The Outerlands - Sedition

by Aleigh Schuster

  “But we need help!”

  “I’ll figure out a way to signal for help once I’m back in town, but I’m not leaving unless you promise me this.” His voice was grave.

  I hesitated briefly before giving in. “All right, I promise. Now go!”

  Jarvis gave me one last unsure look before rushing off, practically flying across the boulders to the other side of the lake.

  * * *

  Making the trek to the bunker took the better part of an hour. I tried to focus on what had happened at the lake and my possible newfound abilities, but I was consumed with panic and fear of what was happening back in town; if Jarvis had already found my brother and father and if they would succeed in rescuing any others.

  The bunker came into view shortly before the sun rose above the tree line. Anxious to get safely inside, I picked up my pace. However, as I neared the entrance, several loud shouts came from somewhere in the distance. I stopped, turning toward the sound, but nothing else happened so I backtracked to get a better look.

  A shadow in the trees caught my attention. Whatever made the noise was traveling fast and directly this way. I started to hide but then I recognized my brother’s large frame. My heart beat faster at the sight of him, safe and unharmed. Excited, I jumped forward to wave him over, but stopped short. Keegan was off the path, running toward the hill alone, but right before the last incline where the bunker became visible, he made an abrupt turn south.

  “What is he doing?” I muttered, and a sinking feeling formed in my gut. Where were my father and Jarvis?

  My hands began to tremble when three soldiers appeared behind Keegan. If he had stayed on his previous course, he could have easily outrun them. But this new route he’d chosen led to the riverbed and after that, a huge cliff wall—a dead end. It didn’t make sense. My brother knew this place inside and out and there were a number of other routes he could take; unless he didn’t care about getting caught and was simply leading them away from the bunker.

  “No, Keegan!” I screamed, waving my hands in the air and hoping he’d see me, but my brother disappeared into the trees again. I ran toward the soldiers, wanting to distract them, but Keegan quickly came back into sight. He ran faster than I’d ever seen him run, putting a good amount of distance between him and the soldiers.

  He was almost to the dry riverbed when it finally dawned on me what he planned to do: He was going to attempt jumping to the other side. It was huge, deep, and if he could clear it, he’d have a small chance of escaping before the soldiers caught up. I watched helplessly, chanting in my head, Come on, Keegan. You can do this!

  Keegan looked over his shoulder, spotted the closest soldier lagging farther behind him, and smiled. Actually smiled, the crazy loon! He immediately turned back and refocused on the riverbed, now only thirty feet away. When he was within five feet, he took a flying leap off the edge.

  Midway over the riverbed, he was still gaining speed. I started to think he would actually make it but as soon as the thought crossed my mind, out of nowhere an electro-magnetic net appeared. It soared through the air and landed in a perfect circle around Keegan, encompassing his entire body.

  I screamed, falling to my knees as he dropped to the rock basin, trapped within the confines of the MAG net. His entire body twitched as if he was in the throes of a seizure. It went on for several torturously long seconds before he stilled.

  “Please...no,” I whispered.

  Six armed soldiers stood on the upper bank, two of which secured the net’s rope around a tree and began hoisting my brother back into the air toward their side of the embankment. They lowered his body to the ground in front of them while the other four surrounded him with guns raised. The two who had lifted Keegan gathered the net before rolling it up and packing it into a small, hard black case.

  Keegan stirred, drawing my attention, and I released a nervous breath because he wasn’t dead. Not yet.

  One of the soldiers—the ranking officer maybe—bent over and backhanded Keegan hard across the face. Two more pulled him up and tied his hands behind his back, half-marching and half-dragging him toward town.

  * * *

  I rolled onto my back, took deep, shuddering breaths, and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to dispel the images of my brother being captured.

  Please don’t let this be real.

  It took a long moment for the shock to wear off before I scrambled to my feet with the intent of running after them. But as I bent to grab my backpack and take off, a soldier stepped out in front of me with his gun pointed toward my chest.

