Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance (Cage of Lies Book 1)

by Susanne Valenti

  I hesitated for a moment, almost wanting to hide the truth which sat on the tip of my tongue. But why lie? I had no reason to hide my feelings from him.

  "Being in the city always felt wrong to me somehow. I feel like... I don't know..." I shrugged as I struggled to put it into words. "I was sleeping or something, but now, I'm finally awake." I looked up at him, the light of the silver lines were reflected in his eyes. He was standing a lot closer to me than I'd realised and the space between our lips was almost non-existent.

  My breath caught in my throat and my gaze trailed over his face for a long moment.

  “Maybe I did you a favour then." Coal held my gaze for a few seconds longer.

  I knew I should have stepped back, but it was like something was trying to pull me towards him and I couldn't resist it. His gaze slid away from me to where Taylor was sleeping and he stepped away, breaking the spell.

  “We should get some sleep," he said, turning towards the fire.

  I took a deep breath and looked at my boots, a small puddle had formed beneath my feet as the water dripped out of my clothes and I unzipped my jacket, laying it out beside the fire.

  My boots followed it and I turned my back on Coal as I removed my pants too. There was no way I’d be able to sleep soaking wet so I just ignored the embarrassment that clawed at me and didn’t look his way as I laid my clothes beside the flames.

  I shivered a little and moved to Taylor's side to check that he was positioned comfortably.

  I brushed his hair out of his eyes and he groaned but still didn’t wake. Anxiety gnawed at my gut but there wasn’t anything else that I could do to help him.

  “He’ll be okay,” Coal said and I looked at him through the flames.

  “Do you swear it?” I asked, knowing he could do no such thing.

  “Do you always put so much faith in the word of strangers?” he teased.

  “I’ve never met anyone as strange as you,” I countered.

  Coal snorted a laugh and I turned back to look at Taylor again. There was colour in his cheeks and he felt warm. I just had to hope that Coal was right and he’d be okay.

  I dropped down beside him and laid my head against his chest like I had in the Lawless Trials’ dorm. His heart beat powerfully beneath my ear and I let the sound of it sooth me as I curled up next to him and closed my eyes. I tried to ignore the fact that I was still damp, covered in blood and mud and wearing yesterday's clothes, and exhaustion soon pressed me towards sleep.

  As I drifted off, I listened to the sounds of the waterfall and the crackling fire and a strange thought passed through my mind. Despite all the weird and wonderful things that surrounded me, I felt like I was home at last. And I clung to that sense of rightness as I fell into sleep, wondering if instead of a nightmare, I might just be starting out on a dream.

  I woke before the sun rose. The cave was dark and the fire had burnt low and I shivered as the cold crept over me like icy fingers caressing my skin. Coal was sitting next to the fire, his back to me as he hunched forward, concentrating on something.

  Laurie was breathing deeply as she slept on, her blonde hair spilling around her as her brow pinched in concern.

  I checked on Taylor again but there was still no sign of him waking up and a knot tightened in my stomach as I chewed on my lip. His breathing was steady but he still wouldn't stir even when I shook him. He needed help. Soon.

  I huffed out a breath and stood, moving to the cave entrance as I loosened out the tension in my limbs.

  All of my training injuries coupled with the few I’d collected during the Trials had grouped together to make my muscles seize up during the night and I gritted my teeth against the pain as I walked it out.

  I made it to the roaring waterfall, reaching out with cupped hands to gather some of the cold water and splashed it over my face to rinse away the blood and grime that had collected there. I scrubbed at my skin and even braved running it through my hair to remove the worst of the filth from it.

  Kaloo had chosen to lay by the rushing water and icy droplets misted on her fur as she rested. She had her eyes closed but I wasn't convinced she was sleeping. I headed back across the cave towards Coal and she raised her head to watch me pass, the look in her eye letting me know she’d leap up to defend him in a heartbeat, but she made no move to stop me.

  “Have you slept?" I asked in a rough voice, sinking to the ground next to him and enjoying the heat from the low flames.

  “Someone needed to keep watch." He was twisting a knife between his fingers so quickly that I wondered how he hadn’t cut himself yet. He tossed it up in a flash of movement before catching it by the hilt and slamming it down into one of the logs which were waiting to feed the fire.

  I fought the urge to gasp in surprise and raised my chin instead. “Aren’t you tired then?”

  "I’ve rested. Besides, I don't sleep much."

  I opened my mouth to ask why but changed my mind at the guarded look in his eyes.

  "Do you have to be very careful living out here? Because of the contamination?" I asked him slowly, wondering how the hell he was even alive.

  “The contamination?" He laughed like I’d said something funny and I frowned in confusion. "No."

  “But I thought it wasn't safe out here?" I pressed.

  “Well, I wouldn't say it was safe, but not because of contamination." He said the word like it was some kind of joke that I wasn't getting.

  “So the safe zones are bigger than the Guardians realise?" I asked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Or wasn’t saying. It seemed unlikely that they would make such an error.

