We headed straight for the river, following our own tracks back to it. Eli had told us that when he’d escaped Ryder, he’d followed a river into the mountains, which eventually led him to the Nation. He was using the river to guide him back to the city.
As we traveled through the night, the low, deep growl of a tiger always seemed to be about the same distance away. There was no doubt it was following us, and it was unnerving. Hayley and Eli frequently awoke with a start, grabbing for their weapons, when the growls came too close. So far I hadn’t seen an actual cat, but Eli said that wasn’t unusual. They were stealthy, and when they did attack, they usually attacked from behind. His explanation didn’t ease my mind.
Going at the bears’ pace, it took us a few hours to get back to the river. The foothills were beginning to smooth out as we traveled toward the plains, so access to the river shore was easier than it had been. We stopped for a quick break to refill our water flasks and allow the bears to drink. I took the opportunity to dip the clothes I had stolen from the recruiters into the river, agitate as much dirt and smell out of them as I could, and hang them to dry over the rail on the wagon. Reyes explored the contents of a small crate built into the cart and found plastic containers with chunks of raw meat. He fed it to the animals, and they seemed to relax a bit around us.
Having a pee break was a little awkward since we decided with a tiger following us, it wasn’t a good idea to stray away from the group. We relied on each other to “not look.” With the amount of peeing my pregnant body liked to do, I imagined the trip was going to be a long one.
The bears ambled along the trail all night, but by the time the sun crested the horizon it was obvious they needed a break. We steered them back down to the river’s edge, and as they lapped up water, I wondered how we were going to let them rest.
“Do you think we should unharness them?” I asked Summer and Reyes.
Reyes looked at me as if I was crazy. “No.”
Hayley hopped down from the cart and stretched. “The harness is long enough that they can lie down. We’re not stopping for long anyway.”
“I think I’ll do some fishing,” Eli said. “I’m running low on dried meat.”
“Me too,” Jin said. She stood up, wincing at the pain in her side.
“Any better today?” I asked.
She gave me a weak smile. “Yes,” she said, but I didn’t believe her. “I’m just stiff from sitting too long. I need to get up and move.”
Eli took a small fishing net out of his leather pouch and carefully unfolded it. Spread out, it was a rectangle of about five feet by two feet. Jin took one side while Eli took the other, and they waded a little way into the cold river and stretched it across the shallows. We all watched them with interest until I noticed Hayley wasn’t with us. I turned around and found her close to the edge of the forest, frozen in midstride.
“Hayley?” I called.
Reyes’ head snapped up at the alarm in my voice.
“My gun,” she said, although her voice was so low that I almost didn’t hear her. A quick check in the back of the wagon showed me her rifle was still there.
Reyes went into a full run. Summer drew her pistol. I grabbed Hayley’s rifle. Eli dropped the end of his net and nocked two arrows. A massive flash of orange leaped out of the trees and sailed in the air as if in slow motion, claws pointed, mouth open with four thick, long teeth ready to tear into Hayley.
Reyes propelled himself at the tiger and bellowed “Move!” at Hayley. Summer and I took off toward them. Hayley finally moved, scrambling to get out of the way of the giant set of teeth coming at her.
Reyes collided with the animal in midair, drilling his fist down on the cat’s snout the second they made contact. What happened next was a blur. I heard, rather than saw, the cat’s mouth slam shut. An ear-piercing noise escaped it, sounding like a cross between a growl and a scream. Reyes lost his hold on the beast as they hit the ground. The tiger was on its feet in a second, mouth open and lips drawn back to show its deadly daggers. It made a low hiss as it pounced on Reyes. I aimed the rifle and almost took the shot, but Reyes shifted to hold the animal at bay with both hands.
“Shoot it!” he yelled.
