Keeping my arms tucked in at my sides, I zoomed across the shield.
Behind me the barrier continued to destruct, but with my burst of speed there was now a decent distance between us. The shield curved around at this point and, just as I cleared the other side, my breath caught in my chest. Shit! I was out of space.
My exhale was nothing more than a wheeze as a structure loomed right above the barrier. It looked to be part of the shield, but also separate from it as it towered into the air. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what I was seeing.
Made from thick steel pillars and interconnecting metal wires, the structure was familiar. Not something I’d seen before, but – I must have read about it in a book. Studied it in school.
It took me a few more moments, as my body continued to advance toward the gigantic metal monstrosity, to finally recall what it was. A power grid.
I couldn’t remember much about electricity, or how it really worked. Burning coal – and other fossil fuels. There had been some nuclear too. I did have a faint recollection of the lesson on this particular grid.
Power used to be generated, cycled and then distributed around the state from this structure. We learnt about it in history – we hadn’t had electricity in the city for most of my life. The compound and rebels relied on generators and some solar and wind turbines to keep us powered.
Was this energy transference shield the reason New York had no power for most of my life? Had it somehow hijacked the electricity to power itself? And could it actually be storing all of the gathered power in those cell-like panels that were scattered around?
Holy crap. I was heading straight into the mouth of the beast. If this was the hub of the energy transference shield, then the Seventine were probably here also. Or if they weren’t, and for some reason were not aware of this, then the very annoying bond the first had with me would clue them in. I really hoped I hadn’t just led those creeps here. This shield had been accumulating power for eighteen years. I guessed there would be more than enough here to free the seventh.
I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I hit the building, but I surmised that it would probably hurt.
So I prepared myself.
Whenever I knew something painful was coming, I thought back to how I felt when I severed the melding bond. The feeling of hot blades carving across my soul; the empty, echoing hollowness that devoured my insides and crushed my spirit. Not many physical pains could compare to that moment or all of the days following. That was my perspective when things were getting hard for me. All I hoped was that when I hit the grid, masses of electricity didn’t decide to run through my body. That would most probably kill me.
And I had to survive. For everyone that was counting on me.
The steel structure loomed even higher, and my trajectory slowed again. I no longer had any control over my speed. But slow was good; it gave me a chance to see what was coming. A gasp died in my throat as I was suddenly jerked to the right, thrown across to the other side of a building and slammed up against the tallest of towers in the center.
Yep. I had nailed it. That freaking hurt.
I couldn’t move, my entire body forcibly held on the grid. Metal and bolts dug into my spine. I struggled to breathe. Not only was the pressure constricting my airways, but I thought I might have broken a rib in that jolt.
The destruction of the energy transference shield continued, the shattering pieces looming closer. I was going to be stuck here until the shield hit me. I was still worried that I would shatter into pieces with it. Which I was totally not okay with.
I attempted to trace myself again, and this time I could actually sense tethers around me. My golden cord was finally free, but I couldn’t seem to find the strength to attach. I was still drained from when the barrier had stolen my energy.
Abby! For just a brief moment, a shout broke through my mind.
Then it was gone.
I was pretty sure that had been Eva. But how would she have known to do that? And how could she do it on Earth without my help?
I took a few more painful but slowly drawn out breaths. Calming myself. Which was not as easy as it sounds, considering the splintering wall was just feet from me now.
I reached for my Walker girls, focusing on Eva, who was closest to me. I knew she was my best chance of a connection.
Abby. She was with me again, her voice faint, but the connection held.
And then it was gone again.
I cried out as frustration gripped me. If I couldn’t reach the half-Walkers, whom I held an ancient bond with, then there was only one other. Brace.