by Kevin George
As he rounded the corner and pulled the table toward the exit, Wyatt was suddenly jolted from behind, his body entangling with another. He lost his balance and toppled against his worktable, which tipped over and spilled everything on it, tiny pieces and parts scattering across the floor, the jetpack and the GPS crashing down and disconnecting from each other. Wyatt cursed as he scurried to his feet, barely paying attention to Carli’s babbling. He distantly recognized the fear and panic in her voice, but he was too focused on righting his table and gathering the GPS to pay attention to what she was saying.
“You shouldn’t have been gone so long!” he snapped, if only to shut her up or calm her down from whatever was bothering her.
He instantly regretted his words but didn’t have a chance to apologize before Carli grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around and yanked him to his feet. He opened his mouth to tell her what she’d just done, but the look in her eyes made him focus less on his problems and more on hers. Words continued to flow out of her mouth and though Wyatt didn’t fully understand their meaning, he was ready to pay attention.
“Other HASSes. . . pushed together in the snow, like their survivors banded together,” Carli said, her words flowing out like a stream of consciousness. Excitement swelled in Wyatt’s chest about the thought of other HASS survivors, but he didn’t have a chance to speak before Carli kept babbling. “They’re dead. . . dead! They’re all dead!”
Wyatt felt a lump form in his throat and his feet froze to the floor. For a moment, he forgot the spilled parts scattered about; he forgot the spark of life he’d managed to extract from the GPS. He hurried to Carli, whose entire body shivered as she repeated her message about the HASS survivors being dead. He took her hand, calming her down as she looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
“Did you see it happen?” he asked gently. Carli blinked, as if she didn’t understand. Wyatt could see she was in shock and he didn’t want to push her too far, but he couldn’t treat her too delicately if they were in danger. “Did you see what killed. . . whoever it is that you saw?”
Carli shook her head. “The bodies. . . covered in snow. . . looks like it happened. . . maybe. . . a long time ago.”
Wyatt frowned, his eyes flitting back toward the broken GPS.
“It’s sad, and I’m sorry you had to see that, but this land is hard to survive on,” he said. “You and I know that all too well.”
“No, they were murdered,” Carli said. When she spoke this time, she did so calmly and clearly, no longer so frantic. “At least I’m pretty sure. Their deaths weren’t natural. I saw somebody with a weapon in one of the HASSes. There may have been others, too. They probably killed our ancestors.”
Wyatt’s eyebrows lowered. He stared into Carli’s eyes, trying to gauge how much truth or sanity was looking back at him. Her eyes narrowed and Wyatt looked away, realizing he’d stared too long.
“I know what I saw,” she said.
Wyatt nodded. “And that person you saw. . . or maybe those people. . . they meant you harm?”
“Yes,” Carli snapped, though her face immediately softened. “Well. . . I think so. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.”
She frowned, opening her mouth to add the next part but hesitating when she realized how it might make her sound. Wyatt sensed her hesitation and lowered an eyebrow.
“And?” he asked.
Carli sighed, but admitted to spotting something in the sky behind her. Wyatt’s eyes widened and he hurried past her, heading outside. He ignored the wind and snow hitting his face and scanned the clouds. Carli rushed after him, insisting her eyes had probably been playing tricks on her.
“Did you see something or didn’t you?” Wyatt asked.
Carli shielded her eyes, wanting to be anywhere but outside again. She considered lying to coax Wyatt back inside, but instead closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what it was she’d seen. Finally, she nodded.
“A glimpse, only for a second, but I definitely saw something,” she said. “But don’t worry, it was far away from here, at least a few hours’ flight. I only saw it one time, never again.”
Wyatt continued to frown as he scanned the clouds. Carli had spent the majority of her return flight denying what she’d seen, convincing herself nothing was flying behind her, convincing herself that if something had been in the sky then it wasn’t anything of significance, nothing that could threaten her or Wyatt or the Comm HASS. But seeing the trepidation etched on his face filled her with fear and she hurried in, where she nearly tripped on the fallen pieces of Wyatt’s project. Carli shrugged off her jetpack and began to clean up the mess, which had turned her clean hallway into chaos.
Wyatt followed but told her to leave the parts on the floor. The connection between the GPS and the jetpack had been broken, and he was certain that whatever luck he’d had in getting a flash of power was gone forever. Taking Carli by the arm, he carefully led her around the mess (trying not to sneer at the GPS and what had happened) and into the room where they stored their food. He made her eat, insisting she take more food than usual following her ordeal.
“What about rationing?” Carli asked.
Wyatt shrugged and forced a smile, unable to hide the sadness in it. “I’m not sure saving food is going to matter anymore. We can’t stay here forever, especially with the lack of supplies at our disposal. Are you sure there was nothing of use at the other HASSes?”
“Not the two I walked through,” Carli said. “They were picked clean.”
“I see,” Wyatt said, nodding.
