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  “You surprised me outside the store,” he grinned, then tried to put his hormonally addled brain back in gear. “Wait. How did I surprise you?”

  “Your reaction to that bigoted old man. I didn’t know quite how important the mutants were to you. I thought you were only trying to help as a side effect of saving your sister, but you really do care about the rest of them.” She smiled wide, and then kissed him again.

  He lay down in the sand, not caring that they were getting grit in every crevice of their clothing and in their shoes. She settled down next to him on her side and cuddled up so close she was almost on top of him, one leg across his thigh, and her hand on his shirt.

  Teagan was right. Luke surprised himself with his reaction to the shop owner’s feeling about the mutants. His own feelings about them had changed. He was not simply saving his sister anymore. He was not sure exactly when his motives had transformed, but he was not the same kid who so bravely – and so naively – left his family shelter to retrieve his equally naive sister.

  A while later he realized it was past noon, and they hurriedly brushed the sand off themselves and took off for the restaurant at a brisk jog.

  The whole band was already at El Dorado when they got there.

  “Hey Teag, we saved you some seats,” said Roan from a corner table. He sat between the twins, Noeni and Nuala, with Vaughn at the head of the table and Maddox at the other end. Teagan slid in next to Mathias on the empty side of the table and Luke sat next to her, near Maddox’s end. There was a platter of tortilla chips at both ends of the table, both baskets still almost full.

  “You guys just get here?” asked Teagan, still out of breath from running. She drained a tall glass of water in front of her.

  “Ten minutes ago. You guys are late,” replied Mathias, and then elbowed her. “Lost track of time?” He winked at her, knowingly.

  Teagan rolled her eyes; but her blush gave her away.

  Luke took a tortilla chip and scarfed up some salsa, keeping his eyes on the food and his no-doubt blush-reddening face averted.

  Within a few minutes, the waiter came with a note pad, took their orders, and left.

  Luke once again stared at the beautiful twin girls and realized he must have stared a bit too long when one of them said, “We’re Hawaiian.”

  “Uh, okay. Not really sure what that means,” replied Luke, embarrassed at being caught staring, but uncertain what the rebuke he had received meant.

  The other twin, Luke thought it was Noeni, finished her sister’s sentence. “Our ancestors came from the Hawaiian Islands. Our grandmother was a state senator, living in Washington DC when the Final War occurred, and they were lucky enough to make their way to Mt. Weather. Our father is full-blooded Hawaiian, and our mom is part Japanese and part German. So that’s what our gene-pool looks like. You can stop staring now.” However, she flashed a bright smile that told Luke she was not actually annoyed at him.

  The girls were certainly unique looking, and quite striking, but he was only interested in Teagan. He thought she was the most gorgeous girl in the underground city, and took that moment to look into her eyes.

  Teagan returned Luke’s affections with a smile, then turned to Mathias and said, “So, what was this brainstorm you had?”

  He replied with a wink. “We stage a military coup.”

  Everyone at the table laughed. Except Teagan. Something in her eyes said she knew it was not a joke, and Luke saw that she liked the idea.

  Chapter Twelve

  Isabella

  At the sound of the door chime, Isabella opened the apartment door to find Corporal Daphne Noble waiting. “Are you busy?” asked the soldier.

  It was such a ridiculous question that it took Isabella a full ten seconds to come up with a properly snarky response. “I’m a refugee whose family are prisoners. Unless you have a way to break them out, or break me in, I’ll just continue to sit in this empty room being busy formulating a diabolical plot to single-handedly save my family, destroy Mt. Weather’s government, cure the world of its poisons, and bring the shelter families out into the sunshine. So yeah, I’m terribly busy.” Isabella nearly snarled at the young soldier.

  Daphne beamed congenially at her and said, “Then you won’t mind if I come in.”

  Isabella sighed heavily. “Come in.”

  She did not know what she expected from Daphne Noble, but what she got was not even on her list of expectations.

  Daphne gave her a hand-written note.

