Savage Run

by E. J. Squires

  “Stay here,” he says to me, waving his hand in front of the door so the clear shield vanishes. The Unifer instructs Arthor to go into the room next to me, and Arthor does as he’s told.

  I step into the empty room and peer out the apple-sized window. The other diamond-shaped section of the ship is on the opposite side of the gulf. Looking over at Arthor, through the transparent walls, I note how tense his body is.

  The Unifer steps out of the room and with the swoosh of the door, the invisishield is back up. He presses a button on the outside and says, “Listen very carefully. Exhale all the air in your lungs and then to not inhale again, understand?”

  I nod my head, as does Arthor.

  He continues. “And you must each punch in the code to continue on.”

  Before I’m able to recognize that this is the commencement of our next obstacle, the wall separating space and me vanishes, and I’m sucked out into the black gulf. Everything happens so fast; I hold my breath, the freezing air assaults my skin, and momentarily, my legs and arms flail, not finding anything to grab onto. I open my mouth to gasp, but instead, the air is extracted out of my lungs. Remembering what the Unifer said, I close my mouth so I won’t inhale.

  Arthor is a few feet away from me—too far removed to grab hold of. My eyeballs feel very dry even though I feel like I’m crying. Fortunately I’m not being pulled into the big void of space, but I am moving quickly toward the unit on the other side. Right before I collide with the exterior wall, I reach my hands and feet out, and then crash against a freezing metal door.

  Fumbling, I grab hold of the handle so I don’t float off into the void again. It’s only been about ten seconds, but I have to take a breath soon or I feel like I’ll pass out. A keyboard with numbers, letters and symbols are to the right of the door.

  That’s what the code is for—to get back inside. My first instinct is to start entering the symbols right away—before I can think even—but I don’t know whether I only have one shot at getting this right or whether I will have more chances.

  Looking over at Arthor, who’s at another door, I see him punching numbers and symbols. The keyboard flashes green and his door opens, taking him back inside. I stare at my own keyboard again and start to enter in the code, but when I get about halfway through, I freeze. I can’t remember it. Within seconds, the keyboard flashes red.

  Should I start over? Continue where I left off? I need to take a breath! In a desperate attempt to get some oxygen, I inhale, but instead of getting air, the saliva on my tongue starts to boil. I enter the code from the beginning again—this time able to recall the entire sequence—and the door opens and sucks me inside. The instant the door closes, I fall to the slick floor, gasping for air. The room almost turns black, but the more I breathe, the lighter the room becomes.

  “Are you all right?” Arthor asks through the clear wall. His voice sounds hollow.

  Feeling my arms tremble, I look over at him. “That was just a nightmare. I can’t believe I remembered the code.”

  He touches his fingertips against the wall. Standing up, I meet him there. “I wish I had your memory.”

  “You passed the test. You had what you needed at the time you needed it.”

  “I’d rather run a hundred marathons than have to go through that kind of thing again.” I look out the window and see other participants floating through space toward other doors. None of them should have to die this way. Not even Johnny.

  We wait a few minutes for the door to open, but the door remains closed.

  “Maybe they’re waiting for us all to return together,” Arthor says.

  I stare aimlessly out into the blackness beyond the see-through wall. “Or do you think they’ll make us go through that again?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because our spacecrafts are on the other side,” I say.

  Like an answer to my question, the wall in front of me vanishes again, and I go sailing out into the emptiness. I know better what I’m doing now, so I’m not as terrified as I was the first time, but can one ever really stop fearing for one’s life?

  This time, Arthor and I float farther apart than before. Just like before, shortly after I hit the side of the space station and latch onto a handle. Right as I’m about to punch in the code, I read the plaque next to it.

