Rebel Bound

by Shauna E. Black

  He won’t look at me. “You and Mardy could still go back to Lincoln Shelter, if you want. Just tell Lucio that.”

  I frown. “Lucio said I was part of the team now. You can’t shut me out, Jate.”

  He laughs drily, finally turning. “I’d be an idiot to try that again. Ryanne’s right—you’re stubborn, Caelin. You're not what I expected when I brought you here.”

  “And just what did you expect?”

  “A scav who only looks out for themselves.”

  I bite my lower lip. I’m not sure whether to be offended by his words or not. “I’ve always looked after Mardy, but lately I guess ... I guess it just feels good to have more friends.”

  “I am your friend, Caelin.” He slides to the edge of the bed, placing his hands on his knees. A lock of dark curls hides one eye, and I want to brush it aside. The intensity in his electric blue eyes makes my breath come faster. “I hope you’ll always believe that, no matter what happens.”

  I wonder at his choice of words as I nod dazedly.

  “Come on.” He stands up, holding out a hand. “Lucio’s waiting for you.”

  I hesitate before taking his hand. As he helps me off the bed, I can hardly breathe, my heart is pounding so hard. Why does Jate always make my head swim like this? I need to get a grip on myself.

  I march ahead of him out the door until I realize I don’t know where I’m going. I have to wait for Jate to catch up.

  His smile is lopsided. “It’s this way.”

  He leads me to a room just inside the hotel exit to the empty corridor. I realize it’s the same door where Jate left us after Lucio gave Mardy the tiles. I’ve never seen it open before.

  Jate lets me in, and we step into a hotel room that’s been stripped of its normal furnishings. Instead of beds, there’s a big table in the center covered with papers and maps and lit by floor lamps that leave the ceiling of the room in shadow. Mismatched chairs are scattered around the edges of the table. All the chairs are empty except one. Lucio sits at the head of the table on the far side of the room, studying a piece of paper in front of him. He’s wearing glasses that he pulls off as soon as I step into the room.

  “Caelin! Thank you for coming.”

  Jate holds a chair out for me so I can sit down. My feet don’t quite touch the floor, so I fold them up under me.

  “You’ll stay, won’t you, Jate?”

  “If you want me to.”

  “I do.”

  Jate closes the door and sits in the chair next to me.

  Lucio twines his fingers together and leans forward. The lighting casts his eyes in shadow. “You’ve impressed me, Caelin,” he begins. “You’ve impressed me very much. When I first saw you take on those three scavs in that apartment building, I thought then that you were tough and might make a good asset to our community. But you’ve proven to be even more valuable than that. We need good people like you on our side.” He reaches across the table and places a hand over mine. “I want you to stay here with us, join our cause.”

  I stare down at his hand. Wrinkles are starting to show around the fingers, small age spots just beginning to blossom over the skin. “I guess I can help raid Coalition supplies. There’s a lot of people down here to take care of.”

  “That's just a cover,” Jate says.

  “It makes a good disguise, yes.” Lucio continues, “And it helps us feed and care for the army we’re gathering.”

  His reference to the Impartialists as an army sends a new chill through me. I guess it was always obvious that he was training an army, teaching Mardy and the others to fight, using high-tech weapons and armor. But I had assumed it was to keep the Coalition guards from retaliating whenever they raided supplies. I thought the end goal was making Dupont a comfortable shelter for as many scavs as they could fit down here. Now I wonder what’s really going on.

  Lucio watches me intently, as though reading my thoughts. “I can't tell you any more until I am certain that you are one of us. Can I be certain of you, Caelin?”

  I think about what Lucio told me regarding banding together and taking care of each other. The Impartialists took care of me and Mardy when they didn't have to, gave us medicine and clothes, food and water, and shelter. After helping Jate’s team at the theater and rescuing Ryanne, I believe I’ve started to return the favor. I realize that I feel like part of the group already, that I don't need to debate about it anymore. I say it out loud.

  “You can count me in. I want to be one of you.”