  "Do you really all sit up there believing that The Wall is the only thing between you and some mystery virus that would be your downfall?" Coal asked, leaning towards me and looking into my eyes like he really wanted to hear my answer. I felt like I was some kind of puzzle to him. Some game. And I wasn’t sure I liked it.

  “Why else would they lock us all away in there?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  Coal studied my expression for a moment, the smile slipping from his face before he replied. "Various reasons…safety being one of them I suppose," he said vaguely.

  "And what would the others be?"

  “Are you sure you want to ask these questions? You might not like the answers.” He cocked his head as he surveyed me like he wasn’t sure if I could handle the truth or not.

  “I can handle it,” I said. “I just want the truth.”

  He held my eye for a long moment and I tightened my jaw as I waited him out. I didn’t need hand holding, I just wanted honesty.

  "Perhaps some of the people in your city like sitting up there in their glass castles, using the rest of you to do all of the work," he said, leaning back on his elbows as he watched my reaction.

  “Anyone in the city has an equal chance to progress to a higher level if they work hard enough. Housing is allocated depending on your contribution to society so the more you give the more you get back," I quoted instantly.

  “Did you rehearse that speech or has it been drummed into you so often that you actually believe it?" Laughter danced in his eyes and I bristled at the implication that I couldn’t think for myself.

  "It's true. The people living on the top floors and in the better buildings have earned their place there by contributing the most to society," I insisted.

  "So, what if a married couple live together and the wife contributes greatly to society but the husband does nothing?"

  "They would be put somewhere in the middle," I guessed but I could tell Coal wasn't convinced.

  “Then she has to suffer because of her husband and he gets to gain from doing nothing?" Coal leaned back as he waited for my answer. His black shirt rode up at the movement and my gaze caught on the inch of bronze skin that was revealed above his waistband for a moment. I got the feeling the move was intentional and I pursed my lips as I continued with my train of thought, refusing to let him distract me.

  “They…well, y
eah I guess. I never met anyone in that situation but that must be how it works.”

  “Sounds fair,” he mocked.

  "Oh hell I don't know, but there is a system in place," I said, coming up short.

  “And you all just blindly believe that? How could you know who contributes the most to society? What do they base it on? Hours of work? Or is it the type of work? The amount of educational qualifications you have?"

  “I presume some kind of combination of all of them," I said, but listening to it laid out like that did make me doubt how it could possibly work fairly.

  "And who gets to decide that?" He wasn't finished picking holes and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep on trying to plug them.

  "We have elected officials called Guardians, who are lead by a President and together they work for the benefit of the population by-"

  “Living in the nicest apartments on the top floors of the best buildings?" Coal guessed, smiling smugly at me.

  This dude has a seriously punchable face when he does that.

  "Well, yes, but they contribute a lot to-"

  "And by any chance do these elected officials tend to come from families that live in those kinds of apartments in the first place?" he interrupted me again.

  “Anyone has the right to stand for election," I said firmly.

  “But would they have the funds in place or the connections required to run a successful campaign?"

  I looked at him with my lips parted, ready to argue further but I couldn't think of anything to say. My mind raced back and forth as I tried to reject his arguments but I couldn't.

  "Probably not," I conceded finally.

  “So the rich and powerful stay rich and powerful and the rest of you work as hard as you can to try and reach the top floors whilst never really having a chance of making it up there." He smiled knowingly at me.

  I frowned. I had to admit I'd never really heard of anyone making it very far beyond their original living area. Eventually I just shrugged. I couldn’t really argue against what he was saying anyway.

  “Don't you know that the so-called contamination wasn't something that just happened entirely by accident?" Coal asked and I frowned at the change of subject.

  "What do you mean?" I frowned.

  “I mean people are the reason we're in this mess. Though I'm probably not the best person to explain it." He shook his head and turned away but I reached out and caught his hand to make him look at me again. His fingers were rough with callouses beneath mine and my skin prickled at the contact but I refused to let go.

  "Can you try?" I asked in a low voice. I’d only ever heard one explanation for what had happened at the end of the old world and I wondered how much Coal's understanding would differ from mine.

  Coal looked at me for a long moment and I watched his resolve crumble as he gave in to my question. He pulled his hand away but shifted a little closer to me so that our legs were almost touching.

  “The stories handed down to us say it started because there were too many people in the world, so there wasn't enough food." Coal frowned, concentrating and I shifted a little closer, aching to hear his account of things. "Scientists developed chemicals to give to the plants to make them grow bigger and faster to feed everyone…but it went wrong." I nodded, I knew that much already. "They were supposed to spend years carrying out tests but they didn't. They just started pumping it into farms all over the world. Instead of focusing on the problems that were being caused by the effects of the chemical, like the creatures and plants growing like crazy and becoming completely uncontrollable, they threw more effort into making the cities secure and finishing the Walls.

  We think that they knew overpopulation was the world's main problem so they weren't exactly worried about something happening that could eliminate a good portion of that problem."