  Enter the code backwards

  What? Backwards? Having no time to think about it, I begin to key in the code, and for some reason, I am able to enter it without really struggling. The door opens. I’m back inside a room full of oxygen. How did I manage that so easily? I look for Arthor. He was just at the door three doors down from me. To my surprise, the backdoor to my room opens, and I rush into the corridor to search for Arthor. But he isn’t there. I run to the door that I think is his, gazing through it, and there he is still outside punching in the code. He sees me and bangs on the shield with a fist. He can’t do it! I slam my hand against the invisishield.

  “Arthor!”

  He shakes his head, as if to clear it, and his brows grow dark over his eyes. Punching in the code again, his face turns redder. And redder. Purple. I stop breathing. “Arthor!”

  Finally the shield opens and he is pulled into the room again. My hands rest against the transparent sliding door, my eyes intently on him.

  Coughing, he looks up, saliva dripping from his mouth to the floor, and when our eyes meet, I smile.

  The Unifer leads us back to our spacecrafts, and soon I’m reentering the atmosphere. The spacecraft starts to vibrate. Then it shakes. I grab onto the straps of my harness and close my eyes, surrendering to the jagged movements. Approaching the ground, the shaking decreases, and I reopen my eyes. My spaceship has slowed down considerably, like it’s floating down from the sky.

  Below me, I see two participants hopping onto bikes. I smile. Our next challenge should be a breeze for me. I see someone sprinting toward the bikes; I think it’s Arthor. There are three spacecrafts that lie in a green field next to where the hundred or so other spacecrafts wait. The rest must still not have made it here yet, so I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll be able to finish in the top fifty percent. Then I notice, to the side of the three spacecrafts, stands a guy dressed in black. He almost looks like Johnny, but it’s difficult to see him from here. I notice that he is carrying a long, cylinder-shaped object on his shoulder and he’s aiming the device directly toward me.

  Every single muscle in my body freezes. What’s happening?

  Just as I finish thinking the thought, a sudden burst of light flares from the guy’s shoulder, launching a missile.

  Three seconds. That’s exactly how long it takes for the missile to collide with my spacecraft. And my last waking thought is I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not anymore. Finally, I’m free.

  Chapter 21

  When I wake up, all I can feel is an intense burning sensation across my abdomen, hands, and face. The burns feel like a thousand needles stabbing my skin at once and my muscles keep tensing, unable to relax through the pain. The air around me vibrates, creating a buzzing sound, and the surface beneath my back is cold and unyielding.

  Where am I?

  When I try to open my eyes, my eyelids stick together. I eventually manage to lift my right eyelid and see that I’m inside a white cell without doors or windows. There’s a symbol on one of the walls that looks like a rod of lightening. The cell must be electrified.

  After the missile hit my spacecraft, there was a bright light, a plume of flames, and black, thick smoke. That’s all I remember before everything went black. President Volkov must have found out my secret after Johnny tipped him off. I can’t think of anyone I hate more right now than Johnny. And was that Johnny down there? It was too hard to tell.

  But somehow, having President Volkov find out comes as a relief. Now I don’t have to hide anymore, pretend to be someone I’m not, put on a façade just so I can race to be free; there’s freedom in the truth, however small that freedom might be. My
chest slumps. I was so stupid to enter the Savage Run; I should just have stayed home, but then again, I couldn’t have because then Master Douglas would have killed Gemma and me.

  Wait, no—the memory of Gemma being shot comes as a sudden stab to my chest. She’s already dead. Gemma! How could I forget? I sob only once, for the contraction of my abdomen feels like my skin is being ripped off my flesh. I try to sit up, but even with the tiniest of movements, I wince in agony. Every inch of my body hurts, and I’m certain I have more than one broken bone. How could I not? Having fallen from the sky.

  Studying my hands, I see that the skin is red and blistered. I’m afraid to look, but the rest of my body must be equally as burned—if not more. For the next few minutes, I lie as motionless as I can, but there’s no relief from the pain whether I’m moving or lying still.

