Awaken

by Linda Harley

  “For now,” Anna said considering whether or not she wanted to let Radnt loose.

  “Well?” Radnt asked impatiently, “Are we going to sit here all day?”

  “I suppose not.” Anna stood and undid his restraints. Radnt bolted from the room and ran smack into the elevator doors. Stumbling back, he landed on his rump.

  Anna patiently helped him to his feet, “This way,” she said, taking him by the hand and guiding him outside, glad that he hadn’t gotten far.

  Radnt squinted at the sunlight as Anna led him out into the open-air kitchen.

  Ekiny, the girl with the braided red hair, came up to her and asked, “Anna, do you think we could get some clothes?”

  Anna smacked her forehead. They were all still in nightshirts. But where was she supposed to find clothes for them? The living quarters. “Ekiny, can you and some of the other kids go pick us some fruit. It’s going to take a bit of work for me to get you all the clothes and stuff.”

  “Okay,” Ekiny said and turned towards the orchards, rustling up two of the younger kids as she went.

  Back into the Cryoplex, Anna went, heading up the stairs this time to the living quarters. There were many rooms on these levels, all organized in a perfect patterned grid. All the doors were open, and Anna scavenged around, grabbing everything she could find, and bundling them all up into blankets. Soon everyone was dressed, in some fashion. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

  She then returned to the medical ward and brought down all the blankets and pillows she could find, and the kids all made a nest in one of the corners of the kitchen. Some helped her wordlessly, while others just sat around looking shocked and close to tears.

  Ekiny appeared with a basket of eggs. “I found a chicken coup over that way and some cows. I’m not sure how to milk a cow, but we’ll figure it out. Want to help?” Ekiny asked.

  “Sure, what do you need?” Anna asked.

  Ekiny led Anna over to the kitchen table, that had been Jame’s domain. “Why don’t you cut up some fruit and make us a fruit salad. I found some bread in the pantry, and I’m going to make us some french toast. How does that sound?”

  “Can I help?” Dave asked, coming over.

  “Sure buddy, have you ever cracked an egg before?” Ekiny asked.

  Dave shook his head.

  “Perfect! There is no time to learn like the present.”

  Everyone gathered around the kitchen table when the food was ready. Dave sat close to Anna, his legs dangling from the bench.

  “Who are you really?” demanded Radnt.

  “I’m Anna.”

  “Anna, who?” asked Ekiny.

  “Anna Applewood.” Anna looked at Dave, who gave her a curt nod. “What about you?”

  They went around the circle and introduced themselves. Now that everyone had had something to eat, the world did not seem as bleak, and they could finally talk about things.

  Anna looked at the group. Of the 30 that Anna had initially chosen, only 7 had made it out of cryo. All 30 had come out of cryo, but some had instantly succumbed to the virus and had bled to their deaths, while others had not been able to overcome the shock of the rapid wake up process.

  They were left with Ekiny, the chef, Radnt the boy scout, Iona the lifeguard, Trald the brainiac, Olavi, and Miina who were brother and sister, Dave and herself. For some odd reason, this is the group that Anna had hoped for, but it did not make the loss of the other children any easier to bear.

  Anna was glad that it had been dark. The others did not yet know how many had died, but it was time to tell them.

  “What happened here?” Radnt demanded. His bushy brows furrowed, as he placed his fists on the table.

  Anna told them everything that she knew and all that had happened to her since she had woken up. However, she left out the parts that she had promised Nick never to tell anyone.

  “You mean, we’re all mutants?” Trald asked, “That’s so totally cool!” Trald pushed the black glasses up on his nose. Trald was lank and skinny, and it looked like he hadn’t fully grown into his body yet.

  Iona rolled her eyes and flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder. “I don’t see what’s so cool about it. I don’t feel any different than before I went into cryo.” Iona was beautiful, and if Anna was truthful with herself, she felt somehow less because of Iona’s confidence. Then Iona smiled at Anna, and the feeling faded.

