Free Children of Ash: A Meridian Six Novella by Jaye Wells

asked.
    “Where Saga is concerned, I’ve found it’s best not to ask.”
    He accepted this with a nod, and, for a moment, we both stared down at the uniforms that would transform us from rebels into prisoners.
    According to Icarus, prisoners were issued uniforms upon their induction into the camps and would have to wear the same one for six weeks before new ones were issued. If a prisoner died from illness or injury, the head prisoner in the deceased’s barracks was allowed to distribute the old uniform to anyone who needed it most. Icarus claimed people died so commonly it was rare for anyone to go the entire six weeks without a new uniform.
    Zed and I donned our uniforms in silence. Once we had them on, I threw our clothes out the door of the train to remove any traces of us. The camp uniform was the cleanest and newest clothing I’d worn since I’d escaped the Troika months earlier. I’d been wearing the too-big pants, too-tight shoes, and dirty work shirt for months. I’d stolen them from Saga’s junkyard after the dress the Sisters of Crimson had given me got too dirty to salvage. How long ago had it been since Sister Agrippa helped me escape into the tunnels? I’d lost track of the days and weeks since I’d escaped the Troika and landed in the rebels’ clutches.
    “How long until we reach the camp?” Zed whispered.
    “Not long.”
    I moved toward another crate, where I found two pairs of gray canvas sneakers. Mine were too big but they were a blessing after the heavy but tight boots I’d worn before. “When we get there, remember to stay hidden until the first prisoners come in to start unloading. We’ll blend into the group and help unload until we can steal away to the barracks.”
    “What if we get split up?”
    “Icarus said children under the age of twelve are all kept in a separate barracks, overseen by a few female prisoners. If we get separated, we’ll meet up there.”
    He didn’t say anything, but even in the dim light, I noted the sweat beading his brow and the shallow rise and fall of his chest. I put my hand on his shoulder. “This will work. It will. We just can’t lose our nerve. If the vamps smell fear on us, we’re toast.”
    “Won’t all the humans be afraid?”
    “They’ll be too busy trying to hang on to life to be afraid.”
    He thought about this for a moment before nodding. His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep, bracing breath. “Just promise me one thing.”
    “Shoot.”
    “If anything happens to me, save Bravo and Mica. Even if you have to leave me behind.”
    I’d been expecting him to ask me to promise not to leave him. Instead, he wanted me to sacrifice him to save the people he considered his family. I heard the words clearly but they didn’t quite register as a concrete idea in my head. The thought of martyring myself for anyone was so foreign he might as well have made his request in Russian or Aramaic. Was there anyone alive that I’d sacrifice myself for?
    Rabbit . The name popped into my head so fast I didn’t have time to consciously realize I’d been the one to think it. Icarus and Dare had had my back a few times and I theirs, but if shit went down I’d save myself over them every time. But Rabbit was different. In the months since I’d joined the rebels, I’d grown to care for the scamp as if he was my own younger sibling—or child. Like the child the Troika had ripped from my belly because it had the misfortune to lose the genetic lottery and have a desirable blood type. I’m sure the psychologists who worked back before the Blood Wars would have had a field day analyzing that relationship, but I didn’t give a damn. I would put myself in front of a bullet to make sure that kid had a chance at a future. He was the only one, though.
    But Zed? He had protected and worried about Bravo and the children under his care for years, like a father, despite his young age. I couldn’t begin to imagine the protective instincts I had for Rabbit