I start backing away. “So, I’ll go back to the fire pit, then. Wash my arm. See if Rika needs help with anything.”
“Good call.” Markus is breathing freely again.
But he wouldn’t be if he knew my real plan: to sneak back to the kennels later on, tonight. When Markus hopefully isn’t on duty. I need to ask David more questions—and figure out how to convince the others to let him go free. I can’t decide yet whether I should tell Gadya about the things David said.
Of course, I’m not sure I actually believe that my parents were ever on the wheel. I’ve never heard of Island Alpha housing anyone except kids who failed the GPPT. And there’s no sign of any adults here. But I definitely believe that David learned a lot more about the wheel from the drones than I’ve learned so far from the villagers.
I wonder if Veidman knows that Markus beats the prisoners. If Veidman were considering letting David out, would he really let Markus treat him that way? But then again, if Veidman is drugging the captured drones like David claims, he probably doesn’t care.
I keep all of these thoughts wrapped tightly inside my head as I say good-bye to Markus. With a final glance at David’s cell, I make my way back to the trail.
As I walk down to the main clearing, I barely notice my surroundings. I’m thinking about my mom and dad. I miss them so much, it still hurts like a physical pain in my chest whenever I picture their faces—especially my dad. I was always closer to him than my mom, mostly because my mom spent so many hours away from home at the genetics lab. But David’s words have conjured my parents in my mind again, at least for a moment.
Grown-ups on the island. My name on rocks somewhere, hidden inside the gray zone. Some kind of prison colony . . .
I know I have to learn the secrets of the wheel before it’s too late. Before those secrets rise up and engulf me, and my chance to learn the truth gets ripped away forever.
Deep down I know that David holds a key to surviving and outsmarting this island. We need to share what we know. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for David, so I’m definitely not going to let him rot in a prison kennel. I vow to return and help him before the night is over.
LIAM
WHEN I REACH THE fire pit, I don’t see Gadya or Rika. Instead, I see Liam. He sits against a nearby tree, whittling fresh arrow shafts from branches with a pocketknife. I notice that the sling is off his arm already. And for once, he’s alone.
I hesitate for a moment, trying to compose myself after my encounter with David. I remember Gadya’s warning that Liam is off-limits. Even though he’s definitely attractive, I force myself not to think about him in that way. It would be easiest in some ways to completely avoid him. But I have a legitimate reason to talk to him right now, because he’s been inside the gray zone. There’s a good chance he knows something about the rocks that David was talking about.
I smooth down my hair, take a deep breath, and decide to walk over to him.
Liam hears me coming, glances up, and breaks into a smile. His teeth are very white. I wonder what people use for toothpaste on the wheel, because my teeth feel furry. I smile back at him, keeping my lips closed.
“Hey,” Liam says.
For a moment, I’m not sure what to say in response. I should have figured out some kind of opening line. Then I notice a pile of branches on one side of him, a stack of wooden shafts on the other, and a bowl of flint arrowheads nearby. “That’s a lot of arrows,” I say. I don’t mention anything about my parents, or David, or how I saw Liam on the museum screen back in New Providence.
He stops whittling for a moment and flexes his hand. “I hate doing stuff like this. I hate sitting still.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I only feel like myself when I’m moving. But I gotta take it easy sometimes, until my arm heals. It’s almost better. I broke it for the third time two months ago, and then I sprained it again in the tunnel collapse.”
“Ouch.”
He smiles, his eyes warm but guarded. “I’ve been breaking bones since I was a little kid—mostly my own. My dad called me Pequeño Demonio. Little Terror.”
I laugh. “Nice. I’ve never broken a bone in my life.”
“Then what do you do for fun?”
I laugh again. “Play guitar. Write songs. That sort of stuff.”
“Cool. Acoustic guitar or electric?”
“Acoustic.”
