Renegade by J. A. Souders

Author:J. A. Souders [Souders, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780765332455
Publisher: Tor Teen
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Due to her perfect genetics, Evelyn Winters has been chosen as my daughter.

However, Evelyn is not just my daughter: She is everyone’s daughter. The Daughter

of the People. She loves you as I do and you are to love her in return. Anything less

will not be tolerated.

—MOTHER, FROM EVELYN’S DEBUT SPEECH

Screams fill the air as the turret claims victim after victim. I fall to the ground,

pulling Gavin with me. His eyes are as round as saucers when he sees the blood

soaking my dress.

He stands, trying to remove the backpack, but I yank him back down to the ground.

“Stay down,” I hiss. “Do you want the turret to see you?”

“See me?” he whispers back, but at least he’s lying on the ground. Then he blinks.

“A turret hit you?”

“Yes. What do you think hit me?”

He lifts his eyes toward the ceiling before he closes them. “Well, what do we do? We

can’t just lie on the ground until the Guards come.”

“No, we can’t. But they won’t come until the turret stops. Then they’ll collect the

bodies and move on. So we’ll just have to move quickly when it stops.” I press a

hand to the wound, wincing when the pressure brings tears to my eyes. That can’t

be a good thing.

“How long will that be?” He’s staring at my blood-covered hand now and his voice

wavers slightly. “You’ll bleed to death if we wait too long.”

“Stop it!” My voice is rougher than I intend from the effort it’s taking to stop my

teeth from chattering. Being shot hurts a lot more than I thought it would. Like

liquid fire covering my shoulder. “It’s just a small wound. Probably a through-and-

through. It didn’t hit any major arteries or I’d be bleeding a lot more.” I glance

around and notice the turret has claimed only four people. Three are moving around

and moaning. One isn’t. Everyone else has disappeared. The turret pulls back into

the ceiling with a hiss, its job done. “Move! Now! Get in the shadows.”

To his credit, Gavin bolts to the shadows without question. I follow closely at his

heels. “We have to keep moving. The Guards will come with Enforcers soon,” I say,

and push him in the direction of the Tube station, which is just a few meters away

and completely empty. We’ll have to wait to use it until the Guards and Enforcers

leave, but we should be safe. It’ll give me time to assess the wound and bandage it

properly.

Unfortunately when I fell, I got all turned around and we ran to the wrong side of

the terminal. In order to get to the train, we’ll have to cross back over to the other

side.

I listen for a second and then, when I don’t hear anything, tug on Gavin’s arm and

dash across the terminal. He follows without hesitation. But the turret must still be

malfunctioning, because the minute it senses us, it drops from the ceiling again and

starts shooting. We both drop to the ground immediately.

“What the hell is going on?” Gavin demands.

“I think it’s malfunctioning. That happens sometimes. That’s why there aren’t any

in the Palace Wing except in that one alcove.

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