Mikey picks up the flat rock and turns it over.
I gasp. A sewer rat is tied to the rock, a knife plunged into its round belly, drops of blood decorating its filthy gray fur. Three simple words march across the top of the rock.
Down with scientists.
“They blame me,” Mikey says, his voice hollow. “I was supposed to protect them from this fate. I failed.”
He walks to the window. I realize all of a sudden that the once peaceful night is now filled with shouts and people, chaos and anger.
Mikey rounds on Tanner. “You aren’t safe here in the compound. The people are angry with me, but I’m one of them. You’re the enemy. If they find you here…”
“They already know he’s here,” I whisper, thinking about the glares from the passersby. The insults flung from the guy who heckled me. “They saw his white lab coat this afternoon when we entered the compound.”
“You have to go, then.” Mikey strides to an inside wall and slams his palm against the corner. The wall slides open, revealing the secret tunnel inside. Ryder and I have played in these tunnels for years, but I’ve never actually used one. Not for real. “Get him out of here, Jessa. Ryder and I will talk to the people. Settle them down before they do something they regret.”
Footsteps stampede up the front porch, and heavy fists batter the doors. More glass breaks. Another rock lands in the middle of the floor.
“Go,” Mikey whispers harshly. “I’ll take care of this, but you need to leave. Both of you. You’re associated with him now, Jessa. They’ll think you’re a traitor for cavorting with the enemy. I’m a scientist, too, but I’ve been their leader for longer. They’ll give me a chance to explain myself before they attack. They won’t be as forgiving if they find you.”
Panic climbs my throat. Is he right? Am I one of them? A vision sprints across my mind. The one where my blobby handprint marks me as the chairwoman’s assistant.
No. I will never be on her side. Never.
“I don’t understand,” I say weakly. “These are our friends—our community. They wouldn’t hurt me.”
Something crosses his eyes, something dark and ugly that suggests he’s been here before. “Trust me, Jessa, you’ve never seen anything like a mob-fueled rage. These people have lost their minds to a riot. We have no idea what they’ll do or not do. Go!”
We don’t wait any longer. I grab Tanner’s hand. We duck into the tunnel. And we run.
21
The tunnel leads to a metal pipe. We crawl along the cramped space on our hands and knees. A few inches of water, sludge, and who knows what else line the bottom, and the flashlight I attached to my forehead—one of the supplies we found at the mouth of the tunnel—cuts a swath in the darkness. Not that it matters. All I see is more tube, more water, and more sludge.
My arms ache, and my back hurts. With every forward motion, my palms sink into something wet and squishy, and the smell is almost unbearable. But I keep going. I keep crawling. If Mikey’s right, Tanner and I do not want to be caught on the compound.
Above us, the ground rumbles, as though hundreds of feet are pounding across it. That doesn’t make sense. We have only about fifty people living inside the compound. But people from outside Harmony must be joining the riot. Other Underground members and sympathizers. It’s like a massive army is gathering. The thought makes me sway on my hands and knees. The Underground army. Mikey’s army. I always feared that one day the Underground and ComA would declare war against each other. I guess that day’s nearer than I thought.
“Jessa, you okay?” Tanner’s voice echoes in the tube, and his hand closes briefly over my ankle. My skin is dirty, his fingers are probably dirtier, but the touch warms my heart and is enough to get me moving again.
“Only a little while longer,” I say, sidestepping his question.
“Really? You can tell how far we’ve crawled?”
“No clue,” I admit. “I was just trying to be encouraging.”
He snorts, his fingers grazing my ankle again. A glow descends on me, dim and diffuse in the dark tunnel, but so warm that even the sludge and filth can’t mar it. I could crawl forever, if he would touch me every few feet.
And then my hand slides out from beneath me, and my chest plops into the sludge, splattering drops all over my face.
Ew. I grit my teeth, wiping my face as best as I can.
You can do this, Jessa. You have no choice. With reserves I didn’t know I had, I propel myself forward, knee after painstaking knee, until we reach an open crawl space.
A grate crosses over our heads, and the moon shines down on us. I switch off my flashlight, in case there’s anyone outside the grate, and Tanner and I sag against the wall.
“Here.” He lifts his shirt, flipping it inside out, and wets it with some water from his canteen—another piece of equipment we found in the tunnel. Cupping my chin, he carefully wipes my forehead, cheeks, and mouth.
His fingers accidentally brush against my lips, and we both go perfectly still. For a moment, all I can hear is the sound of ragged breathing. Mine or his, I can’t tell. My heart pounds so hard I think it might break open my chest, and my whole world narrows down to his mouth inches away from mine.
The moment seems to stretch into eternity.
And then, he drops his shirt and backs away. “You look atrocious. And to think I kissed those lips before the siren interrupted us.”
I flush. “You didn’t seem to be putting up too much of a fight.”
Even in the dim light, I can see his eyes watching me as if I’m just another specimen under his microscope. “You saw us kiss in the future. I wasn’t about to defy Fate for something as meaningless as a kiss.”
I blink. And blink again. He’d said almost the same thing right before he lowered his lips. But at the moment, I didn’t think he actually meant it. “That was the only reason you kissed me?” I ask in a low voice. “Because you didn’t want to send out ripples that would change our universe?”
He shrugs. “You never know how one small action might change the course of our future. If we hadn’t kissed, who knows what state the world would be in now?”
“You can’t seriously believe that.”
“The future is a funny thing, Jessa,” he says. “I saw exactly what your sister’s action did to our universe. Let’s just say I don’t like messing with Fate without a good reason.”
I rock back on my heels, my mind whirling. Everything he’s saying is perfectly reasonable. If I’d stopped to think about it, I would’ve come to the same conclusion. And yet, and yet…I can’t get over what he’s ultimately implying. That he didn’t want to kiss me.
He didn’t want to kiss me.
When, in that moment, I felt like that was all I ever wanted.
Heat floods my body, followed by an icy flash of cold right to my core. It’s stupid to feel hurt. It might even reach the level of moronic. Never once has he said he’s interested in me. Quite the opposite, in fact. And if I’m dumb enough to have developed some sort of…feeling…for him, then that’s my own damn fault.
I puff out a breath, annoyed at myself. I will not be that girl, I think fiercely. The one who’s going to worry about a boy when there’s a mob after us. I won’t.
Gritting my teeth, I deliberately tilt my head toward the grate. It’s quiet. No screams or shouts from outside. No rushing feet. Either the riot’s died down or the people are all distracted elsewhere.