by Melanie Tays
I want to berate Vander for breaking our deal, but it’s not as though we can take the antidote back from Kamella and give it to someone else. We’re stuck with her, and we need her to trust us. Starting out by making it clear she’s not wanted won’t go far toward accomplishing that goal.
So I smile and say, “Kamella, it’s so good to see you again.” I wait until she’s not looking to turn the full force of my scowl on Vander.
“Kamella was able to get medicine for you,” Vander says, pointedly.
Kamella comes to me and starts unpacking a small bag.
For a moment, I consider that perhaps the real reason for the change of plans was Vander’s concern for my well-being. But the gooey way he stares at her makes me feel certain that wasn’t the root of the decision.
“Vander told me about your injury. I think I have everything you need, but if not, I can bring more tomorrow,” she promises. “Take this.” She offers me a small white pill that dissolves on my tongue, and instantly the pain is gone. The relief is so acute that I mentally recant every bad thing I’ve ever thought about this girl and the hormonal idiot who brought her here.
She has me swallow another pill, this one for infection. She promises that tomorrow, she’ll bring me a change of clean clothes.
“What did Vander tell you?” I ask.
“Enough to know he’s telling the truth,” she says.
“And what do you think about The City?” I press, trying to gauge her loyalties.
She looks me straight in the eyes. “Even under the effects of the fog, you can’t live here for sixteen years and not realize that things aren’t right,” she says with complete sincerity.
I still think that leaving Ty under the control of the Mind Mist was a mistake. We may have more allies, but that doesn’t help us get into The City unless one of them actually knows something we don’t.
“Let’s move farther into the forest and start a fire so we can talk for a while,” I suggest, still chilled with fever.
Vander offers me a hand to help me up, but since taking the pills Kamella brought, I’m able to stand and walk without much difficulty. I’m still too annoyed with Vander to want to accept his help, so I’m glad to not need it. I lead the way deeper into the sheltering trees. Vander and Kamella follow, with Shawny hobbling in the rear.
“When is your baby due to be born, Shawny?” Vander asks.
“Not for another month,” she replies.
“See, plenty of time,” I say to Vander, feeling vindicated.
He just huffs in response and keeps walking.
When we stop, well out of view of the farm, Kamella is the one who goes to work on the fire, making Vander’s newfound fire-building skills look clumsy and pathetic by comparison. It shouldn’t surprise me that she knows what she’s doing, but it’s hard to let go of the image of her I’d formed in my head—the pretty, mindless automaton.
“So how are we going to get back into the City?” Shawny asks the instant we’re all seated around the fire. She rubs her belly, but I know she’s thinking of her other children—a boy and a girl she thought she’d never see again. “Do we just try that transmitter thing again?”
I pull the broken transmitter from my pocket. “Not unless you know how to fix it,” I say, half-hoping that maybe she was some kind of engineer back in the Flame and could do just that.
“You broke it?” she says, accusing.
“It wasn’t my fault. It got broken by the same knife that sliced my leg,” I reply, defensive.
“Firecracker!” she exclaims with an expression like she’s dealing with a group of morons. “We need someone who can actually help us. Who are you, anyway?”
“My name is Emery Kennish. I’m from the Smoke and—”
“A smoker! Eason entrusted everyone’s fate to a girl from the Smoke?”
I grimace at the derogatory name. From the corner of my eye, I notice Vander stifling a chuckle. Shawny isn’t nearly as nice as I’d imagined from the brief time I observed her defending herself and her unborn baby in the Justice Building. It doesn’t help that she’s right. Who am I to take on the force strangling thousands of people with a single chokehold?
“How much of that antidote do you have?” Shawny asks.
“Vander gave Kamella the last dose,” I admit, shooting a glare his way.
“If I hadn’t, you’d be dead long before we got back into The City,” Vander insists, as though he did it for me.
“Shawny could have gotten me the medicine,” I say.
“I just got here a few days before you did. I don’t know where they keep medicine, and I’m no doctor,” Shawny contradicts.
“See, we needed Kamella.”
“I would have been fine. We needed Ty, who knows about the Resistance,” I persist.
“I see I wasn’t your first choice, Emery, but I can help,” Kamella insists—her voice still as lilting as ever, even after receiving the antidote.
“Now we’re talking,” says Shawny. “You know how to fix that transmitter?”
“Forget the transmitter,” I say. “I don’t think it’s wise to leave the Safe Dome after all. Haven’t you noticed the airplanes flying overhead, trying to attack us?”
Shawny looks at me as though I’m crazy, and I’m once again struck by how completely oblivious the Mind Mist can make people.
“You mean all the colors in the sky?” Kamella says, and Shawny’s face shows recognition.
“Those weren’t just pretty colors,” Vander says. “Those were airplanes dropping explosives on The City. We don’t know why they’re trying to attack, but today was the second time, and they came with a lot more weapons this time.”
“We just need a way back into The City,” I say. “There has to be a way. Once we’re in, the priority will be to get rid of Traeger Sterling. It’s just one person holding everyone hostage. After that, we can rebuild The City the way it was supposed to be—a place where everyone can truly be safe.”
