Chapter 26
I'm coming. Coming.
"Locke. Wake up. Talk to me."
Kara. You came back. I knew you would. I knew.
I startle awake and see Miesha kneeling over me. My shirt is gone, and tight bandages circle my chest. High above us are metal beams and a curving metallic ceiling. I am lying on the floor inside some sort of huge warehouse.
"Where are we?"
"Just outside of Boston, but we have to--"
"No! The train station. We have to find Kara." I try to get up, but pain rips through my chest and I fall back down. The warehouse spins. "We have to find her."
"Locke, she's not there."
I close my eyes trying to shake the dizziness. "She has to be there. Neither of us had money. She couldn't buy a ticket."
"The trains are free. As long as you have ID, you can get on and go anywhere. And she had ID."
Free? I ease my eyes open again. "She got away."
"I'm 99 percent certain. We passed Hari and two of Gatsbro's security force searching the streets near the station. They obviously didn't have her. She must have made it onto a train." Miesha stands. "We'll talk about this more once we're back in the cab. Dot went to get some food for us Eaters and Breathers, as she put it." Miesha rolls her eyes. "We need to get farther away. Gatsbro can practically smell us here we're so close. Turn on your side. I'll help you up."
I follow her instructions. "Whose handiwork is this?" I say, touching the bandage around my middle.
"Your friend Dot has a lot of interesting connections. Someone came who claimed he was a doctor. The price was right, and he didn't ask any questions."
"How long have I been out?" I put my arm at my side and use it for leverage, trying to hold my breath as I push up. Miesha lifts under one arm to get me to my knees.
"Not long. Maybe two hours. He gave you something. Said it would help stop any internal bleeding. It kept you knocked out, too, while he bandaged you. He said you have some cracked ribs and a deep gash on your side from one of their boots."
I look up at her sharply. "You didn't tell him about me?"
"No. And if he figured it out, he didn't say anything, but he may have seen the BioPerfect beneath the skin if the gash went deep enough. It's blue, you know."
Blue? "No, I didn't know." Blue. Like I'm some kind of exotic frog.
I swing one foot forward to stand, and pain grips my chest. I freeze, trying to pull in a breath. I shake my head in disgust. "In my old neighborhood"--another slow, carefully measured breath--"guys took worse beatings than this all the time."
"Locke," Miesha whispers, "they got you good, there's no question about that. But you can overcome this. You can become stronger--"
I jerk my head to look directly in her eyes. "Say it, Miesha! You think I'm just a boy. Isn't that what you always say? Well, you're right--"
"No, Locke! It's not like that at all. Listen to me. There's something else you need to know. I never said much, but I did keep my ears open. I heard things I wasn't supposed to hear."
She has my attention now. I look at her, waiting.
"Gatsbro couldn't leave programming in you if he wanted to sell his technology. Potential buyers are too savvy and wary of that. But he could make sensitivity adjustments from the very beginning in order to control you. Why do you think you welted so badly with the rogue BeeBots? He wanted to keep you weak in some way--dependent on him and uncertain of yourself. You were six feet three inches of perfect muscle and strength for sales purposes, but he had to have something over you. All he had was your pain." She steps back.
It has all poured out of her in one long breath. It soaks into me much more slowly. I stare at the blank wall across the room. "I see." I put pressure on my forward foot, forcing it to straighten. Pain shoots through me, but I draw my other foot up so I am standing. I pull my breaths in slowly, feeling the pain in a new way. A calculated way. Just the way Gatsbro planned it.
Miesha talks louder, as if I can't hear her. "I overheard Hari laughing with Cole in the lab one day. He said Gatsbro was in trouble if you ever reset your sensitivity levels. I don't know what that means exactly, but it must mean you can change it. Your BioPerfect isn't like human cells--it can adapt. Make it adapt, Locke. Figure out a way."
I shift my gaze from the wall to Miesha, her eyes wide and unblinking. For a whole year, she knew this and never told me? She knew. "Is there a bathroom, Miesha? I need to clean up."
She shakes her head like she doesn't understand me. "Locke?"
I stare at her waiting for an answer. She points to the corner. "Over there."
It's only a dozen steps to the bathroom, but each one is a bolt of lightning trying to take me down. I feel Miesha's eyes drill into my back. I feel the trickle of sweat on my temple. I feel all the pain that Gatsbro wanted me to feel and some that he never could have calculated.
I reach the bathroom, shut the door behind me, and fall against the sink for support. Sweat winds its way down my cheek. I look in the mirror at my cut lip and swollen cheekbone. The room behind me spins, and I grip the sink tighter. We were only products from day one. I touch my face. I'm a person. A human. You can't do this to humans. My head pounds with bloody red rage instead of pain.
Like an egg. That's what I would do if he were here right now. Crush his skull like an egg and laugh while I did it. Kara was right. Do it. Do it. I should have. The manipulation I fell for boggles my mind. A lot of good 500 billion biochips did me. How could I have been so stupid? So naive? Kara never liked him or trusted him. I should have listened to her.
I need Kara.
I lean over the sink and splash water on my face. I will not forget this. Ever. Do you hear that, Gatsbro? Never. There is a hesitant tap on the door. "Just a minute," I call. I shake the water from my hands.
Kara never liked Miesha either. What do I really know about her? When I exit, Miesha is waiting for me. I ask only one thing: "Where do the trains go?"
"Everywhere." And then she frowns, understanding my meaning. "She could have gone anywhere, Locke."
But she didn't. There's only one place Kara would go.