A Time to Speak

by Nadine Brandes

  Once we realize we won’t be crushed by rubble, we stop. Someone laughs first and we all join in . . . to release nerves.

  A gaping hole, an elephantine cave, mars the base of the Wall. Enormous cracks spread from the cave all the way up the face. The stone is still grinding its teeth, crumbling in spots.

  Once it all settles, the albinos start climbing using the spring-loaded camming devices and ropes that Elm introduced me to in October. They insert a spider here and there in the wider cracks. Once they slide to the ground, Solomon detonates them again.

  Each explosive earthquake weakens the Wall and strengthens my determination. We congregate around the biggest hole—the cave. The other two groups join us, looking up at the Wall.

  It seems even thicker now that there’s a giant bite out of this side.

  We have one bag of spider explosives left. I shove at least six of the bigger ones down the front of my suit. “I’m going into the cave!”

  I’m the only one with protection from falling rock. If we want to take this down, the explosives need to go deeper.

  “What if it collapses on you?” Kaphtor asks.

  “Then we dig her out.” Solomon gives me a firm nod. A “go-ahead” nod. “That’s what these Brawn suits are for.”

  I enter, crunching minor rubble beneath my boots. The sound of victorious destruction is muffled the moment I’m inside. It’s eerie. Dark. I’m encompassed by an irrational fear of something being in here, waiting for me.

  It’s this feeling—this fear—that solidifies my desire to bring this beast down.

  I go all the way to the back, stepping carefully so as not to twist an ankle. The ceiling dips and I scrape my head, but I don’t feel it because the Armor suit responds by activating automatically. I deactivate it again, so I don’t waste any of its time.

  My hand and stump stretch out, into the darkness. How much farther until we’re through? I press against the deep cave and feel a chasm with my right hand. I turn on my Clock so it illuminates my path.

  A deep crack rests before my eyes.

  That’s where I direct my kick.

  For a moment, nothing changes, then come groans as if the Wall is yawning, stretching, just before collapsing. The fissures above me snap open and chunks of rock break free, tumbling onto me, but not enough to keep me down.

  I thrust the rock chunks behind me and squeeze into the chasm, clawing deeper, using my head, elbows, knees, feet, to break through.

  I’m frightened for a second, alone in the darkness on my belly beneath the rocks.

  “Parvin!” Solomon’s voice rebounds into my tunnel. “Are you done?”

  “Be careful!” I call back to him. “Don’t get crushed!” I pull three explosives from my suit and send them into the gut of the Wall.

  I crawl back out and we exit. Solomon presses the detonator and the explosion blows a chunk of Wall toward us. Everyone hangs by the forest watching, waiting for things to settle.

  But it doesn’t settle. The top portion of the Wall sways. House-size boulders break free, tumbling to the ground and shaking every squirrel out of its tree.

  Pulsing awe yanks me to my knees. Is this how Moses felt at the parting of the Red Sea?

  “We need more explosives in there!”

  I force myself up and run back into the tunnel, letting my last three spiders loose.

  Solomon climbs up the Wall and sends his last few from the bag into the cracks high in the Wall. Then we retreat deep into the forest. So deep that we can’t even see the Wall above the trees anymore.

  He presses the button and it’s as if the Earth has a seizure.

  The groans of the rock monster are so loud, we all scream. I hold my hand to my mouth and feel the soft material of the Armor suit. I’d completely forgotten I had the mask on.

  The ground jolts and I stumble into a tree. More crashing and groans. I don’t need to see it to know that a portion of the Wall just came down.

  I can’t help it—I run toward the Wall, entrusting my safety to the Armor suit. When I break from the trees, I skid to a halt. Broken Wall is everywhere. Giant dust clouds impede my vision, but a wind gust clears enough to reveal the top of the Wall. It’s only a hundred feet high now.

  The chunk we’ve been attacking rests like the yawn of a colossus, beckoning me into its throat for one last attack.

  I brush the dust off and squint to see how the others are doing. Crumbling cracks and holes dot the face of their sections of Wall. Gabbie, in her Brawn suit, is throwing the fallen chunks out of the way, the NAB in one hand filming the whole thing. Cap works on the base of the Wall.

