by Jess Petosa
“Ally, what’s wrong?” Sabine asked. She ran up and put her hands on Ally’s arms, rubbing them up and down.
“It’s stupid, but I didn’t get to say goodbye,” she sniffed.
Sabine’s mouth popped open and then she pulled Ally into a hug. “Oh Ally, I’m sorry. I would be upset too.”
Ally just nodded into Sabine’s shoulder, letting her tears roll down her cheeks and into the fabric of Sabine’s shirt. They stood like that for a few minutes until Ally finally pulled away. She wiped the wetness from her cheeks and ran her fingers through her hair.
“We should get moving while we still have a lot of daylight left. Who knows how long it will take to find something, anything, that will tell us where we are,” Ally said at she walked back to the transport.
“How about we all sit up front this time, I think we can all easily fit. I was trying to organize the packs and the storage a bit better, but that was a lost cause once we started swerving,” Sabine said. “And this way we can all be together.”
“I’d like that,” Ally said.
It took them only five minutes to find a road, but three hours to find a town that they could find on the map. They had driven through several towns on the road they were traveling, but none had anything they could find on the maps, and all of the signs were either fallen or the words had completely worn off. This town seemed larger than the others they had driven through.
“This almost seems like a city,” Sabine had said as they drove in. “See that larger building in the distance. But it is nowhere near as big as the others.”
Ally nodded. “There’s a sign. Let’s pull over and look on the map.”
They unrolled the map and set it on Sabine’s lap, since she was seated in the middle. They found Zone D and then searched around it.
“Okay, a city that starts with an O. O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A. It looks like there is something that comes after it, but at least that is a start.” Ally ran her finger west of Zone D but didn’t come across anything that seemed close.
“Here it is,” Stosh said. He had been moving his finger north. “Oklahoma City.”
“Of course we went north,” Ally laughed. It was as though she was being pulled back to the northern City, back home.
“Where is your reference map from the General, the one with the occupied towns,” Sabine asked.
Ally unrolled it and placed it near the other one, quickly finding this new city. “It looks like we passed three of the towns on the way here. If this big road is the one we were on, then we drove through one of them.”
Sabine nodded. “The people could live on the outskirts. Or could have been hiding, or maybe they are gone. Who knows. Do you want to go back?”
Ally nodded. “I know it seems counterproductive, but I really want a chance to talk with all of the leaders from these towns. This won’t work if we don’t get everyone on board.”
“Then let’s do it,” Stosh said. “This one looks the furthest south. We can go there first, then circle back around to these other two.”
“That should work,” Ally said. “But first, let’s eat something. We should be able to be at the first town by night fall. We can camp just outside and approach in the morning. I imagine they’ll receive us better in the light.”
They all agreed and climbed into the back of the transport to eat. The General had supplied them with eight large barrels of gas for their trip, which he said would fill up their tank twice each. Looking at them, Ally realized just how bad their crash could have been. She didn’t have much experience with gas exploding until she had watched movies with Luke, but she knew that it wasn’t a pretty sight and didn’t leave those involved with much of a chance of living.
They had a small meal of dried beef and crackers even though they were all pretty hungry. Ally wanted to make sure they had enough food for a long trip. It was clear that they would need to end their journey in the northern City no matter what. Eventually they would need more supplies and she had no plans for going back through the Rebels any time soon.
It took them a little over two hours to get to their destination. Now that they knew where they were, they could use the General’s detailed map to get them to the first town with ease. His map included some of the blocked roads they had gone around earlier, and showed them easier routes. Ally estimated that it was around dinner time when they were within a few miles.
“Let’s eat and set up camp. We can head into town in the morning,” she said.
They made a small fire in a clearing and set up the large tent that the General had given them. He had actually given them three but they felt safer with all of them together. It was making Ally anxious to know that they were out here with out any Exceptionals, and possibly Rogues wandering around. She hadn’t dwelled on the thought too much yet, but now that they had stopped and she could take a few moments to let her mind settle, it was weighing heavily on her.
“What are you thinking?” Stosh asked.
“Huh?” Ally responded.
“You are stabbing the wood in that fire with a vengeance. I know you have something on your mind,” he said. He had managed to catch two rabbits in the woods and was currently skinning them on the ground. With pots, gallons of water, and some fresh veggies from Zone D… they were going to cook a stew.
“Every time we’ve traveled in the Wilderness we’ve had an Exceptional with us. Our first trip we had me, and this most recent trip we had Luke. Now we have no one. What happens if Rogues come after us? We may have weapons, including the darts with the cure in them, but they all have powerful abilities.”
Stosh had finished skinning the rabbit and was beginning to cut out the meat.
“We have yet to see any Rogues this far south, so let’s hope most of them have been killed off, or just aren’t headed in this direction. If they do come, I say we put up a hell of a fight.”
Ally laughed. “I don’t plan to do anything else.”