“Then what next? You’ll reassemble your jetpack and we’ll try to find somewhere else to live?” Carli asked. “Because I haven’t seen anywhere else that we could try to—”
Wyatt shook his head. “I put you in this crazy situation, I put your life in danger, I dragged you down to a frozen world that could end up killing us if we stay here much longer. You could’ve left me at any time, but you never did. Your loyalty kept me going, kept me motivated to fix the GPS and find the other arks. But things are getting too dangerous and it’s not fair that I did this to you. I’d understand if you wanted to fly off and find the HASS. Actually, I’d feel better if you did go home.”
The dam behind Carli’s eyes threatened to burst. She was flooded with disappointment, relief, anger, confusion, all of which she felt but none of which she could completely focus on. She didn’t know if she wanted to scream at Wyatt or hug him, but she could see the sadness in his eyes as he said the words.
“Come with me,” Carli said, echoing the words he’d once told her. “I’ll make sure my father doesn’t punish you. And if we tell him everything we saw down here—if we tell him how to make more jetpacks—maybe we’ll be able to—”
Wyatt shook his head. He reached out to take her hand, but she pulled it away.
“My only way of life—however long it’s destined to last—is forward,” Wyatt said.
Carli wanted to tell him not to be stubborn but knew that would be a lost cause. She knew he wasn’t going back. They remained silent and ate most of the food left, both avoiding eye contact with the other. Once they were done, Carli and Wyatt proceeded to their respective rooms and dressed in more layers, packing what few belongings they had. Carli had dreamed of the day she’d leave the Comm HASS but didn’t expect this moment to happen so suddenly.
Not that I ever expected to leave home so suddenly, either, she thought.
She’d spent months scanning the sky for the Main HASS without finding it, so the idea of searching now was nothing short of daunting. She was about to leave her room when she heard Wyatt’s footsteps down the hallway. She stopped for several minutes, waiting for him to pass, his shuffling fading farther down the hall.
With little left to do, Carli walked quietly down the hall, knowing she couldn’t avoid Wyatt if she wanted to leave. She found him near the overturned table, gathering the remnants of his jetpack and the GPS, packing them in his supply pack. He didn’t noti
ce Carli until she was just behind him. He glanced up, their eyes meeting for a moment, both kids full of regret and thoughts they didn’t know how to convey. Carli carefully tiptoed around the parts, eyeing her jetpack still near the exit. Part of her wanted to rush to it, throw it over her shoulders and hurry out without ever looking back; another part of her felt overwhelming shame at the idea of doing that.
She glanced at Wyatt, who’d abandoned the mess of tiny parts and was looking all around the HASS hallway. Though his head was turned away from Carli, he sensed her looking at him.
“At least we’ll never forget this time in our lives,” he said.
Carli looked at his open backpack, the shell of the jetpack shoved within. “You’re not going to fix that?”
Wyatt shook his head and explained how he’d connected the two and already found a spark, one he hadn’t expected to recreate until locating more parts.
“I’ve been cooped up for months,” Wyatt said. “I could use a good walk, especially now that I’m wearing plenty of layers.”
Carli shook her head, thinking about the miles upon miles of empty, snowy land she’d flown over for months. The idea of spending any length of time walking it made her feel anxious. She may have been ready to leave the Comm HASS and Wyatt behind—possibly forever—but she couldn’t bear the idea of Wyatt walking to his frozen death.
“Walk where? I already told you, the HASSes were stripped of anything important,” she said. “And the people there. . . they had weapons. . . and whatever I saw flying in the—”
“I’m not going there,” Wyatt said. “I never saw the HASSes, so I wouldn’t know where to find them. I can’t take that risk.”
“But you don’t know where anything else. . .”—Carli stopped and put a hand to her mouth—“. . . you can’t go there.”
“I have to,” Wyatt said. “You’ve been saying it for months: there’s nothing else out there. I know how to find the Snow City, and it might be the only place that has what I need. I’ll just dig my way through some of the buildings to search them.”
“Please. . . you can’t. . . not there,” Carli said, though she understood why Wyatt would only think to go there. She sighed, hoping he wouldn’t hate her for the secret she’d kept so many months. “I didn’t want to tell you before. . . I was afraid of you wanting to go there. . . I was afraid you’d be curious. But when we flew away from the city, I saw movement in the windows. People were there, I don’t know how many, but they didn’t look friendly. Whoever it was may be the same ones that slaughtered the other HASS survivors.”
Carli expected Wyatt to be angry or surprised or confused by her revelation, but he looked away and nodded, a tiny smile crossing his lips.
“I’m not as blind as you think,” he said, zippering his pack closed. He stood and slung it over his shoulder. “I saw them, too. I’d rather deal with them than run out of food here. Try not to worry about me. I’ll be careful.”
Wyatt headed toward the exit, nodding to Carli as he passed. Though he wouldn’t be flying any time soon, he pulled his flight helmet over his head before stepping outside. Suddenly flustered, Carli rushed after him, slipping on her first few steps in the snow. When she regained balance, she watched Wyatt heading in the direction from where they’d first come.
“So that’s it?” Carli called out. “You’re just leaving? Just like that?”
Wyatt stopped and looked back, lifting his helmet. “Good luck finding the Main HASS,” he said, looking toward the sky. He turned slowly before pointing above. “If I had to guess, it’s in that direction. Once I figure out answers about what else is out there, I’ll try to find my way back to the HASS. You deserve to learn the truth, too, as long as your father will allow it.”