  The room is bugged for sound, but no camera. Read as we make small talk. Your friend, Dr. Rosario, is a couple of days away from having enough vaccine to test on a group of about 20 people.

  Isabella looked up, nodding. Of course, she already knew about the doctor’s experiment. Did this girl think she was a moron? She asked the soldier, “Can I get you something to drink?” and returned her eyes to the paper.

  Once he is ready, the military will bring him mutants from the holding cells. I have sympathetic friends who are guards on level 10 and they have agreed to make sure your family won’t be in the first group of test subjects because of the heavy-duty testing they will go through to replicate long-term exposure to the Outside.

  Daphne replied, “A glass of water will be fine.”

  Isabella walked to the kitchen and turned on the faucet, still reading.

  How certain is your scientist friend that his inoculation will work? Hold up one finger for VERY or two for NOT SURE.

  Isabella held up two fingers, then handed her new friend a glass and Daphne thanked her. She went back to reading.

  The test subjects will be bombarded with radiation and toxins for three days, and if they survive, they will be trucked to a Hot Zone as part of a radiation cleanup crew. Whether the shot works or not, a full complement of 48 mutants – two HSPC teams – will be sent out.

  She had known about the bombardment testing, but not the subsequent cleanup crew. Isabella said, “I never got the chance to thank you for freeing me. You don’t know how good it feels to be back underground in safety, and to be clean again. The showers here are amazing.” As if I wanted to be underground! I wouldn’t care if I was covered in mud, and forced to sleep in a tree branch if it meant being with Malcolm.

  My friends think they can free the whole mutant group as they arrive at the cleanup site. I can arrange to have your family in that group, but they won’t have been inoculated. If the rescue fails, they’ll be in a Hot Zone unprotected. If my friends are successful though, they’ll be free.

  Daphne said, “I was more than happy to help. Please let me know if you need anything else. I know Mt. Weather rather well, obviously, as I’ve lived here all my life. Perhaps I could show you around, if you are interested.”

  Let me know if you want them on the cleanup mission and I will make it happen. It’s risky and I can’t guarantee success, but it’s a shot at freedom for them.

  Isabella grabbed a blue pen from the counter, crossed out some words on Daphne’s note, drew a circle, and handed it back.

  Daphne held up one finger.

  Isabella replied, “I would like that.” She knew it would be risky. Dangerous. Not to mention that it was not her own life she was risking this time. It was her new husband’s life and the lives of everyone in her new family. If the rescue failed, her family would be in a Hot Zone, sentenced to death. The mutants deserved freedom, and she was extraordinarily thrilled Daphne was finally doing something to help them. However, if anything went wrong, all 48 of them would be sentenced to a brutal death by radiation poisoning. Except the 20 that got inoculated, and then only if Dr. Rosario’s drug worked.

  Isabella pointed to Daphne’s letter and mouthed, “Do it.”

  Daphne nodded. “I have to get back to work. I’m on duty in an hour, but if you want to get a quick bite to eat with me now, I can show you my favorite place for a spicy meal. If you trust me.”

  Isabella nodded, slipped on her sneakers, and followed the soldier girl who held her family�
�s future in her hands. “Lead on.”

  Trust. It was a concept Isabella had never questioned growing up. You simply trusted family. She had never expected anything of the government. She had learned that she could trust them to do what was best for themselves; not for her or the people Outside. Daphne was part of that organization which she certainly did not trust. She would not trust this woman blindly, but she needed her help.

  Shattered trust would mean people’s lives.

  * * *

  Luke

  Maddox looked up from his plate of fiery food, cheese dripping from his lips, and said through the mess, “Whoa. Who’s the hot chick?”

  All eyes at the table turned to the door and Luke saw his cousin-sister Isabella walk into the colorful Mexican restaurant with the young soldier who had brought her to Mt. Weather yesterday.

  He backhand swatted the lead singer none too gently. “Watch it! That’s my sister.”

