Silas coughed a dry, painful cough. "Everett, that train is a moving fortress. It has auto-targeting laser cannons. It has heavy armor. And even if you get close, it travels at three hundred miles an hour. You cannot just jump on it.""I have to," Everett said simply. "I will intercept the Leviathan in the Deep Canyon, fifty miles north of here. The canyon is narrow. The train has to slow down to make the turn. I will jump onto the roof. I will fight my way to the engine. When the train reaches the city, the shield will open to let it in. I will be inside.""And what about us?" Julian asked. His voice was calm but serious. "Even if you stop the mind-wipe, my people are starving. We will all be dead by tomorrow from hunger."Everett looked at Julian, then at Silas, then at Lyra."The Leviathan is carrying a million meals," Everett said. "I will not just ride the train. I will take the food cars. I will detach the back half of the train and send it straight into our camp. You will eat t

Everett felt a rib break. The sheer force of the blow threw him across the room. He slammed hard into the steel wall. He slid down, coughing up a small drop of blood.The two remaining Paladins marched toward him, raising their spears to execute him."Everett!" a voice yelled from one of the cages. It was an old man with a bloody bandage on his head. "Look out!"Everett did not panic. He looked at his System interface. He focused all his energy points into his Speed stat.Before the spears could come down, Everett exploded off the wall. He slid across the cold metal floor between the legs of the third Paladin, slicing the machine's knees apart with his sword. The giant fell over.Everett bounced to his feet, grabbed the fallen Paladin's heavy electric spear, and threw it like a javelin. The spear flew across the room and pinned the fourth Paladin straight to the metal wall. The electricity short-circuited the giant's brain, and it died in a shower of blue sparks.The room went complet

"I can do more than that," Rae said. She swallowed hard. "I can turn off the magnetic engines. I can drop the bridge."Silas stared at her. "Drop it? It is two miles high. It is made of millions of tons of steel.""If I turn off the magnets, the entire Sky Gate will fall out of the sky," Rae explained slowly. "The whole Sovereign army will fall with it. The tanks, the Paladins, the soldiers. They will be completely destroyed. The war will be over in one second."Silas’s eyes lit up. He saw victory. He saw the end of the nightmare. "Do it! Rae, you are a genius! Drop the bridge!""Wait," a soft voice said from the doorway.Silas and Rae turned around. Lyra was standing there. Mayor Vance and Julian the priest were standing behind her. They had heard everything.Lyra walked into the room. She looked at the picture of the massive floating bridge on the screen."Rae," Lyra said gently. "What is underneath the Sky Gate?"Rae looked down at her keyboard. She did not want to answer."Rae. Te

The sky over District Nine was not blue. It was not black, or purple, or gray. It was the color of a dirty sickness.It was snowing, but it was not real snow. Real snow was cold and wet. Real snow melted when it touched your warm skin. This snow was dry. It was dark gray. It smelled like burned plastic and roasted meat. It was ash.A little boy named Elian sat in the middle of a ruined street. He was six years old. He wore a shirt that was too big for him. It had holes in it. He did not have any shoes. His feet were completely black from the dirt.Elian was playing. He had three small rocks and a bent piece of metal. He made the metal fly through the air like a dropship. He made the rocks explode. "Boom," Elian whispered softly. "Boom. Dead."He did not smile while he played. For Elian, war was not a game. War was the only thing he had ever known. He did not remember a time before the running. He did not remember a time when the sky was clear. For the children of the Free Cities, fear

They reached a large, open square. It used to be a beautiful park. Now, it was just a flat field of black dust and melted statues.Suddenly, the radios in their ears made a loud, painful squealing noise. SCREEEEE!The Dust Runners grabbed their ears in pain.Then, the radios went completely dead. Silence fell over the square. It was a heavy, terrifying silence.Silas looked down at his rifle. The small blue light on the scope was flashing red.WARNING. SYSTEM JAMMING FIELD ACTIVE. WEAPON DISABLED.Silas pulled the trigger on his rifle. Click.Nothing happened. The gun was dead."My gun is jammed!" a soldier yelled."Mine too!" another cried.Silas felt the cold sweat on his neck. Everett was not just a strong fighter. Everett had the silver chip. Everett had root access to the System. He could turn off their guns with a thought."Fix bayonets!" Silas yelled, pulling his combat knife from his belt. "Use blades!"From the thick, gray smoke at the end of the square, a figure emerged.It