Clearly there was someone out to manipulate the entire city of Emitton, never to tell them that their lost family members were but a short airship trip south. Surely her aunt couldn’t have known of this trickery? Sam smirked. She was only bluffing herself. Of course her aunt would’ve known, she’s the head of the board after all. .
‘Are you too busy for me to bother you?’ Shawn asked. He was leaning in the door frame, a scheming glance shining in his eyes. He smiled upon Sam’s surprised face, and walked towards her.
‘Well…’ Sam said, but before she could finish he’d already closed the atlases from under her nose. ‘I guess I have no choice then.’ She smiled, having him wrap his hand around hers, and pulling her into the hallway.
‘You just have to do as I say.’
* * *
‘Where are we going?’ Sam asked, following Shawn down a dark corridor. Although she’d never been there, she faintly remembered their path from Belle’s map. Speaking of Belle’s map, she hadn’t even had the time to take another look at it.
‘You’ll see.’ Shawn said.
They ran faster, their veins rushed with adrenaline and excitement. The deeper they’d go, the less they could hear the betting noise from the common room. Sam felt as if the tunnel grew narrower. Up until the moment where they’d only been able to jog in a single file line.
Entrance three. Sam read in big bold letters above a heavy metal door. Just as the one in the common room, bolted to its frame, with peeling red paint all over.
Shawn attempted in opening it himself, but as not a single bolt had budged, Sam took upon helping him. They had newly found empathy for those who’d done that on a daily basis, by for the life of them, the best they could do was open it just enough for a tight slip through.
‘Wow.’ Sam gasped, watching the dancing sun rise above the mountains, and shining down on the sleeping city below them. For the first time she hadn’t felt like Jaf was out to get her, but instead felt like its lifeless buildings, all covered in sand, might just be the most soothing thing she’d ever laid her eyes on.
Entrance three was everything she’d ever expected it to be, and more.
‘How did you know to come here?’ Sam asked.
‘One of the guys, Dean, told me. Apparently you girls are suckers for views.’ Shawn stood closer, until the fleece of their clothing had touched, synchronizing their heartbeats. He put his arm around Sam, and she smiled.
‘Well, I don’t know who Dean is, but he definitely knows his stuff!’ Sam narrowed her eyes.
She saw what looked like the old remains of a satellite; its smoky scatters piled high in waste. Her eyes focussed to see if she could spot any more, but saw nothing but those circling round as anchored to a hilltop.
In the far off distance, she could’ve sworn to have seen three dark vehicles moving amongst the craters, followed by a heavy trail of dust.
Sam blinked, but the vehicles were gone.
‘Did you see that?’ She asked, turning to face Shawn.
‘See what?’
‘There were cars down there!’
‘Come here, you’re clearly tired.’ Shawn frowned, and chuckled. He pulled her in against him. Clearly, he hadn’t believed Sam.
‘I’m serious, Shawn!’ She defended. As he still hadn’t stopped snorting, she wrenched herself from under his arm, and leaped away. He quickly followed, grasping at her shoulders, his voice dripping with sweetness.
‘Sam,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t laughing because I thought what you’d seen was crazy. I laughed because of how driven you are.’
Clearly his words were gold, for within the next few grasps, Sam was held tightly in his grip. He looked at her, and she looked back at him. She saw his clean-shaven chin, and how already it’s been infiltrated by yet another patch of dark stubble. To tell the truth, she did favour his week old scruff; like the one he’d worn when she’d fist met him. That was the Shawn she felt so intrigued with.
‘I’m not crazy, there were cars down there!’ Sam insisted.
‘I know,’ Shawn whispered to her face. His eyes were locked onto hers, drowning her within its deep manipulative glance. Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her in close, and their lips locked. For the first time she’d noticed how much she really wanted him to kiss her.
Up until now, only the sheer power of his words was enough to weaken her knees.
She felt as the seconds passed, and while his body was still pressed against hers, all things around them became irrelevant. A warm breeze had blown her hair from its braid, and as a golden waterfall it flooded the air.
