The Defiant Read online

  After the citizens have stormed all the UNA headquarters and defeated the soldiers, a plan is in place for the European Coalition to swiftly move in and help us rebels rebuild, before chaos takes hold. The planet cannot bear the UNA’s tyranny any longer, so the European Coalition is eager to give us aid. The UNA is fighting eight different countries at the moment, and they will never stop. The rest of the world can’t tolerate its madness any longer.

  This plan makes me nervous, especially the first part. I don’t know if I’m cut out to be an enemy spy in a rebel cell. I was never in a resistance cell before being sent to the wheel, unlike David and Cass. I am used to battles and fighting, but not hiding and plotting. Those are different skills. Will I be able to urge the citizens to rise up? I’m not sure.

  I also don’t know if we can trust the European Coalition, although from what I’ve heard, they are a fair and relatively peaceful alliance of nations that do not subject their citizens to the violence and atrocities that the UNA does. They will supposedly help us reconstruct the nation, and help us put a new democratic form of government in place. Then, once the UNA is self-­sufficient again, they will allow us to be a free and independent nation once more. Perhaps we will even be able to split back up into Canada, the United States, and Mexico, if the citizens so choose.

  My thoughts are interrupted when I hear a noise from the trees. It’s the sound of footsteps crackling on twigs in the forest. I spin toward the source of the sound. My fingers clench on my tree branch. I crouch low into a fighting stance.

  I remember the shy, timid girl I once was. Before I got sent to Island Alpha, and before I met Liam and Gadya. Now I am no longer scared and weak. I am a warrior, tested by many battles.

  “Let’s do this!” I yell, banging my tree branch on the ground.

  I expect whoever it is to yell something back, but instead I just hear a weird growling noise. Maybe the person is trying to scare me, but it’s not going to work.

  I keep hearing the branches crackle and the leaves rustle.

  And then a figure steps into view.

  I take a step back.

  It is not some villager or rehabilitated drone here to fight me. Instead, it’s a huge lumbering boy, his eyes glazed and his body rippled with muscles and weeping sores. He has a shaved head and homemade tattoos all over his chest.

  He must be one of the drones that the scientists couldn’t save. One of the crazy ones who lived down in the tunnels near the control center. Poisoned by UNA drugs. Banished there by Meira—the onetime leader of the drone army.

  I feel a chill. I can’t believe this is part of the scientists’ test. Those kids were violent semi-mutants. Almost like wild animals. This boy could kill me. I’m shocked the scientists would do this to anyone. I definitely don’t remember this element being part of the test. I even wonder if I’ve been set up, and this is some kind of attempt to murder me.

  I watch the deranged boy, and I try to stay calm. My branch is tight in my hands.

  He pivots his crazed eyes in my direction. He opens his mouth and growls again. His fingernails are like jagged, serrated knives. His teeth are filed into points. In the sunlight, his flesh looks gray and rotting. He takes a step toward me.

  At least he doesn’t have any weapons, I think. And although he’s huge, he’s clumsy and clearly demented. As long as I’m careful, I should be able to hit him on the head and knock him down and out. That should be enough to complete the test.

  But then I hear another sound behind me. I turn around. A second mutant boy is stepping out from the trees. He’s missing some fingers, and he has livid red scars on his face. But the edges of his mouth are turned up into a brutal sneer. His blue eyes, mottled with red around the edges, are fixed directly on me.

  I hear more noises. I don’t know how many of these crazed kids are out here with me, but I know that I’m going to get killed unless I do something. My heart starts pounding. I consider running away, but I imagine that then I would fail the test.

  So I decide to fight.

  I lunge forward at the first boy and strike him as hard as I can with my tree branch, right across the chest. He doesn’t show any sign of pain.

  He swings out one of his meaty fists. He’s slow, and I duck.

