The Revolution
By Alicia Michaels
(The Bionics Novels, #3)
Published by: Crimson Tree Publishing
Publication date: January 18th 2018
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction

“It’s been two hours,” I say, raising my voice to be heard over the rain. “It’s cold out today. Come inside before you make yourself sick.”

The rain begins to slow a bit, signaling an end to the storm. Turning his head toward me again, he stares at me with his dark, glittering eyes. His face seems stuck in a permanent scowl, causing his forehead to crease and his mouth to pinch at the corners.

“Why?”

I raise my eyebrows. “Why what?”

He sighs. “Why come inside or care about getting sick? Why anything? What’s the fucking point, B?”

Apathy. I know the feeling well.

“What happened to fighting?” I say, reminding him of his words the day Yasmine died in his arms. “I thought you said it was time for us to start winning for once.”

He shakes his head and snorts. The last of the rain has fallen, leaving the sky overcast. The scent of the air after a real storm is missing, and it leaves a pit of longing in my gut. I’ve forgotten that smell, just as I’ve forgotten how to function like a normal person. All I know is death and loss.

“What are we even doing here?” he replies. “I’m tired. I don’t have anything left to fight for. Yasmine was what I had decided to fight for—the chance to have something of my own when this was all over.”

“You can still have that.”

Setting the urn aside, he unfolds his long legs to stand, towering over me with his hands braced on his narrow hips. “Don’t you get it? There is no end … not for us! We are going to fight until we die, and that’s all there will ever be. And what the hell are we trying to gain anyway? A chance to live in fear, cowering underground?”

Standing to face him, I clench my hands into fists at my sides. “A chance to have a life out there when this war is over!”

I raise my hand and point toward the hovercraft hangar, which opens into a tunnel leading to the outside. “That world is just as much ours as it is theirs,” I tell him. “Don’t you want it back? Don’t you want to crawl out of this hole, step into the light, and stop running? We have to fight!”

Bending to pick up Yasmine’s urn, he tucks it under one arm. “I don’t have to do a goddamn thing but be black and die. I got the first part covered, and the second is coming any day now if President Drummond follows through on his warning.”

He starts to walk away from me, but I follow, trotting to keep up with his long strides. “What about me?”

Pausing, he swivels to face me. “What?”

I draw up short before I slam into him, the momentum of my fast pace almost causing us to collide. Swallowing past the lump of grief in my throat, I wrap my arms around myself. “I don’t have anybody else,” I whisper. “My family is dead; Gage is gone. Yasmine became like a sister to me, and I know her death hurt you more than anyone here, but I lost her, too. But before Gage or Yasmine … before the Resistance … we had each other.”

Snorting, Dax rolls his eyes. “So, this is about you?”

Grinding my teeth, I fight the urge to punch him in the face. Could I have been this much of a bitch after Gage died?

“Of course not! This is about us. I will never stop fighting for you, because the man who saved my life deserves a chance to redeem his. And if I’m going to fight for you, then you have to do the same. I can’t do this alone.”

His jaw flexes as he looks away, staring off across the quad. “You aren’t alone. You have the Professor, Olivia, Laura, and Alec. You have hundreds of people who would follow you into hell, and thousands more out there rooting for you even though they can’t actually fight with you.”

I curse under my breath as a tear slips free of my human eye. “What about Agata, huh? You gonna give up on her, too?”

Dax’s eyes glimmer with tears when he looks at me and shakes his head. “I couldn’t save Yasmine. What makes you think I can protect that girl?”

“It doesn’t matter if you can or not,” I insist. “It doesn’t matter if you try and fail, or if you fall short. All that matters is that you fight. It’s okay to be sad right now. Hell, I’m sad, too. But when we’re done being sad, we have to keep moving forward. She would have wanted us to keep going, and you know it.”

Nodding, he sniffs while a few tears track down his chiseled face. “I had stopped hoping, B. She made me hope again, and now she’s gone. It hurts so much.”

Reaching out, I take his face in my hands and pull him toward me, resting his head on my shoulder. He hunches from his massive height and leans into me, wrapping one arm around my waist and holding on as if his life depends on it. His hold is painful, but I endure it, hugging him and holding on just as tight. Loving Dax has always hurt; I am used to this.

“I know,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “But the pain is a good thing. If we can feel the pain, it means we’re still alive. We’re healing.”