Above World - By Jenn Reese Page 0,56

hung across the tunnel, flickering firelight haloed around its ragged edges. Aluna crept slowly to the exit, sheathed her knife at her waist, and pulled aside the cloth.

A few meters from the tunnel exit, a monstrous animal stood grazing on scrawny tufts of grass sticking out of the packed brown dirt of the plateau. She’d seen animals like it in a picture book Hoku and Calli had shown her back at Skyfeather’s Landing. Its thick, armored body was striped black and white like a zebra. But unlike that slender animal, its legs were stout and muscled, more like tree stumps. And instead of a horse’s head, it had the round skull of an ancient rhino, complete with wicked metal-tipped horns.

Hoku and Dash crouched behind her. When the fresh air hit Dash, he sighed.

“What is it?” Hoku asked.

“No idea,” she whispered.

“It is a rhinebra,” Dash said. “A beast of burden. They can carry and pull great weights and are more aggressive than smaller pack animals.”

“Great weights?” she said. “It’s got a saddle. Do you think it can hold all three of us?”

Dash snorted. “It could carry ten of us and not even notice.”

“Okay,” she said, “then we’ve got a plan. Follow me.”

She stepped out of the tunnel before either of them could protest and snuck toward the rhinebra.

“Better be heading home after this smash and grab,” a woman’s voice said from the other side of the animal. “I need a fix-up. My skin’s itching fierce.”

Aluna froze.

“There’s no medtek in the wide world with skills wired enough for fixin’ you,” a male voice said with a laugh.

“Shut it,” the female Upgrader said. “No unmarked noob gets to high-talk me about tech.”

As long as they kept talking, everything would be fine. Aluna beckoned to Dash and Hoku. They tiptoed out of the tunnel toward her. She held a finger up to her lips, and they nodded.

“You hear something?” the woman said.

The man grunted. “You’re the Gizmo with the full-gold ear. You tell me if I’m supposed to hear something.”

None of them moved. None of them even breathed.

“Probably Pebbles chewin’,” the woman said finally. “Stupid striped cow.”

Aluna shared looks of relief with Dash and Hoku. Dash took another step forward and reached for the rhinebra’s reins.

Behind them, something squeaked.

A small gray streak of fur galloped out of the tunnel, raced across the ground, and launched itself into Hoku’s arms, chittering happily.

Hoku hugged Zorro to his chest and tried to cover the little creature’s mouth with his hand. “Zorro, quiet!” he whispered.

Aluna cursed under her breath. The animal had fallen silent immediately, but so had the Upgraders. She crouched low and readied her talons. The smooth metal weapons warmed quickly in her palms.

“Get on the animal! Both of you!” she said. “I’ll hold them off and catch up when I can.”

HOKU HUGGED the raccoon tight. He never thought the little guy would escape the Upgraders in the dome. What a good boy! Zorro licked his chin.

But now, thanks to Zorro’s noisy entrance, they had a whole new set of problems to solve.

The first Upgrader jumped out from behind the rhinebra. She was huge. Her arms bulged muscles, and tattoos covered every inch of her exposed skin, including her slick, bald head. One of her hands had been replaced with a sleek black blade. In the other, she held a gun that dripped fire.

“Look out!” Dash yelled.

Hoku ducked, sheltering Zorro with his body. A short spear whizzed over the top of his head. The male Upgrader had climbed up the other side of the rhinebra and was using it as a shield.

“Aluna’s right!” Hoku yelled. “Let’s get out of here!”

Aluna’s talons were already spinning. The female Upgrader spewed fire at her. Aluna rolled left, her thin talon chains cutting through the gout of fire as if it weren’t there. A slash of blood appeared on the Upgrader’s cheek, and she stumbled back, surprised.

Hoku scurried under the rhinebra’s belly. The man shooting spears switched targets to Dash. Hoku heard the horse-boy say something to the rhinebra, and the massive animal started grunting and shifting its weight. The Upgrader had to stop shooting in order to hold on.

Zorro scampered up Hoku’s arm and clung to his shoulders while he danced between the rhinebra’s tree-trunk legs. Something bopped Hoku in the head. A rope ladder! He grabbed the bottom of it and looked up. A half-dozen rungs higher was the male Upgrader’s foot.

The rope ladder was attached to a saddle, and the saddle was attached to the rhinebra with