Free Hollowgirl by Sean Williams Page B

of paper and sticking the halves together, so two points that wouldn’t normally touch . . . do.”
    They turned right onto Third Street again and began picking up speed.
    â€œI am Nobody,” came the voice of Cameron Lee from a position right by her left ear.
    She jumped involuntarily, making the bike sway.
    â€œWhat was that?” asked Jesse. “Did you glitch?”
    â€œYes.”
    He looked around. “They’re definitely trying to cut us off, then. Glitches increase when someone’s concentratingon you. Tell Zep to come in behind me. I can’t bump while I’m driving. I’ll bring the other bike in too.”
    Clair did as he instructed, and seconds later the three bikes lined up in formation, aiming straight for the gate at the end of the road.
    Something whizzed past Clair’s right temple, followed an instant later by the crack of a gunshot. There were two hollowmen on the side of the road, but only two, and they weren’t identical: Clair was relieved to know she wasn’t facing a horde of dupes, not in the Yard, where people couldn’t be copied. Still, she pulled her head in. Bullets could be deadly enough.
    â€œHold on,” Jesse shouted, “and think of Dad!”
    â€œEww, what?”
    â€œDad, before he was duped. Anything you can remember about him, doesn’t matter what—think it hard !”
    Clair shut her eyes as the hollowmen whipped by, gunfire cracking again. Dylan Linwood had been a member of WHOLE who wanted to be more involved in the cause—to bring down d-mat by any means necessary, because they thought it killed people. Most of her memories of him were tangled up with Nobody, after he had been duped, but Dylan had made an indelible impression in his own right.
    His workshop, cluttered with gears and old machines. His jeweler’s glass that made his eye look as big as a plate.His brusqueness. His grease-spotted hands. His voice, direct and rough and impatient and occasionally cruel—
    They left the road. She heard someone cry out—Tash, maybe—then the air was punched out of her with the force of a cannonball. Fearing that she was about to fall off the bike, Clair pressed her face between Jesse’s shoulder blades, not letting any sense of awkwardness stop her from clinging to him with all her strength.
    The lean muscles of his back flexed against her as he wrestled for control. When the bike hit the ground again, he straightened suddenly and wrenched the front wheel to the right, groaning with the effort. Gravel rasped under the wheels. A branch whipped past Clair’s head. She recoiled, feeling powerless to do anything but ride it out and trust in Jesse to keep them all safe.
    He twisted the controls one more time, and with a final rattle the bikes came to a halt. His ribs heaved against her, and Clair realized only then that she was panting too. She felt as though they had been through a terrifying carnival ride. But was it over now? Were they safe from Nobody and the hollowmen?
    Cautiously opening her eyes, she saw trees much taller than any in Harmony. The bikes had come to a halt at one edge of an artificially cleared area in what looked like a full-blown forest. There was vegetation all around them, with just one low brick building behind her at theend of a concrete path, near the beginning of their barely controlled skid. A selection of boxy trucks and jeeps was parked nearby.
    There was someone standing in front of the building, an adult. As she twisted around, the better to see him, two more figures emerged from plate-glass doors, holding rifles.
    â€œDon’t make any sudden moves,” said Dylan Linwood in a hard voice she knew well, “or we’ll shoot.”

[12]
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    â€œTAKE IT EASY, Dad,” said Jesse, tugging off his helmet.
    â€œI’ll do nothing of the sort.” Dylan’s expression was all brittle crags, like a cliff face on the verge of avalanche.