  “Hey Izzy.” Luke stood up and waved the newcomers over while Teagan pulled two more chairs over to their table.

  In response to the unvocalized invitation, Daphne asked, “Are you sure you don’t mind us joining you?”

  Luke said it was not a problem, although it meant their conversation about staging a military coup just ended. Daphne had agreed to help them, but he was not sure enough about her to discuss plans with her. Yet.

  Ten people at a table set up for eight would be cozy, which gave Luke the opportunity to spend more time close to Teagan. They had spent almost two hours on the beach together, most of it making out, but it felt like it lasted only ten minutes and that it was days or weeks ago now. He could not get enough of her. She was intoxicating.

  Luke was sure he was in love.

  Teagan was wearing her black hair scraped back in a tight ponytail. Luke could see flecks of sand from the beach still stuck in it, even though she had swung the ponytail back and forth to dislodge it as they ran to the restaurant. He was staring at Teagan’s heart-shaped face and piercing bright eyes when he realized he had missed something important. “What?”

  Isabella repeated, “Daphne is going to help us free the new humans.”

  Maybe they were planning a military coup after all.

  Luke shook the cobwebs out of his ears and listened as Isabella and Daphne filled in the group about their plans to free 48 mutants scheduled for Hot Zone duty. Nothing better to cure a hormonally addled teenager of daydreaming than military strategy.

  Daphne confided to the group, “I have more than a few friends in the military that are sympathetic to the cause of the mutants. Heck, most of my friends have been more committed to their plight than I was until Isabella made me see reality. While your doctor friend tests the vaccine, I’ll be getting a trusted group together for the Hot Zone mission that leaves in four days. There will be two HSPCs with six guards in each. I’ll make sure your family is all in one vehicle and that the six soldiers in it are on our side.”

  Luke was concerned that discussing this in the restaurant might be a bad idea, and was about to point that out to the group when the waiter arrived. Everyone at the table instantly stopped speaking. That answered his question about the security of the place. He guessed that the noise of the restaurant was a good cover for most of their conversation, but the close proximity of anyone, like the waiter, changed things. The restaurant might be bugged but Luke doubted that anyone listening could discern any coherent words in the din. If it was, the only thing they could hear would be a group shouting if there was a fire or something. No way anyone could make out an individual conversation in this place.

  The waiter took Daphne and Isabella’s orders, his cousin-sister trusting her new military friend to choose for her. With any luck, Izzy’s meal would not immolate her gullet the way his first taste of Mexican had yesterday, as long as Daphne’s choice was not on the same order of magnitude as Teagan’s had been for him. Inferno level!

  Once he left, Luke turned back to his plate of mild tacos and black beans while Daphne continued. Everyone at the table ate in silence, eagerly for her to fill them in. “Isabella’s husband, daughters and friends will be in that group, as well as any test subjects that survive your scientist friend’s vaccine test. Once the group arrives at the Hot Zone, my friends will allow them to leave and give them directions to get out of danger the quickest way.”

  “Can’t they drop them off before they actually enter the Hot Zone?” asked Teagan.

  Luke was just thinking the same thing.

  Daphne shook her head adamantly. “No. They track the trucks. The Commander would find out and our group would be exposed. Sorry. Has to be inside the Hot Zone... but they won’t be there long! Plus, they’ll have supplies for a three-day journey. The HSPC team will stay inside their vehicles for the standard eight-day mission duration and return to Mt. Weather without the mutants, reporting that the prisoners cleaned until the radiation poisoning weakened them past functioning levels, and the team left them there to die.” Daphne paused a moment, then finished in a hushed tone and with her head bowed. “That’s the usual procedure.”

  Isabella’s eyes narrowed to crinkled slits and she inhaled sharply. “That’s horrible!” Isabella thought a moment then asked, “Wait a minute. Let’s assume some of the test subjects survive the testing and get shipped off, wouldn’t they still be watching them for results and expect them to last longer than usual? Won’t that cause issues in this plan?”