  There’s a wildness in their work—a frenzied excitement.

  “Let’s clear a path!” I shout.

  Only those with suits can do this. Gabbie, Cap, Kaphtor, and Frenchie show up to help and the albinos work together as a team.

  We make a path through the debris to the base of the Wall. Even with our suits, it takes a fair bit of time. The cave is still there, half-filled with rubble. “We can collapse the rest from the inside.”

  “Does anyone have any more explosives?” Solomon looks around.

  “Oui, only two fat ones.”

  I hold out my hand. “I’ll take them as deep as I can.” Frenchie gives the detonator and spiders to me.

  Solomon’s jaw muscle works. “Don’t . . . get buried.”

  I can’t promise I won’t.

  I slip back into my crumbling tunnel. This time, it’s a little harder to crawl deep. There’s a lot of rubble, but I push it behind me. I crawl on my hands and knees, digging through crevices until I’m far past the halfway point.

  With a lurch, I tumble out of the tiny tunnel and into a wide space. I press my wrist Clock and the Numbers illuminate a high ceiling like a cathedral inside the belly of this Wall beast. Small rocks and dust clouds shower down upon me.

  It’s weak. I am strong.

  This could be a good place for the spiders. I wander to the other side and kick with my heel a few times until something cracks.

  A stream of light startles me and I gasp. The Armor mask keeps me from choking on Wall dust.

  The other side.

  That’s when I hear voices.

  “Father!” I scream, losing my head. “Father! I’m here! We’re coming through!”

  The voices falter and I claw like a mad woman, making the fissure wider and wider, not caring when bits of rock bounce off my Armor suit.

  I can see the other side. Light. People.

  The gap widens. There’s Father’s face, pressed against the stone. A giant crowd is over his shoulder. “Parvin?”

  “Father!” I’m elbowing my way through the rock, as if pushing through a forceful crowd. It’s tight against my back and chest, pressing against me. The stone above me protests and bits shatter. Now is the time to destroy it.

  “Hurry, sweetheart. I think Enforcers are coming.”

  I let the spiders drop from my hand and they scuttle to the other side of the cathedral. They climb into the ceiling, disappearing into a crevice. “Get out of the way!” I shout to Father. Just a few more feet and I’ll be through, with him. In his arms. Smelling his soap and sawdust.

  The sound of bullets interrupts my next smash of rock.

  Someone screams.

  “Father!”

  People claw against the Wall, trying to join me in the fissure.

  I pull the detonator from my suit, my elbows and arms scraping against the walls of rock surrounding me. “Get back!” I give them ten seconds. They’re the longest ten seconds of my life. I want to be out of here, fighting for Father’s life—for everyone’s lives.

  In those ten seconds, as people scramble away, I see a form silhouetted by the light—a form wearing a fedora, a bored smirk, and the promise of betrayal.

  Skelley Cha
se.

  The shooting stops and he steps up to the crack. “Hello Parvin.” So, he knows it’s me under this mask. “Look at you, trapped in there. There’s nowhere to go. You’ve lost.”

  He’s so close. And only I have an Armor suit.

  I press the detonator.

  Nothing happens. Is it the wrong one? I press it again, harder. My palm sweats beneath the glove. I back deeper into the stone, back toward the cathedral, but he can still see me. “You can’t hide, Parvin.”

  Who knows how many Enforcers are with him or what they’re about to do to my people? All I know is my job. I stop moving, staying squeezed in the fissure. I press my hand with the detonator against one side of stone and my stump against the other.

  Like Samson, I breathe in deep. “God, strengthen me this once. Break down this Wall that keeps us from shalom!”

  On the last word, I push out with a mighty yell. My hand and stump press into the stone as if it’s made of soft wax. Then I hear it.

  The crack and crumble of destruction.

  I scream once and, with a shove, it all bursts apart. Someone shouts my name before I’m buried in thousands of pounds of rock.

  Then the bomb goes off.

