by RaeLynn Fry
Sirens explode through the darkening sky, and the stillness of our impending deaths is shattered. Nan remains composed, but the air about him is more fragile, rigid. His head snaps to the Corporal's. “What is going on?”
The Corporal is already talking into a radio that's strapped down to his shoulder, his ear down to a small black box. His opposite hand comes up as he presses a button on the receiver, tilting his mouth so his lips brush against it while he speaks. His words are too low for me to hear, but the urgency of this sudden situation comes through clear enough.
“What is it, Corporal?” Nan says in a tight voice.
“Untouchables,” he says. “Approaching from the east.”
Untouchables? I sit up straighter and I see Dhevan from the corner of my eye do the same. We exchange a quick glance. Maybe there is a way out of this, after all.
“How many?” Nan asks. I'm impressed at how composed and unconcerned he acts. He truly is one of my father's best Guards.
“Only a couple dozen.”
“That we can see.”
“What are your orders, sir?”
“Dispatch Team Alpha to the eastern perimeter. Shoot to kill, but only engage if they do first.”
There's a tight nod from the lesser Guard as he relays the orders into his radio. We all wait. Other than the siren that initially sounded, there's no indication an attack is pending.
Come on, come on! Where are they? Right now, being with the Untouchables is a better option than being with the Guards. Actually, it’ll end our mission.
There's a crackle and some muffled speech coming from the Corporal's shoulder. “Sir, they've—”
But he doesn't get to finish, another siren erupts into the night. This one is followed by flashing blue lights coming from somewhere in the distance. I have a feeling the situation has escalated.
“—they've breached the Dome!”
Nan still remains calm, though I can make out the pulse in his throat has sped up and there's a new light in his eyes. “Where?”
“Everywhere!” The Corporal is losing his composure. “They're coming in from all sides.”
“We've drilled this scenario hundreds of times, Corporal. It is no different from what we’ve practiced.”
His words are what's needed to strike sense into the young man. His back straightens and his shoulders go rigid. “Yes, sir.” He steps back to turn around and stops short. “What about the prisoners?”
“They were ordered to be disposed of, anyway. We will leave them here and let the Untouchables do the work for us. They never leave us alive, if they can help it.”
Raj starts to cry and lets out blubbering pleas of leniency. “Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you. I need to secure some documents before I join the fight.”
The Corporal trots off, his hand on the gun at his hip.
“Please,” Raj says, “please let us go. Let us have a fighting chance.”
Nan ignores him and surveys the immediate area. With sharp movement he squats down in front of Dhevan and me. My body goes stiff and I try to pull away from him. He brings out a knife and slices through the bindings at our feet and knees.
He's letting us go? I don't have the words to express my astonishment. He hurries to our back and frees our hands.
“Quick, you don't have much time. I was only able to arrange this last minute, so you have four minutes, at best, before my men neutralize the situation.” Dhevan and I both sit there, not sure what to do.
“You fools, go!” This is the first time I've seen emotion on Nan's face.
“Why are you doing this?” I manage to ask.
“You don't have time to be asking these questions! You need to move if you want to escape.”
“You don't need to tell us again,” Dhevan says. He jumps to his feet and grabs my arm, yanking me to my feet.
I jerk my arm from his grasp. “Why?” I ask Nan again.
“You'll find that your father does not have as many allies as he would like to think.”
“Hurry, cut my ties!” Raj says, kicking his bound legs.
Nan sheaths his knife and addresses Dhevan and me. “His freedom is yours to grant. I only agreed to the two of you. Head south towards the chow hall. Between the back exit and the filters of that building is your way out.” With that, he turns and disappears towards the shouts and sounds of battle.
“Let's go,” Dhevan says, and starts off in the direction Nan showed us.
“What about Raj?”
“What about him?” he says. “He brought us here to have us killed. He can't be trusted.”
I look over at Raj, we don't have time to debate this decision. Dhevan's right. He can't be trusted. But leaving him here to be killed by the Untouchables? Is that really what I've come to?
“Take me with you!” Raj says. His eyes are desperate and have a crazed gleam to them. “Please! You can't leave me behind!”
“The way you brought us here when you knew we probably wouldn't survive?” Dhevan says.
“That was different! I did it for my family, to see them again.” We all look around when gun fire pops in spurts too close for comfort. “Please. You would have done the same.”
“We can't take the risk, Raj. The next opportunity you have, you will turn on us again,” I say. “Let's go.”
Dhevan and I hurry through the training field towards the chow hall, trying to squeeze out Raj's cries for forgiveness.
७
“He would have turned on us, Ethan,” Dhevan whispers as we hurry across the open ground. We try to avoid the islands of light the floodlights create, which isn't hard. There are quite a few pockets of dense darkness to choose from.
True to his word, Nan's men are well trained and quickly get the chaos under order. The shouts are not as frequent and the gunshots have stopped entirely.
We have a couple more minutes before whatever is supposed to happen, happens. Probably all of the Guards flooding back to their stations and doing a final sweep of the entire camp. If that goes down before we can get to safety, we have no chance of escape.
