CHAPTER 16

Chapter 16

*Rachel Ma*

“All of them. Gone. Escaped.” Christy’s voice fills the room, her anger almost tangible. The tension in the air could’ve been snapped like a pair of chopsticks.

We’re standing in a ring around Ruiran’s body, a body devoid of mind and soul. A dead body. That’s all she is, now. What Christy made of her.

“A traitor.” Christy points to Ruiran with a finger shaking from fury. “She deserved what she got.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, clenching my fists behind my back. I want to scream at Christy, tear up her skin and rip out her guts. Ruiran was a hero. You should be the dead one.

Christy turns to me and Sid. “Were you aware of this? Either of you?”

Neither one of us says anything.

She sighs. “Rachel, go bury it. Somewhere far, far away.”

“Not an it. Her.” I say quietly, fighting back the tears. Christy doesn’t hear me.

I take a step forward and grab Ruiran’s wrist. So cold. Ruiran shouldn’t be this cold. She should be alive, and Christy should be dead.

I plunge into the shadows before the tears can make their way past my eyelashes.

I emerge in the middle of the forest. I hadn’t really been concentrating hard on where I’d wanted to end up; I’d been thinking about Ruiran. So, of course, I find myself in the clearing where Ruiran and I first met, where our friendship began. The flashback sweeps over me, and I’m too tired to resist it. I submerge in my memories of the month before Christy recruited me, when Ruiran and I became friends.

I’d just escaped from the Cosmo Prison, and after several hours of running from men with semi-automatic rifles, I’d collapsed in a dark forest, too exhausted to take another step. I had no food, no water, and no energy whatsoever. Forget joining forces with Christy and Sid, forget using my shadow and ice abilities. I was going to die.

Just as I was about to entirely relinquish my impuissant hold on life, the leaves of the trees across from me rustled, and another figure stepped out. A girl, caked with dirt and soaking wet. She slumped against a tree trunk, her eyes closed.

I knew it was probably a hopeless cause, but I managed to croak, “Help. Please.”

She let out a gasp of surprise, looking wildly around for the source of the sound. I moved my arms weakly. She saw, and crawled over to me. Without questioning, without saying a word, she unhooked a water bottle from her backpack and lifted it to my lips.

Within minutes, the few sips of water had allowed me to regain my strength. Perks of being superhuman, I suppose.

“Thank you,” I said.

She nodded. “You’re welcome.”

We both paused, as if we still were unsure of whether the other was actually real, or just a dream. Finally, she said, “Who are you?”

I hesitated, then said, “Rachel Ma.”

She smiled. “I’m Ruiran Xun. Nice to meet you, Rachel.”

We worked side by side in the forest, depending on each other to survive. It was a treacherous place, with dangers at every turn. After a while, I stopped keeping track of the times we each saved the other’s life. The hours turned into days, and the days turned into weeks.

At night, we slept on the grassy ground, staring up at what we could see of the stars through the dense branches above. Neither of us knew any constellations, and there were never enough stars visible from where we lay to make any constellations anyway, so we would just try to count them. Every night, we watched the stars and counted, our fingers hovering in the air above us, hopping like grasshoppers from one flickering glow to another.

It was one of these nights when Ruiran asked me, “So how did you get here?”

I shrugged. “Escaped from...”

Suddenly, it didn’t seem like a good idea to just let slip that I was part of a genetically mutated superhuman race with a leader who intended to enslave and experiment on the human race. My voice petered out and I looked down at my sneakers, ashamed.

Ruiran didn’t comment on my odd behavior. “I escaped, too. From a foster home. Lunatics. My fourth try.”

I had to laugh. “What a great family, huh?”

She snorted with derision.

“I don’t have a family, either,” I said. “They... they were killed. A long time ago. An accident.”

“Mine... I don’t know. They gave me away,” Ruiran explained.

“Sometimes I feel like no one would notice if I just disappeared. Like, off the face of the Earth. I have no friends, no family, no one who cares about me.” I said. For some reason, I was in the mood to pour out my life secrets and fears to a complete stranger.

Ruiran picked at a piece of bark. “I get those feelings, too,” she told me. “Humans are pack animals. It’s hard to be a loner.”

“Then maybe we can just be a pack for each other, the two of us. For now, until we can find a bigger family,” I said.

I could see the outline of Ruiran’s smile in the darkness, the stars reflected in her eyes. “Like the stars,” she said. “They always shine brighter when there are more than one.”

