The Corded Saga

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “And how are we going to do that?” Addison tied her hair up in a high bun with a string of rope.

  “We need to test it.” Thomas pulled a slingshot out of his pocket.

  “A slingshot?” I eyed the small, and obviously homemade, thing. “Really?”

  “You have a better suggestion?” Thomas dared me.

  “You know I don’t.”

  A few minutes later we were flanked out along the corner section of the wall.

  “You ready?” Thomas asked Isin.

  I wasn’t entirely sure why Isin, arguably one of the scrawniest of the assembled, was going to be the one using the slingshot, but I also wasn’t going to say a word.

  We all watched as the rock went flying. Thomas had been right to give the slingshot to the boy. He really knew how to launch it. We all waited for the inevitable sound of the rock hitting the force field. We didn’t hear it. We didn’t hear anything. We only watched as the rock soared over the wall.

  “The force field is down.” Thomas wasn’t asking a question. He was stating what all of us were thinking. How was it even possible? “This is getting stranger by the second.”

  “I would say it was a trap except for all the dead men.” I looked around us. There were several bodies lying within our line of sight.

  “Maybe they were dead already and were planted,” Addison suggested. “That could be the case, right?”

  “No.” Thomas shook his head. “We’ve been over here long enough. I recognize some of these men. And we saw the way it happened.” Thomas lowered his eyes. “We watched them fall. It was crazy. One minute they were standing in their normal positions, the next they were all on the ground.”

  “It happened in a single instant?” I should have asked these questions earlier, but there were so many things to ask. “Yet you didn’t hear or see anything? You didn’t feel anything?” I tried to understand what could have possibly happened.

  “No.” Isin shook his head. “Nothing. They just fell.”

  “It must have been the activation of some implant.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Another of Thomas’s allies walked over. His name was Benji, and he had to be the tallest man I’d ever met. “Someone flipped a switch or something.”

  “Do you know much about how Central works? What they’ve done?” I asked.

  “My guess is it’s pretty similar to you.”

  His words came as a surprise. I took a moment before deciding how to reply. “You assume I know.”

  “I don’t recognize you individually, but I recognize you as one of the System. It’s easy to tell if you know what to look for. There’s a look that we all have—a craziness behind the eyes.”

  I nodded. What he said made sense enough. “So, it could still be a trap. We may have other enemies beyond Central.”

  “Exactly.” Benji nodded. “There are many players involved in this mess.”

  “Like the traders?” another man suggested.

  “Or those on the other side…” I stared at the wall. How much did we truly know about what was happening on the other side of the wall?

  “But they’ve solved the problem out there, haven’t they?” There was hopefulness in Isin’s voice.

  “Or so we think. I don’t know where you guys got your intel, but it is entirely possible we both heard errant information.” I’d accepted it as truth at first, but the more time that passed without anyone coming over the wall to our side, the harder it was to believe it was still true. Would they have allowed us to suffer? Or to phrase it another way, would they have given up the opportunity to take over a weaker nation?

  “Anything is possible.” Addison looked up at the wall. “It’s possible that a giant cockroach flipped the switch so to speak.”

  “Giant cockroach?” I raised an eyebrow. “Where did you get that idea from?”

  “Does it matter?” She put her hands out to either side. “The issue remains the same. We have no clue what is going on.”

  “True,” I agreed. “Okay. So, we head over and see what’s waiting for us.”

  “We don’t all have to go at once.” Benji glanced in Addison’s direction. “I’ll go first.”

  Addison shook her head. “You don’t have to go in on your own. That’s crazy.”

  “Once I’m in I can send a signal all is well, and you can follow. Or—”

  I didn’t let him finish the statement. “Or you’re dead.”

  “We haven’t heard from anyone once they’ve gotten even close to the wall, let alone to the other side of it.” Addison started toward the wall. “We have no idea what’s over there.”

  “Why does that change anything?” Benji followed her. “Why should we all risk our lives when we don’t have to?”

  “Let’s stick to reality here. We are all already risking our lives.” It’s not that I wanted Addison to scale the wall, but I knew very well she wasn’t going to sit back while others did. “Whether we go over the wall or stand right here, each and every one of us is in danger. Some more than others.” I didn’t specify Addison, but everyone knew what I meant. “For all we know we are being watched at this very moment—there may be guns trained on us ready to strike.”

  “That’s enough of that, Mason.” Addison glared. “I’ll go over with you, Benji.”

  “Of course, you will.” I smiled. “Do you think I doubted that for a second? But I’m coming too. If you go, I go.”

  “Let’s all go.” Thomas turned so he was looking at us, his back to the wall. “As Mason said, we could all die here too. We might as well stick together.” Thomas was certainly the leader of his group. I wondered how that dynamic had developed since he was not the oldest nor the strongest. “Do you both have climbing gear?” Thomas looked at Addison and me.

  “No, but we can climb.” Addison raised her chin.

  “You think Denver left us without supplying us with everything?” I pulled off my backpack and pulled out ropes and picks.

  Addison took the ropes from me. “When did Denver give you all this stuff? How did I miss it?”