“I know he would have, Dhevan.” I'm more than a little irritated with him. We drop to the ground as one as a couple of straggling Guards race past us to wherever it is they need to be.
“You hesitated. For a minute I thought you were thinking about bringing him with us.”
“This really isn't the time or the place to be having this kind of conversation.”
“I'm just saying.” We both get up and start up again.
“If you have to know right this second It's never easy for me to decide someone's death. Which is exactly what we did back there.”
“I think that's the chow hall,” Dhevan says, nodding towards a building about ten feet in front of us.
He's right. The chow hall is a squat, long building with windows every five feet or so. Looking through the glass, I can make out rows of tables with abandoned dinner trays, food left half-eaten. One of the swinging front doors is still open, light spilling out like a halo onto the ground.
“C'mon.” I shuffle past Dhevan towards the far end of the building, the back entrance where Nan said our escape would be. What he has for us, though, I can't even begin to imagine. I hear Dhevan fall into line behind me as we make our way to the back door. I run my hand along the outside of the building. The only sound is our feet against the dying grass. We're there. At the back door.
“There's nothing here.” Dhevan takes the words out of my mouth.
“There has to be something,” I say, hanging onto my remaining hope. “Nan didn't tell us what would be here. Check the ground for anything.” We start to look around, patting the ground.
“What are we looking for?”
“I don't know, uniforms, maybe? A disguise or weapons of some sort. Maybe a map to get out of here. Just look for something.” The intensity of the situation is rising. Nan sent us here. Our time is almost up. Is this a trap? But if it is, why free us only to send us to fail?
&nbs
p; “We should never have trusted him,” Dhevan says.
“Hurry, it’s got to be here. I can hear the Guards coming back.” My desperation is rising but I’m not ready to quit. I’m not ready to face the possibility of never seeing Karis again. Of letting my father win.
“We were idiots for thinking he was actually trying to help us. It's a sick game; why else would he have let us go, Ethan?”
“He didn't let you go, he delivered you to us.”
Dhevan and I turn around, ready for anything but what’s in front of us. A tall, muscular girl stands square, hands on a thick club, hair tied back, clothes dark and thick.
“Let's go,” she says and Dhevan collapses to the ground beside me. I spin on my heel and face a group of others dressed like her. I don't have time to take in anything else before the one closest to me raises his arm and strikes me on the side of the head. I feel myself falling to the ground, but don't register ever hitting it.
७
My head bounces in a steady rhythm when I finally come to. I don't know how long it's been. The air around me is heavy and thick and hot, and no light is making its way through my eyelids. It's too hard to stay awake, so I stop fighting.
I've stopped moving and am lying on a hard surface. My hands are tied and so are my feet. I think I’m lying on the ground. The temperature around me has heated up slightly. I can feel the sun on my arms and legs. My throat is too dry for me to speak, and my head is throbbing from being hit earlier. I still don't have enough sense of what's going on to say anything or to try and open my eyes. This is more than just from being hit on my head. The people who attacked us must have given us something. Drugged us. The more I try to think about it, the harder my head hurts. It feels better not to think at all. I let my mind slip back into nothingness.
The next time I wake, I'm clearer. I know I'll stay awake this time. My head is back to bouncing to the steady rhythm of before. There's less sun now, I can feel its absence from my body. It must be evening or night. The air around my head is still stale and warm. It takes me three attempts, but I manage to open my eyes.
It's pitch black. So black, it hurts my eyes. It's then I notice a rough texture against my skin. A sack of some sort has been tied around my head. It's also at about that time the blood vessels in my cheeks and forehead start to feel like they're being squeezed to the point of popping. Sensations are coming into sharp focus and I wish I was unconscious again.
My hands and feet are numb from the ropes and I can't feel my fingers. My back and neck are stiff and sore from being in this position for what has probably been far too long. And all the blood is pooling in the top of my skull. I'm being held upside down. Something is pressing into my gut and lower ribs. A shoulder, maybe. I'm being held over someone's shoulder and the bumping rhythm is their gait as we walk. I try to shift my weight to try and relieve the discomfort of my position.
“This one's awake,” my ride says.
“Stop.” That voice is far away. Behind me, somewhere.
“Dhevan,” I try to say as loud as I can. It comes out as a gravely whisper.
There's rustling and movement. Nothing threatening, but it's noticeable all the same. “Put him down,” the voice that ordered us to stop says.
There's a grunt and I'm heaved backwards, to the ground. It's a disorienting feeling, that kind of movement, with no visual point of reference to ground oneself with. My back hits first, none too softly, followed by my head. The contact jolts my teeth.
“Hold him,” the voice says.
Grips like vices grab both of my wrists, two more grab my ankles. It's a useless effort by them; I don't have the energy to move a finger, let alone my entire body to fight them.
“Stop…wait…” I say. “Please.”
But they don't care. There's a jabbing pinch in the bicep of my right arm. A needle. They're giving me something.
Darkness fills my veins and travels through my body, relaxing each part it touches. It's only seconds before it makes its way up to my brain and I'm granted the blissful unconsciousness from before.
