Page 123 of Tapeworld Induction

In

Dylan

Their host had led them to another room carved into the concrete. There was a trace smell of rubber, mixed with the chalky scent of concrete. Elodie’s headquarters had the air of freshly fabricated areas where previously there were none.

“Maybe it’s not that she never told you about this place, but that she just extended it recently, adding to the bones of the car wash?”

The neon night glow of Shoreditch seeped in through carved slits in the walls, blasted with a cutter in the same way as those next to Elodie’s desk in the other, larger, room.

Isaak sat on the bed, right by one of the slits, purple and blue highlights dancing over his skin. He looked stunning. Even more so than usual.

His eyes were fixed on the skeletal towers of Canary Wharf on the horizon, and she worried about breaking his long reflection. He’d been sat like that for ten minutes, practically since Elodie had guided them here to rest before tomorrow’s big plans. Sacha had stayed by Talia’s side, but there was a different room ready for him if he wanted it, she assured them.

It was not lost on Dylan that there was only one bed in this one.

“They were people…” he said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. “I killed people.”

She went over and stood next to him. Very deliberately she placed a hand on his hair and fondled the back of his head, slowly stroking it up and down. “Boy, I told you I did the same. Those people… Astrid set them against us.” Her breathing went shallower and quicker. “We didn’t know, and we didn’t have a choice.”

He looked up at her, face washed with light, eyes pooled with tears. He wrapped his arms around her and gave out a troubled moan. She held his head with both hands, hugging him to her chest.

“How aren’t you broken up about it?” he asked, tears wetting the fabric of her dress.

She knew she probably should be, but her feelings, when she searched them, were entirely something else. Rage. At Astrid for putting him through hell, for tape-napping Talia. At the millionaire carnist mates of Astrid, who didn’t give a shit about anything as long as they were happy. At Elodie for keeping things from Isaak.

“I care about three things,” she said eventually. “Animals, the planet, and my people. If I hadn’t stopped and killed those sleptigrades in the Tapeworld, Astrid would have turned you into one.” She’d killed for love. Maybe her Apocalypse Revolt training had prepared her for more than she expected. Hours in the rain and sweltering heat, breaking and rebuilding her mind towards one goal: save the planet, at any cost. “I’d do it again. For you, for Talia.”

He shook his head. “But they’re innocent people! We could have saved them…” He sounded defeated.

“We’re going to try our best. But there’s a chance we’ll need to kill more to stop Astrid and get Talia back… Fuck.” The more she thought about it, the more it hurt. “It hurts to find out the mortal danger we’re in every time we use the tape, the people we killed. But my time in the Revolt camps prepared me for something like this. It doesn’t make sense, it can’t make sense, but you need to think about your loved ones who will die if you don’t fight back.”

Isaak gripped her tightly, his fingers digging into her waist. His shaking slowly came to stillness as he processed what she said.

“You had no choice,” she said again. She kept playing with his hair, his breath warm on her chest.

“Okay. Okay. I understand.” He took a deep breath, and seemed to calm down. “Thank you.”

Now felt like the right time to bring up something else that had been bubbling inside her.

“Unlike slipping on the Sleeper, a device you knew nothing about. That was a choice you made.”

His breathing halted, chest tightened against her waist. “I was upset. I wasn’t thinking.”

It was like being jabbed in the gut. “And, after we’d already risked our lives to save you, you went and jacked in to Cardinal Row when that wasn’t the plan at all.”

He pushed himself gently away from her, arms flopping down to his sides. “I needed— We needed answers!”

Eyes watering, she struggled to get her words out. “While you were doing that, me and Talia were put through the ringer by Astrid and her bodyguard. If it wasn’t for Sacha…”

He dropped his gaze to the concrete floor, dealing with his guilt.

“And your stunt with the spyware cat?”

“We spoke about that already!” he said, getting defensive. “I thought you accepted my apology?”

Her heart hurt. “I did. I do. But all these things put together…” Tears rolled down her face. She wiped them off quickly, steeling herself and trying to look composed. “Why do you always do these things alone? You don’t trust me?” She backed up and stood a few steps away from him.

He stood up. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. Please don’t think that. I worry about you. I don’t want to lose you in there.”