  “Gotcha,” he barked and I instinctively turned around, running for the bunker as fast as I could.

  Heavy footsteps sounded behind me, making me throw all the strength I had into lengthening my strides. It was a fearfully long trek over to the other side of the hill toward the entrance of the bunker and every so often I would glance back to see that he’d fallen a little farther behind me. Eventually, I couldn’t hear him anymore and slowed down, thinking maybe I’d outrun him. But no sooner than the thought crossed my mind, rough fingers gripped the back of my shirt and my stomach plummeted when we both crashed to the ground. I turned sideways, clawing and scratching at the man who held me. We wrestled around until he got ahold of my wrists, pushing my hands firmly under the weight of his knees. Then he angled his face to mine, so closely that his rank breath passed through my parted lips, and I took the opportunity to smack the center of my forehead against his. The soldier’s eyes moved to mine, his expression one of complete shock. He swayed a bit before his body tilted sideways and he fell to the ground. Dizziness engulfed me but I pushed aside the pain and jumped to my feet, not wanting to wait around to find he was still conscious.

  Running to the top edge of the hill, I lost my footing and ended up rolling down its entire side, landing in a clump of bushes at the bottom. I rushed around opposite where I’d fought off the soldier, but it was no use. Keegan and his captors were too far away for me to catch up. Not wanting to accept defeat, I ran for the incline and the path that would intercept them.

  Halfway down the path, I caught another glimpse of Keegan and the soldiers just as they met up with another larger cluster of soldiers gathered near two transport trucks in the open field. I might have convinced myself I could go up against all six of the initial group, but not the forty or so additional ones that were there now.

  Jerking to a stop, I sucked in breath after breath and tried frantically to come up with some way to get him out of there without being captured myself. Minutes passed and still, no real option came to me.

  My eyes searched them out long after they’d thrown Keegan into their transport trucks and were gone from view. I did the only thing left to do and broke down and cried; for my brother who was undoubtedly on his way to some government prison, for my father who may or may not be alive, for Jarvis who was M.I.A., for everyone else I might’ve lost today. I cried until there were no more tears. Until there was nothing left in me.

  When the haze and initial shock of the situation started to lift, I stood on weary legs, strapped my bag over my shoulder, and walked numbly down the trail to the bunker. Once there, I removed the debris that hid the opening, punched in my personal access code, wrenched open the door, and entered. Alone.

  Chapter Three

  A cool breeze passed over my face, eliciting a shiver that ran all the way to my toes. I opened my eyes and lifted my head just enough to see through the curtain of my long dark hair. The area where I lay was empty, but the dull hum that traveled down the tunnel to my makeshift bedroom was a signal that the ventilation system had kicked on again while I was sleeping. My fingers trailed back and forth across the ridges on my cheek where it’d been pressed too long against the vent at the base of the wall. For some reason this calmed me, reminded me that I was safe within these walls, inside this bunker I’d called home for the last week. I was still too scared to leave without my brother or Jarvis, who after the first few days, I’d given up any hope
of ever seeing again.

  Pulling myself into a sitting position, I grabbed a bottle of water along with the Go Bar from the floor next to me and tried not to think of the horrible events that had sent me into this underground hiding spot in the first place.

  The Spirulina mixed with granola could barely be called food and I chugged most of the water to wipe away its foul taste. Standing, I stretched my sore legs and absently clutched the medallion dangling from my neck. My breath hitched, tears streaming down my face at the memory.

  The first few days after I’d barricaded myself, I could hear soldiers searching the area. Anxious they would find the bunker; I kept alert but stayed as quiet as possible. It was also why I had yet to send out the coded signal my brother had asked me to send. If someone intercepted activity on the com-link, they would be able to determine my exact location. During all the time that passed, I waited alone, hoping that someone from our sector would show up. But no one did. Eventually, I had to entertain the idea that everyone in our town had probably either been captured or killed. Everyone except me, and that was only because of my brother putting himself in harm’s way to keep them from finding me. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to block out the pain. If the guilt of not going back with Jarvis didn’t kill me, the regret of leaving without Keegan might.

