Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two

by McEachern, S. M.

  Violet made a dismissive sound. “There’s always been bad blood between the Pit and the Dome.”

  “No. I mean there was actual fighting. There was a battle.”

  The shock that registered on their faces quickly turned to one of disbelief. “You’re lying,” Violet said.

  “Why would I lie about that?” I asked in confusion. “Crystal—Malcolm West’s mistress—overheard President Holt say he planned to get rid of everyone in the Pit. He wants to kill us all. She exposed his plan through a song she wrote.”

  “What?” Opal exclaimed in disbelief. “There’s no way the president would kill everyone in the Pit. It’s too monstrous, even for him.”

  Ruby shook her head in denial. “The president has no reason to kill everyone in the Pit. Limited resources aren’t an issue anymore. There’s plenty of food and water.”

  “They executed Crystal. On television.” My voice caught and tears stung my eyes. The memory ran uncensored through my head before I could even think to stop it. My stomach clenched with nausea. “They made us all watch. It sparked a bloody riot.”

  Ruby put one hand over her mouth and touched my arm with her other one.

  “If that’s true—” Opal started to say, but Violet cut her off.

  ”Sssshhh, here comes the crazy one.”

  Following Violet’s gaze, I saw Abby coming toward us carefully carrying a glass of water. Pushing my fingers up under my glasses, I rubbed the tears away before they had a chance to spill.

  Abby stopped beside me and carefully lowered the glass toward my hand. “Here’s some water, Sunset.”

  In a state of mild shock, I accepted the offered glass from her. Did she actually know my name or was she coincidentally making reference to my hair again?

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Abby looked at the other ladies. “She’s new. She doesn’t know about all the free water.” Then she turned back to me. Hands clasped in front of her, Abby wore a motherly expression as she explained, “You can take it whenever you like. No one is going to get mad.”

  Violet snickered, but covered her rudeness with a cough.

  Opal glared at Violet, her mouth drawn in a tight line. “That’s very nice of you, Abby.”

  “Oh, it’s my pleasure. You guys can take care of her now. I’m going to go home. My family might be worried.”

  “You do that, Abby. I’m sure they miss you a lot,” Opal said softly. Oblivious, Abby skipped away. As soon as she was gone, Opal smacked Violet’s leg. “I can’t believe you would laugh at that poor girl.”

  “What happened to her?” I asked. My interest in Abby was definitely piqued.

  “She hasn’t been out here long. A few days, maybe? Someone told me she lost her entire family. I’m not sure if it was a blessing or a torture to let her come out here instead of Culling her. She’s still in denial, the poor little thing,” Opal said.

  It was impossible to hide my look of surprise. “She’s only been out here a few days?”

  Opal gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God! You’re telling the truth about the battle in the Pit. I bet that’s when her family died.”

  Understanding began to dawn on me. I looked back at Abby and watched her pick up some apples and stuff them in her pockets. She looked around to see if anyone had observed her stealing the food. Satisfied that she had not been seen, she patted her bulky pockets, happy with her secret.

  Ben walked by and shooed us all back to work. I didn’t want to leave our conversation hanging in mid-air, but as each woman stood I knew it was at an end. In silence, we stacked our empty plates on the table and returned to work.

  Someone had already claimed the tractor I had been driving. A protest hovered on my lips, but then I remembered Opal told me we took shifts so no one ended up raking all day. I found a rake and got to work.

  The sun beamed down on the open field. If not for the constant breeze cooling my damp skin, it would’ve felt like the laundry room all over again. Abby was right—working outside in the clean fresh air really was a treat.

  My heart went out to Abby. This entire war was an injustice. The terms of the treaty were clear: when the world was finally safe to inhabit, we would go free. We had paid our dues. We owed the bourge nothing more.

  The bruise on my left side protested at the strain of raking. It had looked easy enough when I was driving the tractor, but now that I was actually doing the work, I understood why they took shifts. My hands were starting to hurt too.

  “I have an extra pair of gloves if you want them.”

  I looked up to find Violet holding out the gloves. I smiled at her, happy that her scornful attitude was gone.

  “Thanks. Why does it smell so bad?” I asked, poking at the soil.

  “There’s a natural fertilizer mixed in with it.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Animal dung. Although it doesn’t stink too badly this time, so it’s not chicken. It’s probably cow or horse,” she said.

  “That explains it.” Enviously, I watched the people driving the tractors. “I wonder why they don’t have machines to do the spreading too.”

  “They told us the replicators are all tied up producing materials to build the city. They only invested in basic farm equipment. One day there’ll be machines to do all this.”

  “And that will be the day they don’t need us anymore.”

  Violet regarded me for a moment. “I pray you’re wrong.” She put her head down and went back to work.

