“Dout.”
Olga muttered from the side of her mouth, “That’s encouraging.”
“It’s an underground community,” Gracie continued. “We can’t compete with the larger settlements around us, so we live an undercover existence.”
“Like snakes in the grass?” Olga said.
Gracie continued, “But anyway, you’ll all get to see it soon.” She leaned forwards, “So tell me, how did you all meet?”
William turned his palms to the sky. What about the settlement they saw earlier? What did she have to tell them about the ruined city they were about to go through? He opened his mouth to challenge her, but Matilda cut him off.
“William and I met at school when we were tiny.”
It took him back. Back to their first classroom. Back to their childhood when he dreamed of being a protector. When he looked forward to national service. He smiled. “And I noticed you from the very second I saw you.”
Matilda blushed. “No you didn’t. You called me names and pulled my hair.”
Clearing his throat and straightening a pretend tie, William said, “Those were my finest moves. You should consider yourself lucky to have experienced them.”
“Is that what you call it?” Matilda said.
“Well, I’m sorry.” William cleared his throat and dropped his gaze. “But what I wanted to say is if love at first sight is a thing, it hit me with both barrels the day I met you.”
“You were five,” Matilda said.
William shrugged. “It took me a while to work it out.”
Olga made retching noises and Matilda blushed.
“I met Max, William, and Matilda during national service in Edin,” Olga said.
“National service?” Gracie tilted her head to one side. “What’s that?”
Olga snorted an ironic laugh. “Something that seemed far more important than it was. None of that bullshit mattered after Edin fell.”
“How did Edin fall?” Gracie said.
“Hugh,” Olga said. When only the wind answered her, she added, “William and Matilda had left Edin because they thought they had nothing left. Hugh found out Artan was still—”
“We don’t need to tell that story,” Matilda said.
“No.” Artan leaned forwards, the light from the fire highlighting his brow and casting a shadow across his eyes. “We do.”
Matilda sighed and leaned back.
“Can I?” Olga said.
“Bit late to be asking,” Matilda said.
Olga drew a deep breath in through her nose. “When Hugh found out you were still alive, he left Edin to find William and Matilda. They thought you were dead; otherwise they never would have left.”
“And he left the gate open?” Artan said.
Olga nodded. “You guessed it.”
“Shit!”
“We were going to tell you, Artan,” Matilda said.
“That Edin fell because of me?”
“Because of Hugh. He was stupid, and he left the gate to the national service area open. He let the diseased in, not you.”
“But he wouldn’t have done it were it not for me.”
“That was his choice,” Matilda said. “You had no control over that.”
As much as William wanted to say something to diffuse the situation, he had no words. Max came to the rescue when he said, “My entire family turned.”
Artan had been leaning into the semicircle, glaring at Matilda. He pulled back into the shadows.
“I had to end them all,” Max went on, telling the floor rather than those around him. Those who’d been with him in Edin knew the story, but Dianna, Hawk, and Gracie watched on, Gracie with her mouth hanging wide. “I had to kill every one of them, and now, when I’m surrounded by diseased, I always see their faces.”
Cyrus had already told them as much, which Max didn’t know. Olga, who sat beside the traumatised boy, reached over to put her arm around him. But he shifted away. Since Cyrus’ death and his time in the Asylum, he’d withdrawn from everyone.
William jumped when Dianna cleared her throat. Her voice soft, she said, “I grew up in Umbriel. Rita and Mary raised me.”
The slightest smile cut across Hawk’s strong features at the mention of the two women.
“They were the best two mums I could have ever wished for.”
Hawk laughed. “I felt like they were mums for the entire community. The hunters might have provided the food, but that place would have gone to shit were it not for them.” His smile fell. “I wonder what they’re doing now.”
“Probably the same as always.” Dianna laughed this time. “They’re probably keeping that place running. Keeping everyone in check.”
Gracie reached across and laid her hand over the back of Dianna’s. “Who are your real mum and dad?”
Dianna shook her head. “I don’t know. Rita and Mary. But as far as biological parents go, I’m guessing Grandfather Jacks is my father.”
“But he wanted to …” William said.
Hawk raised an eyebrow. “You sound surprised.” His delivery turned several degrees colder as he transitioned from question to accusation. “After all we saw.”
William went back to seeing the boys in the cage. The flames in front of him blurred with his loss of focus. He spoke in a voice he recognised as his own, even if he didn’t connect to the delivery. “Yeah, I suppose.” They’d gone on too long. The world returned to a sharper focus. He lifted one side of his bottom and pulled the map in the plastic sleeve from his back pocket. He spread it out on the floor in front of them. “Gracie, where is your community on here?”
“I can’t show you. It’s a secret.”
“Well, that’s a recommendation to go if ever I’ve heard one,” Olga said.
“But if you come with me, I can show you. Everyone in Dout has sworn to keep the place secret. It’s the only way we’ve survived as long as we have. We live in the shadows of larger cities, and we move in the darkness. What were your plans when you came through the funnel?”