  “The changes are not immediate,” Anna tried to explain, “we’ll know more in a week what everyone’s changes are.”

  “What can you do, that’s so special?” Radnt asked, his brown eyes boring into her.

  Anna tried to stay patient, trying to remember how she had felt upon learning all of this. “Let’s see. I can see in the dark. I’m stronger than I used to be, and oh yeah, I can run pretty fast.”

  “Awesome!” Trald exclaimed, “I wish I could do those things.”

  Booooooooom

  Everyone jumped in their seats. “What was that?” Dave said clinging to Anna’s arm.

  “I don’t know.” Anna stood and tried to listen real hard.

  “I think it came from over there,” Trald said pointing towards the southeast,

  Booooom. Boooooom.

  “What’s going on?” Miina cried. The petite blond haired girl with blue eyes and a button nose, clung to her brother Olavi’s hand. Olavi tried to put on a bold face, but his blue eyes betrayed the fear. Olavi ran a hand through his short brown hair and stood staring from Miina to Anna.

  “I’m going to go find out. Everyone stays put,” Anna said, running to the core. She cracked open the elevator door and started to climb. The elevator door at the top was open, and so she jumped out and rushed to the southern lookout.

  Smoke rose from several buildings in Pearl. Anna grabbed the telescope and looked to see what was going on. Several bots arrived at the burning buildings and started to put the flames out, but no one else was to be seen on the streets. Anna took a step back to take in the whole scene. The noise had been scary, but Pearl was too far away to be of any concern to them.

  Then something caught her eye; it was flashing off to the east. Quickly she focused the telescope and followed the river that flowed from the Crypolex.

  There. A boat! Men were rushing out of the forest heading towards the boat. One of them had blood covering his lower half; his clothes were soaked red. He was injured badly. He could barely walk, the others had to drag him.

  Blood.

  He was human! Anna shrieked with joy. They were not alone. There were other humans still alive. She had to get to them before they sailed away on the boat.

  Anna rushed into the kitchen. “There are people outside. Real people! We’re not alone.”

  Everyone just stared at her dumbfounded. There was no time to waste. She had to take action before they left on the boat.

  Anna hugged Dave, “I’ll be back. Stay put.”

  “Where are you going?” Radnt shouted after her.

  “To get help!” Anna shouted as she sprinted away.

  Chapter 11

  Anna sprinted down the mountain towards the unknown. She hoped the men she had seen through the telescope would be kind enough to help them. She worried that they would take advantage of them, or worse kill them, but Anna knew that there was no way she could care for the others all by herself. She could barely manage taking care of herself, nevermind her 6-year brother and the others. Not having electricity and running water was going to make survival a challenge. Fortunately, they had a gas stove that could be used for cooking and boiling water. But the truth was she was lost without Nick. She had no idea what to do next. They would have to venture out at some point, for they needed to find the trisidiumpac that was out there in the real world. The only way to get Nick back, and the Cryoplex operational was to venture out and now was as good a time as any.

  Feeling the worlds responsibility press down on her shoulders, Anna picked up the pace and blindly raced through the woods in front of her. Her a
rms pumping, her feet pounding, she soon felt more at peace as her body propelled forward.

  She was amazed at how fast she could run. Never before could she have zipped over terrain this quickly. Nick had only woken her up from cryo a week ago, but everything had changed. The bots, the babies, the power outage, the virus, all of it had transformed her world into this strange new reality that she was still struggling to come to grips with. Running allowed her to think clearly, something that she had not had the luxury of doing.

  The McKlendle virus her mom had created was supposed to have wiped out the entire human race on Nuelda. How then have these strangers survived? The injured man had bled, which meant he must be human and not a bot. Did they have a cure for the virus? It didn’t matter if they did, there was no one back at the Cryoplex who could use it. Anna shivered as she remembered the babies they had disposed of during the last culling. She would never forget their tiny little faces and felt heartsick at the memory. She pushed it aside and decided to focus on what was in front of her feet.

