“This is simpler than the knives. It requires less finesse. Just swing it as hard as you can until they stop moving.”
She gave a jerky nod. “This way. I’ll show you where they always start the hunt.”
Though she didn’t move silently compared with a Hunter, the noise as we drew nearer drowned out any sound we might’ve made. A high, curling wail filled the air, raising the hair on my forearms.
I glanced back at Tegan, who whispered, “That’s normal.”
We crept closer, through the gaping maw at the back of the building, and into a strange yard mounded with relics from the old world: rusted metal, tilted gates, and hunks of dead machines. Overhead, the sky loomed like a rock about to fall; it was no color I had ever seen in my short time aboveground. Swirls of green and blue made it look angry and bruised.
At Tegan’s word, I stayed behind piles of relics, moving carefully. The Wolves had Fade on his knees; he was completely surrounded. There were more than there had been earlier too. They tilted their heads back, all stomping and making that horrible noise. I couldn’t tell how badly he was injured, but when Stalker curled his hand around his neck and went in with the knife, my whole body tensed.
Tegan pinched my arm fiercely. “Not now. Our best chance is after they blood him and then send him off.”
The tactical part of my brain asserted itself. “Better not to face them all at once. If we can get to Fade first, we can take them out a few at a time.”
The strategy was not unlike hunting Freaks down in the tunnels. We’d always done our best to stay away from huge packs, so we weren’t overwhelmed. This would be the same principle, more or less.
So I stood silent while they cut him, and I counted their number, calculating how long it would take to dispatch them all. I didn’t know how Fade had faced his naming day or the white-hot marks Twist laid atop his wounds, but he hung silent while the Wolves worked on him. Hate seethed in my gut. Stalker watched it all with an amused air, as if it were all intended for his entertainment.
“Done,” Stalker said when the Wolf finished. “Run, meat. We’ll take you soon.”
Tegan and I broke from the shadows, slipping off as soon as Fade sprinted away. We made sure not to draw attention from the Wolves by rounding the building on the other side. It was a calculated risk. We might lose sight of Fade if—
He slammed into me coming around the corner of the building. His hands came to my arms to steady me automatically, and his battered face broke into a wide smile. The blood smearing his arms didn’t detract from his Hunter scars. I’d never seen anything so welcome—or so puzzling.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You’re not even trying to get away!”
“I circled back to cut you loose,” he said. “I thought we had a better shot together. Who’s this?”
“Tegan.” Nervous energy had her bouncing with my club in her hand.
I didn’t know whether to hug or hit him. “Let’s get out of here.”
“We’re not going to get far before the Wolves catch up,” she said. “You might surprise them at first—most meat just cries and dies—but they’ll rally.”
Fade and I shared a smile, and then I fingered my daggers. “That’s all right. We don’t want to run.”
A nearby building proved ideal for ambush; it was like the one where they’d taken me initially, but this one smelled even more unused: of wild animals and feces and weird, damp growth. While we explored, we planned. The relics here would prove helpful and dangerous, if we could use them as we wanted to.
Several factors played in our favor. First of all, the Wolves thought Tegan and I were still sitting by the fire, waiting for their triumphant return. They also didn’t realize Fade could turn almost anything into a weapon—and he fought even better bare-handed. They thought they’d laid hold of a couple cowards, a girl who would do as she was told and a boy who wasn’t brave enough to become a ganger.
This was going to be fun.
In setting the trap, we didn’t try to stem the bleeding. Fade’s wounds were light and shallow, and we wanted them to follow the trail. Before long I heard rustling that indicated one of the Wolves had taken the bait.
“Fresh,” a voice said. “He’s in here.”
“He didn’t get far,” another muttered in disgust. “I hoped he’d make this interesting.”
Fade stepped out from behind a stack of crates. “You mean like this?”
Predictably, they rushed him, making that horrible wailing noise. I guessed it was to tell the others they’d found us. I dropped one from above. My knees slammed into the boy’s back and I heard bones snapping. Fade took the other down with a kick in the crotch, and Tegan finished them.
“Two down,” she said, smiling.
I slid away from the unconscious ones, as footfalls sounded outside. They weren’t even trying to be quiet, which showed a profound disrespect for our skills. I shook my head silently at Fade, who shrugged. They’re crazy, he said with his black eyes. Who understands what they do?
Rows of crates offered hiding places, making it difficult for them to track us. Fade smeared his blood all over everything as we moved in and out of the shadows, avoiding detection. I had been born in the dark. Once, torchlight was the brightest light I’d ever seen, so this felt like coming home.
I listened for them, eyes closed. They came after us in twos and threes. It was almost unfair. Because they searched for Fade, we made sure they found him, time and again. When I joined the fight, their expressions shocked me. You’d think they had never seen a girl who knew how to use a weapon before. Stupidity kills.
