Chapter IV

HOW DID THAT OLD saying go? "Time flies when you're having fun?" Joey had almost forgotten what fun was like. Living in this destroyed and diseased world sure had its way of sucking the life out of everyone and everything.

Hours had passed, and the conversations they'd had around the table, the laughs they'd chuckled, were the only things replaying in her mind as she walked through the street alone in the dark.

Alex, Jenny, Kathleen, and Heather had stayed on the tram to catch a ride to the upper levels, while she, David, and Ella had hopped onto the tram across the way to return to their homes further down in the Slums. There she said her goodbyes to the Spencer's—whose apartment was a few blocks down—and started her ten-minute walk home.

Even though she knew it had only been a couple hours, the lack of sunshine in the Slums had its way of making the time feel later than it really was. Despite it being almost six—which is what Jenny had read from the clock on her phone as they left Marietta's—she knew Mom would be working all night in the lab as usual. These days, her work was more important than her children, and Jamie wouldn't be home until the moon was in its place high above the tallest skyscraper in the Upper Level. Joey had grown accustomed to spending her time alone, and that's how she liked it.

She slowly released an exhausted sigh and recalled the brief seconds of sunlight she had gotten on the tram. She yearned for its warmth again, but that wasn't a luxury down here. Instead of feeling the sun's rays, she crossed her arms over her chest and drew them in close as the chilly breeze blew against her. Even though it was cold, she took her time on her evening stroll. She was in no hurry to return to the empty, gross apartment she called home.

A noise piqued her ears, sounding like someone could've kicked a glass bottle, sending her senses on high alert. She could feel her heart pounding against her arms that lay tightly across her chest, and she frantically glanced from side to side. Walking in the dark was scary enough, but with the streets empty, the dark made it ten times worse. She tried to hold back the fear of thinking Agcorp soldiers were stalking her from the shadows, ready to take her away. Away from her home, family, and friends, and unexpectedly, the urge to sprint home empowered her legs.

Her fear became reality when a hand gripped her tricep in a viselike grip and yanked her into the shadows cast between two buildings.

She opened her mouth and released a scream, but a scrawny hand slapped over her lips, pressing her mask against her skin and muffling her cry for help.

A lanky arm wrapped around her waist and her assailant pressed her tightly against his bony chest holding her tight as she squirmed. She kicked at the dirt and clawed at the flesh that held her firm as she was dragged further into the darkness.

"Please!" she shrieked through muffled gasps until, to her surprise, her captor swung her around to meet them face to face.

"Shh! Don't scream! They'll hear you!"

Choking down the screams that begged to break through, Joey gasped and panted as she tried to catch her breath in between her heart's galloping speed.

She stared into a bloodied, bruised, and maskless face, and although no name immediately came to mind, something was familiar about the man's tender brown eyes. Squinting, she focused solely on his eyes and hair, trying to see through the bruising and mentally place a mask over his chin and nose. Instantly she knew. Baffled, she pulled her mask below her chin. "Mr. Magnus?"

He held a finger in front of his lips signaling for her to stay quiet. He quickly glanced behind him and over her head before gripping her shoulders with his shaking bloody hands. "I don't have a lot of time," he whispered.

She arched a brow and placed a hand over her chest. "What's going on?"

"There's no time to explain. You just have to trust me!" His hands dropped from her shoulders to her biceps. "Get out of the city." She noticed the fear intertwined with those soft, dark brown eyes. "You're in danger!"

Her mouth fell agape as her stomach plummeted. "Me?" She wasn't even sure if the words had passed her lips.

"Agcorp—" He was cut off as someone walked by drawing his attention over her head, but Joey never turned around. His eyes watched them until they passed, and then he licked his split lip before continuing, "Agcorp came to me earlier today, just after you left for your drill—"

"What did they want?" she interrupted before he had a chance to further explain.

He sighed and dropped his head to the ground. After a quick pause, his eyes met hers. "You." His voice was no longer a whisper but it remained soft, and her face flushed as her chest tightened. "Joey, they've had their eye on you for a very long time, ever since Monasa. They know you've been moving to different cities on forged papers. The Underground has failed to safely move your documents."

