I look down at my right leg. From below the knee it looks like a sock full of billiard balls. The damage done by the ultrasonic wave hurts like hell.

We exit into the black night air and begin speeding toward the city.

I bite down hard against the pain that emanates up through my knee and into my thigh, and I look up at the millions of stars above us. For a second I forget the agony and the fear, and I’m lost in wonder.

The car takes a steep right turn and I’m brought back to the present.

“Pull me up,” I yell to Pod, who grins back.

“No point,” the enormous, broad-shouldered boy calls back.

“What do you mean?” I ask, feeling the cold air rush around me, pain sparking up my shattered leg. “What if your hand slips?”

“That’s sort of the plan,” Pod says, and then he releases his grip and I’m falling once more.

Out of the Block

A sense of disbelief rolls through me, and I have time to think, Happy got to him. Happy uploaded itself into Pod and now he’s killed me.

The logic is flawed, but there’s no time to acknowledge that as I hit water and whoosh deep below the surface.

My broken leg bends the wrong way and I almost black out from the sudden burst of agony.

For a few seconds I don’t know which way is up, and then I’m kicking with my one good leg through the ice-cold water, swimming for the surface.

I break through and gasp in oxygen. All around me my friends burst to the surface too. I look up to the sky and see the taillights of the Volta flying across the city, on and on until it’s no longer visible.

“Shame,” I hear Igby say. “I really liked that car.”

I look around and see Kina, Pander, Igby, and Pod, who is carrying Wren. Wren has fallen silent now, but her eyes move mistrustfully from one of us to the next.

“Come on,” Pod says, rolling onto his back to keep Wren above the water and kicking with his legs.

We follow, making it to the edge of the enormous body of water. I have to turn and hoist myself backward onto the banks. I sit there for a minute, watching my leg heal, feeling the pain dissolve away as the bone fragments fuse into place.

“Okay,” Igby breathes, and now that his wet clothes are clinging to his body, I can really see how slim he is. He leans forward with his hands on his knees as water drips from him onto the concrete embankment. “That should buy us some time. Happy’s minions will be searching for that car for the next hour; the autopilot will take them as far away from us as possible.”