by H. J. Lawson
“Ready?” I ask my guys. Lowell looks nervous; he’s gone from school kid, to leading a group of tribesmen.
“Ready,” they say. I can hear a quiver in Hayden’s and Lowell’s voices, but not Reznor’s. He’s ready for blood—the drugs are clearly still running through his veins.
“Let’s do it,” I say with my fist in the air.
With my group beside me, we head away from the protection of the jungle into a wasteland of gold. The ground is firm under my feet, still uneven but not as bad as the jungle. Without our torches, we only have the last of the moon to guide us.
Lowell gets to his location first. His group drops down behind a pile of rocks. So far, so good. No one has seen us.
Hayden gets to his location the same time as me and my group. We are at either end of the circular mine. We do the same as Lowell and hide behind some rocks.
I look into the mine and see some guards down below with their guns in their hands. Others are slowly walking around.
“Do any of them look sick?” I whisper to Spiro. Before I went to sleep, I questioned him about the illness the men had. He told me in detail what had happened to them and to his people. I can only hope that the illness is gone.
“It’s hard to tell … stage one, you only know by talking to them or looking into their eyes. If they had the second stage … they wouldn’t even be here now; they would have walked off to their Death. Unless the illness has changed again,” Spiro says, as his hands wrap firmly around his spear. Sweat begins to pour down my face from the thought of catching what they have. I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand.
I look over toward Reznor’s location—the furthest away. He has to run halfway around the mine. But one of his strides is worth two of ours. Well, not quite … he is human, after all. Just a much larger version.
Come on, Reznor … his men aren’t running fast either. Surely someone has seen them by now.
I hold my breath, waiting for the sounds to come from below, alerting everyone that we are here … but nothing happens.
Reznor and the others make it. Why has no one spotted us? Is it because they are all in stage one?
Reznor waves his fist up to me, as do the others—they are ready. Soon I will find out if the guards are sick.
I pull my fist down, and before I can position myself to fire my gun, I can hear the soft whizzing sound as bullets rip through the air and into someone’s body.
Wrapping my fingers around my gun, I let out a breath and release the trigger.
Four bullets fly from the gun at lightning speed and lodge themselves into their victim. A male guard slumps over onto a rock beside him, and his gun drops to the ground.
I look around through the shooting viewer. Only the prisoners notice what is happening. “Pick it up,” I whisper under my breath. As though the man has heard me, he glances around and then back at the gun. Others begin to talk to one another, then they turn to face me. Great, why don’t they just go and tell the guards where we are!
“Now,” I yell. With that, the tribesmen frantically run down into the pit, throwing spears and poison darts at the oncoming guards.
“Stay with Dax,” Spiro says to Trinity as he runs down the pit with his men.
Her arm reaches out trying to pull him back, but he’s gone before she can get to her feet.
“Father,” Trinity pleads. But she stays next to me, just as he wanted. “Father, no…!” She tries to scream out, but it’s as though she’s lost her voice. She gasps for air as if someone … or something … is stealing her very breath from her.
I continue firing down on the guards, giving the tribesmen cover to get to their men.
One after another, the guards drop down to the ground. Maybe there is a chance we’ll get out of here alive.
The thought is gone within an instant … how stupid of me to think we had a chance.
“Father!” Trinity yells out in pain, as though she’s been injured.
I turn to face her, but I don’t see anything wrong with her. But she looks like she’s seen a ghost.
“He is here,” she says fearfully.
“Who?” I ask, confused.
“Death…” Her face turns white before she can finish saying it; this time she’s screaming in terror.
“Where is your father?”
Trinity’s eyes scramble across the battlefield pit. “No!” she cries out, as she runs forward. Away from me and into the line of fire….
I run after her, sliding down the slopes, from one to the next, trying to catch up to her. “Trinity!” I yell. But she doesn't stop; she just keeps moving toward her father.
We aren't going to get to him in time.
“Duck!” I scream out louder. This time she lowers her body, giving me a clear shot. I squeeze the trigger and release four bullets into the chest of the guard who is standing over Spiro with a gun at the ready.
The guard stares at me in shock for a split moment before crumbling to his death. Trinity dives to the ground where her father is.
“Trinity!” Spiro snaps. He’s as upset as I am that she's down here.
Too late now. “Take my hand,” I say to Spiro, as I pull him up off the ground.
“Thank you,” he says as he staggers to his feet. He's been shot just above his hip.
“Can you fight?” I ask.
“Yes,” Spiro says firmly. It never crossed my mind that he wouldn't … it just seemed right to ask.
Trinity bends down and pulls the gun from the dead guard’s fingers.
I spin on my heels, toward the whizzing sound of gunfire—it's Reznor. I knew he wouldn't be able to stay up there for long.
“Looked like you needed help.” Reznor smiles as he continues firing. This man loves a battle; his face is almost glowing with excitement.
“Thanks, Reznor,” I say as he gets closer to me.
“The others are coming as well,” he adds. I look up and see that he’s right.
“We don't have much time, the army will be here,” I inform everyone. “Spiro, round your men up and get them out. Reznor, you and the others get to the diggers, we’re driving out of here,” I yell.