  Finally, pushing through the pain, I gather the little strength I have and sit up. Screaming, spitting and groaning as I pant, I rise to my feet. My right foot feels like there’s something loose inside, and it hurts so much that I can’t put any pressure on it. I go to lean on one of the walls, but then I remember that they’re electrified.

  “Help!” I yell. I can’t stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks, and when they do, they sting the raw flesh on my face. “Help!”

  I wait in the obscure chamber. Wait to be killed, or wait for someone to rescue me. President Volkov knows; it’s the only explanation. But if he found out I am a girl and he wanted me out of Savage Run, couldn’t he just have shot me dead? Maybe he’ll think I will go away if he sends me back home. Or maybe he’s not certain that I’m a girl and he wants to verify it before he kills me. On the other hand, the thought is a little ridiculous—I hardly think President Volkov has time to deal with a young girl like me—but why else did all this happen?

  But the worst part isn’t that he found out. The worst part is that I have to sit here defenseless and try to anticipate what my punishment will be. Smaller transgressions than mine frequently result in the death penalty.

  There’s a clicking sound, followed by one of the walls fading, revealing a Unifer holding a cup. “Drink up.” He hands me the cup and waits.

  I peer down at the neon green liquid. “What is it?”

  “You can either drink it or I can pour it down your throat.”

  Not wanting him to touch any part of me, I press the cup to my lips and swallow the cold beverage. With no consideration for my burns or possible broken bones, the Unifer grabs my arm, and pulls me into the hallway.

  When I put pressure on my right foot, I let out a cry and can barely keep my feet from giving out under me. He hauls me down the short, gray hallway, and I’m certain he’s either taking me to President Volkov or to be executed. Unifers run down the hallway, passing us on the right.

  The Unifer pushes open a door that leads to a set of stairs. He’s moving so fast that I can barely keep up, and now that I’m sucking wind, my lungs burn. I start to cough. At the bottom of the staircase, he opens another door, which leads us into a large foyer. The place is crawling with Unifers in their blue and green uniforms, but there’s one person that catches my eye. He’s dressed in black and gray, and he’s looking right at me, like we’re the only two people in the room, like the distance across the divide is nothing. Nicholas runs toward me, and with the last morsel of willpower I have, I wrench my arm out of the Unifer’s clasp, stumble toward Nicholas, and sink into his arms. The room spins around me and again, and I vanish into the blackness.

  * * *

  When I wake up, I’m completely naked and submerged in blue liquid in a metal tub. The liquid tingles on my skin and the only thing that still burns a little is my face. I look at my hands, noting that the blisters are gone. Nicholas must have brought me here. Well—there’s no hiding the fact that I’m a girl anymore, and most likely, the entire world knows now. The thought scares me half to death so how come I feel like the greatest burden has been removed from my chest?

  A short, curvy nurse enters and gives me a smile. “Hello, Heidi. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes.” I move my hands in front of my chest to cover up, and to my amazement, it doesn’t hurt.

  The nurse checks the monitor I’m hooked up to. “My name is Paula and I’m your nurse. Now don’t mind me, sweet thing. I’ve seen it all a million times. Everything looks great.” She dips a washcloth in the bath, and wrings it over my face, immediately removing the stinging. “You have one more hour in there and that should be enough to take care of the burns and broken bones. In the meantime, can I get you something to drink?”

  “Water.” I hear footsteps, followed by a door closing, then silence. The door opens again, and the nurse hands me a white cup with a straw in it. When I suck on the straw, cold water enters my mouth and runs down the inside of my throat, quenching my thirst. I take a deep breath, and to my relief, again, the motion doesn’t hurt.

  “I’ll be back in an hour. If you need help, sweetie, press this.” She points to a red button by the tub before strolling out the door. She dips the washcloth in the blue liquid again and twists it over my face so the fluid cascades over my skin. Then she leaves.

