The Elite: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 4)
Page 6
He heard the sound of small hinges creaking, and he turned to see that someone had pushed open the three-inch-wide food slot located in the center of the door. A freshly laundered pair of jeans came through the slot and fell to the floor, followed by a clean pair of socks and a new standard-issue white T-shirt.
Zero hurried to the door and peered through the small window. All he could see was a guard walking away. He had sandy blonde hair. He was tall, but narrow at the waist and the shoulders. “Hey, you. Wait.” The guard turned and looked at him. “Hey, you. Guard. Are you sure these are for me?”
“The name is Eraser. You’re Leaf, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then they’re for you. Caiman told me to bring those to you.”
Zero’s heart sank to his stomach. He stared down at the clothes on the floor. Caiman had sent him these clothes, which was exactly what he was afraid of. This could only mean one thing—Caiman had no intention of letting him remain in the purple robe he had been parading around in. Caiman was no longer going to let him get away with this charade. Life was now over.
Zero walked back to the foot of his bed. The springs creaked as he sat down on the filthy mattress. He planted his face again into his hands.
Eraser soon returned and looked through the small window of his cell. “Why haven’t you changed yet?”
Zero looked up but said nothing.
Eraser pointed down at the floor. “You have one minute to get out of those clothes and into these new ones. Trust me. You don’t want to defy me.”
Zero hated this guy already. He wondered what Eraser could possibly do to punish him. What more could be taken from him?
His mind reverted back to Mud. She was sitting in that tiny little shack in the woods awaiting his return. She was probably starving, which couldn’t be good for that little life growing inside of her—that life that was going to be birthed any day now. But he wouldn’t be there to see it. His mistake was going to affect her just as much as him. He wanted to take care of her and that little baby person. He wanted to watch that baby person grow. He wanted to see her again. He tried not to think of what would happen now. Eventually she would have to venture out on her own in search of food, and there would be no way she could defend herself against a pack of Remnants.
He grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled. How could he be so stupid?
The door swung open and Eraser stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips, an expression of disbelief on his face. “I told you to get into these new clothes. Do it now.”
Zero stood up slowly and paused a moment before stepping closer to the clothes. He expected Eraser to knock him on the back of the head or something while he was bending down, but he only stood there watching him. Zero didn’t like the way Eraser was looking at him as he stripped off his robe and replaced it with the standard issue clothing—as if he knew something Zero didn’t.
“Hands at your sides,” Eraser said once Zero was fully dressed again.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.” He held up some shackles.
Zero made no effort to resist. He saw no point in doing so. He held his wrists at his sides and stared blankly at the wall as Eraser strapped leather restraints on him. His wrists were first secured to a belt on his waist, followed by another set of straps that connected his ankles together with an 18-inch chain.
Zero could almost hear Lefty’s voice inside his head, telling him not to give up—to fight back—to which sentiment he would then argue, saying that there was nothing else he could do.
“Why do they call you Eraser?” Zero asked.
Eraser placed his hand on the small of Zero’s back and gave him a slight push. “Because everyone knows I’m not afraid to get my hands a little dirty.” He laughed. “Let’s just say that when one of the guards wants to make someone disappear, they call Eraser.”
“Where are we going?” Zero asked. “Are you planning to make me disappear?”
“Why? You a little worried?” Eraser placed both hands on Zero’s shoulders, twisted him around until he was facing the door, then pushed him from behind. “If I was planning something like that, do you really think I would let you know about it?” He slipped one hand into the back of Zero’s belt and pushed him faster. “Maybe I’m just taking you for a little stroll. We can go see the sights. Wouldn’t you like to catch a glimpse of the beautiful countryside together?”
Zero heard the sounds of others laughing from inside their solitary confinement cells.
Zero liked Eraser even less now. He wasn’t convinced at first that Caiman would want to have him “erased.” What good would that do him? If Caiman wanted to be promoted, all he would have to do would be to turn Zero in to the Elite guards, right? Having him erased would take away that option.
But as they walked along the sidewalks between the buildings, it occurred to him that if Caiman did turn him in, then it would be obvious to Red that he had lied about Zero when they found his backpack in the woods—not to mention the fact that he said nothing when Zero was standing next to Red in the cafeteria. Red didn’t seem like the type of man who would put up with something like that. The only thing Zero knew for certain was that his presence made Caiman’s life a whole lot more complicated. Caiman would naturally want things to go back to the way they were before.
Zero gritted his teeth again and shook his head. How could he be so stupid?
“We’re here,” Eraser said, pulling back on Zero’s waistline to cause him to stop.
Zero looked up at where they were standing: in front of one of the main office buildings near the front gate. They walked up a short ramp and entered.
The building was very small, with a single room about 40 feet wide. A white van was parked inside. Large doors on opposite ends of the room created access for vehicles to enter and exit. An Elite guard sat in his purple robe at a desk near the entrance with stacks of papers all around him.
“Name?” The Elite guard asked.