  “He didn’t give it to me as much as he left it. You know he’s prepared for everything.”

  “Okay, let’s do this.” Addison unfurled the rope.

  “Let’s do this and somehow make it back alive,” Thomas mumbled.

  Those were my sentiments exactly.

  Maverick

  It was time for Faith to live up to her name. We were all putting our faith in her as we made our way down the damp, cramped tunnels. We were in even more trouble than the others realized. Our water supply was almost gone. Pretty soon we’d have to make some tough decisions about who got water and who didn’t. I already knew who’d get it first, but eventually there’d be another round of decisions to make. I couldn’t even think about it.

  “Wawa.” Faith’s voice sounded eerily strong. If it weren’t for the simple nature of the phrase, I would have thought it was someone much older speaking.

  “You are sure it’s this way?” Kayla asked with care. She seemed to be trying to sound supportive but also realistic. “It’s okay if you change your mind.”

  Faith rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “Wawa.”

  We took that as a yes.

  The ground became increasingly damp as we continued on.

  “The kid is on to something.” Bolton walked in the very back.

  “Of course, she is.” Quinn walked right in front of me. “If you didn’t trust her, why did you let her lead?”

  Quinn and Bolton were never going to stop fighting. I understood Quinn’s reservations, but she needed to put her anger aside. Bolton had been nothing but an ally so far. Yes, he had his sights set on Kayla, but that was for Kayla to figure out. Right now, she seemed completely determined to wait for Mason. Considering the situation, we were in, I didn’t think we had any reason to think about any of that stuff for a while. Survival was the most pressing thing on any of our minds.

  “Puddle ahead,” Kay
la called over her shoulder.

  “Puddle?” I asked the question a second too early, as my boot hit a shallow puddle moments later.

  I allowed myself some optimism. We had no reason to trust that this water was safe, but we had a filtration system. If it came down to it, we could survive on a puddle for a few days.

  We continued further. An even deeper puddle. And another until they were deep enough that the water was spilling over into my boots.

  “Do you want me to hold you, Bailey?” I called. If Faith was right and we were heading into significant water, it was going to be nearly impossible to help both girls.

  “Yes.” Bailey ran back toward me. I scooped her up.

  I’d grown to love the little girl. She had such a sweet disposition. She was extremely quiet, but what she didn’t say with words, she said with her eyes. I’d never met anyone with such expressive eyes. That’s what made it hard in the darkness. We were only using our lights as necessary.

  The water continued to rise the further we moved. Before we knew it, the water was knee deep. Then waist deep. Then chest deep.

  “So, we found water,” Bolton pointed out the obvious. “Now what?”

  “We found water!” Quinn yelled, her voice echoing through the water-filled passage. “Can’t you be grateful for a moment?”

  “If we drown this doesn’t help us. We need to find solid ground.” Bolton, as usual, was all about reality. I was too, but I didn’t want to put a damper on everyone’s excitement too quickly. Hope could be a powerful force. Besides, Faith had been right. True, it could have been a lucky guess—it was 50/50 after all—but somehow, I knew it was more. Either she’d been able to hear something none of the rest of us could, or maybe she just knew. These were all questions I wanted to discover, but first, Bolton was right. We needed to find solid ground.

  “We will find land.” Kayla pushed forward in the dim light of her headlamp. She was holding Faith as much out of the water as possible. “The question is whether we find it before we can’t stand anymore.”

  “Do you all know how to swim?” Bolton asked. “I know this is a bad time to ask.”

  “Bailey is just learning, and Faith doesn’t.” Quinn continued forward. “But Kayla and I know how.”

  “As do I.” I had no memory of learning how, but I could. It was likely something Central had programed in.

  “Whoever are the strongest swimmers should hold the girls,” Bolton declared.

  “I can swim and hold Bailey,” I immediately offered. I knew Quinn was capable, but I didn’t want to make things harder on her if I didn’t have to.

  “I can keep Faith.” Kayla pressed on.

  “Are you sure, Kayla?” Bolton sounded mildly nervous. Maybe he was afraid she’d snap at him for questioning her.

  She glanced over her shoulder. “Are you doubting me?”

  Quinn snickered.

  Bolton shook his head. “I’m merely offering to help. I can swim really well.”

  Kayla looked straight ahead again. “Faith won’t go to anyone else. You know that.”

  “When it comes to life or death, she’d come to me.” Bolton wouldn’t drop it.

  “We aren’t at the life or death stage yet.” Kayla’s words were flat.

  “Not yet,” Bolton mumbled.

  I waited for Quinn to add something, but she didn’t. Maybe since Kayla was speaking up for herself against him, she didn’t feel as if she had to.

  The water got deeper, but we still managed to keep our heads above it. I had all sorts of thoughts about whether there was anything in the water that could make us sick, but I kept those thoughts firmly to myself. There was no reason to upset everyone else when there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.

  “Hello?” A voice called out in the near darkness.

  Kayla stopped short, which meant the rest of us did too.

  “Is there anyone out there?” The deep voice continued.

  We had a decision to make. We had no idea who this man was but spending an eternity in the water wasn’t a viable option. I was about to make the decision for us and call out when a spotlight blinded me. I blinked repeatedly.

