He looked up at her finally, eyes without any suns in them, dark and sad. “They can’t fix it. The thing that’s killing him, nobody here can fix it, and he won’t try to get help anyplace else. I tried to make him do it, but he… He. Just. Won’t. Go,” he said, and his head went back on the table again, and she was pretty sure he was crying now.
She walked around him and hugged him with all the weight she could put on him, letting him cry it all out without the embarrassment of looking at her.
After too long of this, he stood up, slowly, looked at her for a long time, and then kissed her softly on her forehead. “Riley doesn’t know. I don’t know how to tell him yet. I don’t know if I want him to know.”
She nodded to him and he left. He needed some time to be alone with this, however he needed to.
The white tray was exactly the same as the last time when she woke up, only this time she dumped the containers of the thermos into the sink without even looking and immediately regretted it. This liquid looked very much like tea, and smelled right, but it was too late now. Somebody must have been watching her for them to know that she didn’t drink the other thing. She ate the round orange thing and the milky bar, and paced around the box. Seven small steps in any direction. No wonder they called it a cage.
She must have paced for hours, just counting the same steps over and over again, and somehow she missed her white tray disappearing, replaced with the red one. This one didn’t smell bad at all. There was a bowl of some dark brown stuff with a plastic spoon stuck in it. She tasted it tentatively. Brothy and salty meat chunks swimming in not quite liquid. This wasn’t bad. She identified a few potatoes and carrots and some herbs and veggies, all of it decent enough. At least they weren’t going to starve her to death. She slept, or tried to. She was getting rather tired of sleeping, so she stared at the glass ceiling, the only thing she couldn’t really see anything through, nothing but untextured darkness.
And finally, she did sleep, only she couldn’t recall any of her dreams when the sound of the swishing doors woke her up. She was staring at an immaculately white face of a woman whose age she couldn’t determine. She jumped up and stood against the far wall, afraid. The woman smiled at her, using only her mouth to do it, and told her in a surprisingly pleasant voice that her name was Rindar, and she would be her keeper. She didn’t know what that meant, but didn’t want to ask her.
“I am going to take your slave band off, Trina. You won’t be needing it anymore,” she said, walked up to her, and put a finger on some spot on the band. It slid right off her hands, clanking loudly against the glass floor.
She felt herself flinch at the sound, and hoped this woman, this Rindar, did not.
“Come with me. I’ll introduce you to everybody. Good to have you with us. I think you are the prettiest one yet. You should be proud.”
Trina watched her glide across the floor in the overly long white dress, somehow not tripping on it. She could see the outlines of everything through it, the woman’s slim frame hugged as if this dress was made especially for her body. Somehow everything on her had that feel of being made especially for her: the way her hair fell in straight sheets of white, not one of them moving as she walked, her face without any wrinkles or freckles anywhere on it. If she didn’t just talk to her the way she did, she’d think the woman was a droid.
They walked in silence for a long time, going through four long, empty hallways and then down a few floors in an also empty elevator, and another long hallway after that. She still hadn’t seen a single person or droid or whoever these people were. Finally, the woman put her finger on a slot of a giant metal door in front of them and it slid open, soundlessly, and she heard human noise coming out from the inside.
“This will be your home for a little while. This is our best facility, truly.” The woman pushed her gently through the doors.
The room was enormous, the largest she’d ever seen or even imagined. She couldn’t see the far wall from where she was standing, couldn’t even tell if there was a far wall. All the human noises stopped. There seemed to be hundreds of people, women wearing white dresses, like this woman, and the men with white coats over something dark, and they were all staring at her.
Rindar took a few steps in front of her and smiled at them. “Meet Trina. We are lucky to have found her. Make sure she wants for nothing while she is here.” She looked at her, and handed her a small metal circle, that was moving slightly on her hand. “This is a comm. You just have to press your finger, any finger to it, and say anything you want to say to me, and I’ll hear it, but only I. It is my job to make sure you are taken care of here. I’ll be checking up on you at least once a day unless I hear from you through this device,” she said quietly and then left her standing in the midst of all these people, all staring at her like she was some strange animal, and she felt cold and terrified. They were smiling at her strangely, and suddenly the small cage they had her in before didn’t seem so bad.
8
The Exchange
Riley, May 8, 2236, Woods Outside of Reston
Brody was making the fire outside when he ran out to pee, the sun just starting to come up. It was far too early to be making breakfast, so he felt something was up, but he needed more sleep to process anything important, and this seemed important. He said good morning to his friend and raced back towards the cave.
“Riley, I know it’s early, but I have to tell you something, before the others wake up,” Brody’s voice caught him, sounding far too awake for how early it was.
He needed some of that stuff they called coffee that Stan gave them. Tea just wasn’t going to cut it. He ran into the cave, found a pouch of the stuff by touch, and went back to the fire, showing the pouch to Brody, letting him know he needed this before he could hear anything he had to tell him. It only took a few minutes for the little bit of water to boil in a small kettle, and he poured himself a steaming cup, and took a few tiny sips, still hating the taste of it. Brody let him do all of it, tending to the kettle of tea for the others, not saying a word.
