by Jess Petosa
“I need more,” she said.
Ally quickly grabbed her skirt and ripped a large piece of it off, throwing it to Sabine. She wadded the material up and stuck it in the wound. She then tied Luke’s shirt over it.
“I’ll need to clean it up later, but this should do until we get out of here.” She wiped her bloodied hands on her brown dress.
“I know an exit,” Ally said. “Max, you carry Stosh. Everyone, follow me.”
Max leaned down and scooped Stosh up. Ally took off at a run, leaving the debris and frightened townspeople behind. If it wasn’t for the chaos of the exploded stage they probably would have been caught by now.
“Wait!” a girl cried from behind them.
Ally had no plans on stopping. She kept running and somehow, the girl caught up with her.
“Take this. For the boy,” she said.
She handed Ally a brown parcel and Ally shoved it into one of her pockets. The girl smiled and stopped running, and Ally had to wonder if she, too, had been captured and forced into life in New Eden once. She hoped that their escape gave the oppressed people of New Eden a new chance at life.
Ally led them to the deserted part of town and straight to the broken part of the fence. She ran into the house to grab the supply bags and then one by one they squeezed through the hole. Luke held Stosh while Max slipped through, and then together they all helped to pass Stosh carefully through. The shirt around his waist wasn’t soaked through with blood yet, but he looked paler than a few minutes ago.
“Sal told me that we are at the south part of town here, so if we head straight away from the fence, we should be headed in a good direction for the southern city. We can regroup when we are a few miles out,” Ally said to the others.
They moved through the woods quickly. They weren’t quiet or as careful as they should be, but they were all running on adrenaline from what happened in New Eden. They were lucky they all made it out alive, at least, mostly alive. Stosh was still unconscious and there was no way to predict his fate right now.
After almost an hour, they stopped in a small clearing. As soon as Max lowered Stosh to the ground, both Sabine and Ally were beside him.
“What did that girl in New Eden give you?” Sabine asked.
Ally had almost forgotten about it. She pulled it from her pocket and unwrapped it. Inside the brown material sat a few small objects.
“A sewing kit!” Sabine exclaimed. “And rubbing alcohol and some sort of medicine. That girl knew what she was doing. I need to clean the wound and sew it up, quickly. I need a fire built and water boiled over it.”
It had been awhile since Ally had seen such an efficient side of Sabine. It reminded her of the perky, redheaded girl she met on her first day in the City.
Luke ran to grab water while Max started on the fire. He had been quiet since they left New Eden, and as he worked with some materials he found in the supply bags Sal left, his face remained emotionless.
“Is he going to be okay?” Ally asked Sabine.
Sabine swallowed roughly and looked over at Ally. “I really don’t know. Even if I can get the wound clean and sewed up properly, there is still a chance of infection. There could be splinters inside of him.”
Ally looked at the ground.
“We need to get to the southern city, now more than ever,” Sabine added. “We need to hope that it really exists.”
Ally couldn’t agree more. Max had a small fire going, and was building it up with dry twigs. Luke returned with the water and stood over the fire.
“We don’t have any pots,” he said. “They are all in the transport.”
“Cold water will have to do,” Sabine said.
While Sabine worked, Ally moved over to the fire and watch the flicker of the flames.
“He’s going to be okay,” Luke said as he came up beside her.
“He better be.” Ally choked back tears. “He has to be.”
Before she had time to think about what she was doing, she fell against Luke’s chest and he had his arms wrapped around her. He leaned his cheek against her head and she could feel his warm breath at her ear.
“It’s going to be okay, Ally.”
“Luke, I need your help,” Sabine said from behind them.
Luke backed away slowly, holding eye contact with Ally. Finally, he turned and went to assist Sabine.
“Ally, you should stay over there while I do this,” Sabine said.
Both she and Luke were kneeling over Stosh’s body now, ripping at the bloody shirts around him. Ally knew she should walk away, maybe into the woods so she couldn’t see anymore, but she couldn’t stop looking at her brother’s pale chest. She sank to the ground on her knees and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks.
“If he wakes up, you’re going to need to hold him down.” She heard Sabine say. The rest of the conversation was hushed.
Ally turned toward the fire and closed her eyes. Moments later, she heard a muffled scream from Stosh and the sound of thrashing in the grass. She wanted to cover her ears but instead she got up and ran to her brother’s side, reaching for his hand. His eyes were wide and afraid. Someone had shoved a rag into his mouth and he was trying to spit it out.
“Stosh, I’m here. It’s okay,” Ally said to him. “You were injured back in New Eden, but Sabine is going to fix you up.”
He started to raise his head but Ally stopped him.
“No, don’t look. I’m not going to look either.”
Sabine took a deep breath. “I think the alcohol cleaned as much as it could. I’m going to sew it up now. Bite down on that rag Stosh.”
Less then a minute later Stosh was screaming again.
Five minutes later he passed out.
Ten minutes later the wound was stitched up.
