One Last Evolution

Chapter One (Maren)

    

   One minute we're sound asleep. The next minute the siren is blaring and we're all jolted awake. I sit bolt upright, and roll off my pallet to my feet.

"Up, Ciana! Get the weapons and go find Kentley!"

  I snatch up the case containing our identification and records, and hurry the others towards the door.

"Teagan, get up! It's ok, Berkely, c'mon sweetheart. July, Sela, let's go!"

   I propel them out of our room ahead of me, and then we split up. They head to the sub level basement, and I climb the stairs to the first story to repel the invaders.

I sprint through the basement doorway and join Kentley and Annamaria at one of the windows.

"Maren. Good," she says.

She hands me my heavy stave, and I tuck our record case into my jacket and take it.

"Who is it this time?" I peer out into the dark streets.

   The broken glass in the window frames only empty streets — the wrecks of crumbling buildings, heaps of rubble, and the last remaining lightpost leaning crazily over the road.

"Brandt's Wolves, we think," Kentley replies.

"What happened?"

"Someone slung a rock at Jocelyn while she was on sentry. Missed her by a hair. If it was a worse band, like the Asps, they wouldn't have bothered to try to take out the sentry first."

"So are they regrouping, or —"

I'm cut off by the shadows that come alive and rush our building.

   Kentley whistles sharply, and she and I step back from the window, leaving Annamaria pressed against the wall next to the frame.

   A second later, a Wolf crashes through the remaining glass, but he doesn't get two steps farther before Annamaria's stave flashes out and stops him in his tracks.

   The fight is over in seconds. Only three or four Wolves make further than halfway through the windows. We stand in a ring around the edges of the room, and let the adrenaline fade.

"That's it," Kentley rolls her neck. "Naylor, Sharrin, Megan, you can drag these outside and leave them on the other side of the street. Their band will probably be back for them before morning.

"Hanna, Raylou, have Maven look at your injuries. Ciana and Maylie, go downstairs and tell Curlew and Cory that they can let the littles out now.

"The rest of you can sweep out the broken glass, and then we'll go back to bed. Lori, Anara, and Havan will take sentry til dawn."

We do what Kentley says quickly.

   She's only the leader of her band, the Ravens, but we follow her orders because her Ravens were the ones who claimed this building, and they let us stay in it, in exchange for a tenth of all we can scavenge or steal, and our help in defending the building when necessary.

   Four bands live here. Kentley's Ravens, Annamaria's Hornets, Laren's Hawks, and my Foxes. We're all Unevolved, and live as quietly as we can — if we're found, we'll likely be killed. By the Cybio police or by another band.

   Some bands are better than others. The worst clan in the outskirts of Cell 17 is the Asps. A few months ago another band calling themselves the Asps came in from another cell, and the resident Asps heard about it and decimated them. No other band has cared to take that name since.

   Rumor has it that Derrick, the Asps' leader, is actually an Evolved. It's known for a fact that he's over 20, so either way he could've gotten out of here, if he wanted. But why would he? He's in charge of the most dangerous gang for five cells over. The Asps have found and gutted a couple of houses recently, and Kentley is worried that they're going to come after us soon.

Fortunately, we've got the river between our buildings, so he might not get to us for a while.

   Ciana and I finish up our tasks and head back to our rooms, where Teagan, July, Sela, and Berkely are waiting. They sigh in relief when they see we're unhurt, we quickly give them a rundown of the attack, and we all go back to bed.

   We wake up the next morning to the light in our room switching on and off. It's the signal to be up and moving, since we have to be out of the house before the sun comes up, and we can't return til after dark.

"C'mon, Tiger," Ciana shakes Teagan's shoulder gently. "We have to go."

   Teagan mumbles something about not getting nearly enough sleep, but she rolls off her pallet obediently.

"Who's coming with us today?" I ask.

"It's my turn to stay with Curlew and watch the littles," July replies, combing out her hair quickly and braiding it back.

   So it's just Ciana, Teagan, and I today. I stack our pallets in the corner, on top of the loose board that hides our small store of food, and brush off my jacket. Ciana has Sela and Berkely ready, so we see the two of them and July into the common room, and are on our way.

   We slip cautiously through a window that's partially screened by a decrepit shed, and move swiftly away from the building. When we're nearly to the inner city, where people actually live, we pause to reconnoiter.

"Where're we hitting today?" Teagan bounces slightly on the balls of her feet.

"We were in Section Seven yesterday, so probably back through Five real quick, and in to Two."

  We hurry on, careful to look as if we belong right where we are. As if we have purpose. Our fake jewelry and carefully done makeup make us look as if we do belong, and we have plenty of purpose of our own.

  It's easy enough. A liter of water off a table here, a packet of dehydrated meat there. A few electronic scraps snatched to be traded later if we're lucky. Our jackets have plenty of hidden pockets, and we've become skilled at reading the crowd and knowing what we can get away with.

  With Section Five's market covered, we move on to Two's rows of shops. Many of the Cybio-owned shops are staffed by Unevolved slaves -- people who almost always sympathize, and more often then not are willing to help.

  Three taps at a back door, and a few minutes later a worker comes bustling out with an armload of boxes and packing to be burned. She tosses it on the pile and goes back inside. Inside one of the boxes is a still warm loaf of bread wrapped in a napkin.

  We visit all of our usual places, which we've marked with a tiny outline of a fox, and melt back into the fringes with our haul. We leave it in a hidden cache, and head for the market in Sector Nine.