FIFTEEN
Roland
Roland didn’t recall falling asleep, but it had been hours after lights out. The sound of the deluge had battered the roof of Eden One, inciting fear in those around him. It was so strange being among these people, the ones Hound had hand-selected to continue their race. Most were scientists, professors, high-level botanists, engineers, but once hell broke loose at camp, they were all the same: terrified and out of their element.
For a while they’d sat up, Roland talking with more of his neighbors than usual, a circle of about thirty of them huddled in the center of the station, half in their sleeping bags. While the storm raged on outside, they’d discussed their families and what they missed about Earth. Eventually the conversation had eroded into fearful talk about their new predicament.
Roland noticed that Keller and Carrie had stayed out of the discussion, sticking to the far edge of the floor where they usually remained, as much separation as possible between them and the regular colonists. Most of them regarded Hound’s two former sidekicks with suspicion, and Roland didn’t blame them.
He was out of friends to trust. With Kendra and Andy on their mission, and Tony with Val at the Saints’ residence, there was no one left to turn to. Eventually the colonists had begun to fall asleep, and that was the last thing Roland remembered.
Until now, as he was being shaken awake. He woke to see Arthur's freckled face, his eyes bloodshot and barely more than narrow slits. “Get up, Rollie.”
Roland noticed the gun in his holster, and was just happy the Saint wasn’t aiming it at him. The man seemed twitchy enough to accidentally kill him.
“I’m up.” Roland peered around, finding the entire room was empty. He’d really crashed hard.
“Move. Mary doesn’t want to be kept waiting,” Arthur said, kicking him lightly in the leg.
Roland slid from the sleeping bag, changing into his jumpsuit. “What does she want with me?”
Arthur only shrugged, leading him outside. The air was warm and muggy in the morning heat. Everything was damp, and pools of water sat on what had been cracked, hard pathways yesterday. “Did we have any issues with the mist?” Roland asked.
The Saint’s reaction was an answer in itself. From here, Roland saw the residence still stood in one piece. Part of him was disappointed. He’d hoped to send their home crumbling down, and Morris’ brainwashing drug with it. In any case, the distraction coupled with the sudden storm should have allowed Kendra and Andrew to escape. He hated how there was no real way to know if they’d made it out alive.
Tony passed by them as they walked, and Roland stopped him quickly. “Val okay?” he whispered.
“No dawdling, Rollie!” Arthur called from ten feet behind.
“She’s fine. I’ll see you at the lake for your shift.” Tony kept walking, stepping backwards as he waited for Roland’s answer.
“If she lets me,” Roland grumbled. Tony nodded, and soon Roland was at the apartment block. He finally saw the damage he’d caused. Pieces of the concrete exterior were in rubble along the ground, and he noticed a few holes in the side of the structure. He fought to keep a grin from finding his face, and frowned instead, pretending to be shocked.
“Quite the place,” Roland told Arthur, who led him through an open-air tunnel between two sides of the building and into a courtyard. There were a few smashed planters in here, and a couple of Saints were on their hands and knees, cleaning up the mess.
Arthur told him to wait on the concrete blocks, and Roland peered up to see balconies facing the courtyard. It was kind of a nice setup, if you could ignore the tyrannical leadership. Roland’s gaze swept to the clear water tank sitting on a pedestal.
“Therefore, just as through one man’s sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Reverend Shelley Morris walked around the corner, appearing insane, her hair uncombed, her face pallid.
“I never was a fan of Sunday school,” he told her.
“Roland Martin, you have a way of turning everything into a joke, don’t you?” she asked, stepping closer. Her feet were bare, and he saw they were dirty, with mud caked over the nails.
“I always wanted to try stand-up, but then I would have needed to leave my house. Nothing good ever happens when I do that. See? I left home, and here we are.” Roland grinned, and to his surprise she smiled back.
“I can’t figure out how you did it.”
“Did what?”
“Where are they?” She walked around him, hands clasped behind her back.