He nods and runs off, firing into the direction of the diggers.
The tribesman who were working have already started to battle with the remaining guards, with nothing but raw anger and their bare hands.
When I get closer to them, I can see that they have heavy metal collars on and a chain connecting them.
“We need to get the collars off them,” I yell out over the sound of gunfire.
Trinity bends down once again to the guard’s body on the ground and rummages for the keys. The silver catches the sunlight as she pulls them out.
“Be fast, Trinity,” I tell her, as she runs over toward her father and starts working on the first prisoner’s collar. His collar drops to the ground with ease, like she knew exactly how to unlock it before she even got to him … like she’s worn one of these collars before.
She moves on to the next, and suddenly my view of her is cut off by a man with bulging eyes.
“Kill me … kill me,” his acidic voice screams as he runs toward me.
Kill me, did I hear him correctly?
The crazy man takes me by surprise. He’s right in front of me, and he’s one of the guards. He looks lost, as if he’s not really here.
“Kill me ... I’m already dead inside,” he pleads to me. He grabs hold of my gun and pulls it toward his chest. “Kill me … I’m already dead … we all are.”
Oh damn, he has the illness. Before I can do anything, he wraps his hands around the gun, with inhuman-like strength, and pulls the trigger, releasing four bullets into his heart, covering me in his blood. I shake his hands off the gun and force the contents of my stomach back down … I want to vomit at the thought of the crazy man’s blood on me.
Quickly I wipe the back of my hand across my face, as I frantically try to remove the blood, and hopefully the disease, from me.
“
They have the illness,” I yell out to the others who are no longer near me.
I’ve got to get Trinity and Spiro out of here. I squeeze the trigger, and bullets fly out at the guards coming toward me. I’m not letting any of them get close to me. “Trinity, Spiro, we have to go!” I shout.
Spiro looks at me, worried. He said he didn’t know how the illness was spread, but by the way he’s staring at me, I don’t think being sprayed with the infected blood is a good sign.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I say before either of them can comment. This is not the time for sympathy.
“But they are not all unlocked,” Trinity protests.
“We will have to do it when we’re out of here. Load them onto the diggers,” I say bluntly.
“They are people, not rocks,” Trinity snaps.
“They will be dead if they don’t move—we all will,” I say, no longer caring, as I head toward the digger.
There are no guards near the dump truck, so I climb up the high metal steps and open the heavy door.
The keys are still in the truck, but it’s not like the automobiles we have in Purenet. This is an old rust bucket on wheels, but I will love it if the engine starts.
I turn the keys, and the engine squeaks and then growls, as if the old truck doesn’t want to do any more work. “Just one more job,” I beg.
It makes a spurting sound, then starts a humming rhythm. “Just one more job,” I repeat.
Which button is it? I look over the control panel. It has to be this one. I press the button and look over my shoulder.
A high-pitched cranking noise sounds as the metal connects with metal. I let out a breath of relief as the dump truck starts lifting up and emptying the stones from it.
I press the button once again and it goes back into its original position, but this time it’s empty.
“Get them in,” I yell out to Trinity and Spiro. “Quickly! Guards are heading our way.”
I lean out of the window and fire round after round at the guards. They dive out of the way and fire back at us.
Trinity jumps into the front seat next to me. “Go … go!”
But my foot is already pressing down on the pedal and we are moving. Well, I think we are.
Chapter Fifty-One
Skylier
“Skylier, wake up. It’s time,” Abaven says, dragging me from the calm darkness.
“Abaven, she can’t go now, not after that. I will go,” Rian says.
His voice urges my eyes open. I’m back in Enoch’s sleeping quarters, where I slept last night.
“After what?” I ask Rian dryly. My throat feels like I’ve not had water for days.
“After me saving you from turning into dust on the wasteland,” Rian smiles.
“Gerel, Beba, are they okay?”
“Yes, they woke up a few hours ago,” Abaven says emotionlessly. I guess he’s angry that I went after them, or… is it because he was able to see what happened on the wasteland? What did happen?
“So you rescued me?”
“Yeah, Enoch and I came back for you guys,” Rian says.
Abaven’s arms are crossed over his chest.
“Sorry, Abaven, but I couldn’t leave them out there,” I tell him.
“It’s not only your life you risked, it’s the others that follow you,” Abaven replies, making me feel guilty for my actions.
“I have to get back. Luther will be asking for me,” Sloth says as he steps into Enoch’s sleeping quarters. That’s when it hits me, why they woke me up.
It’s time to rescue my family. I hope Gavyn has a plan....
Chapter Fifty-Two
Dax
The digger huffs and puffs like an old man not wanting to leave the comfort of his chair. “Come on, you old bat,” I yell out to it, and I jerk my body back and forth as if the motion will help. Trinity looks at me as if I’m crazy … Maybe the illness has already gotten to me, I think, shaking my head.
I press my foot down harder on the pedal and it seems to help. The digger lets out a loud cough and then begins to roll. Faster!
We start to move now, and I let out a breath of air as though I’ve been holding it since I got in the digger. Or maybe longer, since I was covered in blood.
