by Sara V. Zook
He sighed. “Just because you’re away from them, doesn’t mean you’re not still one.”
“Yeah,” she said as if not caring. She closed her eyes.
Exhaustion set in as my belly felt better, my thirst quenched. My eye lids drooped.
“I can’t believe you’re a human,” Rooney said.
“I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe that you were sent to kill me and yet I’m going to have to trust you while I sleep tonight,” I said.
He grinned.
“I’m still trying to figure this all out,” I told him.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“This world. I mean, if royalty have their own special powers plus everyone else’s power, why do they even need the rest of the groups of contributors?”
He thought for a moment. “All I know is what Karn’s told me. I didn’t tend to ask him a lot of stuff, but from what I can gather, it would be too much work for royalty to do it all. They have the ability, but they need everyone else to function in order for them to live as royalty should live.” He began chewing on a fingernail.
“Jo told me she was abandoned as a baby. What happened to you? I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to …”
“The same thing basically.” He shrugged as if not caring, but I could tell talking about this did cause him pain. “Left for dead by my father.”
“And your father was a contributor?”
“Yeah.”
“How were you found?”
“Scaves are rare. There aren’t too many of us. From what I was told, a long time ago when a baby was born powerless, they were immediately taken to royalty who killed them right away. Somewhere along the line, one contributor had a baby that they actually cared for and didn’t take the baby to royalty like they were supposed to. She was able to hide him for a couple of years until someone else figured it out. She knew royalty was coming for him, so she let him go off by himself hoping he’d be able to survive on his own.”
“Was that Karn?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Wow,” I mumbled. “Do you know what happened to his mother?”
“Royalty took her away. I’m sure they killed her. She had broken a law. Contributors don’t break laws or they’re severely punished. They’re afraid of royalty. They obey them even if it means getting rid of their own child.”
I tried to let all of that settle in my mind. It gave me chills just thinking about how everyone lived on Evadere. At least humans think life is precious, don’t they? Then I thought of all the wars being fought, people killing people, and I began to second guess myself.
“So they used to be killed, newborn Scaves,” he went on. “After the Karn incident, it must’ve been looked down upon just to murder them, so they decided it would be better if they just got rid of the child, like they would no longer have the blood on their hands.”
I could feel the meat churning in my stomach. I had eaten too fast, and this information disturbed me.
“They just throw the child away, leaving them for dead, abandoning them, and it’s usually near the base of the mountain. Karn usually finds them, tries to help them. Some make it, some don’t. It’s a rough life from the start.”
“I can see that,” I said.
He looked at me as if slightly offended.
“Are there babies back there with the rest of the Scaves now?” I felt a sudden worry for them.
“No. Actually Jo was the last one. It’s been awhile. Either they’re taking them somewhere else, killing them again or there just haven’t been any more born,” he said.
“I don’t get it,” I said a little louder, my temper flaring. “They consider you a misfit only because you don’t have a power? That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s the way it is.” He looked down to the ground, his toe stirring the dirt. “Are there misfits on Earth?”
I hesitated for a moment. It was the same type of question Jo had asked. Earth seemed so far away, unreachable really, and truthfully it really was right now for me. I thought of Seneca and the prison where I first saw Emry’s face. “Yes, I suppose.”
He eyed me for a second but didn’t bother asking anything more.
“What is it about Karn then?” I asked. “What makes him such a …?”
“Monster?” Rooney chuckled. “Well, he’s been around the longest, has seen it all, has felt the wrath of the contributors against him every day he’s breathed air. History is that he was the one who killed the king.”
“What?” I gasped.
“Yeah,” he continued. “He’s gone to the castle and made it inside. He murdered King Calan. There were other Scaves with him that night, only a few, but they were very strong back then. All of them got away, but over the years, all have died except him. Everyone says he’s too stubborn to die until he does what he has intended to do all this time.”
“Which is?”
Rooney gazed over toward the tall buildings, outside lights illuminating them against the now darkened sky. “He wants the bloodline ended.”
“I’m not following …”
Rooney sighed. “You sure have a lot of questions.”
“I’m just trying to understand it all. I’m stuck here, so I might as well know everything I possibly can and know what’s going on,” I told him in my defense.
He swallowed. “Well, the ones with all the power are royalty, like I said before. Royalty destroy Scaves. If the royal bloodline is gone, there will no longer be royalty. Are you following?”
“Royalty gives birth to more royalty?”
“Yes. Royalty chooses a mate, a contributor, marries them and the child they have is born with royalty power. So Karn destroyed Calan so he couldn’t have children, so no more bloodline would exist.”
“So why is he still after them?”
“Because,” Rooney gave me another look as if I were a moron. “Calan married Atavia, a contributor, and Atavia had a son. Karn had intentions of killing both the prince and the king the night he attacked the castle.”
“Oh,” I said. “And he failed?”
“Right. Somehow the baby prince was safely hidden. It’s only a matter of time before he’s revealed. Karn has hunted for him everywhere. He hunts for him every day. He gets no rest until he’s destroyed him, too.”