“All right, I am up enough now, damn you. What is it?”
Brody sat next to him then and told him what he did last night about Hassinger, and that he got to his crew and he’d have a dozen of the best trained of them waiting for them when they get there, just in case. He was listening to him talk, getting more and more angry with every word, and finally, he lunged at him and dropped him on the grass, throwing punches at him, not holding anything back either. His friend just put everyone in danger without so much as asking him first. He pummeled him, as hard as he could until his arms got tired. Brody didn’t even try to defend himself, just lay there, not even covering his face, letting him do it, watching him. It seemed pointless to keep going, so he got up and walked away from him, to the other side of the fire, trying to get his breathing back to normal.
“Never thought I’d get you to throw a punch at me, or a hundred.” Brody grinned at him. “If you had let me finish, I’d have told you that I had a plan, and I wasn’t going to put anyone in danger, but me, and Laurel, but only if she was okay with it, and only if we knew for sure she’d be safe. None of you are coming, just me and Laurel, if she wants to. The rest of you will be safe here until we get back with Hassinger and hopefully, Trina.” Brody walked over to him, looking at him with a smirk on his quickly bruising face. “Want to hit me some more, before the rest of them wake up?”
He didn’t. He let him fill in the other details of the plan, and he knew he’d be going with him, whether Brody wanted him to or not, but he didn’t want to argue with him over it just yet. He was still far too angry at him to want to talk. He went back into the cave, packed a small bag with everything he thought he’d need, stashed it under his blanket, and waited for Laurel to wake up.
Brody was letting him be, staying by the fire. He knew him well enough still to give him space when he needed it, just not well enough to know that his friends were off-limits. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty
for pounding on him.
Still-sleepy-eyed Ams and Laurel ran out of the cave toward the woods or the stream to do their morning business. He wanted to talk to Laurel about this without Ams. He could see Ams losing it on Brody for this, could see her shooting him to keep Laurel safe. She still hated the boy, and he still didn’t get a chance to talk to her about him. He could see her hatred for him in the way she looked at him, throwing daggers at him for just being, and he couldn’t imagine her being okay with what Brody was planning. He walked out to the fire, ignoring the bruises on Brody’s face, and poured himself another cup of coffee, drinking the bitter liquid, not saying anything to his friend, not even looking at him.
The girls were walking back now, Laurel looking at Brody, and then at him, surprise written all over her face. She said something to Ams, and he saw her run back into the cave.
Laurel walked quickly to where he was sitting on the log and stopped right in front of him, staring at his face, waiting, and finally when he didn’t say anything, couldn’t think of anything to say yet, she spat at him in her angry voice, one he’d only heard her use once before, “I don’t see any new bruises on you, not a one, and an awful lot of bruises on him. That tells me you two didn’t have a fight. A fight I would have been okay with. But this? This looks like a beating. I didn’t think you had it in you, Riley. Did you tie him up for this too? Point a gun at his head? Do you bloody feel better now?”
He shook his head at her, embarrassed, set his coffee on the grass, and stood up, keeping his head down.
She seemed angry enough to want to hit him, and she almost did, too, only suddenly Brody was there, pulling her away, making her look at him, instead of Riley. “It wasn’t his fault, Laurel. I swear it wasn’t. I could have fought him or stopped him if I wanted to. I didn’t. It looks worse than it is. And it’s not what you think it was. Please, let it go. There is something we need to tell you. It’ll make a lot more sense after that, I promise,” he said and he took her away, sat her down on the log, handed her a cup of steaming tea, and finally told her what he did, told her his plan, quickly, in a rush to get it all out before anyone else came out of the cave.
Riley stood where she left him, watching them, hoping Laurel thought it was a lousy idea, hoping she’d change her mind about wanting to go back in the first place. But she was nodding her head at whatever Brody was telling her, too softly for him to catch anything but an occasional word.
She got up and walked over to him. “You have to let us, Riley, you just have to. It’s a good plan. It’ll work. She can’t tell anyone she lost us, not right before the Selection, so she’ll come, I know she’ll come, and she won’t have but a few guards with her at the most. She can’t call this in, you know that. And they can’t hurt me.”
Nothing he could do about changing her mind, so he didn’t try. There was no point. “All right, but I am going with you, or you can’t go. I’m not going to argue over it either. I am going. And one of you is going to have to tell Ams. I can’t be the one to do it. Not that. I think it should be you, Laurel. I have a feeling she’ll kill Brody to keep you from going if he tells her,” he said quietly and walked away from the fire toward the stream, wanting more than anything to wade in and let the cold water run all around him in icy waves, and not think about what he just did to Brody, or seeing Hassinger’s face again.
It was almost time for them to go when he got back to the camp. Ams wasn’t talking to him. Wasn’t looking at him either. So Laurel did tell her then. He’ll have to deal with it later. There just wasn’t enough time for it now. Drake and Ella were sitting on either side of Ams on the log, Drake’s arm draped around her. Laurel looked like she had spent the last hour crying, her eyes so blue they looked almost violet, but her face was all pink and splotchy. He wished Ams made it easier on her friend. It was cruel of her to make her hurt like that now. But that’s what they did, he and Brody and Ams. They hurt the people they loved.
