Ruins

Xochi and Ariel filed through the door into the ruin beyond, their hands held high above their heads. It was some kind of warehouse, holding more of the heavy appliances they had seen rusting outside. The interior was shady, but not dark, as much of the roof was collapsed and open to the sky. There was only one other Partial inside, holding his own rifle and Senator Kessler’s, while Kessler, Madison, and Isolde crouched in a corner with the two children. The Partial watched them warily as they came in, but he couldn’t keep himself from glancing back at Arwen, again and again and again. A one-year-old was too rare, too shocking to ignore. He motioned them into the same corner, and as they passed, Ariel scanned the floor as subtly as she could, looking for any other guns. There were none. She, Xochi, and Kessler had all been disarmed, but Madison and Isolde might have their semiautomatic pistols.

And Nandita was still outside, where their captor had left their rifles lying in the grass.

“That’s a year-old child, Cedric,” said the second Partial.

“That’s . . .” The Partial who’d captured them followed them in, but the sight of Arwen stopped him cold. He peered at the girl in awe, his back to the door, letting his guard down for just a moment, and Ariel half expected Nandita to step in behind and shoot him. Nothing happened. He recovered his wits and moved to a defensive position where he could watch both the women and the door. Ariel was fairly certain it was just the two Partials, left alone to capture six women. Those numbers would make bringing them in very difficult, even for Partials, and the idea that capture might not be their goal suddenly chilled Ariel’s blood.

“Tell us everything you know,” said Cedric.

“I know Partials are heartless killers too stupid to pick their own noses without an officer around to show them how,” said Kessler. “Is that the kind of stuff you’re talking about? Or do you want to narrow that idiotic question down a little?”

“Start with her,” said the other Partial, pointing at Arwen. “We thought all human children died instantly.”

“You certainly did your best to make it that way,” said Isolde. Kira had told them that the Partials hadn’t released the plague, but few people believed her. Ariel wasn’t sure what she believed about it. The two Partials didn’t offer anything to confirm or deny it.

“Is this the one you saved?” asked Cedric. “The one Kira Walker cured?”

“We don’t know anything about Kira Walker,” said Ariel, deflecting the question. She forced herself not to glance at the door, not to give her thoughts away so easily again. Even if Nandita didn’t want to use the link to control them, she could pick up the dropped rifles and attack—a surprise shot that dropped one was all they needed, and in the confusion Ariel could take Isolde’s pistol and finish the other one. Or if we’re going to shoot them anyway, she thought, just use the damn mind control and make it easy on us. Was Nandita really that careful—that paranoid and secretive—that she’d risk losing them all in a firefight just to keep her best weapon hidden?

Of course she is, thought Ariel with a snarl. This is Nandita—she’s always been like this, and she always will be. She’ll sell out every one of us to protect herself.

“We don’t know why my daughter didn’t die,” said Madison, telling the lie they’d agreed on in case they ever got caught. “She’s immune, just like we are. Please leave us alone.”

“We had a program called the Hope Act,” said Kessler. “We created as many pregnancies as we could—statistically, some of them were bound to share their parents’ immunity. This one did.”

“Are there more?” asked Cedric. The other Partial watched the door, and Ariel watched him.

Kessler shrugged. “We don’t know. I’d heard that maybe there were, way out in the east, but we don’t know where.”

“That’s where we were headed,” said Madison. “We thought maybe if there were more children there, we could meet up and try to stick together. That’s all.”

“There’s no one left in the eastern part of the island,” said Cedric. “We’ve gathered everyone into East Meadow.”

“Why?” asked Ariel. She held no hope that the soldiers would answer, but she couldn’t help herself. Why gather the humans to a single location? What were they planning to do once they had them all? As expected, the soldier ignored her question completely.

“Tell us what you know about the resistance,” said the other Partial. Ariel recognized this as the first question Cedric had asked, while they were still outside. She hadn’t been aware that there was a resistance movement, but it seemed to be a pretty big deal.

“There is no resistance,” said Xochi. “Maybe a few groups like us, trying to get out of East Meadow, but that’s it.”