The Renegade

by Daniel Evora

  THE

  RENEGADE

  Daniel Evora

  Chapter 1

  Nathaniel

  A half hour ‘till eleven. It was about two more hours or so until those soldiers, in that uncomfortable looking armor, would come out for graveyard patrol. At about one o’clock in the morning. Anyone caught outside around that time would be...It really depends to be honest. They might just be simply asked to leave the streets or maybe given much more severe, and quite unnecessary consequences. But usually, there are other resistors that love to make trouble from time to time. A lot of them are shot and killed. On both sides. Sometimes the bodies are left there right up until the very next morning to use as an example for anyone that thinks of trying to do the same. For regular people it works, but the people from the Resistance keep stirring up trouble. At least that’s what the soldiers say.

  It was extremely boring, yet calming, to stare out the window, so I checked my watch again. All the other kids were fast asleep, no one really made any sudden movements, but I peeked around just to make sure no one was watching or staring at me without myself knowing about it. The moon shined on my face, as I looked down towards the city streets. Still awake. Dogs barking, a bunch of Death troop patrols securing the entire block as the curfew time was right around the corner. Not much else other than that. Same thing every night excluding a few rare occasions. Behind me, suddenly I could hear the faint sound of a door creaking open. The hinges swiveled, and the lack of sound was quite pleasant. I never looked back, however, as I closed the window. I sat on my bed and noticed the woman staring at me. Her arms crossed and back poised, looking down at me. I still did not look back. She opened her mouth, and words came out, but I couldn’t hear them, or at least didn’t want to. They went in one ear and then out the other.

  “Nate, are you even listening to me?” a woman asked me, with a bitter tone.

  “Yeah, sure,” I blurted with no other response, as I quickly averted my eyes back to the floor.

  “I don’t want to catch you hanging around that young man anymore,” the woman explained, while rubbing her forehead. “And no more fights, or else I’m gonna have to have more--serious consequences.”

  “So, what?” I asked, fuming, with an attitude. “He was being a jerk. Don't give him the right to attack me.”

  “And does that give you the right to strike back?”

  I gave her the silent treatment, until I struck back with, “His name is Sam by the way, and he’s not just some guy.”

  “I don’t care who he is,” the woman ordered. “He’s not good for you.”

  “Well, I’d rather be with him than his stupid place,” I shot back.

  “You should be more grateful considering your situation. Grateful that you’re not out there.”

  The lady sighed, “Nathaniel, I’m only trying to do what’s best for you. Pretty soon you’ll have to leave this place, and I don’t want you to end up in a bad spot with the Silents. So, will you promise me? No more talking to this, Sam person?

  “Okay,” I answered clearly. “I promise.”

  “Alright, off to sleep. It’s getting late,” the lady said as she shut the door. “Goodnight.”

  The only way to keep her at bay was to lie to her about it. There was no way I was gonna stop meeting him. Besides, I was planning to meet Sam regardless.

  While keeping check on everyone, I lifted my bed sheets and stuffed my pillows inside it. Suddenly, one of the sleeping children moved slightly. I stopped in my tracks, and froze completely with my eyes wide open. The boy rolled over as I continued my way to the exit door. As I opened the door slowly, I peeked through the crevice to look down the hallway to the stairwell. Mrs. Doyle; slender, thirty-five, and surprisingly attractive, smoking a cigarette near an open window to the left of the stairwell entrance. I peeked over to the right and leaned towards the floor and got on my knees.

  “Nate, what are you doing?” said a voice. I stood up and turned to the guy staring at me.

  “Just go back to sleep, Chris,” I whispered as I continued to scout the hallway.

  “Well, if you get in trouble it’s not my fault,” Christopher muttered to himself as he lay back down and pulled his sheets.

  I continued to slowly open the door until I could make a space big enough for me to squeeze through. Fortunately, Mrs. Doyle was still peeking out from the guard rail on the window planter. I crawled to the doorway and looked around the corner a few centimeters to continue to check on the woman to see if her field of view hadn’t changed from the streets below.