  Deer and rabbits bounced out of her way, and Anna paused for a moment. There, the deer was bounding down a nature path. The animals would know the way to water, Anna reasoned. Well to be entirely truthful the path led either to the river or the deers grazing grounds. She followed her instincts, knowing that water flows downhill she chose the direction that headed down the mountain, hoping that it would cross the river.

  Soon her efforts were rewarded as the rushing sound of water reached her ears. She dared not stop but kept pressing on. Barely 5 minutes had gone since she had left the others, and that was miles behind her. Once again, she was grateful for her new genetically enhanced body and immunity to the virus, but she wondered what else she could do. But, there would be time for that later. Right now, she had to get to that boat.

  The green canopy came to an unexpected halt, and Anna found herself waist-deep in water before she was able to stop. As she scrambled back to the river bank, she scanned up and down looking for the boat but saw none. Was she too late? Had they already left? Her heart sank, and she was about to give up, but then told herself to stop freaking out, and think.

  Catching her breath, she turned back the way she had come and could see the top of the Cryoplex where the crow's nest was. Something glittered up there, and Anna thought it might be the glass windows. Anna always loved math and physics, but she was best at geometry. Given the amount of time she had run and the distance she had covered, she reasoned that she had probably come upon the river closer to the mountain than where she had spotted the boat. That meant the boat had to be downriver. An educated guess was always better than no opinion at all.

  She turned her back to the mountain and started jogging downriver. The terrain here was more precarious with rocky pebbles on the beach, and rock outcroppings here and there. This kept her from running at full speed, and with every step, she hoped that she wouldn’t be too late.

  Minutes ticked by, and Anna grew impatient and concerned that she had chosen the wrong way to go. If they had been upstream, then maybe she should wait here, until they sailed past her. She doubted they would sail upstream towards the mountain; the river wasn’t large enough up there to hold a boat. Voices carried to her over the wind. She strained her ears but could not make out the meaning of anything that was being said.

  She located the direction from where the voices were coming, which was indeed downriver, and pressed on. She could not wait any more, so she risked running again. Now and then she would miss a step causing her to take a face dive towards the rocky pebbles. The result when she finally came into view of the boat was that her forearms and knees were torn up and her clothes bloodstained from the scrapes. But she did not care. She had made it in time. They had not yet left. Anna hid in the woods near the shore, peeking past a tree that kept her hidden from sight.

  Two men dragged a third between them, an arm wrapped under each supportive shoulder to hold him up. The man in the middle was bleeding profusely from his abdomen. He looked pale, his eyes were closed, and his breathing labored. He looked close to death.

  Anna scrunched her eyes shut, not wanting to look at another man dying, but then forced them open. If she didn’t do something, she and the others would die. They needed help.

  “Come on, Findley! I can’t carry him by myself,” one man grunted as the other dropped his side and clambered onto the boat.

  “I’m trying. I’m trying. Keep your knickers on Kip.” Findley said, lowering the boat’s gangplank before running over to help Kip.

  The boat was made of wood and painted white at the top. A single mast took up the front part of the boat, and towards the back was a building that had windows around it, and antenna’s on top of it. Anna had never been on a boat before, but she reckoned that was probably where the steering wheel was located. Nets covered the boat, and everything looked in disarray. A strong smell of fish wafted from the boat and caught Anna full in the face. She had never been a fan of fish. She had not had meat or fish since waking up, and the thought of the food made her stomach growl and her mouth water.

  Later, she told herself.

  She craned her neck to see if any other people on the boat would appear to help the trio, but none did. This probably meant the trio were alone, and they were one man down. Anna hesitated and hung back to see what the men would do next.

  They shuffled onto the boat, while Anna watched. She shook herself out of the mesmerized state. What was she thinking, she couldn’t let them get away. She would have to hurry now. How she wished to know if these people could be trusted, but knew she had to risk it anyway. At least they cared about their friend, and that had to count for something. If they were truly evil, they would have left their friend to die in the forest.

