“You needed to keep me stable? Like I can’t do that myself? Like you can…control me?”
“Not like that.” He huffs. “If I would have told you beforehand that you would probably be blown up, wouldn’t it have made you terrified?”
“It would have,” I admit. “But I have a right to know the truth!”
“We weren’t allowed to say anything, Heidi.”
“Not being allowed to say or do something hasn’t stopped you before.”
His intense eyes bore into mine. “I get to decide what I share. Will you just trust me that I’m trying to do what’s best for you?”
“Which is what, exactly?” I pinch my lips together.
“To keep you alive.”
I point my finger at him. “I’ve lived as a Laborer my entire life—”
He rolls his eyes. “Heidi…”
“—where I’ve been told what to do, what to think and what to believe. I can’t live like that anymore.” No, it’s more than that. I shake my head. “I refuse to live like that anymore! Knowing the truth is the only freedom I have.”
His eyes grow worrisome and he breaks our eye contact by looking down.
“What?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Did you finish eating?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you go and finish eating, take a nice hot shower, and get some rest. Tomorrow we’re attending the fundraiser at 8:00 p.m.” He pauses and the right side of his lip curls into half a smile. “Only if you want to, of course. It’s all optional.”
I don’t know what makes me think that I can punch him in the arm, but I do. Immediately, I regret it. “I’m sorry…I’m really tired, and…” When he starts to laugh, I can’t help but smile a little.
“Remember, you’re not a Laborer anymore.”
Right as I open my mouth to say that I am a Laborer, I think I get what he’s trying to do: get me to change my perception of myself.
He takes my arm and leads me back into the kitchen. “Please eat.”
I sit down at the table and take a bite. After I finish my food, Mai escorts me to my room just across the hallway. It’s identical to Arthor’s room. She leaves me a key card and says to come back once I’ve finished cleaning up.
I hop into the shower and turn the setting on hot. The water scolds my skin, but it feels so good, like I’m washing away all the grueling events in phase one. Someone has laid out fresh clothes for me on my bed and I slip on the silky blue pants and a loose white t-shirt with the Savage Run logo.
I return to Arthor’s room and see his leg is bandaged; they must have wrapped it while I was in the shower. I sit down on the bed and hold his hand, watching him sleep peacefully. His skin is colorless, his cheeks sunken, and it’s only a matter of days before he’ll die unless he receives professional medical treatment.
“You really should get some rest, too,” Nicholas says, entering the room.
My eyes feel like they have gravel in them, but I say, “I’m fine.” I turn back to Arthor.
Nicholas sighs a little. “I know you think you are, but tomorrow is a long day and you still haven’t seen the worst of the obstacles yet. Do you need anything to help you sleep?”
I cringe at his words. ‘Still haven’t seen the worst.’ I can’t imagine that I’ll be able to survive anything crueler than I just went through. I look into his blue eyes as he sits down next to me on the bed, his knee resting against my sore thigh.
“You did a great job out there, but this next round will be even more difficult than the first one.”
“I can manage,” I say.
He sighs in frustration. “Would it be so hard to accept my help?”
I’ve always relied on myself, never having found anyone I felt I could trust completely. Except for Gemma. And she’s dead. “I just don’t…when I have in the past, they’ve always let me down.”
“I won’t let you down.” He touches my elbow briefly.
I feel a flutter in my abdomen. “You don’t have to help me.”
His eyebrows rise.
“I know what’s best for me.” I look down at the red carpet and pretend to kick something.
“I won’t let you down, Heidi.”
I don’t believe him since everyone always eventually does. “It won’t matter if I’m careful or risky out there; it seems like surviving has more to do with luck than anything.”
“Listen, you may be physically weaker than any of the other participants, but you’re a whole lot smarter than most of them, too. You pick up on things others don’t, so just use it to your full advantage.” He nudges me with his elbow.
Heat rushes to my cheeks, and a lot of the exhaustion I was feeling earlier has melted away. “Is that the secret to survival? Picking up on things?”
“There’s no secret. Everyone knows the shortcuts are out there, but many can’t seem to find them.” He places his hand on the mattress and leans in. “At one point I wanted to join the Savage Run myself, to prove to my father that I could do something worthwhile. I’m not as strong as some of these guys, but I’m reasonably fast. And it’s easy for me to determine where the shortcuts are—my mind has always been going at a hundred miles a minute trying to decipher everything. I planned to find the shortcuts in every single obstacle, just like the one you found in Devil’s Cliff.”
“What happened?”
“My father forbade me to register. Said he’d change my status to a Laborer if I tried. Like I said before, he wanted me to be the venture manager, but as a compromise, he let me become a registrar.”
“Do you enjoy what you’re doing?” I whisper.
His eyes scan my face, starting with my eyes, until they reach my mouth where they linger for a long time, and says, “I do.”
The room has become unbearably warm, and I stand up and start to pace. “What about the next phase?” I ask. “There doesn’t seem to be a way around those obstacles.”
“That’s a tricky one, but try to find a pattern on the disks or on the beams. The most obvious route isn’t always the smartest or the easiest.”
