was screaming, his clothes spattered red.

I fell.

Tack backpedaled, staring over my shoulder in horror. Then he turned and ran, vaulting a low wall and disappearing from sight.

I rolled to my back as a detached voice in my head explained the situation.

I’ve been shot. A bullet ripped through me. I’m going to die.

My head lolled. I saw Noah stalk over to Ethan, who scrambled to his knees. Ethan threw out a shaky hand, babbling something as Noah aimed.

Two shots. Ethan crumpled and lay still. Seconds later he vanished completely.

Whoever hadn’t fled by then, did, even Toby and his crew. In seconds the steps were clear. Noah nodded thoughtfully at the place where Ethan’s body had been. Then, noticing me, he walked back to where I lay in a pool of my own blood.

The gun was held tightly in his hand. I recognized it from his father’s collection.

How long has he been carrying it? Hours? Days? All week?

I could feel warmth leaving my body. Blood filled my lungs in an all-too-familiar way.

Our eyes met. I wanted to cry, but refused. So I asked the same question I always did.

“Why?”

Noah shook his head, seemed upset I didn’t understand. “You can’t go against the program, Min. That’s wrong. The stronger sequences must eliminate the weaker ones. It’s a mandate.” He blew out a frustrated sigh. “I intend to be strong, and you clearly don’t.”

I tried to speak, but no longer had the strength.

Noah glanced at the sky, then closed his eyes and took a breath. When they reopened, I saw no trace of the boy I knew.

Part of me died, but another piece exploded.

“Bastard,” I hissed.

The sun was radiant, illuminating his silhouette as though he were a Greek god. Or maybe that was the blood loss talking. “Everything is clear now.” Sadness tinged Noah’s voice. “I can’t be weak anymore, like you make me feel.”

My lips parted, but no words came. I was dying, and soon.

“Don’t you see?” Noah whispered, his voice almost plaintive. He pointed the gun straight at my heart. “It was you, Min. All along. You are my Nemesis.”

The muzzle flashed, and I saw nothing more.