  My chest pounding, and my mind telling me not to do it. My eyes wide open as I carefully stood up and took my opportunity to stroll over to the stairway. I slid my hand down the railway all the way down the dark, wooden staircase. I slightly hopped over the last stair, which would have blown my cover as it’s the creaky one. The floor at the bottom made a thud too loud for my liking as I slid towards the back door, past Mr. Doyle, who was reading a book in his study. He glanced towards the hallway, but he could not see anything. He got up on his feet and stepped towards the hall. I quietly opened the back way as fast as I could, since Mrs. Doyle was heading down it to the stairs as well! I kept swinging it open as Mrs. Doyle got closer to the bottom of the stairs. Then, I swiftly but surely shifted outside as I carefully turned the knob to prevent making any noise. Finally, after getting some distance, I ran as fast I could towards the nearest piece of cover in the back garden.

  Mrs. Doyle approached the door to the garden and peeked through the window. Then, she opened it and stepped out into the garden. Nearly reaching my position. She just stood there and looked around. She squinted her eyes as Mr. Doyle looked out at her.

  “What’s the matter, dear?” Mr. Doyle asked.

  Mrs. Doyle turned to her husband and shook her head. “Nothing.” She closed the door as she continued to speak with Mr. Doyle.

  I breathed heavily as my heart was racing. I explored the garden and approached the greenhouse area. A few of the daisies were wilting, and the extra bags of soil were starting to collect dust as they’ve been sitting on the shelves and the floor for about five weeks. The windows were covered for the night, and the exit door was already open. Then, I checked around while quietly shouting a name.

  “Sam…” I said, projecting my voice as much as I could without being noisy. “Sam!”

  Suddenly, a person in a mask jumped in front of me and shouted with their arms raised as their hands reached for my shoulders! My heart stopped completely as I pushed the guy away from me violently. The man started laughing hard as I looked at him with anger.

  “That...That is not funny, Sam,” I said, with my fists balled as I tugged the mask off of his face. “Scared the shit outta me.”

  “Hey, watch the language, Nate, what did I tell you about swearing?” Sam explained, while pointing his finger at me with authority. “Wait a minute, wh-is that? You got in a fight today, didn’t you?”

  Sam nearly touched my bruise on my left eye until I intervened and redirected his hand, and rolled my eyes.

  “It’s nothing, man. Just some kid being a jerk. He made fun of my mom.”

  “C’mon, Nate, no more fights, okay?” Sam politely asked, while grinning. “You just gotta shrug it off.”

  “You wouldn’t shrug it off if it was your mom,” I said back.

  “Well, do as I say not as I do,” Sam replied, while smirking in response to my smart remark.

  “Okay yeah but, why’d you want me out here?” I asked.

  Sam reached in his pants front pocket and pulled out two red striped cards each with a golden star on it.

  “Check out these,” Sam said, as he placed the two cards in my hands.

  “Dude, no way!” I exclaimed, holding them up
to the street light hanging above the wall. “Are these legit?”

  “What do you think they’re fakes? They’re genuine, trust me. It was really hard to get a hold of those. These’ll get us into Kalo City. No problem.” Sam asked, snatching one of them back from me.

  “Wait, why do you need one? Don’t you already live there?”

  Sam paused, and smirked at me, “Good point. Alright, let’s go.”

  “Hold on,” I interrupted. “We can use this extra one on someone I know.”

  “Nate,” Sam replied, with a stern attitude, then suddenly grinned. “Who is this someone?”

  “It-It doesn’t matter who she is,” I stuttered.

  “She?” Sam asked, trying to tease me. “Isn’t that the plot twist of the century?”

  “Look, she’s just a friend, alright?” I stated.

  “Yeah, but, look, it's already enough with you sticking around.”

  “C’mon Sam, we’ll just stay at your place, and don’t try to pull that “I can’t afford the both of you” card. Your parents were rich as hell.”

  “Fine, you got me,” Sam replied, while rolling his eyes. He handed me the second pass. “Also, language. Where is this friend of yours anyway?”

  “She’s back in the orphanage,” I answered. “Just stay here while I go get her.”

