Nazirah shudders, just thinking about it. “Grum is an informer?” she asks. She doesn’t want to believe it, but the pounding in her head reminds her it’s true.
“He’s been a narc all along,” Taj says, coughing. He kicks the ground angrily. “All our work with the loggers, all the good we thought we were doing … for nothing! The Medis knew from the start! They were just biding their time!”
“Biding their time for what?”
“For you, you stupid idiot!” screams Lumi, struggling against the ropes. Ravines of splinters and scratches line her arms while tears streak her blotchy face, the evidence of countless hours of failed escape attempts.
“Me?” she asks. “But why go through all this trouble? The campaign is almost over! The Medis are already attacking us!”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” asks Taj. “Irri, you’re the face of the rebellion, whether you accept it or not. People rally around you! Intermix and native, you give them a reason to fight, a reason to hope.”
“But I haven’t done anything!”
“You’ve done enough to warrant your public execution tomorrow,” Taj says.
“Just think of how the rebels will honor your memory,” Lumi adds dryly.
“What is your problem, Lumi?” Nazirah yells. “I didn’t exactly plan for this to happen!”
“Of course you didn’t!” Lumi shouts, equally angry. “But they kidnapped us last night to get information about you! Grum drugged Aldrik at the pub to get to you! They waited in your room, all night! And didn’t you keep them waiting.”
“Lumi, stop.”
“I won’t stop, Taj! How long have you been fucking Adamek, Nazirah?”
“Shut up right now,” Nazirah hisses.
“I won’t shut up!” Lumi yells, panicking. “We knew something was going on with you two yesterday, even though you lied through your teeth! But I was so right about you! You’re a complete hypocrite, judging me when you do the exact same thing! At least I was honest!” Her blue eyes are terrified. “You realize we’re going to die, Nazirah! Taj and I are going to die! And it’s all because of you!”
“We’re getting out of here, Lumi!” Nazirah cries. “I promise.”
“Fuck your promises!”
“Lumi, enough!” snaps Taj, pale and exhausted.
But Nazirah fears Lumi is completely right. They are going to die. And it is her fault. “Where is this train headed?” she asks suddenly.
“Where do you think?” Lumi replies bitterly.
Nazirah sticks the dagger into her waistband, stumbling to her knees even though her body tells her to quit. She drags the handcuffs up the metal pole so she can stand, clutching it for support. The vibrating wall, Nazirah now recognizes to be a sliding freight door. She grasps the handle, fingers slipping, and pulls hard. The door slides only marginally. Using all her strength, Nazirah kicks the door open further. The wind whistles through the compartment, whipping her hair as she observes the foreign landscape outside … flashing lights, acrid stench, hanging smog, looming skytowers in the distance.
“Mediah,” Nazirah whispers, eyes wide. She turns to them, trying to be heard over the roaring wind. “These freight trains carry resources into the capital!” she shouts. “They need to run in the opposite direction as well, right?”
“Your point?”
“We can hop on a train going south!” Nazirah replies. “Warn everyone about Grum! Who knows what information he gave Gabirel? The Medis must be planning a major attack on headquarters! Ivan’s forces are just a diversion!”
“Oh sure!” yells Lumi. “Just hop on a train! Never mind the Medi guards, or that we don’t know where these trains are, or that we are all tied up!”
“Can you think of a better idea?” Nazirah snaps. “I’m all ears!”
The train enters a tunnel, traveling beneath the bedrock of the acid moat surrounding the capital. Nazirah hears loud footsteps in the next compartment. A second later, Ramses slides the connecting door open. He walks inside, tapping his assault rifle casually against his leg.
Now that she isn’t so shocked to see him, Nazirah fully takes in Ramses’ mangled appearance. He is somehow standing, even with an exaggerated limp and hunched back. Both of his arms are heavily bandaged. But it is his face that is truly grisly. His cheekbones are still smashed, nose shattered and collapsed. He is nearly unrecognizable. But Nazirah would recognize him instantly. It is those sadistic, inhumane eyes. The eyes of the father, reincarnated in the son.
“Trying to escape, Nazirah?” he wheezes, standing before her. If only he would come a little closer, within range of her dagger. “I hope my appearance didn’t startle you too badly. I’m afraid we are both looking worse for wear.” He sneers. “The Medis ensured my survival. But they found it amusing to leave my face like this … a little reminder of who I am and whom I serve.”
“How could you do this?” she asks. “Help Gabirel? Betray your people? For what?”
“For honor!” he spits. “For my father! To once and for all wipe the patronizing smirk off Adamek Morgen’s face! He has disgraced my bloodline for long enough.”
“You are the disgrace!” Nazirah screams. “Your father would be ashamed of you! There is nothing honorable about you!” She laughs. “You’re not half the man he is!”
“My father allowed himself to be killed by a Medi, as did his father before him,” Ramses growls, taking a step closer. “He may have disfigured me, but I will kill that Medi and everything he holds dear. And you dare say I am not half the man of my father?”
“I wasn’t talking about the Khan.”
Ramses aims the rifle at Nazirah’s head. “Take it back,” he snarls.
“Pull the trigger,” she says boldly, calling his bluff. “I dare you!” The train begins to slow, groaning on its brakes. Ramses gets an unsettling, malicious look. Nazirah realizes a second too late what he plans to do. “No!” she screams. Ramses pivots, taking a precise shot. The bullet slices the air, colliding with hair, scalp, bone, and finally organ. Taj slumps forward, his skull shrapnel, brain pulp.
“Taj!” Lumi gags as brains and blood spurt across her face … remnants of the voice of reason, of the kind boy who loved to kick a ball around.
“I warned you.” Ramses faces Lumi. “Sorry, love,” he says, “but there’s really no use for you, either.”
Lumi’s eyes bulge as Ramses aims the rifle once more. Nazirah’s instincts kick in. She grabs the metal pole with both hands, vaulting herself upwards and wrapping her legs around his neck, effectively pulling and strangling him. He takes several shots but misses, shattering the wooden pillar Lumi is bound to, bullets ricocheting off the compartment walls. Lumi shrieks, frantically pulling off the twine. Ramses wrests himself free of Nazirah’s grip, points the rifle at Lumi. She cowers before him, frozen.
He is close enough now.
Nazirah doesn’t think twice as she reaches for the dagger. She has failed her parents, Aneira, now Taj. Nazirah will not fail again. She lunges forward, screaming, slitting his throat in one satisfying, electrifying motion. His eyes roll backwards, whites showing. Blood spurts in pulses from his neck. Ramses collapses onto the floor, rifle clattering out the open door and onto the tracks below. He convulses for a moment, gurgling. And then he is quiet.
Nazirah stares dumbly at him, at her own bloody hand, back at him again. Lumi is hugging her, thanking her. But Nazirah doesn’t feel her. The train pulls into an underground station, almost completely stopped. “Come on, Nazirah!” Lumi cries urgently. “Let’s get out of here!”
“I can’t,” she says sadly, holding up her one hand. “I’m still handcuffed.”
Lumi grabs the metal pole, trying to derail it. Her long blonde hair is matted, caked red. There is desperation in her eyes. She drops to the ground, frantically searching Ramses’ body. “I can’t find the key!” she yells hysterically. “There’s no key! Nazirah, there’s no key!”
Lumi snaps her head up. There is distinct echoing nearby, footsteps drawing closer.