Evolution Read Online Free Page B

exhales, trying to keep calm. But his voice comes out hoarse. “We didn’t get her here fast enough.”
    I reach out and squeeze his hand. “She’s a fighter. She’ll make it. Once we’re back in the Core, a surgeon will be able to fix her.”
    Beechy says nothing, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. His golden brown eyes are anxious, glued to the door.
    I can’t help remembering the last time I saw his eyes this close, when he was still subdued by the serum. They were blank, wiped of life. The Beechy who’d been my friend since I’d been transferred from the Surface work camp to the Core, who’d comforted me when I was terrified I’d fail Extraction training, had been replaced with someone more bot than human. I wish I could do more to comfort him, now that he’s the one feeling hopeless.
    â€œThe baby’s a girl,” Beechy says softly, breaking the silence.
    â€œIs she?” I’d hardly thought of his baby as a person until now. A tiny human with scrawny limbs and a faint beating heart, growing inside Sandy, getting bigger by the day. I wonder what she’ll look like, whether she’ll have more of Beechy or Sandy’s features. If we can find a way to defeat the Mardenites and overthrow the Developers, their daughter could be born into a world made peaceful and whole and new. Or she might not even make it through the night.
    â€œSandy has a name in mind for her,” Beechy says. He blinks fast. His eyes glisten with tears. “She told me right before we left for Crust. Said she would tell me the name when we saw each other again.”
    â€œWhen she wakes up, you can ask her.”
    There’s another interlude of silence. The crease of worry in Beechy’s forehead tells me the question he’s thinking, but afraid to ask aloud: What if she doesn’t?
    I don’t know what to tell him. When I think of losing Logan, of never again seeing his lazy smile or hugging him close or waking up to his arms around me, I’m not sure how I’d be able to go on. I’m not sure I’d be strong enough to live in a world without him. But if there was still a hope of saving the other people I cared about, I’d have to find way.
    Beechy drops my hand. His eyes glisten with water. “If she dies, it’ll be all my fault. I’ll never forgive myself.”
    I set my hand on his shoulder. “What happened to her wasn’t your fault—”
    â€œYes, it was,” he says in a hard voice. “I told Charlie the location of the compound. I gave up the Alliance. It’s because of me that Sam’s troops broke in. If they weren’t there, she never would’ve been hurt.”
    â€œThe troops would’ve reached the compound with or without your help,” I say. “Skylar would’ve given up the location if you hadn’t.”
    â€œI’m still responsible.”
    â€œBeechy, you were under the serum, remember? Don’t blame yourself for what you did while Charlie was controlling you.”
    He lets out a short, husky laugh. “Oh, what, and you don’t blame yourself for everything you did?”
    I stop short of answering him. A lead weight drops into the pit of my stomach. I do blame myself, for all of it. For every word I said to Charlie while I was under the serum, for everyone I hurt against my will.
    Beechy doesn’t know the worst of it. He was already onboard this hovercraft, in the cockpit readying us to depart the Core and invade Alliance headquarters. But I was outside the ship, in the flight port with Charlie. He ordered Dean to bring him a gun. Then he handed the gun to me and told me to shoot Logan. I tried to ignore him, but it was impossible; the serum was calling the shots.
    My fingers squeezed the trigger and Logan fell to the floor, blood pouring from his leg. I screamed and screamed inside my head, but the serum wouldn’t let me make a sound.