  “Alright, but just be quick with it.”

  I nodded at Sam and left the greenhouse the same way I came in. I rushed through the garden with my head down. I looked through the window to see Mr. Doyle and Mrs. Doyle in their office space getting ready to leave and go to their own room. I watched as they crossed the hallway and shut the bedroom door. I could even see the door’s lock shut as the light went to red.

  So, I slowly reopened the door, and tiptoed my way down the hallway to turn the corner as I rushed up the staircase, and back to where I started. Except I had to go into the girls’ quarters. The thought of going in made me hesitant. I took a deep breath as I opened the entrance to completely new territory. However, the sound of snoring was still present from whoever was in the room. My eyes widened as my face froze and I lost all other emotion--other than being scared for my life. I could barely comprehend why I felt so different about being in this room as it was basically the exact same type of atmosphere, but girls…The nightmares I would have from being caught would be much, much worse however.

  Finally, I found her sleeping on her stomach. I slowly reached out to her shoulder as I shook her a bit.

  “Adrana,” I murmured, as I continued to shake her shoulder. Suddenly she awakened for the most part, as she rubbed her eyes, ruffled her hands throughout her black, wavy hair, and looked at me with her eyes widened.

  “Nate, what are you doing here this late?” Adrana explained. “If Mrs. Doyle catches you in here--”

  I hovered my index finger over her mouth and shushed her. “You need to keep it more quiet. Do you want me to get caught here?”

  “Well, why are you here, anyway?” she asked.

  I pulled out the VIP card and handed it to her. She was ecstatic as she grabbed it immediately and was simply amazed.

  “VIP access cards? To Kalo City? Where did you get this?”

  “A friend,” I replied. “Wanna come?”

  “Yeah, but, where would we go from there?”

  “My friend has a place we can stay for as long as we want.”

  “How do you know it’s not worse than this place?”

  “Addie, he inherited his own family manor,” I answered straight.

  “Alright, fine, just wait outside while I get changed,” Adrana responded. She yawned and opened the cupboard with the press of a button as it slid a tray with pieces of her outfit.

  I waited patiently while playing the role of lookout to see if Mr. or Mrs. Doyle would come up the stairs to the second floor. Suddenly, I could hear Adrana walking out of the room as her steps got louder as she approached the door.

  “You sure you got everything you need?” I asked before going down the stairs, she nodded as I crouched and peeked down and scouted the hallway. I slowly reached the bottom of the stairs and folded my hand towards Adrana.

  “Okay, it’s clear to go,” I informed her.

  Adrana tiptoed down the stairs a bit quicker than I did. She held onto the guard rail, and leaned back a bit. Suddenly, she accidentally stepped on the infamous creaky stair! The sound was almost an echo throughout the hallway followed by a low pitch noise comparable to the sound of a large toad. I checked behind us out of pure instinct. Only to find Mr. Doyle opening his bedroom door, and dashing towards us with animosity! The both of us ran as fast as we could toward the door as I tried to hold it shut from Mr. Doyle as he tried pulling it open.

  “Where do you think you’re going?!” Mr. Doyle shouted with confidence that he was going to catch us in the act of the small escape.

  Eventually I couldn’t hold the door shut anymore so I instantly let go, sending all the momentum towards Mr. Doyle as he nearly trembled in his slippers. We rushed into the greenhouse as Sam looked with confusion, who was about to open his mouth.

  “No time to talk!” I explained while locking the greenhouse door. “We gotta go! Now!”

  Sam nodded as he waved his hand to gesture to us to follow his lead. The three of us together left the greenhouse to get to the fence where one of the bars was slightly bent (most likely by Sam), as we shimmied through the narrow crevice. First, Sam went through the gate and behind him followed Adrana. Next, I slowly but surely stepped through the small space until Mr. Doyle grabbed my leg trying to pull me away. I grabbed onto one of the iron bars. Holding on for dear life whilst Sam and Adrana were pulling me in the opposite direction. I kicked Mr. Doyle’s hand, causing him to grunt in pain and Sam jabbed him with his fancy staff.