He nods. I desperately want to tell Liam about everything, but I don’t want to sound crazy and freak him out. Besides, I think I’m still in shock over what David said. “Tell me about your family,” I say, sitting across from him on the grass. Near, but not too close.
“There’s not much to tell. I’ve got five brothers, all still back in the UNA, as far as I know. My mom kept trying for a girl. Never happened.” He pauses. “We moved around a lot because my parents were rebels. My dad’s originally from Nuevo Tijuana, and my mom’s originally from London, but she immigrated to Central UNA when it was still called America. I’m a mutt, I guess—half Latin, half British. My dad died when I was nine. Taken in an anti-government demonstration.”
“Wow. That sucks.” I wonder how many kids on the wheel share the same experience. “My parents got arrested when I was ten. They were rebels too, I guess.”
He pauses. “Both of them?”
I nod.
“Tough.” He shakes his head. “Any siblings?”
“Just me.” I push back a coil of hair. “So, you probably miss your mom and all your brothers.”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t say any more, but he doesn’t need to. He looks down. He has started whittling again, his hands moving automatically.
“Maybe you’ll see them again one day.”
“Not on the wheel, I hope. But yeah, someplace else.”
He holds an arrow shaft up to the sun, nearly finished. It’s smooth and polished like it’s been put on a lathe. He squints at it. “Looks good, right? Wanna help me put the fletching on?” He picks two long black feathers out of the bowl, raises the knife, and slices them perfectly in two. Then he hands the pieces to me. From another bowl he takes a gluey substance and slathers it around the blunt end of the arrow’s shaft. “You put the feathers on like this, see?”
He guides my hand, sticking the feathers onto the wood. The substance is already drying, fusing them in place. “What is this gunk?” I ask.
“Pine sap.” He plucks the arrow out of my hands and holds it up again, rolling it between his hands. “Nice.” He tosses it into a pile with the other arrows, awaiting their flint heads.
“I can help more.” I have the urge to be useful around him. Show him I’m not just some spoiled city girl who arrived here and expects to be taken care of.
“Good. I need all the help I can get.”
We sit there working together. A few minutes slide by in silence. It’s a little awkward at first, but then it grows increasingly comfortable.
There were no boys like Liam at my school. Not many like him in all of the UNA, for that matter. Everyone back home seems dull and complacent in comparison. There’s something special flashing behind Liam’s eyes. He has substance. Charisma. I can see why Gadya would have trouble getting over him.
“How’d it go with Markus and the prisoners?” he finally asks.
I hedge, wishing I could tell him about David, but not wanting to give anything away yet.
“Markus kept beating on David with a stick.”
Liam frowns. “He’s not supposed to do that.” He looks around, like he doesn’t want anyone to hear what he’s going to say next. “Markus has changed a lot from when I first met him. His girlfriend Chloe got taken four months ago. Not by drones, but by feelers. After that he was different.”
“Different how?”
“Before then, he’d give people the benefit of the doubt. What happened to Chloe messed with his head. Now he gets mad really easily, and he takes it out on the prisoners.”
“Veidman lets him?”
“
He looks the other way. Maybe even encourages it sometimes.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter,” I say quickly. I don’t want to seem too interested in the prisoners, given my plan. “So what’s the gray zone like?”
“It’s the worst sector on the wheel. And before it collapsed, the tunnel leading into it was a good place to get ambushed. There’s so many stories I could tell—” He breaks off. “All I’ll say is that you see weird things in the gray zone. Huge stones with etchings on them. Remains of lost towns. And there are old gravestones too. It doesn’t really make any sense.”
I instantly get goose bumps all over, and the hair on the nape of my neck begins prickling. I’m thinking about what David said. A prison colony. Inside that treacherous, forbidden zone. Were my parents really sent to this place, just like me?
Liam keeps talking. “The air’s different too—way colder all year round. So cold you have to wear jackets and gloves in there. No one knows why it’s like that.”
“That’s really weird.” I’m trying to imagine how a person could ever be cold on this sweltering island.
