Guardian Read Online Free Page A

they’re . . . they . . . ,” Syd stammered. The images came at him in flashes. Guardians—he couldn’t help but still think of them that way—simply stood in place while Purifiers hacked them to pieces, their legs planted firmly on the ground, even after the rest of them was cut apart. They tore at their own skin where the visible veins ran black. It seemed almost a relief to them as they died. The tall bald man strolled through the carnage, his hands clasped behind his back.
    Liam had pulled a bolt gun from his belt and held it at the ready.
    “They’re harmless,” Syd said. “The Guardians are harmless.”
    “They’re carrying an infection,” Liam said. “Come on.”
    He had to get Syd out of there. He twirled the gun to chamber a bolt and locked the spring. His only concern was for Syd’s safety. It wasn’t just exposure to the sick nonoperative entities that he feared. The chaos they had created would be the perfect opportunity for another Machinist to take a crack at Syd. Enemies of the Reconciliation were everywhere. They could dress as Purifiers and put a knife through Syd’s back while everyone else was distracted.
    Liam would not be distracted.
    He tried to drag Syd away, but Syd dodged his grip, ducked around his arm, and jumped from the stage into the melee.
    “Stop this!” Syd shouted at the Purifiers. “I am Yovel and I order you to stop!”
    They ignored him. Moments ago the crowd had been worshipping him; now he was completely forgotten. Revulsion was stronger than adulation and much harder to quell. The people ran past, trying to get away, as the Purifiers ran forward, gleefully carrying out the slaughter.
    Liam waded into the crowd after Syd, knocking people from his path with his metal hand. They bumped him, jostled him, blocked his view. He couldn’t see where Syd had gone. He cursed under his breath.
    Losing his assignment twice in one day . . . there would be hell to pay for that. And if anything happened to Syd . . .
    Syd didn’t worry about himself. He charged at the nearest Purifier, who stood over a vein-faced nope with a heavy club raised. Syd caught the Purifier’s wrist, spun him around. “I order you to stop this at once. I am—”
    He froze. Even with only the eyeholes and the slit for the mouth, he recognized the face beneath the mask. He recognized the sudden twisted smile, and he recognized the devious glint of the eyes.
    “Finch,” Syd said.
    “The name’s Furious now,
Syd,
” his former classmate sneered at him.
    Shortly after the Jubilee, all the kids who had become Purifiers were advised to take new names, names of their own choosing. Their old names had been assigned from databases of stories. Fictional characters. Even Syd’s name. Their new names were grotesque fantasies, emancipated teenagers creating themselves in their own image. They were encouraged to think big, so they could aspire to live up to their new selves. “Furious” was doing his part.
    On the ground, the wounded Guardian gaped up at them, bleeding black. Finch—Syd would never think of him as anything else—didn’t look down at her. His eyes were firmly locked on Syd’s. Syd still held his wrist.
    “Where’s your shadow?” Finch said. “Does he know you’re down here with the riffraff all alone?”
    “I don’t need Liam’s permission to give you orders, Finch. Put down your weapon and leave this nonoperative alone.”
    “Why? You got a crush on a nope now? That breaks my heart.”
    Syd regretted ever being infatuated with Atticus Finch. He yanked at his arm, but Finch moved fast, stuck out his foot and used Syd’s own momentum to trip him. In a flash, he’d spun Syd to the ground and now stood over him. In the chaos of the crowd, no one even noticed their revered symbol of liberation pressed beneath the boot of an anonymous Purifier. The street was a gory pool of mud and blood, and with one splash from Finch’s boot, Syd’s face was covered in muck,