I would have, but Reyes didn’t have his hood up. His head was completely unprotected if I missed. Aiming at the tiger’s flank, where I was sure if the bullet missed it would hit Reyes’ suit, I took the shot at the same time that two arrows flew toward the animal. A roar burst from the tiger when my bullet hit its hind leg and one of Eli’s arrows struck its back. The injuries didn’t stop it though; they just enraged the animal. With its snout crinkled into a snarl, it raised a paw to take a swipe at Reyes. I took another shot, aiming for the belly this time. The bullet ripped through its ribcage, the force of the impact throwing the cat back. Instead of taking a swipe at Reyes, the animal was forced to use its paw for balance.
While he still held it by the head, Reyes scrambled to regain his footing. He stood at six foot four, and the head of the cat came level with his chest. The animal’s eyes were locked on Reyes’ face, its tail twitching and mouth open and panting.
I shifted to get a better angle and shot again. The big cat finally went down. Reyes let go and took four quick steps backward, ready to fend off the predator if it got back up. Summer and I approached it with caution, our fingers wrapped around the triggers on our weapons.
Hayley screamed an f-bomb and dropped to the ground. All color had drained from her complexion, and her big brown eyes looked like saucers in her pale face. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she raised them to cover her open mouth.
“You got this?” Reyes asked, looking at the tiger. I nodded. He went to Hayley.
Inching closer, I pointed my rifle at the cat’s head. Its breath came in short, labored gasps, and as I came into view, its eyes sought mine. Green eyes rimmed in a yellow-gold with an intelligence I didn’t expect. They didn’t show fear or plead for life. The only thing I saw in them was acknowledgement that it was at my mercy.
My finger faltered on the trigger. It was truly one of the scariest animals I had ever encountered, but also one of the most beautiful. Eli’s arrow rose up and down with each short breath, and every beat of its heart spilled more blood from the bullet wounds I’d inflicted. It was dying a slow, painful death. And that above all else made me pull the trigger and help it find its release a little faster. The light in its eyes froze for one stubborn moment before death robbed them of expression.
I turned my head so no one could see me rub tears away with the heel of my hand. The cat was a man-eater. If we hadn’t killed it, it would’ve killed us. Winning was nothing to cry over. Clearing my throat, I gave my head a shake and turned to find Hayley. That’s when Summer grabbed my arm and subtly motioned with her head.
Reyes was examining Hayley for injuries and wiping away the tears on her cheek with his thumb. I had never seen him act so tenderly.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jack
It would be easy to dismiss Joseph Ryder’s discovery of a process for extracting oil from plastic as nothing more than an excellent classroom project. Where I came from, our gasifiers worked cleanly and efficiently to turn coal into gas. Advanced technology was something we took for granted. Yet, I wasn’t about to underestimate Ryder. Not only was he one hell of a charismatic leader in a world that sorely needed governance, but I also knew full well the impact oil had had on the industrial revolution long before the War. Ryder’s compound wasn’t just the beginning of a new city; it could very well be the start of a new empire.
I rolled that thought in my head for a moment. An empire built on the fanatical religious logic of a man who liked to keep his flock illiterate so they couldn’t think for themselves. It sounded ludicrous, yet I saw with my own eyes how the entire town had backed the castration of Phillip. How an entire community participated in the effort to dilute the gods’ poison running through humanity’s veins. If four hundred people believed that crap, who was to say
four thousand wouldn’t?
It was not as if I didn’t have experience with dictators and how they operated. How many years had I gone along with President Holt, applauding his handling of the Pit and even helping by backing the sterilization program? Just like everyone else in the Dome, I swallowed the propaganda because it made my life easier. It wasn’t until I had lived in the Pit, gotten a taste of life as a slave, that reality had opened my eyes. But now that they were open, they were staying open.
Men like Joseph Ryder and Damien Holt should not be allowed to rule the world.
Ryder was still looking at me, the lid of the pot in his hand, the black slurry still steaming. I realized he was expecting my response. Belittling him would accomplish nothing. His ego required stroking.
I did my best to arrange my expression into one of stunned awe, as if I was indeed standing in the glow of a very bright future. “That’s amazing. I’m really... shocked.”