  “Onto my bike!” Sam ordered as he started the engine, and drove off as soon as we were safe to take off into the distance. Mr. Doyle tried running after us, but tripped and fell on the nearly empty road, gasping for air.

  “That was way too close!” I exclaimed, as we were approaching the Colorado River border between Arizona and Southern California.

  “I nearly forgot, Adrana, this is Sam. Sam, this is Adrana,” I explained, as we rushed through the streets.

  “It’s a pleasure, Adrana!” Sam shouted while still keeping his eyes on the road. “Nate told me you’re like his girlfriend or something!”

  Sam laughed as I tried to reassure Addie, “I did not!”

  “Calm down, Nate, I was just messing with ya!” Sam chuckled. “Like my new ride?”

  “A Phantom Model 9?!” I sputtered in awe. “No way, dude!”

  “This thing will take us all the way to our next stop! Kalo City!”

  ...

  Kalo City. The only place to ever be really among all the remaining big cities in the United States of America. The area around it was notably named the Krail. The city itself had three districts. North, west, and east come to mind. I’ve only heard information about it through Sam and other mediums of news, but I definitely knew that the richest area was in the North District. The West and East districts were massive spanning miles and miles of land separated into smaller sections.

  The Krail itself had still been a part of Kalo City. Only not within its walls. Which were gigantic. Seventy-five meters tall, ten meters thick, with extra defenses, and made entirely out of some artificial alloy with some other words behind that. The gates were shut tight on most occasions as I’ve never seen them open for myself.

  Sam, Adrana and I continued to drive to the right of the protestors on the empty road leading to the entrance gates. Many of them wore Rebel attire and held signs; threatening the city and calling for war. Some just wanted in on the city, others wanted were just angry at the people inside. At least from what I could hear from the asynchronous chatting within the crowd.

  “Sam? What do we do?” I asked him.

  “Trust me I got this,” Sam responded.

  We reached the barrier
as Sam stared at the laser cannons pointing towards the protestors on standby; probably in case they tried to storm in all at once. Sam slowed down cautiously, and he reached a full stop at the security checkpoint. Most of the guards wore the same outfits as the ones I saw on the street next to the orphanage. The one trooper guarding the checkpoint had different armor as it was painted with orange stripes. The guard looked at Adrana and I suspiciously.

  “Welcome back, Samuel,” The man said. “Rules are rules though, they got cards?”

  “Sure they do,” Sam smiled. “Nate? Adrana?”

  We both pulled out our passports as Noah took them, scanned them, and gave them back to us. He nodded his head and didn’t say a word until he went back to his post, and spoke into his intercom.

  “This is Barnes. We have official orders from Mr. Walker and his friends, please stand down defenses for safe clearance. Copy?” the security man smiled.

  A female guard spoke back through the intercom and replied, “Copy.”

  Suddenly the huge laser cannons turned away from the checkpoint as the gates slowly opened up. At first I covered my ears to the sudden screeching noise from the large hinges turning outwards leaving a big enough crevice for us to drive through.

  The inner workings of the city revealed themself to me as I looked at the grandeur in awe and wonder of all Kalo’s lights. As we entered the main road. Adrana and I gasped at the massive buildings. Skyscrapers one hundred stories high; the streets filled with life; public markets selling all sorts of items; holographic light signs covering the lower levels of the tall buildings with advertising of new tech, fashion, and weapons. The trees and other plant life were blooming in their fullness. Some of the cars weren’t even rolling on the ground! Lastly, there were floors of fancy apartment complexes to the left of me. I thought it looked cool from the outside, but now I truly realize why some folks want in on this place. I was one of the lucky few.

  The same troops in black were everywhere with their drones and so what. Every few feet had at least two of them scouting the area. We continued down the main road until Sam took a right. After about two miles we reached the Northern District, where the buildings started to appear a bit more rich than the rest of the entire city. A decorated plaza rushed by us with neon lights. The trees were more abundant in places. Until we reached a small, narrow street away from all the evening noise, leading to Sam’s mansion.