Free Transcendent (9781311909442) by Jason Halstead Page A

single night cycle? One hundred seventeen days where it gets
colder and colder. Snow will come. The trees won’t bear fruit. If
we kill many vison, they’ll know we’re here and come after us.”
    “They know we’re here now,” Mig pointed out.
“After that stunt we pulled with the highpicker.”
    “Right! And we can use it at other colonies
we find to gather food.”
    “You’re talking about being on the move all
the time,” Janna said. “That’s no way to live!”
    “And this is?” Stef asked her. “Look around,
Janna. There’s six of us here and two more keeping watch. If we
don’t do anything, we’re going to die. Then everyone we loved will
have died for nothing!”
    Krys glanced at Mr. Strain and saw him
staring back. They shared a secret hope for Lily, at least. It
bound them together but didn’t make the approaching night any
warmer.
    “If we’re always on the move, will we have
time to gather food?” Kerry asked. “If we’re more active, we’ll
need more to eat too.”
    Mig cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s
attention. “It’s late and Krys brought up a good idea. I don’t know
if it’s the right idea, but it’s a good one. Odds are we’re not the
only survivors, too. There’s bound to be other bands of refugees
out there. Maybe we can team up with them. Pool our resources.
Gather enough strength to fight back.”
    “Fight back? Against tanks and robots and
soldiers?” Janna snapped.
    Mig nodded. “An army’s only as strong as the
fear it puts in the people standing against them.”
    “Guns help,” Janna quipped.
    “They help make us afraid,” Mig corrected.
“But with enough people, they can’t shoot us all. If they did,
they’d have no one left.”
    Krys lifted his head and stared at Mr.
Strain with a newfound respect. It made perfect sense. Convince
people to stand up and eventually even the people holding the guns
would have to realize they were in the wrong. Wouldn’t they?
    “Get some rest and think about it, that’s
all I’m asking,” Mig finished. “Come up with new ideas if you can,
but if not, we’ve got to make our minds up quick or we’re going to
have to settle in for a long and cold night.”
     
     

Chapter 15
     
    Lily stopped on her way back to her quarters
by the small classroom that Palla had gotten assigned to them as a
study area. She wasn’t ready to be alone yet in her quarters and
she figured if there was anyone she could talk to, it would be Trix
or Kami. She didn’t know if she should tell them about Krys; she
didn’t want to upset them if they’d lost anybody. Even though she
was aching to at least talk about him.
    She found Kami going over an infopad with
Palla beside her. Both looked up as she entered. Kami dropped her
eyes back down almost as quickly. Palla’s lips curled up in a smile
that was part smirk and part sneer. “Was the attention shifting?
Did you need a new way to stand out?”
    Lily felt the words hit like a slap to her
cheek. “I didn’t ask to—”
    “What sort of punishment do they hand out
for that sort of rude behavior?” Palla asked. “I’ve always
wondered.”
    “Punishment?” Lily’s eyes widened. Palla had
no idea about President Ondalla! “Oh, that? Sorry. Well, I’m not
going back to that class.”
    Palla shook her head and sighed. “All that
potential and your mouth ruined it. You need a serious lesson in
serving your fellow man!”
    Kami lifted her head back up. “What are you
going to do?” she asked in a timid voice.
    For Kami’s sake, Lily tried not to sound too
smug when she said, “Coordinator Sykes is moving me into classes
with the sixteen-year-olds.”
    Palla’s lips fell open and a few choked
sounds emerged.
    Lily drove the nail home. “I guess it was
President Ondalla’s idea. He told me to work hard and challenge
myself—everybody was going to be watching.”
    Kami shook her head and glanced back down at
her pad. Palla managed to close her mouth but her nostrils