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Iron Hoof pulled his punch and was surprised to find himself in the middle of the base. He’d lost himself in the moment.
“Bring him,” he said, taking off at a jog toward the exit.
The soldiers picked me up. I didn’t put up any resistance. I needed to get as far away from the base as they did.
A loud siren wailed as we beat a hasty retreat.
“Ten,” Computer said, counting down. “Nine… Eight…”
The hallway stretched further and further away the closer we drew to it.
“Five… Four… Three…”
The soldiers burst outside and hurled themselves—and me—to the ground as they covered their heads with their hands.
BOOM!
The explosion knocked us across the ground in sagging heaps. A burp of fire belched from the underground caverns and set two of the struggling Changeling soldiers alight. The others beat at them to put them out.
If I wanted to escape, now was my chance.
While they were distracted.
A heavy weight pressed against my back, pinning me in place. Iron Hoof stood with his foot on me. I struggled but it was no use.
“Pick him up,” Iron Hoof said.
“What about the injured men, sir?” a soldier said.
“Leave them,” Iron Hoof said. “They’re already dead. They just don’t know it yet.”
The soldiers shared wary glances. None were comfortable with the order but they were too afraid to speak up. They picked me up and carried me toward an awaiting ship.
I glanced back and watched as a huge arc of fire swept the base up before it. A giant plume of dirt and dust rose into the sky from slits in the landscape.
The shuttlecraft took off and rose higher. I got a clean panoramic view of the area. Caverns and cracks in the planet’s surface glowed bright like veins.
That’s where Maddy was, escaping through one of those infinite spiderwebs. I was being hauled off to my inevitable death but a smile came to my lips. Maddy was safe. I was glad I had a hand in that, hurling myself into the fray.
And I would do it again. I could be given the opportunity a thousand times and I would make the same decision. Even with its dire consequences.
Maddy was safe. That was all that mattered.
They put a blindfold over my face after that. They didn’t want me to know where they were taking me. But they didn’t need to bother. It wasn’t like I was going to escape.
Not this time.
I’d done too much to give away my loyalties.
I hugged Maddy when the shuttlecraft exploded, blocking her from the worst of the carnage. She was supposed to die, just as dozens of other girls had.
At home, the audience would cheer and laugh and clap their hands with joy. I had ruined that ending for them. I didn’t know the resistance would turn up to save her but it was all the same to the Changelings.
I had ruined their big dramatic finale.
I was supposed to yell “No!” and make a false attempt to save her.
That was why they chose Titans to act as the male stars in this program. We were good looking to Changeling eyes, in good shape, and healed fast—always necessary with the aggressive tactics the trackers employed.