"What?" Her brow pulled together in confusion and shock. She shook her head allowing the fear and worry to seep in and consume her—the thought to deny any of his accusations against her abandoned ship. "But... How did this happen? The Underground is supposed to protect people like me."

"Claire's had her people keeping tabs on you, Miss Richards. She knew something was wrong the day her men arrested your father." His voice again lowered to its whisper, "Claire...knows. Claire knows about your ability. About what you did to that boy. She knows it wasn't your father."

She gasped and took a stumbling step back as the vise clenched her chest making it hard to breathe. "But why? Why arrest him if she knew? Why tell the mob—Vincent's parents, his friends—that it was my dad?"

"Jeremiah worked for Claire some years ago, didn't he?" Mr. Magnus asked, and Joey stared at him blankly. "I remember his name. My guess...she wanted him dead. I'm sorry, but there's no use sugarcoating it."

Her words caught in her throat, and her heart beat so fast she thought it would burst. Black dimmed the edges of her vision threatening to render her unconscious, and her knees wobbled.

"You have to get out of here." Mr. Magnus gripped her by the elbows holding her steady; his words urgent and desperate. "They're talking about moving in tonight. They will take you, your brother, and your mother to the Domes to become a part of their testing."

"But they have no abil—"

"To Claire, it doesn't matter!"

She gulped and shook her head. "How do they know these things? And why are you telling me?"

Rising to his full height, Mr. Magnus averted his gaze and stroked his deep brown handlebar mustache. "I...may have been the one keeping tabs," he admitted.

"What?" she exploded.

He raised a hand, silencing her as he once again as he crouched back in front of her. "Lower your voice!" He trailed off. "I thought I was doing the right thing at the time."

"By watching me?" she continued to shout. "By ratting me out to Agcorp?" She took a couple steps back. "You were only doing what was best for Walser. Because you work for Agcorp, and because you'll kill innocent people to get your cure!"

She turned to escape when he gripped her shoulder. "If I was only thinking of myself and the protection of Walser, do you think I would be risking my own life coming here to warn you? Knowing what they'll do to me? What they have done to me?" Through the corner of her eye, she watched him point at his face. "Please! Listen to me and get out!"

She shoved his hand away and swung around to face him, her brow knitting as her anger rose. "And what exactly do you expect me to do? Find a new city?" She jabbed a finger at him. "You said they're coming for me. Nowhere will be safe anymore!"

"You're right, Miss Richards, it won't!" he shouted, losing his cool. "The Underground is breached! Wherever you go, Agcorp will always find you." He paused and huffed, seeming to work himself back down. "The safest thing to do would be to leave everything behind and live in the camps."

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open as shock squeezed her chest. "Outside the walls?"

"You have an ability," he stated plainly. "The chances of you surviving Ignisha are high."

"But..." she fumbled over her words, water pricking her eyes. "My mom and Jamie..."

"They don't have an ability." He shook his head. "They can't come." He paused and her throat clenched shut. "I know a way past the wall." Mr. Magnus placed a hand on her lower back and ushered her toward the back of the alley. "I can take you there, but you need to hurry!"

"No," she said softly, wiggling his hand away. His fingers crept around her tricep, but she yanked her arm away and took off running back down the street.

"Joey!" Mr. Magnus called, but she didn't stop.

He had to be crazy to believe that she could survive outside the walls in the camps. Just because she had an ability did not ensure that she was one of the immune, and there was no way she'd just leave her mom and Jamie here alone. No, they had already lost Dad. They couldn't lose her too.

She tripped over a stone and stumbled, but quickly regained her footing. Running. That was the endless cycle of her life.

She dashed down the street, ignoring the few strangers she passed, and sprinted up the hill anxious to reach her apartment. As she rounded the slope, the flat roof of her building appeared, and hope filled her galloping heart.

She was almost home.

As she approached the very top of the hill, a sense of danger hit with the same amount of force as running into a brick wall and her heart lurched as she skidded to a stop and froze in place, her hands tingling.

She felt as if the world had come crashing down around her as her eyes locked on the man in a red suit standing in the street in front of her apartment door.

An Agcorp soldier.