That was the beginning. This is the end.

I kneel down next to Ruiran’s body and set her down, gently, into the grave I’ve dug for her, but I can’t quite bring myself to land the first handful of dirt.

I let my gaze wander up, beyond the canopy of branches and leaves, to the night sky above, the same sky we used to count stars under. At this late hour, a few timid cosmic candles have already peeked out from behind their cloudy shutters.

“Look, Ruiran,” I whisper. “The stars are out tonight.”

My hands shaking, I take a handful of dirt and spill it over her body.

“I taught myself the constellations.” I murmur, pointing. “See, that’s the Big Dipper. And Orion’s belt. The North Star.”

With each constellation I name, another handful of dirt falls.

“I wish you were here to see them. They’re beautiful.”

Half of her body is covered.

“Can you see them from where you are?”

By now, only the outline of her body is visible.

“Hercules came out tonight. He was a hero, you know.”

Completely covered.

“Just like you.”

My hand falls to my side.

“You were my best friend, Ruiran.”

I look back up at the stars. Though I can’t see her, I know that she’s behind them, watching me. And someday, maybe I’ll join her.

“Bye for now,” I whisper. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

*Chris Velis*

“No way,” I interrupt. “We can’t just launch a random Zerg rush and let more than half of us die. Unthinkable.”

“It’s the only way,” Dean insists, “unless you have another great plan.”

Everyone stares at me. I look down, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

To my relief, Sara jumps in to support me. “Chris is right. Not only is it immoral, we can’t put all our forces into one single punch. After getting the key, we still have to lock those three back into the Cosmo Prison, and they’re definitely not going down without a fight. If we do a Zerg rush just for the key, there won’t be enough people left to force Christy, Rachel, and Sid back into the prison. The three of them would just launch their own attack on our decimated population, and we’d be dead. Taking the key from us would be like taking candy from a baby.”

Dean scowls, unable to combat her logical approach. “So what do you suggest?”

Sara looks troubled. “I... sorry, I don’t know.”

“But I do,” a low, familiar voice rumbles from behind me.

Sitting across from me, Saket yelps, almost falling out of his chair. “She... the shadows...” All the blood has drained from his face.

I whirl around, kicking my chair back. Rachel’s standing almost right behind me, her ominous presence seeming to drop the temperature in the room by twenty degrees.

With my uninjured arm, I swing a punch at her face, but she simply grabs my wrist with one hand, her movements impossibly fast. Her iron grip squeezes my hand so hard that I’m afraid that my fingers will snap. She forces me to lower my fist and I stop struggling, subdued.

“I’m not here to fight you,” Rachel’s gravelly voice resonates in my ears, “I’m here to help you.”

Courtney snorts with disbelief as Nidhi says, “Why would we trust you?”

Rachel’s eyes bore into Nidhi’s. “Because you have no other choice.”

Alex scowls. “We do have a choice. You’re outnumbered; we can defeat you right now, so we’d only have two enemies left to face.”

Rachel laughs mirthlessly, her voice full of contempt. “You can try.” She makes a yanking motion with her fingers, and suddenly the shadows around us slither up our legs and arms, solidifying into chains of iron strength, just as Courtney and Nidhi had described.

She opens her palms, and the shadows fade. “See, any full-on rush would be suicide. I could take all of you on single-handedly, and Christy and Sid are both much stronger. No, you need help from the inside.”

This gets everyone’s attention. “Help from the inside?” Suchet inquires.

Rachel nods, her ponytail swinging with the movement. “I can help you get into and out of Christy’s palace. I can lead you to the key and hold the other two off.”

“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “Don’t you want to kill us?”

I’d expected Rachel to punch me or something, but she just sighs. “No, but only because of Ruiran. She wanted you to live, so much that she sacrificed herself for you. I can’t let you die. I’m just finishing what she started.”

Courtney exhales. “That’s what you were saying.”

“What?” Rachel snaps sharply.

“‘Ruiran was my friend,’” Courtney quoted. “That’s why. She was your last friend in the living world, and you’re guilty about her death. She wanted you to honor her last act.”

Rachel stiffens and seems to dissolve into the shadows again at the words, turning her back on us. Her fingers clench themselves into fists, the knuckles turning white. Suddenly, it’s like seeing her for the first time: a girl with no one else left in the whole world, only fighting because of her best friend’s dying wish. A girl completely alone.