“What’s the hardest obstacle you’ve ever seen?”
He thinks for a moment. “It depends on what you’re afraid of, but I’d have to say the underwater swims. In one competition, participants had to swim for longer and longer periods of time beneath murky water before they came up for air. The last stretch took some of them three minutes to complete and many drown.” A wrinkle appears between his eyebrows and he looks down. “That would be the hardest one for me.”
Why would he be afraid of water? “I’m not really great at swimming either, but my main weakness is small spaces.” My shoulders feel tense just thinking about it, having to crawl through the Caves of Choice in phase three. He stands up and walks over to me, never breaking eye contact. His blue eyes draw me in—away from where I’ve been, away from the pain. What is it about him that puts me at ease?
“You’ve already proven that you don’t give into your fears,” he says.
“That’s because…” It’s difficult to speak my mind when he’s so close to me, breathing the same air. “…I never felt like I had a choice; it was just something I had to do.” Mai comes into the room, and with her entrance, the air returns.
“So, there’s a problem,” she says.
I immediately think that President Volkov knows, and it’s as if I’ve been whacked in the solar plexus.
“What?” Nicholas asks.
“We don’t have a tuxedo for Heidi for the benefit,” she answers.
“That’s a relief.” Nicholas puffs.
“This is serious!” Mai says. “It’s not like we can just go out into the store and get her one in her size.”
“I thought you were going to say something along the lines of that my father had found out Heidi is a girl,” Nicholas says.
“No, of course he doesn’t suspect at all. I just spoke to him and he’s giddy that Joseph the underdog actually made it,” Mai says.
“We absolutely have to solve Heidi’s apparel problem,” Mai says.
Nicholas brings his hand in front of his eyes and shakes his head. “I’ll order one and it will be here within the hour.”
I nap on the couch while we wait for the tuxedo to arrive. When it comes, Mai wakes me and helps me get into it. It’s way too big.
“My tailor’s in town. I’ll call him,” Nicholas says.
“Well, we can’t let your tailor get too close to her, if you know what I mean,” Mai says.
“Don’t worry. He’s a master at what he does, and I guarantee he’ll keep quiet.”
The silver-haired tailor arrives within the half hour, carrying a container and a full-length mirror. After he sets up, he has me stand in the middle of the room in front of the mirror. He takes out these paper pieces and starts pinning them to my Savage Run outfit, using his tape measure. His gray eyebrows crinkle a bit as he writes the measurements of my chest and shoulders down. He measures my hips, and then grunts a little as he writes those measurement down. He glances at Nicholas over his glasses. Nicholas remains silent.
“I need to measure the inseam. Do you dress to the left or the right?” the tailor asks.
“What…?” I look at Nicholas.
“Right or left,” Nicholas says.
“Uh…”
“I’m sorry, let me rephrase. On which side do you hang?” the tailor asks.
“Hang?” I’m thoroughly confused.
“Just pick one,” Nicholas says through his teeth.
The tailor looks at Nicholas with questioning eyes, with dozens of pins sticking out of his mouth. “You can’t just pick one…either you hang to the…”
“Uh…right.” I blurt out, my cheeks flushed now that I understand what they’re talking about.
The tailor’s eyebrows rise again. “Hmm...that’s rare.”
Great. I had to pick the rare side.
He measures me from the crotch to the floor and then finishes up with my neck and arm measurements. “You’re a girl,” he says, studying me carefully. He glances at Nicholas with his old, tired eyes.
“For your confidentiality,” Nicholas says, pressing money into the tailor’s hand when he leaves.
“Are you sure he’ll keep it a secret?” I have to ask since Mai doesn’t question him on it.
“I would trust this man with my life,” Nicholas replies.
I hope his trust isn’t misdirected.
Chapter 16
After being measured, I can no longer keep my eyes open and go to my room to get some sleep. The sun has risen higher up in the sky so it’s light outside. I pull the navy-colored, velour curtains in my room to block out all brightness. Dreaming, I relive the horror of the e-conda lake and of the screams of the boys who were blown up by the landmines. When I wake up with a jolt, it’s pitch black and the clock reads 10:03 p.m. I slept all day? I try to fall back asleep, but images from the obstacle courses keep attacking my mind. I decide that I should check up on Arthor.
When I go to sit up, there isn’t a single muscle in my body that doesn’t feel like it’s being ripped apart. I’m so sore. I set my feet on the floor and will myself up to a standing position. Barely able to carry my weight, my legs scream at me. The smallest movement causes severe pain, and even a simple effort like moving my head from side to side is extremely difficult.
I still have the key card Mai gave me, so I slowly drag my feet to my door to go to Mai’s room. But when I open it, there stands a Unifer. In fact, the entire hallway is lined with Unifers, except for a few doors at the very end. They must be empty.
“I’m not authorized to let you leave,” he says.
“I’m allowed to go into that room over there. I have the key card.” I lift it up to show him.
He glances over at the Unifer in front of Mai’s door.
“Here, I’ll show you. Do you think they would have given me a key if I wasn’t allowed in there?” I ask.
“Go ahead, but I can’t let you go anywhere else.”
