Instability

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I scream so loud my voice rattles my entire body. Daniel anticipates this, though, by pushing me into the helicopter despite any counterattack I could deploy. He knew to shove me around before getting here; it diminished my odds of successful escape.

Daniel greets the pilot, then slams the Renegade door behind us. As I claw away from him, he drags me into one of the many seats lining the cab. Most are filled with immobile bodies wearing oxygen masks. Of course, they're not inhaling air, otherwise they'd be awake. I don't want to find out what that gas is.

My shoulder bumps against a woman as Daniel locks me into a seat. At least her arm is warm: a sign of life.

Alive for now, who knows about later.

Daniel pulls a pair of earmuffs from beneath his seat. He reaches under me and places another set over my ears, despite my jerking shoulders and clenched fists. His carefulness is bizarre, especially as his eyes lock with mine.

"Can you hear me," he says. It's not his normal voice in my ears but an electronic version through the earmuffs. He adjusts his mic near his lips and pulls mine into a similar position. "Can you hear me, Ashley?"

"Unfortunately."

Someone laughs with Daniel. The stranger says, "Fantastic response, Miss Cummins. Prepare for takeoff."

The helicopter rises back into the sky, trapping me in Renegade territory. As we disappear into sky and clouds, I scan the cab. Not a single face looks familiar. No Mom. No Matt or Posey or any of the others.

Daniel fastens his own seat belt. "You should be thank-ing me," Daniel says, looking out the windows.

"What are you talking about?" I say. My seat belt fails to unlock when I push the button with my knuckle. Crap.

"You should be thanking me," Daniel repeats, turning his head towards me, "because I'm going to tell you why your entire life is a lie."

I stare at Daniel. This fragment of a true human being, coated in dirt and blood and ash, thinks he can trick me? Make me believe what lie exactly? How bad the Renegades are? How bad he is?

I sniffle, wiping dirt from my own face with my shoulder. Daniel may have read my files, but he doesn't know anything. He doesn't know what I last said to my dad before the Renegades murdered him. He doesn't know my paychecks cover the insurance and the house payments.

He doesn't know I'm forgetting more and more of my dad every day because I can't bear to think about what life used to be.

Daniel groans, then replaces his Renegade grin with a neutral expression.

"Listen, Cummins, the whole 'Renegade' thing is a lie. Renegadea was eradicated from the water supply decades ago. Your precious little government lies because it benefits them, and they don't want anyone questioning it."

I give him a baffled look. Of all the things that Daniel could have said, he chose to say that? I'm in a Renegade helicopter. How can he even try to convince me that Renegades aren't real if I'm looking at one right now?

Daniel gazes at me with another bored expression, so is this Daniel talking or the Renegade inside him talking?

"Spoken like a true Renegade," I say. "All you do is lie and—"

Daniel cuts me off with his laughter. The same overbearing laughter that make me want to strangle him. "Ashley, you're cracking me up. Renegades? Me?" He laughs again.

The fear should be bubbling out of me like an overcooked stew, but Daniel's attitude emboldens me to challenge him. It's worse than Rick's patronizing comments. Far worse.