Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

{Book Three} 146 | Rebellion

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ Tethered ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

Chapter 20

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• Luna •

Luna's stomach dropped and she knew she needed to sit down or she would collapse.

She couldn't take her eyes away from the screen. Nothing was going on. Of course not. Millions of people were killed in D.C. And how many of the survivors were seriously injured? Hundreds? Thousands? She couldn't believe what she had just seen.

A voice crackled over the radio, announcing the successful drop of three more missiles. No one in the room celebrated. She was relieved they hadn't because she was certain she or Amir would have been sprayed with chemicals if they had objected to this act. These people weren't joking.

"We'll conduct a scan for any electric currents," said the man who had been counting down earlier. "I should have the data in two minutes."

General Hayes nodded. "Thank you, Tyler."

"Defectives and anything else created by BARDA can still hide behind any shields they have around them," Greer explained, but Luna knew that. That's why the rebellion's weapons were so extreme.

They completely fried everyone.

Amir wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her to his side. His skin vibrated when she placed her hand over his chest. He, like her, was enraged. A rush of static popped across her skin as her fury swirled inside her mind. She was infuriated because she knew their time was limited, but this . . . ?

The gravity of what had just occurred stretched beyond the fatality. Whatever the date, today will be remembered as the day the United States Capital was demolished. Nothing would ever be the same there again. All of the power grids, communication systems, and complex infrastructure that was so far beyond her comprehension had disappeared.

"There's no coming back from this, is there?" she asked, her voice scratched.

General Hayes' jaw was clenched. "Rebuilding to what it was would take years, if not longer."

She closed her eyes, baffled by the impact. "You've . . . you've crossed a line."

The general shifted his weight and glanced back at her. "BARDA started it."

"There has been no movement," Tyler stated. "The city is destroyed. We can't locate any survivors."

Luna pressed her hand against Amir's chest when he stiffened beside her. There had to have been a massive proportion of innocent civilians killed.

And this was just the beginning. She realized it. The rebellion was going to attack more cities across the world, massacring more innocent people and turning the world into . . . oh, God, reality as she knew it would turn into a dystopia, just like she'd envisioned, but worse.

No one was safe.

The rebellion was just as evil.

Luna turned away from Amir and faced General Hayes. "You've got to stop this."

His dark eyes met hers, and she knew he was thinking, Who the hell did she think she was to protest? and perhaps they didn't think she had the right to. She was no one compared to other creations, just another freak created by BARDA, but she couldn't stand there and do nothing while they annihilated the planet one location at a time.

"This is a massacre. Some innocent souls died at your hands," she told him, her voice breaking. "None of them deserved that. They were trying to run."

"This was not an easy decision to make, believe me. I will lose many hours of sleep over it." He sighed. "But we didn't have a choice."