“I think the gray zone is where we first arrive when we get sent here, even if we don’t remember it,” he continues, looking over at me. “Think about it. You just went to sleep in a testing arena, and woke up on the wheel, right? In the middle of nowhere.”
I nod.
“Even if an aircraft brought you to the wheel, what could have deposited you so far inland, right near our sector?”
It takes a second, but then the pieces suddenly snap together. “The feelers!” I blurt out. “They take people, but I bet they also bring us here, don’t they?”
“That’s my theory. I think there’s some kind of landing station inside the gray zone. One that unloads us from the aircrafts and turns us over to the feelers. We have to get to that station, find out how it works, and then report back to the village. If we know what we’re up against, we can figure out how to fight it.”
“How far do you think the wheel is from the mainland?”
“Veidman told me that some kids built a boat a few years ago. They sailed out for eighty miles. Nothing but ocean. They barely made it back alive. Veidman thinks we’re thousands of miles from dry land.”
I mull this over. “But if any of us ever do escape somehow, won’t they just send us back here when we get home to the UNA? Or worse?”
Liam grins. “Who said anything about going home? There are other countries on the globe. The European Coalition. Allied West Africa. Asiana. Most of them are at war with the UNA. Think of all the inside info we have that we could trade for new lives. And if it doesn’t work, at least we tried. We didn’t just sit around waiting to die before we turned eighteen.”
He reaches out and touches my knee. The gesture is sudden. I don’t expect it. I feel a rush of longing to clasp my fingers over his. The feeling takes me by surprise. I want to tell him everything right then and there. But I can’t. Not yet.
I see the passion to take action burning in his eyes, and I realize this is why he’s a hunter and a scout.
I also know he’s right. There are already so many ways to die on this island that getting off it can’t be much worse. I realize my eyes are locked with his, so I look away, breaking the intensity of our gaze. I’m not a particularly romantic girl, but I have to admit that Liam is getting to me.
It’s then that I see Gadya emerge from the forest, heading our way. I glance back at Liam. He takes his hand off my knee. I feel embarrassed, like I’m doing something wrong. I owe Gadya so much. The last thing I want to do is accidentally flirt with Liam, especially since she asked me to back off.
I stand up quickly and say, “Hey” as Gadya reaches us.
She holds out part of a plastic label, the kind you might find on a bottle of government-issue soda pop.
“Check this out,” she says to us. “Edie just found it in the stream.”
Liam takes the wrapper and scrutinizes it. There are rows of numbers and figures printed on it. A few nonsensical words.
“What is it?” I ask.
Liam hands it to me. “See these drawings?” he asks, pointing at the wrapper. “They’re chemical formulas. And those words? Again, lists of chemicals.”
He and Gadya exchange a look. I can read the look well. It says, How much should we tell the new girl about what we know?
“It’s fertilizer, or some kind of drug,” Liam finally says. “These labels must come from its packaging. We keep finding them in the underbrush. We know they’re fresh because they’re stamped with this year’s date.”
“The chemicals could be causing the Suffering,” Gadya adds.
Liam takes the wrapper back. “Veidman thinks the feelers dispense chemicals in the atmosphere, and sometimes these labels accidentally get dropped too. No one’s ever seen it happen, though. Or knows why.”
“Maybe they’re just dumping garbage here,” I propose. “The wheel could be one big trash heap for the UNA.”
Liam stands up. “I’m gonna jet this over to Veidman. I think he’s started collecting them.”
Gadya nods.
Liam leaves his pile of arrows and heads off rapidly into the forest. I stand there for a second, watching him disappear.
Gadya is about to say something to me, but right then we both hear a loud scream. It comes from deep within the forest, opposite from the direction that Liam went.
Then we hear another scream, and I realize that they’re not screams at all but war whoops. Deranged cries of elation, coming from an army of drones.
“Crap,” Gadya mutters.
