The Elite: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 4)

by N. G. Simsion

  Red shook his head. “I wish that were true—that they would end up dead within a few days. I wish Exile was located deeper in the jungle where there are more dangerous things around. Someone breaks out about once or twice a year and I have to go find them.” He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Truth be told, Exile isn’t very heavily guarded. We need more guards. We need more than just crocodiles around the perimeter. But the powers that be don’t seem to care much about us. They say Exile is just a drain on the system anyway, so they’re not going to waste any more resources on us. They say that if people are breaking out, then it’s our own fault because we haven’t instilled enough fear in them. They say that if they’re not scared of dying out there it’s our fault.” He took a large gulp from his bottle and slammed it down on the table. “But they don’t see what I see. They don’t know what I know. There’s something brewing within the people right now. They’re getting too curious about the outside world. There’s one guy in particular…” His eyes lost focus and his voice trailed off.

  Zero put down his fork and watched him. Red’s head began to droop and his eyes slowly began to close.

  Zero snapped his fingers in front of Red’s face. “Stay with me, here. Are you falling asleep?”

  Red lifted his bottle. “Sorry. This stuff does that to me.” He took a small sip and sucked air in through his teeth. “Now, where was I?”

  “You said something is brewing. They’re getting curious about the outside world and there was one guy in particular who was causing problems. Who is he? Why is he such a problem?”

  “Some jerk named Root,” he said softly. He placed his bottle on the table and spun it back and forth. “People are drawn to him for some reason. I don’t see it. He’s nothing special. But they gather around him out in the courtyard and they’ll just talk as a group for hours. I’m convinced that one of these days the group is going to cause some real problems—maybe start a revolt and bust through the gates. I can hunt down one idiot who breaks out, but not twenty or more. It would be a disaster.”

  “This Root guy needs to go,” Zero said. “There’s no other way. If you leave him in there, he could cause problems that would take months to fix.” He stared seriously at him. He didn’t know enough about the Elite system or the city of Exile to be able to know what this comment might spark in Red’s mind, but he felt that now they were getting somewhere.

  Red nodded, biting his lower lip as he thought. “You sound like you have something in mind. What’s your idea?”

  Zero shook his head. “I don’t have any ideas. But it’s obvious you have to get him out of there. He’s like a virus. If you leave him in there too long, he’ll infect the whole place.”

  Red picked up Zero’s fork and knife, cut a piece off of his steak and placed it into his mouth. He chomped on it with his mouth open. “Who are you, anyway?”

  “Leaf,” Zero said, spitting out the first thing that came to mind.

  “I mean, where are you stationed?”

  “Far away.”

  “Obviously, or I would have met you before.” Red stole one of the potato wedges from Zero’s plate and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. “I mean, what zone are you from?”

  “Two.” Zero said, and waited for a response, hoping this conversation wasn’t leading into dangerous waters.

  “The desert. The middle of nowhere. I assume you’re looking over the melon fields? You’re so lucky. I wish Exile was out in the middle of the desert. I wouldn’t even have to hunt people down if they jumped the fence. They’d die on their own from the one hundred twenty degree sun long before they made it anywhere.”

  Zero pulled his plate out of Red’s reach. “Yeah, well the hard part about being out in the middle of nowhere is that the powers that be just kind of ignore you and forget about you. We’re always shorthanded.” He bit off the edge of one of his dinner rolls and chewed, allowing Red some time to think. Zero was trying to lead Red’s thought processes now. He could see a solution to both of their problems, but he wanted Red to think it was his own idea. When Zero decided he wasn’t quite getting there on his own—probably because the contents of that bottle were slowing down his brain—he added, “I’m always shorthanded, and I live in a place where nobody would run away. You’ve got one or two guys who you need to get rid of. You can’t keep them there. You can’t send them back to their home city or they’ll just end up back in your hands, right?”

  “And I can’t kill them.” He downed the last bit of liquid from his bottle and looked at it, disappointed. “At least not with all the other cockroaches watching.” His eyes were looking heavier by the minute.

  “Look, I need some more workers out in the melon fields, and you need to get rid of a few guys who are a problem. Give them to me. I’ll work them so hard they won’t have time to be curious about the outside world.”

  Red tapped his index finger on the side of his head. “You’re a thinker. I like where you’re going with this. But there’s paperwork. They track these people. I can’t just give him to you.” He reached toward Zero’s plate, but Zero pulled it farther away. His eyes began to light up as he pondered the thought. “Unless we do it in the night. We jerk him out of bed in the night and in the morning we say he jumped the fence. Those holier-than-thou powers-that-be don’t ever need to know any different. I may have to take a trip into the woods with one of my guards just to make it appear I’m out searching for him, but I can just take Caiman. He’ll do whatever I say.” He lifted his bottle as if he was going to take another drink, before he realized it was empty. “We can’t really do it tonight. I’m far too drunk for that.” He laughed and slapped his hand down on the table. “Why don’t you meet me back here tomorrow at dinner time and I’ll take you over there?”