  Lucio grins, patting my hand. “Excellent! Tomorrow, we’ll make it official. I told you, Jate, loyalty is in her core. I’m putting her on your team. She’ll be a strong asset.”

  Jate’s mouth is a tight line. “Thank you, sir.”

  “What about Mardy?” I ask.

  “She’s already agreed to join us, just as you have.”

  My feelings are mixed on that, but I decide that if I’m going to take the plunge to be a member of this gang, then Mardy might as well come with me. Besides, Lucio has taken better care of her than I ever could.

  THE NEXT DAY COMES all too soon. I find myself sitting on the floor in the hallway outside the training room with at least twenty other people, staring at the closed doors. The cold of the concrete floor seeps into me, but it isn’t the only thing making me shiver.

  My arm itches inside the cast, but all my efforts to scratch it are in vain. I saw Gemma earlier, but she isn’t here to tend to me. She entered the training room a half hour ago with Lucio and the other sworn Impartialists.

  “What do you think the oath will be?” Mardy asks. She sits beside me, hugging her knees to her chest.

  Mardy was afraid to admit until early this PM that she had promised Lucio she would become an Impartialist. But once she discovered that I had made the promise too, she gushed about how excited she was, wondering what this big secret plan is and the role she’ll play in it. I think of the times I’ve been conned before, by Torres and others, and hope we’re not both being naïve again.

  Every few minutes, another person is admitted through the door into the training room. Their names are called, and they stand on shaking legs. The slamming of the door behind them reverberates through the tunnels like a gong. Sometimes the silence is broken by a scream, and I wonder what this oath ceremony entails. What are we getting ourselves into?

  “I feel so honored to be asked to join the Impartialists, don’t you?” Mardy talks faster when she’s nervous, and words have spilled out of her mouth nearly non-stop since breakfast. “I'm not exactly the strongest one of the new recruits. Deice says I have a long way to go before he’ll trust me with a gun. I thought for sure that they’d kick us out of here, say we’re no good to anybody and to go topside where we belong.”

  I haven’t told her about Ryanne and Jate’s attempt to put me back in Lincoln Shelter. I haven’t seen much of Jate since my meeting with Lucio, and even when I have seen him, he acts as though he’s trying to avoid me. Is he disappointed that Lucio offered to let me stay when Jate wanted me to leave?

  “But I’m so glad that didn’t happen!” Mardy continues. “I want to be an Impartialist so much, like Keldon and Ryanne! I want to make a difference in the world.”

  Someone comes out the door and calls Mardy's name. She looks as though she’s swallowed her tongue and squeezes my arm so tight that it cuts off my circulation.

  Finally, she climbs to her feet, trembling. “Wish me luck.”

  My mouth is too dry to do anything of the sort. The door closes behind her. My heart sinks into my toes. Why didn’t she tell me she’d come back? It’s not rational, since I’ll be going through that door in a few moments myself, but somehow I feel like I won’t see Mardy again. I was always the one who walked away when we lived topside. Now things are backward.

  I sit on the cold floor and drop my head to my knees. The others whisper quietly—some excited, some frightened. It’s like a river flowing around me, a river of sound. The voices echo off the cement walls, crea
ting a low murmur threaded with a high-pitched hum Keldon says has something to do with the acoustics. At least Mardy doesn’t scream.

  I don't hear my name called until someone near me nudges my shoulder. I look up. A woman beckons me from the doorway. Her face seems sad, compassionate. I wonder if I’m about to suffer horribly. I stand on legs of rubber and force my feet to move to the door.

  When I walk in, the mats are shoved against one wall, and the room is lit by candles. The smoke is a welcome change from the usual musty air. The room seems crowded, with all the Impartialists standing in a semi-circle around an open space in the center. Keldon said there were close to a thousand Impartialists. The number boggles my mind—not because I’ve never seen this many people before, but because they’re all working together for a common cause.

  I spot Ryanne’s friendly face in the press of people, and I give her a weak smile. I can see Mardy standing by Keldon. He has a hand on her elbow, as if supporting her, and her skin is pale, her expression dazed. I wonder what they did to her.

