Worlds Collide: Sunset Rising, Book Two

by McEachern, S. M.

  “Once a slave always a slave, Jack. That’s their heritage. You can’t take it out of them.”

  Jack snorted his disgust and looked away from Powell. His eyes came to rest on my hand, still clutching his fist and, picking it up with both of his, he kissed it. He gave me an apologetic look. I appreciated how he felt, but in my mind there was no need for him to apologize. He’s the only one from the Dome who ever did anything for us—who risked his own neck to free the Pit.

  He turned his attention back to the general. “And the Powells, the Wests and the Forbes—you’re all Nazis aren’t you?”

  Powell shook his head. “Just because my lineage is Nazi doesn’t mean I am. I was honest when I said I wanted to change Damien’s mind about killing all the urchins. There’s no sense in it. We need them just as much out here as we do in the Dome.”

  Jack almost did jump across the table at him, but I pulled him back. This was getting out of hand.

  He jabbed a finger at the general. “You see, Powell, this is where you and I don’t see eye to eye. We should be goddamn ashamed of ourselves for treating human beings worse than garbage! Making them live in the same goddamn hole we forced them to dig while they served our every need!”

  “Jack!” I burst out. He turned a wild look on me. I knew without a doubt he was going to lose it if we didn’t get back on track. “This isn’t why we’re here,” I said in a calm voice. “There are a lot of lives at stake if we don’t agree to a ceasefire.”

  He just stared at me and I wondered if anything I said had registered. Then he took a deep breath and let it out. He turned back to Powell. “Are you prepared to surrender?” General Powell didn’t say anything. He just reached for the scotch. Jack pulled the bottle away from him. “You’ve had enough pain relief. I need you to have a clear head.”

  Powell leaned back in his chair. “You still haven't told me, Jack. What the hell is all this for?” He swept an arm toward the unseen guns and arrows aimed at us.

  Jack smiled. “Because I didn’t marry Leisel. I married this lovely lady,” he said, picking up my hand and kissing it. I almost laughed at the look of horror on Powell’s face. Jack’s smile broadened. “Now you’re getting it, General! I’m not the heir—I’m a goddamn traitor.”

  Powell’s mouth dropped open and fresh beads of sweat made his forehead slick. He ran a hand over his face and sucked in a breath. “Jesus,” he exclaimed.

  The sound of a door creaking open drew our attention. Doc emerged from the medical center.

  “Terms of surrender are simple,” Jack said. “You lay down your weapons and everyone goes peacefully to the corrals.”

  Powell raised his eyebrows, a tight smile playing around his mouth. “The corrals? I take it they must be empty.”

  “Everyone’s been set free. They could’ve run, but they decided to stay. Most of them have rifles trained on you right now.”

  The general's expression sobered. “So the heathens and urchins have allied?”

  Jack nodded. “You’re outnumbered.”

  Doc reached our table and stood quietly, medical bag in hand.

  “And if we don’t agree to your terms?”

  “Then these negotiations have failed and we return to fighting. Dena, head of the so-called ‘heathen’ army, is prepared to send a volley of flaming arrows at the mess. I’m praying it won’t come to that, General. I have friends in there.”

  Powell shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He hissed in pain when he moved his injured arm. He was sweating profusely now, although I wasn’t sure whether it was from the pain of his wound or his situation. Maybe both.

  He looked at Doc. “Can you help me out here?”

  Doc looked at me. “Nice to see you again, Miss O’Donnell. I take it you were successful in that plan you were discussing with me?” I nodded. “Everyone is free?”

  “Everyone out here,” I said. “The Pit is next.”

  He pointed to Powell. “There’s no one left out here he can hurt anymore?”

  “Those still alive are safe.”

  He turned back toward the general. “No. I can’t help you.”

  Powell slammed a fist down on the table. Jack kicked me under the table and covertly motioned toward Doc. I guess we needed Doc’s help if we were going to be successful in getting Powell to agree to our terms.

  “Although if you help the general it might show him that it’s not war we want,” I said. “We’re looking for a peaceful resolution.”

  Doc gave me a sarcastic smile. “You mean a show of good faith? Take the high road?” He shook his head and turned his focus on Powell. “How about this, General. You agree to their terms and I’ll treat your injury. You don’t, I won’t.”

  “Of course I’m going to agree to their damn terms! I don’t have any choice!” he snapped.

  It was almost anticlimactic. I tried to remain calm and keep the look of shock off my face.

  We’d won.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Getting Powell to agree to surrender turned out to be a lot easier than the actual process of surrendering. After he waved the white flag, our side advanced into the city to oversee the process. There was a lot of distrust on both sides, so most of the bourge were reluctant to part with their weapons, although some threw down their guns immediately and declared themselves to Jack as Liberty members.

  I knew this was hardest on Jack. It visibly pained him to have to deny anyone claiming to be on his side, especially Alex and Hayley. But at this point, he couldn’t trust anyone. He could only explain that no harm would come to them and they would be free to go once we liberated the Pit.