  But that was just it. At some point, I was going to have to force myself to leave, and sooner rather than later. If I could get to Sector Three I could find help for Keegan, Jarvis, and whoever else might have been taken prisoner. I also needed to find out what happened to my father and his advisors that were at the delegate meeting.

  Grabbing my backpack, I walked down the hall.

  The bunker was pretty large for being underground, and it was easy to get turned around in here. Although the main purpose was to provide the sector and our family a secure shelter in times of war, the entire guard had used it to store emergency supplies and some of their smaller vehicles.

  It consisted of eight separate sleeping chambers with twenty beds in each, a generator and electrical room at the entrance, a kitchen, two separate storage rooms, a weaponry room hidden behind a closet in one of the storage areas only senior guards had key code access to, a dispensary stocked with tons of dried herbal tinctures along with whatever little modern medicine we could ‘acquire’ from the government, and last but not least: what Keegan liked to call The Dog House. It was a garage located further into the hillside, where the tunnel widened to an escape exit with a steel overhang door. This also happened to be the one way to get their vehicles and bigger supply crates in and out. Keegan spent a lot of time in The Dog House. He would work out in the bunker for days sometimes, whenever he and Father argued, which had been a lot once he’d taken his leave of absence from the Gunari Army. Everyone joked that their frequent disagreements were the reason the guard vehicles were always up and running.

  Yesterday, between breakdowns, I had managed to search through most of the rooms, finding large containers of clothing, some medicine, and the pantry in the kitchen where the nonperishable foods were stored. That was where I was headed now.

  Continuing down the long hall, I stopped at the third door on the right. My hands went to the key pad on the wall; all the rooms with supplies had them. I entered my personal access code, which worked for every room in this place except, of course, the weapons room. The lock disengaged and the door clicked open.

  Grabbing four of the pre-filled survival bags off the counter, I dropped them on the floor in front of the nearest shelving unit. Then I knelt beside them and unzipped all four to verify their contents. Each one contained a thin weatherproof sleeping bag, a first aid kit, a pack of matches, water clarifying tablets with corresponding bottles, and a solar flashlight. I combined all the smaller items into one and took a sleeping bag. Still, there was room for more.

  I rummaged through a lower drawer labeled “rain gear” and grabbed a rolled up raincoat, plastic shoe covers, and hand warmers for my bag. Then I stuffed them in with the other gear.

  Rummaging for extra supplies, I remembered the group of black steel boxes stacked off by themselves in the far corner of the room. Pulling one of them down, I punctured the lid’s adhesive.

  “What are these?” I whispered, finding the box filled to the brim with sealed plastic pouches; each one contained round blue pills labeled DRL21. Unsure of what they were for, I stacked the boxes back the way I found them and made a mental note to ask Keegan about this. But then had to stop myself; that wasn’t going to happen until I got out of this place, learned where he was being held, and figured out how to get him back. Constantly thinking of what he was going through made me crazy, so I headed for another room, busying myself with more supplies.

  The pantry in the kitchen was loaded with Go Bars, packages of nuts, and canned fish. The bars were tolerable so I took a few. The nuts were coated with a honey glaze and pretty good, so I grabbed all of them. The fish was absolutely disgusting, preserved in some sort of salt and oily liquid. Reluctantly, I scooped up a few of the cans and stuffed them into the bag. Under normal conditions, Sector Three (or S3) would be a full day’s trip from ours, but with the old, deserted road I wanted to take to avoid any unwanted encounters, it would be almost double that. I couldn’t take all of the food in the off chance someone else made it here.

  The last room I went to was a storage area in the back which someone had set the back portion up as an office. A small desk was directly to my right. There was also a single chair, a couple of filing cabinets on either side, and file boxes stacked against one of the walls.