“We were heading south,” William said, drawing a line with his finger across the map, tracing where the wall bisected the land.
“Anything more specific than that?”
“South of the wall.”
Gracie laughed. But when no one else joined in, her face fell. “You’re being serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, well, one step at a time.”
“We’ve waited long enough,” William said. “So how about we take that first step? How about you tell us what that city on the edge of these ruins is all about?”
“I wanted to make sure you’d had one last rest before I told you about them.”
“We’ve rested. We’re ready to hear it.”
While Matilda, Max, and Dianna watched on, the others nodded their agreement with William.
Gracie straightened her back and filled her lungs, her chest rising with her inhale. “Okay. I suppose there’s never going to be a good time.”
Chapter 3
William sat with the others, waiting for Gracie to speak. She stood up, the crackle and hiss of the fire highlighting her silence. The flames rippled in the wind. She walked to a large window looking out across the city. It must have had glass in it at some point, but no traces of it remained.
William followed her over, and one by one, the others joined. Matilda came to William’s side, slipping her hand into his.
Almost every building in this place stood taller than any William had seen. Many of them challenged his beliefs of what he’d thought possible. “It’s a wonder none of them fall down.”
When Gracie turned to William, he said, “In Edin, a structure any taller than a few stories would collapse. We built a few larger structures, but lots of families died beneath the weight of falling rubble when the design of their homes grew too ambitious.”
“Steel helps,” Gracie said.
The empty window funnelled the wind. William clamped his jaw agains
t its chill and shivered. “I can see.”
“So, this is the last part of the journey,” Gracie said. “One of the shortest parts too.”
Olga turned her palms to the sky, her face twisting as she spat her question. “But?”
Thankfully, Gracie didn’t bite. “But it’s probably the trickiest part.”
Matilda leaned closer to the ginger girl. “Trickier than dealing with a horde of diseased with an injured leg?”
Dianna had turned pale. “Trickier than getting out of the asylum?”
Gracie’s silence offered little comfort.
Any trace of daylight had died on the horizon, the silhouettes of buildings dominating the old city’s skyline. Sentries from a bygone era. They now served as a memory of what had once been. But they held much more. They had a new role in this new world. They were shelter from the hard wind, and they created shadows for an enemy’s ambush attack.
“I know I keep focusing on the buildings,” William said, “but why are they so tall?”
“This is how people used to live. Why build out when you can build up? It’s a much more efficient use of space, and in a time when cities were expanding, it made sense. Even now, with all the walled communities, growing a city’s footprint is a logistical nightmare.”
National service flooded William’s mind. A glance at Matilda, he said, “Tell us about it.”
William only realised his jaw hung open when Matilda urged it closed with a gentle press against the bottom of his chin. “You okay?” she said.
“I was just imagining …”
The others all turned his way.
“I mean, we saw what the diseased did to Edin. Imagine what it did to this place? Imagine being trapped in one of those towers with the diseased coming in on the ground floor.”
Max stared through the window like the rest of them. Tears stood in his glazed eyes.
“What were those three enormous towers used for, Gracie?” William said.
“People used to work in them.”
“Huh?” The faces of those around William mirrored his shock. “What useful work can you do in a place like that?”
A slight smile played with the left side of Gracie’s mouth. “Now that’s a question I’m not sure I can answer. When this city was thriving, people used to pack themselves into trains and cars and busses—”
“What are they?” Olga said.
“Modes of transport.” Gracie shrugged. “Vehicles that moved people around the city. So the people would travel en masse to their places of work. Buildings like those three towers. They’d sit down all day, talking to people, and making money from things that didn’t exist. They earned a living off industries like insurance.”
Max’s focus returned. “What’s insurance?”
“If someone hurts themselves, they get money. And if they hurt someone else, the other person gets money.”
“So, many people earned a living by hurting themselves?”
Gracie smiled and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It was pointless then, and it’s even more pointless now. Times were different. Those in power were overweight, had health conditions, and wore suits. Their weapons of choice were laptops and briefcases.”
“Laptops?” Olga said. “Briefcases?”
“Silly little lockable boxes with handles,” Gracie said. “Ridiculous and impractical things. Anyway, we’re getting off track. We don’t have time for a history lesson. My point is, the three tallest towers belonged to an insurance company. They were a big deal at one point.”
“Hence the phallic monuments celebrating their status?” Matilda said.
Gracie rolled her eyes. “Exactly.”
Artan, whose shoulders had remained slumped from when he’d been told about Hugh leaving the gate open, sighed. “It all seems so redundant now.”
“So what about the city on the outskirts?” William said. “The one we saw when out hunting?” He turned to Matilda and Max while pointing away from them. “There’s a city over there. Just over the brow of that hill. We can’t see it because of the lay of the land. It’s surrounded by a thick steel wall like the funnel.”
“And it’s not the only one,” Gracie said.
