by David Estes
For the first time I wonder where the hell the bombs are coming from. When the first one hit the fence I was too shocked to think about the why or the who—plus I still had guns aimed at my head—but after the second blast I start thinking. My guesses are: 1) sun dweller military are attacking our subchapter because we only pay 80 percent taxes instead of 82 percent; 2) fed up, underpaid miners have gone crazy and are determined to destroy everything in sight; or 3) other Pen inmates have managed to get their hands on incendiaries and are shooting them off from the roof.
Cole swings his leg over the top and starts climbing down the other side. I am still frozen in place, trying to process all that has happened. As I watch Cole shimmy down, I can see the hole in the building in the background. The scorching hole is about three times his size, making him look extremely fragile and exposed all alone on his side of the fence. Not that Tawni or I are any more protected.
I am glad Tawni is there, because I’m not thinking clearly. I am ready to continue my ascent to the top of the fence, to finish what we started, carry out the original plan, when she brushes past me, heading back down on the Pen side of the fence.
“C’mon, this way, Adele,” she says.
Duh. Why fight gravity and barbed wire when we can go through the fence? Given a full fifth of the fence has been toppled, it will be far easier to just walk straight out.
We make it down without incident and climb over the mangled fence. We fight through a few nests of barbed wire, but it isn’t too difficult. Just as we get on the street side of the fence, Cole is running toward us. Alarms begin whooping in the background, coming from the Pen. Jailbreak alarms. For us. The jailbreakers.
We run. We run because we are worried about the alarms and the guards that will surely pour from the Pen as a result. We should be more worried about the bombs.
BOOM!
Hot stone shrapnel drills me in the cheek, snapping my head to the side. I see Cole and Tawni get pelted by similar flying projectiles, but none of us so much as considers stopping to check for serious injuries. I think we all know that the only thing to do is keep running, to try to get as far away from the commercial district as possible. Whoever is blasting away isn’t showing any signs of stopping anytime soon.
It is weird—the way the night can be lit up so brightly and quickly and then just as quickly return to darkness, lit only by the soft glow of the streetlights. That’s the way our run goes. Flash! And then dark. BOOM! And then silence. It is eerie, like we are in a war or something, bombs exploding all around us as we literally run for our lives.
The thundering explosions fade and the manufactured lightning grows distant as we escape the city limits, moving into the sparsely populated suburbs. None of us speak as we continue running, making our way around the huge stone columns that help support the cavern roof. I’m not sure how far or how long we run, or why we finally stop when we do. I think we all just stop at the same time, like robots, perfectly synchronized, slipping behind a high stone wall that rings one of the houses.
I’m breathing heavily—Tawni is, too. I’m out of shape. There isn’t much use for exercise inside the Pen. My mind is racing; my side is hurting. I feel a twinge of pain on my cheek and I flinch. Pressing a hand to my face, I feel the sticky wetness of drying blood. I guess the rock hit me harder than I thought.
“Do you…think…we’re safe?” I pant, directing the question at whoever has enough energy to listen.
Tawni hunches over, trying to catch her breath. Evidently she is as out of shape as I am. Cole, on the other hand, has apparently kept up his fitness while on the inside. He doesn’t even seem winded.
“I expect we’re all right,” he says, glancing to his right and left, as if they might be surrounding us any second. “Especially given everything else that’s happening.”
Everything else. If only we knew what everything else is.
“What do you think is happening?” I say.
Cole laughs. “Uh, I think our subchapter is getting bombed to hell and back again.” He laughs again.
“No kidding,” I say. “I meant who do you think is doing it? And why?”
“Another one of my guys,” he says. “I paid a little extra to get a small diversion to ensure we’d get away.”
A day earlier, before I knew him at all, I might have believed him. Not anymore. “Lie,” I say. “Is now really the time for sarcasm?” Despite myself, I smile. “Are we really free?”