  Right then I hear the boy behind me approaching. I swing around with a yell, kicking outward, and catching him off guard. My right foot plows into his kneecap. He stumbles back, startled, nearly staggering to the ground. I rush forward and kick him in the knee again. He screams in agony.

  My boot stamps down over and over, trying to dislocate his kneecap. I have to disable him or he will kill me. I feel bone and cartilage crunching under my boot. Now he’s sobbing and gripping his knee. I spin around.

  Two more boys lumber out of the trees. They both have chiseled teeth and rabid looks in their eyes. I can’t believe the scientists are doing this to me . Is this what the test was like for everyone? How did Gadya pass it? Or anyone else?

  The first boy approaches again. I lash out with my tree branch, whipping it across his face this time. He cries out in pain and his hands press against his eyes. I turn around, prepared to fight the other two boys.

  I pick the smallest one and run toward him with my branch upraised. I swing it as he tries to claw at me with his ragged fingernails. Suddenly, he grabs hold of the branch and whips it out of my hands, tearing the skin of my palms.

  I leap back, raising my hands into fists.

  And then I feel strong hands gripping me around the waist. I cry out in surprise. I can feel the hot breath of one of these awful drones on the back of my neck. I kick back with my foot, trying to hit him in the crotch, but missing.

  “Get off me!” I yell.

  Teeth gouge my shoulder, and I realize that he’s trying to bite me. These drones are primitive animals. They use teeth and claws to fight. I feel his teeth pierce my skin like a row of knives.

  Scared and horrified, I kick back again, finally slamming my heel into his crotch. He releases his teeth as he cries out. I slip out of his grasp.

  But the drone who grabbed my tree branch is fast approaching, holding it in one hand. His eyes are blank, as though his mind has been fried.

  I want to run again. The odds are against me. But I know that I can’t.

  So instead, I race toward the boy with a savage yell. He raises the branch, but I plow into his chest with my shoulder. He tumbles backward with me on top of him.

  The branch crashes down across my back and I cry out. He arches his head back as he struggles to get up. I realize this is my one chance. I slam my right fist into his throat as hard as I can, connecting directly with his Adam’s apple. He chokes and shudders. I can’t relent even for a second.

  I hit him again, savagely crushing his windpipe. He gasps for air. I roll sideways as the drone who bit me lashes out with his hand, his fingernails slicing my forearm.

  I stagger to my feet. The second drone is still lying on the ground clutching his knee. The drone I hit in the throat continues to gasp for breath, flailing wildly on the grass. I stare at the two remaining drones. The one I hit in the face is bleeding from both eyes.

  He opens his mouth and hisses at me, revealing a tongue that has been deliberately sliced in two. The drones do this to themselves, as part of a twisted ritual.

  “You don’t scare me!” I yell. I see a nearby rock, the size of my fist, and I rush forward and pick it up. The drones are both watching me. I can feel their desire for my flesh.

  I stand there glaring back. I don’t know when the test will end. Probably when I’ve defeated all the drones. Maybe even killed them. But is that even possible? It’s four against one. The one I kicked in the knee is already trying to get up again.

  I’m about to run forward and attack the two drones who are still standing, when the one I hit in the crotch suddenly pulls a large knife out from the back of his waistband.

  I’m startled.

  The blade glints in the sunlight.

  He grin
s at me, his eyes burning with madness. His mouth tries to form words, but he can’t speak. His mind has been affected by the UNA drugs. It’s rotting from the inside out. But he can still kill. Those primitive impulses clearly remain intact.

  He races forward with his blade outstretched. I can’t get away in time. He crashes into me, swinging his arm back to stab me. The blade flies forward. I barely dodge the blow. The knife plunges deep into the grass as he grunts.

  Without a second to spare, I slam my rock against his fingers as hard as I can. I hear bones breaking. He yelps and snatches his hand back. And for a second, the knife is left embedded in the earth.

  I grab the handle and use my weight to pull it out of the ground as I roll sideways. I get to my feet, panting. The drone is clutching his hand. Blood is dripping from it. He and the other drone stare at the knife in my hand.