“I’m packed and ready to go. I just need to change my clothes,” he whispered and went into the cave to grab his bag and put on a dry shirt. Nobody was saying anything to anybody when he got out. Brody and Laurel had their small backpacks on them already, and he could see an old metal gun strapped to Brody’s belt, and a stun gun at Laurel’s waist. They seemed ready.
He crouched in front of Ams, trying to look at her face. “I am sorry, Ams. It wasn’t my call, it was Laurel’s. I’ll make sure she is safe, I promise. We should all be back by morning.” She didn’t even look up at him, so he leaned in and planted a kiss on the top of her head, catching Ella looking at him sadly. He kissed his sister on the cheek, and walked into the woods, knowing that Brody and Laurel would follow.
They had more than enough time to get there, so they walked slowly, not wanting to be exhausted in case something went wrong. He had a feeling that something would go wrong, and couldn’t make sense of it. The plan was solid, but he couldn’t keep the feeling of dread from settling on his stomach. Brody and Laurel were walking just behind him, not speaking. It’s as if they all ran out of things to say to each other.
They stopped for a few minutes at roughly the halfway point, quickly ate a small meal of cold-smoked meat and tea, all of it in silence, and were on their way again. After a few more hours of this silent walk, Brody signaled for them to stop. Riley could see the clearing through the trees. They still had almost an hour till Hassinger was due.
He spotted one of Brody’s boys running towards them, gun drawn, and pointing at him.
“Ellis, Sir, is darky a prisoner?”
“Stand down, Trelix, you idiot. If he was a prisoner, he’d be tied up. Stand down. And don’t call him darky again. His name is Riley and you will protect him.”
The boy lowered his gun, looking at him with unguarded hatred. “Yes, sir. It won’t happen again.” He whistled and the rest of the boys came towards them, no guns drawn this time.
Riley took Laurel away from where Brody was talking with his crew, and sat her down on the soft patch of grass, crouching in front of her. “I have to tell you something, and I hope you don’t get angry at me for it. I think I know why you want to go back. I’ve seen how everything bad that’s happened since we ran makes you feel, how you don’t seem to get over any of it. So I don’t fault you for not wanting to see the ugliness and the sadness ever again. I couldn’t fault you for that. But I need to be absolutely sure that you know what you are trying to go back to. The ugly things the Alliance does, you couldn’t see it then, not at the compound, but you know it now, you’ve seen it. I think you are the wisest person I know, but I don’t think you’ve thought all of this through.”
She was looking at him with those guileless blue eyes of hers, hands playing with the blades of grass.
“Laurel, I don’t know what’s going to happen in a few minutes, but I have a bad feeling about it. I can’t explain it. I know it’s a good plan, and Brody is very good at whatever it is he does with those soldier boys, but I am worried, and I think it’s something to do with you. That Hassinger will try to get you to do something that would be dangerous for you, manipulate you in some way. I don’t trust her… She is like that boy Drake shot, Anders. She gets off on other people’s pain, and I don’t trust anyone who is like that. I promised Ams to keep you safe and to bring you back. I have to do that. And if you still want to go back after that, I’ll help you make it happen, I promise.”
She nodded at him and got up, and when he was standing, came up to him and took his hands in hers, looking right at him. “I know what you’re trying to do, Riley. I knew you would, too, because that’s how you are. I’m not running away because of all the bad stuff I see here. It’s more selfish than that. I see you and Brody and Ams, and I know you weren’t the way you are before. I can see you as a happy little kid, Riley, can picture you like that, but I never even see you smile. And Ams… It’s like all the gentleness has gone out of her, and she was the most gentle person I ever knew. And your friend, he is the saddest of all. I think h
e wants to die, Riley, so if you need to worry about anyone, it should be him, but you don’t even see it. That’s why I want to go back. I don’t want any of this to change me like that. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. But I will be careful with Hassinger. Let’s go find your sad friend, and get ready. Maybe we’ll get Trina back and he would want to stick around awhile. I kind of like having him around,” she said and she smiled at him then, full-on big smile, eyes crinkling in the corners.
He would miss this girl, but for now, he just hoped he could keep her safe.
They found Brody crouching behind a thicket, signaling to them to get down next to him on the ground. They did, and Brody stretched what looked like a net made entirely of leaves and grass and branches over them. He couldn’t see any of his crew from he was. Brody pointed up at the trees, and he looked really hard and still couldn’t see anything, but he knew his boys were well trained to blend in, and blend in they did. He checked the time on his screen: 17:50. Brody spotted the flier first, and whispered something that sounded random into his comm. His heart was racing now. He drew his gun, and watched Laurel do the same.
Alliance: The Complete Series (A Dystopian YA Box Set Books 1-5): Dystopian Sci Fi Thriller Page 24
