Thankfully, he doesn’t have any problems finishing my sentence. “Die? Yeah, dead and buried. Both caught that last superbug that went through all the encampments about fifteen years ago, probably before you were born. Took less than three days before they were in the ground. The ones of us who didn’t catch it, we couldn’t get anywhere near the huts with the sick people. And the ones that did, they helped stack the bodies on top of each other like logs for a fire while they could stand on their feet.
“Me and my folks, we were never really that close, but knowing they were in there dying and I couldn’t do a thing about it, that made it so much worse. I had so many things I wanted to say to them, but I was too goddamn selfish to go anywhere near that building. I didn’t want what they had. Too much life to live. I still regret it. Believe me, every day I regret it. And let me tell you something, I know you don’t need me preaching this to you, but Caroline, if—I mean when—we find your mom and dad, don’t let the sun set on all your good words. Don’t make my same mistake.”
I haven’t entirely made up my mind about how I feel. They did abandon me, after all, but then again, I’ve recently been accused of abandonment. I know how it feels when your accusers don’t know the whole story. Regardless, I tell James that I’ll say everything I want to, just to appease him. However, I’m not so sure what those words will actually be.
“Good,” he says. “They’re all you got left. Camp gone, your grandfather gone. That boy Brandon you talked about sometimes.” Thankfully, he leaves Finn out of the things I don’t have anymore.
“I have you and the others.”
James grins underneath that bush of a beard, and pats my leg. “There’ll come a time when we won’t be able to hang around. You know that, right?”
“No, you have to stay,” I whine, resting my head against his arm. He’s probably the closest thing I’ll ever have to a brother, and I feel close enough to him to relax into his embrace.
“I wish we could, sweetheart, but you know we’re not built for this. None of us are. I mean, that’s why we’re Republicons in the first place. We weren’t made for a life in chains, whether that means working and living a free men under somebody else’s hand, or if it means the actual chains of slavery. A dog has to run, Caroline. You put him in a cage, eventually, he loses the excitement for living.”
“I know. I’m going to miss you guys when you’re gone.”
“Any idea where you’re going once you find your folks?”
“I don’t have a clue.” The truth is, I really haven’t thought that far ahead. I’ve always wanted to go, to get out of the slums and grime we lived in up north, yet now, it all seems like such a far-fetched possibility. What if Mother and Father are wounded and can’t run in the dead of night? What if they don’t want to leave our people behind? What if they’re afraid of the freedom out there?
And, there’s one thing nagging me in the back of my mind. Days ago, when we’d left Mosley behind, fighting with the blackcoat guard in that graveyard of a battlefield, I’d promised that I would help get revenge on Finn.
I’d done something I rarely do. I’d lied.
Sure, Finn deserves retribution, absolutely, but what can I do now that I’m a simple being, just like everyone else? From the way James talks, Finn was all but invincible out on the battlefield.
I’m exhausted. Frail. I feel so tired and empty.
It would be absolutely foolish to make an attempt on Finn’s life.
A yawn escapes and I can feel myself drifting.
James scoots closer to the tree trunk and braces himself against it. He delicately caresses my hair and tells me I should grab a short nap while I can.
“Are you sure?” I mumble, already slipping away. “Don’t let me fall.”
He chuckles. “I won’t. And yes, I’m sure. It’ll take another two or three hours for the tail end of the herd to pass. You have time.”
“Okay, but just for a little while. I think I could probably…” I whisper, but I’m out before I’m able to say I could probably sleep forever.
In my dream, I wake up, open my eyes, and see a room that feels unfamiliar but as if I’ve been there before.
Have I? No, I’ve never seen this place.
It almost reminds me of the medical tent when I woke up in Hale’s warehouse, but it’s not a tent. It’s a full structure with solid walls painted a light blue color, like a robin’s egg. There are windows and a fresh morning sun brightens the room as it peeks over a softly rolling hill.
Where am I?
I’m up high in this building, higher than I’ve ever been, because when I look out the window, I see small homes and a black trail, like a path carved by ants in the forest floor.
That’s a road. And there are cars on it.
I hear a chiming noise like a bell. I lift my eyes and overhead, white boxes, roughly the size of a loaf of bread, are made of plastic. A number of wires and cords are connected to each one. Some of the cords disappear into the wall. Some of them are attached to me at various points throughout my body. Two on my arms, two on my forehead. Yet another one clasping the tip of a finger, like a clothespin.
I’m in a hospital. What am I doing here? I don’t feel…pain.
A nurse enters the room, smiling, snapping on plastic gloves. Her words lilt in a sing-song voice. “There you are, my dear. Did we rest well?”
When I try to speak, my tongue is thick and dry in my mouth, like a wooden plank. “Water,” I croak.
