The Rift Uprising. Amy Foster S.

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СКАЧАТЬ use as a sort of battering ram to knock the wind out of me. I dance easily away, sidestepping him and ending up at his back. I jump on him from behind and wrap my arms around his neck. He tries to shake me loose, but I am so much stronger than he is. I know this shocks him. He probably thinks that women are feeble. I feel a sense of satisfaction as he begins to go down, but this is quickly replaced with the knowledge that he also thinks I’m some sort of demon guarding the gates to his afterlife. This one act of overpowering him is unlikely to change his views on women, but he’ll learn soon enough when he gets to the Village. He passes out in my arms and I let him drop to the ground. When I look up, I see that all the Vikings are similarly disabled. I hear Applebaum through my earpiece calling for two teams in the Nest to assist. Eight soldiers jump from their perches high atop the trees and land softly behind us. We begin to zip-tie the Vikings’ hands and pull each of the men to their feet. They are dazed and defeated, all of their bravado washed away. I notice the youngest one, probably close to my age. A single tear falls from his eye. If this was their great test, they have failed. All hope must be lost for them now. As my adrenaline recedes, I feel for this young man. I look over at Ezra and my heart breaks a little more. We haven’t killed anyone, but in a way they are all dead. As soon as they entered The Rift they were reborn into a new life. Ezra’s won’t be as bad off as the poor Norsemen. Still, for the first little while, maybe for a long while, they will all be walking ghosts trapped in a new world that will take them years, if not their lifetimes, to understand.

      I walk over to Ezra and Violet. “Come on, I’ll take you to transport,” I say wearily. I’m usually pumped after this kind of exercise, but looking at these newest arrivals I just feel kind of sad. “Violet, we still have another couple hours on duty. Can you get Boone and Henry and go back to our post? I’ll be there in a minute.”

      “Sure,” she says softly with a smile. Vi is a lovely person. It’s an old-fashioned word, but that’s what she is. Lovely. Not a mean bone in her body. What we do, who we are, is harder for her than anyone. The only thing that keeps her going is the knowledge that she saves way more lives than she is forced to take. She gives me these few moments with Ezra without making any kind of big deal about it, and I love her for that. She squeezes my shoulder and walks back down toward the big rock.

      Ezra and I head for a separate transport vehicle. He will not be going back to base in the same car as the Vikings.

      “So …” he says, drawing out the word, “skill set.”

      I chuckle. “Yep.”

      Ezra lifts up both hands and wiggles his fingers. “Thanks for not zip-tying me.”

      I keep my eyes on the ground. I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to face any more questions, but I know they are coming.

      Sure enough, he asks, “Where are they taking me? And when will I be able to go home?” He stops walking and so do I. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. I finally look him in the face, deep into those gorgeous blue eyes of his.

      “Oh, Ezra, I’m … sorry,” I whisper. I don’t need to say anything more. He still doesn’t know the specifics, but he knows enough now.

      He bites his lip and nods. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Thanks for being nice.” And then, out of nowhere, he pulls me toward him. He is hugging me. It’s not a sexual embrace, but it’s not exactly brotherly, either. It’s a good thing that I had been feeling so sad; it takes a while for my body to get the signal from my brain that our skin has made contact and my face is now in the crook of his neck, and to notice that smell of his, a spicy earthiness mixed with his fear and wonder and the purity of The Rift. I have just enough time to pat him lightly and step back. We walk a couple more minutes in silence until we are just a few feet from the jeep.

      “Just promise me that this won’t be the last time I see you?” It’s a statement, not really a question. Ezra’s intake coordinator, Kendrick, is standing right behind us. I look over at him, and he raises his eyebrows. I stop for a minute and wonder why Ezra would ask me this. Does he like me? Does he think we can hang out later or something? He just saw what I did to those two Vikings. Didn’t that freak him out? Or maybe it’s because I was just the first person he saw when he got here and I was nice.

      “Yeah. Okay,” I say, and Kendrick gives me a stone-faced look. “Ezra—sorry, what’s your last name?”

      “Massad.”

      “Is that Arabic?” I ask, because it would explain his remarkable coloring.

      “Well, yeah, my dad is Moroccan and my mom is American.”

      “Cool. Well, this is Kendrick. Kendrick, this is Ezra. Kendrick is going to be your main guy here for a while and answer all those questions you must have.” Kendrick is one of the better intake coordinators. He has a calming vibe about him and is pretty much a straight shooter.

      “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” Kendrick says, putting his hand out.

      Ezra shakes his hand. “Wa-Alaikum-Salaam. But I’m not really a practicing Muslim. And after today … well, I might have to table the whole religion thing.”

      Kendrick laughs genuinely and opens the rear passenger door of the car. “I hear ya, man.”

      Ezra and I look at each other. There is too much to say.

      There is nothing to say.

      “Bye.” I give him the warmest smile I can.

      “Bye,” he says, also smiling, but his eyes are not happy. “Thanks again.” Not sure how to take that thanks, though. Everything above his mouth is a mixed bag of terror and crushing sadness. I watch the car drive off down the path and stare after it. I know Kendrick didn’t say anything at the time because he thought it would be easier for me to lie. Yeah, sure, I’ll come and see you. No problem, Ezra. The thing is, Citadels my age don’t go to the Village. You don’t have to be an adult to kill here at Battle Ground, but for some reason you need to be one to get posted to the Village. I have always known this, but now, suddenly, it strikes me as extremely worrisome. However, little does Kendrick know that I was being honest. Whatever it takes, I’m going to get into the Village.

      I have decided that Ezra is going to be the only person in the world I will never lie to.

       CHAPTER 2

      It always feels surreal to walk away from The Rift, from combat, from hours of intensive training—and then straight into Safeway. But it’s my turn to cook, and that means it’s my turn to shop. Have to keep up the pretense and all that.

      I push my cart up and down the aisles. I notice the cans stacked neatly one on top of the next, the endless rows of cereal boxes and the bright reds and oranges of the fresh peppers in the produce department. Shoppers pull items off the shelves and fill up their carts, totally unaware of what’s going on just a few miles away. They might notice me, they might pick up that there is something different about me, but they would never be able to guess that I just put the smackdown on a bunch of actual Vikings.

      When I get home, I have about thirty minutes until I have to make dinner. So I decide to just sit on our living room sofa. It is a couch we rarely use in a room we use even less. We are not a “Game night!” family. We are more of a “Great having dinner with you all, I’m going to my room now” family. I wonder if I caused this. I wonder СКАЧАТЬ