March City: Rebellion of the Gifted [Book 2 | Complete | Fantasy/Sci-fi]

Chapter 34: Unrequited

The screams and cries of Candra citizens rang in the air, soon overwhelmed by the explosions and screeches that accompanied infected Users. Ari couldn't summon much sympathy for them, not after discovering what Candra had done, not when her fellow students were used and discarded with ease and she was a walking weapon, nothing more. Standing at the top of the escalator, she took in the carnage before her. Her doing. She'd brought the January City Users into Candra to make the people repent for their lies, to help her fellow students find their own destiny, and to rescue Mina.

Mina.

Ari turned, blasting infected Users out of the way with what remains of the energy in Mina's necklace. The January City Users planned to leave by stealing the flying robots from the hangar on the roof. Ari had perhaps half an hour to find Mina and get out before all the other Users withdrew. She sprinted up the steps, slamming open the door to the second floor. Following her memory, she found the storage room. The electronic locks were out of action, as expected. She dispelled the last energy into her leg and kicked the door down. The thin metal caved in and landed on the ground with an almighty crash. Through dimmed light from the tinted glass windows situated at the top of the walls, Ari made out the supercharger dock where two batteries sat. She fished them out, relieved to feel the tingle of energy beneath her fingers, and dashed out.

The weapon room lay in chaos, dropped daggers and knocked-over shelves littering the ground. Ari picked up a dagger and slotted it in the hidden compartment of her sleeve just in case. The entire floor was empty. She suspected the evacuation call must have gone out after Rale shut down the system. Screams and snarls emanated up the stairs. Ari darted over and peered between the banisters down below. Shadows and dark shapes flitted in and out of sight. The image of the hotel where she first hid in after breaching March City flashed into mind. She spun around and, with a little help from her supercharger, hoisted several long benches from the corridor outside and piled them on the stairs. They crashed in a pile, the noise echoing off the walls. She took to the up-going stairs, ascending another level and then bursting out onto the third floor.

"Transformer!" Rale's voice came from the side. Heart jumping to her throat, Ari rushed over to where he stood beside a handful of students, most of whom wore bubble helmets around their heads. "There you are!"

"Where's Mina? We need to go," she said, not seeing her amongst the cluster of Users.

"She's not here," said Rale.

Ari stopped. "What?"

"This is all we have from the infirmary."

"What do you mean she's not here?!" Her voice became shrill. "This entire floor was on lockdown—"

"Until I shut it down. It's been down for a good hour now."

"Mina..." One of the boys began and then hesitated. Ari recognised him, vaguely. He was one of Lira's Investigators and didn't wear a bubble helmet. His jet black hair stuck up at odd angles. "She's been talking about escaping here for a while now. She and Fula and a few others."

"But she's infected!" Ari burst out. "She's barely keeping the symptoms at bay. If she goes outside, she'll die! She's far too weak to make it anywhere!"

"She's... well, she's already gone. I think they just took their chances when the power went down."

Ari's mouth opened and shut, wordless. Rale whistled, eyebrows raised.

"Wow, wouldn't have expected Baby Transformer to pull a stunt like that! I'd have liked to see it... actually, let's go and see it."

"But I thought we were escaping?" said the boy. "Mina's gone. Fula's gone. A few others have left already. If we don't go now—"