Outliers_A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Novel

by Kate L. Mary

Under the watchful eye of the Fortis guards, the other Outliers and I worked tirelessly to prepare the food and ready the home while the family was attending the ceremony. All the normal chores had been put aside for the day, allowing us to dedicate every moment to the event. Saffron’s expectations where high, and we all knew that if they were not met the punishment would be severe.

  My head was down, focused on the task of arranging the plates on the table when a grunt caught my attention and I lifted my gaze. Across the room, Asa was rubbing his arm as another Fortis guard leaned into him, putting his face so close to Asa’s that not even my hand would have been able to fit between them.

  “Watch where you’re going,” the man snarled. “Outlier lover.”

  Asa flinched away, but said nothing in response, and my own body stiffened. I was uncertain if the anger that shot through me was for him or for myself.

  The Fortis guard let out a snort and once again Asa’s head jerked back.

  “Nothing to say for yourself, huh?” His eyes flicked down and his lip curled up in disgust. “You’re a disgrace to your people. A traitor who isn’t fit to shit in the same outhouse as the Fortis, let alone wear the uniform.” He moved closer and this time his nose pressed against Asa’s cheek. “Watch yourself.”

  Asa still hadn’t said a word when the man stepped back, but his entire body tensed when the other guard glanced my way. He was quiet for a moment, looking me over. Thoughtful. Then he smiled, only the expression had no joy in it. It was all rage. All disgust.

  “Maybe you’re onto something,” he snarled. “Maybe I’ll take her for a ride, see what’s special about Outlier pussy.”

  This time when Asa jerked, his eyes darkened as he curled his hands into fists. I expected him to lunge at the other man, but he stayed still. Instead, he said something in a voice much too low for me to catch a single word. Whatever it was, it made the other guard roar with laughter.

  “Watch your back, Asa,” the man said just before turning away.

  Asa’s gaze followed the other guard until he had slipped out of the room, and then his eyes were on me. The expression in them softened and the hair on my scalp prickled. Again he said nothing. There was nothing he could say, not out in the open like this. Not where anyone could hear.

  I continued with my work, but it was impossible to forget what I had witnessed. It stayed with me the rest of the day, as I served wine for Saffron’s guests, as I cleared dirty dishes, as I washed them. I had always known what Asa was risking by helping me, and before now it had been possible to convince myself that his efforts had gone mostly unnoticed. Other than the altercation with Thorin after Ronan’s hand was cut off, I had seen nothing to indicate that the other guards knew what was happening. I had been wrong. The guard from the dining room knew, and if he knew, others did as well. I was causing problems for Asa that had nothing to do with the Sovereign. Problems that would follow him out of the city and leave him vulnerable.

  I wanted to talk to him, but getting a moment alone with a Fortis guard was no easy feat. Especially once the family and other guests returned to the house, ready to celebrate Lysander’s union. The groom was already drunk, as was his father, and the bride did nothing but stand in the corner at her mother’s side while Paizlee bragged about the joining of the two houses.

  I did everything I could to avoid Lysander as I poured wine, and other than a moment when he snuck up behind me and grabbed my backside, I was successful. Unfortunately, not everyone in the house was so lucky. The house was so crowded that none of the guests noticed when he slipped into the kitchen. Being in the main part of the house meant I had no idea who he had cornered. With Mira on the other side of the room and safe from his clutches, all I could do was say a quiet prayer that he was quick.

  Lysander was gone for only fifteen minutes, but the smug expression on his face when he reemerged from the kitchen told me all I needed to know.

  Even with the little distraction Lysander had provided, I found it impossible to forget the interaction between Asa and the other guard. The guests drank and I poured wine, moving about the room and doing everything in my power to avoid looking toward the man who was constantly on my mind.

  It was more than halfway through the day before I finally managed to squeeze in a moment of private conversation. I had moved on from pouring drinks to collecting empty wine glasses from around the room when I paused next to him.

  “I am causing trouble for you,” I said in a voice just loud enough for Asa to hear.

  My back was to him as I pretended to wipe the table the glass had been sitting on, so I was unable to see his expression, but I could picture it. The way he looked at me, with his feelings so raw and open, was etched into my mind at this point.

  “I’m causing trouble for myself,” he replied.

  I ventured a glance his way. He was staring across the room, and the expression on his face was exactly as I had imagined it, only there was something else too. Pain.

  Before he could catch me looking, I turned my gaze back to the table. “I am sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Indra.”

  My heart constricted at the sound of my name on his lips. Just like it always did, and before I could say anything else, I hurried back to the kitchen with the empty glasses of wine I had collected.

  Asa was especially quiet that night as he escorted Mira and me through the city, and then through his village. During this part of the journey, I typically kept my head down, wishing to avoid making eye contact with any of the Fortis. This time I forced myself to look around and take note of the people we passed. Some ignored us, but the majority of the men and women stared at us openly as we walked by. Many of them had the same expression of disgust I was used to seeing on the faces of the Fortis, a hatred for me simply because I was an Outlier. More than a few were focused on Asa though, and the rage in their eyes was something I had never witnessed before. At least not until earlier when the other guard had confronted Asa.