  Leaning my rake against my shoulder, I put on the gloves and used the opportunity to scan the field. Only a few soldiers stood guard along the perimeter. If it weren’t for the tagging system, we could easily overpower them. I looked at Violet, who was now putting distance between us. Persuading this group to rebel against the bourge was going to be infinitely more difficult than it had been motivating the Pit. Out here they had something to live for. Hope. Not the kind of hope that was stretched thin across generations, but one that was almost within their grasp. They just thought they had to work a little bit more to get it. Somehow I had to make them realize their future was a false hope.

  The real problem was the tagging system. If we could get that shut down, maybe everyone would take up arms to help free the Pit. Jack might be able to do it. He was good with computers.

  As my thoughts strayed to Jack, a heavy feeling grew in my chest. I tried to shake it off. There was no point in longing for something that could no longer be. In the Pit we were equals. Out here, we were not. A relationship between us was never going to work. It was just getting in the way of keeping a clear head and staying focused.

  I wondered what he was doing right now. Had he found a way back into the Dome? Or fixed the comms and sent a message? What if he had sent a message—would he be caught? For all I knew, he could be in custody right now…or worse.

  My heart pounded at the thought.

  Suddenly I had an urge to be with him, to see for myself that he was okay. Looking around, I tried to figure out what time it was. But this wasn’t the Pit—there were no clocks hanging on walls. I had no idea how long it was until quitting time.

  I tore into my raking with vigor, as if working faster might make the day end sooner. It didn’t—but at least the physical activity helped keep my anxiety in check until the horn sounded.

  I returned my rake to the shed and climbed into the back of a waiting truck. Violet surprised me when she sat next to me.

  “If what you told me is true…” She gripped one of my hands in hers. “I have family in the Pit. My son and granddaughter.”

  I gripped her hand tighter in response. “We all have family and friends in the Pit.”

  The truck left the farm and bou
nced down the dirt road to the urchin corral. As I looked down at our linked hands, it occurred to me that I didn’t need to try to unite these people with the Pit. They already were.

  Chapter Seven

  Relief flooded through me when we pulled into the corral and I saw Jack standing there. I wondered why there were so many soldiers surrounding him. As I watched from the back of the truck, the soldiers flanking Jack questioned my supervisor. The woman appeared to be pleading with them, although he wasn’t paying much attention to the drama. He was more interested in the arrival of our truck. He scanned faces until he came upon mine. His tense expression relaxed and he strode toward me.

  As soon as I hopped off the truck he grabbed me by the arm and practically threw me on the back of a bike. His security detail caught up to him as he slid onto the seat in front of me.

  He jabbed a finger at them. “Do not follow me.”

  The men looked at each other in confusion as Jack revved the engine. He sent a spray of dirt up as the bike roared out of the gate. I cast a backward glance at the corral. The soldiers were pacing nervously.

  Jack steered the bike out onto a dirt road and across an open field. Within minutes we were in the woods. He dodged around rocks, trees and low-hanging branches. I wondered how long he had spent learning to ride the bike today and whether he had worked on the comms at all. He kept driving like a maniac for a long time before he pulled to a stop. He kicked at the stand and let the bike come to a rest before he climbed off. I did too.

  “I almost lost it when the jeep showed up with only Gaia in the back, and that was hours ago, Sunny,” he said. “Why were you the only one not where she was supposed to be and—oh my God, what is that smell?” He put a hand over his nose.

  I sniffed. “It’s me. I’ve been raking fertilizer all afternoon.”

  “What?” he asked blankly.

  “Poop. They use it as fertilizer in the magic soil. I’m told it was probably horse or cow poop, but it wasn’t chicken because apparently that really stinks.”

  The corners of his mouth twitched upward. “Why were you doing that?”

  “Because they ploughed out a new field and it needed to be spread.”

  His expression turned droll. “No, I mean why didn’t you go with Gaia today?”

  “I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

  “Didn’t you tell your supervisor you were out here with me?”

  “Yes, but she didn’t believe me. Besides, I wanted to go to the farm so I could look for my mom.”

  He relaxed his stance. “Okay, that explains a lot. It’s starting to make sense now.”

  “Are you going to let me in on it? Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Your supervisor told me no one of your description had come through today, which scared the hell out of me. A seventeen-year-old redhead is hard to miss out here. That’s why I called in a search party. I was ready to rip the place apart.”

  “Why would she lie?”

  “She was afraid of getting in trouble. You should have stayed with Gaia—we need to be careful out here, Sunny.”

  “I don’t know the rules of being a concubine, Jack. I’ve never been one before and there’s no one here to teach me,” I said defensively. “And I told everyone that Mr. Kenner likes me to have a fit body and wouldn’t mind me coming home smelling like poop.”

  “I’m not mad. I would’ve wanted to find my mom too.” The tension faded away from his stance. “And for future reference, Mr. Kenner does mind you coming home smelling like poop.”

  I chuckled. “He’s going to have to get used to it, because I’m hoping to try a different farm tomorrow if they’ll let me.” He wrinkled his nose. “Is that why there were so many soldiers at the corral? You were going to send a search party to look for me?” The thought made me happy.