They situated him near the fire and in minutes, the color was back in his cheeks and lips. His breathing was even and he seemed somewhat peaceful, not so much in pain.
“I gave him some of that medicine the girl gave us. I think he should be out for a while.” Sabine plopped down by the fire. She had followed Luke to a nearby creek to wash her blood covered hands.
Max had found some wrapped meat in one of the supply bags. Since it was raw, they would have to cook it tonight. At least they would start off the next leg of their journey with full bellies.
Luke sat next to Ally, going through the bags.
“He put five of those guns in here, along with some ammo. There’s some rope, light blankets, and some thin tarp we might be able to make a shelter out of.” He rifled through more of the contents. “Of course, a pot. Now I find it.”
“I never pegged you as the outdoors type,” Ally said with a smile. She felt like she could finally relax now that they were out of New Eden and Stosh was recovering.
“I think there is a lot you’d be surprised to learn about me.” Luke flashed her a crooked smile. “Hey look, they put some shirts and pants in here. You and Sabine can change out of those ugly dresses.”
“Thank you, Sal!” Ally shook her hands in the air.
“And wipe that dirt off your face,” Luke added.
Sabine and Ally walked to the creek and washed up the best that they could in the cold water. The clothes were mismatched and odd sizes, but they were better than the dresses. Ally wasn’t sure where Sal had gotten these clothes and she didn’t really want to know. They headed back to camp and settled by the fire with Luke and Max.
“Do you think we are close to the southern city? I feel lost without the maps.” Ally said.
Luke reaching into one of the bags and pulled out a white object. “Sal must have known that, because he packed one for you.”
“Really?” Sal had thought of everything and Ally owed him more credit than she gave him. She grabbed the map from Luke and unrolled it. She used her finger to scan through the towns until she found Dallas.
“How do we even know where we are?” she asked.
; “We’ll have to find a road sign and hope we can locate that town on the map. It might be a few days though, since Stosh will need to recover.” Luke picked up a small rock and threw it into the fire. It hit the spit being used to cook the meat and Max scowled at him.
Ally looked away from his violet gaze.
“Why do his eyes scare me, while yours do exactly the opposite,” she asked Luke.
Luke leaned forward and whispered, “You know, he can hear you now.”
“Speaking of,” Ally leaned back, refusing to look in Max’s direction again. “What about your abilities?”
Luke studied his palms. “My strength is back to normal, but I can’t access my abilities. Earlier they were completely quiet but now there is a small buzzing inside. I really can’t figure it out but I hope that they are just slowly returning.”
“What do you think those cuffs were made of?” she asked.
He shrugged. “No idea, but whatever it is, I want it all destroyed.”
“Do you think we should go back to New Eden? We could see if Sal will give us the transport back.” Sabine joined in the conversation. Ally had almost forgotten that she was sitting with them.
Ally shook her head. “We shouldn’t risk it. We don’t know that Sal is in charge right now. We still have a lot of enemies in New Eden. Sal spent time telling me all about their lifestyle, and it seems like it will take some time for their way of thinking to evolve.”
Sabine frowned. “A girl can hope.”
“We can’t be too far now,” Luke said. “At least we didn’t lose the transport half way through.”
“How are you going to get back to the City, Luke?” Sabine asked. “You only have a few days left before Heath goes to war.”
Ally groaned. “I forgot all about that.”
“I am holding on to my thoughts that Heath is more bark than bite. I think even he knows what an attack on the City would bring down on him, and Champaign.”
Ally thought of the people she had met in her short time there. “I hope you’re right.”
“Food’s up,” Max called out.
They ate their shares and set a portion aside for Stosh. They left some out to cool that they could then wrap up for meals on the road. After dinner Sabine and Ally laid out blankets around the fire. Sabine pulled hers directly next to Stosh’s and checked his wound before curling against his good side. Max laid down quietly and turned his back on the fire. He and Ally hadn’t spoken much since leaving New Eden, and Ally rotated through feeling relieved and concerned. She remembered what the transition to Exceptional felt like, except he wouldn’t have the Training Center to walk him through it.
Ally lowered herself onto her blanket and laid on her stomach. If she raised her head, she was looking right at the top of Luke’s head. As if he sensed her, he raised his own head and looked at her.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.
Slowly he reached a hand toward her, and without hesitation, she did the same. Their fingers locked in the middle and Ally laid her head down on the blanket. She closed her eyes and focused on the warmth from not just the fire next to her, but the fire working its way across the skin where Luke fingers touched hers.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
[ marnie ]
Every day they had a new group of prisoners to interrogate, and Marnie had to sit in on all of the meetings. So far they’d been mainly Rebels but a few were Ordinarys or Exceptionals that had committed larger crimes within Zone D.
Theft. Murder.
It was hard to imagine that people like this lived so close. When she was just five, two men in her Sector got into a fight over food rations. One man hit the other over the head with a rock and in the end, the injured man died. The soldiers dragged the attacker off and no one saw him again. Marnie imagined he first ended up here, but who knew what happened to him after that.