His expression was somewhat skeptical, but one side of his mouth curved into a smile. I wasn’t sure if he was buying my act or not. I pressed on.
“And you learned how to do this from books?”
His smile faltered, and he scanned the faces of the workers standing around us. “I thank the gods, Jack, not the books.”
“Of course,” I said quickly. But Ryder didn’t look happy. He replaced the lid on the pot.
“The day is wearing on, and you have a hole to dig,” he said.
He thanked the workers, told them to carry on, and strode away. Fadi and Amos motioned for me to follow, and on my way out I noticed my rifle lying on a table. It looked scratched up, as if someone had forcefully been trying to open it. There was no way their crude plastic and wooden tools were going to crack open that rifle.
Fadi and Amos marched me out of the stifling heat and toxic fumes of the little hut and past the other side of the plastic factory. The side I had been waiting all day to go to.
“Don’t I get to finish the tour?” I asked in a loud voice so Ryder would hear me.
“The tour’s over, Jack.” He turned and pointed toward the gates. “Take him and get him started. I’ll be there soon.”
I clenched my teeth against the anger and frustration rising up inside me. I had one goal when I started the tour: get my hands on a weapon. That was it. The one place I knew where I could find one was the only place Ryder wouldn’t take me. Had he read my mind? Did he know that’s what I had planned all along?
The guards opened the gate when they saw us coming, and one of them fetched the shovel. Fadi and Amos led me to the hole I’d been working on. The plastic grate was over the other detention holes, and I squinted, trying to peer down and see if there were any heads visible.
“Naoki! Talon!” I called out. Fadi cuffed me. I flinched, but listened to see if my friends responded. They didn’t.
“Get to work,” Amos said, pointing at the hole.
The hole was getting deeper and harder to dig. With each heave, I had to squat to reach the earth at the bottom. But I dug into the dirt with all the force of my anger, picturing Ryder’s throat beneath the tip of the spade, and came up with a big scoop of dirt. I heaved it in the direction of the other detention holes to see if anyone coughed. No one did. Where did they take them during the day? I dug in again, came up with another big scoop, and reminded myself to slow down. If I kept digging at this rate, I’d be sleeping in that hole in a few short hours. Yet driving the spade into the hard ground was having a cathartic effect on my anger, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was a rock that halted me. The force of the spade slammed into the stone and sent vibrations up my arms, making me drop it.
Fadi rolled his eyes. “Pick it up.”
The handle had snapped in two. I jumped into the narrow hole, which was almost waist high, and squatted down to retrieve it. That’s when I noticed the spade was shattered into five pieces. Working as fast as I could, I ran a finger along the edge of each piece to find the sharpest one. Since I was barefoot, the only place I could hide it was on my person. I tore a strip off the bottom of my shirt, placed the shiv against my thigh, and tied the strip around the shiv to hold it there. I pulled my pants back up just as Fadi came to stand over me.
“Have you decided you like it down there, or are you coming out?”
I looked up at him, squinting against the sun. “I broke it. I was just picking up the pieces.”
He motioned for me to get out of the hole. “He needs another shovel,” he called over to Amos.
Within minutes I had another shovel in my hand. This time I didn’t dig into the dirt with as much vigor.
The sun was low in the sky by the time Ryder showed up. Teegan was behind him, struggling to keep up with a water pitcher in her hands. The liquid sloshed over the sides and soaked her. A rosy, feverish hue colored her complexion. Her infection was getting worse.
She brought me water. “Thanks, Annie,” I said with a wink.
“How’s that hole coming along, Jack?” Ryder asked.
I drained the water and handed the cup back to Teegan. “Not quite waist high,” I said with a smile. “Looks like I have a few more days of digging.”
“Ah,” he said with a wave of his hand. “You’ll finish up tomorrow.”
“It’s taken me three days to dig this far. By my calculations, I have another couple of days of digging before I can fit in there.”