Sabine screamed in the transport and they both stopped their work abruptly. Stosh dropped the rabbit in the dirt and took off running, Ally close behind him. Stosh made an almost Exceptional leap into the back of the truck. Sabine was on her knees on the floor of the transport, clutching her hand.
“What happened?” Ally yelled as she slid to Sabine’s side.
Sabine seemed to be in shock. She wasn't speaking, crying, or doing much of anything except staring at her seemingly healthy hand with wide eye.
“Ally.” Stosh said in almost a whisper.
She looked over at Stosh, who had bent down to pick a box off the floor. He held it up and Ally felt her stomach drop to the floor.
“Luke must have put that in a pack as a last resort,” she said to no one in particular.
In Stosh’s hand was was a box that, last Ally had seen it, had held syringes filled with a serum used to turn people Exceptional. The same serum that had turned Max. The same serum that had killed Lilla. Sabine must have poked herself with the injector.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Ally said to Sabine. “You’ll be just fine. I promise.”
Sabine’s shock broke. “Don’t promise me that. You can’t. You would have promised Lilla the same had you known.”
Ally didn’t respond. Sabine was right. She noticed the syringe on the floor, sitting up against the wall. She picked it up.
“It didn’t inject all of the serum. That could be a good thing,” Ally said.
“Or bad,” Sabine responded.
“Stop.” Stosh said abruptly. “We aren’t doing this. Not now.”
Ally took the box from him and placed the syringe back in. It should have been secure, but the box must have opened and the syringe must have fallen out during their crash.
Sabine still sat on her knees, holding her hand.
Stosh leaned his forehead against the side of the transport, on the verge of losing it.
Ally didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say.
&nbs
p; Nothing.
She climbed out of the transport quietly and headed back toward the fire, kneeling down to brush the dirt off the rabbit and continue on the stew. They had to continue on, there was no other choice.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
[ ally ]
Sabine lost consciousness an hour later, and they made her as comfortable as possible in a sleeping bag in the transport. Stosh slept silently by her side, his arm wrapped around her torso and his head on her shoulder. She just looked as though she was sleeping, and that was how Ally believed her to be.
Ally was taking the first watch. She sat on the back of the transport, using a small flashlight Zone D had supplied to look over the map. The fire smoldered to the right of her, the remaining wood giving off a slight orange glow.
Tomorrow they would enter the first town. This meeting would set a precedent for the rest of the trip. She was nervous, but knew it was what needed to be done. She went over the plan in her head. She and the General had come up with terms, ones that Zone D could agree on.
Ally ran over the words over and over, hoping for an uneventful night so they could all get some rest.
Early the next morning Ally and Stosh didn’t speak as they ate a breakfast of leftover stew, heated over a new fire. They stared at the flames in silence, listening as the wilderness around them came alive with the sounds of birds and animals rustling through the trees.
Once Ally had taken her last bite of stew she looked up at her brother.
“How are we going to do this?” she asked.
“Hm?” Stosh responded, his focus set on the fire.
“Are you going to stay here with Sabine? Should we drive the transport and hope we have a good explanation for the unconscious girl in the back. Plus, I’m not sure what we’ll do if they try to take the transport from us.”
“We go together,” Stosh said. “Until Sabine wakes up, I don’t think we have any other choice.” He stood and dumped the remainder of the stew on the fire. The small amount of wood they had used sizzled and popped.
Ally watched him walk back to the transport. She was worried about her brother, more than she had been before, even when he was dying of infection. An infection he had overcome, but she wasn’t sure about a broken heart. She had come close to a broken heart after she had left the northern City, but then she had at least known that Luke was still alive. There was a chance that they could still be together.
None of them knew the chances for Sabine, but Ally had to believe it would turn out okay. She grabbed her bowl and headed back to the transport, throwing it into an open box near the door. Stosh was seated next to Sabine’s unmoving body, running his fingers through her short, red hair.
Ally closed the doors tight, hoping that Stosh at least had the sense to lock them from the inside. She had decided against locking from the outside in case something happened to her and they needed more than one option for an exit. The hatch above wasn’t easily accessible to Stosh, let alone Stosh with an unconscious Sabine.
Driving the transport while trying to follow the map proved slow going, but it was only fifteen minutes before Ally pulled up to what she believed to be the town the shown on the map. The street she entered on seemed deserted. The road was broken up and blocked in some parts, and the buildings left were crumbling. She made a left turn and started to explore, hoping that she would happen upon the inhabitants on her own, and safely.
Three streets over, she caught a blur of movement to the left. A little boy ran into the bushes, disappearing from view. Ally stopped the transport and turned the engine off. The boy was a spotter, he had to be. She wouldn’t need to go to the townspeople, they would come to her.
She was right. It took what felt like forever, but eventually they came to her.
They came to her in the form of five grown men armed with a variety of weapons, from a large, wooden club to a small, black gun. Ally was leaning against the transport, Stosh by her side. They tried to appear harmless, their arms tucked by their sides and smiles on their face.