  “Hello!” The voice boomed louder this time. “I see you and are coming to rescue you.”

  “Rescue us?” Bolton yelled back. “We never said we needed rescue.”

  There was the sound of a motor, and the water became choppy. I held Bailey tight as a boat drew closer and closer until it anchored and idled beside us.

  A man leaned over the side. “Well, this was not what I was expecting. Here. Let’s get you out of the water.” He threw a ladder down from the side of the boat.

  “Who are you?” Kayla asked.

  “We can make proper introductions once you are dry and safe.” The man tapped the ladder. “Please, the sooner you climb on board, the sooner we can get you dry and safe.

  “No. We aren’t going anywhere until we know who you are.” Quinn raised her chin.

  “My name is Belk. Does that help?” He stood motionless by the ladder.

  “Where are we?” I asked. “That seems like the more important question.”

  “That’s an easy one to answer.” He grinned, and his white teeth glowed in the strange light created by his boat. “Welcome to the Glen.”

  Quinn

  “The Glen?” I repeated the words the man had just used to answer Maverick. I tried not to stare longingly at the boat, but getting dry sounded wonderful. Still, that didn’t mean I was willing to put the girls at risk just for comfort. I could put up with anything if it would guarantee Bailey and Faith’s safety. It had been a long time since I’d stopped worrying about my own life, but I knew I’d never stop trying to protect the girls. It was the only thing that kept me going.

  “It is easier to show you than tell you.” Belk tapped the ladder. “Come on aboard. Those children need to get dry.”

  “You can tell us.” Kayla held Faith tight. “We’ve been in this water for a while now. A few more minutes won’t change anything.”

  “It’s a safe place. The Glen. I promise you.”

  “We’ve heard that before.” I was done trusting anyone. It was hard enough to trust Maverick.

  “Where you were before couldn’t have been this safe, otherwise you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Belk leaned on the edge of the boat.

  “If you could direct us to solid land, we will be on our way.” Bolton sloshed forward so he was standing between the rest of us and the boat.

  I nodded. This may have been the first time I’d ever agreed with him.

  “The only land here is part of the Glen. You are welcome to join us for as long or as short as you want. Please get on the boat. I hate to see you suffer.”

  “We aren’t going anywhere with you.” Kayla stiffened. “But thank you. We will find another way.”

  “There is no other way besides turning back around the way you came.” Belk’s voice shook somewhat. Either he was legitimately worried for us, or he was struggling to control his annoyance. It was impossible to know.

  “We can do that.” I backed her up. I would never doubt one of Kayla’s feelings again. If she didn’t want to get on the boat, we weren’t doing it.

  “Where you came from isn’t safe.” Belk lowered his voice. “Listen. It’s dark. It’s getting colder. Come out of the water. At first light you can leave if you want. We’re not going to hurt you.”

  “You’d say that even if you were going to hurt us.” People told you what they wanted you wanted to hear. Everyone was after their own gain. Even we were. We’d say anything to protect the girls.

  “Why would I save you just to hurt you?” Belk included his head to the side.

  “We’re not idiots.” Bolton adjusted the sack on his back. I’d forgotten he was still dragging it. “We know exactly why you’d do that.”

  Belk exhaled loudly. “We have women here. That’s not what this is about.”

  “And children?” Maverick asked.
<
br />   “Some, but why would children change anything? We aren’t looking to be the next Central. We are only looking to get by and return to a semblance of normal life.”

  “Normal life.” I yawned despite myself. Exhaustion was starting to catch up. “Right.”

  “What can I say to get you to come out of the water? You have children. They need food. Water. Warm clothes. We can help you with all of that.”

  “We don’t want any trouble.” Although I wasn’t sure if there was anything out there anymore that wasn’t trouble. “Please. Leave us be.”

  “And you won’t find any trouble here. Only help.”

  “No one gives help without expecting something in return.” Kayla moved Faith to her other hip.

  Even at the camp we’d had to work to earn our keep. We’d also sacrificed some of our own—Mason and Addison.

  “This place is different.” Belk straightened. “Get in the boat and I can show you.”

  “You’d have better luck if you weren’t pushing so hard.” Father had a saying that you couldn’t trust a salesman who praised his own products too much.

  “I don’t want those children to die of hypothermia.”

  “The water isn’t that cold.” I tried to hide the shiver in my voice. The water was growing colder.

  “Really, what other choice do you have?” Belk sighed. “Be honest with yourselves.”

  He was right. And we all knew it. “Kayla…”

  “I know.” Her words fell soft, but they were piercing. “We’ll come with you, but we are only staying tonight.”

  We huddled together as the boat made its way toward the shore. Any arguments we were having before no longer mattered, and that included Bolton and me. We were in enemy territory, and we needed to protect one another.

  “I’m not going to bite.” Belk watched us as the boat moved through the dark night. “You don’t have to sit all together.”

  “We like to be together.” Maverick put his arm around Bailey and me.

  “I see. It isn’t often you see family units.” Belk looked at us before returning his eyes to the water.