  I begin advancing on them, holding the knife with the tip pointed downward, so I can slice up at them with my full strength if they approach. The drones don’t look scared or worried. They look angry and demented.

  I glance behind me and see the two other drones still on the ground. The one I punched in the throat is barely breathing. I doubt he’s going to survive. The other drone can’t stand up because his knee keeps giving out.

  I turn back and continue toward the two remaining drones. They split up, moving sideways, one to my right and one to my left, so they will be harder to attack. I crouch low with my knife, ready to slice whichever one comes my way.

  The boy with the injured hand makes the first move. He lunges toward me unexpectedly. I swing my knife up right before he hits me. The blade slides upward and over his chest and neck, cutting through his skin. He screams so loudly that it temporarily deafens me. Then his elbow crashes against my jaw. My vision sparkles for a moment. I kick against his clawing, bleeding body.

  I scream as someone starts pulling my hair. It’s the other drone. He has run forward, taken a fistful of my hair in his hand, and knotted it around his fingers.

  I lash out with my knife and try to cut his hand, but he moves out of the way. I scream again as he pulls my hair. I can’t find his hand anymore. So instead I use the knife to slash off part of my hair. I get free.

  The boy staggers back, off balance, holding my hair in his hand. Then I slam the knife into the back of the drone who is bleeding on top of me.

  He doesn’t scream. He just slams my head again violently with his elbow. I stab him again and again in the back, as I kick against his body. He keeps forcing me against the ground. I don’t feel any pain, just numbness and shock. This can’t be the test—something must have gone wrong . I’m going to die here.

  Then the boy is off me. I scrabble away across the grass. I glance back and see him convulsing there. The ground is soaked with his blood from multiple knife wounds.

  Only one drone is standing. The one who pulled my hair. He looks uncertain, now that his fellow drones are dying or injured.

  I feel exhausted and terrified. I grip my bloody knife. I just want this to be over.

  “Come on!” I try to yell, but the words come out like a broken whisper. My whole body feels bruised and battered.

  The drone keeps watching me. He is like a beast of prey. But even beasts of prey know when the odds are against them. I see his eyes pivot to take in the bloody bodies of his companions, writhing on the ground.

  I raise my knife higher. My arm is shaking, and I try to keep it steady. I know that I cannot show any fear.

  The drone bares his teeth at me. I prepare myself for the onslaught.

  But then, startling me, he turns around and starts loping toward the jungle. It takes me a second to realize what is happening. He is running away.

  Should I give chase? I can’t believe the test has been allowed to go on for this long. Or be this brutal. I’m covered with wounds.

  The drone is near the edge of the forest. Soon he’ll be out of view.

  I’m trying to decide what to do—when suddenly an arrow flies out of the trees and strikes him through the back. The drone keels over, dead. He didn’t even have time to scream.

  I just stand there, the knife in my hand.

  A second passes. Then another. The injured drones around me are struggling on the ground, but none of them poses a threat.

  I drop my knife. It tumbles to the grass. I refuse to kill them if they’re no longer a danger to me. If killing is what the test requires, then I’ve done enough of it.

  I glance around, looking for the hidden cameras again. “I’m done!” I yell. “The test is over.”

  “It sure is!” an excited voice calls out. A girl emerges from the trees nearby, clutching her bow and arrow.

  “Gadya?” I ask, confused but relieved to see her. She looks the same as always: a tangled mess of blue hair, homemade piercings, tattoos, and haunted dark eyes.

  She rushes over and hugs me hard, slinging the bow and arrow behind her.

  “You made it!” she says into my ear. “I knew you would!”

  “I didn’t!”

  I see Cass emerge from the trees behind her, lithe and poised, also holding a bow and arrow. Cass is frowning. She runs a hand over her short black hair. Her brown skin looks luminous in the sunlight.