“So really, from what I can see, Karn isn’t just taking in newborn Scaves and helping to raise them to be nice, he’s building up an army against royalty. He’s going to attack when the prince returns.”
“I suppose it’s something like that,” Rooney said softly. “I’d like to think somewhere, deep inside, he cared for us, though. Then again, he did order Jo killed today.”
“But he considered her a traitor,” I reminded him.
He nodded. “Yeah, little did he know.”
I laid back near Jo and stared at the sky. “I’m exhausted. I don’t know if it’s okay to sleep, but I need to.”
“Don’t think this conversation is over,” he said. “There’s more to your story, too, human.”
I cringed slightly at his tone of voice and knew he wanted more information on Emry. Sleep came on too quickly to bother to care.
“Jo! Anna!”
I started to the alarmed voice of Rooney and sat straight up in panic. Everything was still dark and hazy as it wasn’t quite morning yet. I watched Jo rush over to his side and they whispered amongst themselves for a few seconds. I stood up and plucked away leaves that were sticking to my skin. I sucked in a big gulp of air and waited impatiently for them to tell me what was going on. After a few moments, I decided to go to them.
“What is it?” I asked in a quiet tone.
“Are you sure?” Jo asked Rooney.
He nodded. “I’m telling you I saw a contributor, and he’s headed this way.”
“Why were you so close?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Curious I guess. I couldn’t sleep. Doesn’t matter. We have to leave. Now.”
&nbs
p; Jo put her hands on her hips. “They usually don’t come out, but …”
“Yeah, right,” he said. “You’re the one that said you got hit with a pitchfork here.”
She gave me a worried glance. “True.” She waited a few more seconds, her eyes scanning the bottoms of the buildings for movement. “Okay. Let’s go.”
We began to walk away from the silver line of the city and back into the unknown dusty paths of Evadere. I kept near Rooney and Jo’s side, constantly glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was sneaking up behind us with a pitchfork.
“Shouldn’t we have gathered water or something?” I asked. “Since it was right there.”
“With what?” Rooney asked.
“Yeah,” Jo chimed in. “Do you have containers to put water in?”
“Oh.” I sulked a little. Of course we didn’t have anything with us. I was just so worried that we wouldn’t be able to find more. Then again, I was with two scavengers.
“Do you feel rested at all?” Jo asked me a few minutes later.
“Not too bad, actually,” I answered. I started to think about where we were headed next. I felt as if we needed direction, and I wasn’t sure these two were on the same page as me. I didn’t want to nag them, but it kept coming to the tip of my tongue. “So, where to next?” I hoped that didn’t sound too pushy.
Jo ran her fingers through her hair and tossed it behind her back. “Well, I’ve been thinking about that.”
“I’d like to hear this,” Rooney said in a belittling manner. “What’s your master plan for finding the castle?”
She pressed her lips together. “That’s just it,” she told him. “I don’t think we can find the castle on our own. It’s too risky to try. We’ll be going into territory none of us are familiar with and putting our lives into serious danger.”
“You haven’t considered yourself in serious danger at all this whole time?” Rooney asked smartly.
Jo ignored him. “Mostly all contributors hate us Scaves.”
“No, all of them do,” Rooney said.
“You’d think that, but one group isn’t as bad as the others.”
I lowered my eyebrows. When had Jo even had the time to think about all of this? I wondered. Wasn’t she just as exhausted last night and passed right out, too?
“Enlighten me, please,” Rooney said.
“Every group of contributors has tried to kill me except one. Medical.”
“Really?” Rooney ran his fingers along the tip of one of the spears he carried as we walked. “Do you know this from experience?”
Jo nodded. “I tried to steal medicine from them once. They’re smart. They had nets set up waiting to trap me. Instead of killing me, they actually gave me the medicine I needed. See, I figure they’re this way because they save people’s lives. They strive to preserve life, even if it means the life of a Scave.”
“Interesting,” Rooney said. “It does make sense. So say we do go and they don’t kill us. Then what?”
Jo shrugged. “I’m not really sure.” She glanced my way. “I guess since there’s three of us, we need to make a big entrance, steal a lot. Hopefully we’ll get captured.”
“And?” I asked, curious where this plan was leading.
She flashed a nervous smile. “They’ll take us to the castle as captives?”
Rooney sighed and crossed his arms. “Take us to the castle where we’ll get killed.”
The thought of going to the castle was intriguing. I wondered how accepting of me they’d really be, these glorified contributors.
“We have Anna with us, a human,” she reminded him.
Their eyes turned to me, the alien. I took a deep breath, my nerves acting up.
“Yeah, and we all know how everyone feels about humans around here,” Rooney said, sarcastically. “Humans are just as bad if not more so than Scaves.”
The label of being a human was haunting. Earth had this dirty reputation around here, and I seemed to be upholding the stereotype.
“Well,” Jo said, her hands resting on her hips. “Anna is my friend, human or not, and she needs to get home.”