Tawni’s breath is mostly back. She rises to her full height, once more towering over me. “For the moment we are,” she says. “As long as we don’t do anything stupid and get ourselves caught.”
I hope we don’t. My mind is clearing and already I am analyzing the situation. It is like a puzzle. There are certain tasks we need to complete, in a certain order, and wrapped around them all is the requirement that we can’t get caught. The first task is obvious.
“We need to get rid of these tunics,” I say.
Cole smirks. “Yeah, I was thinking going naked was a good idea. They’d never expect it.” He starts to raise his tunic over his head, revealing his strong dark legs and a pair of tight, black briefs.
“That’s more than I wanted to see,” I say, looking away. Really I am thinking that he looks pretty good under the gaudy prisoner’s tunic. I’m not attracted to him or anything, but I don’t mind looking at him.
When I look back he’s lowered his tunic and is winking at me. I smile the first real smile I have in a long time. It feels natural, easy, like life is good, full of good friends, good fun, good times. It feels really…really good. I cover it with a hand and wipe it away. Things are still too messed up for smiles.
“Where are we going to get different clothes?” Tawni asks. “I mean, I’ve got money, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea to walk into a shop wearing these.”
“Yeah, plus we’ll be public enemy number one after the breakout. Our faces will be plastered all over town,” I say.
“Do you think so?” Tawni says, suddenly looking excited. “I would die to see my parents’ faces when they see me on the news!”
“I knew I should’ve had them retake my mug shot,” Cole says. “I think I blinked during the first one.”
“No amount of retakes would be able to help you,” I say dryly.
Cole stares at me, his eyes widening and his mouth opening wide to form an O. “My gosh, Adele. Was that…was that a joke? Well played.”
I play-punch him in the arm and am surprised when he winces. At first I think he is kidding, but then I notice the slight tear in his tunic. “Are you hurt?” I ask.
“I think we all are,” he says. “But nothing serious for me. Are you guys all right?”
Tawni glances at me. “Just a few cuts for me. I think Adele is hurt the worst.”
I raise a hand to my face, once more feeling the stickiness. “Nah,” I say, “it’s merely a flesh wound. Probably looks a lot worse than it is.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Tawni says.
Damn, I was hoping not to talk about my other injury just yet. Evidently Tawni saw more than I thought. “It’s not that bad, really,” I say. “I’ll deal with it once we find a better place to hide.”
Cole looks at me suspiciously, and then at Tawni. I squeeze my fists tight, hoping they will both just let it go. Thankfully, they do.
“Okay, where should we go?” Tawni asks.
“First, we need clothes,” I say, bringing our strange conversation full circle.
“I can help with that,” Cole says. “We’ll just go shopping somewhere less visible.”
Tawni frowns, clearly not understanding his meaning, but I get the message. “You want to steal them?” I confirm.
“Not steal, just borrow,” Cole says. When Tawni gives him a look, he adds, “We can even leave some money for them if you want.”
I’m not that comfortable with the idea of stealing from innocent people, especially because things are so tough in our subchapter at the mom
ent, but it’s not like we have much of a choice. Tawni, however, isn’t such an easy sell.
“I’m not stealing from anyone!” she says firmly.
“Shhh, keep your voice down,” I say, glancing at the house for any signs of activity.
“Don’t worry, Tawns, I’ll do the stealing,” Cole volunteers. “Consider the clothes a gift from me and don’t worry about where I get them from.”
“No,” Tawni says, lowering her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. I’m not sure why she has such a big problem with it considering our situation. I guess she is just a person of principle, unwilling to budge on certain things. It is probably caused by her parents—her way of proving she isn’t like them, isn’t willing to cross some line in her head. I am more of a realist.
“We don’t have much of a choice,” I offer.
Tawni’s eyes brighten as she comes up with an idea. She is really pretty when she gets excited. Her blue eyes sparkle against the whiteness of her hair. If she’d been born in the Sun Realm, she probably could’ve been a model in one of their fashion magazines. Funny how our lives are so affected by where we are born.
