The Invasion of the Tearling

“You, Salter!” Tear snapped. “Get the door open!”


The assistant rushed past Lily, his flashlight bobbing with each stride, toward the door at the end of the hallway. Just as he reached it, the lights came back on in a bright flash, blinding them all. Lily stumbled, nearly pitching Jonathan forward to the floor.

“Move!” Tear roared. “We’re out of time!”

The assistant had the door open. Lily and Dorian hauled Jonathan forward, out into the cool night, and up the long metal staircase. It seemed like years since Lily had arrived at this place, and for a moment she wanted nothing so much as to sink down and fall asleep on the steps, better world be damned. But then she felt resistance, even from her own limbs: the other woman was there, pushing her up the steps.

At the top was a parked car, a sleek silver Lexus with the Security shield on the hood. The rest of the buildings in the compound were still dark, but even as Lily watched, one bank of lights came back on, far across the pavement.

“Boss,” Dorian muttered. “She’s still tagged.”

“We’ll deal with it in the car. Get Jonathan in.”

The assistant, Salter, was waiting by the open passenger-side door, his face both terrified and pathetically eager. As they approached, he bugled, “The better world!”

“Shut up!” Tear hissed.

“I helped!”

“So you did.” Tear passed Jonathan to Lily. She saw the glint of murder in Tear’s eyes, but said nothing, merely opened the rear door and helped Dorian maneuver Jonathan into the backseat. “You helped us at the eleventh hour, wanting to get to the better world.”

“Yes!”

In one quick movement, Tear grabbed the back of Salter’s head and smashed his face into the hood of the car. When he pulled Salter back up, the man’s features were nothing but a bloody mask.

“Think on them, Salter,” Tear murmured. “All of my people you’ve helped to break over the years. I wouldn’t let you within a hundred miles of the better world.”

He flung Salter away. Lily looked across the compound, at the miles of fencing that seemed to surround everything. If the power came back on, how were they going to get out?

“This was going to be a trick, even with Jonathan behind the wheel.” Tear shook his head, biting at the inside of his cheek. “I need to work on Jonathan, take out her tag. Dori, can you drive?”

“I’ll get us there.”

“Get in.” Tear slipped into the backseat. Lily opened the passenger door, then froze as an explosion ripped through the tree line on her left, several miles beyond the Security compound. An orange fireball bloomed in the dark, illuminating the silhouettes of infinite trees before they were consumed in flame.

“Into the car, now!”

She got in and slammed the door. Dorian floored it, and the Lexus roared forward across the pavement. Tear turned on the overhead light.

“Twenty degrees left, Dori. The fifth segment from the end.”

“I know, boss, I know.” Dorian nudged the wheel to the left. Another bank of lights came on above them, and Lily saw that they were heading toward the perimeter fence, doing forty now, their speed still increasing. Lily thought of electrocution, then dismissed it from her mind. Tear would take care of these things, the way he seemed to take care of everything. Metal hammered behind her: bullets, puncturing the trunk and back bumper. The car skewed, and Dorian fought with the steering wheel, cursing, a steady slew of profanity that would have made Maddy proud.

A groan came from the backseat. Tear had produced his little black bag and was kneeling on the floorboards, bent over Jonathan’s midsection. Lily was glad she couldn’t see the wound, for she already sensed how things would play out. Jonathan had saved her—twice now—and in return, she had gotten him killed.

“It’s bad.” Tear shook his head. “Have to wait until we’re on the highway, until we’re steady.” He moved Jonathan’s legs and perched on the seat. “Lily. Lean forward.”

Lily started, realizing that he had used her first name, carelessly, just the way he would speak to Dorian or Jonathan. She wanted to smile, but then she felt Tear rip her shirt down the back.

The car hit the fence. All Security fences were supposed to be titanium, but this section seemed to crumple away from the posts, as though it had been weakened somehow. Dorian yanked the wheel left and the car peeled sideways, skidding, and then they were on the egress road, speeding away. Lily turned and saw the compound through the rear windshield, a wide wash of light and stone and steel, shrinking behind them. Then she jumped, startled, as something cold was smeared across her shoulder blade.

“I usually give a local for this, Lily, but I’m going to need my whole supply for Jonathan. Can you be brave?”