  “You mean they knew what could happen?" I asked, my mind whirling at the mere suggestion of something so awful.

  “Maybe. It certainly seems convenient that all of those Walls were already well underway before the crisis."

  “Why did people think they were building them?" I asked, wondering how they could have gotten away with such a thing.

  "Counter terrorist measures. At the time, they said they needed to create safe zones within Walls for people to get to in the event of an attack; the cities were already highly populated and lent themselves to being altered into a space ready for a massive population quarantine.

  Then they selected people to live within The Wall. Supposedly it was a random ballot with some exceptions made for people who had particularly important skills. Though in the case of an attack, they said everyone would be protected inside.

  They kept the news stories about the Walls and the terrorists separate to the stories about the food crisis so not many people saw the link."

  "But if they were ready to shelter people in the cities then why did so many people die?" I asked. It was common knowledge that in the old world there had been billions of people whereas now the cities held only a fraction of that number.

  “The changes they made were only meant to affect certain plants but whatever they did mutated and soon all of the plant life was contaminated and everything started growing quicker than it could be cut back. Then the animals that ate the plants started to change too, and some of the people. Once it was in the food chain there was no stopping it. Eventually the world had been affected so drastically that it was unrecognisable."

  "What happened then?" I whispered, I knew the version that I'd been told but I wanted to hear his.

  “They became something less - civilised, more primal. I don't know really. Our Elders say they lost reason and only acted on instinct, you know food, shelter, food again. And they would fight to the death for whatever it was that they wanted. They aren't people anymore, they're like a different species."

  "Are they still out here?" I shifted uncomfortably at the thought.

  "Yes, they live in parts of the forest far away from any civilisation. No one in their right mind would willingly go near a Creeper nest. And when people began to turn into them, everyone else headed to the cities to escape. They ran for the protection they’d been promised when their taxes were paying for The Walls to be built. But the gates were shut."

  "How could they do such a thing?" I shuddered.

  "Things settled down out here eventually. Not everything changed for the worse. Take Kaloo, for instance. She's bigger and stronger than the old world dogs would have been but I see no disadvantage to it.

  A lot of animals gained intelligence, some of the most formidable predators that live out here used to hunt alone, now practically everything hunts in packs. They all had to change in order to survive."

  "So why don't we change when we eat the food now?" I asked.

  Coal shrugged. "After those first few years, the changes stopped happening. It was like rapid evolution, everything that changed stayed different but didn't continue to develop after that. Maybe the chemicals are gone now, or maybe they just stopped effecting us, I don't know. But I do know that people don't suddenly die or become something different just by being out here, or eating the food."

  "So why do we still live inside The Wall? They could let us out."

  "Our best guess: power. There are a lot of people who have a very comfortable lifestyle living in the tops of those buildings and that would all change if everyone beneath them was suddenly free to go and make a life for themselves outside."

  "But that's awful, they can't just lock everyone away because it suits their lifestyle," I snarled.

  "There are plenty of things to be afraid of out here other than the contamination." He shrugged again.

  "Like what?"

  "You'll find out before long." Coal stood up and held out a hand to me. "But right now, we should get moving."

  He helped me up then dropped my hand and stepped back, crossing the cave quickly and leaving me to get dressed as he lifted Taylor into the makeshift litter.

  Kaloo
appeared at his side and stood patiently while she was strapped back onto the harness he’d made and I moved away to wake Laurie.

  I didn’t know what to make of everything he’d just told me. My whole world was being brought into question and I suddenly felt like I’d been raised on a diet of lies. I wished my mom and dad were alive to hear this. They’d have known better than me what to do with the information he’d shared.

  But I guessed for now, it didn’t really matter what lies I’d been told or what way the city was run. I needed to focus on getting Taylor out of here and finding him some help. Because if there was one thing in that city which I knew wasn’t a lie then it was him. And helping him was all that mattered right now.

  We headed back into the forest and my brain was once again assaulted by the abundance of colour that surrounded us.

  A bird shrieked as it flew overhead and I shuddered, remembering the screeches from the night before. But the trees looked peaceful enough swaying in a slight breeze, high above our heads. The humidity had returned with force and I could feel the heat of the sun punching its way down into the leafy cavern that surrounded us. The water that had soaked my clothes on my way through the waterfall was quickly drying out too.

  "Did you see anything strange out here last night?" I asked Laurie as we followed Coal through the trees.

  "Everything out here is strange," she hissed back. I took that to mean she hadn't seen the creature watching us from the bank and let it drop. Laurie didn't seem to be taking to the changes as easily as I was.

  "Are you feeling okay?" I asked her.

  "In the physical sense, yes. But other than that... I've left my whole world behind. I don't even know what to think about all of this, I spent my entire life trying to become a Warden and now I know I'll never be allowed back amongst them." She shook her head, looking defeated.

  "It doesn't have to be all bad, our world was confined within a Wall before. Now it stretches out without boundaries for us to explore." I couldn't keep the grin from my face as I thought about the possibilities this world presented to me.