Danger's Race Read online

  Elond had a rotund belly, indicated that 3-D printing was likely alive and well in this dome. His hair was gray, not white. Nareen’s hair still held a few black streaks. They both wore simple, homemade uniforms that were worn from age.

  A moan came from the side of the dome where I’d shot the man in the leg. I called to Gia, having to say her name twice to get her attention. “I’m not sure who attacked me, but he has a laser wound to the thigh. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to do with him.” Then I addressed the older couple. “We need to get you inside. We still have Jorgen to deal with. When he can’t get a hold of his men, he’ll retaliate. If I had to guess, they contacted him with their suspicions before we confronted them.”

  “He will,” she agreed as she guided the man into the dome. “But he’s a coward. You shouldn’t have much trouble with him.”

  As we followed them inside, Case and I shared a look of confusion.

  This hadn’t gone at all how either of us had imagined. But it was fine by me. These scientists might’ve just saved our lives. The militia could’ve gained the upper hand. Going into battle was always unpredictable.

  I crossed over the threshold and sent a pleading message up to anyone who might listen. Please let them have something to help Mary.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The setup in this dome was almost exactly like Walt’s, except an area had been partially walled off for what I guessed was sleeping quarters, since I didn’t see a pallet or a bed anywhere else.

  That, and Walt’s residence didn’t have two dead bodies lying at the bottom of the stairs.

  I stepped over the two men, who looked as though they’d been asphyxiated, based on their pale blue skin tone. Nareen was right, scientists were sneaky. I felt very little remorse for the dead men, knowing what life had been like for the scientists and the other tribespeople. It also gave me hope that the scientists would be able to fend for themselves, even just for a while, along with Knox, Gia, and any other member on board—if the militia up north descended while we were gone.

  I glanced between them, Case coming to stand next to me. “We appreciate the help. I’m not sure if Walt told you, but the reason we came here was because Tandor—Teddy, as you knew him—arrived in the city with the intent to take it over. He was in possession of a quantum drive with formulas involving Plush and its possible cure, and ingredients, specifically sodium alginate. If administered early enough, it could help undo the effects caused by the drug.” I glanced around the dome. “We had no idea we’d find you, or all this. Walt has made it clear that he’d like to join us in the city, when it’s safe for us to return here and take you back. We’re hoping that’s what you choose, but we’ll respect your decision either way.”

  Elond had taken a seat, and Nareen stood next to a table that had beakers scattered across it. “Yes,” she answered. “We would very much like to come back to the city—if it’s safe, of course. Heading into a big political uprising wouldn’t be ideal. We barely survived one of those already.” She picked up a vial and turned it over in her hands, which were long and shapely. They seemed like the kind of hands that were used to doing things precisely. “We’ve actually been trying to get back for years, almost as soon as we landed here. But circumstances have always thwarted us, and the years have passed quickly. We hope this time to make it.” She gave me a small, bittersweet smile as she set the vial down.

  If she wanted to relay more details, she would.

  I nodded. “As long as we’re here, I have to ask. You don’t happen to have any sodium alginate, do you? We’re trying to help the seekers in the city, but there’s one woman in particular, an innocent victim in Teddy’s games. She’s only been infected a few weeks, so we’re hoping her DNA hasn’t been permanently altered yet. With the sodium alginate, our friend can make up a cure.”

  Nareen took a few small steps toward me. “Finding a cure for Plush was Candor’s—Teddy’s father—life’s work before he deserted us for The Water Initiative. I never trusted him and always believed his motives were self-serving. I liked him even less after he left his son behind.” Her voice was crisp and assertive. She would be an excellent co-leader with Gia while we were gone. “Unfortunately, the formulas you have in your possession, which came from Teddy, have been altered. They are not correct. Sodium alginate won’t work. None of it will work.”

  For a moment, I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me.

  The formulas were altered?

  They were never going to work?

  Darby had said that certain things didn’t match up, but this wasn’t what I’d expected.

  Case picked up the thread. “That doesn’t make sense. The sodium alginate worked on her when she was infected.” He gestured at me. “Based on that alone, what you’re saying is inaccurate.”

  Elond cleared his throat to speak for the first time. “Yes, if you administer such a cure immediately, as it’s written in the formulas, you can avoid calamity.” His voice was less shaky than Walt’s and warmer than Nareen’s. “But it’s not a long-term fix for those who have ingested the drug over a period of time, or have gone untreated. And each individual will respond differently to it, based on their intrinsic chemistry.” He inclined his head at me. He had a bald spot right in the middle, but his gray hair was fairly thick along the sides. “You were very lucky. There was greater than a seventy percent chance that it would’ve done nothing for you.”

  The door above us opened, and Gia clattered down the stairs.

  I needed to sit, so I headed to an empty chair. I had no words yet.

  “The formulas had to be changed to avoid catastrophe,” Nareen said.