The leader of the group was immediately apparent as one of the men took lead and raised a gun at them.
“This town is claimed,” he said to them, his voice drawn out like the people of New Eden, but much cleaner.
“We aren’t here to stay,” Ally said. “We are here with a message from Zone D, as well as the Northern City.”
Ally and the General had decided it would be best to mention both cities to the towns, and definitely Zone D since it was closest.
The man’s hard expression and stiff demeanor faltered for just a moment.
“The Northern City, heh?” he asked. He spoke as though he knew of it.
“Go on,” he said to them, motioning with his gun.
“We’d like to discuss this somewhere more comfortable if possible, and with your town leader,” Ally said.
The man looked toward the back of the group and one of the men nodded. He stepped forward, letting the club he was holding drop to his side.
“The name’s Kirk,” he said. “I’m the leader of this town.”
Ally found it interesting that he had hidden himself at first. She wasn’t sure what it said about him and his leadership.
“Ally,” she said, stepping forward. “This is my brother Stosh. We have another friend in our transport but she is sick and currently incapable of being present.”
The formal talk felt so odd to Ally, but she had practiced it over and over in her mind. She needed to seem older than a teenager, and wise enough to sway century-old standards and practices of these towns.
Kirk eyed her carefully, his eyebrows furrowing. “You follow us in that vehicle. Bon will ride with you, but first… we check the back.”
The man with the gun stepped forward and Ally motioned toward the transport and nodded at Stosh. Stosh jogged to the back of the transport and opened the doors. Kirk and the remaining men approached slowly and peered in. All they would see was Sabine’s limp body still wrapped up in the sleeping bag.
It seems that the sight was enough for Kirk because he nodded at Stosh and walked back to the front of the transport. Ally took her place as the driver, and Bon slid into the passenger seat. He didn’t speak, or smile, but his appearance reminded her of the people of Champaign. She sighed inwardly, glad not to encounter another group like New Eden.
Kirk and the men walked to either side of the front of the transport as Ally coasted with them. They led her a few blocks down the street they were on, and then they turned left and continued a few blocks. The buildings held more shape the further they went, and soon enough the houses were whole and taken care of, and people roamed the streets. There were sporadic gardens and clothes hanging from lines strung between the old light poles.
“Welcome to Hope Town”.
“Thank you,” Ally responded, truly thankful. She felt comfortable as they drove further in, and more confident in her mission. This was just the type of town they needed help from when moving forward with her mission.
The townspeople stopped to stare at their procession, more in awe of the transport than anything else. Ally doubted they had any of their own, at least of this size. They stopped in front of a clearing in the middle of town. It was strange, seeing this small wilderness piece amongst the buildings, and it brought back fond memories of the Northern City, of one of the first times she had opened up to Luke.
She turned off the transport and climbed down. Bon followed suit and met her at the other side, his hand still clutching the gun closely and his finger never far from the trigger. Stosh joined them and leaned toward Ally.
“We can’t leave Sabine in there alone,” he said lowly.
Ally nodded. “I can handle this alone.”
“I don’t like this,” Stosh said. “It feels too… perfect.”
“This was how Champaign was, remember? I’ll be okay. Just stay with Sabine.” She patted her brother on the arm and turned her attention back to Kirk.
Ally nodded. Her only hope had been that he would trust her enough to bring her to town, and he had. That was more than enough. He led her down a cleared path and to an old wooden bench. He held his hand out.
“Ladies first.”
Ally smiled and sat, waiting as Kirk took a seat next to her. The remaining men scattered slightly, wandering just out of earshot.
“So, it’s Ally, correct?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“What is this message you bring from Zone D, and the Northern City?”
His blue eyes were pensive. He had at least twenty years on Ally, but was still handsome, with dark hair peppered with silver, and a thick beard. He was wearing somewhat clean jeans and a black shirt that had the sleeves intact.
“Where do I begin?” Ally said with a slight laugh. So much had happened that she still had trouble believing her life had taken the path she was about to tell. She tried to summarize the beginning of her journey the best she could, starting with the day she met Luke and her time in the City, and moving into her time at Champaign.
“Finding the Southern City was supposed to be an end goal for me, it always had been once I decided to leave the Northern City. But after jumping over that wall, I started to change. The people around me changed. I met new friends in Champaign and had to deal with my change into an Exceptional as well as the appearance of the Rogues. I tried to cling to my end goal, and despite several setbacks, I finally made it to the Southern City… or Zone D as it is called.”
“Somewhere in my journey a new end goal started to form inside of me, and it grew and molded itself before I even realized what was happening. I reached a point where I knew that staying in Zone D wasn’t going to be enough. What was the point of finding a new City to live in if the threats are the same? Something needs to be done.”
Kirk had listened to her intently, never seemed uninterested or ready to protest. He pinched his beard between his thumb and pointer finger. “What are you proposing?”
