Free Deviants by Maureen McGowan

and the word’s barely audible.
    “Up there. We’ve got him surrounded.” Comps’ voices shout in the darkness, echoing off the walls and the sky. I can’t place their locations as searchlights bounce off buildings and bridges around us. Fighting to find my bearings, I spot the windowless gray walls of the Compliance Building to my right. We went north from the alley; my Pent is west and south.
    “Ready?”
    “Where are we going?” I ask, but without answering he leaps.
    We land on another rooftop and he barely breaks stride. “Don’t choke me,” he says.
    I release his neck and adjust my hold, unable to reach fully around his broad chest. He jumps and I cling, my fingers clutching his coat.
    We land on another roof at least two stories down, and he grunts. My teeth ache from the impact.
    But he doesn’t stop. He runs and jumps again. We fly across another alley.
    Midair, I slide several inches, terrified his grip will fail, but it doesn’t. It’s as if his arm’s melded to my waist, holding me against the heat of his body.
    We land. “I could use some help here.” He adjusts his hold on me as he runs.
    I lock my legs around his ribs and tighten my grip on his shoulders.
    He leaps again, then again, then again, and I resist the urge to close my eyes as we move across Haven, virtually flying from building to building—so many I’ve lost count. I search for landmarks, no longer sure where I am.
    A spotlight strikes us, blinding me for an instant.
    “Crap.” Burn skids along a rooftop, his boots sliding on the fine gravel as the building’s edge rushes toward us. We’re going to shoot off.
    We stop. There’s nothing between us and the narrow alley—many stories below. Burn teeters, madly waving the arm that’s not holding me.
    It doesn’t work.
    His muscles contract as we fall.
    Plummeting, I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out. I close my eyes tight and prepare myself for theend.
    Instead, a clang then the shrill screech of metal against metal fills my ears. Trying to figure out where the sound came from, I begin to slip from his grasp. His arm tightens. Looking up, I discover we’re dangling. Burn’s other arm holds a ladder on the brick building opposite from the one we fell off.
    “Can you climb?” He lifts me to the ladder before waiting for an answer. “Go. Run. Hide. I’ll find you.” And with that, he drops from the ladder.
    A chill hits my body as he departs. Darkness engulfs him and I can’t see where he lands or if he survives. My hands grip the ladder so tightly my knuckles turn white.
    A spotlight sweeps across the building below me, and I climb the ladder then scramble into the first open space I find—a narrow corridor with doors every five or six feet. There’s no light, but the smell of cooking meat means this building’s residential. Not hearing any movement, I sit and lean my head against the wall, panting, resting my hands on the wooden floor.
    What just happened? I’ve never heard of a Deviant as strong as Burn existing. My waist feels tender where he gripped me, but it’s hard to deny that his intentions were to save, not to hurt me. Not that I trust him. I can’t.
    Rustling comes from behind a door across the hall.
    I push to my feet and run forward. Something catches the toe of my shoe. My stomach rises in my throat as I’m thrown forward and slam into the floorboards. Pain shoots up my arms and knees, but I can’t afford to survey the damage. A door opens behind me, so I get up and stumble forward, hopingthat I’ll find a staircase or bridge at the end of the hall.
    Another door opens. “In here.” A woman beckons but I shake my head. She might be an Auditor.
    Faint light comes in from an opening at the end of the hall. I stumble toward it. When I get there, I almost lose my balance. I’m at least fifteen stories from the ground. Above, the sky is high, sloping to the left and darkened for night. Given its height and slope, I must be about a