Rebel Read Free Page A

course I didn’t think we should trust them. I’d just met them, and so far, they seemed weird. But we’d strolled up to their home and asked to be let in, so maybe it was too late to think about trust.
    “No,” I said quietly.
    She looked taken aback by my answer. “No?”
    “No.”
    She blinked as if waiting for more, and a smile began to appear on her face. “Okay then. I feel better.” She took a deepbreath. “Right. Ride off with the strangers. Hope for the best. Got it.”
    She nodded her head as she finished, and I blinked, suddenly realizing what I was asking.
    “I can go instead—”
    She laughed as she stepped back. “That’s all right. Can’t fault you for being honest.” She jogged across the dirt and hopped on the back of the bike, pointing in the direction we’d come from. Kyle peeled out, the bike spitting dirt as they disappeared.
    “One-twenties and over with me!” Micah called to the Austin Reboots. “Let’s do this!” He was practically jumping up and down, he was so excited.
    I didn’t understand.
    I took a glance behind me at the Austin Reboots to see similar confused expressions on their faces. Beth One-forty-two, a couple girls, and two guys who I assumed were over One-twenties broke off from the group and slowly headed in Micah’s direction, but they kept turning puzzled faces my way. There were less over One-twenties in Austin than there had been in Rosa, but I’d been stationed in the toughest city in Texas. More assignments meant they needed more skilled Reboots. They were all close to my age except for one of the guys, who was probably only twelve or thirteen years old.
    “Micah!” I called, following him as he darted for the gate. “What’s going on? How do you know HARC is coming? Howdid you know we were coming?”
    He stopped. “We have people stationed in strategic places outside the cities, and equipment that monitors air traffic in the area.”
    I raised my eyebrows, surprised. I hadn’t expected them to be so advanced.
    Micah spread his arms wide, beaming at the Austin Reboots. “Guys! Let’s see some excitement!”
    We just stared.
    He raised his fist. “Whoop!”
    “Whoop whoop!” a hundred reservation Reboots yelled at once, and I jumped. What the hell?
    “Oh, come on,” he said with a chuckle. “Who wants to kick some HARC ass?”
    That produced a few laughs. Someone at the back of the crowd of Austin Reboots raised his hand. “I’m in!”
    I’d actually kicked enough HARC ass this past week to last me a very long time. I glanced at Callum. He’d never wanted to fight anyone, human or Reboot.
    Micah chuckled as he caught my expression. “I know you’re probably tired. And you’re going to have to tell me the story soon about how you got out of Rosa, ended up in Austin, and stole two shuttles filled with every Reboot in that facility.” He stepped closer to me. “But right now, we’ve got a bunch of HARC officers on their way here to attack us. So we don’t have much choice.”
    I looked at Callum and he lifted his shoulders, like he wasn’t sure what to do.
    I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to hightail it out of here before HARC arrived. I didn’t know where we’d go or how we’d get there, but we certainly didn’t have to stay and fight.
    Or maybe we did. I regarded the group of Reboots I’d brought here and saw several faces turned in my direction, watching to see how I’d react. I’d busted into the Austin facility and ushered them all into shuttles and dumped them into this situation. If I asked Callum to make a run for it, he would tell me they needed my help. And he would be right, unfortunately.
    But this was the last time. If it seemed like there were going to be more attacks from HARC, I’d grab Callum and go. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting off the humans. I’d be perfectly content never to see them again, actually.
    I sighed and barely nodded at Micah. He clapped his hand on my back like he