  After an hour has passed, the nurse helps me out of the bath. My foot is a little sore, but I have no problem putting all my weight on it. Glancing into the mirror across the room, I see that red marks cover my abdomen, arms, and face, where the burns used to be. But they don’t sting at all. She helps me slip on a white gown and tells me to sit in the wheelchair. She wheels me down a long, white corridor with lots of doors, and takes me into another room where two Unifers stand guard. I think I recognize one of them as Nicholas’s bodyguard.

  Inside the room, Nicholas lies on a hospital chair curled up into a ball—his eyes shut, his mouth slightly open. He looks like he could be just any other guy—so young and full of hope—not someone who constantly struggles to play by a tyrant’s rules, not like the next president of Newland. The nurse helps me into the bed and hooks me up to new monitors.

  “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” she asks.

  “Much better, thank you.”

  “I’ll be right around the corner if you need me.” She exits the room, closing the door behind her.

  As if on cue, Nicholas opens his eyes, stretches his legs out, and plants them on the floor. When he sees me, it takes him no time at all to stride across the room to my bed. He sits down next to me and briefly strokes my arm while looking into my eyes. There’s so much care as he caresses me, so much tenderness.

  I don’t know exactly why, but I can’t stop myself from leaning forward and wrapping one of my arms around his neck. Very gently he scoots closer to me and he eases his arms around my back, his palms resting against the skin where my hospital gown doesn’t cover. I wrap my other arm around his neck, too, and bury my face in his chest. Tears fill my eyes, and I start to breathe erratically. He pulls back and strokes my hair, kissing the wetness from my cheeks, the edge of my mouth, his breath playing like butterflies on my face. We embrace again, and he holds me until I’m able to stop the sobs. This must be one of those moments I’ve heard about, when after having gone through a traumatic experience; I need someone to connect to. And since Nicholas is close right now, he’s it. Or is it more? He’s been there for me, and showed me kindness, confidence, encouragement. He waited for me in a hospital, for how many hours, I don’t know.

  “How are you feeling?” He strokes the last tear on my cheek away with his thumb.

  His touch sends a dull, achy current through me and I want the space between us to be nothing like it was just a second ago. “How…did I get here?”

  “I brought you here in an ambulance.”

  “Before that. Does your father know? Why did they release me?”

  “Are you up to hearing the whole story?”

  “Yes.”

  He clears his throat. “Right before you returned to earth, my father announced to the benefactors that a girl had registered illegally, and that the penalty in our
country is execution.”

  “Johnny told him.”

  “Yes. Within minutes of your spacecraft being shot down, Dr. and Mrs. Konders had contacted the benefactor in Normark, and every last one of them threatened to withdraw their funding if my father didn’t let you continue.”

  “Why would they do such a thing?” Then I remember. “Oh, they have a daughter who competes. And they’re your friends.”

  “More like…family. In Normark, like in most countries around the world, slavery has been abolished for decades. There are no classes—everyone is equal. Women are equal. It’s a beautiful thing. Dr. Konders knew the rules going in; that only males were allowed to register, but when he learned that you were going to be killed…he wouldn’t have it.”

  “I know the countries agreed to host Savage Run because of the oil they’ll receive, but why did your father get the other countries involved? What’s in it for him?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure, but whatever it is, he’s doing it to gain more power. And it’s a way in which he can demonstrate that he’s a charitable person. Giving to those who cannot give to themselves.” He scoffs.

  “So will he let me continue?” I ask.

  “Yes.” His voice almost sounds disappointed.

  “Why didn’t he just kill me?”

  “I think he tried to…but somehow you survived, and by then, Dr. Konders had contacted him.” He takes my hand and squeezes it.

  “I saw someone aiming the missile toward me.”

  “Who?”

  “I’m not sure, but for a moment I thought it looked like Johnny.”

  His eyes widen just a tad. “Oh.”

  I lean my head back into the pillow. “Who’s paying for me to be here?”

  “The Konders.”

  “Did you have anything to do with that?”

  “No, they just volunteered.”

  “So does everyone know that I’m a girl now?” I ask.