Rebel by Amy Tintera Read Free Book Online Page A

ago.” His voice was low.
    “Where’d they go?” I gripped my spoon tighter.
    “A group of fifty or so took off by themselves.”
    I lifted my eyebrows. “Why?”
    “You’ve noticed there aren’t a lot of older Reboots on the reservation?”
    I nodded.
    “We had a falling-out,” he replied. “The older generation wasn’t happy here, didn’t like the way I was running things, sothey left. Most of the people with children decided to go with them. Thought they’d be safer away from here.”
    “Do you know where they went?” The idea of a second safe community for Reboots was comforting, especially if this one didn’t work out.
    “They all died,” Micah said, a pained expression crossing his face. “I tried to tell them it wasn’t safe, that our biggest advantage was our numbers and our weapons, but they went anyway. I found them a week later, on a hunt. It looked like HARC got to them.”
    “Did they go south?” I asked, surprised.
    “More, like, west,” Micah said, shielding his eyes with his hand as he gazed in the direction of the sun. “But HARC has ways of tracking and hunting people everywhere.”
    I swallowed a bite of oats, a blip of fear running through me. If that was true, my backup plan of running off with Callum wasn’t looking so good.
    “How did HARC get them?” I asked. “Weren’t they armed?”
    “Barely. Our weapons are reservation weapons. I wasn’t handing them off to a group of people deserting us. They took what they had, but it wasn’t enough. From the looks of it, HARC sent in a lot of officers. More than they could fight off.”
    It seemed like Micah had more than enough weapons to spare. I wondered if everyone at the reservation was okay with him sending Reboots away who were barely armed to defend themselves. “How many people are here now?” I asked.
    “A little over a hundred. Maybe a hundred and fifteen. We were a hundred and twenty-seven yesterday before you guys got here, but I’m still waiting for an accurate count of how many we lost.” He jumped to his feet, clearing his throat. “You done? I’ll take you on that tour.”
    I wanted to ask why exactly all those Reboots had left, but the way Micah had said they didn’t like the way he was running things made me doubt I would get a full answer. Maybe that was a better question for Riley, or one of the other Reboots here.
    We dropped our bowls off to be washed and I followed him through the reservation. He pointed out areas where they made clothes and other necessities, like soap and furniture. They used one tent for school, and he said some of the younger Austin Reboots should start attending again. He was probably right. I’d managed to hold on to a lot of my education, but I’d received nothing after the age of twelve. Maybe a trip to that tent would be a good idea for me, too.
    He led me outside and we walked to the edge of their expansive crops. They grew oats and wheat and beans, among other things. A large barn was one of the only permanent structures on the compound, and it was full of livestock.
    I had to hand it to Micah. This place was organized and thriving under his command. I had the feeling that if HARC let him into the cities he would clean them up in less than a month and have everyone fed, clothed, and organized.
    “Is there going to be enough food to feed everyone with a hundred extra people?” I asked as we started walking back toward the reservation. “I don’t know a lot about growing, but you already harvested everything from last season, right?”
    He nodded. “It might be tight, but we’ll be okay. We’ve got some gardens on the reservation, too. I’m working on a plan to make sure everyone is taken care of. Plus we were still producing enough for the Reboots who left.”
    He looked sad every time he talked about them, and I felt a spark of pity for him. It must have been a huge amount of pressure, taking care of so many Reboots while HARC was constantly trying to kill