Meridian Six

She stumbled back, sobbing. "We have to try!"

My chest felt like someone had bound my ribs with steel bands. Icarus looked at me for help. All I could think was that I would not let another child die by Troika hands. "That bomb has to go off no matter what. We need to get over that fence. You two go and wait for the first explosion and then grab the kid and run like hell."

Dare sniffed. "What about you? How will you get out?"

"We don't have time to argue about this. We need to get in and make this happen or we'll lose Rabbit and any chance to pull off this mission," I said. "If you make it out alive, we'll rendezvous down river, in the abandoned church."

With that, I turned my back on the pair before they could stop me. There was no other way this could play out. If I tried to save Rabbit and Castor saw me, he would stop at nothing to kill all of us. Better for him to believe this was a ragtag team of random rebels.

It took me a few minutes to make it to the fence. In that amount of time, the furor over capturing Rabbit still hadn't died down. The guards had done a quick sweep of the area round where he was captured, but finding nothing, decided to gather in clumps near the main building to watch Castor decide what to do with the kid. I tried to keep my eyes away from that area because I couldn’t afford to be distracted by what they were doing to the kid. Losing my nerve now would sign all of our death warrants.

As I neared the fence, I listened for the tell-tale hum that indicated electricity. Even though it was silent, I still threw at small metal wrench at it to be sure. When it hit without causing a spark, I knew it was safe to climb. I should have been surprised the Troika hadn't bothered electrifying the fence, but they always underestimated what a group of determined rebels could accomplish. The metal fence was twelve feet high but the pillars were made from wood and stone, which gave me hand- and footholds and some semblance of cover until I got to the top.

I landed on the other side and crouched down to the balls of my feet. A quick glance around proved that the area was clear. Further into the compound, I could hear shouting and the sounds of running boots. But for now I was blessedly alone. The outbuilding that held the propane tanks was fifty feet from the fence. I ran there full-tilt and reached the back of the building in no time.

The black box was still attached to the bottom of the window. A quick peek inside made my stomach drop and a whispered curse escape my lips. A handful of guards were inspecting the tanks. Probably they were worried Rabbit had tried to sabotage them from inside the building. I ducked down so my head was below the window. Looking up, I studied the face of the device to figure out what had gone wrong. A green light flashed on the front, but the count-down timer wasn't engaged. I realized that in his rush, Rabbit had forgotten to flip the final switch. Chewing my bottom lip, I adjusted the function of the timer so it gave us five minutes, instead of two, before it exploded. Then, I held my breath, sent a prayer to a God I didn’t believe in, and clicked on the switch that engaged the count down. Red numbers flashed up 5:00. Once I made sure it flipped over to 4:59, I took off running.

And ran straight into a chest wearing a black uniform.

My adrenaline spiked and lightning zinged under my sweaty skin. Luckily, he was as surprised as I was by our collision. Unlucky for him, I recovered first and grabbed his gun from his holster. I slammed the metal into his temple and pulled the trigger. His eyes widened and a gasp escaped his mouth. In the next instant, he slumped in to me. I let him fall to the ground and ran. The gun's weight was reassuring in my hand. I started for the fence again, but a female scream reached my ears.

Dare.

Fuck. I swiveled and hauled ass across the compound, shooting any guard I ran into along the way. The gunfire drew more and more guards, but I didn't care. If I didn't get myself and my team out of there in the next three minutes we'd all be dead anyway.

I broke into the clearing at a dead run. The heat from the furnaces radiated off the building like a sun. Sweat covered every inch of skin and my heart pounded depth charges in my chest. In the center of the clearing, Dare knelt on the ground next to Rabbit's still form. Meanwhile Icarus stood defiant before Castor despite the dozens of gun aimed at him. I didn't slow my pace. Just ran toward them like a wild woman, screaming. The guards turned to see what the commotion was about and when they saw me their mouths fell open.

I was almost to Castor and his prisoners when a very large body stepped in my path. I skidded to a stopped mere inches from Astyanax. He loomed above me like a colossus. His fangs flashed in the light from the moon and the fires forming inside The Factory. My bowls went watery, but I raised the gun.

A massive fist swiped the weapon away with little effort. His other hand swung around and made contact with my jaw. I fell back as Castor started laughing.

"Meridian Six," Castor drawled. He held a hand up to forestall Astyanax's advance. "Why am I not surprised to find you in league with this pathetic group of weaklings."

I spit a mouthful of blood at his feet. "Let us go or I'll set off the bomb I just installed on your propane stores." I held up the remote we'd used earlier to warn Rabbit. Castor bought the lie and stilled.