  “Yes,” he said, as if it was obvious. “Speaking of search party, my security might come looking for me. Technically, they aren’t supposed to leave my side.”

  “So why did they?”

  Jack shrugged. “When I give them a command like that, they have two choices; ignore me and suffer whatever consequences I dish out, or obey me and suffer whatever consequences Powell dishes out. Leisel used to play with her guards like that all time. Anyway, they might reconsider their choice and come looking, so we better hurry up.”

  “Why? What are we doing?”

  “I want to teach you to shoot and how to drive the bike. It could come in handy if you need to make a fast getaway.”

  “I learned how to drive a tractor today,” I said proudly.

  “And that’s great if you ever need a slow getaway.” I laughed. “Now pay attention.”

  He took out his pistol and went through all the parts with me, where the safety was and how to manipulate it, how to change the magazine, and then how to fit it with a silencer. Next, he stood behind me, put the gun in my hands and showed me how to aim.

  “Whoa,” he said, waving at the air. I craned my neck to shoot him a wry look, but had to laugh when I saw his eyes were watering. I hadn’t realized I smelled that bad. “We’re going to aim for that dead log on the ground.”

  His hands guided mine around the cold barrel of the gun, positioning my finger on the trigger. We pulled together, the gun fired, part of the log shattered. The shock of the gun firing reverberated up my arms.

  “Now you try it,” he said, dropping his hands.

  I went through an entire magazine and hit the log only twice. Jack reloaded and I went through another, this time successfully hitting my mark five times, but by the end of the second magazine my arms felt weak.

  “Good,” Jack said. “You’re getting the hang of it. We’ll come back tomorrow and try it again. Now, on to the bike before my security tracks us down.”

  He took the back seat of the bike, motioning for me to get on the front. Once I was seated, he leaned around me and tapped the front panel. Our cheeks made contact, which probably wasn’t a good idea, but his smoothly shaved skin felt warm and soft. I didn’t pull away. “It’s both solar- and gas-operated. It can run at a faster speed using gas, but it makes a lot of noise. You can still get decent speed using solar, and it’s quiet. We’ll use solar right now.” He showed me how to set it to solar and start the bike. “Now, throttle and clutch,” he said, easing the bike forward. “Try it.”

  I did exactly what he did and the bike lurched forward, throwing me back against him, and then stalled. Jack quickly put both feet on the ground to steady the vehicle. It took a different kind of coordination than driving the tractor.

  “Try it again,” he said. I did, with the same result. “Again,” he repeated. I tried again and failed.

  “It’s not working for me,” I said in frustration.

  He covered my hands with his. “Thottle, clutch,” he said, guiding my hands to make the movements. “When you have a little speed, we’ll shift.”

  I took a deep breath and tried it again. Throttle. Clutch. The bike jumped but moved forward this time.

  “Let go of the clutch and give it more throttle,” he instructed. I did and the bike moved faster. “You need to switch gears, so clutch again.” I did as he told me and then felt his foot kick mine—that’s where the shift was located. “Ease off the clutch and it give it more throttle,” he instructed.

  “I’m doing it!”

  I gave it more throttle and the bike went faster. The wind blew my hair away from my face and into Jack’s. The faster I went, the more thrilling the ride was.

  “Slow down, and bring it to a stop,” Jack instructed.

  I slowed, and I almost dropped the bike when it came to a stop, but Jack planted both his feet on either side.

  “Whoops,” I said.


  “That’s why I wanted you to stop—so you would see what happens when the bike isn’t in motion. Okay, take me for another ride.”

  “This is fun!”

  He smiled broadly. “I know.”

  “You’ve been doing this all day, haven’t you?”

  “Not all day. We’ll talk it about it later. Ready?”

  More than ready. This time when I engaged the bike it only hesitated a little before it took off. I shifted gears and went faster. Ahead of us was a hill and I increased our speed. But as we crested the top, I saw something on the path. Startled, I pulled the bike sharply to one side. The front wheel jerked out of control and I held onto the handles tight. I saw the rock sticking out of the ground but couldn’t avoid it.

  It didn’t register that I was thrown from the bike until I found myself on the ground. It all happened so fast. I looked around for Jack and saw him pushing himself up from the ground. I sat up as he walked toward me.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  My already-bruised side was in pain, but nothing else. “Yeah. Are you?”

  “What happened?” he asked, ignoring my question. He pulled me up.

  “I thought I saw something on the road.”

  I searched the area to see where it was. That’s when I saw them.

  People, standing among the trees, staring at us.

  Chapter Eight

  Momentarily paralyzed, I stood as stock-still as they were. I counted at least eight.

  “Sunny?” Jack’s voice penetrated my brain. He waved a hand in front of my face. “Hello?”

  “There are people here,” I whispered.

  “What?”

  “Sssshhh,” I said, even though I was pretty sure they could hear us. “There are people in the trees, watching us.”

  Jack’s eyes widened at the news and he snapped around to scan the trees. “I don’t see anyone.”