  Daphne thought a moment then said, “Good point. The team will have to report back some fake results. They may even need to stay out on the mission a few extra days to fake those reports.”

  Luke gave Daphne an easy nod, gaining confidence in her plan. “That’s good. It will give the prisoners more time to get away before anyone gets suspicious.”

  A moment later, the food Daphne ordered came and she plowed through it at lightning speed, seemingly oblivious to Isabella slowly inspecting the food on her own plate, cautiously taking small bites of the unfamiliar soft white wrappers filled with dark meat, beans, and oozing cheese.

  Daphne put her thumb on the waiter’s keypad to pay for her portion, and then excused herself. “I have to be back on duty in fifteen minutes. Isabella, keep me up to date on Dr. Rosario’s test subjects. You can message me. Just don’t put anything into writing about our plans. Trust me; my eyes will not be the only ones seeing your messages.”

  Luke’s sibling nodded and thanked the soldier.

  “If you have anything to tell me that can’t be read by prying eyes, call me and we can plan an innocent ‘Girls Night Out.’” She made air quotes around the last bit, and then walked off hurriedly. Her stance and gait were every bit military in bearing, but perhaps her heart was softer.

  * * *

  Malcolm

  Malcolm was dozing on the top bunk when a barrage of voices and heavy footsteps woke him from much needed, though elusive sleep.

  “What’s the ruckus about?” he moaned, but no one answered him. A moment later, his answer came as their prison door clanged open and two armed soldiers entered. One remained by the door, his rifle at the ready for any prisoner who might make a move. Malcolm could smell the clean scent of soap, painfully reminding his over-sensitive nose of their own unwashed bodies in the cell. At this point he would almost welcome a firehose shower like they received at West Point. Almost.

  The other guard walked around the room, eyeing up each mutant. Malcolm could not read well, but he had learned most of the letters since Isabella had been teaching them. He knew the letters of his own name. The soldier’s nametag started with “M” like his own, and had two “L’s” in the middle. “Five of you will be coming with me today. You fortunate boys will be part of an experiment. If you are lucky, you’ll be made immune to the poisons Outside. If not, well, not my problem.” The soldier grinned sadistically as he scanned the room.

  Stopping in front of Clay and Malcolm’s bunk, he looked carefully at the boy first, then up one level to Malcolm. He did not say a word, bu
t something glistened in his eyes. Recognition?

  Whatever Malcolm imagined he saw in the guard’s face vanished quickly, and he moved on to another bunk in the cell, looking over each captive mutant. Finally, he selected his victims, including the gruff prisoner with the enhanced hearing, and marched them out the barred door. The other guard starred briefly at Malcolm and then followed his partner out, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Malcolm had no idea why the guard had looked at him in that peculiar way. If he had been sizing him up for experimental subject status, why had he not simply taken him? Malcolm felt that somehow he had failed a test; and right now, he was thrilled about it. That could have been the best thing that had happened to him since they had been taken prisoner on the Hudson River.

  August 18, 2101

  Chapter Thirteen

  Isabella

  Two days later, Isabella sat at the computer terminal in the kitchen of their apartment, still glued to the vast amounts of information it contained. She had been voraciously reading everything Mt. Weather had on history from before and after the Final War. There were many wars in humanity’s history, and she had studied some of them under her grandmother’s tutelage, but not all. Now she was specifically looking up information on revolutions and insurgencies. History was full of battle scenes, but Isabella also found many non-violent stories of people marching with signs, shouting slogans, and dropping leaflets from rooftops. Idealistic and reactionary behavior against the ruling party, government, or class was common throughout recorded history, especially prevalent in stubborn, arrogant youth. She was proud to be counted among that group.

  Although she had heard the term Final War used growing up, and even the new humans called it that, she usually thought of it as the Terror War. The audacity of the term Final War was amusing, although she was cautiously optimistic that it was a portent of the future. After all, wasn’t it possible that human kind might just finally grow up and stop fighting over everything? It was a ridiculous thought. Of course we won’t.