  “What Nareen means to say is that data was altered, on purpose, by us,” Elond continued. “When Griffin Candor sailed away that day, he left us a gift, one that quickly turned into a nightmare. His son, Teddy. We tried our best with the boy, but there was something off with him right from the start. Nareen suspected that the elder might have been trying out some of his potential cures on his son, which meant he was also giving him small doses of Plush, which altered the boy’s DNA years before.” Jesus. Well, that explained a lot. “We withdrew a blood sample once, but found nothing conclusive, but we hardly had the tools to do a thorough workup of the genes. When Teddy became of age, he inherited his father’s home, along with all the data he left behind. Teddy had a strangely brilliant mind, and he was able to piece together his father’s notes and even revive some of his experiments. But it took an alarming turn once the militia arrived in town and Teddy discovered power.” Elond gestured at the men on the floor to exemplify, I guess, the power shift in town. Hard to know. “We grew quite concerned, of course. Concerned enough to give the boy a sedative and alter those formulas ourselves. We knew he was planning something large, but just not what. It was our hope that with the formulas modified and ineffective, he would be deterred. But it didn’t work.”

  “Since you altered the data,” I said, hope still lingering, “does that mean you have the original formulas?”

  Nareen pulled out a stool and sat, folding her hands in her lap. Her expression was stoic, her gray-streaked flyaways back to being organized in the bun. “We have the data, but it’s useless.”

  “What do you mean useless?” I asked.

  “As Elond already stated, the cures in Candor’s research were flawed. They would only work if administered quickly, and even then, fewer than thirty percent would benefit. Griffin Candor fled to this part of the world many years ago, forced to exit the city by the government and his own guilt.” She gave me a hollow stare before shifting her gaze to the ground. “He was the scientist who invented Plush, and its subsequent upgrade, which altered the fates of so many innocent souls. Plagued by guilt, he devoted himself to finding a cure for his disastrous pleasure drug, but he failed to do so.”

  Teddy’s dad had caused this.

  He was responsible for all the seekers and all the lives damaged by Plush. The information was a little
mind-blowing, and completely unexpected.

  Elond leaned forward. “The man became mad, plain and simple. It’s why he left to join the Flotilla and why he left an innocent child behind.” He made a clicking noise in the back of his throat. “Sodium alginate naturally attracts toxins in the bloodstream, binding them together efficiently. He was right to incorporate it in his work and was lucky that there was an intrepid soul here, right after the meteor hit, who gathered many samples of things that would’ve been lost otherwise. Word filtered up to the city in the years following the disaster that certain supplies could be found here. That’s why we knew about this place. But for those poor souls whose DNA is already altered, it’s too late.”

  Nareen rose. “I can see by the look on your face that this news is devastating, but all is not lost.” She came forward and grabbed my hand. The gesture was a little more intimate than I liked, but I allowed it. “A scientist arrived here ten years ago. He occupied the dome next door. We lost him a very short time ago, and it’s a terrible loss, because he was truly remarkable. For years, he refused to confide his story to us, fearful that if the government tracked him down, all those with knowledge would be killed. But slowly, over time, we were able to unwind his tale. He’d been working with a small team of individuals—brilliant scientists and people from the medical field—on a bio-restorative cure for Plush. This work began before the dark days.”

  I sat forward in my chair, my hand still in hers. “Why was he forced to come here?”

  “Only on his deathbed was he willing to share the last of it,” Elond said, picking up the story as Nareen dropped my hand and took a step back. “The government shut the project down. They decided to keep the Plush addicts as they were, deeming it easier than trying to cure them all. Too many mouths to feed, lack of infrastructure, lack of resources. But they were fearful that if the public—such as yourself—found out, they would retaliate. The scientists and medical staff were let go, but approximately six months later, they began dying.” Elond shook his head sadly. “We have seen this narrative play out over and over again in our lifetime. Some factions in the government are just not willing to risk a thing. They would rather kill than leave a trail. And in this world, it’s easy to do, as there are no repercussions from the law.”

  He was right. Whatever the government decided, no one questioned it, because no one had any power, and most of the time they had no idea it was even happening. “This scientist fled the city, leaving his family behind, fearing for their lives if the government came after him. When he fell ill, he realized too late what was going on. Everyone who’d been on the project had been given poison, mixed in with their protein cakes and ingested a little over time so as to not cause undue curiosity. Later, he verified that poison here and found an antidote, improving his health immensely, but the poison had already done its damage. Cancer ate away at him and ended his life ten years later.”

  “What was his name?” I asked, effectively blown away by the story.

  “He went by Roman, but I doubt that was his real name,” Elond answered. “He was a nice fellow, incredibly intelligent—smarter than most. It was a shame to lose him and his brilliance at such a young age.”

  “Did he say what government office he worked for?” I asked as my mind whirled. Claire had told us only days earlier that the majority of the government would rally behind a Plush cure, but there was one faction that might not, one that was so secretive she’d just uncovered its existence.

  “The Bureau of Truth,” Nareen said as Case and I shared a glance. “None of us here had ever heard of that department before, but then, most of us had been gone from the city for more than twenty or thirty years by that time.”

  “Did Roman give you specific details about the project?” Case asked. “Had they completed any of it? You said all hope wasn’t lost. Does that mean we can still retrieve his data?”