“Yes, of course,” she says. “I imagine you’re thirsty.” She pours some into a plastic cup from a metal pitcher, slick and wet from condensation.
I gulp it all down and ask for more. The second glass goes down faster than the first.
“That’s enough for now. We don’t want to overdo it,” she says.
Why does she seem so familiar? I feel like I should know her.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Nurse,” is all she says, pulling a needle from a pocket somewhere in her uniform. Inside is a bright blue liquid. She flicks the end, squirts a stream at the ceiling, and then reaches for my arm.
I try to jerk away, saying, “What is that?” but it’s then I notice that my wrists are strapped tightly to the silver railing alongside the mattress.
She smiles warmly. “Hold still. It won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”
“What is that?” I insist.
“Never mind what it is. You only need to concern yourself with what it does.”
“Which is what?”
Nurse pokes my thigh with the needle. My leg grows warm.
“You’ll learn soon enough, Child of Ellery.”
I startle awake. I’m on the ground, underneath the thick canopy of an ancient pine tree. James must have carried me down here in my sleep.
“Whoa,” he says from beside me. “You okay?”
“How’d we get here?”
“Carried you down before we both fell.”
“James?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“My dream. It was so real.”
“Sounded more like a nightmare, the way you were whimpering.”
“Once we find my folks, I know where we’re going.”
“And where’s that? If you can make it across all the borders, I hear Florida is nice if you don’t mind the mosquitoes and—”
“North. With the rest of them.”
“What? Why?”
I stand up and wipe the dead, damp pine needles from my backside. “I have to find a woman called Nurse. She’ll know what to do.”
“Meaning?” James stands up beside me, eyebrows dipping inward, lips flattened against one another, concerned.
“If we’re going to fight, I need to get my power back.”
“Fight?” he asks, confused. “Who said anything about fighting? I don’t know what you mean by fighting, because the last time I checked, you don’t have any kind of army or even weapons for that matter.”
His words are lost in the
wind as I dart from underneath the pine tree, out into the woods, and search for the marching citizens off in the distance. The last of the group disappears around a distant bend in the road.
Maybe Finn won that battle, but there’s a lot of war left to fight.
Dear Reader
Thanks so much for reading A Pawn’s Betrayal. It’s great to see that you’ve made it this far, and that you’re enjoying it enough to continue. Help others discover and enjoy this book!
If you’ve enjoyed A Pawn’s Betrayal, please consider leaving an honest review. Reviews are like gold for an indie author’s career, and you can make a difference in a book’s discoverability. (It doesn’t have to be much. Even a few words can help!)
Be sure to follow on with Book Three, The Light of Hope.
Click here to sign up for free books, enter awesome contests, and join thousands of other readers.
A more detailed explanation follows, but the quick version is, if you’d like to keep up with my fiction, you can join my free mailing list for early discounts, giveaways, and a chance to win a $50 gift card each month.
I know how busy we all are, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you trusting me with your time while you read my fiction. Have a good one!
EL
http://www.ernielindsey.com
http://www.facebook.com/ErnieLindseyFiction
twitter.com/Ernie_Lindsey
Also By Ernie Lindsey
Novels
The Sara Winthrop Series
Sara’s Game: Book One
Sara’s Past: Book Two
Sara’s Fear: Book Three
One More Game: A Novella
Sara: The Complete Series
The Rhythm of War Trilogy
The Last Legend – Book One
A Pawn’s Betrayal – Book Two
The Light of Hope – Book Three
Super
Skynoise: A Time Travel Thriller
Harmless
The Marshmallow Hammer Detective Agency
The White Mountain
The Two Crosses
Going Shogun
Novellas
Hard Place
How White People Die
The Starboard Knife
Join Thousands of Readers
The Lindsey Novel-Dispatch
Free eBooks, News, Giveaways
Okay, so it’s not really your local paper, but rather a newsletter designed to give you the best options on fiction by Ernie Lindsey.
You’ll have opportunities to score free copies of my novels, enjoy steeper discounts on new releases, automatically have a chance at a $50 gift card each month, and participate in all the fun that the rest of us are having.
Sign Up for The Lindsey Novel-Dispatch
In addition, I’ll often do things like early cover reveals, interviews with authors you should be reading, and give general updates on sequels and other cool things happening in the world of my fiction. Plus, I’ll occasionally have other free content to give out, like signed books and discount codes for my audiobooks.
Please reach out and say hello. One of the best parts of being an indie author is easy accessibility to readers. It makes this whole process worth it.
Join The Lindsey Novel-Dispatch today, and have fun reading!
Ernie Lindsey
A Pawn's Betrayal Page 16
