Specials

Though Tally still recognizes Zane’s beauty, she is distressed to see that his hands shake and his body seems infirm. He has not been fully cured of the damage that the nanos have done to his brain. With her heightened, Special senses, she is even more acutely aware of his physical failings. Zane notices that she sees his infirmities and, more importantly, that she is repulsed by them. He suggests that she has again been mentally altered, that the price of being Special is to reject any sign of weakness. He gently reminds her that she can change her own mind, as she did before when she was a bubble-headed Pretty. She dismisses the idea that she has been changed.

Zane tells them that the pills—better than the previous nanos—have already flooded the city. The authorities will quickly have a thinking populace on their hands. Zane is uninterested in helping the Specials attack the Smokies. He now wears a metal collar that tracks his movements, a sign of his imprisonment by Dr. Cable, and he does not know where the New Smoke is located.

Tally urges Zane to figure out how to escape the surveillance device. This would prove that he was Special, too, then he could become one of Tally’s group. Zane wonders why she does not want to be with him now, and all Tally can think is that his weakness disgusts her. Shay tells him to escape and to meet the Cutters by the river the next day, bringing other potential runaways with him. They will use him as bait to draw out the Smokies and catch them. Shay is certain that Zane will betray the Smokies because he loves Tally and wants to be with her.

Tally is distressed after seeing Zane, but Shay is dismissive. Zane is not Special, so he is no longer desirable. She emphasizes that the Cutters are better than the Crims—and everyone else. Thus, the Pretties must be kept docile, and the Smokies must be stopped.

Shay enlists Tally’s help by suggesting they can save Zane and their city, as well: They will make it appear as if Zane removed his tracking device on his own, so Dr. Cable will be impressed by his capability and eventually make him a Special. The two will secretly track him and the other runaways as the Smokies lead them to the New Smoke, which they will then destroy. The only problem is getting their hands on a device that will cut through Zane’s collar, made out of “orbital alloy.” Shay assures Tally that she has a plan.

Shay’s plan consists of breaking into the Armory, where the city keeps all of its old weaponry. There have been no wars since the Rusty days, so the place is more like a museum than a functioning munitions warehouse. Very few people have access to the site. Shay believes that, should the exploit be pinned on Zane, Dr. Cable will have no choice but to make him Special.

At first frightened, Tally grows increasingly confident in their adventure: They are Special, after all, and they even have the power to fool their own city. Nevertheless, alarms sound as they break in, and menacing drones chase them. They jump down a shaft and find dozens of hovercraft and other armed machines. They also spot some machines used for constructing buildings in the outdated Rusty mode. Tally is confused by them, as they would only be used should the City decide to expand beyond their boundaries—something the new cities have all agreed not to do.

The two stumble upon the part of the Armory that is an actual museum and come across gas masks and other artifacts of Rusty life. The Rusties had relied on biowarfare for many of their battles, and that stuff was stored here, too. Shay encourages Tally to steal items at random—they want to confuse the authorities about their intentions—and Tally glances at a rifle and slings it around her shoulders. Shay has apparently found what they will use to cut Zane’s collar, so they get ready to leave. A man comes into the museum area.

The older man looks around and notices that some items have been moved. He shifts them back into place and sends out a hovercam to see if anyone is present. Tally bats the camera with the rifle, and the man begins yelling at them. Everything in the Armory can be put to lethal use, he warns. Shay then breaks open a bottle of “silvery liquid” that begins snaking along the floor. It eats through everything in sight. Though many of the machines spring to life and try to avoid the corrosive goo, they cannot save the place.

Shay then directs the goo toward the back wall, making a hole large enough for them to escape. She throws a grenade in the direction of the largest machines skidding toward them as the hole grows. Another farming machine inches toward them, covered in the deadly spreading liquid. Tally asks if Shay has any more grenades, and Shay responds that she is saving them for the waiting hovercraft outside. Tally looks through the hole to see dozens of hovercraft waiting to catch them. She believes they are doomed. However, Shay coats a grenade in goo, careful not to touch it, and throws it at the spinning blades; the goo goes everywhere and quickly begins eating through the hovercraft. The two ping their hoverboards and escape out of the hole.

As they escape the city, Tally wonders about the many other deadly weapons that might be kept in the Armory. They are still being pursued, but, in their sneak suits, only their hoverboards are visible. Shay informs Tally that she still has some grenades, but their better option is to ditch their hoverboards and leap into the river. Shay launches a grenade to distract the pursuing hovercraft as they jump off their boards. They allow the fast-moving current to whisk them along. They evade their pursuers.

Shay reminds Tally that, by tomorrow evening, Zane will arrive and be on his way to the New Smoke with his runaway friends. The two will watch out for him on the journey, and if anyone in the city—especially Dr. Cable—believes that he had any part in the destruction of the Armory, Zane will surely be turned into a Special.