Outpost

by Kellee L. Greene

  The flash of light caused me to close my eyes and the noise tensed every muscle in my body. My body felt as though it had an electric current running through it.

  Gina chuckled nervously. “It’s just trying to scare us.”

  I smiled but I couldn’t help but think the storm wasn’t done with us. It was almost as though I wanted there to be a bigger reason we’d been hiding in the city for all these years. Our ancestors couldn’t have built the wall just because of some wind and lightning. Something told me that we were told things were much worse than they were. The natives had managed to avoid them all these years without having built a wall around themselves.

  We hadn’t needed the wall but perhaps it had made things easier. Then again, perhaps those on level one wouldn’t agree.

  I’d wanted to see Boone alone but it no longer seemed as though that would be the case. All of us would be out there looking for him and with the way the storm seemed to be winding down, it wouldn’t be long before we headed out.

  Since they’d been banished, I’d thought of the day I’d see him again. To say I was nervous would be putting it lightly. I felt sick. I didn’t know what I’d do or say when I saw him. So much had changed.

  So. Much.

  But still, I couldn’t wait to see him. It made my pulse quicken. I looked at Hayes and he smiled at me. I tried to smile back but the swirling in my stomach made it difficult.

  His smile faded just before Trixie stepped in front of me, blocking my view. Her body no longer drooped and she looked like herself again. Putting distance between her and Michelle seemed to have helped.

  “Hello?” Trixie said. “Did you hear what Lillian said?”

  I shook my head. “Was lost in thought, I guess.”

  “The rain has almost stopped. She thinks we should go.”

  I nodded. “Ready when you are.”

  But I wasn’t ready. And even though I thought I would be, this wasn’t something I could ever be ready for. After several minutes Lillian opened the door and gestured at me.

  Trixie was already outside with a spear in her hand. She smiled at me as I exited the small hut. “Let’s go see Boone.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  It wasn’t long before the camp disappeared behind us. The native’s camp was well hidden inside a thick forest and it wasn’t something I’d ever be able to find again. I wasn’t even sure if I’d even be able to find the city again unless I got close enough to see the wall.

  We’d twisted and turned so much and with the thick clouds blocking out the sun, I didn’t even know what direction we were walking. Trixie moved skillfully through the weeds and trees and even though she’d commented that she may not be able to find the cave again, it seemed as though she knew exactly where she was going.

  Trixie had lived with Boone before she’d joined the natives. It wasn’t likely that she’d forget her first home out beyond the wall that easily.

  As we walked, the rain stopped but droplets of water still patted down on our heads from the trees above. The thunder still rumbled but it was far in the distance and it no longer shook the earth below our feet. Occasionally, I could spot a flash of light in the clouds.

  The storm was over and soon, Michelle would lead her people out of the cellar and they would see the damage that had been done to their camp. With the storm ending, that was also good news for the natives, it was unlikely their cellar would flood or collapse. They would need to do something to strengthen the muddy walls where the water had been pouring in before the next storm came.

  We hadn’t taken anything from the natives besides the three spears when we left. I couldn’t be sure but the one Grayson took looked slightly different from the other two and was likely the one Mister Paul had given us. Maybe Michelle wouldn’t even notice the missing spears when they returned or she’d blame it on the storm.

  Hayes and Grayson walked at the back of our little group and I stayed just behind Trixie who was leading the way. Gina and Lillian stayed close behind.

  “It’s a pretty simple route,” Trixie said without turning. “If I remember correctly.”

  “If you call this simple,” Gina muttered.

  “Well, the terrain is flat. Hills and cliffs are much more difficult to navigate, we’ve lost many in our travels but sometimes it's not due to the terrain,” Trixie said. “Sometimes it’s the heat or the cold. Traveling over ice is my least favorite but we won’t have to deal with that.”

  Trixie ducked down under a low hanging branch. I could hear the running water of the river.

  “Is that the river where we were found?” I asked.

  “Indeed, it is,” Trixie said. “We use it for travel. One way leads to the ocean, the other to the mountains. If you head north, eventually, it’s all ice and snow no matter what time of year it is.”

  I looked from left to right. “Which way is the city?”

  “Umm….” Trixie tapped her finger on her chin. After a long moment, she grinned and pointed to the right. “That way, I think. It’s easy to get lost out here but I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing my way around these parts.”

  Trixie’s confidence was back. When we’d been in the cellar, I thought she’d lost it. Perhaps it had something to do with being trapped or maybe it was that she felt powerless to Michelle.

  I hadn’t known Michelle well or for long but one thing I knew was that I was glad to be away from her. If I would have had to stay in her camp, we probably wouldn’t have gotten along. I would have ended up in the same situation I’d been in with the man who said he was my father.

  “We have a place we can stay for the night. The natives have small buildings scattered about for travel but of course the storms occasionally wipe them away,” Trixie said.

  “What are the odds it’ll be there?” Gina asked.

  “Fifty-fifty,” Trixie said with a shrug. “Even if it’s gone, we can camp out which is obviously not preferred but usually you can hear the beasts coming. One thing they aren’t good at is being sneaky since they usually travel in packs,” Trixie said.