“What?” I say.
“We’ll get the clothes from my parents’ house…my house,” she says.
“I’m not so sure that’s—” I start to say.
Tawni plows ahead. “My dad’s a big guy, like Cole, I think his clothes will fit perfectly. I can wear my own clothes, of course, and you can wear my mom’s clothes. Don’t worry, she’s about your size, so it should work. C’mon, let’s go,” she says, before either of us has a chance to disagree. “We should be able to make it there in less than an hour. It’ll still be pitch-black when we arrive.” She grabs my hand and starts pulling. She seems to like to do that, and normally it would bother me. But for some reason with Tawni it doesn’t. I almost kinda sorta like it, I think.
Cole just grunts and follows us. Given how long he’s known Tawni, I guess he knows how hopeless it is to argue with her when she sets her mind to something.
Stopping to catch our breaths was a bad idea. At least for me. My body is completely frozen up. My thighs and calves burn from the sprint through the Pen, the frantic climb up and then back down the fence, and our distance run across the subchapter. My back is sore and pleading with me to take a break—just rest for a minute, or even thirty seconds, please!—and my bruised side, well, it gave up on pleading long ago and is practically screaming at me to stop. I want to look at it, but am afraid to stop, because I might not be able to start again if I do. Plus, Cole and Tawni will see it then, too, and it might be too hard to convince them I am okay. Instead, I just ignore my body. I am sure it will punish me later.
We try to stay off the main roads, sticking to the shadowy fringes of houses and properties. As we walk, we talk, speaking in hushed tones. We can still hear the dull boom of explosions in the distance, can see intermittent flashes of light exposed against the dark backdrop of the giant cavern, but they are neither loud enough nor bright enough to wake the sleeping moon dwellers. Closer to the city, I’m sure it would be pandemonium.
Tawni says, “I think it’s the sun dwellers.”
“What reason do they have for attacking us?” Cole says. “They’ve got a sweet deal with us, and your boy Tristan”—he motions to me—“was just here shaking hands with the leaders and mugging for the cameras.”
“I don’t think it’s the sun dwellers either,” I say, although I’m not sure why.
“Of course not,” Cole says. “Your lover boy and his people could do no wrong.”
My face flushes, but in anger, not embarrassment. “I never said that!” I hiss, a bit too loudly. Tawni gives me a look and I lower my voice. “What is your problem anyway? We know nothing about Tristan—I know nothing about him. All I have to go on is a weird moment we had together and what Tawni heard about him from her parents. For all I know it is a bunch of crap. He might be a total creep. Regardless, it doesn’t matter. I’m never going to see him again.”
Even in the shadows I can see that Cole is shocked by my outburst. Maybe he isn’t the only one with a temper. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
I feel bad right away. I really don’t know anything about Tristan and yet I am defending him. I try Cole’s tactic of forgiving quickly. “It’s okay,” I sigh. “Look, I don’t like the sun dwellers any more than you do—that I can promise you—and they did abduct my parents, but seriously, I just don’t think they’d start bombing us all of a sudden. Like you said, they’ve got the leaders in their back pocket. Why would they ruin such a good thing by beating us down even more?”
“Sorry,” Cole says again, hanging his head. Suddenly I feel even worse about snapping at him, even though I know he deserved it.
Tawni says, “You guys are probably right. But if not the sun dwellers, then who?”
“If I had to guess,” Cole says, “I’d say it’s a moon dweller rebellion.” When I frown, Cole explains. “You know, like a civil war. An uprising of moon dwellers who are sick of our leaders getting into bed with President Nailin.”
“No way,” I say, without really thinking about it. I don’t even want to consider the possibility that we would destroy our own stuff, our own buildings, the fruits of our labors. Tawni and Cole continue discussing the idea for a few more minutes, but I don’t listen—refuse to listen. I hate to think about it, mostly because my dad is a bit of a revolutionary himself, and I don’t want to consider that other people like him are willing to bomb their own city.
