Скотт Вестерфельд - Specials

She opened her hand, looking down at the finder and at her scars, wishing for some of the clarity she'd felt the night before. She thought of drawing her knife, but remembered the expression on Zane's face as he stared at her scars.

It wasn't that she needed to cut herself, after all.

Tally closed her eyes, willing herself to think clearly.

Back in ugly days, Tally had always wimped out on decisions like this one. She'd always avoided any confrontation. That's how she'd wound up betraying the Old Smoke by accident, too afraid to tell anyone about the tracker she carried. And how she'd lost David, by never telling him she'd been a spy.

Lying to Shay now was what the old Tally would have done.

She took a deep breath. She was special now; she had clarity and strength. This time, she would tell Shay the truth.

Closing her fist, Tally urged her board forward again.

Ten kilometers upriver, her skintenna pinged as it picked up Shay's.

"I was getting worried about you, Tally-wa."

"Sorry, Boss. I ran into an old friend."

"Really? Anyone I know?"

"You never met him. Remember my campfire stories about the Restricted Experimental Area? The Smokies have started freeing the villagers and training them to help with runaways."

"That's crazy!" Shay paused. "But wait a second. You knew him? He was from the same village you stumbled into?"

"Yeah, and I'm afraid it's no coincidence, Shay-la. It's the holy man who helped me, remember? I told him where the Rusty Ruins were. He was the first to escape, and he's an honorary Smokey now."

Shay whistled in amazement. "Very random, Tally. So how was he supposed to help the Crims? Teach them to skin rabbits?"

"He's sort of a guide. Runaways give him a code word, and he gives them position-finders that lead you to the Smoke." She took a deep breath. "And for old times' sake, he gave me one too."

By the time Tally caught up with Shay, the Crims had made camp.

Tally watched from the darkness as one by one they made their way to the river's edge, dipping their purifiers into the silty water. She and Shay had hidden themselves downwind, and smells of self-heating food packs drifted from the runaways' camp. Tally vividly remembered all the tastes and textures from her own days in the wild, catching the scents of CurryNoods, PadThai, and the hated SpagBol on the breeze. Her ears picked up snatches of the Crims' still-excited chatter as they prepared to sleep the 'day' away.

"They did a good job on this thing—it won't tell me the final destination." Shay was playing with the position-finder. "It only gives you one waypoint at a time; it waits till you get there to give you the next one. We'll have to follow the whole path to find out where it ends." She snorted. "It'll probably take us the scenic route." Tally cleared her throat. "It won't be us, Shay-la." Shay looked up. "What's that, Tally?"

"I'm staying with the Crims. With Zane."

"Tally…that's a waste of time. We can travel twice as fast as they can."

"I know." She turned to face Shay. "But I'm not going to leave Zane out here with a bunch of city kids. Not in his condition."

Shay groaned. "Tally-wa, you're so pathetic. Don't you have any faith in him? Don't you keep telling me how special he is?"

"It's not about being special. This is the wild, Shay-la. Anything can happen: accidents, dangerous animals, his condition getting worse. You go ahead alone. Or call the rest of the Cutters—you won't have to worry about getting spotted, after all. But I'm staying close to Zane."

Shay's eyes narrowed. "Tally…this is not your choice. I'm giving you an order."

"After what we did last night?" Tally let out a choked laugh. "It's a little late to lecture me about the chain of command, Shay-la."

"This isn't about the chain of command, Tally!" Shay cried. "This is about the Cutters. About Fausto. You're choosing those bubbleheads over us?"

Tally shook her head. "I'm choosing Zane."

"But you have, to come with me. You promised you'd stop making trouble!"

"Shay, I promised that if they made Zane special, I'd stop trying to change things. And I'll keep that promise, once he's a Cutter. But until then …" Tally tried to smile. "What are you going to do? Report me to Dr. Cable?"

Shay let out a long hiss. Her hands were curled into fighting position, her teeth bared to show their points. She jerked her chin at the runaways. "What I'm going to do, Tally-wa, is go over there and tell Zane that he's a joke, a dupe, and that you've been tricking him—laughing at him. Let him run home scared while we end the Smoke forever, and see if he ever becomes a Special then!"

Tally clenched her own fists, holding Shay's gaze. Zane had already paid enough for her lack of courage; she had to stand her ground this time. Her mind spun for an answer to Shay's threat.

A moment later she saw it, and shook her head. "You can't do that, Shay-la. You don't know where that finder leads. It could take you to another test of some kind—not some barbarian, but a Smokey who'll know what you are, and who won't give you the next set of directions." Tally gestured at the runaways. "One of us has to stay with them. Just in case."

Shay spat on the ground. "You don't give a damn about Fausto, do you? He's probably being experimented on right now, and you want to waste time tracking these bubbleheads!"

"I know that Fausto needs you, Shay. I'm not asking you to stay with me." She spread her hands. "One of us has to go ahead, and the other stay with the Crims. It's the only way."

Shay made another hissing sound and stalked away to the river's edge. She yanked a flat stone from the mud and hoisted it, ready to throw it out across the water.

"Shay-la, they might see," Tally whispered. Shay paused, her arm still cocked. "Look, I'm sorry about this, but I'm not being totally random, am I?"

Shay's response was to stare at the stone for a moment, then drop it back into the mud and draw her knife. She began to roll up the arm of her sneak suit.

Tally turned away, hoping that once her mind was clear, Shay would understand.

She watched the runaway camp, where everyone was eating carefully, apparently having realized that self-heating meals could burn their tongues. That was the first lesson everyone got out in the wild: Nothing could be trusted, not even your own dinner. It wasn't like the city, where every sharp corner had been rounded off, every balcony equipped with a resistance field in case you fell, and where the food never came boiling hot.

She couldn't leave Zane out here alone, even if staying with him made Shay hate her.

A moment later, Tally heard Shay standing up, and turned to face her. Her arm was bleeding, her flash tattoos in dizzying motion, and as she approached, Tally saw the telltale sharpness of her eyes.

"All right. We split up," she said. Tally tried to smile, but Shay shook her head. "Don't you dare get happy about this, Tally-wa. I thought making you into a Special would change you. I thought if you could see the world clearly, you'd think about yourself a little less. It wouldn't just be you and your latest boyfriend; I thought you might let something else matter every once in a while."

"I care about the Cutters, Shay, honest. I care about you."

"You did until Zane reappeared. Now, nothing else matters." She shook her head in disgust. "And I've been trying so hard to please you, to make this work for you. But it's pointless."

Tally swallowed. "But we have to split up—it's the only safe way to make sure the finder works."

"I know that, Tally-wa. I can see your logic." Shay looked at the runaways, disgust all over her wildly spinning face. "But answer me this: Did you think it all through and then realize we should split up? Or had you already decided to stick with Zane, no matter what?" Tally opened her mouth, then closed it. "Don't bother lying, Tally-wa. We both know the answer." Shay snorted, turned away, and snapped her fingers for her hoverboard. "I really thought you'd changed. But you're still the same self-centered little ugly you've always been. That's what's amazing about you, Tally—even Dr. Cable and her surgeons don't stand a chance against your ego."