The Man Who Crossed Worlds (Miles Franco #1)

Chapter Fifteen

I wrapped Tania in my jacket and carried her out of the destroyed wine lounge, stepping among the bodies and debris. She was light as a ghost, and pale as one too. She didn’t move or talk in her sleep. I prayed the Chroma would be out of her system by the time she woke. I prayed it hadn’t fried her brain completely.

The stairs at the entrance to the wine lounge were half-destroyed, so I climbed down first and let Vivian pass Tania down to me. I was too numb to think, to do anything except deal with the immediate practical matters. All my anger had been burned away. John Andrews and the surviving gangsters had fled to God knows where, but they’d be back.

Crowds of Vei hovered around the streets surrounding the wine lounge, watching us leave. They parted as we moved through them, not speaking. The fear on their faces was obvious, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was playing rabbit and getting Tania the hell out of town.

My shoulder stung like crazy where Andrews had sliced me, and my old jacket had earned itself a few new holes which I’d need to stitch up. My shirt was a write-off. Blood coated it—some of it mine and some not—and it had more tears than an orphaned child. Vivian had come out significantly less bloodstained, but she’d need to wash her clothes about a million times to get out the smell of burnt flesh. Whatever that wine lounge was made of, it sure as hell stunk when it got torn apart.

We left the city on foot, crossing the same bridge we’d come in on. It seemed as good a place as any. Vivian and I didn’t say anything, but I think we both knew there was no point staying here. It was obvious the gangsters had been duped as thoroughly as we’d been. We’d find no answers. Not here, anyway. We were at a dead end, with emphasis on the dead. All that mattered to me right now was getting Tania to a hospital. Doctor Dee and John Andrews could go fuck themselves.

Still, as I felt Tania’s shallow breath against my neck, I couldn’t help but let my mind drift into the darkness. Bluegate was in for a world of hurt. This whole situation had gone from firecracker to armed nuke. John Andrews and the other gangsters would be arming up for full-scale war. Doctor Dee had betrayed them, not telling them the havoc a Tunneler on Chroma would wreak. In the end, that basically amounted to attempted assassination. Gang bosses don’t generally take such things lightly. Blood would flow in the streets, and who knew how many innocents would be caught in the crossfire.

And even if none of the gangsters Dee had tried to kill made it back to Earth, Bluegate would still have to deal with the influx of that deadly drug. If it drove normal people mad, the violence would be horrifying. If Tunnelers got their hands on it…

I shifted Tania’s weight in my arms. She was too deep in her sleep to notice. What the hell had the Chroma done to make her so powerful? Just a couple of days ago she could barely manage a Pin Hole with half a bottle of Kemia. Now, with one dose of Chroma, she could punch holes in reality with no more than a flick of her wrist. It was unthinkable, and it made me shiver to consider what would happen when people who craved power more than safety started shooting up.

Vivian’s face was blank as we walked. The day was cooling now as the sun-analogue dimmed in brightness, but streams of sweat rolled down her face, creating rivers in the dust. She stared ahead, looking at something beyond the strange landscape.

“You thinking about how screwed we are?” I asked

She blinked and glanced at me, as if she’d forgotten I was there. “This thing, this Chroma, the power of it…” She took a breath and rubbed a sleeve across her forehead. “This won’t stop at Bluegate. The other Bore Cities will start getting it as well. Before long we won’t be able to stop it. It will be everywhere.”

Jesus. I hadn’t thought of that, though now she said it, it seemed so obvious. How many people would this thing kill?

The thought of it was overwhelming. God, I was tired. I opened my mouth and let out a jaw-cracking yawn. I felt like I was going to drop down right there. Every inch of me ached, new bruises duking it out with old ones for the right to cause me the most pain.