  “Zone Two isn’t exactly just down the road. I’m not going all the way home and coming back. If you want me to do you this favor, then we’ll have to do it tonight. I’m not really all that fond of Gualan, really.” Zero knew he was gambling with this comment. There was a real possibility Red might change his mind with this type of ultimatum, but adding 24 hours to the situation would only give Red time to sober up. Zero doubted Red would be this suggestible when all his brain cells were functioning.

  “Don’t be like that.” Red placed his hand on Zero’s shoulder. “You stay at my place. I have one of those couches that pulls out into a bed. You can sleep there. Trust me. Tomorrow night is better.”

  “Fine.” Zero didn’t care much for the thought of waiting. So many things could go wrong in that period of time, but it was better than anything else he had been able to think of.

  He worked at finishing the rest of his steak, while Red slouched back in his chair. Red’s eyes fluttered a few times before closing. His head tipped back and he began snoring. Red was clearly in no shape to be driving them back to his place. Just as Zero was about to tap him on the shoulder to ask how they were going to get home, he noticed someone watching him from about 40 feet away. He had the last bite of steak halfway into his mouth when he froze, realizing who he was making eye contact with: Mud, leaning against a light post, arms folded and wearing a curious expression.

  Chapter 3

  Zero swallowed the last bit of his dinner and stared at Mud, who was now beckoning for him to come talk.

  Zero tapped Red on the arm. When that failed to wake him up, he tapped harder, and then slugged him in the shoulder.

  “Ow!” Red’s head snapped up. “What was that for?”

  “How do you plan to get us to your place tonight?” Zero asked.

  “Ha ha.” His head bounced up and down as he chuckled. “Home. I don’t know. I was going to just take the shuttle, I guess. I can’t drive like this.”

  Zero stood up and dusted off his pants. He grabbed the bottle of amber-colored liquid he had been pretending to drink and placed it in front of Red. “I still have half a bottle of drink left. I need
to go talk to someone. When I come back, this drink had better be empty.” He held out his hand. “And I’m driving you home. Give me your keys.” He waited for Red to slap the keys into his palm, then dropped them into his breast pocket.

  Red grabbed Zero’s bottle and held it high above his head. “Consider it done! I won’t stop till it’s all gone.” He turned his eyes toward Zero and smiled. “You know, you’re a great guy. How come you don’t come to Gualan more often?”

  Zero didn’t answer; he just grinned and patted him on the back. He turned and walked toward Mud, who had turned away and was walking toward one of the dorm buildings.

  Zero entered the dorm building and saw Mud waiting for him just inside the door. The loud music fell almost silent when the door shut behind him, leaving him with only the muffled sounds of the beat ringing in his ears.

  Mud stared at him for a long while. “How did you get in here? You’re not Elite.”

  “I jumped the wall.”

  “Where’d you get that awful shirt?”

  “Off of somebody who was passed out on the lawn.”

  Mud looked both ways down the hall to see if anyone had followed him. “What now? Please tell me you changed your mind and you’re going to help me escape now. Take me far away from here.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that now. I have something I need to take care of. Maybe I can come back in a week or so.”

  “No. No way. Take me out of here tonight. After a week, it’ll be too late.”

  “Too late for what?”

  “They’ll have taken my life from me by that time.”

  “Are you serious?” He contemplated the situation for a moment, looking down at his shoes as he did. “The thing is, things just got a whole lot more complicated. I’ve got a few things I have to take care of right now and the odds of me succeeding are pretty slim as it is.” He wanted to put his foot down, say, “I’ll come back in a week, take it or leave it,” and then be on his way, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do it. They stared each other in the eye for a while before he gave in. “Okay. Fine.” He felt frustrated with himself that he was giving in so easily. “I can get you out of the city, but I’ll have to leave you to fend for yourself out in the woods for a day or two before I can join up with you.”

  Mud leaned against the wall. “Oh yeah? You don’t expect me to jump the fence, do you? I don’t do snakes, remember?”

  “Nope.” Zero reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “I got these from Red—one of the Elite.”

  Mud’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll have to stow away in the trunk, won’t I?”

  “Until I find a place to drop you off, yeah.”

  “I guess it’s better than staying here.” Mud exhaled and shrugged. “Come on. Let me change into some clothes that are a bit more suited for the outside world.”

  They walked up a flight of stairs and Zero waited in the hallway while Mud disappeared into room 49. As he stood there, two people walked past. One of them was Elite, while the other was obviously from Gualan. They were both laughing, staggering back and forth as they struggled to remain upright. They stopped, and the Elite slapped his hand over his mouth before turning to the side and vomiting all over the wall.

  Zero couldn’t help but stare in disgust. He couldn’t understand these people. The little colorful person from Gualan only laughed at him and jumped out of the way. They giggled together like children after hearing a silly joke, and still, nothing about this seemed remotely funny or enjoyable to Zero.

  They disappeared through a doorway into a room at the end of the hall just as Mud emerged holding a pillowcase full of clothes.

  “You ready for this?” Mud asked.

  “I guess so.”

  “We should stop downstairs for some food to take with us.”

