We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

1. Heart Pub

(A/N: The beginning will be the same as the short story, only told from Bo's point of view now.)

The Heart Pub was about as low a place as Bo could find in the city. It was filled with thieves, cutthroats, and anyone else she wouldn't want to meet under normal circumstances. They clustered in groups at tables, trading in illegal goods and planning hits on those who made robbing worth it. They didn't even look up as she made her way to the back and sat down in a quiet corner. To them, she was just another criminal. All the better, because it was good to blend into the walls when you wanted to hear anything worth hearing.

Bo ordered a glass of tavi and sipped on it when it arrived. She kept her gaze mostly down, not wanting to attract any attention, but listened to the conversations around her. Most were useless to her, though interesting to any sort of law enforcement. What she wanted to hear was anything about a man who wasn't like the others. A man would definitely garner whispers and rumors. A man she'd spent months tracking down, and whose trail she'd lost here in the city. It was only because she could find no more leads that she'd stooped to entering the rat holes of the city. The Heart Pub would be the first of many if she couldn't find any useful information there.

While the conversations were mostly about fencing stolen goods, one particular voice stood out from the general murmur. Bo risked a glance up, catching sight of a young man with long hair pulled back from his face and an energy buzzing through his body as he stood over a table. She remembered being as thrumming with the need to prove herself as him, but that had been a long time ago. Now she was just tired. Tired and aching to find what she'd lost.

She watched the young man talk to a man with bionic integration. He seemed to be trying to recruit the man to some sort of gang, but it didn't interest Bo. She dismissed their conversation and turned back to her drink. She didn't think she'd find any leads here. If any of the criminals in the pub knew anything about what she was searching for, she was certain they would have been talking about it already.

Sighing, she dug into her pocket for the money to pay for her drink. She tossed it on the table and pulled up her red bandana to her mouth as she made a move to the door.

She'd barely made it a few steps before the door burst open on its own and dust flooded the room. Bo threw up an arm to shield her eyes, and quickly scooped her googles down. She glared through the glass at a group of men who swaggered into the pub with the air of those too arrogant to be fearful and too powerful to be smart. The leader stood with his arms crossed, his black hair streaked through with white, looking remarkably neat for having just been out in the dust storm. He didn't show any interest in the others in the pub, and only concentrated on the young man Bo had spotted earlier. They began to banter back and forth, though Bo sensed the danger growing even from her position in the back of the pub.

She pressed up further against the wall, hiding in the shadows. She just needed to wait for the leader and the young man's conversation to take a turn toward the worse, and then she'd use the distraction to break through their ranks and out the door. They weren't interested in just anyone, after all, and she was faster than these muscle-bound men.

She tightened her bandana in preparation for her run as the leader's anger burst and he and the young man dissolved into a fight. It was obvious the young man wasn't going to be the victor, and the rest of the men in the group were now trying to round up the rest of the criminals in the pub. It was now or never for Bo to make her escape. She ducked her head, her legs dashing across toppled tables and chairs, leaping over fallen bodies, dodging the blows of the men as they tried to catch her.

The door was only a few steps away. Bo could see the orange of the dust, and could almost smell it. Nearly there...

The leader was bending over the young man, his knife cutting into the corner of the young man's mouth. Bo didn't have time to rescue kids stupid enough to get in trouble with men like this, but she still felt a little bad dashing by him without helping. She hesitated for just a second, but that split second was all it took for her decision to be made for her.

"Send Adam our regards," the man said to his prey.

Bo's blood froze. Adam. The name jolted through her.

Before she knew it, she had leapt over a fallen table and thrown an arm between the young man and the man with the knife. She had the advantage of surprise, and she used it to shove the man hard enough to send him tumbling. Her braid whipped around her as she spun to offer a hand to the young man, who stared at her as if she'd just descended from heaven.

She pulled her pistols from their holsters, aiming at the mass of men who were now coming to their leader's rescue. She could fight for a while longer, but this was by no means a permanent solution. A few more minutes and she and the young man would be bloody pulp on the ground. They needed a way out, and they needed it now.

Bo took a few covering shots, and used the few seconds they gave her to glance around the pub. She noted the empty bar and the relatively clear path to it. The front door was out of the question now, but pubs like this always had backdoors for the barkeeps to make quick get aways.

"Back door. Quick," she said, shoving him hard toward the bar. Thankfully he was quick on the uptake and took off racing toward their salvation. She chased after him, shooting behind her to try and create as much cover as she could.

The backroom was too dark to see anything in, but then the young man shoved open the backdoor and the harsh light of outside flooded her vision. He skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust, gasping for breath, but Bo didn't take a moment to rest. She immediately slammed the door shut and grabbed a large trash bin. She yanked on it, trying to move it alone, but it was too heavy for her to do it as fast as they needed.

"Help," she barked at the young man, and he complied. Together they shoved the obstruction into place in front of the door. It would buy them a little time, but they couldn't waste even a second.

Bo spun around, eyeing the alleyway they found themselves in. One end was bricked up, and the other was blocked by a chainlink fence. Good thing she was used to getting around things like this.

Leaving the young man to figure out to follow her on his own, she took a running start and launched into the air. She landed halfway up the fence and climbed the rest of the way. She jumped to the ground on the other side and turned to see the young man holding his own as he followed suit. Good. He wasn't useless.

He slid his googles over his eyes and pulled up his own mask over his face. They were headed for the streets, which meant they would be running directly into the dust storm. Not only was it insanely hot in such storms, but dangerous as well. With zero visibility, they could get horribly lost or run into any number of dangerous situations. But if it was dangerous for her and the young man, then it was for the men chasing them as well. She'd rather take her chances with the dust than with the men armed to the teeth.

She reached over and grabbed the young man's forearm in an iron grasp. "Keep up and don't let go of me," she said, and then launched into the thick clouds of dust that choked the streets.