Uprising by Kendra C. Highley

Author:Kendra C. Highley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, genetic engineering, cyberpunk, dystopian, teen science fiction, teen dystopian
Publisher: Kendra C. Highley

* * *

The brakes squeal as Jinx tries to slow our truck as we hurtle downhill. The road has gone steep and winding, and every once in a while, we take a turn and the side of the mountain drops away to the side. Doc’s skin takes on a green tinge, but Jole is plastered to the window, staring out at the ever-changing landscape.

“Remember when we planned to run away and scale Everest?” he asks me, not turning his head from the window.

“Yeah,” I say. It’s a bittersweet memory, from a time when we were brothers, and it reminds me of the fact that I got his parents killed—the only humans, to that point, who saw me as a real boy. Someone to love, and teach. In the end, I destroyed them. The pain is as raw today as it was the day after I found out what happened to them. “You said I had to be your Sherpa.”

He laughs. “I was an asshole.”

I say. “True. But so was I.”

The radio crackles and Marco says, “There’s a checkpoint coming up.”

I tense. “Ask him if they’re friendlies or if we need to ditch the vehicles.”

Jinx asks, and he answers, “Friendlies. I put out some chatter earlier, and they told me they held the checkpoint. That’s all they told me, so I have no idea what it means. Be alert.”

We all loosen various weapons, and Jinx’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. From here, we can’t cross into Maddenville except through this checkpoint—they’ve put in landmines to encourage people to use the main road. If this is an ambush, we have nowhere to go.

We roll up to the checkpoint and stop. A series of metal bars block the way, held in place by gates that appear to be deeply planted into the rock. Behind the third set of bars, twenty men and women stand shoulder-to-shoulder across the road, and all of them are holding automatic rifles. This is no desperate crew botching a highway robbery. Whoever they are, they mean business. Each person is dressed in clean, well-maintained forest-print fatigues and thick boots, and there are two small, sturdy brick buildings on either side of the road, lit from within with electric lights.

Marco lowers the driver’s-side window and holds out a white and black flag I’ve never seen. In the center is a howling wolf.

As soon as they see the flag, one of the men at the end of the line jogs inside the building to our right and returns with a blue and white flag. This one has a lynx in its center.

“They did it,” Jinx murmurs. “They really did it!”

“Did what?” I ask.

She grins at me over her seat. “They took Maddenville. The rebels control the entire province.”

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