quick flash of brown. “Would you fucking run already?”
Bridgebane suddenly raised his gun again. He turned it on his own head, and my reaction was visceral. Immediate. Horror blasted through me, and a hot flare of adrenaline burned in my veins.
“Would this make you feel better?” He stared straight at me, his finger pulsing on the trigger. “Would Caitrin forgive me then?”
“No!” I reached for him. At the same time, Shade gave me a hard shove back.
“Go!” Shade barked.
I stumbled back. “Uncle Nate?”
He kept staring at me, the veins in his hand turning thick and bulging, his gun smashing his dark hair against the side of his head just where some streaks of gray were starting to show up.
Backing away from him, I lowered my weapon and stuffed it into the waistband of my pants. I had no idea what had happened to this man, why he’d become Bridgebane to me and to everyone else, but I remembered when he’d held me on his lap and played with me. He’d looked like he loved me then. Right now, he kind of looked the same.
Tears stung my eyes. “Don’t. That won’t earn my forgiveness. Or Mom’s.” I stopped backing up. “I want you to fight. Stand up and fight!”
He shook his head. “It’s too late for that, monkey.”
A spasm ripped through my heart. I used to climb all over him. He was big and strong, and I’d been small once upon a time. He’d let me use him like a tree and even found me a book about these extinct furry animals and called me monkey.
I swallowed hard.
He lowered the gun from his temple. “Don’t single-handedly ruin what your mother sacrificed herself for.”
“Peace?” A chill swept down my spine. “What peace do we have?”
“Have the Outer Zones been annihilated? Has another planet been destroyed? Has your beloved Starway 8 been nuked with everyone inside?”
I drew in a sharp breath, my eyes widening.
“It’s give and take, Quin. Choose your battles, or it’s all-out war.”
I started stumbling back again. “I’ve chosen mine.”
“He’ll never let it go!” my uncle bellowed. “You’re damning us both. You’re making the wrong choice!”
“No! You chose wrong!” I thought Mom had, too. But if she hadn’t, would the Outer Zones still have existed today? I wouldn’t have existed, but I wouldn’t have cared if I hadn’t been born in the first place.
Shade’s athletic tread raced after me, catching up. I turned the corner, and the first shot rang out.
I skidded to a halt, turning. Shade popped into sight, his body twisting around to return fire. He aimed low. He wasn’t shooting to kill. If he had been, I don’t think he would have missed.
“Go! Go!” Never stopping, Shade pushed me ahead of him. “He doesn’t want to kill you. No problem killing me, though.”
We ran, and my uncle stalked after us. The corridor was long but thankfully empty because of the dinner hour. Bridgebane fired, countable seconds between each shot. He wasn’t letting off indiscriminate rounds; he was aiming at Shade only.
Shade turned to fire back, keeping me behind him. He grunted, and his steps faltered.
“Where are you hit?” I cried.
“Thigh.”
I got under Shade’s arm and helped him. Damn, he was heavy. He took most of his own weight back and limped forward. I tried to shield him this time.
“Quin!” My uncle’s voice boomed down the hallway. “Don’t leave with that man. You have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“Coming from you, it must be dire,” I shouted back.
We needed a shortcut to the Endeavor’s dock before Bridgebane caught up to us. I grabbed Shade’s gun and shot at my uncle. Bullets pinged around his feet and stuck in the impact-absorbent walls. I looked for a ventilation shaft with a blue keypad on it. Red led up. We needed down, and we needed it fast.
“Come back, or I’ll have to find someone else just like you,” Bridgebane threatened. “How do you feel about that? The testing? The searching? Maybe I’ll test every single kid in this place. How would you like that?”
My stomach clenched at the thought.
Another shot rang out. Shade and I ducked, hurrying our labored steps.
“Come back, Quin. Hand over the bounty hunter, come with me, and I’ll tell you everything.”
I paused in my steps. What more was there? What did he know that I didn’t?
“Seriously?” Shade took his gun back and hammered off a few shots to slow down my uncle and keep him at a distance before pushing me along again. “You’re crap in a