  Today when he stopped at the edge of his village, I turned to face him instead of continuing on. “Will you be okay?”

  At my side, Mira shifted, and I could feel her gaze on me, but I kept my focus on Asa.

  “Greer has never liked me. Nothing can change that.”

  He was a man of few words, but after all these months I had learned to read between his words and get to the root of what he was really saying to me.

  “You have always been on the outside with your people?”

  “Yes,” he said quietly, “but I’m not alone. I have friends. People who will be on my side against men like Greer.”

  My gaze moved beyond him, back toward the Fortis village and the rough men and women who lived there. The place was a cesspool, a collection of stink and misery, and I was unsurprised to learn that Asa did not fit in with these people. It was a shock to learn that there were others, though. Were there other men and women living in those shacks that would put their necks on the line for me? Were they helping other Outliers as Asa was helping me? I had always assumed that his feelings for me were responsible for the risks he took. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe whatever he felt for me was only partly responsible. Maybe it was simply his humanity.

  “Be careful, Asa,” I said, pulling my gaze away from the village and focusing on him.

  That same expression was in his eyes, the one that told me without words how he felt, but for once it did not make me uneasy. Instead, I saw it for what it was. Proof that there was goodness even in the most unlikely places. Proof that no matter how different, people could work together.

  Asa dipped his head twice, his eyes on me the whole time, and then he turned and headed back into his village.

  When he had gone, Mira and I turned as well and headed for the rock that concealed our weapons. She was silent, thoughtful, but it only lasted until we were both armed.

  “You care for him.” There was no judgment in her eyes when she looked at me, and I found it impossible to even judge myself.
/>
  “I do.” I turned to look back toward the village. “Not in the way that I care for Bodhi—I do not love Asa—but I do care for him.”

  “It would be impossible not to after everything he has done,” she said.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  We stood in silence for a moment, and then my eyes strayed from the village to the quarters the Fortis were busy building. Not much had changed over the last few weeks, and little more than a frame was done. At this rate, it would take them years to finish the building.

  I nodded to the quarters. “The Fortis are moving slowly.”

  “Lucky for us,” Mira said with a sigh.

  “What will you do when it is done?”

  She turned her back on the Fortis village and started walking, and I followed her lead.

  “I do not know,” Mira said. “I cannot stomach the idea of being a slave to the Sovereign, and if I move there that is what I will be. What about you?”

  “It pains me to say it, to think about giving up the medicine and other supplies the Sovereign give us, but I will have to quit. I am married, and I cannot leave Bodhi.” A lump rose in my throat at the thought of it. “I cannot imagine living without him.”

  Mira shook her head. “Leaving him would be impossible.”

  “Yes,” I murmured.

  Since the day of the grizzard attack, I had been trying to visit my mother more and more, and I was fortunate enough that my husband joined me in the effort. That evening, after I had returned home and changed into my own clothes, Bodhi and I ate with my mother and Anja in their hut.

  It was a quiet affair, as visits with my family usually were. Even with the added presence of Jax, who Anja had begun spending more and more time with. My sister was a woman now, even if it was difficult for me to imagine her as anything but a five-year-old girl who had refused to walk across the village unless she was holding my hand, and I knew that it would not be long before she was also a married woman. Based on the way our mother looked between her youngest daughter and Jax, she knew it as well.

  After we ate, the four of us left the hut so our mother could rest. Like Anja, Jax was tall and slim, all wiry muscles like most Outliers. Walking beside them made me feel like a child, and I had to remind myself that I was six years older than my sister.

  The two men discussed their day of hunting while Anja and I slowed until we walked a few steps behind them.

  “Jax has been over a lot,” I said, giving my sister a knowing look.

  “He has.” Her head dipped as if she was trying to hide her smile from me. Being that I was so much shorter than her, it was easily visible.

  “Have you talked about the future?”

  Anja nodded, but then shrugged immediately afterward. “Yes. But mother is so sick…”

  “Anja.” I stopped walking and grabbed my sister’s arm. “She does not want you to put your life on hold. The opposite. She wants to be able to see you living it while she is still alive.”

  My sister swallowed and looked away. “I know.”

  “What is holding you back?” I asked when she refused to meet my gaze.

  Anja looked up, and she had just opened her mouth when a scream broke through the air.

  I turned toward the sound, my hand still on Anja’s arm, but saw nothing. Bodhi and Jax were far ahead of us now, and there were more than two huts separating us. Another shout echoed through the night as the two men turned our way, and their eyes were filled with terror. I still had a grip on Anja’s arm and it trembled in my grasp as more yelling followed the last cry.

  Bodhi took one step toward me, ripping his knife out as he did, but his path was cut off when a forest cat jumped from between the huts. Its fur was white, making it stand out against the dark night, and when it opened its mouth, the light from the surrounding fires glinted off its teeth. A roar broke through the crowd, drowning out the screams and causing the hair on my arms to stand up.

  Beyond the cat, Bodhi and Jax were both armed, but Anja and I were defenseless. As were all the other women in the village.

