The Defiant by Lisa M. Stasse

Author:Lisa M. Stasse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

13 LIAM

GADYA AND I EXPLODE out of the trees. The trail ends at a large series of steel-and-red-brick buildings. Another work camp. Rika was right. This is where the boys are being kept. I see lines of them in chains, plowing the fields with primitive machinery.

We have very little time before the soldiers find us. I clutch the two knives. Gadya holds the gun.

We blaze out of the forest and toward the prisoners. They all have shaved heads. But these are not the drones of Island Alpha. These are normal boys who have been captured and enslaved. I wonder who these boys are. This must be where the UNA started sending kids who failed the GPPT once the rebels took over Island Alpha. And somewhere—at least if my heart is correct—Liam is among them.

There are lots of guards somewhere in the forest behind us, but only a handful down here, watching these shackled prisoners. They have obviously already been alerted to our presence, because their guns are raised and they are turning around, looking for intruders.

They notice us as soon as Gadya lets out a war whoop and begins firing.

They fire back in our direction, but they are no match for Gadya’s aim. She cuts them down as the bullets whip past us.

A guard’s gun misfires and I run straight toward him, screaming like a crazy person. He seems shocked. My knives are out and my teeth are bared. I plunge a blade straight into his heart, and then yank it out with my full strength. He topples to the ground, gagging and choking for air.

I leave him for dead, without another thought. After what the UNA did to Rika, there can be no mercy.

Then I’m back up and running again, searching the prisoners for Liam. The boys are already trying to escape, but they’re chained together, so it’s difficult. A group of them makes a run for the forest. Another group surrounds an injured guard and begins kicking and beating him, trying to get his gun.

“Liam!” I start yelling, as I desperately stare at their faces. The boys here look the same—muscular, but exhausted and covered with dirt. “Liam, where are you?” I yell.

Gadya is calling out his name too.

I feel rising panic. He’s not here. I search face after face. “Liam!” I keep screaming, as I run past the lines of boys with both of my knives out. “Liam Bernal!”

I hear gunshots behind us. I spin around. The guards from the farm where we found Rika have located us. They are firing at Gadya across the field, and she is firing back. We have to get out of here soon or we will be shot. I’m stunned it hasn’t happened already.

A hand suddenly grabs my arm. I yank my arm back, ready to stab whoever touched me. But the hand doesn’t belong to a guard. Instead, it belongs to a shackled boy with haunted green eyes. His face is scarred from old battle wounds. His body is stooped and nearly broken.

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