“How many was that?” Tegan asked, breathless.
Fade looked at me. “I counted ten. You.”
“Twelve. You forgot the two that tried to run.”
Tegan wiped off the club. I’d have to explain to her how the blood would damage the wood if we didn’t keep it clean. Later, if we could find supplies, I’d oil it.
“Then we’re more than halfway there,” she said.
My mouth tightened. “It’s not over. We have to teach Stalker a lesson.”
“Agreed.” Fade led us deeper into a knot of old machinery and rusted metal.
More Wolves came hunting for easy prey. Too bad they didn’t find it. I put a blade in one and then ran to retrieve it. Fade guarded me from a distance, as I pretended to be unaware of the boy sneaking up from behind. He got a knife for his trouble.
“My turn,” Tegan said. “I’ve been dreaming of this.”
We let her take the next two. She had good reason to be angry. It twisted me up when I thought of what she’d suffered—and just because she was born a girl. Wolves—and maybe all gangers—had a sickness in their brains that didn’t let them grasp the truth: People’s value came from their actions. In the enclave, the strong and the physically perfect survived, but if you were strong, you protected the weak until they had an opportunity to grow into their own power. At least, that was the ideal. In practice, it hadn’t always worked that way in our settlement, and maybe in other enclaves, like Nassau, it had been even worse.
But I saw none of that balance Topside, and it sickened me.
At last, by my count, we had only two left: Stalker and whomever he hunted with. Footsteps warned us of their approach. I motioned Tegan to stillness because she had the least skill in stealth. Though she frowned at me, she complied, pressing herself against the crate.
“He dropped Mickey and Howe,” a new voice said. “And there’s blood all over. I’ve lost count of the bodies. Maybe we should let this one go.” He sounded scared. And young. That bothered me until I remembered the gleeful way the brats had attacked me. It might even have been him that clocked me, and that possibility steeled my resolve. “Stalker, I don’t think there’s anyone else left. We still have the girl. That could be fun, huh?”
“The meat has teeth,” Stalker replied. He sounded serene and certain. “But we’ll take him.”
“That’s what you think,” I whispered.
Rush
Stalker was every bit as fierce as I’d first thought. But he was smarter too. When the three of us stepped out into his path, he stilled. He didn’t seem surprised to see me somehow. I’d guessed right about the test, but I couldn’t believe he had been willing to see so many of his own injured in order to assess my skills. It was certainly an honest challenge, but it carried such a high price that it told me a lot about his character.
Silk would’ve approved.
His pale gaze touched on Tegan and he shook his head. “You’re going to regret this.”
So he hadn’t foreseen her help. He’d thought I would best her and escape on my own. Good to know.
He winged a dagger at me and I dove wide. Instead of pressing the attack, as Fade charged toward him, he tapped his cub and they both took off running. I started to give chase, but Tegan snagged my arm.
“Don’t. He isn’t stupid.”
Deferring to her greater experience, I called to Fade, “Wait!”
After he returned, she added, “He won’t return until he has enough Wolves to deal with us. The hunt is over, and it’s a matter of pride now.”
My heart sank. “You mean there are more of them?”
“Those were just the cubs, who needed their first blood. The more experienced Wolves are guarding the den.”
Kind of like the naming day ritual, I guessed, except we didn’t hunt down some poor person to get our names. It came down to personal bravery instead. I didn’t like much of what I’d seen from the surface so far.
“Sounds like you have some experience with this,” he said.
She nodded. “We have one chance to get away. This is it.”
I glanced at Fade. “Can you find Pearl’s place from here?”
“I think so.”
Before we took off, I wrapped his arms; we didn’t want to leave a trail this time. It was a quick patch job, nothing more. Once we found a safe place to hide, he needed better care and some of Banner’s salve. But as usual, he didn’t show any pain.
It was dark again, thankfully, as we trekked through the city. I found the silence disconcerting. In the enclave, you could always hear human noises. Here, the buildings stood like dying sentinels, and I had the unnerving fear they could topple over at any second, crushing us in dust and rubble. Down below, I’d possessed the sense of being a valuable part of the community. Up here, I felt like nothing. The space filled me with disquiet, and I found it nearly impossible to believe this place had once been filled with people. I couldn’t imagine it.
At dawn, Fade found us shelter. The building bore no paint, and the front windows were shattered. That made it easy for us to enter, but I held myself ready in case we ran into trouble. Though the place smelled of animal musk, I saw no signs of human habitation. Whoever had broken in first, they were long gone.
“We’re far enough from the Wolves to risk a rest,” Tegan said. “With any luck, they’ve lost our trail in the time Stalker took getting the rest of them.”