Warning calls go out around us as the village explodes into action. Kids burst from trees, shacks, hammocks, and from around the fire pit, shouting orders. Boys rush around, getting ready to fight and defend the village.
“I thought the drones only attack at night!” I yell.
“Guess someone forgot to tell ’em that.” Gadya grabs my arm. “Quick. This way.”
I catch glimpses of menacing shadows racing through the trees. Painted bodies clutching spears. Gadya and I dash over to a stash of bows, spears, and other weapons hidden in a trench near the base of a eucalyptus tree.
“Grab something!” she yells at me.
I have no clue how to fire an arrow with any accuracy, so I snatch up a heavy wooden spear.
Gadya goes for a bow. She already has a knife strapped in an ankle sheath. My chest tightens with panic, but my mind remains clear. I’ve been through one of these attacks already. I can get through another.
“You don’t know how to fight, do you?” Gadya asks. “Hand to hand, I mean.”
My heart pounds faster now, beating out a staccato rhythm. I feel the blood pumping through my veins. “No, of course not.”
“Then you better learn fast. I told you the wheel isn’t for wimps.” She glances at me. “Grab that spear tighter. Use both hands. Make it clear you can’t be messed with. Get fierce!”
She notches an arrow into her bow, holding the weapon like a natural extension of her body. I know that if a drone comes through the trees, she’ll let him have it right through the chest.
Yet despite all the screaming and running, no one comes barging out. In fact, the sounds are already lessening a bit. Like the drones are moving onward. Maybe another distant village in this sector is their target today, not us.
Gadya keeps her eyes trained on the verdant wall of trees surrounding our side of the clearing. Behind us I see other kids doing the same, bows ready. I’m just relieved that the drones are heading away from us. I lower my spear, resting the tip on the dirt.
Then Gadya says, “We can’t let them get away.”
I hesitate. We’re safe here. Or as safe as anyone can be on this island during the middle of a battle.
Gadya notices my reluctance to give chase. “C’mon, what do you have to lose?”
“My life?”
“If it weren’t for those of us who fight, you wouldn’t have a life! Don’t be like Rika
and the other girls who let boys fight all their battles.”
Kids start flocking past us into the forest, weapons drawn. Some remain behind, probably to guard the fire pit and the Ones Who Suffer, but most head in pursuit of the drones.
“Come on, Alenna!” Gadya yells, plunging into the foliage. “Do or die!”
I have a choice to make. Gadya has thrown down the gauntlet, and it’s up to me whether I accept the challenge. For a second I swear that I’m going to stay behind.
Then I realize I don’t want to be anonymous here, like I was back in the UNA. I want to be part of something bigger. I want Gadya and Liam to respect me. And I also want to survive. So I yell, “Hey! Wait up!”
Then I take a deep breath and plunge into the trees after Gadya.
BATTLE CRY
I CAN HEAR KIDS all around me running, yelling, and laughing maniacally in the thick foliage. I feel like I’m in the middle of an invisible stampede. It’s hard to even see Gadya, and she’s only a few paces ahead of me.
I slip and almost fall, banging my spear against a tree trunk. The blow reverberates up the weapon and makes my hands throb. But I keep my grasp. I smell smoke, but I don’t know where it’s coming from.
Gadya stops abruptly.
“Wait!” she says. We’re both gasping for air. The whole time we’ve been running, she has kept her bow ready.
“What?”
“Up ahead— Between those trees.” We creep forward through the brush.
I follow her gaze and see nothing but green leaves. Then I hear heavy footsteps thundering toward us, and branches begin to rustle.
“Hey!” Gadya calls out, aiming her bow. “If you don’t stop moving, I’m gonna put an arrow between your eyes!”
The footsteps don’t stop.
A second later, a large figure shoves branches out of its way and stands before us. It’s a robed drone, but this one looks nothing like the ones I’ve seen so far.
The Forsaken (Forsaken - Trilogy) Page 11