Shawn’s hand was resting against her chin, when Sam slowly pulled away. The sparks in her stomach had threatened to ignite, flaming into a fire even more scorching than anything the desert sun could’ve ever attained.
‘I’m leaving, Shawn.’ She said, whispering. Her mind had been made up, and there were no staying here without Mike. Maybe her friends would resent her, but it’s a risk she’d have to take.
She expected Shawn to be slightly more expressive, when instead all he said, was: ‘If that’s what you need to do.’ His eyes were still locked onto hers, with no concern at all that Sam was about to embark on sure suicide mission.
If it was Aaron standing in front of her, he’d undoubtedly be blowing a gasket by now.
‘You’re not–going to try and–stop me?’ Sam asked. Her voice turned hoarse, and she pulled away, releasing Shawn’s hands from her waist. It was hard though, for never before had something so wrong, felt so right.
Shawn was confused. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
‘Why?’ He asked. ‘In all the time I’d known you, whenever you’ve put your mind to something, there’s no stopping you. I mean, just look at how you’ve forced me to tell you how to escape the Keep. I would’ve never done that if you were someone else.’ Shawn smiled, and looked to the mountains. ‘If it wasn’t for you, Sam, I would’ve never made it back here.’
Sam studied Shawn from top to bottom. Standing before her was a completely different person than whom she’d met at the Keep. This Shawn was, despite his pulsing muscles and rugged black curls, a sweet and vulnerable person. He was better, more refined. Maybe that’s what reuniting with his friends did to him, reuniting with his family.
That’s exactly why Sam needs to find Mike, so that she too can stop pretending to be fine.
Her hand reached for Shawn’s. He wrapped it around hers, and squeezed it tight. The air had been warm, with the sun now roasting their skin, but still they had stood there, staring out across the rolling mountains while not having a single care in the world.
Chapter 31
It’s been almost a week since the nine fugitives found safe haven amongst those that escaped alongside Mike. Sam had gotten to know, and respect, Belle as a selfless leader. One who’d be willing to risk everything she’d worked for to protect the lives of her people.
She was kind and caring; all of what Sam had truly wanted to be.
They’ve indulged themselves into working in the fields, retreating to the common room, and sitting around the dinner table while listening to all sorts of brilliant stories. Secretly, Sam’s heart bled as she saw how happy her friends were. Even Viper seemed to have enlightened, enjoying the occasional cruel joke played on an unsuspecting victim. Just the other day, she and Lance had rigged Eric’s chair, and made him fall in. He had to be cut out of it, and lost his favourite pair of slacks in the process.
Aaron hadn’t spoken with Sam that much, being all too busy with either working the fields, or blushing as the centrepiece of a giggly group of girls’ painting club.
Sam had thought long and hard, while giving herself more than enough time to make her final choice about leaving. She had to admit though, it seemed lot harder to do, now that she’d found so many new friends.
One night, an excruciating bang came from deep within the mountains. Its bouldering racket woke almost the entire quarters, if not the complete city of
Jaf. While no one was entirely sure of what had caused of the explosion, they knew all too well who’d been behind it: The rebellion and its forces.
Sam decided that now was her time, and she had to leave immediately.
If the rebellion was close by, and Mike had really been with them, it was the ideal way for her to find him. She just had to follow the burning sounds of destruction.
After all the commotion died down, and everyone finally went off to bed again, Sam seized the moment, and silently snuck out of the room.
‘Where are you going?’ A voice asked, striking Sam cold. It was Viper, standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed, and her snowy white hair toppled in a bun on her head. To any other person she’d have seemed rather harmless, but to Sam, it was her worst nightmare.
‘I think–I’ve forgotten something in the common room.’ Sam stuttered. ‘I was just about to go and get it.’
‘Cut the excuses Sam, I know you’re leaving!’ Viper snapped. ‘I know it might not always seem that way, but Aaron is one of my best friends. And if he finds that you’re gone in the morning, he’ll be crushed.’
