Z 2136 (Z 2134 Series Book 3) by Sean Platt, David W. Wright

‘traitors’—they were taking spouses and children, torturing and executing entire families. Had never seen anything like it. They were looking for something and willing to do anything to find it. The Underground had always been good about keeping its own secrets, but once the Watchers started going after families, people began talking, betraying their comrades. Who knew The State could go that low?”
    Adam thought of his own betrayals and his own place in The State. Feeling awful enough that he barely knew what to say, Adam managed, “So, is The Underground gone?”
    Colton licked his lips, looking like he was in a hurry to get going. But he answered anyway.
    “No, The Underground’s not gone. But it might as well be. It’s broken for sure. A few members left, and the rest of ’em are too terrified to come out of hiding. The State will do anything to ‘get the rest of the roaches’ as they say.”
    Colton turned from Adam and headed down the final flight.
    “The Underground’ll fight.” Adam stopped his father’s old friend after only a step. “They’ll come back.”
    Adam’s confidence was growing as he spoke—until Colton brought him back down to Earth. “Not this time, kid. Not with Keller in control. No one’s seen Jack Geralt since what happened with your dad. We’re assuming the Leader of The State is dead. And like I said, The State’s never been so aggressive. They aren’t just rooting out the threat in order to till the soil, they’re salting the earth so nothing can grow.”
    Colton looked as angry as he did beaten, like Hooper beside him. He kept on talking, nostrils now flaring.
    “They started in City 6, since that’s where the resistance was strongest. They got to my sister’s son . . .”
    Colton’s face flashed with a pain so wrenching Adam was sorry to witness it. But Colton carried on, “They also took another girl from City 6, a girl named Zelle.”
    “Zelle?” Adam asked, the name uncommon enough he figured it had to be the same girl he’d known. “Zelle Howes? She lived two doors down from us.”
    “Yes, they grabbed her and her parents. They were trying to get her father to spill his guts about The Gardens. When he refused, they killed his wife. Then they threatened to kill the girl. Way I heard it, he died during questioning, and they put the girl into The Games.”
    “What are The Gardens?”
    Hooper cut in. “A home far away from The State’s reach: a place where they can’t touch us.”
    “Sounds like a good place to be right about now.”
    Colton responded, “Which is why you’re going to help us find the girl.”
    “She’s in these Games? Now?”
    “Oh yeah,” Colton said. “And she knows where The Gardens are.”
    “How do you know that?” Adam asked. “She’s like ten, isn’t she?”
    “Yes, but she’s got one of those photographic memories. There’s no way her father didn’t tell her how to get to The Gardens.”
    “That’s a pretty big assumption,” Adam said. “My father never told me any of his secrets . . .” And he never will .
    “It’s a hunch, but the word is that Zelle and her dad were very close. It’s risky, looking for her, but it’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
    “OK.” Adam swallowed. “So we’re just going to head into The Outback, find her, and hope she trusts us?”
    “Exactly. Unless you’ve got a better idea.”
    Adam didn’t.
    Nor did he have a reason not to join them. For one thing, Adam liked the girl. He had played with her a few times when Ana had been asked to babysit. And though she was six years younger than he was, Zelle was smarter than any kid he’d ever met—probably smarter than most adults. But she was still a child, and no child deserved to be in The Games.
    If there were a way to save her, he’d do his best.
    “I’m in.”
    “Good,” Colton said. “Let’s get going.”
    They had just started on down to the lobby, when Hooper hissed and reached out an arm to stop them.