Including Soren.
A cloud of dust shot out from every direction. Glass hacked a cough, covering her eyes, as she heard the girls behind her racing away, shouting directions to one another. She staggered forward, squinting to see through the gritty air.
As the dust drifted away, Glass saw a figure still there, eyes open, hand stretched out to reach hers.
The High Protector was trapped under what was left of the gazebo, now no more than a pile of bones.
“Get me out,” Soren said, her voice no longer remotely calm. “Glass, you have to help me.”
Glass crept closer, her eyes wandering to the nearest wall. A massive metal support beam had been knocked loose in the aftershock of the last explosion. It wavered away from the wall dangerously. All it would take was a gust of wind and it would come crashing down on both of them.
“Don’t look at that, look at me,” Soren said, straining so hard for her old, sweet, soothing tone that the sound of it made Glass stagger backward, repelled. The older woman smiled, her eyes like daggers.
Glass glanced over at the huge metal beam, wavering wildly. For one split second, she pictured herself diving forward, digging Soren out, pushing her out of the way as the beam fell. Then she pictured something else. The image of Glass’s mother leaping in front of her, begging for Glass’s life to be spared. Dying to make that wish come true.
“My child, I’m begging you,” Soren said.
“I’m not your child,” Glass said, shaking her head in disgust. “None of us are.”
Soren’s mouth drew in, all warmth evaporating like a mirage in the desert sun.
Glass retreated a few feet more. “You’ve never had a mother, have you? A real one?”
Soren closed her eyes, not responding.
Another step. “Well, I had a mother once. Do you know what they do, out there in the real world? They protect their children.” Glass felt all emotion draining out of her, remembering her camp, her village, the wagon that dragged her away, room after room of this hellhole filled with grieving prisoners, and all of this repeated again and again, inflicted on generation after generation. “You do the opposite, Soren. You manipulate your people to kill anything in your way. You do the opposite of protecting your children—you offer them up in this horrible ceremony. You’re not a mother.” She shrugged. “Just a parasite.”
As another blast shook the eastern walls, the ground shook under Glass’s feet.
“I’ll die if you leave me here!” Soren called out, her voice fading to nothing.
Glass bit back a swell of tears, fighting the urge to turn back.
“Only if Earth wills it,” she said.
West through the alleys, Glass thought, starting away. Out to the fields and then keep running, keep running, keep running.
A great shrieking whine sounded from behind her. That beam was finally giving way.
Glass heard Soren screaming.
Her heart broke, despite it all. But she kept on running.
CHAPTER 29
Clarke
Clarke held her breath, watching the last grenade explode along the massive outer wall, brilliant orange searing her eyes. The sound of it made her flinch, just as the last three detonations had.
Beside her, Bellamy let out an exultant huff, while Luke rocked back onto his heels, grinning in relief. Four explosives. Four successful detonations. Now all that was left to do was invade.
Clarke poked her head above the rubble, watching the silhouettes of Felix, Jessa, and Vale hurry into the gaping hole their bombs had carved into the outer wall of the compound. Paul had stayed behind at their campsite like the coward that he was.
Luke started to rise, but Bellamy held his hand up. “Wait for Felix’s signal that the coast is clear.”
Clarke gripped the crumbling cinder blocks in front of her, staring unblinking at the spot the others had just disappeared into. She drew in an anxious breath, hearing the rat-a-tat of new gunfire rising above the groaning of the building and roar of the flames.
Please let it be us doing the firing, she prayed, her fingers tightening reluctantly around her own handgun in preparation.
Felix appeared in the distance, waving a lit torch above his head. He glanced behind him, and then quickly ducked back inside.
Bellamy hissed, “There. Let’s move.”