by H. J. Lawson
The girls move towards the rows of open seats reserved for the Bazis and Hosts. We are going to be seated around the Chancellor and his wife as their personal jewels.
In an unthinking state, I follow. Madison walks behind me.
Here, take this seat, Skylier, Dax’s thoughts drift into mine.
I sit down in the seat in front of Dax as he told me to, unable to accept that I’m going to have to sit here through this. I can’t.
Oh Dax, you have to get Lowell out of here… they are going to kill him. Xander told me.
I know… I know… but I don’t know how. I spin around to face Dax. I can see the guilt in his face as my eyes glaze over. I’m sorry, he mouths.
A gasp of acknowledgement that Lowell is going to die escapes from my lips. I lower my head in my lap, trying to make myself believe this isn’t going to happen.
Skylier, we have to get you out of here. Dax mind says.
My mind pauses.
Skylier?
Xander told me how they will kill him: they will lash him until he’s unconscious, and then slit his ankles and wrists until he bleeds to death.
I’m sorry, Skylier, but we have to get you out of Purenet, Dax mind says.
Xander has a message for you, I tell Dax, I hate the voice of Xander’s mind running through mine, but even more than that I hate the words which he says.
If you try to take me, Xander will do the same to my family.
I lower my head into my lap, trying to block out Xander’s words, but the more I try, the clearer his voice is.
I have one month, I tell Dax, one month…
After that the implant will take place and Xander’s baby will be growing inside of me … you have less than one month to stop this nightmare from becoming reality and save our family.
The music in the stadium blocks out any more thoughts, which I’m grateful for. It steals Dax’s pleads to escape with him and Xander’s torture threats.
The relief from the thoughts doesn’t have a chance to lighten my heavy head before Xander and Shristi walk into the stadium. After a moment of sickening cheering from the crowd, it falls silent as Xander lowers his hands.
Xander and his wife, Shristi, stand in the middle of the stadium, reveling in their control over the Sanction.
The crowd cheers at the sight of them
“Skylier, it’s Lowell,” Madison says, hesitating with disbelief. Her hand rests on top of mine.
All I can do is nod.
Guilt weighs me down as I see Lowell walking into the Stadium surrounded by guards. It feels like demons have gripped hold of my stomach and want to drag me away for torture. I wish they would kill me instead of Lowell. The scars on his face are a testament that the punishment began before he was sentenced.
Xander begins to address the waiting audience eager to listen to his foul words.
Chapter Twenty
Dax
Mother taps me and says something, but over the cheers from the crowd it's impossible to hear her. I can only guess it's something about Shristi’s dress, or how handsome Xander looks … like I really want to hear that.
They stand in the middle of the arena, both smiling and waving, glowing in their moment.
Xander lowers his hands and the crowd falls silent. He smiles at his wife. Then he raises his hands and the crowd cheers again. Xander’s head tilts back as he laughs, eating the power up.
“He’s good … too good,” my father’s voice uncomfortably drifts into my head. He is scared of Xander’s power.
Xander lowers his hands once again, and the crowd stops cheering. “People of Purenet, I would like to thank my father and mother for allowing us to present the ceremony today. Please give them a round of applause.”
Xander joins the crowd in clapping their hands. My father rises to his feet and waves to everyone, then takes his seat again.
“Today we bring awful news,” Xander continues to the sounds of ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’. He paces back and forth, leaving Shristi standing on her own, tapping her finger on her crossed arms.
“Yesterday, there was an attempt on my life,” he says dramatically. The crowd begins to mumble to each other. “People came into our beautiful Sanction and tried to kill me!”
The crowd grows more restless, and Xander’s voice gets louder. “Purenet, we will not stand for this betrayal … may you rise and be united with me!”
The people immediately jump to their feet, cheering Xander’s name.
“Let the people see them!” Xander orders.
I stand up and crane my neck to see two guards bringing out Lowell and Reznor. Their faces are cut up, and they look as though they have already been punished.
“Be seated,” Xander orders the excited crowd. They obey and fall silent in anticipation. I remain standing, staring down at Xander.
“You animal … leave him alone! It's me you wanted and you have me,” Skylier mentally pleads.
“Too late, my little Host.” Xander smiles toward us.
The guards bring Lowell and Reznor closer to Xander. He looks them up and down as though they are rotting food.
“People of Purenet, we are fair people. Today you will decide their fate,” Xander announces. Then he raises his finger. “Just remember our rules—attempted murder on an Untouchable receives the highest punishment … Death.” He is giving them no choice really; if they save the prisoners, then they are going against the rules.
A murmur of “kill them” begins to travel around the arena. Shristi takes the microphone from Xander.
“Kill them,” she softly whispers. Then her voice gets louder and louder, and Xander joins in … as does everyone else.
“Save them …” Skylier’s mind pleads. “Save them!”
Mother and Father chant “kill them,” and people begin to stamp their feet on the ground to the sound of cheers.
Someone in the crowd lets out a blood-curdling scream of pain. Then another person from the other side of the arena. My eyes dart around to see where the noise is coming from.
