Numbers Ignite Read online

  Contents

  title page

  dedication

  praise for Numbers Game

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Dear Reader

  acknowledgments

  about the author

  Numbers Game

  copyright

  To every girl

  who has ever had to start again;

  and to my husband

  for whom I would cross the desert

  a thousand times over.

  PRAISE FOR NUMBERS GAME

  “Brilliant . . . Offers new things to the world of YA and there is much to look forward to in the next books.” ~In'Dtale Magazine

  “The perfect gift for someone who likes Kiera Cass.” ~NewInBooks.com

  "Best dystopian fiction I have read since Red Queen!" ~Sheri, Reviewer

  "Gripping, from beginning to end . . . a tale as action-packed as Divergent yet as introspective as The Giver. . . . Sure to be an instant classic in the genre." ~R.J. Craddock, author of The Children of Cain series

  "WOW! I loved this story. From start to finish it was fast-paced with interesting characters." ~Tina, Reviewer

  "Better than Scott Westerfeld's Uglies." ~Karen, Reviewer

  "Amazing! It captivated me from page one and kept me wanting more, even at the end . . . It has romance, but it's not just another love story, it really digs deep . . . I would recommend this to anyone, literally anyone." ~Kat, Reviewer

  I stood on the threshold of an abandoned stucco building and reached out, fingering a flake of orange-pink paint on the splintering wood. My senses had played tricks on me over the past few days as I stumbled through this awful desert wasteland. Choppers overhead that never appeared, the smell of pine trees where there were none, giant puddles of elusive water, and cities that vanished when I drew close.

  A sharp pain registered in my finger, and I pulled it away to examine it. A splinter had pierced the skin. I pulled out the piece of wood and stared at the tiny wound, watching it fill with blood. Definitely real.

  A town in the middle of the desert. The people of Old America were a special kind of crazy.

  I tried sucking on the sore finger, but my tongue was too dry and swollen. Water. That was my first priority in this creepy place. Any water left outside would have evaporated long ago under the hot desert sun, but maybe there was something in one of these buildings. There had to be. The mountains—and Vance—were at least another week away. If I didn’t find water or food soon, I wouldn’t last through tomorrow. I couldn’t wait to find the thieves who had befriended me and then stolen my supplies while I slept, including the nutrition pills they hated so much.

  They’d be sorry. Assuming I could survive until then.

  I stepped inside the musty house. A section of the roof had fallen in decades ago. Broken roof tiles and debris filled the small space, which opened up to the darkening sky above. A light wood table knelt on two legs in the far corner, revealing the only clear area in the entire structure. Tables meant cooking areas. It was as good a lead as any.

  I picked my way through the debris, stumbling and sliding, until I reached the table. It was covered in roof tile pieces and mouse droppings, but there was no sign of food containers or water packets. Kneeling carefully, I peered underneath.

  Bones.

  I yelped and scrambled away too quickly and fell backward onto some debris. The ancient pile of roof materials, undisturbed after decades of rest, groaned in protest under my weight. I jumped up, ignoring the sudden dizziness that seized me. Within seconds I had leaped through the door. I plastered myself against the wall and panted.

  It wasn’t like I was surprised that someone had died here. Every citizen knew what happened back in 2024, the destruction leaving gutted towns and darkened cities dotting the country. We’d studied it in ridiculous detail, including the political factions that had split Old America in half. Historical clips depicted people rioting, looting, shooting each other in the streets. A president assassinated, then the next and the next, until finally nobody would step up. The wreckage of government buildings and monuments and then entire cities as law enforcement was disbanded.

  Worse, their weapons had emitted toxins that bounced around in the atmosphere, latching onto water molecules and burning them up before they could hit the ground. That was the beginning of the end. Water became currency. Those who hadn’t been killed in war hid in the wreckage of their homes, watching their crops and livestock die off, and then their family members. I’d known all that since Level One school.

  The thing was, NORA was supposed to be far from all that—and yet death was right here in front of me, just days from the border. The human remains under the table were proof. The decayed body flashed through my head again, as hard as I tried to stop it, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to forget the sight as long as I lived.

  The skeleton of a child.

  I leaned against the outside of the building, closing my eyes against the bright sunlight. When my heart finally slowed, I shaded my eyes and squinted at the huge expanse of land between me and the mountains. So far away. Even if by some miracle I made it, how would I know where to find them? Vance and his settlement could be anywhere. It could take days of wandering before I found them.

  You can go back.

  I shoved that thought away. It wasn’t an option. And, frankly, I was done with this town as well. No more grave robbing for me.

  The blue sky was fading into pink as I reached the edge of town. It felt as if an entire world, endless and dead, lay between me and Vance. The thought of spending another night on the hard desert floor, shivering in the chilly night air and jerking awake at every sound, made me grit my teeth in dread.