Shawny bursts into laughter. “Well, blazes, why not? I’m sure three teenagers and a pregnant mother are exactly the force that can finally take down a tyrant who has reigned without suspicion or question for eighteen years.”
I grimace. “Do you have a better idea?” I demand. You’d think she’d be more grateful after we just rescued her, risking our lives to try and save her children along with the rest of The City.
“From what you’ve told me, Traeger depends on secrecy to maintain his power,” says Shawny. “People only follow him because they think the original Council is still in place, and its actions are meant to protect them. We don’t have to get back into The City. We just have to get a message inside telling people the truth. It seems to me you’ve already created the way to do that. All we need now is a big sign and the right message.”
Kamella listens without saying a word, pensive. It’s not until Vander asks for her opinion that she shares what she knows—which turns out to be a lot. “Years ago, a group tried to resist The City. They held the food deliveries. It didn’t take long for them to send out Enforcers to collect what they wanted and deal with the rebels,” she explains.
I’m surprised anyone under the influence of the Mind Mist would have the ability to rebel. “Who was it?” I ask.
“The group was led by Alexia Hayworth.”
“Why does that name sound familiar?” Vander asks.
“She was a member of the Council,” replies Shawny, clearly more versed on The City’s politics than Vander and me.
Kamella nods. “After that incident, the fog was introduced to keep the peace out here.”
“How long ago was that?” I ask.
“About fourteen years ago. Everyone involved was killed,” she says.
I guess that explains what happened to the rest of the Council. In the end, they saw their mistakes and tried to set them right, and they paid for it with their lives.
“So what are you suggesting?” Shawny asks. “Surely you’re not saying we should try t
hat again?”
I have to agree with Shawny on this point. Flooding the Ash with Enforcers feels like a step backward.
Kamella shakes her head. “Not exactly, especially in light of the fact that not even the Enforcers who came out to manage the rebels were able to re-enter The City. It seems that the barrier field can allow people to leave, but only very specific things—such as food—can enter The City, no matter what the circumstances.”
I wonder how those Enforcers felt when they realized their assignment that day meant permanent relocation to the Ash. I wonder if they knew that when they exited The City. But even if they didn’t, the next morning all of their worries would have been forgotten with the introduction of the Mind Mist.
“That was a dozen people against Traeger and his forces. But what if we do things differently this time?” Kamella says. “Shawny has a good point. What if we make signs that tell the truth about the Council and tell The City that they’ll get no more food or supplies until they deliver Traeger Sterling to us, here in the Ash? Without control of the Enforcers and intercuffs, he has no power out here. Then The City will be free to rebuild itself. And if someday it seems safe or necessary, we will find a way to leave the Safe Dome altogether. But until then, we can all live in the peace and safety the Safe Dome was created to provide.” Kamella’s voice is strong and resolute, her eyes glisten, and I can’t help feeling like this isn’t the first time she’s thought about all of this.
“And what happens when Traeger simply responds with an army of Enforcers to destroy us?” Shawny demands, and while I don’t like her tone, she makes an excellent point.
“I have a plan for that. We have weapons. We can be prepared, unlike Alexia and her followers. We only have to hold them off until the fog comes,” Kamella insists.
“Weapons?” asks Vander.
“Everything we need is in the Supply Barn,” Kamella says.
“I’ve been through practically every bin in there, and I didn’t see a hint of anything weapon-like,” I counter.
“Did you look in the bins at the very top?” she asks.
“No. I couldn’t reach them, and they had strange labels—just letters and numbers.”
“That’s because they didn’t want to put words like blasters, poison, or grenades out where everyone could read them.”
My pulse quickens at the mention of real weapons. This could change everything. Maybe rescuing Kamella wasn’t a mistake after all, but I don’t say this out loud. I’m still mad at Vander for making the decision without talking to me first.
“The next delivery is scheduled for tomorrow morning,” Kamella informs us. “If we act fast, we could be ready by then.”
Kamella seems to be adjusting to everything she’s learned tonight incredibly well. I can’t imagine what it must be like to learn that your entire life has been a lie. I suppose, in a different way, that’s the same thing I learned from Eason. But I didn’t take it nearly this well. How can she be so certain that she can trust us over all the people she’s known and trusted her whole life?
“How many Enforcers are we talking about?” Shawny asks. “There are only four of us. How are we supposed to prevent the food delivery to The City and defeat trained and armed Enforcers all on our own?”
“I have a plan for that, too. It shouldn’t be difficult to get the delivery team to help us. We just have to convince them it’s a prank, and they’ll be ecstatic to do whatever we ask,” Kamella assures her.
All I have to do is recall the way Cresta and Fox talked about the pointless, silly pranks that the people on the farm play on one another to know that Kamella is right. It’s so simple, but so perfect.
I shift my position, sending a jolt of pain down my leg and reminding me of one very big problem that hasn’t been addressed. “Kamella, two days ago Traeger used something—a different kind of mind-controlling agent—to turn the entire population of the farm into an army bent on destroying Vander and me after we activated the transmitter. What’s to prevent him from doing that again? It seems a lot easier and more effective than bothering with Enforcers.”