  37

  Even with the Armor suit for protection, I must have blacked out.

  I come to, but the deep rumbles and crashes continue. Then blackness. Silence. After a moment, all is still.

  Did I do it? Did I break down the Wall? I don’t know how much fell, but my heart surges with the assurance of God’s faithfulness. He heard my plea. The rock is crumbled and Skelley Chase might have been buried in it.

  This is the beginning of new things.

  In the blackened silence I lie, oddly comfortable. I open my eyes wide to see if there is any sort of light—any opening for escape. I push against the rocks, but they don’t budge. I’m too buried. As I come to this realization, a dim light illuminates my small tomb.

  Then the light leaves. I squint. It returns. Flashing. It’s . . . red. The wrist light from my Armor suit.

  My time is up.

  One minute. That’s all I have before I’m crushed. I do the only logical thing a person about to die can do.

  I scream for help.

  “Solomon!” My voice is flat against the weight of rocks. I push again. Nothing. I’m going to die.

  Like this, God? Is this how You want it?

  I had only the time He wanted me to have. And if my last act on Earth is breaking the barriers between two sides of the world, then so be it.

  With every red blink, my breath quickens. Is my oxygen disappearing? At least death by crushing should be fast. I hope.

  I think I hear something outside. Something above—scrambling and moving rocks. A few shouts here and there. They’re too far away to make any difference.

  The red light has been blinking forever. I mentally calculate how many blinks have happened and how many I might have left in this minute. I push against the rocks again, releasing a gut-wrenching groan.

  Blink. Blink. Blink.

  If I can’t budge this stone using my Brawn suit, I must be deep.

  The shouting above grows louder. I think someone says the word stop and over here.

  “Help!” I choke.

  FEAR NOT.

  For You are with me. A tear trails down my cheek, pressed into a mini-puddle by the Armor facemask preserving my cranium.

  “Hurry!” That’s Solomon’s voice. He’s trying to dig me out. It’s not going to work. He has only ten second left. Maybe less.

  Ten . . . I give a last push against the rocks.

  … Nine . . . Poor Solomon. Today his rescue attempts will fail.

  … Eight . . . Breathing is harder. Tighter. Is the suit fading?

  … Seven . . . A distant, distant light allows me a glimpse of heaven.

  … Six . . . My chest doesn’t expand this time when I take a breath.

  … Five . . . Dust falls on my mask.

  … Four . . . More light. Enough to see bodies moving in a world above me.

  … Three . . . The Wall will be my burial, on the line between worlds.

  … Two . . . Here I come, God. I’m ready.

  “Fight, Parvin! Fight for it!” Solomon’s voice is desperate, pleading.

  … One . . . The red light stops blinking.

  I’m out of breath. Out of protection. For Solomon’s sake, I push against the stone one last time with every muscle that still obeys. Something creaks. Something gives, enough to let me take a free breath.

  I can move the rock. I can move it?

  I push harder. Stone grinds against stone. It grows lighter and lighter, as people above me throw them off my shoulders. I sit up as I heave and get my legs under me. A boulder adjusts and smashes my foot, but I pull it out with a hiss of pain.

  Something is broken, I’m sure of it.

  The rocks turn into bricks, then dirt, then feathers, and then Solomon’s grabbing the boulder on my shoulders and throwing it off me. He pulls me out of the rock pit and into his arms.

  Again . . . again I have lived when I shouldn’t have. Looks like You have more for me.

  Gabbie, Frenchie, Cap, Elm, and Kaphtor stop their frantic digging. All around me are shouts and victory cheers. We’re in a groundcloud of Wall dust. Bodies fly past me, scrambling over the rubble to freedom. Hundreds of people. Radicals.

  Albinos clamber around, shouting instruction. “Follow us! We’ll take you to safety! Run to the forest!”

  Bullets fly from the east side, but the hovering dust is too thick for the Enforcers to know what they’re shooting at. Suddenly I’m transferred from Solomon’s arms into the embrace of soap and sawdust.

  Father.