Rooney stood there for a few moments, his mind processing the scheme at hand and all of the possible awful scenarios that could happen as a result. Even my own mind spun with all sorts of terrible things that led to death as I wasn’t sure how I could get near, let alone trust, a contributor group to not kill us.
“All right,” he finally said. “Let’s go get captured.”
Chapter 6
“Are you ready for this?” Jo whispered.
I looked at the small Scave girl and thought what a coward I was compared to her. She was doing this all for me. She was getting nothing out of it. Oh, how I missed the normalcy of Earth, of being near Emry. Evadere was wearing on me. I was starving. I felt lethargic, as if I could just fall over. But I couldn’t whine about any of this, not to Jo or Rooney. They had been abandoned by their birth parents, taken in by the monster Karn and were true survivors by every sense of the word. They had to work for everything they ever had, which really wasn’t much. They could die right now and their lives mattered little to anyone else. They were cast away and forced to live rugged lives where life wasn’t meant to be one to enjoy, but merely to keep breathing. I couldn’t act like a spoiled human here. Not now. Not with them. Yet somehow these two cared more than the other Scaves. I wondered if it was because they were still young and not as damaged as the others who seemed to be coldblooded and cruel, or maybe they were just smarter. They had become friends themselves and now with me, an outsider and misfit myself here. Their friendship was one of a loyalty I had never known before. All of our lives were in danger, and it was my fault that this was so, yet they were still eager and willing to try to help. They no longer even had a home and yet wanted me to return to mine. I was being a selfish human. I did want their help even though I knew it could cost them the one thing they valued the most, their lives. I was being selfish because I missed Emry Logan and we had just started our own world together before such a cruel separation. I had no one else to turn to besides Jo and Rooney. Without them, Evadere would consume me, and I’d never lay eyes on Emry again. It was an agonizing fate to even attempt to contemplate. I wouldn’t accept that possibility. I had to keep trying.
“Jo, it doesn’t matter if you left me here for a week, I’d never be ready,” I confessed. “Let’s just do what we have to do.”
She nodded. “Up there in the distance is where the medical contributors live.”
I squinted my eyes which were now burning from both the bright sun and the dust kicked up from following Rooney. I saw what looked like white tents, their open walls blowing gently in the breeze.
“This seems like such an idiotic plan,” Rooney huffed. “We’re just going to walk up to them and start taking their stuff?”
“Got a better one?” Jo asked.
He didn’t reply.
“That big building on the far side,” she pointed out. “That’s the one that holds the largest amount of supplies. I was in there before.” She turned around and grabbed my hand. “You okay?”
I swallowed.
“I wish I did have a better plan,” she said. “This is the biggest entrance though, going in the middle of daylight.
I nodded. “Jo, before we go …”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I want to say thank you to you and Rooney.”
“Don’t be getting all soft on us, human,” Rooney said sternly.
“No, really, Rooney,” I continued. “It’s my fault you’re no longer with Karn.”
“It was time to leave Karn,” Jo said. “It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time, just never had the guts to do.”
“What?” Rooney seemed surprised. “You never told me that.”
“How could I? You were like his little puppet,” she said.
He looked hurt by her statement.
“This war thing,” Jo continu
ed. “Going on between him and royalty, it’s bigger than me. It’s something I’ve never been interested in being a part of.”
“But they throw us away like garbage,” Rooney interjected.
“I was born the way I was born. At least I’m still alive.”
Rooney rolled his eyes. “Well, I don’t feel the same way. I hate royalty. I’m going to make that known once we’re at the castle, too.”
Jo shrugged. “Good luck with that.”
He glared at her.
“You have every right to be mad,” I said. “What has been going on here with Scaves versus contributors isn’t right. Something has to change. Rooney, you’re a good guy. Don’t let your anger change who you really are.”
Rooney turned away from me and looked at Jo. “Are you ready then?”
“What’s the matter, Rooney?” Jo grinned. “This emotional stuff too much for your manly heart to handle?”
He stomped off as both Jo and I burst into a fit of giggles.
Within minutes we were walking onto the land where the medical contributors lived. The large white tent came into view. It was the largest of the buildings and its color an illuminating brightness. We walked right up to it and stepped inside. There were contributors in there. Rooney and Jo separated, each one going the opposite direction in the supply tent. There were all kinds of bottles and different sizes of boxes, most of them stacked high and labeled. I trailed Jo.
I watched her grab bottles of medicine and stuff them into the bottom of her shirt now made into a pouch like she had with the fruit. Rooney did the same thing. There were three contributors that I could see. They didn’t even seem to notice us. I ran my fingertips along the smooth glass of one of the bottles. I went to pick it up but then jerked my hand back. For some reason, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t steal it. I had cold feet. This was all just a game to get to the castle. I glanced up. Where was Jo? My palms turned hot and clammy. I squeezed my hands into tight balls at the sides of my body. The contributors I had seen were gone, too. Then I heard a chilling scream.