  “You’re welcome to examine what he’s left behind,” Elond said. “But from what he told us on his last dying breath, they had been working on specialized medi-pods that would isolate and remove the damaged DNA, regenerate it to its original form, and reinsert it. Damn exciting work, if you ask me.” Elond’s voice grew animated. “Groundbreaking, especially at a time when the world was dark and science was at a standstill. Roman indicated that there was a sponsor at the start who funded the efforts and gathered the intelligence, and when he died, things changed very drastically. That’s all we know.”

  Medi-pods.

  They were working on medi-pods to fix the DNA that was altered by Plush.

  I stood abruptly, my chair clattering backward. “Were the medi-pods ever operational? Do they still exist?”

  Elond raised his palms toward the sky as I took a few awkward steps forward, my brain now pinging in several different directions. I stopped and fixed a less intense look on my face. It was clear I was startling the old man. “We have no way of knowing for certain,” he stammered. “Roman didn’t even know for sure. Their tenure on the project ended so abruptly he was only able to see early results, which indicated that some of the pods had cured at least two individuals. He never understood why they stopped the program. It would be silly for the government to destroy them, but who knows? All that amazing technology going to waste. It breaks the heart. On his last breath, Roman told us that after he found out that all the doctors and scientists had been poisoned, he took it upon himself to gather and hide—”

  A small explosion rocked the dome, sending glass and metal tubes clattering to the ground and pieces of the ceiling raining down around us.

  I swore.

  We’d been so absorbed in the unfolding of this incredible story, we’d given Jorgen time to get here. In reality, he’d likely already been on his way, especially if he’d been in contact with Marvin. It seemed little happened here without him knowing.

  I drew my weapons, as did Case, but Gia had been sitting on the stairs, listening to Nareen and Elond tell their story, and she was almost to the door.

  “Don’t go out there!” I shouted as she disappeared over the threshold, walking straight into whatever Jorgen had planned. “Dammit!” I swore as I ran after Case, taking two stairs at a time.

  That girl was too impulsive for her own good.

  A series of shots were exchanged. Someone screamed as Gia shouted, “You will never hurt anyone again, you bastard!”

  I reached the top and was about to launch myself outside, when Case turned and grabbed me by the waist, spinning me against his chest as he pivoted, reaching out and slamming the door shut. I struggled in his grasp. “What are you doing?” I raged, bucking myself backward, clawing at his arm with one hand. “We have to get out there and help her.”

  He didn’t say anything and didn’t let go.

  No, no, no.

  Fuck.

  Everything went quiet, and I stopped struggling.

  My knees gave way, collapsing under me, and yet Case still held on.

  After no more than a minute and a half, I found my footing again, my head braced against Case’s chest as cascades of sorrow washed through me. “You can let me go now,” I told him quietly. “We have to go out and see if there’s anything we can do.”

  Case released me. “I’ll go first.”

  I didn’t argue as he pushed by me, opening the door.

  What Gia had done had been selfless, but completely reckless. This world was hard enough, but losing someone never hurt any less. We’d known her for only a blink in time, but in those short hours, she’d proven her worth and shown us her potential.

  After Case exited, I bowed my head for ten more seconds. Then I took a deep breath and followed him.

  Gia had barely made it out of the dome. Jorgen—or what was left of him—was a short distance away. Case was heading that way.

  I knelt next to her, bringing a hand under her head to ease off her helmet. Her eyes blinked open as blood rushed down her chin. Her chest heaved intermittently, bleeding from multiple wounds inflicted by a wicked
Blaster, pieces of shrapnel protruding here and there. There was no way to stop the blood—there were too many punctures. I settled my other hand over her abdomen, stanching the heaviest flow.

  She grinned at me, her teeth dripping scarlet. “He’s gone,” she whispered, coughing. “He’s finally gone.”

  I nodded as a single tear rolled down my cheek. “He is. Along with everyone else who fucked with you.”

  She tried to laugh, but only managed a gurgle. “They didn’t all try to have sex with me”—she coughed—“but they wanted to. I hated those bastards.”

  “I want you to know something.” I brought my face closer to hers. “I put you in charge because you deserved it.” Another tear rolled down my cheek. “I want you to hear it from me before you go. You are a strong, capable woman—everything they aren’t. You always were. They didn’t break you, they only made you stronger. And I’m not lying when I say you would’ve been the best leader this tribe had ever had, even at age nineteen.”

  “Almost nineteen,” she whispered, her breath hitching. “My birthday isn’t until tomorrow.” She closed her eyes. “Tell…Knox…” I leaned down, my ear almost touching her lips. “I love him. He was the only good thing around here. Make sure he fucking survives without me.”

  I nodded as I raised my head, tears falling freely. As the fire in her eyes began to dim, I held on to her. I was sorry to see it go. She was as tough as they came.

  She began to struggle in earnest, her chest rising and falling quickly as she tried to catch her breath as her lungs filled with blood.

  “I give you my word Knox will have a good life,” I whispered. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  She reached for my hand, and I held it as she took her last breath.