  Zero agreed. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Even if he were successful in escaping to the old world with both Root and Mud, Mud didn’t exactly seem like the ideal traveling companion. Wandering the woods and dodging Remnants with someone half his height and ten times his waist measurement didn’t exactly sound like a winning situation. But there was something unique about Mud. Something fascinating. Something calming that made him feel like this partnership could be something great. He didn’t feel it back when he had been sitting in the trees, looking into the city for the first time. He didn’t even feel it when he was sitting up in the tree overlooking Gualan a few hours earlier, but as soon as they were face to face again, he felt it. It felt… normal… and that didn’t make any sense, since they didn’t really know each other.

  Mud reached into Zero’s shirt pocket and stole the keys. “How did you get these?”

  “Red is down there drinking a bottle of something fierce.” He tapped the side of his head with the tip of his index finger. “His brain isn’t exactly running at full capacity right now. He just handed them over when I told him to.”

  Mud laughed. “Something fierce? You say that like you’ve never had a drink before.”

  “I’ve had lots of drinks before, but nothing like whatever it is they’re drinking down there.”

  “Really? Never? I thought all of you guys drank. I guess that’s kind of good, though. I’m not too fond of drunks. You’ve got your mean drunks, silly drunks, crybaby drunks—”

  “Oh yeah? Which kind of drunk are you?” Zero asked.

  “Me? Neither. Drinking isn’t my thing. Besides, I’m not allowed to drink now anyway.”

  He was about to ask why that was, when two people passed them in the hall. Again, one was Elite and the other was obviously from Gualan, this time sporting bright sunflower-yellow hair. The Elite had the yellow-haired one by the wrist, steamrolling toward one of the dorm rooms. The expressions on their faces were what caught Zero’s attention the most. The Elite looked like he was close to passing out, though he still wore a huge grin on his face. The one with the yellow hair looked utterly disgusted by him, but still made no real effort to resist being pulled down the hall.

  Zero and Mud stepped outside and made their way back toward the thumping music. They tried to act casual, but he found himself stiffening up as he moved. Surely nobody knew they were up to anything, or someone would have said something. Still, he felt like everyone was looking at them.

  Red no longer sat in his chair. He was now lying on his back a few feet away. The chair he had been sitting in was now on its side. The clear bottle, now empty, lay on its side way over on the table. The amber colored liquid was also gone from its bottle, but it was hard to tell whether he had drunk it all or if it spilled, since it was lying sideways in the grass next to him.

  Mud approached Red and stood over him. “Is this Red? Maybe we should roll him over. Unless you don’t care whether or not he vomits in his sleep and dies.”

  “Oh. That’s tempting, but I have bigger plans for this guy.” Zero grabbed Red by the wrist and pulled him up into a sitting position. Red slumped forward, never opening his eyes. Zero slapped him harder and harder, until Red blinked his eyelids halfway open for a moment, then closed them again.

  “Huh?” was all Red said.

  “You want to help me pick him up?” Zero asked Mud.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I can’t lift anything heavy. I could lose my life.”

  Zero had no idea what to make of that. “Okay. Whatever.” He slapped Red softly on the cheek again. Nothing happened. He slapped him harder, and Red’s eyelids began to flutter. Zero was enjoying this a little too much. He slapped him again, this time much harder.

  “Wha—what’s going on?” Red’s speech was slurred.

  “I’m driving you home, remember?”

  “You’re a great guy. You know that? A great guy. What’s your name, anyway? Great guy.”

  “Leaf. Now stand on your own feet.” Zero pul
led him up into a standing position and wrapped his drunken arm around his shoulder. “Okay. Just walk. I’ll make sure you don’t fall on your face.”

  “Your name’s Leaf? Oh yeah? Leaf? Really? Leaf? Ha ha. Funny name.”

  “Just walk.”

  “Hey! You don’t have to get sassy with me. I’m your friend. Red. Friend. Red. Friend. That rhymes.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Sort of.”

  “Okay. Sort of. Just keep walking.”

  “Who’s this?” Red pointed at Mud.

  “Mud is going to help me get you home,” Zero said.

  “Really? Mud? Mud can’t leave the city. Only we can. Only the Elite can. Not Mud. Mud can’t leave.”

  “Mud is just helping you get to the car, then. That’s all.”

  When they arrived at the parking lot, Red pointed his finger off into the distance. Zero followed the direction of that finger until his eyes came to rest on a car that looked exactly like the ones he had seen coming to Quirigua to pick up Lefty a few days earlier. It said “Security” on both sides, in large block letters.

  Zero opened the back door of the large sedan.

  “No. I want to ride in front,” Red said.

  “No you don’t,” Zero said. “You want to lay down where you can sleep all the way home.”

  “I’ll just recline the seat,” Red said.

  “No. If you do that, and you puke in the car, you’ll choke on your own vomit.” Zero didn’t really know whether or not this was true, but it didn’t matter. Red nodded and seemed to accept it as fact. Zero patted Red on the cheek. “We don’t want you dying on us now, do we?”

  Red looked him in the eye. “You know, Leaf, you’re a great guy. Always looking out for me. I’m going to return the favor someday. You know that? I will. You’ll see. Return the favor.”

  “I look forward to it.” Zero pushed Red into the back seat and shut the door.