  Powell was among the last to leave. Doc worked on his arm, right there in the middle of the street, while his army was stripped of their weapons. There was a lot of hollering and screaming from him since Doc decided not to give him a shot of pain relief until after he removed the arrow and cleaned the wound with disinfectant. Since he was in no condition to walk, Jack put him on a bike and drove him to the corral. I promised to meet him there.

  Gaia remained stoic throughout the negotiations, but after Powell was driven away, she turned on me. “What have you done!” she screamed.

  “Gaia, the men on the range—” I began, but she grabbed me by the shirtfront and cut off my words.

  “—are probably all dead because of you! Did you even stop to consider them?!”

  I tried to pry her hands off me. “The tagging system is off. They’re free too!” I appealed to Doc with my eyes, willing him to help me.

  “But there were soldiers up there! Hunting them! You could have set them off, made them kill all the men!”

  I was taken off guard by her anger. “They’re free, Gaia! You can finally find out if he’s—” I stopped mid-sentence because it hit me. She had spent the last two years convincing herself that he was still alive. Now the moment of truth lay before her and she was scared. What if the truth was he was dead?

  Doc pulled out a syringe and gave her a shot in the arm. A few seconds later, her yelling calmed and she collapsed. I helped him get her to the medical center. I prayed she found her husband alive, but I wasn’t holding out much hope.

  “I’m happy to see that Jack Kenner is alive, in more ways than one,” Doc said, after we settled Gaia on a bed. “Did you use my cocktail on him?”

  He went to a cupboard and took out some disinfectant and sterilized pads. He motioned for me to sit down.

  “I didn’t really want to, but he started bleeding to death after I took the bullet out. I guess it was the nanosurgeons that saved him. Thank you for all your help.”

  “I’m sure it was the technology,” he said confidently. He soaked a pad and dabbed at the injury on my arm. I sucked in a breath at the s
ting. “Perhaps you can mention to him I’d like to draw a sample of his blood.”

  “I don’t think now is the time, Doc. He’s a little busy.” He finished cleaning the wound and dressed it.

  “You’ll live,” he declared. “May I ask what your plan is?”

  I stood up. “My plan?”

  “Yes. Once you’ve liberated the Pit, what’s your plan?” He put the disinfectant back in the cupboard and discarded the pads.

  I searched my brain for the right answer, but I was suddenly exhausted. “I don’t know, Doc. Once everyone is out of the Dome, they’re free to do whatever they want.”

  He headed out the door and I followed him back to the waiting area.

  “Well, that’s not exactly true.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Radiation still plagues the Earth and we have no defenses against it.”

  “What are you talking about? The Earth is fine.”

  He shook his head. “It’s fine for someone who was born into this environment, like your heathen friends. Over the past three hundred years their physiology has evolved to adapt to the high amount of radiation found in water and plants. We don’t have their tolerance.”

  It’s not that I didn’t believe Doc, but something didn’t add up. “How do you know about the physiology of the heathens?”

  My question appeared to have caught him off guard. He looked contrite. “I was forced to perform tests on some of the subjects that were captured and brought into the Dome. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

  “I don’t get it. Then how does this city function? Why aren’t you, Powell, and everyone already dead?”

  “Our water is treated and our plants are grown in a special soil concentration I designed to trap radioactive isotopes. So our food and water are virtually free of radiation. Our only threat is when the seasons change, and the wind blows from the wrong direction, but each house is capable of being sealed against radiation storms. They don’t usually last long.”

  If what Doc was saying was true, none of us could leave the Dome. We were all still tethered to our life-giving Arc.

  “Jack and I drank the water from the river. And Dena’s barangay shared food with us. We’re not sick,” I pointed out.

  “It would take at least a year of drinking non-filtered water and eating off the land before there was enough radiation built up in your system to poison you. Maybe less time, if you were subjected to radiation storms. But you now have radiation in your system and it’s permanent. I can run some tests on your blood and see how much, if you’d like.”

  I tried to ignore the sense of futility bubbling up inside me. It was bad enough that ever since the fighting had started, I was struggling with regret. Constantly questioning if all the deaths were worth it in the end. Now I had to wonder what we were even fighting for—an Earth we couldn’t survive on?

  “Then what’s this all for, Doc? Why the hell are we killing each other over a sick planet?”

  “We didn’t start the killing, they did. Every time a worker didn’t perform. Every time we had the gall to stand up for ourselves. Every Cull for three hundred years. Please keep that in mind when you begin your fight to free the Pit—to free the thousands of people Holt is planning on mass murdering. Because if you can keep that in mind, Miss O’Donnell, your conscience won’t bother you about a few dead bourge.”

  Doc did have a way of getting to the point. And he was partially right. My conscience did still bother me, just not as much. I didn’t like all the bloodshed, but I wasn’t about to abandon the Pit. They had to be freed.

  “Thanks Doc. I guess I needed to hear that.” I headed toward the door, prepared to get away from him. My brain was already on overload and I couldn’t process any more information.

  “One more thing,” Doc said. I almost moaned. “I’m going to set up a clinic to remove tags. Please send everyone here.”

  I nodded and left the medical center.