  “What about when they don’t travel in packs,” I asked.

  Trixie raised a brow. “We’ll have to hope that doesn’t happen.”

  We walked for hours, mostly keeping as quiet as possible. I shot frequent looks over my shoulder at Hayes. Every time I did, Lillian covered a smile.

  When she did it again, I asked her about it.

  “I see it in your eyes and it makes me smile,” Lillian said. “Takes me back to when I was young.” She promptly held up a finger. “Before I met Edward.”

  “My dad?” I asked.

  “Your biological father was incredibly handsome,” she said. “I should never have let myself get in so deep with Edward. Once you get into his web, you’re stuck there for life. Even out here, I felt I was still stuck.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Why? You were free out here.”

  “This was where he wanted me. He still had control over me,” Lillian said with a frown. “I’m sorry you won’t get a chance to meet your real father. You kind of remind me of him.”

  “I do?” I asked as everyone listened intently.

  “He didn’t give up easily. As far as I remember, he was the only one to fight back against Edward. Of course, it didn’t matter,” Lillian said. “This will be different.”

  I swallowed hard. “I hope so.”

  “It will. You won’t be alone. At the very least you’ll have us,” Lillian said.

  “And more than half of level one,” Gina added. “We’re going to fix the city.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s going to be harder than you think. We’re still not even sure how to get back inside.”

  “We’ll just go back and ask that man you met. The one you told me about,” Gina said.

  “I doubt I can find my way back to that place,” I said.

  “What place are you talking about?” Lillian asked.

  “There was a camp with
young women working to grow and harvest goods for the city,” I said as I scratched the side of my arm. It almost felt like I was telling a secret I shouldn’t have.

  Lillian stared at me with interest. “Young women? From the city?”

  “It was apparently where children were sent when they got old enough,” I said feeling my shoulders drop at the sadness of the poor young girls having to leave their families. “They called them extras.”

  “Second-born children?” Lillian asked.

  I nodded.

  “And third,” Gina added.

  “Well, you have access to a little army then, don’t you?” Lillian asked with a smirk.

  I held up my palm. “No way. They’re too young. I can’t put them in danger. If all goes well, then they can come back to see their families.”

  Lillian offered me a small bob of her head as she folded her hands together. She was right. There was no doubt in my mind that every one of the quiet girls in Mister Paul’s camp would have stood behind me as we marched back to the wall.

  It didn’t matter. I wasn’t willing to risk their lives in any way. There was a chance that we’d fail and no one could even guess what my father would do to us offenders. Something told me he wouldn’t simply send us back outside the wall. It would be something far more drastic.

  The cloud coverage above made night fall sooner than any of us had expected. We hadn’t yet found the hut Trixie was looking for but she wasn’t ready to give up.

  “Hand me that flashlight,” Trixie demanded. “We can’t be that far off.”

  I reached into my bag and handed her the light. She turned it around in her hand for a few seconds before she figured out how to turn it on.

  She smiled and pointed the beam of light forward. There was still enough light around us that it wasn’t absolutely necessary but she must have wanted to be prepared.

  As we continued forward, the beam danced across the leaves and grasses. Trixie walked quickly, putting a bit too much distance between us. She was probably used to traveling in the woods but we weren’t.

  “Trixie,” I called and she stopped. The flashlight fell from her hand and the beam of light happened to land in my eyes.

  I brought my hand to my eyes and stepped out of the way. After blinking several times, I saw the small group of men surrounding Trixie.

  They repositioned themselves when they spotted us. “Put your hands up!”

  Chapter Twenty

  Everyone stopped walking except for Hayes, who kept moving slowly until he positioned himself in front of me. His hands were still in the air and his muscles were tensed.

  “Drop your weapons and stop moving!” the guy who was only inches away from Trixie shouted.

  I could see the group clear enough through the trees. They all had short hair and the skin that was bare displayed strange, thick black tattoos.

  There were noises from behind and when I turned one of the guys was on top of Grayson. His spear was several feet away from him lying on the ground.

  They worked fast. Trixie’s hands were tied behind her back and the guy by Grayson was working to tie him up as well.

  If I could get to the spear, maybe I could take out the guy on top of Grayson.

  “Uh-uh-uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the guy by Trixie said as he gestured for the other two men with him to come toward the rest of us.

  As far as I could tell, there were only the four men around us. We had them outnumbered even with Trixie and Grayson tied up.

  I took another step toward Grayson’s spear but stopped when the man next to Trixie pressed the tip of his spear into the front of her neck. He smirked at me.

  “I told you to stop and I won’t say it again,” he said.

  “Okay. Fine,” I said holding my arms stiffly in the air.

  “What do we have here?” the man said looking at me. “You’re different. You’re all different except you two.”

  He was referring to Trixie and Lillian who were obviously dressed as natives. The rest of us, however, probably appeared to be quite unusual with our pale skin and t-shirts and knit pants.

  “Where are you from?” he asked me as he dragged Trixie closer to the group. He shoved her into me and we both almost lost our balance.

