Chapter 18
“Update?” I asked as we huddled at the base of the inner defensive wall. Everyone else had been roused from sleep except Sam, who’d been on his shift on the wall instructing the newcomers on how the slingshots worked.
Tito and Axel leaned against the newly built fortification, both of them wide-eyed. A few others joined us, mostly kids we’d grown up with. There were Miguel 1 and Miguel Mustache, best friends. They had been born on the same day, both to mothers who’d supposedly hated each other. I didn’t really know the story, but they’d always been known as the Miguels.
There was Daniel, whom I didn’t know very well—not anymore, though we’d been friends when we were kids, and Roger had named him “Oliver friend number two.” Despite that, I couldn’t even really remember ever talking to him. I remembered when he’d gotten his front teeth knocked out with a baseball when we were around eight, and one of the teeth had gotten embedded in his lip. That had earned him the nickname the Walrus, but we’d all stopped using it when his grandmother had cried about it.
There were more, too. Fewer than there should have been. Iwondered on that. Despite the numbers at the farm, so many more were missing. Were they all hiding? Were they already dead?
We didn’t update all of their bracelets with the new net, but Lulu did help install an ancient walkie-talkie system that worked on the bracelets; it had been designed for use on planetary colonies without an orbital ship system to bounce off of. The system was crap, making Roger’s voice sound static-filled. He would be able to send only video and images over the bracelets of those in the original group. But it worked well enough.
Ariceli stood next to Lulu, and the difference in their heights was striking. Ariceli was taller than me, though not quite as tall as Tito or Axel. She’d said maybe two words since she’d appeared. She’d been working with Rosita on the escape-tunnel project. Her grandparents on both sides were long dead, and she now lived with her cousin just north of Burnt Ends, working as a blacksmith. Her cousin had decided to hide in the wilderness, but Ariceli had come south. Her aunt’s orchard was here, and she came every season to help. Every year we saw her, she looked more and more jacked, like she could rip any of us apart.
Sam was making a concerted effort not to look Ariceli in the eye. They had dated when they were both fifteen years old, and the “relationship” had lasted probably two weeks at most. Sam’s fiancée, Harriet, was actually pretty good friends with her and didn’t seem to hold any ill will toward her, so it was a big mystery as to why Sam seemed to be afraid of the tall, silent woman whenever she visited.
Axel seemed to think Sam was afraid of her because of how built she was—because she was both taller and stronger than him, and it hurt his male pride. I didn’t think that was the case.
I’d asked him once, and he’d grumbled petulantly, “I’m not afraid of her. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” and that was that.
Roger wasn’t with us but in the hive in his recharging unit. His voice came through our bracelets. “Most of the Yanez farm appearsto be destroyed. There is still chaotic fighting. I believe ten of the mechs have been destroyed or disabled along with another three that may be salvageable with the field repair drone. All the downed units save two are the Recon units, which RMI seems to target first. All six members of Team Skinner are down, and I believe some of them were deliberately killed by members of the other teams. A small contingent of RMI soldiers is holed up in a fortified bunker. The invaders are currently lining the Heavy unit up for a direct attack. It took some time for the various teams to coordinate, but it appears they’re now all working together.”
“RMI?” someone asked.
“That’s what the news feed is calling them now,” Lulu said. “The Rhythm Mafia Insurgents.”
“Wait,” Sam said. “All of them? Like, across the whole planet, not just on the peninsula?”
Lulu looked annoyed. “Yes, Sam, the whole planet.”
Sam beamed. “Well, what do you know? I bet you regret quitting the band now, don’t you?”
“Roger,” I said, “what about the fabricators?”
“There is too much smoke to determine their status.”
“And what about his animals?” Rosita asked.
“Undetermined,” Roger said, “though it appears some chickens have fled into the woods.”
“They are magic chickens after all,” Sam muttered.
“There goes tomorrow’s raid if the recycler is gone,” Lulu said.
We needed that thing if we wanted to really build our defenses. Despite everything we’d done, we were still working with out-of-date tech. A recycler was basically a filament factory, which would allow us to turn almost anything into a format that could be fed into the printers. We really needed like ten of the things, but just one of them would be invaluable. We were planning on trying to steal it, but if it had been blown up…
“Update,” Roger said. “The Heavy’s main attack destroyed thebunker, killing all but three of the remaining RMI soldiers. Those three moved off aboard a high-speed vehicle. They are moving southeast along the Old Trail. Several Cheetahs are moving to pursue.”
I suddenly felt very cold. I looked at the others.
“South?” I asked. “Like, toward us?”
“Holy shit,” Sam said, looking at me, eyes wide. “Those assholes.”
“They’re kiting,” I said.
“Oliver friend number three,” Roger said, “the clock just turned past midnight, and you’ve already earned two frowny stickers. But it appears your supposition is correct.”
“Kiting?” Rosita asked.