“K-7. Return home. Cristobal,” Eraser said.
“Right.” The Elite guard scratched a red checkmark onto his paper, then waved for them to continue on toward the van.
Eraser jerked on the van’s handle and the door slid open, revealing two others sitting inside. Like Zero, their wrists and ankles were shackled. Eraser gave Zero a shove from behind, causing him to topple forward into one of the empty seats.
“If I reach my arm across your chest, you’re not going to try anything, are you?” Eraser asked. “If you try to head butt me, bite, or spit, so help me I will beat you so badly you’ll wish you were never born.”
Zero nodded but said nothing. He watched Eraser reach in front of him, pull a strap tightly across his waist, and snap it into place. He then pulled out a set of keys and twisted one of them into a lock at the base of the strap.
“There you go. Nice and snug. Are you comfortable?” Eraser asked.
“Not really.”
“Good!” He shot him a quick smile before walking away. He held up one finger to the elite guard at the desk as he was walking past. “I need to get one more guy before we can leave. Be back in a minute.”
Zero looked to his left at the guy sitting next to him. He looked happy, which made little sense, being that he was strapped just as tightly into his seat. Zero twisted and looked at the guy sitting behind him. He looked just as excited.
“How long you been here?” The guy next to him asked.
Zero had no intention of answering that question. Saying he had been there for only a few hours would raise far too many red flags. “Long enough,” he said.
“I hear that. I’ve been here two months. I can’t believe I’m finally going home.”
Now Zero understood. These guys were finishing their sentences. They were leaving Exile and going home. That also meant that when Eraser had told the Elite guard at the desk, �
��K-7. Returning home. Cristobal,” then that was Eraser giving the guard a fake name and home city. Zero was sure there was no way that could be a good thing—trying to keep the truth away from the Elite.
As Zero sat pondering, trying to find hope in his situation, he heard Eraser’s voice once again. “L-9. Returning home. Quirigua.”
Quirigua? That was where Zero had lived himself, before he ran away. He snapped his head around and saw Root standing by the Elite guard’s desk. His wrists and ankles were shackled, and he was smiling broadly, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
Chapter 11
Zero sat nervously in the van as it moved along the highway. There was so much that he wanted to say to Root, who was now sitting in the seat directly behind him, but conversation between them was impossible right now with Eraser sitting only a few feet away in the driver’s seat.
They had already made two stops to release the men who had also been shackled and strapped into the van. At each stop, Eraser spent about ten minutes talking to someone—who Zero assumed was one of the city officials—about the person who was being dropped off. Both times, the man who had been shackled went running off with an enormous smile on his face. And both times Eraser didn’t step far enough away from the van for Zero to have a conversation with Root without running the risk of being overheard.
Root seemed to be experiencing the same frustration. Periodically he would say things like, “It’s good to see you again,” and, “It’s going to be nice to be back in my own bed, don’t you think?” Zero knew what types of questions he really wanted to be asking, and knew he was dumbfounded to find Zero sitting shackled in this van.
After pulling away from the second stop, and once they were about five miles away from the city, Eraser turned on to a dirt side road. He drove along the bumpy road for about a hundred yards, looking around the area, checking the mirrors, then he stopped. He stepped out of the van, walked around to the sliding side door, and pulled it open. Zero leaned away from him but there was nowhere he could go.
“Okay. You two boys have some explaining to do.” Eraser stood just outside the sliding van door with his arms folded across his chest.
Zero and Root both sat in silence.
“I hope you two realize I could grab you by the throat and choke the life out of you, and there would be nothing you could do about it, being that your wrists and ankles are strapped down.” He laughed. “But that’s not what I’m planning to do with you two if you don’t talk.” He clicked open the latch to Root’s seatbelt and let it retract. He grabbed Root by the shirt and jerked him out of the van, dumping him helplessly into the tall grass. “I can’t think of anything worse for you two than a slow painful death without being able to defend yourselves. This area is swarming with Remnants. If I leave you here in the grass with your wrists and ankles tied together, how well do you think you’ll be able to defend yourselves against their attack? If they don’t kill you by sundown, they’ll surely infect you.”
“We don’t even know what you want us to talk about,” Zero said.
Eraser rapped his knuckles on the side of Zero’s head. “Hello? Anybody home?” He laughed as Zero tried to lean away. “Okay. Apparently you two are too dense to know how things work around here. Caiman came to me and told me he wants you gone. He wants you erased—dead. Okay? And I’m all about doing Caiman a little favor. You see, if I do him a favor, then someday in the future there may come a day when I need a favor from him, and he’ll owe me.” He folded his arms and leaned his shoulder against the van. “But I want to take things a little further than that—you know, for my own benefit. The more I know, the more power I possess.”
Zero wasn’t following this at all. He looked down at Root lying in the grass, and both exchanged a look of confusion.
