The Forbidden Zone by Victoria Zagar

Author:Victoria Zagar [Zagar, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay romance, Science Fiction
Publisher: Less Than Three Press, LLC
Published: 2015-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

SILENCE

We hurried to a bus that One had set aside for our rescue and boarded without hesitation. I could see that the wires underneath the command console had been pulled out in a speedy-but-inelegant hack, but this was not Saidan's work from before. Someone else had clearly learned the skills necessary to take over Little Sister's buses. We took seats at the back of the bus while the synthetics and One sat at the front. Saidan sat quietly, hanging his head. I reached for his hand and squeezed it, but he didn't respond. I was worried, but I knew forcing him to respond would achieve nothing and might even be counter-productive.

The bus started to move and I looked out of the window next to me. The city was in shambles: Valerian fighting against Valerian with weapons I'd never seen before. I wondered where they'd gotten their stash of guns and explosives when Little Sister had everything so tightly locked down. Perhaps, with her attention on us, she had slipped a little and allowed them access to restricted areas. Perhaps our sacrifice hadn't been for nothing after all. I forced myself to hold onto that thought, my broken mind struggling for any shard of hope to hold onto. I thought being free should have helped with that, but strangely, it didn't. After all this time, I was afraid of being outside, even more so now that rebellion had erupted. No matter where we went, there was no safety. I didn't know if I would ever feel safe in my own skin again.

We made it outside the city limits without interruption. The war zone slipped away behind us: a bright fireball in the night sky that became smaller and smaller as the bus took us out into the wastelands. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke, the dawn was a brilliant violet at the edge of the night's darkness. I'd never seen dawn on Valeria and it was magnificent. Tears welled up in my eyes at something I would have normally considered scientifically. Something told me I would never go back to that state of curious dispassion which had been at the center of all my scientific discoveries. I would be emotionally connected to the beauties and the torments of the world, whether I liked it or not. The robot had been broken, my shield destroyed to reveal flesh and bone, a man that bled and cried at the slightest thing.

I looked at Saidan next to me. I thought he was still sleeping, and I was surprised to see his eyes fixed on me.

"Are you okay?" We'd been tortured for so long and that was the best I could come up with. We'd grown so used to non-verbal communication that asking him a question seemed weird and out of place, like something that a stranger would have done.

He nodded, not a word passing his lips. I figured it was fine if he didn't want to sleep. We were both tired and in desperate need of medical care, a square meal, and a good wash.

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