“You don’t have to be alone forever, you know,” I blurt.

She looks at me incredulously. “What do you mean?”

“You could join us after this is all over. Make life worth living again,” I offer, feeling slightly stupid. Why am I even doing this?

I’m not surprised when she shakes her head. “No. I told you, I’m here to finish what Ruiran started. Nothing more. When my work is done, I’m leaving. Forever.”

It was worth a try, I mouth silently to Sara, who’s gaping at me with her jaw dangling like a pull scale with a hundred-pound weight attached.

Alex clears his throat awkwardly. “So. The plan. You know... the one about sneaking into Christy’s fortress.”

Saket says, “Well, obviously, even with Rachel it would be unwise to jump right in. We need to have more people ‘captured’--” he hooks his fingers in a pair of air quotes “--so we can get more of our side into the fortress.”

“That would be really dangerous,” Nidhi says nervously. “They might never get out.”

“I’ll do it,” Dean says.

We all gawk at him for a full five seconds. Finally, Suchet regains his senses. “Say what?”

“I’ll do it,” Dean repeats. “Rachel can take me to Christy’s fortress. I’m a good fighter; I could help whoever gets the job of stealing the key.”

Before anyone can object, Alex jumps in. “All right, but we’re going to need more than just one person.”

“Are you kidding me?” I snap, unable to hide my indignance at the frostiness with which he condemned Dean to an unknown, treacherous fate.

Alex rounds on me. “And what else are we supposed to do? Let everyone else die? Wait for Christy to destroy the world? Do you understand what the word sacrifice means?”

“Yeah, I do,” I shout, matching his forceful tone. “And since you seem to love it so much, why don’t you sacrifice yourself? Or maybe Nidhi? Because you don’t seem to care about anyone except for yourself and the people you love! Other people have friends and people who care about them, too, you know!”

Alex’s face goes slack with shock. “I can’t believe you, Chris,” he snarls. “I’m just trying to help, trying to make the better decisions for the rest of the group. Why don’t you try being the leader someday, huh? How would you like it if everyone’s fates rested on your scrawny shoulders?”

“You know what, Alex, I’d love it,” I spit right back, “because I’d get to make sure all the people I care about survive. I’d get to decide who dies. Which people get to be sacrificed.”

And before Alex can get in another word, I spin around and sprint for the door, slamming it shut behind me.

*Debbie Dong*

I watch Chris storm out, fury written on every line of his face. I feel like everything is slowly falling apart. We can’t work together to fight Christy... heck, we can’t even stop fighting each other. What’s wrong with us?

Alex buries his head in his hands. Nidhi comforts him quietly, whispering words of comfort into his ear. “He was just angry and scared. It wasn’t your fault. He didn’t mean what he said. You’re not a bad leader.”

Sara bites her lip. “I should, you know... Chris...” She gestures in the general direction that Chris took off in. Alex shrugs, and she leaves us as well.

Rachel frowns. “If we’re going to make a plan, we have to hurry. I don’t have a lot of time. Christy will be wondering what’s taking me so long.”

“Okay,” Saket says, “but I think we should call a meeting, for everyone. See who wants to go on the mission.”

Suchet nods in agreement. “I’ll gather them all out in the square.”

Minutes later, thirty restless teenagers are standing around Town Square, impatiently tapping their feet or pacing. I spot Chris standing near Sara, looking irked, as his eyes follow Alex and Suchet, who’re making their way to the middle of the square.

Suchet cups his hands around his mouth. “All right, guys, shut up!” he yells through his fingers. “We have an announcement to make.” As everyone quiets down, he motions to Rachel to take the stage. She steps out of the darkness, where she previously had gone unnoticed. Heads turn and people utter murmurs and gasps of surprise when they see their new visitor seemingly appear out of nowhere.

“I’m Rachel,” she says, “and I have a plan to help you all steal the Cosmo Prison’s key.” Although her voice is quiet and low, it carries easily through the stock-still crowd.

“This is the plan. I take several of you back to the fortress, on the pretense of kidnapping you for my mistress’ experiments. Once you’re inside, you wreak havoc and cause distractions big enough to keep your enemies away from the key. Another team will sneak into the fortress, aided and covered for by me, steal the key, and escape. When they’re safe, the first team will escape, or make an attempt to. However, escape for the first team won’t be easy. I might not be there to help.”