Her days were mainly the same. She would wake up and eat breakfast and stare out of the window for awhile. After a while Evan would come in and they would make small talk while they played card games. She learned that he had a mother, father, and two sisters, both younger. He lived in the barracks now, with the other soldiers, but was able to see them when the General granted him leave. They were also able to come and visit him. Right now he was on prisoner detail but he hoped to work his way up to gate patrol and then to the patrols that went into the abandoned parts of the city and fought off the Rebels.
“Guarding you is great and all,” he had told her. “But I need some action.”
Marnie had blushed at his words and his eyes had gone wide, realizing how his words might have sound. He blushed too.
Marnie couldn’t deny that Evan was cute but they came from very different worlds. Even if either one of them had interest, she doubted that a relationship like theirs would be encouraged or allowed.
Eventually lunch would be brought in and they would eat together. Then Evan would escort her down to the basement where she would be left to spend the rest of her afternoon and early evening helping the General with interrogations. She doubted that this many prisoners were brought in daily and wondered if the General had been waiting on an Exceptional with abilities like hers to come along before he completed his questioning. Much of the information she was gathering was more than enough to convict these prisoners. Only one had been innocent of the crimes he was charged with, and Marnie felt as though she had at least accomplished something good in that situation.
On her fourth day working with the General she asked if she could go outside to the courtyard in the mornings. Being cooped up in her small room was driving her insane, even if she had Evan to talk to. They were running out of topics and she was afraid that even he was growing bored.
His fast acceptance made her regret not asking sooner.
“So this is what the sun feels like,” she said, closing her eyes and holding her arms out to either side. She spun around once. “I almost forgot.”
Evan walked behind her, his hands clasped together in his required soldier stance. Marnie looked around the courtyard. A few workers were eating lunch at long tables and two soldiers walked side by side toward the building. The only other man outside was an older man leaning against the wall. His head was bowed and he appeared to be talking to himself.
“Who’s that?” she asked Evan, as though he would know everyone in the building.
Thankfully, he did.
“He’s kind of a prisoner and kind of a guest,” Evan said slowly.
“Ah. A kindred spirit,” Marnie said. “Let’s go meet him.”
Evan grabbed her arm. It was the first time he had really touched her. She looked down at his hand then up at him, and he took a step back.
“He’s a little strange,” he said.
“So? Maybe he thinks we’re strange.”
“It’s not that. He tells wild stories about coming from a northern city and there being monsters.”
“Monsters?” Marnie wondered if that meant Exceptionals.
“He was found with the rest of his group, about twelve Ordinarys, north of Zone D. Luckily our patrol found them before the Rebels did. They were all bruised and bloody and mumbling to themselves. The General interviewed him first and he went back and forth between telling his wild story about monsters and speaking gibberish. I think the rest of his group was too afraid to speak.”
Marnie watched the man. His lips were moving quickly and he was using one hand to count his fingers over and over again.
“What is the General doing with them?”
“They are staying here for now. They aren’t well enough to go live on their own yet, so the doctors are observing them and trying to figure it all out.”
“Why hasn’t the General brought them to me yet?”
Evan shrugged.
“Well. We could start now,” she said.
“But you have your cuffs on.”
“Don
’t pretend like you don’t have a key.” She raised an eyebrow at him.
He rolled his eyes and pulled his key card from his pocket.
“If the General finds out I did this…” He swiped it over the right cuff and they both deactivated.
A wave of thoughts entered her mind and she pushed them all away, trying to focus in on the man. She walked closer to him, stopping when she was just a few feet away.
“Hey,” she said.
He didn’t even spare her a glance.
She pursed her lips.
Hey, she sent mentally.
The man paused his counting and looked up, his eyes immediately meeting hers.
“Did you say something?” he asked.
She smiled and nodded.
Tell me what happened to you, she said.
A small smile played at the edge of his lips and he began to tell her a tale through his thoughts. When he was done, he looked back down at his hands are started to mumble and count.
She looked over at Evan.
“What did he say?” he asked.
She looked back at the man and then back at Evan. “Take me to the General.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
[ ally ]
Stosh slept for a full day and a half, and woke up very weak. They were in the clearing for four days before he could even stand, and another two days before they thought they could travel. Heath’s two week time limit had passed, and Ally kept telling herself over and over again that he would make the right choice.
On their second day, Ally and Luke had scouted for roads and town signs. Not only did they find a name that they could read on the map, but they found signs for Dallas as well, which Luke decided meant they were almost there.
“We’ll go slow,” Ally told Stosh as they were packing the supply bags. “If you feel like you need to rest, we can.”
“You could just leave me here,” Stosh said for the hundredth time. “Sabine and I would be fine. You could find the southern City and come back for us.”
Ally shot him a hard look. “For the last time, we are all staying together.”
