Storm (Swipe Series)

fugitive,” Lily said. “My brother. Logan Langly.”
    7
    Off on their own and sitting between the storage shelves in the Sierra Science Center basement, Hailey, Logan, and Peck were tuned in to the old radio Hailey had been listening to for weeks, found buried in one of the mounds of equipment strewn about the place. This wasn’t a foxhole radio either, Logan and Peck noticed, but an actual, nice, pre-Unity model, complete with Sierra-style batteries (that is to say, experimental technology Hailey didn’t recognize, but which worked like a charm), and an antenna that managed to pick up shortwave signals even down here underground.
    Hailey had the radio tuned to 3900 kHz, as usual—the universal Markless frequency—and she and the others had kept silent for some time as they tried together to listen through tonight’s static.
    “ Shh! ” Hailey said, a little ways into the exercise. “I think I hear it.” And sure enough, the voice breaking through was Sonya’s, Logan’s grandmother’s, speaking to every foxhole radio in the Union. “And there’s my mother’s cough,” Hailey said after two short bursts of crackling.
    “Markless Today,” Grandma said, announcing the program that, ever since the protests, had become a certifiable Markless phenomenon. “More bad news, I’m afraid, as if any of you heroes needed it.” And Grandma went on to talk about the latest relay of news from Dane Harold out east and from her cohort of Markless broadcasters all along the many Unmarked River routes. “Across our country, it is confirmed, the great American permadrought continues. Ration your food, folks. Save your water. Because this thing’s bound to getworse before it gets any better.” Grandma sighed into the microphone. “And should any one of us be surprised?” She paused for effect. “Of course not! No! Every day, no! After all, I’m merely saying what you enlightened Markless out there already know to be true: that these are the end of days.” She whistled softly into the mic. “One-world government, an enforced Mark of loyalty . . . warfare, famine, scorching heat . . . a west coast already destroyed by massive earthquakes, nearly a hundred and fifty thousand Markless rising up and fighting back, an IMP army attacking, a charismatic chancellor leading it all from across the sea, a beastly General Lamson supporting him from here . . . it hardly takes much to connect the dots here, friends. These are the signs we’ve been waiting for—the unmistakable fingerprints of the Tribulation.”
    Logan listened intently. Peck nodded along in agreement. Hailey sat perfectly still.
    “And what’s next?” Sonya asked. “There certainly shouldn’t be any mystery about it. Plague, darkness, pain . . . life will get worse,” Grandma warned. “Things will get much worse.” And she told her Markless listeners to keep their heads down, and she asked them all to pray.
    “Oh Cylis , you’re not listening to that Markless radio program down here, are you?” Dr. Rhyne asked, walking over from her check-up on Erin and rolling her eyes dramatically.
    Logan turned to her, startled. “You know about it?”
    “Sure I do. They spend half their airtime trash-talking my initiatives. Why?”
    “I don’t know,” Logan said. “Somehow, I thought they’d managed to stay under DOME’s radar.”
    “Oh, I’m sure they have,” Dr. Rhyne said. “DOME’s very bad at thinking outside the box of their own systems and technologies.”
    “ You’re DOME,” Hailey reminded her.
    Dr. Rhyne shrugged. “I guess that’s true.”
    “Wait, what’s wrong with Markless radio?” Logan pressed.
    Dr. Rhyne raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s all a load of bunk, for one thing. Bunch of talking heads thinking we’re living in end times, scaring one another with conspiracy theories and ghost stories.”
    “Well, what if they’re right?” Logan asked, tallying the details in his head. “Some of their predictions seem pretty accurate.”
    “So I’ve heard,” Arianna said. “How flattering, to think that someone was writing about my accomplishments thousands of years ago.” She laughed at the thought of it.
    “Then what about all the other stuff? It certainly lines up . . .”
    “Anything lines up if you look at it long enough,” Arianna said. “The fact is, countless stories have been written over the years, saying all kinds of things. We cannot just pick and choose which data to look at based on what fits with