  Nolan and Valencia are there too, and Sloan. She stands with her arms across her chest, staring me down as if daring me to quit, to run away. In answer to her challenging expression, I raise my chin a little, marching confidently into the center of the circle. Lucio faces me, with Jate and Gemma next to him. He strides forward, meeting me in the center with a warm smile.

  “Caelin, I'm so pleased you decided to join us.” His voice echoes off the concrete walls. “Please kneel.”

  I awkwardly move to obey him. He places a hand on my shoulder. I keep my eyes down so he won’t see the fear in them. He wears leather shoes polished enough that I can almost see my reflection in them.

  “Caelin,” he says, raising his voice to carry to the crowd. “Do you promise to obey all my orders without question or reproach?”

  It’s too late to turn back now. My voice comes out in a croak at first, and I have to clear my throat to repeat myself. “Yes.”

  “Will you work for the good of the Impartialists and renounce your own desires, devoting yourself completely to our objectives?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you forgo all former ties, including friends and family, and pledge yourself to me as a devoted servant of Impartialism?”

  I hesitate. This is not a question I expected. I look up, scanning the faces around me until I find Mardy again. She tilts her head so I can see her behind the first row of people. Her eyes are filled with tears, her expression pinched with pain. But she nods.

  Lucio makes a small sound of annoyance. I glance up at him. There’s a slight frown marring his expression.

  “Will you forgo all former ties,” he repeats a little more forcefully, “including friends and family, and pledge yourself to me as a devoted servant of Impartialism?”

  I take a deep breath. I think about my new friends—Ryanne, Jate, Keldon. I have no other ties to renounce, except Mardy, and she’s joined the Impartialists as well. We’re in this together. There won’t ever be a time when I’ll have to choose between them.

  “Yes.”

  There seems to be a collective sigh as those in the crowd let out held breaths. Lucio takes his hand off my shoulder and addresses everyone.

  “You have witnessed Caelin's promises. Do you accept her as one of you?”

  The crowd answers in unison, almost as one voice. “Yes! She is one of us.”

  Lucio helps me to stand, and he’s smiling again. He motions to Gemma. She comes over with a couple of men. She’s holding some sort of device, like a thin gun with a glass chamber. The glass is fogged, and I can't make out what’s inside. I clench my teeth to keep from jerking away, running for the door. The men with Gemma grab my arms to hold me still.

  “Gemma will give you an implant,” Lucio says. “It will track your whereabouts so that we can rescue you, if you’re ever in danger.” I realize this is how Lucio knew where to find Jate during our escape from the Coalition soldiers. “It will also monitor your health and make it easier to administer medications you might need.” He smiles. “No more pills.”

  Gemma pulls down the collar of my shirt to expose my collarbone. She places the tip of her glass gun on my chest just above the heart. I can’t stop a whimper from escaping my lips, and I bite my tongue to keep from following it up with a scream.

  “With this implant, you can use our technology, unlock doors, decipher codes. I think you’ll find it very useful.”

  Gemma presses a button, and there’s an intense pinch under the barrel of her gun. My knees collapse, but the men holding me keep me upright. It’s over in a flash. Gemma gives my good shoulder a little pat, as though to apologize for the pain. Then she moves back to the edges of the circle with Lucio.

  The men drag me over to Ryanne. She grabs me around the middle and supports me until the strength returns to my legs. It doesn't take long. I'm surprised at how quickly the pain recedes. But when I touch the area, it’s tender, and I feel a cluster of small bumps. I wonder if it looks like the ring I noticed on Ryanne once.

  Others are called in. Lucio asks them to kneel, and they repeat the same oaths that I did, get injected with the same type of device that Gemma gave to me. Once everyone waiting in the hall has been admitted, Lucio steps into the center of the circle and addresses the crowd.