“You’ll have to be more specific. I’ve seen a few people today, but I also just woke up. Your buddy Arty wouldn’t even let me use the bathroom,” Roland said, reminding himself of his need to go.
“This will go a lot easier if you indulge me with the truth.”
“Seriously, tell me what you’re referring to, and I’ll answer,” Roland said.
“Who else would have thought to send the drones after us? I know it was you,” she said, stopping directly behind him. Roland turned to face her, glaring into her eyes.
“Look, I saw the rain, came running to camp with Tony, and they shoved me into Eden One. You can ask anyone,” he told her.
“Very well. That’s how it’s going to be. When was the last time you took Communion?”
“I’m not much of a wine drinker.”
“Then perhaps you’re thirsty for some water.” Reverend Morris moved toward the tank, grabbing a golden cup from behind the pedestal.
Roland swallowed hard, knowing this was it. He and Tony had thought it might be in their best interests for him to attempt to infiltrate the Saints so they could sabotage the drug supply, but now Roland was questioning the idea. He was pretty sure his drug tolerance was strong, especially after some of the harder stuff he’d done when he was at his worst. He regretted those days and didn’t want to return to them, but it looked like he wasn’t going to have a choice.
“Sure. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about an upgrade, to be honest. My back is pretty sore from that floor, and if you haven’t noticed, I’m wasting away. What I wouldn’t give for a hamburger,” he said, playing along. There was no point in fighting this, because it would only make him a bigger target.
“That can be arranged. Just for you.” She added water to the chalice, and took a sip before handing it to him. His stomach flipped nervously, but he took it in a quick chug. His tongue instantly felt thick, his vision doubling before returning to a hazy normal.
“We are one.” Morris touched his arm, and he didn’t seem to mind.
“We are one,” he repeated, for a moment forgetting who he was or why he didn’t like the reverend.
“Now. Tell me where Kendra and Andrew are.”
* * *
Kendra
Kendra’s legs ached and her back was sore, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time they’d ventured to the distant peaks on the opposite end of their valley. She was hardened to the daily ritual of at least twelve hours of labor under the relentless sun. Today was cloudy, but gone was the threat of rain. Her cheeks were still sore from the pressure of the mask she’d worn last night, and she rubbed them as they walked up the base of the ridge.
“We good?” Andrew asked for the tenth time. He was extra caring today, as if looking after her would somehow atone for him leaving Val in the Saints’ clutches.
“I’ll be better when we uncover what we’re up against.” She followed his lead as he sat on an overturned tree, the dark trunk smooth under her. She stared at the valley below, peering toward the camp, but they couldn’t see it from this distance.
The relief of dropping her pack made her audibly groan. Andrew passed her a canteen filled with lake water and an iodine tablet. “We’re about to find out what’s on the other side of the ridge.”
Kendra was surprised at how fast they’d made it here. They were guessing that it was about twelve miles from camp, but the terrain had been mostly
flat and unforested, making the entire trek a tense excursion as they ran, expecting one of Hound’s ships to appear hovering over them at any moment. To their surprise, it never happened. Maybe no one was even aware they were missing yet, or if they were, they might be searching closer to the colony.
After escaping the writhing guards, they’d run off and on for the first hour, drenched from head to toe, until Andrew finally slowed the pace, letting them take a breather. The mist had followed them until they’d escaped the forest, gaining altitude as they closed in on the foothills. The water trickled over the sloping ground, not penetrating the soil where they imagined the spores or particulates that caused the hallucinations resided.
Once they’d reached the first rocky enclave, Andrew had suggested they take respite from the rain. Kendra at that point was walking on autopilot, and had barely heard him. When they’d crouched into a small cave, they found it sheltered them from the rain, but only if they remained seated. Her fingers were prunes, her hair scraggly in a ponytail.
