Kristen Simmons - Breaking Point

I stepped closer to the black belt, leaning over the nearest stack of papers.

“Look,” I whispered to Chase. Statute Circulars. We had come to an MM Statute Printing Plant. I thought of all the times I’d seen them—at school, on the windows of businesses, even on my own front door when my mother and I had been arrested. I wondered if they’d all come from here.

“We’re spending the night?” Tucker asked with a sigh.

“I can try to find you a pillow,” offered Marco.

“I’m not staying the night,” said Sean. “I’m taking the truck to Chicago.”

“ We’re taking the truck to Chicago,” I corrected.

A small grin fought its way through his exhaustion. His face was paler than usual, and his eyes were bloodshot. When he turned to the side, I could see the copper streaks that had soaked through the back of his uniform—he hadn’t yet attended to his burns from the fire. Feeling the weight of Chase’s stare, I climbed back into the truck and searched for the first-aid kit.

“Wrong,” sang Polo. “You won’t make Chicago before nightfall and Horizons drivers have to obey the curfew. Only soldiers can go out after dark.” He popped his collar importantly.

Sean blinked, obviously having forgotten this information. He sighed in frustration. I found the first-aid kit behind one of the boxes and sat on the bumper, motioning for him to sit beside me.

“Since we’re all sharing,” said Cara, returning from the office with several plastic bottles cradled in her arms, “I’m cutting out. I’ve got family in town. My cousin lives here.”

My brows knitted together. I’d never heard she had family here, but then, I didn’t know she had family anywhere —we’d never talked about that. I worried the circular medallion around my neck, feeling the smooth, puckered flesh beneath it had seared into my skin. It stung fiercely, and reminded me of how she’d disappeared from the Wayland Inn during the fire, how she and Tubman had separated sometime after they’d left with the truck full of refugees. Like Tucker, I had a grim feeling she wasn’t telling us everything.

She passed me a bottle of water, which I guzzled, spilling streams of it down my chin. I wasn’t sure anything had ever tasted so good. The others followed Marco and Polo, who announced that there was food in their office.

Sean had a hard time removing his arms from the Horizons uniform, so I helped, cringing when the fabric stuck to his back. He sat bolt upright, the heat wafting off his skin.

“I can clean it, but we don’t have a big enough bandage,” I said, fighting the nausea. An angry red welt spanned from his shoulder to the opposite side of his waist, surrounded by smaller cuts and burns. Some of the skin had already been sloughed away when he’d removed his shirt.

“It looks like something fell on you.” I could still feel the burst of flames when the ceiling had nearly toppled on my head.

“Honestly I don’t remember. I guess that’s probably better.” With effort that had nothing to do with physical pain, he twisted so that he could look into my face.

“I never should have let you guys leave without me,” he said.

Gently, I cleaned his back with a damp rag. The black film wiped away, making his injuries less monstrous. I couldn’t help but think about how Chase’s shoulders were wider, how he, too, had a scar, one I didn’t know the origin of, that looked like the swipe of a giant set of claws from the side of his ribs to his spine.

“I know why you did.” Tucker had information on Rebecca—at least that was what Sean thought. If I’d thought someone had information on Chase, I would have stayed, too.

Sean looked through the glass office window at my mother’s killer. “Can I trust him?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“I don’t know,” I said finally, apologizing when he winced.

Chase came up beside us. His gaze flickered to mine, just for a moment, but I concentrated on the task. “Hell of a burn,” he commented.

“Thanks,” Sean said tightly. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Chase stood silently for some time, watching me work, and I chewed my lip, remembering how stupid I’d been to kiss him in the truck.

Finally he said, “We should change the plates on the truck first thing tomorrow.”

I smiled as he walked away.

“WHOA.”Billy’s voice came from within the office, just as I was helping Sean back into his shirt. “They hooked you up! I had to build a machine out of spare parts and cruiser panels to access the mainframe.”

As I approached, I saw the source of Billy’s fascination: a computer, scanning equipment, and a printer atop a wooden desk. A shoulder-high gun safe was in the back corner, beneath a flat window revealing the bright blue afternoon sky. I shied away from the open area instinctively.

“Only the best for the FBR,” said Marco. Several people chuckled. It took a few seconds to realize he wasn’t joking.

“Don’t freak out.” Cara smirked. “They’re still on the payroll.”

“Soldiers and resistance?” I clarified.

“Article Nine, at your service,” said Polo, referencing the new Statute that would punish rebels to the full extent of the law.

“Turncoats,” grumbled Tucker. He snorted when every eye shot to him, and raised his hands in surrender. “Tough crowd. Not like any of us are any better.”

“Then why are you here?”

Sean laughed uncomfortably from the doorway. Obviously Tucker had told him nothing of why we hated each other.

“It was a joke,” he said. “A bad one.”

Was it just a joke? Directing Tucker to the largest safe house on the Eastern Seaboard felt like pulling the pin out of a grenade and throwing it into a playground. I felt a wave of responsibility that I should somehow stop him, but how could I, after he’d saved Sean and me in the fire?

Marco was eyeing me curiously. “You look familiar,” he said, taking a seat behind the desk.

“A lot of people say that.” I twisted the gold band around my ring finger.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Marco. “Hey, Polo, come look at this.” Needing to see exactly what they did, I skirted around the desk for a better look at the screen.

It was my picture from the reformatory that had been posted around the Square. My eyes were red and swollen from crying after the arrest, and my hair was a natural brown and long past my shoulders. I still had stretches in my school uniform from where Beth had tried to pull me away from the soldiers. I read the caption just below it, but it didn’t scare me as it had before. I guess the shock had worn off.

Ember Miller, it said. ARTICLE 5. Wanted in association with Region Two-fifteen sniper murders. My stats and charges were listed below.

“I figured they’d already closed your case,” said Polo conversationally.

“Oh, don’t play coy,” said Marco, big eyes bugging at me. “If I print out your photo, will you give me your autograph?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at how genuinely awestruck he sounded.

“Make sure you sign it Love, Sniper, ” said Cara. The chill in her tone melted my smile.

“She’s not the sniper,” Chase insisted. “She doesn’t know the sniper. She’s being framed.”

He was right to put a stop to it; I’d seen what happened to the people who gave the MM information about me and it was no laughing matter.

“Told you,” said Polo, resigned. He shoved Marco’s shoulder. “You know, I met him once,” he added.

“Here we go,” groaned Marco.

“What?” Polo looked injured.

“He met this guy in Chicago like, ten years ago who said the way to break down the FBR was to go to a public place and take out one soldier at a time,” explained Marco. “As if no one’s ever had that idea before.”