  Voices.

  I froze, then relaxed. I’d heard voices in my head for the past two days, and they never turned out to be real. It was just the creepiness of the ghost town getting to me. Or maybe the dizziness of my dehydrated mind.

  The voices grew louder. The words sounded scrambled, strange. It took me a moment to realize they weren’t speaking English. And they were arguing. Footsteps crunched on the road.

  Instinct took over then. I leaped behind the nearest structure, a tiny building that had probably once been a shed. An entire wall was gone, and the roof had fallen in and buried various pieces of equipment, but there was enough left to hide me. I sat back on my haunches, not daring to look around the corner, every muscle taut as I listened. The arguing had intensified, although I still couldn’t understand what was being said. As the men passed, I gathered my courage and looked around the corner. Two dark figures made their way along the road, backs toward me.

  A headache throbbed behind my eyes. It would’ve been better had my brain made this all up. There were still people here. Scavenging was definitely out of the question now.

  But maybe if I begged for just a little water…

  No. I couldn’t risk being recognized.

  When the voices died off, I slowly stood. The sun had begun to touch the horizon, painting the usual brown a colorful blue and purple. If I hadn’t already lived out here for eight days, it would be a beautiful sight.

  You can go back.

  It would be easy enough. NORA sent out scouting planes once a week. I could head back toward their usual route to the east and be home in days.

  No.

  As exhausted as my mind was, as weak as my body felt, I knew that would never be an option. My ex-boyfriend, Dresden, had stolen the throne from me. My stepfather, Konnor, had gladly handed it over. If Dresden got his hands on me, he’d either throw me in prison for life or parade me around like a prize, using me like he’d used me since the beginning. That wasn’t even the worst part. Sooner or later I’d have to look into the accusing eyes of those who had lost loved ones. They’d died for nothing. They were dead and I was still here, and that was the worst part of all.

  With one last glance at the empty road, I headed back the way I’d come. It would be safer to go around the town th
an through it. If its previous inhabitants had left anything of value, those men had probably found it already. Time to put some distance between me and the skeletons of the past.

  I made my way down the slope, picking my way carefully through the sagebrush. It hadn’t taken long to learn that lesson. My pant legs had torn long ago, and my calves looked like they’d been whipped, all crisscrossed with dried blood. Now if only I could make it down before dark fell—

  Fire shot through my ankle.

  With a shriek I stumbled backward and fell, lifting my foot to wipe the fire away. A soft click-click, a rattling, sounded from my left as a long animal slithered off. Pulling my ankle closer, I could see two tiny dark circles in the skin.

  A snake. I’d never seen one, but that was all it could be—Oh, fates. The pain was growing by the second. My ankle had already begun to swell.

  Snakes were poisonous. No, that wasn’t the word. If only I had water to wash the wound out. But what good would that do? The poison was in my bloodstream, not on the skin. I wrestled with my brain, wanting to scream in frustration. How was I supposed to treat something like this when I was too weak and tired to think straight? My body began to shake, a violent, uncontrollable shiver.

  Those men. There it was, a hint of reason in the murkiness of my mind. I turned and looked upward at the shed I’d just left. If I screamed loud enough, maybe I’d be heard. “Help! Somebody!”

  My voice echoed, then died off. I tried a few more times, then listened for a long moment. The men didn’t return. Or if they had, they couldn’t find me down here.

  I positioned my foot and tried to stand, then screamed in agony. How was it possible for such a small bite to hurt like this?

  My injured leg couldn’t hold weight. I knelt on the sandy ground and tried pulling myself along by the elbows. The world tilted and spun. When had I last eaten? I couldn’t remember.

  My elbows buckled. I collapsed to the desert floor with a strangled gasp and rolled over to face the blood red moon. “Help,” I called out again. Nothing.

  It was ironic. The empress had tried to have me killed several times in the past weeks, and I’d survived the desert heat for days with no food or water—only to succumb to a pair of sharp fangs. Tali would find it funny, I was sure. She’d lived just like the bomb that had taken her life, torridly and explosively. She’d managed to die twice. Not many people could say that.

  My leg was stiff and swollen now. Even moving it would be excruciating, much less trying to walk on it. The molten fire had already begun to move up the veins in my leg.

  I lay on my back, facing the navy-blue sky and letting the heat from the desert floor burn through my clothes. Purple clouds floated lazily by. Puffy, rainless.

  It was a shame that I’d never gotten the chance to feel snow on my skin. The mountains had snow in winter. Vance had described it to me once. I wondered if the moon looked red from the mountains as well. The sad thing was, he’d probably be happy to find out I was gone. He had come back for me, admitted his feelings and opened his heart, and I’d rejected him. I deserved this.