William spun around so fast he forgot to let go of Matilda’s hand and tugged her around with him. “Huh?”
“There’s another city of similar size on the other side of the ruins. They call themselves Fear”—she pointed to her left—“and Fury.” She pointed right.
“Defensive much?” Olga said. “They should have just called themselves fuck off and leave us alone.”
Even Max smiled at the comment.
Gracie snorted a laugh, and Olga scowled at her. “We call them Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”
Mumbling beneath her breath, Olga said, “I prefer my versions.”
“So do I.”
“I’m not your friend!” Olga’s outburst forced Gracie back a step.
Artan manoeuvred himself between the two. “So what’s their story?”
After a lingering glare at Olga, Gracie said, “Everyone used to live in this city in front of us. But things changed when the diseased came. Capitalism—the way they ran their society—died. Suddenly no one had any use or any skills. They turned on one another. First, it started with fights in the streets. It soon escalated into an all-out war. There were too many people, in too small a space, with too much time on their hands. Their natural division fell along lines of class.”
“Class?” Matilda said.
All the while, the city wailed and howled as if nature tried to revive it.
The right side of Gracie’s face bulged from where she pushed her tongue into her cheek. “Wealth is probably the easiest way to describe it. Wealth and privilege. The rich went one way and took their armies and politicians with them. The workforce went the other. At first they moved to either side of the city, a divide between them. A strip of no-man’s-land. But what neither one knew was the other had been building a safer place to live on the outskirts of town on their side. A walled city into which they could retreat. Apparently they were virtually mirroring one another in how they built their communities.”
“Fear and Fury?” William said.
“Right.”
“And who remained in the city?”
“No one. The strip of no-man’s-land grew wider and wider until that’s all the city was. They’d built their defences, they had an empty city between them, and ever since then—”
A loud boom and flash of fire in the distance. They all jumped back. All of them save Gracie.
Olga’s eyes widened, and her face turned puce. She pointed out of the window. “What the fuck was that?”
Although Gracie stared out in the explosion’s direction, the light died as quickly as it had appeared. “Probably another battle between the two communities. They’ve both left the city, but the fighting hasn’t stopped.”
“Are they trying to get control of the place?” Matilda said.
“No.” Gracie shook her head. “It works for both of them if neither has control. They’re fighting because they’re worried if they don’t, the other side will perceive them as weak and try to take their city. It’s a war without end, and many people lose their lives because of it. Each city sends small groups of fighters out to humiliate and dominate the other in the hope it will scare them into never attempting a full-on war. Those in the army are cannon fodder for the cause. Getting caught by the enemy is the worst way to die.”
“So why do people fight in the war?” Matilda said. “Why don’t they just say no?”
“Like we said no to national service?” William said.
Olga stepped closer to Gracie and looked her up and down. “And you’re confident you can get us through to the other side?”
“We rarely lose people on our way through the ruins, and we pass through here often. This is where we come when we want to stock up on our supplies of meat. I’ve done this run plenty of times.”
“And even yo
u got caught and ended up in Grandfather Jacks’ community,” Olga said.
“That was the nomads. When we were out hunting, a horde of diseased split our group, and I ran into the nomads. I was a fool to trust them.”
“Like we’re fools to trust you?” Her balled fists on her hips, Olga stepped so close to Gracie they were nearly touching one another.
Gracie shrugged. “That’s for you to decide. I can only tell you what my intention is. You need to choose if you trust that. I want to get home. If you come with me, you will be welcome in my community and can stay for as long as you like. Dad will be grateful for how you’ve helped me get away from Grandfather Jacks.”
Before Olga could speak again, William said, “And if we go with you, when’s the best time to do it?”
“We should go now,” Gracie said. “Matilda and Max are much better and ready for the journey. And we’re safer at night. It’s the best time to move through the city.”
“Like that explosion just proved!” Olga rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I’ve been away from my family for too long now.” Gracie turned to face the city again. “Whatever you decide, I’m going back home. If you’re coming with me, I need you to listen to me and follow my guidance.”
William threw a hard glare at Olga, who closed her mouth and stepped back a pace.
“So make your mind up,” Gracie said. “Are you coming or not?”
Chapter 4
William stepped through the doorway last, leaving the ruined house behind as he joined the others. For the first time in the two weeks they’d been staying there, they exited towards the towers and blocks rather than with their backs to them. Sure, they’d only gotten a few feet closer, and they’d seen this and more from the first-floor window, but they’d stepped into a new world. Jezebel in one hand, he rested her shaft against his right shoulder to help him bear the weight of her heavy axe head. For what good she’d do in the tight and dark streets …
A tower block to their right remained mostly intact save for the windows. The wind howled through all the open spaces, playing it like a vast ocarina. This old city might have been a graveyard, but it showed William enough. If only he could have seen it in its day. It must have been magnificent.
Beyond These Walls | Book 8 | Between Fury & Fear Page 2
