looked kind of strained. “Today must be Crazy Day, right? I don’t know what that fantasy newscast was about, but you know that McCallum News is the only trustworthy news! There was no truth to that so-called newscast, and whoever put that up on your vidscreens is going to pay for it, I promise you.”
Slowly the people below me, prisoners and guards, began to recover. Some had tears streaming down their faces, some looked like all the blood had drained out of their heads, and two or three had barfed. I was still immune to the Voxvoce poison, so at least something was going my way.
“Yes, that glitch was most disturbing,” McCallum said smoothly. “No doubt the work of deviant troublemakers. We have to stamp their kind out, don’t we? We don’t need to be upset about their lies, do we?” He smiled, his dark eyes twinkling like sunshine on a beetle’s back. “Don’t worry, my dears! You can bet I’ll find out who did this disturbing thing. In the meantime, let’s join Lacey Lamb as she learns an important lesson about telling the truth!”
A cartoon started and I looked away, still wondering where that camera had been. There were no choppers overhead, no drones. I’d be able to see them even in the night’s darkness. The only things besides me (and the doctor, we can rule him out) who’d been up on the ceiling cage were the usual rats, mice, roaches…
I looked up again. Could one of them have been fake? Or carrying a camera? Who had arranged it? Who still cared about me, even if it was only to see me fail?
Of course, it was while I was musing, pondering my life choices, that a tightly woven net dropped over me and yanked me up into the air.
McCallum interrupted a couple screens of Lacey to gloat. “Got you now, little birdie! I’m patient, probably the most patient man in the world, but you’ve certainly been getting on my last nerve!” He chuckled and seemed to nod at someone. Then the screens went back to Lacey Lamb while I hung there like an onion in a grocery bag. And that’s what I got for letting my guard down for one second. That’s what I got for being merciful and putting the doctor down before I became too weak, and dropped him.
My life sucks.
CHAPTER 59
Hawk
“Sweetie, you’ve got to trust us on this,” Nudge said.
I shook my head. “I’ve followed you guys long enough. Thanks for helping me get my kids out, but this is where we get off.”
“There are cities besides this one,” Nudge said. “There are different countries, different lands… you were born inside an underground haven during a nuclear winter. It wasn’t this place. You came here. You can leave here. At least once, and to save your…” Nudge seemed to be searching for words.
“Family,” I said tautly. “They’re my family.”
Fang stalked over to me, tension rolling off him in waves. “Look, Hawk. You’re a smart kid, you can think this through. One, I have to leave to go save your mother. Two, you’ve got four kids who can’t fly, three of them about to go through dope withdrawal, unless you’re planning on keeping them hopped up. Three, you can’t go back to that… place. Four…” his voice softened a tiny bit. “You’re going to be wanted, your face flashed on vidscreens everywhere. The jail breakout, the rescue of these kids. You’ve got nowhere to go. You have to come with us. I will give you one minute to think about it.”
Gosh, he’d suddenly put his dad-wings on. This was super annoying because he was… right. I couldn’t do this alone. I needed the Flock, and the kids needed me.
“Fine,” I said, trying to hold on to some dignity. Looking at Nudge, I said, “I’ll check out this tent city. But if it’s messed up, we’re turning around.”
“Got it,” Nudge said, and went to Rain. Iggy helped Rain put her arms around Nudge’s neck, told her how to lie still in the middle of Nudge’s back so Nudge’s wings could still move.
“This is the best trip I’ve had yet,” Rain said, smiling.
It took me a second to realize she meant Rainbow trip, a trip inside her mind. And as Rainbow made fun trips for Rain to take, it was also poisoning her brain. Another month and she’d be shuffling around, begging for a few coins so she could buy more. Regular dope was horrible—Rainbow was a thousand times