Sam stood frozen stiff in her spot. She’d hardly even spoken to Aaron lately. To be quite honest, the last thing she’d said to any of her friends would most likely be ‘Pass the gravy’ at the dinner table.
Her stomach tightened, and twisted.
‘What do you care, Viper?’ Sam asked. ‘None of us even know you! I mean, what have you ever told us about yourself?’
‘My way of expressing myself might not always be appropriate, Sam, but at least I’m truthful.’
Sam was shocked. She never even realized that not once since she’d known Viper, had she ever lied. Not to any of them.
It was times like these when sacrifices had to be made. Sam took one last look at Viper’s snarling nostrils, turned around, and walked onwards without saying a single word.
Before turning off at the end of the hall, she glanced back, and saw Viper had returned to bed. Who would have ever thought SHE’D be the one to lecture about what’s right and wrong, Sam thought.
She was just about to enter the dining room, to have one last study of the underground’s map, when murmuring voices had stopped her in her tracks. Sam peered around the doorframe, and saw Belle, Carl and Lance in the middle of what looked like a meeting.
At first she thought about knocking, but as she raised her hand to do so, she was struck stiff by witnessing something rather strange going on:
Instead of speaking to each other, they were arguing with a hologram. Sam had struggled to see who he was, for the connection had made his features break apart. He still seemed to be scaring them though, as she saw Belle tightly clenching her fists under the table.
‘Yes they’re all here–nine of them–as you told us.’ Belle said, and Sam was shocked to hear the drilling voice answering after her.
It was Jack Crowe.
‘And you’ll make sure none of them leave before we get there?’ He asked.
‘They’ll be here.’
‘Oh, and this time, please try not to hurt all of Romero’s men! They’re swarming up the place, and Richard Grey is fuming!’
‘We’ll try.’ Belle said. ‘You just keep up your end of the bargain.’
Sam gasped.
Belle had transformed from a sweet and caring flower child, to someone blood lust enough to converse with Jack Crowe himself.
Bargain? What bargain? Sam’s insides churned.
Her heart accelerated to the beat of a hundred miles per hour, leaving all of her limbs trembling in fear. She couldn’t bear to move, even though she knew she had to, and warn the others immediately. Numbingly, she had dashed back to their room, and shut the door behind her with a bang.
‘Wake up!’ She cried, pulling at the feet of their blankets. ‘We have to get out of here, now!’
Even though she couldn’t find the light switch, the confused and rattled faces of her friends were impossible to miss. Viper, who had just managed to fall asleep again, gave a snarling chuck of her pillow at Sam’s face.
‘What’s going on?’ Melanie asked, finally switching on the lights. Her eyes were tired, and still slightly red from the late night fire. She braced herself as Sam stuffed her arms with everything she could possibly carry, and rushed for the door.
‘It’s Belle–she’s been talking to the crow–bargaining with him!’ Sam scrambled. ‘They’re coming for us. We have to get out of here!’ Her face had been as pale as a sheet.
‘Are you sure?’ Aaron asked.
‘I don’t know much, but I do know we aren’t safe here. Now come on!’ Sam peered out the door and into the hall. After ensuring it’s absolutely clear, she motioned for the others to follow her. They quietly scuffled across the hall. Most of them were still somewhat asleep, and wildly debating if whether they weren’t at all dreaming.
Unfortunately for them, all hopes of it not being real had shattered when an unsuspecting Belle came prancing around the corner. Her eyes widened upon the shocking sight of all nine prisoners out in the hall, while running for their lives in the opposite direction.
She looked to Carl, behind her, and saw he was just as shocked as she was.
‘Don’t just stand there, GET THEM!’ She cried, strikingly loud enough to wake the entire quarters. Her hand reached for the wall, where she smashed open the fire alarm, and set it off. Glass splattered across the floor, crushing and crackling with Belle’s heated feat stomping all over them.
