The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

Well, that and the fact that Astrid had lost contact with her.

Astrid cleared her throat, and I realized I had started to tell her what was going on but had gotten sidetracked by my thoughts. Shaking my head, I swallowed back my fears and focused. I needed to tell as many people as possible what was happening in case I didn’t make it to my friends or died trying to stop Sage. They needed to be aware, so they could keep up the fight. “Sage is really—”

Everything I had been about to say stopped when I heard a vicious grating sound coming from down the hall. My head jerked toward the sound, my eyes already searching for the source, and I saw the hatch we had come through now hanging by one hinge and wide open, with a pair of chromed silver legs dangling from the hole… and descending closer to the floor.

The sentinels! They had followed us. I hefted up the gun and strode toward the barricade, about to deliver orders, but Astrid grabbed my arm and jerked me around.

“We will hold this line,” she said, pausing when several lancer rounds shot by overhead, telling me Salvatore was back, and had brought friends. My hatred for him was rivaled by the realization that she was right—I had to get to Leo, not stay here and fight.

I cursed, and then began shrugging off the plasma rifle. “Here,” I said, thrusting it toward her. “You’re going to need this to take out the sentinels. Fire here, and—”

“I’ll handle that,” Dylan said smoothly, shoving the handgun into my hands and taking the rifle. “You and Rose get moving.”

I gaped at her, and then shook my head. “No, I need you,” I said, unwilling to lose her. I’d started to rely on her, and now that we were this close, I didn’t want to give her up, and leave her to potentially die. “I’m gonna need your help—”

“No, they are,” she said, pointing to the younger Knights. “And you need my help out here. I’m recognizable as your competitor, the girl who could’ve won, and I’m still on your side. That’ll make the Knights on the other side reconsider their choices, especially if we can hold the line here. So go. I’ve got the Citadel. You and the others get to the Core and stop Sage.”

Still I hesitated, not wanting to leave her. It was Rose who made the decision for me, prompted by the sharp cry of a young man on our side getting hit with lancer fire. Dylan immediately sprang toward the barricade, shouting, “Run!” while Rose grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, pulling me toward the elevator area. I stumbled forward, confused by the sudden shift in my world. It felt wrong leaving without Dylan. We had saved each other too many times to count!

“Rose, we can’t—”

We can and will, Tony said stubbornly. We are too close to finally putting a stop to this for you to be torn about it. This is what Dylan wants. She wants to keep her fellow Knights safe, and you should let her. You have to trust she can handle it and let her make her own choices!

His words made me angry, but only because he was right. There was no reason for me to think she couldn’t handle herself, and the Knights there were going to need her. Because she knew how to fight the sentinels. If anything, she was going to save everyone in that hallway—or take out as many of the enemy forces as possible.

But it was the last thought that made me fearful for her. I cast one last look at her, watching as she fired a volley of purple plasma down the hall before ducking down to avoid several crimson rounds. Some of the Knights were less lucky. The blades ricocheted and tore lines along their arms, legs, and sides. But all of them were fighting.

Fighting for me.

It was a humbling, yet necessary, reminder that I had to stop Sage. And soon. Before things could get any worse.

I poured on the speed and moved past Rose, that reminder giving me a much-needed dose of energy and determination. “Let’s get out of here,” I told her, taking a moment to chamber a round in the gun Dylan had handed me and turning the safety off.





28





I took a cursory glance at the elevator bay as Rose and I emerged from the hall, checking to make sure the coast was clear before heading to the nearest one. I stopped in front of it and automatically gave my name and ID number, expecting the elevator sensors to start scanning me almost immediately.

But they didn’t. The elevator remained dark and still, and I realized that whatever Quess and Leo had done to restore power, they hadn’t been able to restore it everywhere. I cursed as the sound of fighting from behind us increased, definitely drawing nearer, and quickly spat out Lionel’s code, nervously scanning the entrances to the other halls and wondering what was happening in each of them. Had Astrid and my father set up other barricades there as well? I assumed so, but what was their condition like? Were they holding the line, or were they being torn apart? Were the sentinels coming through there, or were they just in the one hall?

I hated running away from a fight, especially one of which I had been the root, but there was no alternative. I had to get to Leo, because it was the only way to stop Sage’s plan outright.

The elevator lit up and a pad slid out of the wall, and I stepped on it quickly, motioning for Rose to follow. I told it my destination, level 65, and we began to descend.

But not before I saw a sentinel emerging from the hall in which I had left Dylan, its eyes glowing yellow, its silver hide drenched with blood. My mouth dropped in shock before it fell out of view as the pad descended, and it was all I could do to keep from throwing a line out and racing back down the hall to check on Dylan and Astrid.

Because I already knew—had known since Rose had grabbed me and forced me down the hall—that they were dead.

Pain slammed into me, and I closed my eyes, trying not to give in to it. But it was hard. Everything had happened so fast, and now they were gone.

Tears started to form, my stomach churning, and I sucked in a shaky breath, trying to stave it off. But my fear was beginning to mount as well. I had no idea what I was going to find in the Champion’s quarters. I just prayed it wouldn’t be anything like that damned hall.

“Get down!” Rose cried, shoving me back behind her. I slammed into the wall as she moved in front of me, and then ducked down when she staggered back, the elevator pad shaking under my feet as something heavy crashed onto it.

Confused, I looked down between her legs and saw another set of them, facing her. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the sentinel in the hall had realized which elevator we had taken… and jumped down after us.

Rose took a half step back, crowding me closer to the wall that was speeding past.

“You won’t survive us, Sister,” Alice spat. “If I see you, we all see you!”

Rose finally managed to catch her balance and began pushing at the sentinel in front of her, giving me a little more breathing space. “You’re choosing the wrong side!” she cried with a final shove, slamming Alice into the wall with a spray of sparks. The other sentinel tried to break Rose’s hold, but a moment later she fell through an opening in the wall as a doorway opened up.

She disappeared into the hole, but I kept my eyes on it, knowing she would be back up and coming down the shaft for us at any moment. I grabbed my baton, twisting the dial to increase the voltage and then pressing it down to hold a charge.

“I’ll stun her!” I cried as I caught a glimpse of movement from above. “When I do, smash her hard drive!”