City 1 by Gregg Rosenblum

Author:Gregg Rosenblum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

ONCE THE EXPLOSIONS BEGAN, IT WAS EASY FOR CASS AND FARRYN TO slip away with backpacks, a few packets of energy paste, a hunting knife, and a lase pistol. Cass carried the gun; she was the better shot.

They made their way carefully toward the City, ducking the sparks from the disabled power grid. Cass had to slow her pace for Farryn. She felt selfish for agreeing to let him come, and fearful, because his awkwardness might get them both killed. She pushed the thoughts aside. It was too late now. What was it her mom used to say? “You made your bed—you lie in it.”

The City streets, at the edge of the town, were empty. Everyone seemed to be taking shelter. Cass found an abandoned scoot that had been left on its side in the street. Farryn climbed on behind her, and they began heading for Hightown. The street was still devoid of people, and bots. She leaned forward and increased her speed. Is it really going to be this easy? she let herself wonder.

There was a crackle of lase fire a block ahead of her, and then an explosion, followed by a shower of glass, and the road buckled, sending Cass and Farryn flying over the handlebars.

Cass ducked and rolled, landing hard against the curb, and the breath was knocked out of her. When she could breathe again she did a quick scan of her body—some scrapes, but nothing broken or cut too badly—and then she hurried over to Farryn, who had come to rest a few feet away from her.

He was slowly getting to his feet, groaning.

“Are you okay?” she said. Sarah’s lessons on first aid rushed through her head—how to apply a tourniquet to stop bleeding, immobilize breaks and fractures, gauge the probability of concussion.

Farryn began patting his body, starting at his shoulders, working down to his legs, and when he touched his right calf, he gave an exaggerated look of panic and said, “My leg! I can’t feel my leg!”

Cass punched him on the shoulder, hard. “Hilarious,” she said, suppressing a laugh.

Farryn grinned, rubbing his shoulder.

There was another burst of lase fire, farther away, but still close, and Farryn and Cass ducked for cover into an alleyway. They waited, watching the street ahead of them. Cass gripped her pistol hard, and Farryn held his knife ready. What are we doing? she thought. How in the world are we going to fight a City full of bots with a lase pistol and a hunting knife? She almost laughed—it was ridiculous.

The street remained clear. Cass was about to step out, when a Petey and a sphere bot appeared in the intersection ahead. Farryn grabbed her shoulder and yanked her hard against the alley wall.

“I see them!” she hissed.

“Sorry,” whispered Farryn.

The Petey raised its arm, and began firing its lase down the connecting street, at something Cass couldn’t see. There was a burst of return fire that missed the Petey and crashed into a nearby storefront, shattering the glass.

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