  I squeeze him tight, but we don’t have time for a prolonged greeting. The mask from my Armor suit retracts. I look up into his whiskery face. He tugs a loose strand of my hair. “You’re so brave, sweetheart.”

  “Where’s Tawny?” I have to shout to be heard over the screams, cheers, and gunfire.

  He shakes his head. “In Prime with the people of the underground church. She refused to come and won’t tell me why.”

  “Then we’ll go to her.” I give a curt nod, as if affirming it to myself.

  Black scrambles toward us from the enemy side, bursting through the dissipating cloud. “We must go.”

  I push Father toward Black and stumble from my injured foot. It’s definitely broken. Solomon catches me. “Father, go with Black. I’ll follow after I’ve rescued Willow.”

  We have to get out of here. Now. But I can’t run. I can’t move with this broken foot.

  Father grabs my hand. “You’re not coming?”

  I shake my head. “I’ll explain everything through a NAB message. Go. Black will take you to . . . Mother.” I choke on her name. “She . . . she’s injured.”

  Father pales.

  A clump of Enforcers materializes through the cloud, advancing but seeming confused on what to do. Does that mean their leader, Skelley, is gone? Dead?

  “Go!” I level a hard look at Black. Get my father out of here!

  I can’t breathe with too much release. Tawny is still in the East somewhere. For some reason, I had a feeling this would happen.

  “Let’s go.” Solomon leads me toward the chaos.

  I can’t walk. I can’t take a single step without crying out. I trip over a chunk of rock, going against the flow of fleeing Radicals. Solomon lifts me into his arms. Flight is of the essence right now and he has his Brawn suit on. He carries me up. Up. Up onto a piece of Wall that rises over the cloud dust.

  “Where are the others?” We crouch behind a chunk of rock. I can see everything from here—people swarming into the forest, albinos knocking Enforcers down with their stones and slings, allowing the Radicals to escape. Th
e gap in the Wall is irreparable.

  We did it. They’re free. The Wall is down.

  “We’ll find them. We’re the only people going in this direction.”

  To the East, Enforcers give chase, but they are too far behind to catch my people. The Enforcers seem . . . hesitant. Afraid, even, to cross that gap in the Wall. Not the Radicals. Not the people running free.

  They are fearless.

  Freedom. Shalom. Here it is!

  “We did it.”

  I gulp down a happy sob. “Yes we did.”

  Solomon shuffles down the rock as fast as possible until we finally land on flat ground. Then we run, well, he runs and I cling to his shoulders, wincing against the jostle on my smashed foot.

  First my hand, now my foot. How much will be left of me at the end of all this?

  From seemingly nowhere, Gabbie, Cap, Frenchie, Kaphtor, and Elm join us in flight.

  Cap runs beside us. “We’re heading to Unity, right?”

  “Right now, we need to find a place to hide until all this settles,” Solomon says. “None of you have your tracker chips in anymore, right?” An echo of Nos answers him. “Good.”

  It’s the second time he’s asked us this in as many days. Does he think one of us still has it in? I hate the suspicion that enters my mind but . . . Gabbie sure thinks highly of Skelley. But she’s seemed more airhead-infatuated with him than secret-traitor-spy.

  I glance over Solomon’s shoulder toward the Wall. The dust is thinning. It looks like a giant rock-eater took a bite out of it. By faith we can move mountains . . . and Walls.

  “What if ze Enforcers ’ave cars?” Frenchie asks. “Zey will catch us.”

  “They won’t know where we are.” Kaphtor leads us down a slope and into a copse of trees. The going is much slower, but at least we’re not exposed anymore.

  For the first time, I breathe free. All of us grin like fools. “Cap, are vous smiling?”

  Cap scrunches his nose as he hobble-runs. “Of course not. My lips are just numb.”

  It is quite cold, but I know an excuse when I hear one. “You can be happy, you know.”

  “Not until I get my goats back.”

  An hour later, none of us are running anymore. Poor Frenchie looks about to collapse. Kaphtor has been carrying her the past half hour as Solomon carries me. My toes are numb, but my heart pumps steady warmth through my chest. It’s been a whole hour and we’re safe! Free!