There she’d slept for a few hours, and even Andrew had managed to doze. She’d woken him at the first sign of dawn, and luckily by then the rain had stopped, giving way to a chilly morning. It grew colder the closer they walked to the valley’s edge, and now that they were high above the ground, Kendra almost found herself wishing she had a sweater to wear under her jumpsuit.
Kendra realized they were sitting in silence, and that she hadn’t replied to his comment, and she nodded, pulling a protein bar from her pack. She wondered how Roland had managed to sneak food like this into the bags, and she would be forever grateful. “I know you saw the map quickly, but do you really think there are civilizations across either ridge?” The point they headed for intersected two other crater valleys: one on their left, and one to the right. Kendra tore her rations in half and gave Andrew the bigger piece.
“It looked like Hound made this place into a grid using the mountains. Each valley holds a different species. Or at least, that’s what it looked like from the map,” Andrew said between bites.
“Do you think they terraformed it? Or did they choose this location because of the mountains?” she asked. They’d been so busy talking about Morris and Hound that they hadn’t dug deep into the real theories about who or what Hound belonged to, and what this place was.
“That’s a good question. I’d say terraforming is a little far-fetched, but with Hound, that might not be true.” Andrew placed his palms onto the fallen tree and leaned into it, tilting his face up to the sky. “It almost feels like a zoo. In this cage we have the humans; in the other, four-legged wolf-like predators.”
Goosebumps shot up her arms at his words. “You’re right. Maybe they’re some kind of alien conservationists that see races under threat of extinction, and they swoop in to save them.”
Andrew shook his head, chewing the last few bites. “Not a chance. Not Hound. He’s too devious. Too threatening. He’s doing it for some other reason, and I bet it has nothing to do with philanthropy.”
“You’re probably right,” Kendra said.
Andrew clapped his hands to his thighs. “You good to keep moving? I’d rather not wait around for Hound to show up.”
Kendra took his offered hand, and rose on wobbly legs. “I can do it.” She peered up, the ridge’s gentle incline growing steeper with every step.
“It’ll only be another hour,” Andrew promised, but she’d heard that before.
The ground was hard as they continued. Gone were any signs of the red grass here, and the large boulders were dry, bereft of the common moss from the valley below. The terrain was changing quickly.
Luckily, Andrew’s estimate was close to accurate, and they found the top of the ridge as the last of Kendra’s strength left her legs. A breeze caressed her face as she took in the dizzying view. The landscape was smaller than their own.
“I think I see something,” Andrew said, pointing to the right side. Kendra set her pack on the uneven rocks, holding it between her feet, and she tugged the binoculars free. They were digital, and clearly from the supply station. Military grade, and far more advanced than anything she’d ever seen. She peered toward the spot Andrew had pointed to, and saw the buildings. The ground appeared dusty, maybe a red clay, with no vegetation visible anywhere near the village. The structures were half-destroyed: caved in from an attack, or from the simple passage of time. “They’re gone.” She handed the binoculars to Andrew, and his grunt said it all.
“What about the other side?” Andrew stepped around her and walked fifty yards farther down the mountain top. He stopped, peering at the edge. “I’ll be damned.”
Kendra scrambled over some waist-high rocks, coming to join him, and the second she examined the valley beyond, her heart soared. It was beautiful. Everything had a blue tinge to it; the water in the giant lake almost glowed with the pale sun’s reflection. From it jutted something immense, maybe a crystal or a rock formation. Lush green vegetation covered the slopes of the ridges and swept down into marshy-looking wetlands around the lake.
“Can I see?” she asked, taking the binoculars from Andrew. His jaw had dropped, and he’d started smiling. “What is it?”
One second with the magnified image, and she knew what he was grinning about. There were people moving about, or at least some kind of alien race. Smoke rose from beside huts near the lake’s edge, but they were too far away to make out any more details than that.
Kendra lowered her arm. “What do you think?”
Andrew jabbed a finger in the opposite direction. “That way has some buildings, meaning we could maybe head there and start over.”
