Chapter 51: Chapter 51

I'm making my way back, steering clear of the main road.

The girls don’t cling to me for long after they wake up. I help them down, give them some food and water, and we continue our journey. At a slow pace.

I hold their hands over the rough patches, but they’re also quite content to toddle along, pointing out things they’ve never seen before.

Soon enough, they both start to get a little fussy and tired, so I carry them again and continue walking while they sleep.

Beth wakes up a bit later, and I start to tell her about Japan and Sanoske. I share the same stories he shared with me.

She’s full of questions, then decides she wants to walk again. So I set her down to walk with me and give her the last of the food.

The sun is veiled by a thin layer of clouds, and a gentle breeze blows. As we walk, Beth asks me about the clouds, so I share all I know.

By the time I spot the factory on the horizon, it’s afternoon. I stop and give the girls more water to drink and let them explore a dead, hollowed-out tree.

Once they’ve satisfied their curiosity, I guide them toward the factory, keeping a sharp eye on the horizon.

I quickly notice that something’s off, though it’s not immediately clear. My steps falter, and I reach out for the girls. I crouch down and have them do the same.

We’re still a good distance away, but the factory is eerily quiet. At this time of day, it should be bustling. But I can’t hear anything, can’t see any movement.

My heart starts to pound in my chest, and I feel a pit in my stomach. Something’s gone wrong.

I scan the horizon. I have a rough idea of which direction I can walk in. Eventually, there’d be another school or factory.

But I’m out of food, and I barely have any water left. The girls are about done with this whole adventure. I can’t put them through another one.

While they play with sticks, I study the horizon. The Perfects who were tailing Haruhiko and me probably reached the camp and moved everyone away. Or killed them all for hiding us.

Either way, I need to find Haruhiko.

The place is eerily quiet. I slowly stand and take both girls’ hands, helping them back to their feet. We head toward the worker huts behind the factory.

The closer we get, the more oppressive the silence becomes. But the girls don’t seem to notice my panic. I squeeze their hands tightly.

Just as we’re about to crest the last bluff before descending into the workers’ camp, I see it. Stuck in the ground, a couple of yards away, is a knife. It glints in the sunshine.

A tanto, like the ones all the Kagegun men wear at their waist.

It’s a sign. But I have no idea what it means. I’m just about to step toward it when I hear a gunshot.

“There!” a loud voice shouts.

Then all hell breaks loose. Soldiers spring out from houses, shouting and pointing their guns at me. Trucks approach from a distance, their engines roaring. Orders are being shouted over the radios.

At the same moment, the workers emerge from inside the factory, armed with a variety of makeshift weapons, and they charge at the soldiers.

With soldiers still rushing at me and pointing guns, I drop to my knees and gather the girls close to me.

Then I glance back at the knife in the ground.

That’s when I see him. Behind the furthest worker hut, Haruhiko is perfectly camouflaged in gray. His dark eyes meet mine.

“Girls, listen to me very carefully.”

I’m quick, casting a fleeting glance at the soldiers racing toward us. Behind them, the workers are holding their own.

“I want you to run to the last hut. There’s a man there who will take you somewhere safe. You need to listen to him. Do everything he says, okay? Beth, sweetheart, I will find you again. I promise.”

The girls are confused as I kiss them quickly and push them toward Haruhiko. It’s only when they start running to him that I allow myself to tear my gaze from their small figures and back to the soldiers.

My heart pounding, I do the only thing that makes sense to me. I charge at the soldiers with my blades drawn, screaming at the top of my lungs. I ignore Sanoske’s words as I throw myself into the heart of the battle.

Pain is the first thing I register. My head slams into someone’s shoulder, and I’m almost knocked to the ground. Instead, I roll and get up again. I latch onto the back of a soldier who’s about to shoot a worker in the head.

I wrap my arms around his throat, my legs around his waist, and I pull him backward away from her. She scurries away as the soldier grabs my arms and flips me over onto the ground with ease.

I gasp at the stinging pain when I hit the hard ground. The Perfect above me glares down at me with his dark eyes.

For a moment, I search for any recognition in them, but he’s a machine. He sees me only as dirt under his boots.

He grabs the front of my shirt and yanks me up from the ground, then slams his fist into the side of my face. I drop to the ground again.

“Filth,” he mutters, pointing his gun at my head.