  I always wondered what that old saying meant, sight for sore eyes. But as I stood here with sore, tired eyes and took in the sight of Jack, I thought I knew. His was the only face that could actually make me happy. Maybe the word happy was too strong. “Grateful to be alive” was more apt.

  He was inside what used to be the women’s corral—the big gates shut, preventing anyone from coming or going. All around the wire fence, archers and urchins with rifles stood attentively, ready for any bourge foolhardy enough to try to escape.

  The smell of food drifted on the wind as people emerged from the cafeteria carrying big steaming pots. As they approached the gates, Jack went forward to give the word to open them. His eyes found me and his face broke into a smile. He looked exhausted. As soon as the gates were open, he came out and caught me in a tight embrace.

  “I was beginning to wonder what happened to you,” he said.

  “Doc kept me talking. He’s an interesting guy,” I said.

  Jack touched my bandage. “I see he took care of you. Good.”

  “You should probably go and see him too,” I said, bending down to look at his leg. He tried to pull me up, seemingly uncomfortable with what I was doing.

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  I caught a glimpse of new skin peeking out from the torn fabric on his pants. “It’s gone!”

  Jack pulled me back up. “Ssshhh,” he said, looking around. “Maybe those stupid robots are still working. Don’t tell anyone.”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Kenner,” a voice interrupted.

  A woman I didn’t recognize stood holding two bowls of stew. We gratefully accepted the offered stew and found a good-sized boulder not far from the corral and to use as a seat. We ate in silence. I was hungry, exhausted, and just content to be next to Jack, touching shoulders. When we finished eating, he set aside our bowls and drew me against him.

  “Maybe later we can find a quiet bed and I’ll let you snuggle me while I sleep,” he said.

  I smiled. “That’s awful nice of you.”

  “Well, I know how much you like to snuggle.” He kissed me lightly on the lips. “Powell’s still out of it from the meds Doc gave him, but once he comes around I’ll try to find out how to get into the Dome. Dena said she doesn’t mind keeping things together out here, but she doesn’t want to send her army inside the Dome. I don’t blame her. They don’t know what to expect in there.”

  “Do you have a plan yet?”

  “It’s hard to come up with one when I’m exhausted and still trying to sort out all of this,” he said, motioning toward the corral. “What were you and Doc talking about?”

  I relayed all of Doc’s messages, including the one about the world still being a radioactive mess. Jack was just as surprised by the information as I was.

  “So even once the doors are open, we’re all stuck here together,” he said.

  “Looks that way.” I rested my head on his shoulder. “I guess we’re all going to have to learn to get along.”

  “Or kill each other trying,” he added. “I forgot to tell you, I overheard your mom asking if anyone had seen you lately.”

  My mom. Once I’d known she was safe, I hadn’t thought about her much. Not because I wasn’t happy to find her alive and have her back in my life, but because there was just too much going on and I knew she was strong enough to look after herself.

  “I should find her and let her know I’m alright,” I said.

  Jack slid down off the boulder, but I was reluctant to let go of his hand. He pulled me down as well and planted another kiss on my lips. “Come on, Mrs. Kenner. You go find your mom and I’ll go see if Powell is awake. Then we’ll meet back here and find a quiet place to get some sleep. Deal?”

  I kissed him back. “Sounds like heave
n.”

  I walked as far as the gate with Jack and then went in search of my mom. I didn’t have far to look. In fact, she was in direct view of the boulder we had just vacated. I wondered how she was taking my relationship with a bourge.

  “Sunset,” she said, smiling. “I was worried about you.”

  She folded me into her embrace and I remembered how much I missed her when she was gone.

  “I’m doing okay. How are you? Did you get some food?”

  “I just had something to eat. I was going to come and join you, but I saw you already had company.”

  There it was—my moment to talk about Jack.

  “He’s nice, Mom. I think you’d really like him.”

  “As much as I hate the bourge, he’s done right by us so far.”

  Done right? I thought. It seemed like such a shallow remark considering all Jack had done for us. He put his own life and the lives of people he grew up with at risk in order to do right by us. I swallowed back a biting retort. Her remark wasn’t an insult; it was just an understatement. And I was tired and irritable. “Yes he has,” was all I said.

  My mom was about to say something else when a frantic girl came running toward us.

  “Sunny! Sunny! Please help!” she cried.

  As she came closer, I recognized Abby. My relief at finding her alive turned to alarm when I realized she was hysterical. Her hands were dirty and bloody, her clothes torn and filthy.

  I ran to her. “Abby, what happened?”

  “There was a cave-in! I’ve been trying to get back home, and I can’t!” she sobbed. “I need to get home, Sunny. My brother’s going to be so worried.”

  “Her brother?” my mother repeated. “Isn’t she one of us?”

  I nodded. “I think she lost her family during that battle I told you about in the Pit. She’s a little…distraught about it.”

  “Please come and help me,” Abby sobbed.

  “Well, if she’s from the Pit, she can’t have a brother.”

  “Mom, that’s not the point,” I whispered. I don’t know why I whispered. It’s not like Abby couldn’t hear us. She was standing right there. The conversation was getting awkward.