“That doesn’t solve our Hound issue,” Kendra said.
“Either way, we’ll need to deal with him.”
She peered toward their other option, a red desert full of ruins in a tightly-confined crater with no signs of life, and shook her head. “We head for the side with the lake. Find out if they’re friendly. It’s the only real option.”
Andrew frowned, staring over her shoulder toward the village. “I agree. Let’s start climbing down.”
Kendra’s body was beat, but she was filled with a renewed sense of hope and urgency at their plan. She only hoped the strangers would welcome their company.
SIXTEEN
Roland
It had been three hours since consuming the drug, and Roland felt almost as clear-headed as ever. He was so happy it had worked. Now that he’d successfully lied to Morris about Kendra and Andrew’s location, telling her they’d been destined for the predator’s valley, she was busy sending a couple of teams of guards after them.
He’d done his best zombie impersonation, which hadn’t been too difficult under the circumstances. His mouth still felt a little dry, his palms sweaty, but he wasn’t craving another hit. Quite the opposite.
Roland walked through the room Morris had offered him, checking the closet. Two white jumpsuits hung on the wooden dowel, and he sighed, tugging one free from the hangar. It pained him to wear the white suits that the rest of the Saints preferred, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter. It was like high school. He needed to do his best to fit in while he had to, and soon he’d be free. Hopefully he wouldn’t attract as much negative attention as he had in school.
Roland studied himself in the mirror, and was shocked by the reflection. His patchy beard was coming back. He found razors in the bathroom, but his appearance momentarily distracted him. His eyes were dark, with slight bags below them, but overall he looked better than he’d imagined. He was thinner than he’d been in years, most of the weight gone from his waist. The jumpsuit felt oversized, and he considered asking for a medium over a large. Roland took care of his beard with the razor and ran water over his face after he finished, feeling the sting of a sharp cut on his chin.
“Well, Grandma, you always said I could do better for myself. This is me doing my best.” He dried his hands and headed into the hall. Valeria was next door to him, but she was at school. Her roo
m had been damaged, like so many others, but the destruction had been minor. The machines were reprogrammed by the construction supervisor, one of Mary’s many minions. Mary? He shook his head. “Morris. Her name’s Morris.”
Roland found the stairwell, taking the steps two a time, and when he pressed through the exit, he instantly knew something was wrong here at camp. Having deflected the reverend’s questions and suspicions with a few honest lies, Roland had been scratched off the Saints’ list of suspects. That left Carrie and Eric Keller as possible culprits behind the attacking machines.
“We didn’t do anything!” Carrie shouted. “Lewis! You have to stop them!”
Roland grimaced as he watched Kendra’s sister and Hound’s old second-in-command being paraded through camp with their hands tied behind their backs for all to see.
Keller’s eyes bored into Roland’s, and he passed a curt nod to the man, trying to indicate they were still on the same team. This was bad. Without Carrie or Keller, it was all up to Roland and Tony.
He peered at the courtyard through the opening between the residences, and knew he only had one choice. They needed to destroy the reverend’s supply of Communion water.
* * *
Andrew
“Watch your step,” Andrew said as they stepped sideways down the steep inclines on the other side of the ridge.
Kendra nodded, but said nothing. He stopped to help her jump over a narrow ravine with a noisy torrent of water rushing through it.
Sheer, rocky slopes gave way to flowing green grass and fan-shaped trees. Colorful insects and birds flitted about. One of them resembled a flying jellyfish, or a soap bubble—perfectly translucent, expanding and contracting as the creature inhaled and exhaled air from its body.
At the bottom of the valley, the lake sparkled like diamonds in the sun and disappeared over the horizon. The jutting spires of rock in the center of it rose to an impressive height; hanging fronds of greenery dangled low, seeming to grow straight out of the rocks. In the foreground, marshy wetlands awaited at the base of the cliffs, speckled with shadowy emerald pools and dark, leafy jungles.
Final Days: Escape Page 11