There’s another scream. Quickly I turn … the sound of agony is coming from my father! A knife is sticking out of his chest, with the Bazi’s hands still wrapped around the handle. She pulls it out and stabs him again and again. Crimson blood flows over his pure white jacket.
The arena turns to pandemonium as people start to run away, pushing one another as they scramble out of the arena.
“Dax … help me,” my father moans.
Now is our chance.
“Skylier, come with me,” I beg.
“No, go get our uncle, Otis … build the army and come back for me and our family,” Skylier replies, shaking her head.
“Dax, what are you doing?” Mother screams. “Help your father!”
The Bazi stands with the bloody dagger. It's my father’s dagger … she stole it from his room.
“Cut the cameras,” Xander screams over the microphone. The guards next to him are firing at the other guards.
They are not guards after all….
I look around at the soldiers pushing people out of the way to get to my father. I see Gavyn is leading the rush.
“I will come back for you,” I tell Skylier. Then I turn to the Bazi and grab her wrist. “Come with me if you want to live.”
“Dax, how could you!?” Mother screams.
Quickly we hurry down the stairs two at a time toward the arena ground level, blending in with the crowds of people as they push each other to get away from the gun fire.
“You sure took your time,” Reznor says when we reach him.
“Time to go,” one of the guards says in a familiar voice.
“Hayden, is that you?” I quickly ask.
The guard swings his arm around, knocking me in the chest and down to the ground, as a bullet whizzes over my head.
Bang … bang … A gun goes off, followed by a loud thud.
The guard’s hand reaches down to help me up.
“Sorry, mate … yeah, it's me
.” I look over to where the bullet came from, and I see Xander’s body on the ground.
“You shot my brother,” I yell. For some unknown reason, I still care about him. I scramble over to his body. Blood is seeping from his leg … but he’ll live.
Quickly I bend over and grab his gun. “Nice friends you’ve got, Xander.”
“Run now; I will give you a head start … you’re going to need it. The Emperor’s army will hunt you down for this betrayal.” Xander informs me, with a happy, yet concerned, look on his face.
“Get away from us,” Shristi squeals. I look at her. She’s wearing my mother’s—my real mother’s—ring on a necklace around her neck.
I reach over and snatch it off her. “That’s mine!” Then I glance at Xander. “Till the next time we meet!”
Chapter Twenty-One
Skylier
Madison’s arms fling round me, pulling us closer together.
“We have to get out of here,” Madison says, trying to pull me from my seat.
I shake my head. “Not until Dax and Lowell are safe.”
“Are you crazy? Look at the place, it’s chaos!” Madison’s hot breath whispers, into my ear, “You can get out without them seeing.”
Madison is right. I watch the chaos explode around me and lean forward as a guard knocks Dax to the ground as he gets to Lowell. They struggle, and Dax overpowers the guard.
“It’s not that easy. Xander said he would hurt my mother and Callie,” I tell Madison.
I peer between the people running out of the stadium. I can just make out blood on Xander’s white uniform. He’s been shot in the leg. Please let him be shot in the heart as well. I can’t see any more wounds. Dax reaches up and grabs something from Shristi, then runs alongside Lowell out of the stadium towards freedom. Lowell is safe; Xander can’t get him now.
The sight of Lowell running free brings calmness to me. I couldn’t save him, but our friends did. I don’t have his blood on my hands. They will save me as well. Dax will come back for me.
Skylier, stay there, I’m coming for you, Rian’s mind projects into mine.
Where are you? my mind asks.
I spin around looking for Rian. It’s hard to find anyone, since everyone is trying to flee from the attack.
Here. His arm shoots up in the air. Xander has been shot, and the Chancellor looks like he’s dying behind you. Now is our chance, Rian’s mind spills out.
He’s right.
“Help… help,” high-pitched screams come from behind me, louder than the other screams coming from the stadium as chaos breaks out. It’s the Chancellor’s wife.
Her face is emotionless as the screams come from her mouth. The Chancellor’s face is the same: He’s crying out in pain without any expression on his face. Even with the world crumbling in around them they can’t show it.
His white uniform is stained with the blood seeping from several jagged cuts. Surely he can’t live.
“You! You’re the reason for all this. You turned my son against me,” the Chancellor says between growls of pain as he spots me.
“You turned him against you, not me,” I reply.
“How dare you speak to the Chancellor like that?” his wife snaps.
She’s right. How could I have said that? He might still survive. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
You will be, the Chancellor’s voice yells in my head.
I stare at him. He’s my father.
You can hear me? his mind says as his eyes fill with greed.
“Girls, girls, follow me,” Frances yells, breaking my stare. She’s standing on the stairs, ushering the girls out of the stadium.
In the chaos I hadn’t noticed Madison is being forced forward by the crowd of people rushing towards Frances.
“Madison,” I call.
Her hand reaches out to mine, but is quickly knocked down as the guards rush past Frances towards the Chancellor and me.