I don’t give him the satisfaction. I roll away as the bullet shatters into the earth. He wants to shoot again, but a worker rams into him from behind and knocks him to the ground.

I roll away from him quickly and give him a heavy kick in the face as soon as I’m standing.

Seconds later, a soldier runs into me. I grab onto his wrist, guiding his action down as I was taught, then flip his arms up. He drops to the ground in surprise. My chest heaves as I run away from him.

The battle is deafening. Screams echo around me. The sound of boots squelching through blood-soaked mud, the sudden booms as guns are fired, the grunts of the dying.

Everything is happening all at once, and I have no idea where I should be or what I should be doing. I find myself moving mechanically, dodging fists, legs, and elbows that swing at me.

I try to remember the training sessions I watched Sanoske lead. I try to remember how they would cut through a crowd of soldiers.

My blades are out, and I’m spinning and ducking, aiming to slice through their stomachs and throats. I throw myself at a soldier who’s punching an older worker. The worker’s face is so covered in blood, I’m not sure he can still breathe.

Sanoske’s voice echoes in my mind, and I slide my blade into the side of the soldier’s neck. He shudders as he falls. The worker doesn’t get up.

The revving of engines fills the air again, and I look up to see three trucks. More Perfect soldiers are pouring out from them.

A foghorn sounds, and the new soldiers form a line. They face us all, guns pointed at us.

“Drop your weapons immediately!” a deep voice booms through a speaker. “And kneel!”

There’s a shift on the battlefield as we all turn toward the newcomers. The Perfects load their weapons.

“Surrender now!” the voice snarls.

One by one, the workers all drop their weapons and sink down to the ground. The soldiers curse at them, pushing and shoving their way through them to join the newcomers.

I watch, horrified, as the truck doors open and two Masters step out. They move toward the line of soldiers, who are still aiming their guns at us.

The Masters move past the line and stare at the crowd of fifty trembling workers.

“I said kneel!” one of them barks, and the workers who remained standing quickly drop to their knees.

But I can’t. I won’t.

I remain standing, gripping my blades between my bloody fingers, staring at the second Master.

His dark eyes meet mine, and for a long second, he just stares at me. Then his face twists into an expression of pure rage. My heart hammers in my chest.

“Alexandra,” Eric snarls.

He moves quickly through the kneeling workers, not sparing them a second glance. He stops when he is towering over me. There’s something feral about him now. Something wild.

He’s more dangerous now than he has ever been. His dark eyes bore into mine. He makes a grab at me, but I step back quickly, raising my blade to his face.

“You do not touch me,” I growl at him.

He only smirks. Around me, I can hear the sounds of soldiers cocking their guns, training them all on me.

“The fight is over now, Alex,” Eric purrs. “Drop those petty knives.”

I grip my bloody knives even tighter.

“The fight will never be over, Eric,” I spit at him. “This is just the beginning. We will keep fighting. We will never stop. You cannot silence us all!”

He lets out a small hiss of rage and steps toward me.

I make to slice through him, but he’s bigger, better trained, and faster—everything Sanoske had warned me about. He grabs my arms, knocks my knife from my slippery fingers, and pulls me to his chest.

I only manage to land a heavy punch on his nose that has him roaring with anger and grabbing the back of my head.

I try to struggle out of his grasp, but he only pushes me down to my knees. They sink into the cold, bloodied earth.

Then I see his face as he crouches down in front of me, blood dripping from his nose. He places a big, heavy hand on my shoulder.

“I told you that you were mine, Alexandra,” he whispers so no one else can hear. “You will always be mine.”

“Never,” I snarl.

But he just snickers at me. He rises, keeping his hand on top of my head to keep me kneeling in front of him.

“We have the Traitor in custody,” he announces, and the soldiers around us smirk and snicker at me.

Eric pulls me up by my hair and yanks my head back, forcing me to look at him. I can only glare.

“Where is the child, Alexandra?” he snarls.

It’s my time to smirk now. “I will never tell you.”

I recognize the signs of his rage. Disobedience was always an easy trigger for him. He throws me into the mud in front of him.

“Search the camp for a little Pre-Perfect! The Traitor is a kidnapper!”

I roll over in the bloodied mud to find him glaring down at me.

“And you, my sweet, you are coming with me,” he hisses just before his foot makes contact with my temple and everything goes black.