  “You got lucky,” Cass mutters when she reaches us. “I had tougher mutants to fight.” But she hugs me too.

  Other kids step out from behind Gadya and Cass, and guard us from the injured drones.

  I realize that I’m shaking. “I could have been killed,” I tell Gadya. “I barely made it!”

  “Naw,” she says. “We had bows and guns trained on the drones the whole time. If any of ’em got close to killing you, we would have shot them first.” She pauses. “But then you would have failed the test.”

  I take a deep breath.

  “Nice job making that drone run away,” Cass adds, somewhat grudgingly. “Impressive work.”

  I feel sick to my stomach. I wonder what will happen to the injured drones. Will they be killed, or will they be used to fight someone else? The one with the crushed larynx is unconscious. I can’t believe the scientists are treating them this way. As though they aren’t even human.

  “Did you know it would be crazy drones?” I ask Gadya and Cass. They shake their heads.

  “No,” Gadya says. “That was a surprise from the scientists. To shake things up and make the test harder and less predictable for us.”

  I nod. I know that each of these insane drones was once normal. Just like me. But the UNA drugs affected them differently and turned them into monsters. It’s only luck and genetics that prevented me from such awful mutations.

  “Where’s Liam?” I ask Gadya.

  Gadya rolls her eyes. “You should be celebrating that you passed the test. You’re going to the UNA with me! Quit worrying about Liam.”

  “I’m not worrying. I just want to know.”

  “He’s in a mandatory strategy session with some hunters. He’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  I nod. I see scientists now at the edges of the trees. They put shackles on the injured and dying drones and drag them away. The drones struggle, but the scientists keep them under control.

  “I need some water,” I tell Gadya, exhausted. “And I need to get cleaned up.” I glance down at my clothes. They are covered with sweat and blood. I stink from the battle.

  Gadya nods. “Come with me. I’ll help you find something fresh to wear.”  We start heading away from the testing ground and back into the main camp, along with Cass.

  I passed the test. I will be leaving this island and going back to the UNA with Liam and Gadya.

  I look down at my hands. Today I killed someone, almost on instinct. My hands are shaking, so I jam them into my pockets. I must prepare myself to fight and win battles more intense than this one. My future depends on it. I can’t afford to feel afraid.

  2 RETURNING

  Three Weeks Later

  TODAY IS THE DAY when we begin the journey back to the UNA. O
f all the kids and scientists, only a small number of us have managed to pass the brutal test. Some didn’t even bother taking it because they knew they would fail, or they let their fear overwhelm them. But more than half of the entire population of the island volunteered to try, even if most of them never got past the isolation tanks.

  I sit next to Liam and Gadya in a giant wooden meeting hall constructed from oak beams, with a thatched roof. It’s just us and a group of fifty other kids. The ones who have passed the test. Dr. Vargas-Ruiz, the head scientist and one of the leaders of our colony, stands in front of us.

  “I just want to review the strategy with you one last time, before you return to the UNA,” she says.

  “Boring,” Gadya mutters, but I shush her. While we’ve heard the plan before, and gone over it in great detail, I want to hear what Dr. Vargas-Ruiz says.

  “As you know, five small airplanes will be taking you back to the UNA today, each one covered with radar-resistant material,” she says. “Each plane will be carrying ten to twelve people, along with two pilots.”

  I glance around at the kids. I wish more people were going with us.

  “Once you arrive in the UNA, each of you will be sheltered by different rebel cells. They have already prepared for your arrival. You will share your knowledge with these rebels, and travel with them to different areas of the nation.” She gazes around at us. “You are symbols that the UNA can be defeated. The rebels must grow their numbers. Your presence will encourage them to do that, and give them heroes to believe in. Many civilians want to fight the UNA, but they are afraid. You need to share your stories and information with them. You are pioneers. You must help the rebel cells find more recruits and coordinate the cells.”

  “Are you sure this will work?” Liam asks.