“Skylier, come on,” Rian says, taking my hand and pulling me in the opposite direction.
“Gavyn, contain that girl,” the Chancellor orders a guard as his bloody finger points towards me. His eyes are filled with hatred.
A white-suited guard with warm brown skin reaches forward towards me, but Rian grabs me away from his grasp.
We sprint down the steps. “Stop, in the name of the Chancellor,” Gavyn yells behind us.
I look over my shoulder. He’s pushing people out of the way to get to us. Madison raises her hand and waves goodbye.
“Rian, the guard is gaining on us,” I call out to my brother.
“This way,” Rian says, tugging me into the swell of the crowd.
We move with the crowd through the center of the stadium, where they were just about to murder Lowell. Instead, Xander lies there with guards scurrying around him. Please don’t live.
If both of them die, we are free. We should have made sure they were dead; my mind tells Rian.
His mind goes blank. You’re right, he adds with sorrow in his mind.
A soft hand lands on mine. “Adohnes?” I gasp.
“This way,” Adohnes says.
“No,” I reply, trying to snatch my hand away, but his grip is too strong. Rian pulls me in the opposite direction like I’m a piece of rope in a competition.
“Trust me. This way,” Adohnes says. The stadium lights shine down on Adohnes face, revealing heavy makeup on his face. Even though Adohnes is the best in his trade, I can see what he’s hiding: bruises and cuts.
“Rian, this way,” I say, pulling him in Adohnes’s direction.
“But he sold us out! What did Xander give you for ratting us out? How many bitcoins are we worth?” Rian shouts, prodding Adohnes in the chest.
“Rian, you can blame me later. I have to get you to safety,” Adohnes says, gently pushing Rian’s hand away from his chest.
“Later, Rian,” I add as I push forward and follow Adohnes.
Adohnes weaves in and out of the crowds with grace, as if all the terrified people aren’t here. He glides between them, creating a rhythmic motion that’s almost like music, flowing through without notice.
“Out of the way,” Rian yells. Rian and me, on the other hand, are more like a speeding shuttle, no airs or graces.
If it weren’t for Adohnes’s smooth hand in mine I would have lost him in the crowd.
“Down here,” Adohnes says, pulling us down one of the main streets that lead off the stadium. The street is lined with garage doors on the back of stores and leads nowhere. It’s a dead end.
“You did it again?” I say with disbelief.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dax
We run from the arena, firing our guns as we go.
Weaving in and out of the crowd, protected by the people running in fear. The guards can’t shoot at us as long as we are surrounded by them.
“Head to the boundary gates. Are you collecting girls again?” Hayden asks, as he looks over at the Bazi.
She looks at me, worried.
“Don’t mind him,” I tell her. “It's better than being back there. What’s your name?”
“Trinity,” she replies softly.
“Where is Skylier?” Lowell yells from beside Reznor.
Hayden quickly looks at me and frowns. “Where is she?”
“She wouldn’t come … they have her family. We have to come back for her and the others,” I explain.
Reznor stops in his tracks, making us all come to a halt, and the crowd pushes past us. “We are going for my people,” he says bluntly.
“Reznor, we can’t. There is an army protecting them,” I inform him.
“What!” he yells. He angrily marches toward me amongst the whizzing of bullets flying past us.
“We need an army,” I explain.
“They have my army.” Reznor is spitting as his speaks, he is so mad.
“We will build an army to rise against them.”
Reznor grabs hold of my arms with his huge hands and lifts me off the grou
nd and shakes me. “You are crazy like your family!”
“Guys, we can fight about this later … they are coming!” Hayden shouts.
Reznor lowers me to the ground. “They have my people because of you!” He turns and starts firing back at the guards.
“They are my friends as well,” I say through my teeth. We run toward the boundary gates. Hayden is the real reason we are here!
I fire toward the guards standing at the gate. Everyone else joins in, forcing the soldiers to dive down to protect themselves. Now is our chance.
“Stop them!” a voice yells out. I look over my shoulder, and the all the guards are charging at us.
I swiftly swipe my hand over the control panel and the gate opens. We sprint away from the gunfire and out into the wasteland desert.
I look around. “Now what?”
Hayden points to the red rocks. “Run! Our bikes are over there!”
Gunfire whizzes past us as we sprint to our bikes. My lungs are burning in pain, but I know I’ll hurt a lot more if I stop running.
I glance back over my shoulder. “Run faster … they are on their bikes!” I yell.
The others instantly look over their shoulders, and then quickly speed up. Within moments we are on our bikes. “Jump on,” I tell Trinity, and she does as I command.
“Which way?” Reznor yells.
“Head to the deserted city,” I shout back.
“Incoming!” Hayden warns.
We turn around and fire. One guard’s bike flies up in the air. Someone must’ve hit his tire.
“Aim for the wheels,” I instruct everyone.
The guards weave their bikes around as they try to avoid the bullets, but eventually one after another begin to swerve erratically as we hit their tires.
“We did it! Now let’s get out of here before the others come,” I shout as the last one falls over and screeches to a halt.