  “Now that you have joined us and we are one, I can explain the full objectives of the Impartialist movement. We are founded on principles of equality. We want to give everyone the luxurious privileges of the Undercity, not simply a chosen few. The Coalition allows Undercitizens to spend their time in pursuit of pleasure rather than working for the common good of all. Topsiders are forced to support this sloth by laboring in Coalition fields or scavenging, exposing them to harmful radiation. We Impartialists envision a better society, one in which everyone is equally responsible and equally rewarded.” I begin to catch the vision Lucio paints, and pride swells within my heart. I think Mardy and I made the right choice after all.

  “But,” Lucio continues, “we can’t create this wondrous utopia here in Dupont. It’s large, yes, but would only offer refuge to a fraction of topsiders. Beyond that, we cannot provide the safety and shelter these people need while we’re at odds with the current Coalition.

  “After the explosion, there were many more people living in this city. In the face of nuclear winter, the Coalition made the decision to move the population to safety underground. But as vast as the metro and other tunnels were, they could not house everyone. Rules were created, and you’ve all been affected by them.”

  I look around the room. Faces shine with fervor. Heads nod in agreement. I glance at Jate. He stares hard at Lucio, as though Jate is drowning and Lucio is the only one who can save him. I quickly look away before Jate catches me watching.

  Lucio begins to pace. “The Coalition refuses to relax these rules, even though the population has dwindled enough that I believe we would all fit comfortably in the Undercity. But we’re not good enough.” He stops and points at someone. “You’re not good enough.” Then at someone else. “You’re not good enough.” Then at me. “None of you is able to meet the stringent criteria for entrance into the Undercity. That’s why we must wrest power from those who do not deserve it, those who are unfeeling and uncaring, who will not concern themselves with the welfare of every person in this city, not just those who live underground. We fight for the good of all! We fight for the Undercity!”

  A roar follows his declaration. Fists pump energetically into the air. I find myself joining the frenzy, caught up in Lucio’s words, in the emotional power he exudes. But at the same time, my mind is reeling as I recognize the magnitude of his proposal. Take over the Undercity? He might as well command us to stop the sun! I’m not sure how we’ll accomplish such a spectacular feat, but I can finally see the wisdom in training scavs like me, young kids like Mardy, to fight. He’s making us stronger, preparing us to do the impossible. I feel a seed of determination grow within my core to prove myself worthy of his
trust. I’ll do what I can to bring about his vision of paradise.

  CHAPTER 20

  A few days later, I'm sitting in the training arena. I watch from across the room as Deice matches Mardy up with Sloan. He seems to trust me again now that I’ve taken the oaths, but my insides still clench. Sloan has not become any friendlier since our excursion topside. In fact, she seems even more hostile, if that's possible—bumping into me without apologizing as we pass each other, glaring at me from across the dining hall. I ignore her for the most part.

  I've taught Mardy some of my better moves, mostly what Ryanne calls cheating. It seems that the fighting skills I learned on the street are different from the more disciplined moves Deice teaches. But he hasn’t complained, as Mardy has noticeably improved.

  I finger the tiny bumps under my collarbone. The marks are in the shape of a hexagon with internal spokes, almost like a spider’s web. I studied it for a long time in the bathroom mirror following the oath ceremony. The skin is still a little tender, and the device feels foreign.

  “Eventually, you won't even know it's there,” Ryanne says as she comes up to me.

  I keep my eyes on Mardy. “Can he track our every move with these?”

  Ryanne is strangely quiet. “Only when we’re within range.”

  I'm distracted from the conversation as Mardy and Sloan begin their match. I realize that I'm gripping the edge of the seat, and I concentrate on relaxing my muscles. Mardy does better this time, circling Sloan, looking for an opening. But Sloan is prepared for her. She knows that I’ve been coaching Mardy, and Sloan is on her guard. Mardy fakes to the right, but Sloan doesn’t fall for it. Sloan attacks with a thrust on the left. Mardy grabs her arm, twisting it and following through with a punch to the collar bone. But Sloan brings her leg up and kicks Mardy in the back, sending her to the mat. I’ll have to tell Mardy to catch Sloan’s leg next time and put her off balance.

  Ryanne links arms with me. “Mardy’s doing great. I don’t think you have to watch over her like a hawk anymore. Come with me. I want to show you something.”