  On top of the desk were several scribbled notes in my father’s illegible handwriting. My finger retraced all the jagged lines and loops; over all the indentions where he’d pressed too hard with his pen. I’d found them yesterday, along with a map of all the sectors. I picked them up now and placed them in my bag, needing something he’d touched close to me. I also grabbed the map and slid it into my back pocket, knowing it would need to be within easy reach.

  Further back on the desk sat a small sat-link radio the guards used to communicate with other sectors. Though originally I had obeyed Jarvis’ orders not to use it because of the possibility of government soldiers intercepting my message, now that I was leaving I had to try.

  Reaching over, I turned it on. Immediately, there were several quick pops before… dead silence. I started beating on the side of the radio and static white noise filled the room. I sighed with relief before – pop, pop, pop- and then nothing. Anxious, I unplugged the radio and counted in my head until I calmed down. But when I plugged it back in nothing happened. I had to get out of here. I needed to get help.

  While gathering everything I could think of to take with me, something shiny on the corner of the desk caught my eye. It was partially covered by an old brown shirt I recognized as one of my father’s. I lifted the shirt and held it to my nose, inhaling his comforting woody scent. Memories assaulted my senses and I let the shirt fall from my grasp as I stared at a tiny silver box.

  When I opened the two-inch-square box, it contained a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it slowly, I found two words written in my father’s hand, oddly enough in the code I’d just used, along with a small blue pill.

  I deciphered the code in an instant: THE CURE.

  “Cure for what?” I whispered, picking up the pill that looked identical to the DRL21 I had found before.

  With time running out, I wrapped the pill in the note, shoved it back in its shiny little box, and placed it in the bottom of my backpack. It was a puzzle to be solved later.

  Picking up my bag, I headed to the garage and opened the overhang door that led outside. I started Keegan’s ATV, already fueled up—including two reserve containers hanging off each side— with the key in the ignition. It would be uncomfortable having the extra tanks near where my legs rested, but they were needed in order to ride all the way to Sector Three.

  Quickly strapping both my backpack and survival bag to the rea
r of the ATV, I hopped on. After a few revs of the engine, I maneuvered it around the other ATVs and out of the garage. Then I ran back down the main tunnel to turn off the electrical panel and shut down the generator. Once that was done, I made my way back through complete darkness. I closed the overhang door from the outside and entered my key code on the outer panel, locking up the bunker for good this time.

  Chapter Four

  The northern slope was rough terrain and sharp angles all the way to the dirt road below. I kept the ATV in a lower gear until reaching the bottom, where I gradually came to a halt. Luckily, there hadn’t been any sign of soldiers in the area so my anxiety lessened the farther out I traveled. A marking on a large pole up ahead spelled out NWT, which meant according to the map I had found the northwestern trail that would lead me to Sector Three.

  The air was cold and damp, creating a haze under dark gray skies. Between the weather and the turbulent ride down, my body ached all over, but I knew I couldn’t turn back. So, I zipped up my jacket, double-checked my gear and drove off as fast as I could.

  I’m not sure how much time passed before the sun slipped out from behind the dispersing patch of clouds, but the heat beating down on my back was comforting after the stark chill I’d felt since leaving the bunker. After long hours of its warmth the fight to stay awake finally dissipated.

  Unfortunately, that was when the ATV started slowing down, coughing and sputtering until it came to a complete stop.

  “Time to refuel, I guess.”

  After emptying the contents of the two reserve containers, I grabbed a Go Bar and scarfed it down, followed it with some water, and took off again. Around an hour later, I found myself leaving my familiar homelands to cross into Sector Three. It felt like an accomplishment getting this far, but sudden trepidation of being watched prickled the back of my neck, making me turn to search for the source of my unease. No one was there. Not a soldier, not even a random toiler going about his day. I wasn’t such a fool that I didn’t find it unusual either because I was never that lucky. Still, I pushed those thoughts away, pressed harder on the gas, and concentrated on the road.