A cold shiver runs down my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention—just as the soldiers do to my father.
I need to wash the blood off me, once we get to the big ocean. The thought drives me forward, as if I need any more reason to move. The bullets flying toward me were enough to flood my body with adrenaline.
“Pass me your gun,” Trinity yells at me. “You can’t shoot and drive.”
Out secret weapon is back. “Here, did Spiro get in the back?” I ask, as I pass her the gun.
She leans out of the digger’s window and lets off a few rounds into the guard’s chest before returning back to her seat.
“Yes, he’s working on their collars,” she replies, emotionless, as though she hadn’t just killed the man outside. I cannot help but wonder if she is my father’s creation, or was she like this before he got his revolting hands on her?
She leans out the window once again and begins firing. I push the digger forward. I just hope once this old baby heats up it goes faster, and that it’s not on its last legs. What I wouldn’t give to have my bike back, I think, shaking my head.
My heart misses a beat as a man appears. He jumps on to the side of the digger and hangs onto my door.
“I don’t think so!” I yell at the man, as I roll my fingers up into a fist and pound down on his white knuckles. But he doesn’t budge, not one bit.
His pupils are wide, and he stares at me without blinking—as if he’s trying to hypnotize me or something. His eyes look as if they’re going to pop out at any moment.
“Kill me…” he says in a deep gravelly tone, just as the other man had.
“Dax, watch out!” Trinity yells, as she grabs the steering wheel and pulls us away from the steep cliff. Had the man hypnotized me? I stupidly question my own mind.
I look where his fingers were, but they have gone. We must’ve knocked him off with the jolt. I let out a sigh of relief.
Trinity just looks at me, puzzled, as if I’m stupid. And that’s how I feel.
I gasp for air, like my windpipe is being crushed. There’s a hand around my throat. It’s the man who was hanging on my door. He’s back, and trying to choke me to death.
Lifting my elbow up and taking my hand off the steering wheel, I push at the man, trying to release his grip from me.
It’s as though my fight is giving him more strength. His grip gets tighter, and I gulp, trying to get air. My eyes feel like they are bulging just like his.
Wait … I can see the look of fear in my own face, in a reflection on a silver blade. Then the man’s hand releases from my throat.
I make a bubbling sound as I gasp for air and spit.
“Dax!” Trinity yells out at me.
I look down and see she has her dagger plunged into the man’s brain. She pulls it out of his head, releasing the knife and the crazy man’s blood. Great, another sicko’s blood on me.
Trinity leans back into her seat. With all the confusion I hadn’t even felt her tiny frame across me. It’s as if she’s weightless and not really here.
“What?” she asks, uncomfortable as I stare at her.
“Nothing…” I smile at her. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Do you want me to drive?”
I laugh at her mocking my driving skills. “I’ve got it; you just look out for the crazies.”
With no more gunfire our way, it’s clear that we got most of them. But it will not be long until the others get here from the Sanction.
Finally the digger starts to move, and soon we are catching up to the others and are out of the mine. Away from the last of the guards and away from danger.
I rub my hand across my neck, and I can feel my skin swollen up from where the attacker was holding me. He wanted to
kill me … yet he wanted me to kill him … this is one crazy illness.
The others are waiting at the far side of the mine. I can worry about the illness later … now we have to get out of here.
“Is everyone okay?” I shout over the roaring sound of the diggers’ engines.
“Reznor’s been shot,” Lowell hollers back.
“What!?”
“Shut up, I’m fine,” Reznor yells. “Let’s get to the ocean,” he adds. He leaves the rest of us and drives along the edge of the jungle toward the blur on the horizon.
“If bleeding to death is fine, then yeah, you’re fine,” Lowell calls out. It’s the most I’ve heard him speak for the last few days.
It’s a good thing those two are getting along; they’ll be spending a lot of time together soon.
“Move as fast as you can, and stop before we get to the ocean,” I shout to the guys.
“Whoa,” Hayden yells out as his digger takes off, obviously trying to win the race.
I’m not far behind him. I stick my head out of the window and see that Lowell had a slow start but is now catching up.
The ground is uneven with mounds of mud, and some rocks are covered with the green grass of a fresh day.
If my calculations are correct we will make it to the ocean before the Aurum soldiers can get to the mine. Then the others can go hide with the cover of the jungle for safety. The Chancellor will hunt them down, but at least this time it will be on their land and they will be there to fight against it.
I hope Reznor and Lowell don’t put up a fight to come with me and Hayden. I’ve given them an army of tribesmen … now they have to go back to Cueva and round up the last people ready to fight this war, whether they like it or not. It’s the only way to get the Grounders out … to get Ayah out.
Trinity leans back into the seat with her legs pulled up toward her chest, hugging them as she starts out toward the ocean. Finally, she feels safe … Death must have left her. I have never seen someone look more content with life.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she says, knowing that I’m watching her. The glow from the fresh sun burns down onto her face, and her eyes glisten in response, as if they are soaking in its energy. She worships the very object that other people have learned to fear. The natural element that changed our world as it was once known. What will the new day bring?
