J. Mitchell - Midnight City

“It’s plutonium,” Mira said, matter-of-fact.

The words didn’t immediately register in Holt’s mind.

When they did, he dropped the cylinder to the ground like it was made of hot coals and backed away.

Mira laughed out loud. “Are you always this jumpy, or just around radioactive elements?”

“It’s plutonium ?” Holt yelled back at her.

“Don’t worry, killer, it’s harmless as long as the Dampener’s attached.”

“And you’re basing that theory on—?”

“Experience. I’ve handled it before.”

“Good, then you can ‘handle’ it from now on out.” He stepped around the casing, giving it a wide berth. “Why risk your life for something like that?”

“It’s priceless,” Mira replied.

“Yeah, you said that before,” Holt said. “But why?”

“Because of the Severed Tower,” Mira answered.

And then it all made sense, or at least as much as a Strange Lands myth could. Holt had heard of the Severed Tower, of course. It was a popular story, especially farther north, closer to the Strange Lands and Midnight City. But in Holt’s mind, that’s all it was. A story.

“You’re serious?” he asked. “You’re messing around with Fallout Swarms and power plants for a fairy tale?”

“You don’t believe in the Tower?”

“No, I have to see something before I believe in it. I’ve never been to the Strange Lands, but I know it exists because I’ve seen the things that come out of there and they’re anything but natural. But the Tower?” Holt shook his head. “Just sounds like a bunch of Freebooter hocus-pocus to me.”

“Well, it’s not,” Mira replied sternly. “It’s real, and people have made it there and gone inside.”

“These people, you’ve met them?” Holt asked. “Seen them with your own eyes? Talked with them?”

Mira frowned at him, didn’t answer.

“What’s the Severed Tower?” Zoey asked beside them.

Holt watched Mira gather her thoughts. “It’s… a structure,” she began. “A… I don’t know what it is exactly, but it sits in the center of the Strange Lands. A lot of people think, whatever it is, it’s responsible for the Strange Lands themselves. The story says that anyone who can make it there and enter it can ask the Tower for one wish. And that somehow… it will make it a reality.”

“Story also says you need a nice piece of garden-variety plutonium just to go inside,” Holt finished for her. “I wonder how many survivors have died trying to get what you have there, throwing away the little time they had left for a pipe dream?”

Mira looked at Holt pointedly. “That just proves my point. Something people will die for is something priceless. And I need something like that to trade.”

“For what?” Holt asked.

She looked at Holt differently now, and for the first time, Holt saw desperation behind her eyes. “There are things I have to… fix at Midnight City. Please, Holt,” she continued. “You don’t know how long I’ve looked for that, how much I had to sacrifice to get it. But you do know what it means for me to go back home in chains. I know you know what it’s like.”

Holt’s face darkened at the words.

“You don’t seem… completely awful,” Mira pressed on. “You seem like someone who could understand. Please, taking me back to Midnight City is taking me back to die. I can pay you. I can pay you whatever—”

“It’s not my problem,” Holt said. He had to stop this now. He didn’t like the way her words were making him feel. “I don’t get involved. It’s my rule. I only do what I have to do to survive, and right now that means taking you back.”

“That’s not true, Holt,” a soft voice from across the campsite said. Holt looked past Mira at Zoey, who was still petting Max. “On the other side of the river, you went back for the Max. You did it to save him.”

Holt frowned at the little girl.

“She’s right,” Mira said. “If you were really such a loner, you wouldn’t have risked losing me to save a dog. But you did.”

Holt stared at her, unsure what to say. He held her gaze, felt her green and black-laced eyes burn into him. A part of him knew she was figuring things out, knew what she was about to ask. And he dreaded it.

“Who did you lose?” Mira’s words cut deep. Lose. Lost. Gone forever. “It must have been someone important. Someone close.”

Anger swelled up inside Holt. No! He wasn’t going to talk about this. Not about her. He’d buried that long ago, and no one was digging it back up. Especially not these two girls. His gaze turned to stone.

“We’re done talking, there is no debate. The forest ends in less than a mile,” he said. “Then it’s a straight shot to the trading posts on the Mississippi. I’ll find someone there to leave you with, Zoey. Someone to take care of you. Then Mira and I will move on to Midnight City.”

“But Midnight City is where I want to go,” Zoey said. “I can come with you.”

Holt frowned. “ No, Zoey, you wanna go to Midnight, you’re welcome to try, you can find a boat or something else to take you north, but it won’t be with us. To be honest, I’m tired of both of you, and the sooner I’m done with you, the better.”

Zoey’s eyes were starting to glisten. She had even stopped petting Max, and the dog was none too happy about it. He beat his tail on the ground, hoping to get her attention again.

“It’s okay, Zoey,” Mira said, staring at Holt sadly. “Holt’s just like everyone else. He decided a long time ago to stop caring about things.”

Holt turned away from them both and started packing up the camp. He shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t have to feel this guilt. He was surviving. He was doing what he had to do.

Wasn’t he?

He had pulled Zoey out of that flaming ship and transported her to safety. He should feel good about it. He should be relieved he could escape the Menagerie soon.

But he didn’t. On either count.

No one said a word as he finished breaking camp. In minutes, they were gone, moving northward through the forest once again, Max scouting ahead of them as the afternoon sun beat down through the leaves.

They walked in silence past the trees, each carrying the heavy weight of their own thoughts.

THE FOUR MOVED THROUGH THE FOREST in mutual silence. No one had uttered a word since they left the camp. It was fine by Holt. The less they talked, the better time they could make.

Within an hour, the trees began to thin. Another hour and they stopped altogether, ending in an abrupt, arbitrary line that stretched through an overgrown meadow. The field climbed gently upward beyond the tree line, to a ridge that Holt knew overlooked the river valley just on the other side.

It would be easy travel from here to the trading posts and from there, on to Midnight City. They would move faster out of the trees for sure, but the trade-off was that they were much more visible without the canopy to shield them from the prying eyes of Vultures and Raptors.

Hopefully, ditching Zoey would get the Assembly off his back. It might even make it easier, with them concentrating their forces along the river and forest instead of the plains.

Either way, the hard part was done with. The pack on his back felt lighter than it had all day; he felt energetic and optimistic. He had made it.

The four crested the top of the rise and saw the Mississippi River Valley laid out below them. A tapestry of green interlaced with patches of red and blue wildflowers stretching to the horizon. The river itself was a thick line that curved and twisted southward, flanked by trees along its entire route. The sun glittered off it from above, making it look like a band of molten silver cutting through the grasslands.