by Shade Owens
Rocket was right, but I didn’t know how to respond, so I kept walking.
“Hey.” She turned to me. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
She playfully punched me in the shoulder. “For throwing me into that goddamn river.” She pointed out through the jungle’s trees, where the river’s flow filled the air with tranquility. The rain had stopped, and the sun reflected on top of the water. “You could have jumped in, Brone, but you didn’t. You threw us in and sacrificed yourself. These women are lucky to have you.”
CHAPTER 9
The waterfall’s powerful chute filled the air with a loud hum, almost as if in song. The moisture around us thickened, and it smelled like wet earth and fish—so much so that I became hungry.
I glanced back at my women. Two of them dragged the dead boar’s body with sliced vines wrapped around its ankles. I’d never much liked looking at any dead animal, let alone one that was going to end up in my stomach, but as I stared at its wiry hairs, its open mouth, and its glazed eyes, I became even hungrier.
Had there not been urgency in reaching the Cove, I’d have probably cut the creature open myself and staked it over a fire.
I glanced down at my fingers and the few freckles on my knuckles, then at my sun-kissed forearm, my elbow, my feet—everything looked the same, so why did I feel different?
It was as if I’d evolved into a woman capable of surviving this island, which was all I could have done. Had I not changed, I wouldn’t have survived.
But would Ellie be happy to see me, or would she sense the change and lose the feelings she’d once had for me?
I shook these thoughts away when I remembered something—Trim.
I reached for Rocket’s hand, and though she didn’t stop walking, she glanced back at me.
“Rocket, I have to tell you something.”
Remarkably, she didn’t seem all that surprised by my words. It was as if she’d been waiting for me to speak them. She wasn’t taken aback or fearful of what I might say next.
“Is this about Trim?”
I stared at her. How did she know about Trim? I’d pushed her into the river before any of that happened.
“You don’t have to tell me, Brone. I already know.”
She looked defeated, heartbroken, even. But it was apparent she’d already prepared herself for news like this. It was as if she hadn’t expected to see any of us again and had already mourned us. Now, she was simply grateful for the ones who remained.
“How do you know?” I asked.
She offered a weak shrug. “I know Trim. She wouldn’t have stayed behind. She’s too…” But she stopped herself and cleared her tight throat. “She was too hardheaded for that.”
She turned away, her eyes watery and her head bowed forward. It looked like she was fighting every urge to cry—as if showing emotion in front of her women would somehow weaken her as a leader.
I understood that.
“Let’s save the head count for the Cove,” she added. “And Brone”—she looked back at me, eyebrows slanted and mouth forming an upside-down smile—“be delicate about it when you tell Fisher. I don’t know how she’s gonna handle it.”
“Fisher,” I said. “How is sh—”
But I cut myself short when she shot me another look, one that said, Do I need to repeat myself?
I kept my mouth shut and followed her toward the waterfall, bow in hand and eyes sharp. There was no telling what lurked nearby, and no matter how close we were to the Cove, danger still existed. To assume we were safe was equivalent to trying to convince an aircraft passenger with a flying phobia that there was nothing to be afraid of now that the plane was landing, when in reality, landing accidents happened all the time.
Rocket led us down the same path Coin and I traveled before finding Navi’s body in the open field. Every day since that day, I’d asked myself the same question: what if I’d done one thing differently? What if, instead of leaving Redwood, we’d stayed there? Perhaps then, the Northers would have never found us.
But thinking this way was useless. I couldn’t change what had happened—all I could do was focus on the future—on what I could do, not what I could have done.
Bickering erupted behind me every now and then, but all it took was a side glance to stop it. Being capable of changing someone’s behavior with a mere look was the strangest of feelings. I wondered if it was like that for Trim when she was leader of the Hunters, or if this was how Rainer felt on her territory.
One thing set us apart: Rainer was a monster hungry for power. I didn’t want power. All I wanted was peace and for things to be the way they were when Murk was in control. As I listened to the petty arguments behind me, I realized why it was so important to have one person in charge of a society. Not having any form of leadership on the island would have been like having a sports team play in a championship without a coach.
And what had Rocket meant when she’d said everything had changed? Was she not in charge? Was Fisher in charge? Someone had to be, right?
To my surprise, Coin, Hammer, Johnson, and Arenas remained silent during the trek. They walked behind me, two on either side, and scanned the area for danger.
Fortunately, danger didn’t make an appearance. It was almost too calm, which kicked my anxiety into overdrive. My palms became clammy and my mouth so dry I didn’t want to breathe because every bit of air that came through my nose felt like sandpaper going down into my lungs.
When the feeling became too unpleasant, I lowered my bow and slipped the arrow back into its quiver.
“Water break,” I croaked, rushing to the base of the waterfall.
I stepped over flat rocks, careful not to catch a wet or slimy spot. The women did the same, though they looked more like a pack of dogs given the order to hunt. At the river, I hadn’t let them fill their water bladders—for those who had some—for fear of being spotted out in the open. Now, they rushed as quickly as they could toward the water.
