“It can’t be,” I whisper. “That’s not possible.”
“I’m sorry,” Sasha says. “But it is.”
“What is it?” Sketch asks. She stands up, grabs my shoulders, and whirls me around to look at her. “Woodson, what the hell is it?”
I can still see the image burned into my head, a massive stretch of silver, standing out in the ocean, holding us in. This was supposed to be the Outside. But how can that be, when we’re still trapped?
“It’s a Perimeter,” I say.
My words settle in, and I know from the horror in my voice that they are true.
CHAPTER 54
ZEPHYR
There’s a Perimeter around what’s left of the country.
It’s miles and miles away, out in the ocean. You can’t see it without the telescope, even if you’re standing onshore staring until your eyes hurt.
If you can pretend it’s not there, you can pretend you’re free.
But what is freedom, really, if it’s all a lie?
The General sits down on the roof and explains what he knows.
“A long time ago, about twenty years, this country was the United States. Big world power, if you can believe it. Damn, those were good times. We were strong. We had all the power, all the answers.” The General points to his chest, where that strange symbol sits. Red and white and blue. The flag. “And then it all went to hell when the Plague hit. Huge epidemic, and it wasn’t just here. It was everywhere, all over the world.” He sighs, looks down at his boots. “People were dropping left and right. It was airborne. Hit the world like a storm, and we didn’t stand a chance in hell.”
Meadow nods. “That’s why we were in the Shallows. Or why we thought, anyways. Our whole lives, we believed the Pins we had were keeping the Plague away from us. In reality, it was just my mother’s Eternity Cure. The nanites are in all of us, in our blood.”
The General nods. “The government couldn’t do anything to stop the Plague, and it all fell apart.”
“Until my mother,” Meadow says. Her voice breaks. I see sorrow in her eyes. Then disgust. It’s like a constant battle for her.
Will it make things better, or worse, when she finds out I was the one who killed Lark?
The General goes on. “The Initiative stepped up. They were strong, and they weren’t dying from the Plague, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before any dying country doesn’t follow the new world leaders who have the answer to cheating death. The Initiative brought your mother with them, a young, brilliant woman they’d found in Florida. She created the Eternity Cure. People stopped dying. It was the answer we’d been looking for. It was sent airborne, and waterborne, to fight the Plague. All over the world, governments were distributing it.”
“So the Initiative isn’t just here?” Meadow asks. “Where are they?”
“The Initiative is the US branch.” He shrugs. “There are others, in other countries, but we lost contact. Satellite systems went haywire, when the power went out with it. The Perimeter you saw in the ocean, it surrounds what’s left of this country. Stretches from sea to sky, and it’s electromagnetic. Scary as hell. Uncrossable. Those who try, die.”
“So the whole country is prisoner,” Meadow says. She’s taking the news well.
I’m freaking out so bad I can’t even find words.
“Why?” Sketch asks.
“Because the Initiative offered up the United States as one of the controlled variables in a worldwide experiment,” the General says. “We’re the country that’s trying to reverse things. The testing sites, the Shallows, the Ridge, the Drop. It’s all ways to deal with the Cure. Murder, manipulation. They’re trying to fix what Lark Woodson and her team started.”
“And you want to fight that?” Sketch asks.
The General nods. “People aren’t mice to be thrown into mazes. The world got sick, and the Initiative made it even sicker by eliminating death. What they’re doing to our people . . . It ain’t right. This is the new way of the world. We should be able to live free in it, or die trying. The New Militia has a few branches. We’re gathering teams, gearing up for a fight. It took years to get to where we are now. Those people out there, in this city? They protect us. Help hide us from the Initiative. It’s been a close call, and we’ve lost people. We’ve moved around a lot, regrouped. But we’re almost ready. Soon, we’ll stage simultaneous attacks on the Ridge and the Drop.” He smiles. “You and your people took care of the Shallows for us.”
Meadow nods, chews on her thumbnail.
“My mother said the Ridge was up north. Do you know where it is? What happens there?”
The General is quiet for a long time. “Your family is stuck inside of the site for Genetic Mutation. It’s in what used to be Northern Washington. They’re working to reverse the Cure, testing on the citizens of the Ridge.” He sighs, stares out at the packed world around us. “Trust me when I tell you this, girl. The Ridge is worse than the Shallows. You don’t want to go there, and you can’t just walk in, anyways. You’re free now. You’re out of the system. Keep it that way. Fight with us and help us fix what your mother broke.”
“No,” Meadow says.
The General raises a brow. “No?”
“No.” Meadow shrugs. “I won’t help you unless you decide to help me.”
Sketch chuckles and claps her hands, like she’s enjoying the show.
The General stands up, brushes off his pants. “You’re just a girl. What could you offer us that we don’t already have?”
Meadow stands, steps closer to him until their noses are practically touching. “I’m not just a girl. I’m Lark Woodson’s daughter, and if I want help, you’ll help me. Get me to the Ridge. Help me get inside. I’ll find my family, and once I have them, I’ll help you fight back. I’ll help you destroy the Initiative from the inside out.”
“You drive a hard bargain,” the General says. “What if you die? Is your life not worth anything?”
Right as he says it, Meadow’s nose drips again.
Fresh red blood, bright even in the darkness.
That’s not supposed to happen. The Surgeon said it would stop, now that the Regulator’s computer is down.
Unless it’s not the Regulator, and never has been.
Meadow lets the blood drip down her face. “Trust me, General. I have nothing to lose.”
I can see a new light in his eyes, see him thinking, planning. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t simply send you into the Ridge. Do you think they’ll let you just walk in there, especially with the barcodes and that Regulator strapped to your skull?”
“I do,” Meadow says. “Because they’ll let my mother inside.”
“Your mother is dead,” the General says. “By now, all the soldiers in the Initiative will know, in every testing site.”
“So we’ll trick them,” Meadow says. “We’ll bring her back to life.”
“That’s imp . . .” The General trails off. His eyes light up. He smiles, and nods.
I don’t even have to look at Meadow to know what he sees.
She’s identical to her mother, the same silver hair, the same springtime storm eyes. She’s been tortured for weeks, she’s lost weight, and there’s a darkness, a touch of insanity in her, that wasn’t there before. She might only be sixteen, but she’s faced worse than most people should in an entire lifetime.
She could pull it off.
“Make me into my mother,” Meadow says. “Give me a team, dress them up as Initiative soldiers. We’ll hijack a train and attack their Headquarters, then break through to the Ridge from the inside out.”