  Anna let out a yelp as she realized they were raising the gangplank. She dashed for the boat and leapt through the air to land on the boat’s deck. Her legs were a bit wobbly as the ship bobbed up and down underneath her.

  Findley startled and dropped the gangplank on his foot. “Ow!”

  “What now?” Kip shouted as he dropped the injured man on the deck, his back to Anna.

  “Hi,” Anna said with the best smile she could muster, and a little wave of her hand.

  Kip whipped around and took in the new threat. Instantly he drew a knife from his boot and took a step toward her.

  “I mean you no harm,” Anna said, holding up her hands and backing up to the railing. Perhaps this had been a bad idea. She would be of no use to the others if she were dead.

  “Who are you?” Kip asked, his knife gripped tight.

  Anna licked her lips and glanced at Findley who had a bow drawn; an arrow pointed at her heart. This had not been a wise decision, but there was no turning back.

  “My name is Anna.”

  “Where’d you come from? Are you Anrheg?” Kip continued his questions, while Findley did not even move a hair.

  Anna pointed to the Cryoplex. “From the mountain. The Cryoplex.”

  “Is clear you’re not a bot, you’re bleeding all over my deck, and no people live out that way, so you be lying missy,” Kip argued.

  “I promise. I’m telling you the truth. Why would I lie?” Anna did not know how else to convince him, so she changed tactics. “Your friend, he’s hurt?”

  “What be it to you?” Kip asked, looking down at the broken body of the man lying sprawled on the deck. The man did not move, and Anna wondered if he was dead.

  Anna licked her dry lips. She was thirsty after the long run. Ignoring her discomfort, she said. “We have medicine and food. We can help.”

  “We? How many?” Kip asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “There’s only 8 of us,” Anna said, but as soon as the words were out, she regretted it. She would have to be careful about what else she gave away. Yes, they needed help, but they also needed to stay alive long enough to find the trisidiumpac and get back to the Cryoplex.

  “Tie her up,” Kip ordered.

  Findley flicked t
he notched arrow back into the holder by his waist and flung the strung bow over his shoulder so that the string ran across his chest. He grabbed a piece of rope and advanced on her position. Now that the threat was diminished she felt safe to move. Findley reached for her, but she quickly jumped over the rail and onto the shore.

  “Hey, come back here,” Kip hollered at her.

  Anna danced upriver some way, hopefully out of the bow’s shooting range.

  “I think you scared her,” Findley commented, which earned him a backhanded slap from Kip. Findley growled under his breath but did not retaliate.

  “If you want help, then follow me,” Anna said, backing up a few more paces in the direction of the Cryoplex. Her speed had saved her. She could only hope that these men were honorable and could be trusted when she had shown them that she was not a liar.

  “Come on then. This boat won’t sail itself.” Kip said, turning towards the cockpit.

  “What about Leith?” Findley asked, returning to his task of raising the gangplank.

  “That girl may be Leith’s only hope of surviving. So we follow on the boat, until the river ends, and see where she leads.”

  Anna smiled as she picked up the pace to a gentle jog to keep up with the boat. At least they cared about their friend. Maybe they would care about them too. She hoped they were up for a hike because the river would only take them so far.

  Anna scanned the deck and saw Leith still lying unconscious on the deck. She worried he was already dead, but knew that she had done everything she could. Hopefully, he survived, otherwise Kip and Findley may resent them for Leith’s death.

  Chapter 12

  “How much further?” Findley whined as they stopped to take yet another break.

  The men had placed their injured friend Leith on a stretcher to carry him up the mountain. Both men were winded and bent over doubled with hands on their knees, taking deep gasps of air. They had a hard time keeping up with Anna’s pace, although she had slowed down to what felt like a crawl to her.

  “Just around the corner,” Anna replied, skipping ahead a few steps.