Eraser rapped his knuckles onto the side of Zero’s head again. “Okay. Looks like I need to dumb this down even more for you simpletons. The Elite will be promoting one or more of the guards soon; one of us will become Elite just like them. I think there’s a really good chance Caiman gets that promotion, because Red seems to be taking a real liking to him for some reason. And I want to be on Caiman’s good side when that happens. It could be nice to have Caiman—one of the Elite—owe me a favor.” He licked his lips and grinned. “But let’s take this one step further. Caiman wants you gone for some reason, and he wants it all done in secret. He doesn’t want to tell me why, and he doesn’t want the Elite to know about it. Naturally, that makes me curious. And if I’m able to find out whatever information Caiman doesn’t want the Elite to know, then I hold all the cards.”
“So you get the information out of us, then you kill us; is that it?” Zero shook his head. “What makes you think we’re going to tell you anything?”
“Because Caiman only expects you to disappear—be erased. That can mean a few different things.” Eraser pulled the restraints key out of his pocket and jingled them in front of them. “If you tell me what I want to hear, then I erase you by removing your restraints and dropping you off in the jungle somewhere. That should give you a small chance for survival. If you refuse to tell me what I want to hear, then I leave your restraints on before I drop you off somewhere. How long do you think it will take before the Remnants come find you, or the jungle cats come eat you alive?”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Zero said.
“You’ll make me a deal?” Eraser laughed. “I hardly think you’re in any position to negotiate.”
“I have the information you want to know, and trust me, it’s good stuff.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“You remove our restraints and take us wherever we want to be dropped off. It’s pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, so there is no risk of any witnesses. We agree that we’ll disappear into the jungle and neither you nor Caiman will ever see us again.” Zero looked down at his wrists strapped to his sides.
Eraser grabbed Zero by the throat. “How about you just tell me now?” He squeezed, gritting his teeth as he watched Zero’s face turn from red to purple, before letting him go. Zero said nothing. “You drive a hard bargain,” Eraser said. “How about you give me just a bit of the information, then I decide whether or not I want to agree to the deal.”
Zero considered the situation for a moment. He looked down at Root again, who basically knew nothing, but who looked just as eager to learn the truth about what was going on. “Okay then.” Zero turned back to Eraser. “You remember that guy who escaped from Exile a few days ago? I was on the outside, I was able to help him escape. Then I broke back into Exile today.”
Eraser narrowed his eyes, studying him for a long time before smiling. “Okay. You got my curiosity.” He twisted the key and popped the lock on Zero’s ankle restraints. He repeated the process for his wrists before doing the same for Root. He stood back and watched Root climb back into the van. “Now, boys, I have to warn you.” He pulled a ten inch blade out of a sheath at the back of his waist. “If you try anything at all, I’ll cut you from your navel to your chin. Got it?”
***
Finding the location where Zero had left Mud was much harder than he thought it would be. Zero wasn’t sure he would recognize the location when he saw it, but he spotted the faint tire tracks he had left earlier in the tall grass as they drove past it.
Eraser turned the steering wheel and eased the van over the bumpy terrain. High-pitched squeals pierced the air as branches and bushes clawed at the outside of the van.
The road seemed even longer this time. And just as he was beginning to wonder if he had been mistaken about where they were headed, he saw the small shack appear in the distance.
Zero rose to his feet and peered through the front of the van, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mud. He didn’t know if she was alright. Maybe she had already birthed that baby. Maybe she had set out in search of food. Or maybe she had run into a pack of—
“Oh n
o,” Zero said softly. He clapped his hand to his mouth.
Eraser stomped on the brake, causing Zero to stumble forward into the back of his seat.
Zero saw only one Remnant at first, but more of them quickly stepped out of the trees into view. They had noticed the van, but they were keeping their distance. They remained close to the shack, encircling it in a manner reminiscent of the way the pack in the avocado orchard had surrounded Lefty and him before attacking.
Eraser jerked the gear shifter into reverse. He placed one arm on the back of the seat next to him and spun his neck around to look through the rear windows. He released the brake, pressed the gas, and began driving backward at a much quicker pace than what they had done while arriving.
“What are you doing?” Zero asked.
“I’m out of here. I’m not waiting around for them to infect or kill me.” He tapped on his brake as the van rolled over a large rock.
Zero yanked the handle on the sliding side door, and it flew open.
“Don’t you dare jump out! You owe me some information.”
“Feel free to follow us into the woods,” Zero said. He turned to Root. “Are you with me?”
Root stared at him with wide eyes. He clearly didn’t want to have to make this decision, but then a flash of determination appeared on his face, reminiscent of how Lefty might have reacted. Without bothering to step closer to the door, Root leapt from his seat out the door. He hit the ground hard, losing his footing immediately and rolling into the tall grass.
Zero followed after him, crashing to the ground and scraping up his arms. He jumped to his feet and looked at the van pulling away.
“Is this really happening?” Root asked, his grin wide.
“This is as real as it gets, Root.” He strode past him toward the shack, with Root hurrying along quickly at his side.