Suchet steps forward, raising his voice above the wind, which has started to blow. “We currently only have one volunteer for the first team, and we need at least three. Would anyone like to volunteer themselves? “

“Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that you will be coming back,” Alex adds. “This mission is not for the faint-hearted. You have to be willing to sacrifice your life for the members of the second team.”

To my surprise, more than one person steps forward.

I look around. Several gang members who I don’t recognize are volunteering, along with...

Gene?

“Gene!” I hear a shout from my right, and Sophia comes pushing through.

“No, Gene, you can’t go!” she cries out, grabbing hold of his arm. “No!”

Gene just looks back down at her, shaking his head. “I have to. Dean... he’s my friend from school. I can’t let him go alone.”

Sophia seems to wither a little at his words. “Gene, please...”

He purses his lips, but his voice is resolute. “I’m sorry. I have to do this.”

Next to me, Jack and Courtney exchange glances, then step forward as one. “We’ll go,” Jack says, clutching Courtney’s hand tightly.

Sophia runs to the two of them. “Courtney, Jack... make sure Gene comes back. Safe and sound.”

Courtney nods, her face completely drained of color. “Yeah. We’ll do that.”

“Okay,” Suchet says, “and now we just need a gang member.”

A short Korean girl rushes up. “Let me. I’m going with Dean, or he’s not going at all.”

Dean opens his mouth, looking shocked. “Sophie, wait, no--”

“Got nothing left to lose anyways,” she deadpans, cutting him off with what can only be described as a look. In any other situation, the tone would’ve been funny. Not this time, though. “Both of us or none of us. I’ll tie you to a rock to make sure you don’t go without me, if it comes down to that,” she insists.

Before Dean can protest again, Alex hastily says, “We’re all set now. They have to hurry in order to be above suspicion.”

“And as for the second team...” Saket looks around at us. “Three people. One should be small, easy to sneak around. One fighter. One who’s good at running.”

The crowd parts as a single figure squeezes through to stand in front of Saket. “I can be your fighter.”

Chris.

Sara makes a choking sound, her hand cupped over her mouth.

“I’m sorry, Sara,” he continues, staring at his shoelaces. “But I’ve decided to make some sacrifices of my own.”

She nods, her eyes brimming with tears. “You’ll be fine, right?”

He hesitates. “Yeah... I’ll be fine. I’ll be back before you even notice my absence.”

Sara just closes her eyes.

Then, a gasp of shock escapes from Gene as yet another one of our group steps up.

“You’re going with the first group, so I’m going with the second,” Sophia says, staring him down. “Either that, or you don’t go.”

Gene reachers for her hand. “Sophia, you can’t. You’re not...”

“Not what?” she asks sharply.

“Not good in combat,” he mumbles.

Her eyes flash with anger. “I can run, Gene. They needed a runner. I told you, if you’re going, then I’m going. I can’t just sit around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for you to come back. Either you don’t go, or I go. Your call.”

Gene looks back at Dean. “I...” he drops his gaze. “I have to go. Fine, you win.”

Sophia doesn’t look triumphant, though. She just looks bitter and melancholy.

“One more person,” Suchet says. “Someone small. Someone who can sneak around easily, squeeze through tight spots.”

Before my brain can even process what I’m doing, my feet shuffle forwards, my hand letting go of Leo’s.

“Me,” I say. My jaw and mouth seems to move without mandate from my brain.

I’ve surprised everyone -- even myself. All around me, my friends gape at my unheralded act.

Leo’s the first to react. “Wait, what?”

“Someone small, someone who can sneak around easily,” I echo Suchet’s words. “I can do that.”

Leo seizes my hand again. “You said we weren’t going to get separated again!”

I can’t meet his eyes. “I know, and I’m sorry. But please, Leo, let me do this. Ruiran saved my life; I have to put it to good use.”

Rachel’s been watching all of the drama unfold with an impassive mask on her face, her arms folded across her chest. “The first team has to go now. Ready, all of you?”

Sophia’s crying, but she releases Gene from the hug she’s been holding him in for the past minute. Gene steps away from her, pain creasing his brow, but he nods along with Courtney, Jack, Sophie, and Dean.

“I’ll see you later, Sophia,” Gene says, attempting a reassuring smile. It doesn’t work.

Rachel spreads her arms, and all six of them vanish into the unknown.