Carli heard no malice in his tone, but his words felt as cold as the wind-blown snow around them. She suddenly felt the need to defend returning to the Main HASS—it was Wyatt’s idea for her to leave, after all—but she didn’t want to prolong this moment. With a final nod from Wyatt, Carli donned her helmet, mashed the power button and shot into the sky.
Wyatt’s stomach sank as Carli took off. He had so much he wanted to tell her—so much appreciation for her, so many feelings for her that had gone unsaid far too long—and knew he’d think back to this moment and regret saying none of it. Though he’d insisted she leave, he still couldn’t help feeling crushed that she’d actually done it, that she’d actually left. Their time together had been rocky at best; frustrated hours spent failing to fix the GPS hadn’t made him the most pleasant person to be around and his absence pushed Carli to spend more time searching the empty, snowy world. He’d been expecting her to disappear for months, but now at least he knew she would end up somewhere safe.
It’s not the first time the most important person in your life left you. At least she’s headed up to somewhere safe, and not down to—
Wyatt looked around the white world, not the first time he thought about his parents leaping off the Comm HASS and landing somewhere down here. He shook his head and sighed, silently repeating the mantra he’d created for himself soon after realizing his parents leapt out of his life.
Keep going. . . keep pushing forward. . . don’t give up now. . .
He tightened his backpack. The weight threatened to pull him back, so he leaned slightly forward to keep himself balanced. He started in the direction of Snow City, the weather finally breaking, as if giving him a sign that now was the right time to leave. He focused on taking one step after another, pushing his way forward, his body growing hot beneath so many layers, though every exposed part of his skin burned coldly. He expected to have trouble walking in the snow, but it wasn’t as deep as he remembered.
Wyatt told himself to keep his eyes ahead—to focus on the future, and the future only—but he found himself glancing back every few minutes, watching the Comm HASS grow smaller and smaller behind him, wondering if he was making the worst decision of his life, wondering if he was making the last decision of his life. But he never stopped once and kept walking long after the only home he’d ever known disappeared far behind him.
Wyatt couldn’t tell how much time passed, but his body eventually grew numb to the cold, grew numb to fatigue as he walked mile after mile, hour after hour. His head hung low, his neck too tired to keep it upright, his shoulders sore from carrying supplies. He stopped to rest on a few occasions but found it harder to restart each time, to the point where he no longer allowed himself breaks. His mind soon had trouble thinking, but his feet kept taking one step at a time, moving on instinct only, all his thoughts fading away until the only thing he could focus on was the slow, rhythmic crunch of his footsteps in the snow. . . one after another. . . not stopping or slowing down for hours. . .
Wyatt’s mind fought through the frozen fog when he distantly sensed something wrong in the empty world around him. He stopped, his legs threatening to give out beneath him, his breathing in deep gasps within his helmet. He turned slowly, searching the snow for any sign of movement, Carli’s warnings whispering in the back of his mind about dangerous people being out there. When Wyatt saw nothing, any focus he’d attained began to drift until he remembered one last part of what Carli had told him.
A flash of movement in the sky. . .
Wyatt looked up, nearly losing his balance in the process. The visor of his helmet soon became dotted with wisps of snow. He wiped it, leaving streaks of water across his vision, and nearly started forward again when he spotted. . . something. . . a blur among the clouds, speeding in his direction. In an instant, the fog in his mind lifted and warning bells sounded. The blur was becoming bigger. . . coming closer. . . speeding directly toward him, threatening to destroy the one and only chance for the HASS world to make contact with the remaining arks. . .
Wyatt turned and ran as quickly as his feet could stumble through the snow. He tripped several times, finding it harder to get up each time, his head turning from side to side, looking for anywhere to hide or blend into his surroundings. H
e considered dropping to the ground and covering himself with snow, but he quickly realized how bad of an idea that would be, especially when he glanced back and saw the streak heading straight toward him. In less than a minute, Wyatt’s sprint turned into a clumsy stumble and he fell into the snow, unable to muster the strength to pull himself back up.
He turned his head to see the flying figure touch down on the snow beside him. When he looked up to see who it was, his head dropped, turning away to hide the tears welling in his eyes.
“You didn’t think I’d let you find out the truth on your own, did you?” Carli asked.
Wyatt shook his head as she helped pull him to his feet, the two of them continuing to walk the White Nothingness, side by side.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Surrounded by the white walls of the Quarantined Zone hallway and feeling coolness seeping out in front of him, King Edmond stared into the elevator at a mound of red meat and a large bucket of melting snow. His stomach grumbled and his mouth felt drier than he ever remembered. He wanted nothing more than to scoop up handfuls of snow and drink it, but he resisted the urge, especially since he didn’t know if he could trust it was safe.
“They sent it down without anyone accompanying it?” Edmond asked.
He turned to Zander Blake, who nodded.
“Only this note.”
Edmond took the note, but not before glancing at the other guards a few feet away. He nodded his head toward the opposite end of the hallway and the men left, leaving him and Blake alone.
“I take it you read this first?” the king asked, unable to hide the annoyance in his voice. “Before allowing me?”