With blood thumping wildly in her ears, her eyes slowly scanned the large gun in the soldier's hands. She had always feared the electric shock it would bring, but it seemed like now it was inevitable.

"Joey Richards." The man's average, robotic voice sent a chill through her spine; his real voice must've been masked by some kind of voiceover in the suit. "You've been a hard girl to track."

Her chest squeezed at the mention of her name. "I'm not who you think I am," she lied, her voice cracking.

The chuckle that escaped from under his hood was anything but natural. "I think we both know that's not true." He took slow steps forward, pulling on a level on the gun and it charged to life in a hum creating a glowing blue streak along both sides of the weapon.

Her heart pounded so fast, she thought it would burst as fear coursed through her veins, and she shook her head. "Does this have something to do with Monasa?" She waved a hand through the air and forced a snicker. "That was all my dad. Agcorp already knows that. He was arrested years ago."

The soldier halted after a few steps. "And for a time Claire believed that...until she found out who Jeremiah Richards really was." Joey's brow bent in confusion, and the soldier shifted on his feet with a smile. "You know, you're good. You had us all fooled for a while, but..." He wagged a finger at her. "That disguise wasn't going to work forever."

"Disguise?" Joey cocked a brow. "I don't understand. I've done nothing wrong!"

"Tell you what..." He took a couple more steps forward, but his advance made her take a few back. "I'll make you a deal. Come with me, and I'll let you see your father."

Her stomach hit the ground, and the blood drained from her face as the world around her shattered. "No, that..." Her tongue fumbled, unable to form words. "He's dead."

The soldier glanced to his left. "Jeremiah is far from dead. After what he did, death would be too good for that man."

"Nobody escapes the trials of the Dome," she argued, and her nails dug into her palms as energy pricked her skin.

"Jeremiah isn't in the Domes." His head swiveled back towards her. "He's with us. Safe and sound." His right hand released his gun and he extended it. "So, do we have a deal?"

Alive? Her dad was alive? Not only alive but here in the city? She took a couple more steps backward, finding his words hard to believe. "No," she said softly. "I don't believe you. All Agcorp does is lie." She gritted her teeth. "I won't go with you!"

The man lowered his gloved hand and clenched the handle of the gun. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not giving you an option."

Joey pulled off her mask from around her ears that had still been resting under her chin, and tucked it into her back jean pocket, readying herself for the worst to come.

Feeling the same sense of danger erupt through her veins, she balled her hands into white-knuckle fists and a surge of energy exploded in her palms, but instead of forcing the feeling away—like she had on numerous occasions—she let it sprout. A transparent dagger that gave off an illuminating bright orange glow appeared in both hands, and her fingers clasped the hilts as she raised them in a defensive position. There was no use in hiding it. Agcorp knew, and it was time to fight, or ultimately, be dead.

It had been years since she had last recalled her daggers, and even now, the painful memories of the events that had taken place the last time she'd lost control pushed to the forefront of her mind. Standing her ground, she brushed the images aside. "I said I'm not going." She tried forcing out a brave tone but knew her facial expression and the way she shook betrayed her true feelings.

The soldier lifted his gun an inch off his abdomen where it rested. "You really think people haven't tried to fight me before?" He chuckled. "You're out of your league, girl." He took long strides towards her and raised the gun to where it was aimed directly at her.

Joey gasped, and a second later, the soldier pulled the trigger. To her luck, her feet moved faster than her brain and she fell into a somersault, rolling out of the way of his fire. Spinning up on her knees, she spotted a metal claw clinging to the dirt where she stood, an electric shot pulsating through its silver body.

Movement in the corner of her right eye drew her attention, and she snapped her neck in that direction as the soldier drew a dagger from a sheath at his hip that she had missed.

He raised the blade in the air above her head and drove it down, but with a quick move, she raised her daggers crossing the blades. The daggers, now lying against one another in an x, clanged against the soldier's blade and sparks of orange flew from her daggers. She knew she wasn't strong enough to fight him, but for the first time, she was thankful her daggers held an energy that could deflect nearly anything.

She panted from the rush of adrenaline as the soldier towered over her. "So...now you're going to...kill me?" she asked in between breaths.