"What are your demands?" His tone was too casual. He was coiling like a snake preparing to strike.

"Let the boy go," I said, looking him directly in his yellow eyes. "The other two, as well."

Castor's eyebrows rose up. "That's all?"

I shook the remote in the air. "We’ll see."

The corner of his red lips lifted. "Never try to bluff a professional liar, Six." He nodded toward Astyanax. I felt the air shift as the general moved toward me. In slow motion, I pivoted and held up an arm to ward off the fangs. But in the next instant, the deafening boom of an explosion blew across the clearing like a hurricane of fire, bringing with it searing heat and a concussion like a punch to the diaphragm.

The impact knocked me off my feet and sent my body flying toward the spot where Icarus had stood a moment earlier. A high-pitched whine filled my ears and my eyes stung and were wet. I swiped at them and my hand came away bloody. Despite the pain and confusion, a single thought screamed inside my head: RUN!

The chain reaction hadn't spread through the Factory's pipeline. But it was coming. If I didn't get us out of there now we were going to burn. Even though my eyes hurt like hellfire, I squinted through the smoke and located Icarus a couple of feet away. I groped toward him. "Icarus! Can you hear me?" I couldn't hear myself, but judging from the way my throat ached, I was screaming. He rolled over and blinked once, twice, three times before he jerked into motion.

"Dare? Rabbit?" he mouthed.

"There!" Dare was lying on top of Rabbit over near a wheel of the rover. Together, Icarus and I leaned into each other, supporting each other's weights. We stumbled to the ground by Dare and pulled her off him. A trickle of blood glared red beneath her left ear and her eyes were shot through with broken capillaries.

Icarus grabbed her off the ground, supporting all of her weight when she didn't do it on her own. He jerked his head toward Rabbit. I leapt toward the kid and hauled him up to my shoulder with strength borne from fear and adrenaline. When I turned to follow Icarus, I saw Astyanax's smoldering body nearby. His large body had taken most of the brunt of the explosion and it showed. A quick look around revealed dozens of other burning bodies, but I didn't detect Castor's among the injured.

Shaking myself, I sped up to follow Icarus onto the open door of the rover. I prayed he knew how to fly it because we didn't have time for a tutorial. The ground was shaking as explosions occurred in the pipeline underground.

I lay Rabbit on one of the plush benches inside the rover and went to hit the button to seal us in. The sound of the engines whirring to life filled the cabin. Icarus had dumped a shell-shocked Dare into the co-pilot's seat and taken the throttle. "Hold on!" he yelled.

The world tilted wildly. I grabbed onto a handle and held on with white knuckles. As the earth fell away below us, it felt like I'd left my stomach behind. Through the front window I could see the stars getting closer, which meant we were getting farther from The Factory. The last ten minutes had felt like an eternity.

"Shit, Six." Icarus's warning came a split second before The Factory went boom. The concussion rocked the rover, causing it to dip and stutter in mid-air. A sensor started beeping furiously.

"Hang on!" Icarus yelled. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I braced my feet and grabbed onto handholds on the ceiling.

Finally stable, I turned to look out of the rear window of the rover. Where The Factory had stood now looked like the mouth of hell. We'd done it. We'd destroyed the Troika's dragon before it could consume any humans.

The sensor stopped beeping and the rover's altitude leveled off. For a moment, I allowed myself to just breath easy.

Rabbit groaned from the bench. My short-lived respite over--I moved to check on him. The bullet had gone straight through his shoulder. Not a lethal wound, but blood loss could pose a major problem. His skin was pale and clammy, and his mouth worked like he wanted to scream, but he didn't open his eyes.

"How is he?" Icarus called.

"Alive, but he needs medical attention."

Before Icarus could answer, the door to the rover's electrical closet burst open.

Castor launched at me looking like something straight out of hell. His once-elegant face was bloody and patches of skin were charred beyond recognition. I fell back into the bench where Rabbit lay as Castor’s weight slammed into me. His fangs snapped like a beast’s toward my neck. To heal his wounds, he'd need an infusion of blood. My blood.

"Icarus!" I screamed. But I knew he couldn't help me. Someone had to fly the rover.

"The Prime should have killed you when your brat turned out to be a low blood!" he snarled.

I fought and scratched at the vampire's face. I kicked with heavy, sore legs. I screamed my rage at his horrific, burned face.

Movement from my peripheral vision. Then Castor's weight lifted off me. Dare had shaken off her shock and come to the rescue. She and Castor faced off. Her yellow eyes flashed and she hissed, flashing those empty fang sockets. Despite being a eunuch, she looked every inch the fearsome predator capable of murder.