Rebel Read Online Free Page A

second wave?” I asked quietly.
    She swallowed, her expression unsure. “Yeah.”
    A guy with dark hair stepped forward, his expression calm and reassuring. “We’ll catch them up on what’s going on.”
    Beth nodded, gesturing for me to go, and I ran to catch up with Micah. I followed him out the reservation gate, glancing around at the first wave of Reboots. They were relaxed now, leaning against the wooden gate and chatting. The atmosphere was calm, yet still filled with anticipation. I’d always enjoyed the thrill of chasing and fighting, so I could almost understand how some of them seemed eager for the fight. Summoning up some excitement helped to take away the fear.
    “How’d you do driving that shuttle?” Micah asked, stopping and squinting into the distance.
    “Okay, except for the landing. Mine took a pretty good beating.”
    “We’ll have someone else drive then. You and I are going to go up in a shuttle, and we’ll pick off as many in the air as we can before they get here.” He gave me an approving look. “Awesome idea, stealing some HARC shuttles to escape. How’d you do it?”
    “We had help from the rebels. Tony and Desmond and some others. You know them, right?”
    Micah laughed, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. “Yeah, I’ve known them a while. Helpful bunch.”
    Truthfully “helpful bunch” might have been an understatement. I wouldn’t have made it into the Austin facility to get the antidote for Callum if it weren’t for them. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to free all the Reboots and escape without them. I probably owed them something now. That was unfortunate.
    Micah paced as we waited for the shuttles, occasionally speaking to one of the towers on his com. I almost wanted to pace back and forth with him. I wanted this to be over. I wanted to crawl into Callum’s arms and sleep until spring.
    The shuttles we’d stolen appeared in the distance a short time later and landed softly on the ground not far from us. The one I’d piloted was dented on both sides and there was a long crack across the front window, but it seemed to fly fine.
    The door to the other shuttle opened and Addie jumped out, cocking her head in confusion at something behind me. I turned to see two guys jogging in our direction, holding something that looked like a giant gun in each hand. Two more Reboots were close behind them, carrying the same things.
    “What are those?” I asked as they stopped next to Micah.
    “Grenade launchers.” He pointed to the Reboots at the gate. “They’ve got some launchers over there, too. It’s our best antiaircraft defense.”
    Where did they get all this?
    “Nice job,” Micah said to Addie. “Go on inside and they’ll get you a weapon. Under-sixties are with the third wave at the back.”
    She walked past us, barely nodding at me. She looked about as thrilled as I was to be thrust into this fight.
    Micah ordered everyone onto shuttles and I piled into the one Addie had piloted. Two of the guys holding grenade launchers followed me inside.
    “I’ve never shot these from the air before, but I’m pumped to try,” Micah said, handing me one of the launchers. It was heavier than a gun, maybe ten pounds or so, but not unmanageable. It was like a really giant revolver with a much longer barrel.
    “It goes on your shoulder,” Micah said. “One hand at the back, one in the front.”
    I grabbed a spot under the barrel and another behind therevolver. I leaned forward to look through the black tube thing mounted on top and saw a smaller circle inside a bigger circle, to help aim.
    “That’s your sight,” Micah said. “I know you’ve never used one before, but just aim best you can and pull the trigger. You have six rounds, then hand it off to one of these guys and they’ll give you a new one and reload for you. I have a feeling you’ll be awesome at it.” He punched me lightly on the shoulder with a grin.
    He had a lot of faith in me based solely on my