Eventually, everyone stops talking and we trudge along in silence. It is probably safer that way anyway. After what feels like miles, Tawni finally says, “We’re here.”
It is a good thing, too, because with every step my legs threaten to topple underneath me. I yearn for a soft bed, for a comfy pillow to rest upon. I’m not going to get one.
“We’ll have to sleep in the shed,” Tawni says. “Stay there at least until morning, when my parents leave for work, or wherever it is that they go every day.”
I sigh. “Lead the way.”
We steal across the front of the house, which is bigger than most in the Moon Realm, at least five times as big as my house. My eyes have adjusted to the dark (plus there are small night lights along the front walk), so I can make out artsy rock formations littering the landscaping. They are hand-carved and probably cost a fortune. We easily zigzag our way through them and I guess that Tawni could guide us without injury even if she was blindfolded.
I can’t see much of the house, except that it looms up like a fortress in front of us. Compared to most homes in the Moon Realm, and particularly in our humble district, it is as big as a palace. I can’t wait to see it when the dim daylights are turned on.
We reach a medium height wall separating the back from the front. Raising one of her long legs, Tawni clambers over it easily, like she’s done it a thousand times. Following her lead, Cole hops over the barrier swiftly and looks back at me, as if he is considering offering me a hand over. I pretend not to see him and, against my better judgment, place my hands firmly on the top of the wall and push off hard, using it to vault over the top. Although I clear the wall easily, I pay the price on the landing, feeling the jolt of my feet on the stone through my entire body, particularly around my battered ribs.
It hurts like hell, but I grit my teeth and dare myself not to show any discomfort. Cole is watching and I don’t want to look weak in front of him. I don’t know why. He’s already seen me fight, knows I’m tough, knows I’m strong and capable. I guess maybe it is just silly pride that makes me do it. If he was a girl, I wouldn’t care one bit, but for some reason with guys it is different. I always feel like I have to try to be equal to them, like I have something to prove. Maybe I am just trying to prove my toughness to myself. Although I know I look tough when I fight, I never really feel that tough.
Regardless, I don’t think it works. Cole pretends not to notice I am in pain, but I think I see a twinkle in his eyes and a casual smirk on
his lips. I brush past him and follow Tawni around the house.
The backyard is even bigger than the front, possibly bigger than my parents’ entire property. In the center of the space is an in-ground pool, probably the only one in the entire subchapter. The still waters glow an eerie blue, lit from beneath by underwater pool lights which evidently stay on all night. I try not to think about how much that would cost—and that it is funded by the sweat and blood of people like my father.
The shed is past the pool. It isn’t what I expected. When you live in relative poverty, the word shed fosters an image of a tiny stone cubbyhole, crumbling around the edges and filled with rusty tools, spiders, and the occasional bat. Not a four-room building with running water, electricity, bunk beds, and shelves of food. Maybe I am going to get a bed after all.
Tawni pushes open the door without a key and slips into the darkness. We can’t risk turning on the lights, so she gives us a brief tour using the soft glow of her digital watch. Then she breaks out a can of beans, which we eat at room temperature, a box of salty crackers, and a tube of some kind of mint jelly. Although it shouldn’t be, the food is amazing, and we eat frantically. It is a good thing there are no lights, because I don’t even stop to wipe the crumbs or juices from my mouth.
We risk turning on the faucet and cupping our hands to drink. My throat is so dry the water burns slightly on the way down. The second gulp goes down better.
No one speaks until we finish all the food.
When the last cracker is gone, Cole says, “Will your parents come in here in the morning?”
“No,” Tawni says. “Never. I’ve never seen either of them in here.” Her voice is thick with distaste. “They think it’s beneath them. These are the servants’ quarters. They used to live with us, but it became too expensive, so now they just come during the day to clean and cook and maintain the place.”
