The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION

*60

"Hey, wake up!"

I sat up on my cot, awoken from a dreamless sleep. "What?" I said, rubbing my eyes.

Someone knelt in front of me. "Don't you recognize me?"

"You shouldn't be here," I slurred.

"For god's sake...I guess I need to do this first."

My guest pressed a small machine against my neck. I felt a sharp pain. "Hold still," he said. I complied.

After what seemed like an eternity, the needle in my neck finally withdrew. I smelled smoke. The machine clunked as some sparks showered to the floor.

"Shit, the thing locked up! Danth...Danth! Are you alright?"

Pain. I hadn't felt pain in so long. I sucked in air like I had never taken a breath. Tears spontaneously flowed down my face.

"There you are!" said the emaciated man next to me.

I looked him in the eye and shook in shock. "Kooper?"

My brother laughed. "Surprised?" He hugged me tight and the tears began flowing again.

"You're...alive?" I looked at the hunk of metal on the floor. "What was that thing?"

"This device nullified the nanomachines they injected inside of you. Those nasty little parasites were sucking away your humanity." Kooper kicked the strange object across the floor. "Dammit, I was going to use it on the rest of the pilots but the thing's fried."

"You're alive!" I said, still in shock.

"If you can call it that," said Kooper. "They recruited me, just like you." He moved to the door and peered out into the hallway. "I don't know how much more time we have."

"Did someone use that machine on you?"

"No. I was perfectly content to spend my days in my stilt strider, but everything just changed one day. I'm not sure why, but I started to take closer notice of the faces flashing on the citadel's screens—our nightly collection targets."

"The Thrall offenders we take from the zones?"

"Yes. I started remembering them long after our runs were complete. Soon, I was able to feel again. Aside from the guilt, my emotions were still easy to shut off...until I saw you."

"You saw me on the oval screens?"

"Yes, you were with some girl. Both of you were set to be collected from a miniscule zone to the east. When I saw your face, everything came flooding back. I began to resist until I regained enough control to leave my cell. After some sleuthing, I became familiar with the Tower's internal security routines and found ways around them. Eventually, I discovered the laboratory where they first stripped away my will. It was there I found this device."

"You used it on yourself?"

"No...I was freed by the strength of my mind, nothing more."

Immodest as usual—he was definitely my brother. "What do we do now?"

"Nothing. Keep doing everything exactly like you were before."

"What?"

"Because the device broke, we'll have to implement my backup plan," said Kooper with a sigh. "You'll need to be able to take complete control of your stilt strider—override its onboard computer with your own mind."

I remembered how hard I struggled to just move a claw. "It's impossible."

"No, it's not. If I can do it, so can you. Start practicing. Veer off course a few steps. Lift the machine's legs higher. Flutter your damn claws. Just start practicing. When you're confident and in control, you'll know. Then we'll make our move."

"Our move?"

Kooper grinned. "We'll destroy the rest of these metal bastards and knock down this damned tower!" With that, he ruffled my hair and left.

Clarity didn't come without a price. Memories I had formed while in an emotionless state within the stilt strider suddenly had horrific emotional baggage attached to them. I had been there when the new munitions factory was being built on Zone 29—when the ranches were leveled and the villagers reassigned to factory work. I had killed dozens of horses after someone had tried to set them free. So many horses. That night, I cried myself to sleep. I wasn't sure if Daun could ever forgive me.

I focused on what little good I could still do. Even if Kooper and I only made a dent in the Privus' infrastructure, it may be enough to stir up the Thrall. Wake them up. A Final Lesson, on our terms.

I swallowed my regrets and tried to picture Daun's face in my mind's eye, but all I could see was Sheln. I'll make her pay, I thought, quietly seething.