It looked dark green down at the base, in part thanks to the slowly setting sun. The sky had turned an iris purple on the horizon, which meant it was going to be a hot, sticky night. While I didn’t enjoy cool jungle evenings, especially without adequate clothing, I much preferred them over high humidity.
Unclipping my water bladder from my belt, I knelt by the water. A mist swept through the air and landed on my face, my neck, and my chest, cooling me instantly. I filled my bladder, thankful that the Northers hadn’t taken this away from me, and swallowed the cold liquid in one gulp.
As I bent forward to refill it, Hammer appeared beside me.
“Hey,” she said simply.
“Hey,” I said.
She sat down on the flattest rock she could find, let out a long breath, and tilted her head back, allowing the waterfall’s chilly mist to encompass her.
“You okay?” she asked.
Why did everyone keep asking me if I was okay? Did I not look okay?
“I’m fine,” I said.
She rested her face on her shoulder and gave me a warm smile. I wasn’t sure what she wanted, so I shifted my eyes to the side before looking at her again.
Then, she punched me gently on the arm. “Just wanted to say I’m proud of you.”
When I didn’t say anything, her smile grew into a grin. “A lot’s changed since the day I first met you.”
I glared at her, though not hatefully. I knew what she was referring to—pathetic, weak little Brone who’d allowed herself to be bullied and manipulated into paying out a portion of her weekly earnings by none other than Hammer herself.
“Too soon to joke about that?” she asked.
I smiled, and it felt foreign to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d genuinely smiled. For a second, even if only briefly, it seemed like everything would be okay—like we weren’t all destined to live a horrible life surrounded by violence and chaos.
Then, Coin plopped herself down and rested the weight of her body on her hands behind her. She opened her mouth at
the mist like a kid trying to catch a snowflake on their tongue, and I let out a soft chuckle.
“Holy shit,” came Arenas’s voice. “The girl ain’t a robot. I was beginnin’ to think you had no feelings, Brone.” She dropped to her hands and knees and dunked her entire head into the river. When she pulled her head out, she swung back so fast that her wet hair whipped her in the back.
I shook my head, still smiling until I saw Rocket standing at the edge of the river, away from everyone. She stood stiffly with two hands on her waist and stared out into the open grass.
And then, as if being propelled back into reality by some unseen force, I thought about the Cove. I thought of Ellie, of Fisher, of everyone else I cared about, and I lunged away from the rocks.
“That’s enough,” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Women rose to their feet, and those who had jumped into the water came splashing out. The moment Rocket saw us approach, she kept moving.
“How much farther?” I asked, catching up.
“We’re almost there,” she said.
She led us out of the open field, away from the river, and toward greenery so thick I wondered if she was out of her mind.
“You expect us to walk through there?” I asked.
She looked back at me, an arrogant smirk on her lips. “There’s a reason we’ve survived this long at the Cove, Brone. Can you ask your women to go inside? To keep walking until they reach the water? I need to stay out here and make sure no one’s following.”
“Watch out!” someone suddenly shouted.
I turned around to spot a handful of women hopping away from something, arms flailing over their heads.
I moved toward them, whipping tall grass out of my way. “What’s going on?”
No one answered. Instead, they pointed at the ground, and two of them covered their mouths. I inched closer, a bit nervous by what I might find when I saw her.
She lay there like a child’s abandoned doll—pale and lifeless. The tattoos on her arm looked even darker than usual in comparison to her translucent skin. Women gathered around me, and though I couldn’t see them, I could hear them.
Franklin’s body lay still in a bed of grass.
CHAPTER 10
“Brone, slow down,” Rocket said.
I shouldered my way through a wall of vined flowers, and petals flew into the air.
Slow down? If Franklin’s body was this close to the Cove, it meant Zsasz wasn’t far. And odds were, she’d already found the Cove.
“We don’t have time to waste.” I angrily tore through hanging vines, then nearly fell when dozens of tree roots appeared in front of me. I say appeared because that’s precisely what it felt like—as though they’d manifested to spite me.
Planting a firm hand on my shoulder, Rocket forced me to stop marching forward.
“Relax,” she said, her voice low. “Unless they were brought to the Cove by one of our own, there’s a good chance they didn’t make it all the way. Look.” She pointed straight ahead into the darkness. “The trees, the bushes, the branches… Everything’s still intact.”
I arched an eyebrow, and she continued. “They must have followed prints or seen someone from a distance enter the forest. Doesn’t look like they came through here, though. Come on.”
She hopped her way to the front of the line and I followed at arm’s length.
The vegetation became so thick that some of my women began snapping branches off the trees.
“Don’t do that,” Rocket warned, pointing a menacing finger toward them. “Push your way through, but don’t break the one thing that’s keeping us hidden.” Almost as if only now realizing these women were complete strangers, she turned to me. “You sure we can trust these women?”
I wasn’t sure. In fact, I had my suspicions that at least one, if not several, were loyal to the Northers. But that was all it was—suspicion. I couldn’t rely on my anxiety, especially seeing as I’d gone as far as to suspect my own women of treason. This gnawing doubt constantly made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t know who to trust, and at times, I didn’t even trust myself.
