“Symon is working with Dr. Barnes,” I say. “He’s not trying to stop The Testing. He’s working to make sure the people who want to stop it are controlled and then killed. I’m trying to make sure that doesn’t happen. If you want The Testing to end you have to let me go.”
Voices can be heard over the din of the sirens. Coming up the stairs or down the hall. The time I have to escape is ticking down. If I don’t leave now, The Testing might never end. My brother could die and everything I have done will have been for nothing.
I see Raffe put his hand into the side pocket of his bag and nod at me. I shift my feet and prepare for flight, but before Raffe can attack, Ian yells, “Cough.”
Raffe stops and looks at me.
“What?” I ask.
“Start coughing. Both of you.” Ian shoves his gun back into his pocket and takes two steps toward me. “I need you to trust me or you won’t make it out of here.” He leans down and puts one hand around my back and the other behind my knees. Before I know what he intends, he sweeps me and my bag into his arms and hurries toward the door, yelling, “It’s going to be okay, Cia. Come on, Raffe. We have to get her out of here. She can’t breathe with all this smoke.”
I go limp, close my eyes, and start to cough. Raffe coughs, too, as Ian carries me away from the smoke. From Enzo. From the damage I have helped cause.
“What happened up here?”
I force myself not to react at the sound of Professor Holt’s voice and wait for Ian to stop moving. But he doesn’t. He just yells, “Enzo set off some kind of explosive in Cia’s room. I need to get her away from the smoke.”
Raffe’s coughing tells me he is still behind us when Ian starts down the stairs. More than once someone bumps into us as they go to help Enzo. I keep my eyes shut tight as the chatter of voices grows as loud as the shrieking sirens. Students yell above the screech of the alarm to find out if anyone knows what is happening. Ian screams for people to get out of the way. Before I know it, I feel moist air on my face.
“She’s fine,” Ian yells. To whom, I’m not sure. The change in his words makes me stop coughing. “She got overwhelmed by the heat and the panic downstairs. But Professor Holt asked me to tell the rest of you to come upstairs. Someone’s burned really bad.”
I open my eyes as two officials head into the building, leaving Raffe, Ian, and me alone outside the residence.
“We have to leave,” I say as Ian sets me on the wet ground. “Now.”
“I think I can buy you five minutes,” Ian says. “After that, there’s nothing I can do.”
“You can’t stay here. There’s a listening device planted behind the wardrobe in my room. Whoever put it there will know I told you about Dr. Barnes and Symon.” Even if they didn’t hear the rest, that will be enough to put Ian in harm’s way.
Ian looks back at the residence, then shakes his head. “If someone was listening, I’ll just have to find a way to talk myself out of trouble. I’m not leaving. If you’re right, the students who follow Symon are in danger. I can’t go without letting them know.” Ian puts his hand on the door. “I’ll stall the officials but it won’t be for long. You have to hurry.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I run as rain again starts to pour out of the sky. Raffe reaches the vehicle shed first. He grabs my bike from the rack and wheels it out to me.
“What about yours?” I ask.
“Two of us will have a harder time leaving campus without being seen. You’ll have a better chance avoiding notice if you’re by yourself.”
“What will you tell Professor Holt? She knows you were with me.”
“I’ll come up with something. Don’t worry. I’ll meet up with you tomorrow. I promise.”
I unfasten my bag and pull a hand-held pulse radio from inside. “Make sure this stays dry. You should be able to contact me with it.”
Then I put the strap of my bag over my head and climb onto my bike as the rain pounds down.
“Wait.” Raffe puts a hand on my arm. “You should take off your bracelet. Otherwise they’ll be able to track you. I can plant it in one of the University buildings so they’ll think you’re hiding here on campus.”
That’s a good idea. But as I look down at the bracelet on my wrist and the symbol that was meant to signify who I am now and the future I was to have, I shake my head. “I can’t get rid of it yet. There’s something I have to do first. Remember the building we talked ab
out. If I can get off campus, that’s where you’ll find me. It’s time to act.”
My feet bear down on the pedals. Rain pelts my face and soaks my clothes as my bike picks up speed. Over the bridge. Onto the walkway. Away from the sirens that still cut into the night. Through the rain, I think I see running lights of skimmers approaching in the distance, so I steer my bike onto the grass, away from the street lamps and into the shadows. Although I am not sure I can truly be safe ever again.
The wet ground slows my progress, but soon I spot the fence that marks the right side of campus. There I get off my bike and wheel it toward the arching entrance to see if Safety officials are still keeping watch there. I shield my eyes from the rain and peer into the darkness. When I see no one, I pick up a rock and throw it as hard as I can onto the roadway. It cracks against the pavement and then skitters across the ground until it comes to a stop. If anyone had been standing guard, they would have come to investigate. Enzo has inadvertently caused the diversion Raffe and I had discussed.
I start to get back on my bike but remember something I need to do. I pull out my pocketknife, a flashlight, and my pulse radio. I use the radio first. Making sure the dial is set to Tomas’s frequency, I turn on the recorder. Quickly, I tell him what happened and that I am now outside the University’s boundaries.
“Once they realize I’m gone they’ll come looking for you. Leave your bracelet in your room. I’ll be waiting three blocks directly east of the entrance gates. Please be careful. I’ll see you soon.”