“That’s okay.” I slip out of my room and enter Mai’s room.
However when I get there, I find the place completely dark and empty. The thought that he died hovers in the back of my mind, and a lump forms in my throat. Not willing to concede to the thought, I search the room thoroughly, but to my great distress, I can’t find him there. And Nicholas and Mai are gone, too. Couldn’t they have left a note or something? My first instinct is to go looking for them, though I hardly think I’m allowed to—having the Unifer guarding my door and all. If I were on Volkov Village, I’d be locked in my room with nowhere to go. But here they didn’t really tell me I couldn’t go anywhere. I could feign ignorance. The only problem is getting past the Unifer.
A slight breeze catches my attention and I see the sheer curtains moving a little. A window. I walk over to it and peek outside. It’s rather far so climbing down won’t be an option. Plus I’m so sore. Then I see another curtain waving in the wind all the way down at the end where there weren’t any Unifers in front of the doors. There’s a wide ledge right below, so I could technically…but I should change into regular clothes first so no one recognizes me. I slip into one of Mai’s jeans and a plain black top. They’re a little big, but it’s not like they’re going to fall off me.
I go back to the window and slide it open all the way. Then I quietly remove the screen, and climb out. I press up against the wall and inch my way sideways toward the end of the building. The wind is strong and gusts against my body, rocking it gently from side to side. Though my breathing has become staggered, this is nothing compared to what I’ve been through. I make it to the end in no time and climb in the window. The room is empty, and the bed has no sheets on it. Opening the door, I peek down the hallway. The unifiers stand at attention, but they don’t turn their heads to the creaking door. I step out of the room like I stay there and head straight for the elevator. Once the doors close, I’m able to breathe a little easier. I take the elevator downstairs to the foyer and approach the middle-aged woman behind the counter.
“They took the sick boy to the hospital,” the woman answers. “They said they’d be back in a couple of hours and that was about an hour and a half ago.”
Relieved Arthor is receiving medical treatment, but curious as to where the funds might be coming from, I thank her. Having now regained some of my energy from the mounds of pasta I ate, the gallons of water I drank, and the long nap I took—and with thirty minutes to kill before they return—I go back into the elevator and take it to the two hundred and fourteenth floor—the rooftop. When I exit, I walk into a garden of flowers, plants, and benches. Rarely have I ever seen this many flowers in one place, and the beauty takes my breath away. I walk over to the side of the building but stop before I reach the railing; the two hundred foot jump is still too fresh in my bones, and I can’t get myself to look down. Instead, I sit down on the bench and gaze up at the heaven above, the sky barely dark enough for a couple of stars to appear.
“What are you doing up, Imp?”
I turn around to see Johnny standing before me. What is he doing here? “I was just leaving.” I stand up and start to walk back toward the elevator, acutely aware that Johnny could very well pick me up over his head and hurl me over the edge, which is probably what he’s thinking about doing.
Johnny moves in my way. “No one’s here to defend you now, are they?”
I think about bringing up the fact that he’s supposed to be in his room, but it would only highlight the fact that I’m not in my room either, so instead, I say, “I’m really surprised you made it.”
He chuckles for a moment. “Yeah, ditto. How did you ever manage?” He gets a sly smile on his face.
The hair on the back of my neck rises when Johnny takes a step closer to me. I attempt to swerve around him, but he grabs my arm and shoves me
backwards toward the railing so I’m pressed up against it. He’s going to kill me.
“You know, there’s something not quite right about you, but I just can’t put my finger on it.” He squeezes my sore arms so hard it constricts the blood flow.
“Let go of me!” I yell, but he squeezes my arm even harder.
“Say, what kind of a Laborer are you back home? Maybe then I could remember where I’d seen you before.”
“None of your business.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Johnny and I turn around to see Nicholas standing there.
“No, Joseph was just explaining to me how the first phase was,” Johnny spews, releasing my arm.
“Yeah, because your memory is so bad that you don’t remember,” I retort.
“I think you should leave now, Johnny,” Nicholas says. “Before I report you out of your room.”
“Well, Joseph’s…” Johnny starts.
“Now!”
“We’ll have to catch up later.” Johnny points his finger in my face before he walks off.
I’m relieved that Nicholas showed up at a very convenient time, but I cringe thinking about the lecture he’s going to give me. Technically he could send me home, but I figure that he won’t since he didn’t send Johnny packing. Which brings up the question: why didn’t he?
“You really shouldn’t…” Nicholas starts to say, but he stops himself. “Are you okay?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” I look across the view on the thousands of lights below, now brave enough to slump against the fence next to the drop off. “I needed some fresh air. To clear my mind from…you know?”
He doesn’t say a word—just looks at me.
“How’s Arthor?” I ask.
“We took him to the hospital. He’s in reconstructive surgery right now and will be ready to go when the second phase of Savage Run begins.”
“I’m glad to hear.” My body feels lighter. “Wish I could take a day off. That slacker.” I laugh nervously, my heart still pounding hard from being approached by Johnny. Or maybe it’s because Nicholas is so near. “His family could never pay for something like that.”
Savage Run Page 15