"You won't survive the Domes," he stated, pushing against her with almost all of his body mass. "And we need your blood. No one would blame me if I brought it back in buckets."

She gritted her teeth as she used all her strength to push him back, even if it was just an inch. That inch was all she needed to roll out of the way. Their blades slid off one another, and she popped back to her feet. Raising her left dagger in front of her face, she narrowed her eyes. She was clearly outmatched, but she couldn't risk being sloppy. She recalled the lessons her dad had taught her all those years ago with the training he had received from the army to fight to protect herself if a time like this ever came. Going into the Domes... Not an option.

The soldier twirled his wrist and the blade followed elegantly. "You're inexperienced."

She raised a brow and smirked, keeping up her brave act. "Then why haven't you defeated me yet?"

With a swift wave of his hand, a maneuver Joey had almost missed, the soldier sheathed the dagger and gripped the gun hanging around from its strap around his chest. "Because it's fun to watch them think they stand a chance." In a blink, he pulled the trigger for a second time.

Something hard slammed against Joey's chest, wrapped itself around her ribs, and she flew back a couple feet. Skidding in the dirt, her daggers disappeared as her back collided with the curb. Not even a full second later, she was hit with a white-hot sting that radiated throughout her entire body. The heat boiled the blood in her veins, singed the tiny hairs covering her body, and quaked her very bones. Digging her fingernails in the dirt, she clenched her eyes shut as the pain rippled through her system and she released a gut-wrenching scream.

To her relief, the shock died away after what felt like an eternity, but the pain lingered. Panting heavily, she grimaced and rolled herself up, feeling think she'd see blue electricity run along her arms. A burning sensation, much different from the one that had wrecked her body, stung her right arm. Wincing, she shot a glance at her bicep and discovered a decent-sized laceration that oozed blood. Her mouth dropped as she lifted her shaking hand towards the cut, and touched the crimson that ran down her arm. It was then she noticed the broken pieces of glass buried at the bottom of her palm just above her wrist.

"As I said." The soldier took a couple steps closer, cocking the gun once more. "Inexperienced."

She cowered on the ground, scooting backward until her tailbone hit the curb. She took the chance to steal a glance at her chest and found the metal claw wrapped around her, its tips digging into her flesh as it held tight.

She jumped as the soldier dropped to one knee and gripped the hunk of metal, the black mesh of his helmet so close to her face that she felt like she could see the man inside if she tried hard enough. "Say goodbye, Joey. Where you're going..." He paused and bellowed a low laugh. "It'll make you beg for the Slums"

A sudden rush of adrenaline erupted through her veins. She felt the familiar surge of energy in her right hand, and she welcomed it. Gritting her teeth, the transparent dagger appeared, and with one swift upward motion, she plunged it into the soldier's side. His grip around the metal claw loosened and his head slowly ventured down towards the invisible hilt that protruded from where his kidney lay tucked away inside. "And...as I...have said." She released her grip and the dagger vanished. "I'm...not...going."

She fell back on her elbows as the soldier toppled over in the street landing on his back and shattering the few remains of broken glass below his body. She watched as his body, suit, and gun pixelated beginning from his head and feet until it met at his torso, and the sparks drifted into the air in a cloud of blue.

She shouted at the unexpected jerk that came as the metal claw removed its fingers from her flesh, and it, too, disintegrated in blue sparks. She placed a hand over her heart where the claw had been and rubbed her chest.

She released a hard sigh and stared at the spot where the soldier had just been lying and noticed only a small splash of red liquid pooled in the dirt and painted the smashed glass bottle.

The world around her went silent leaving only the blood pumping in her ears to be heard. Her head suddenly felt heavy as the earth began to spin, and her arms propping her against the curb went numb as her stomach churned. Her arms went limp collapsing underneath her, and her head and back smacked the sidewalk.

She stared up at the brown haze as her body shook, but whether it was from the adrenaline or the pain she couldn't say. Her eyelids grew heavy and her head rolled to the side. Through blurring vision, she watched the silhouette of a person running her way.

Her brain told her to get up and defend herself, but her body wouldn't listen to the signals. Her eyes closed shut as her breathing slowed. This time she was too weak to fight back.