How could I point a finger at someone and accuse them of not being true? I had no proof, and for all I knew, these women all wanted the same thing—revenge. Why wouldn’t they? They’d been held captive for weeks, months, years, by the Northers. Surely they wanted revenge for that. Why else would they have escaped while others stayed behind?
I gave Rocket a look, one that said, I hope so. That’s all I had to offer. I truly did hope these women were as eager to fight back as I was.
My reaction was sufficient for Rocket. She gave me a quick nod and plowed her way through the remainder of the vegetation, elbows swinging from side to side.
Though it felt like an eternity, we may have been inside the forest for a few minutes at most. As if the sun had risen from a long night, a burst of light came blasting through the cracks of greenery up ahead.
At first, the light was yellow, but then, a bright blue came into sight.
I recognized that color.
That smell, too.
It was the smell of salt water, sand, and fish. I listened carefully, and a sound I’d once found annoying as a child entered my ears as pleasantly as one of Mozart’s symphonies. It was the sound of seagulls flying overheard—they cried and cried and cried, undoubtedly circling their prey or hunting for fish.
“Water,” someone behind me said.
“Is that—”
With both hands, Rocket slid aside a final wall of leaves—something that looked like it had been constructed by hand—and the entire ocean came into view. A small piece of land covered in sand decorated the border of the jungle, and on either side of us were large stone walls—giant cliffs—that made it impossible to see anything other than the ocean.
Women gathered one by one, squishing their bodies into one another as they stepped out onto the sand. Some of them, including Jack, fell to their hands and knees, running their fingers through the sand. Others walked right into the ocean and began splashing water around with childish grins on their faces.
Though I knew it wasn’t time to celebrate, I couldn’t help but smile.
This was the most beautiful thing I’d seen in a long time.
The ocean water felt warm against the tips of my toes, and its color was unlike anything I’d seen before—it was so clear, so transparent that I could see multicolored fish swimming below the surface. In the distance, white foam sat at the top of the water, breaking apart as gentle waves came through.
Everything was so calm—so peaceful—that for a moment, I forgot where I was; I forgot that the Northers existed and that our lives were dependent on our ability to survive on this island. None of that mattered. All that mattered was this moment right now.
I inhaled the warm scent of salt water and felt at home. It reminded me of the Working Grounds’ waterfall, where I’d spent countless evenings relaxing in the sun after a long day of work or showering beneath trickling water at the far side of the waterfall.
“Watch out,” Rocket said, nudging her way through my women.
She grabbed the leaf wall—something that looked like it was built of bamboo, seaweed, and vine leaves—and pulled sideways until it hid the opening we’d come through. Though I knew it was a door, it was nearly impossible to tell by looking at it.
Rocket fought her way back to the front of the crowd and followed the base of the cliff, one footstep at a time through the shallow water until she found something and let out, “Aha.”
She tugged on a rope and a poorly constructed wooden floating device came into view. “Water must have pushed it away.”
“Check it out!” Coin said, though it sounded more like she was talking to herself.
She crouched and began examining every detail of the platform—the size of its planks, the rope holding it together, and the quality of the wood.
“Not bad…” she said.
Not bad was Coin’s way of saying that
points would be received for effort, but that was it. She was incredibly meticulous when it came to building anything with wood, and if I’d had to guess what she was thinking, it would have been: I could have done a way better job.
“What’s that?” someone asked.
One of Rocket’s women swung around, looking unimpressed with the one who’d asked the question, and said, “What’s it look like? A fucking kitchen counter?”
“Easy,” Rocket said, and her Hunter backed down.
“A secret floater!” Elektra shouted, hopping up and down from within the crowd, but she stopped hopping and slapped a hand over her mouth when Rocket’s eyes narrowed on her.
“Mackenzie,” Rocket said, wiggling an instructive finger toward the floating device. “You grab the second raft and start bringing women over. I’ll take Brone and her crew to meet old friends.”
Mackenzie, a young-looking woman with dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail, a purple heart tattoo on her shoulder, and a shiny black eye gave Rocket a firm nod and started splashing through the water. She came back with a rope in her hands, and behind it, a large raft floated atop the crystal clear water. It was like watching butter melt on top of a hot ear of corn—it moved so smoothly that it made the water look like silk.
Rocket climbed on and jerked her head sideways at me. “Come on, get on.”
I led the way, followed by Coin, Hammer, Johnson, and Arenas, who huddled so close the heat of their bodies spread across my back.
“You should have fastened those two pieces together,” Coin said, pointing at the corner of the raft.
Rocket, not knowing anything about Coin, gave her a dull look and ignored her comment.
“Come on,” I said, slowly climbing onto the raft.
Warm water pooled through the cracks as the weight of my body pushed it down, but it remained surprisingly sturdy. Coin followed, crawling forward with her butt in the air, and Johnson and Arenas jumped on, their momentum causing the raft to drift away from the cliff wall and out toward the ocean.
“Whoa,” Rocket said, her leg muscles bulging to maintain balance.