  The guy who was on Grayson had gotten up and was pushing him toward us, keeping the spear aimed at the back of his neck.

  “Are you friends of the natives?” he asked.

  I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. Thankfully, I didn’t need to come up with an answer.

  “We’re just passing through,” Hayes said.

  “Are they your prisoners?” the man holding Trixie asked as he looked at her sideways. He must have thought it odd that Trixie had been leading the way.

  “Should they be?” Hayes asked.

  The guy nearest me snorted. “Everything would be better if all the natives were dead.”

  Trixie glared at him. Lillian somehow remained calm as she flashed them a smile.

  “We’ve left the natives,” Lillian said as she slowly lowered her hands.

  The one near Trixie who seemed to be in charge quickly shot a glance at his buddies. He snickered but he didn’t tell her to raise her hands.

  “Do you think that’s the first time a native has told us that to save their own life?” the leader asked.

  Lillian shrugged as if she didn’t care if the man believed her or not. I wasn’t sure if the men saw it but there was something in her eyes. I was almost certain that Lillian had a plan. It was just too bad I had no idea what it was.

  The spear she’d been carrying was resting on top of her foot. Trixie’s spear was nowhere in sight and I could only assume that it was on the ground near where they’d tied her hands behind her back. She’d been at least twenty feet ahead of us.

  Gina, Hayes, Lillian and I, however, still had our hands free but the only spear near us was the one on Lillian’s foot. There wasn’t much we could do that wouldn’t put Grayson and Trixie in danger. It would only take a second for the men holding them to react.

  “What are you going to do with us?” Trixie asked.

  The leader chuckled. “I think you know what we do with natives.”

  “But they’re not natives,” Trixie said.

  “I’m not sure what we’ll do with them just yet but considering they’re hanging around with natives that gives me a pretty good idea of what we should do,” the leader said and the man next to me bobbed his head up and down.

  I glanced at him and he placed his thumb on his lower lip as he looked me up and down. It took everything I had not to throw an elbow into his face.

  “What do you do with natives?” I asked even though I already knew. We needed more time.

  “Hang them nice and low in the trees by their neck,” one of the men replied.

  “They’re usually still alive when the dogs find them,” another said.

  These men were sick. Their hatred of the natives had gone to a dark place.

  “Let’s start with this one,” the leader said grabbing Trixie and pulling her back toward one of the trees.

  “No!” she screamed as she threw her shoulders back and forth.

  Her hands twirled and twisted, trying to break free of her ties. It didn’t take long for her wrists to turn red.

  “Help!” Trixie screamed as the man skillfully wrapped the long piece of rope that had been slung over his shoulder around her neck.

  Each of the men wore a rope on their body in much of the same way. It was almost as if they were out hunting natives.

  “No one can help you,” the leader said in her ear as he slithered around her and flung one end of the rope into the air.

  A surge of panic started to blast through my veins. We were running out of time.

  I moved but the man next to me grabbed my arms and pulled them behind my back. Hayes took a step toward him and pushed his shoulder hard. The man was forced to take a step back.

  The commotion was enough of a distracti
on to allow Lillian to pop the spear off of her foot into her hand. In one quick movement, she had the spear at the throat of the man nearest to her.

  His eyes widened with fear. It was then I realized he couldn’t have been much younger than we were.

  “I don’t want to die!” he said holding up his hands. “Dad! Help me!”

  The man next to Trixie looked away from her and she started to run even with the rope still around her neck. She didn’t make it more than a few feet before tripping and falling face first toward the ground.

  “Drop it!” the man holding Grayson shouted.

  A small drop of blood trickled down Grayson’s neck. Grayson didn’t look scared, he looked angry.

  Lillian blinked as she looked at the person standing in front of her. When she realized he was just a kid, she lowered her spear.

  The man laughed as he jerked Trixie up off of the ground. “Kill her, son.”

  The young man’s eyes were still wide as he stared at Lillian. She was several inches taller but her body seemed to be shrinking. I wasn’t sure if they could see it but Lillian wasn’t going to do anything to defend herself.

  “Boy?” the leader and apparently his father said glaring at the young man. He muttered something as he tossed the rope over the branch once again.

  My eyes darted around from the guy next to me to the young man nervously inching toward Lillian. When Trixie shouted, I turned back to see her feet dangling in the air.

  “Stop!” I shouted. I was talking to both the man and Trixie. Every time she kicked her legs, it seemed as though the rope was tightening.

  The leader laughed but it quickly faded when he slapped the side of his neck. He pulled back his hand and stared at what appeared to be a feather pinched between his fingers.

  His body swayed as he turned to look our way. He let go of the rope and Trixie crashed to the ground. The sounds of her gasping for air caused me to take a step in her direction.

  The man next to me grabbed my arm. I yanked it back and threw my fist into his cheek.

  His head turned to the side sharply and when he turned back to me, his eyes weren’t filled with the anger I’d expected to see. His eyelids drooped and his hand reached across his body, removing a similar feather from his bicep.