Ryder gave me a toothy grin. “And your calculations would be right if the hole were for you.”
My heart thumped harder, and I broke out in a cold prickly sweat. “Who the hell is it for?” I asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
“Annie.”
Blind rage sent me running at him holding the spade like a lance, prepared to kill him. The cocky bastard stood his ground, not budging. Before I could get to him, Fadi and Amos blocked my way, poised to seize the spade. At the last second, I raised it and took a swing at Amos, clocking him in the side of the head. Fadi made a grab for me, but I body checked him into Ryder. Ryder staggered back, caught Fadi, and pushed him at me. Gripping the spade with both hands, I swung at Fadi, and as soon as he began to duck, I changed the direction and caught him under the chin.
A hot piercing sensation ripped through my buttock, stopping me in my tracks. I looked down to see an arrow sticking out of me. Another one slammed into me. The devil’s blood took me under in seconds.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sunny
I opened my eyes and looked around, wondering how long I had been asleep. My neck was stiff from the way I’d slept propped up against the rail. When I’d crawled into the back of the wagon this morning, I figured the stench alone would keep me awake. It smelled exactly as I imagined the sewer in the Pit probably smelled. So I used my blanket as a barrier between the stained boards and me, balling Jack’s t-shirt against my nose to block the stench. Hayley raised an eyebrow when she saw the shirt, but I ignored her. She was still behaving sheepishly over letting her tough-girl exterior slip when she had been almost eaten by a tiger, so I figured she couldn’t say much about my attachment to a piece of cloth.
The sun was warm today, even in its late afternoon position, and insects buzzed around the bears and us. In the wagon with me, Reyes was sprawled out flat in the middle with Summer tucked against him and using his shoulder as a pillow, and a still-unconscious Zach was at the back, closest to the rumps of the beasts pulling us. From my position against the side rail, Hayley rode her bike across from me, and Jin-Sook and Eli were behind me, also riding bikes.
I kind of smiled when I remembered how mad Hayley had been when she’d found out the “heathens” (she’d whispered to me in a low tone) knew how to operate Dome vehicles. I was forced to confess that Jack and I had borrowed a few from inventory and permanently loaned them to Dena’s barangay so they could have a little fun. That explanation hadn’t helped her mood any more than being forced to spend the day escorting our bear-drawn wagon with two heathens for comrades.
From behind my sungla
sses, I studied Hayley. She had taken off her jacket and cap under the warm sun and she looked a lot smaller without the added bulk. Her t-shirt hugged her lean, sculpted physique, making me wonder how much time she spent in the gym. Yet despite the tough image, her big brown eyes and the soft brown curls framing her face gave her a very vulnerable, feminine quality. She carried herself with a superior arrogance not uncommon among bourge upper crust, but after watching her yesterday I wondered how much of that was an act.
I was still a little in shock that Reyes had comforted her after the tiger incident. He hated the bourge; she despised urchins. Water and oil, yet they somehow came together—if only for a few moments—even though awkwardness had set in when they parted. The thing was that those few moments were affectionate. Not that I personally cared if they decided to start something with each other. But on a greater scale, I figured if those two haters could overcome their prejudices enough to be friends, then there was hope for everyone else.
Hayley cast a sidelong glance at Reyes’ and Summer’s sleeping figures, and I quickly closed my eyes so she wouldn’t catch me staring at her. Then I remembered I had my sunglasses on and she couldn’t see my eyes anyway. I opened them again, but her focus was back on the trail in front of her.
I knew there was no romance between my best friend and my ex. A few months after we had been liberated from the Pit, I gave Summer a little push toward Reyes. During my engagement to him, she had never been shy about telling me what a catch he was, so I let her know that I wouldn’t mind if they started a relationship. She laughed and assured me that Reyes was like her brother. The thought of ever kissing him “that way” was gross.
My neck really was stiff, and I finally moved, stretching it one way and then the other. A distant whirring, like that of a motor, made me sit up straight. I strained to make it out.
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