I can see that Vander and Shawny agree, but Kamella appears utterly unconcerned.
“I have a plan for that too,” she says. “Trust me.”
“That seems like a pretty big ask,” says Shawny. “If you’ve got a plan, let’s hear it.”
I’m grateful I’m not the only one who isn’t ready to put my life in Kamella’s hands just because she says it’ll be okay. Even Vander looks unsure.
“There’s no time now,” replies Kamella, ignoring our concerns. “I can promise you that Traeger won’t be able to take control of anyone tomorrow. But Shawny and I need to get back to the farm. I don’t want my parents to notice that I’m gone.”
I’m not satisfied with her assurances, nor is anyone else, but there’s nothing we can do but wait and hope.
“I’m going to take Wrigley back with me,” she adds.
“Wrigley?” I mutter, wondering if maybe we’ve been talking to a confused person all along.
“The horse. He needs food and water and a safe place to sleep. If anyone sees us returning and asks where we’ve been, we can just say we saw him wandering and went to get him,” Kamella explains. “Meet us on the ash plain near the gateway tomorrow morning. Be there by first light. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
There’s an uneasy tension in the air, but we agree to the plan.
“Kamella,” I call as she and Shawny begin walking away.
She turns and waits.
“I still want to talk to Ty. Can you bring him tomorrow, too?” I ask.
She nods.
I don’t know what I expect him to be able to tell me that he hasn’t already, but I have to try just once more. If only we hadn’t wasted a second dose of the antidote on Bretton after he was shot with that dart—a dose that ultimately did no good.
“Oh, and Kamella, is Bretton all right?”
“Yes. He fell a couple days ago. He broke his leg, and he’s more confused than ever, but he should recover fine,” she replies.
That gives me a little bit of relief. Maybe Eason will get to see his father again—and his death won’t be on my conscience.
They make their way back to the farm. As they go, I can hear Kamella fending off Shawny’s insistent questions. I have to chuckle. Even though Shawny’s a bit of a surprise—and I don’t enjoy it when her scrutinizing gaze is turned on me—I’m glad to have another fighter on our side. She’s smart and determined, and I trust her with my life. More than that—I trust her with Whyle’s life.
It’s far from a foolproof plan, but I focus on everything that can go right, rather than all that could go wrong. I envision The City free from the tyranny of Traeger Sterling. Whatever evil plan he’s carrying out by poisoning the food can immediately be brought to an end. Everyone in The City can have access to good, healthy, healing food grown right here on the farm. Whyle will be fine. Eason won’t be in danger. Van won’t have to hide. Even if we can’t return to them, maybe they’ll come here to be with us. I force those images to fill my mind so there’s no room for darker possibilities to take the stage—like all our corpses being strewn across the ashen plain while those we love die beyond the barrier we never managed to breach.
Chapter 22
By the time the morning light transforms the sky from gray to blue, Vander and I are already in position, hiding behind trees at the edge of the forest near the gateway to The City. The medicine Kamella gave me last night has worn off, and my leg is almost as bad as ever, but the fever has left me. I’m glad we decided to travel most of the way here last night when the pain in my leg was still numbed by the medicine.
We’re still a good distance off from The City, but even from here, we have a decent view of what’s happening inside.
“Do they even realize anything has changed?” Vander mutters in exasperation.
If I hadn’t grown up in the Smoke—the part of The City that forms the per
imeter—I might have the same reaction to the scene in The City. People are pushing carts and hauling bags of goods that are either about to be, or have recently been, recycled. Despite the sudden loss of the opaque sky projection, it almost appears as though nothing has changed.
Almost.
What I see today that I’ve never seen before are armed Enforcers stationed every hundred feet or so all along the edge of the barrier field. Usually, Enforcers don’t spend much time this far out. They can typically be expected to stay closest to the vital buildings—the Justice Building, the Medical Center, and the many recycle centers. But these Enforcers are as far from The City center as they can go, and they’re just standing there, blasters in hand.
It makes me wonder what we missed in the last three days since we activated the transmitter. Something has Traeger scared to cause him to send out these guards. It’s not as though people can escape through the barrier. It may be transparent, but it’s as impassable as ever. There must have been attempts, though. There must have been unrest. And that’s a good thing. That means when people know the truth, maybe even the Enforcers will be willing to fight for their freedom. That’s what we need—a full-scale rebellion. Nothing less.
But it also means that Traeger will be expecting it, and he won’t let go easily. That’s where Ty’s contacts with the Resistance would have come in handy. Whoever their leader is can surely help to organize the citizens.
“Maybe Traeger is keeping everyone away from the border to prevent us from doing exactly what we plan to do,” Vander says. “If they can’t see our message, then what good will it be?”
“If only there were a way to get the message up in the air, above The City so everyone could see it, even in the Flame,” I lament as a new wave of airplanes flies overhead and releases a bevy of explosives. These ones are different from before, though. Something is wrong with them. Most of them don’t actually explode when they reach the barrier field. Whatever the things are, they just sort of bounce off and roll away. Strange.
“They must see that,” Vander observes.