‘Come, this way!’ Sam said. They ran two lefts and one right further, before all the lights surrounding them, went out. The only way Sam was certain of them travelling in the right direction, was that of the walls narrowing.
‘I see them!’ Aaron cried from the back of the group. ‘They’re gaining on us!’
Sam knew their fate was inevitable. Belle and her friends knew these tunnels better than anyone else. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if either Carl, or Lance, appeared in front of them this very moment.
‘We’re almost there!’ Sam said, attempting in reassuring the group, when she herself only wished it to be true. Just as all their other high speed chases, she couldn’t help but to feel responsible.
After all, maybe if she’d just left as she planned, the crow might’ve moved on from her friends, and instead chased after her alone. After all, Mike was who he really wanted, and what better way than through his sister?
Sam felt the burning beams of flashlights at the back of her head. Belle and her men were gaining on them. If it hadn’t been for her lack of sight, or the unbearable screech from the fire alarm, she just might’ve been more certain of where they were.
Her heart skipped a beat when her eyes caught the sight of a ragged sign reading ‘Entrance three’, and she quickly called upon Shawn and Luke to help her open the heavy metal door.
The lot of them rapidly squeezed through, and shut the door behind them. There’d been thumps and shoves, attempts to break down the door, but the four guys blocking it were more than enough to keep anyone from succeeding.
Aaron instinctively flipped the hatch, locking the door, and relaxed against it. There was no opening it from the inside now. He gasped for breath. It’d been a long time since he had to call upon such vigorous strength.
The sun had barely risen in the east, and its glowing rays were stingily reaching above the highest peak of the lowest mountain. It hadn’t been all that dark anymore, and stretched out before them, the group saw what looked like a worn railway track.
Without having a single care of its safety or security, Sam was eager to lead them across. They leaped from bar to bar, while travelling further and further up the mountain. It got to the point where they were so high above ground, she felt vaguely unbalanced when glancing down, and had to reach for the person next to her.
‘Are you trying to get me killed?’ Viper barked, wrenching Sam away from her.
The railway came to a stop at the highest peak of the mountain, and
its body flattened across a widely laid out surface. It was ridded of all stone, and appeared to be completely scraped smooth. There was a frayed building at the centre of the surface, its aged and faded sign reading: ‘Riyadh Train Station’.
‘Did they follow us up here?’ Luna asked. She peered back to the locked door, and was immensely relieved to see it was still intact.
‘I don’t think so.’ Sam said, gasping for breath. ‘Or at least, I hope so.’
‘So do I.’ Eric found his seat on a rock. He looked more miserable than ever, which was accountably out of character for him. ‘We just can’t catch a break, can we?’ He scratched his head. At least he still had his jokes.
‘And it’s not over yet,’ Aaron said, scouring the mountain for any possible route down. ‘We still have to get out of here!’
On the other side of the mountain he saw collapsed pieces of the railway deep within the grottos of the valley below them.
‘Everything’s destroyed up here.’ He said.
It seemed impossible to imagine, little more than three centuries ago, there’d actually been trains running through there. With people climbing aboard, and travelling all across the country, some of whom even all across the world. They’d visit their families, friends and loved ones, discovering new things with every journey. These days there’d been nothing but dirt, and dust. There was nothing left to discover, or at least, nothing worthy enough of discovering.
‘How will we ever get down from here? We most certainly can’t go back!’ Melanie said, her cheeks rosy from blood rushing to her face. ‘Not only would it lead us right into the merciless clutches of Belle and her people, but we’d also have to reface that flimsy railway bridge. And that’s definitely out of the question!’ She watched intently as its sagging structure crumbled in the wind, slowly breaking apart as she spoke.
‘Maybe I’d be of some help?’
Melanie jumped at the startling voice behind her. It was Carl, slowly emerging from the ragged building. He stood at the door, his hands in his pockets, and his ashy hair as spiky as ever.
The Keep (A Renegades story Book 1) Page 22
