08: Under the Shield

The column stops. And for the first time since the sky fell, machines come over a hill and make something better. Sangara's droids arrive lacquered green and courteous as clockwork, carrying bread, water, and a recorded voice proud of its own kindness — and an escort to walk Mary's company the last fourteen miles to the shielded city. Hannah accepts the gift and delivers a warning with her voice down: don't show them what you are. Not the scientists. Not the soldiers. Not anyone kind. Seven miles from the gates, the sky answers. Five black machines fall on the road, the white wolf bleeds red like anybody, and Mary — whose hands have been closed since Dagon Hills — learns the difference between gripping a power and opening a hand. She is half a second too late. The field protocol saves Hannah's life and pauses everything else about her; the survivors are lifted over the wall of the world into the last city standing, where the old world is still going about its business under a pearl-colored sky. Then the door opens, and a man in a lab coat asks Mary if that is her name — because one of the machines that saved them was watching the whole time. Part One ends here.