  The cat’s head rolled our way when I jerked my sister back. It roared again, and at my side Anja whimpered. Just as I had with Isa when I was facing Thorin in the Fortis village, I pushed my sister behind me, putting myself between danger and the weaker person. We were both unprotected against the cat, but I had faced creatures before. Anja had lived a sheltered life in the village.

  Even though I was not focused on him, I saw it when Bodhi’s eyes grew large. He headed for me just as the cat did, both of them running as if their lives depended on reaching their target. Behind me Anja shrieked again, and I pushed her down, lowering myself as well so my body was curled over hers. My name rang through the air, but I did not lift my head to look at Bodhi. Did not look back to see how close the cat was. I could only focus on my sister. On keeping her safe.

  Another roar sounded, this time so close I felt the animal’s breath. My body tensed and I held my sister tighter, waiting just as I had with the grizzard, but the creature never reached me. A moment passed where I stayed frozen, hovering over Anja with my heart pounding, and then I finally lifted my head.

  Bodhi stood over me, the cat motionless at his feet. His shoulders rose and fell as he gasped for breath, but his eyes were on me. It sent me back to that moment in the city when Asa had saved me from the grizzard, and instead of making me feel grateful to the man who had saved me, the man who had vowed to protect me and provide for me, it made me feel useless. Weak and silly. Nothing but a Winta woman.

  “Indra.” Bodhi was on his knees next to me in a moment. “Are you okay?”

  I released my sister and allowed my husband to pull me in for a hug. Anja was crying, and it was only a moment later that she was in Jax’s arms as well.

  No tears came to my eyes, and I did not even try to reassure Bodhi that I was okay, because I was too busy looking past him. All across the village scenes identical to ours were playing out. Women cowering in fear as their men killed the other cats in the pack. Women unarmed. Women defenseless and useless.

  “Indra,” Bodhi said again.

  I tore my eyes from the scene and focused on him.

  “Are you okay?

  “Yes,” I finally said, but I was pretty sure it was a lie.

  I was not okay. I was outraged. I felt robbed of all my strength and dignity. Bodhi had lifted me up by taking me into the forest, but it had all been fake. A mirage. Back in the village, I was still just a woman. And that was all I would ever be.

  18

  Even as early in the day as it was, the sun was doing its best to bake Mira and me on our way to work. Summer, like spring, had come early this year, and I could not help feeling that it was a sign of things to come. A sign that the crops would have more trouble growing, that their fruit would be less bountiful, and that the rare rain we got would be scarcer this summer than ever before. Even worse was the fact that the excessive heat seemed to rile the lygan up, and three times that morning Mira and I were forced to take defensive positions when we heard the click of their claws against the rocks. Fortunately for us, the creatures never made an appearance and we managed to make it beyond the cliffs unharmed.

  By the time we reached Saffron’s house, Mira and I were both sweating and exhausted. The day had not even started yet, but it did not take me long to realize that it was about to get much, much worse. Asa was not at his usual post.

  It was the first thing I noticed after stepping into the living room. Lately he had been standing guard at the door—a fact that I took note of every morning upon arriving at the house—but on this particular day a guard whose name I did not know stood in Asa’s place. Immediately, I knew. I could feel it all unraveling, could feel that I had reached some major crossroad in my life.

  Something bad was about to happen.

  If Mira noticed he was missing she said nothing about it. Not that there was anything to say. We had work to do, and that would not change simply because the man who had been watch
ing over us for months was missing from work. Saffron did not care if we lived in fear, none of the Sovereign did. We were Outliers, and we were only as useful as the work we did inside the walls.

  So I did as I was expected and went about my usual tasks, only for the first time ever I dreaded the end of the day. Each second was spent looking over my shoulder, imagining that every guard in the house was watching me, coming up with different ways to torture me. Counting down the minutes until they got their hands on me. It never occurred to me that they were not the men I should worry about. Not after everything that had happened over the last few months. Not after everything I had witnessed.

  After my close call in the streets, Saffron had graciously restored me to my role as housemaid, but I had been given a different position. Now instead of preparing the family’s meal, I usually found myself on cleaning duty. Cleaning the bathrooms or scrubbing the floors, or any other manual labor Saffron could conjure up, all jobs that were usually reserved for new servants. This meant that I had no idea two extra places had been set until the moment I stepped into the dining room for dinner service, and by then it was too late. He was already sitting at the table, and the look in Lysander’s eyes as he surveyed the staff told me he was on the prowl.

  Dinner was as tense as it always was when Lysander was around. Somehow, against all odds, Mira and I managed to make it through the meal without getting too close to him, and I found myself praying that our good fortune would last and we would make it out of the house unscathed. If we did, being stripped on our way out of the city might be the worst thing to happen. It would be humiliating, but nothing compared to what could happen inside these walls where no one would be the wiser.

  The day came to an end, and Mira and I hurried to the mudroom in hopes of slipping out unnoticed, but someone was already waiting for us. Not Lysander, but Greer, the same guard I had seen giving Asa a hard time on Lysander’s wedding day. Greer had been paying attention, I was certain of that, and he knew that Asa had been keeping an eye on us. When he failed to show up for his shift, Greer must have seen it as his lucky day.