  A thought swirled in my head and began to scream through the haze. Don’t you dare give up. It sounded a lot like Tali.

  “Are you happy now?” I yelled at the moon, hoping the fates were listening. My voice sounded like a croak. I tried to lick my lips, but my tongue felt like sandpaper on my sunburned mouth. Not that it mattered now. “I’ve already lost everything. Guess that wasn’t enough for you.”

  I heard rustling in the gravel, and the hot, dry wind seemed to pick up a little.

  “I didn’t even want the throne,” I muttered. “Never asked for it, you know. I just want—” Pause. It was hard to say what I wanted now. My dreams were a series of images, fleeting wishes no more real than puddles of water in the desert. Peace. A new life, far from NORA. One last day with Vance. A chance to tell him I felt the same way.

  My body sunk deeper into the hard ground. My feverish accusations had taken all that I had left. Consciousness flickered like a broken transmission. Snake. Strangers speaking in gibberish. Dresden’s blue eyes flashing in anger. The stone Vance left behind inviting me to join him. My mother choosing to run. Always running.

  Can’t go back.

  “Somebody help,” I whispered.

  The last thing I saw was a shadow above my head. A man. I tried to focus, to see if it was Dresden or Vance, but then the darkness claimed me.

  I stood at the ridge, awed by the sight below. Dumbfounded was a better word. Even Anton, my former best friend-turned-captor, paused next to me and gave a low whistle. I’d seen plenty of settlements as the son of a clan leader, usually hidden in low valleys or nestled protectively on high peaks. But I’d never seen a camouflage screen this large before. These settlers had mastered the art of hiding.

  From higher up, the mountain peak had looked like every other, carpeted with lush green trees. But as we drew nearer, the view had shimmered unsteadily. Now I saw the mountain for what it really was—the walls of a funnel-shaped valley.

  And there was a city nestled inside.

  Structures were cut into the valley walls, and a long road wound from top to bottom. No, not one road. There were three different trails, all switchbacks. Probably so the settlers wouldn’t have to circle the entire valley a dozen times to reach their destinations. The buildings were clumped together, mostly along the eastern wall, leaving the western side for hundreds of terraces full of green plants. Water the same gray as the sky filled the very bottom. A slightly higher muddy line revealed where the water had once been. It was down to nearly half that. They were having water issues here as well.

  “Brilliant,” Anton breathed. Like me, Anton hadn’t bothered to shave on our journey, and his beard grew in ridiculous tufts around his chin. I still couldn’t figure out why he’d been assigned to lead me and a bunch of men twice our age. “How did they do that? It looks like a regular mountain from above.”

  “Laser technology,” a voice said.

  Anton jumped in surprise as we turned toward the trailhead. A clean-shaven bald man with Asian features stood with his hands at his sides. I hadn’t heard him approach. He inclined his head. “Welcome to Blackfell, the last official refugee camp in America. I am Ju-Long.”

  Anton stepped forward. “I’m Anton, and this is the prisoner, Vance.” Newell, the man to my right, cleared his throat. Anton caught his meaning and added, “My men also seek asylum.”

  Ju-Long gave a slight bow. “You are all welcome, so long as you follow our laws.”

  “Is this one of the original postwar settlements?” I asked.

  Ju-Long’s eyes flicked immediately to the scar on my forehead. I’d had the implant removed before turning myself in weeks before. “The prisoner will have many questions,” he said, “most of which I am not permitted to answer. But, yes, it is.”

  “What about heat-seeking tech? A camouflage screen wouldn’t stop sensors from finding signs of life here.”

  “Shut up, Vance,” Anton said. “None of that matters to you.”

  Ju-Long still watched me, expressionless. “You worry for the safety of your people.”

  I shook my head. “I worry for everyone. If NORA decides to follow us—”

  “—they will meet the same fate as every other attacker,” Ju-Long cut in. “You mention Old American technology. We have a few surprises of our own.” He pointed at something near the top of the ridge. I squinted. There was a structure there with a needle of some kind pointing upward.

  “Antiaircraft gun?” I asked. I’d never seen one before, but it made sense. A quick search of the ridge revealed three more, all stationed like quarters of a clock.

  “Brought in all the way from the Eastern Continental Alliance,” he said. “We don’t rely on the rusty old American weaponry. Too many people rely on us for protection. We cannot allow for error.”

  “The ECA,” I repeated. I’d never even heard the term before. “That’s where you’re from?”

  His gaze turned inward, and a slight smile graced his mouth. “We keep our people safe here. That is all you need to know. As for you, it took much debating among the assembly to allow you entrance, but our governor insisted that you have a fair trial.”

  I froze. “I’m here to answer to my clan. Not your governor.”