Day eleven
Ethan
I don't know how long I've been passed out for before I feel something tugging at my arm. The material that was around my eyes is gone and we’re not moving any more. I pull back from the pressure on my forearm, not having the will to even open my eyes. I try to roll back, deeper into the depression against whatever hard structure it is that I feel at my back. The tug comes harder now, more of a pull, yanking my arm, and with it my body, from the cool protectiveness of my shelter.
Great. The wild dog we chased off has come back to seek revenge. I crack my eyes open, but all I can make out are two dark blurs. He's brought a friend. What happened to the group that took us from the training camp? Could this be them? Lack of food and water have left me not only without any strength, but without the desire to fight back. I just hope my death is swift.
With a flop, I'm pulled out of my sanctuary and onto the hard ground, where I lay, lifeless. I have the image in my mind of the time I saw Dhevan help birth a calf. I hear low, guttural noises passing back and forth between the two beasts. Then, I'm pretty sure I hear one of the sounds strike a familiar chord inside my head. I listen harder.
“Is he dead?” one voice says.
“Almost. We need to get him back.”
“I’ll get the smaller one.” Then, there are hands all over my body, lifting, pushing, hoisting, and shoving. I leave the ground and am draped over another shoulder. I still don't have much strength.
“Look,” the other one says, in a lower voice. I feel weighted stares being passed between the heavy silence. My arm is dropped. “Let's get him back.”
Dhevan. I try to speak, but my tongue and lips won't cooperate.
Karis
Every waking minute I'm not at work or doing chores, I'm spending with Adami. He's a fascinating person who understands every nuance of my being.
We talk about nothing and everything. I'm getting to know him better than I know any other person in my life. I know what will make him laugh, what will make him think. I know that he detests (one of his favorite words)—the porridge we eat in the mornings, and what he loves—Eta's meat biscuits. He has a soft spot for Sai, and if given the opportunity, will always babysit her and hold her every moment he’s with her.
He has a way with Kerick and I know Ajna, if he ever gets the opportunity to meet him. He respects Papa, and Papa respects him. They see each other as equals and laugh and converse easily with each other. He looks comfortable and at ease in our living room, tending the fire, or just sitting on the couch, watching a Bulletin.
I think, at another time, he could have had a life here in Neech and been happy. And while he would be content with that life, I also know he would always be looking for more. Always searching for what else he could do to push himself, challenge his instincts and brain, make things better. He and Ethan would get along that way.
I can see Adami with a girl from Neech, settling down and starting a family of his own. But then I remember, he has his own family, in Nagar, and he misses them. I can imagine how much they miss him.
Whenever I think about him leaving to go back there, my heart aches and my stomach clenches, knowing he won't be around forever. In the days since he's been awake, Adami and I have grown very close. It's hard to explain, and no one really understands it. Papa thinks we like each other in a way I know we don't, and Journey is jealous we have something she and I will never be able to have.
I sit on one of the steps out in the lunch yard at the Factory and try to put it into words in my head. There was a hole in my soul I never knew existed. I never knew it was missing until Adami showed up. And when he woke, it was only then I realized how big the chasm was and that he fit perfectly in it.
He's a part of me, now, and I know he feels the same way about me. We've talked several times together about this strangeness we experience with each other. I’m one hundred percent comfortable around him and t
rust him with my life, and he’s the same with me. I could fall asleep in his arms as comfortably as I could in Ethan's, but I know I would always be able to come back to those arms, no matter what; and I feel that with Ethan, there’s a line for both of us, that if crossed, could never be uncrossed.
Adami is my soul mate. Not in a lovesick way, but in a very practical, knit by the fabric of the universe kind of way. For some people, it's hard to swallow, for others, it's like breathing air. It just is.
I smile to myself, satisfied with my self-explanation when Journey sits next to me. “Hi.” She has something heavy on her mind, I can tell by how she says the word.
“Hi,” I say. I've forgiven her for siding with Dhevan, what seems like forever ago. We never specifically talked about it, because we didn't have to. We know the other needs a few days to think and calm down before they come back to their senses, and life goes on as it always has. “Busy?”
“Always. You?”
“Always.” I take a bite of my rubbery celery. With how cold it's been getting, it should still be crisp and fine, but for some reason, it hangs down in a soft arc.
“Are you worried about the boys?” she asks.
I reach out and pull her to my side for a hug. I kiss the top of her head. “Only every moment I'm awake. But they're strong. And they're smart. I'm sure they're okay and close to wherever it is they're going.”
“You really think that?”
“Actually, I really do.” I give her a small smile and take my arm back.
“What do you think they'll find out there?”
“I really don't know. Maybe others like Adami? He said there are points of nourishment out in the Wasteland. Some underground streams and small animals. Vegetation is rare but it's hardy, and it can sometimes be what keeps you alive.”
“What if they don't know how to find underground streams?” There's an infinitesimal hitch in her words.
“Dhevan's, like, the smartest land guy I know. He'll know how to read the earth and find water, if it's there. I have no doubt we'll see them again soon.”
