Then I freeze. I can’t do it. I can’t kill him, kill anyone, in cold blood. I will not be like the Gamble and select people to die. He lifts his head, a smirk across his lips. “You’re too weak.”
Raising my arm, I whip the gun across his forehead. His pale skin splits open, blood pouring down his face as his eyes roll back and he crumples to the ground unconscious.
“No, I’m not. I’ve just chosen to be better.”
Pounding footsteps ring down the other halls, at least ten people, and I know it’s the Gendarme. They’ve heard the gunshots and my brief time to escape is nearly up. Stepping over Wyatt, knowing that once I relock the door, no one will know that’s where I went until he wakes up. I’ll have enough time to make it to the surface.
I slip into the dark tunnel, removing the flashlight from my jeans. Then, with one last look at the O.Z. and all its boring monotony, I swing the door shut. A familiar beep indicates the electronic lock switched back into place, permanently sealing me off from the only world I have ever known.
***
I’m not sure how long I walk. While the floor is flat and I’m grateful to not have to climb stairs or ladders, the hall is on an incline steep enough to make my calves ache and thighs burn. The only light comes from my flashlight and it’s weak at best, barely piercing the darkness more than ten feet ahead. The warm air hangs heavy and stale and tastes metallic.
Twice I stop to rest, sitting against the wall of the tunnel with only blackness surrounding me. At one point in my life, the crushing darkness terrified me because I was afraid of whatever monsters could lurk in it, unseen and silent. I guess, in only a few short hours, I’ve changed though. The darkness has somehow become a part of me, and I’ve now begun to realize the only monsters I will face in this world are manmade. They don’t lurk in the dark shadows, they stand tall and proud in the light, pretending to be there for the greater good.
I wonder how long it will be until Wyatt regains consciousness and they come to haul me back to ROC. I’m pretty sure I can at least make it outside before anyone catches up, but will they risk entering the Unoccupied Zone to find me, or consider me a lost cause since the radiation will kill me anyway?
Climbing to my feet again, I hope it can’t be much farther and to my nervous excitement a half hour later, my light bounces off the rusted metal of the exterior door. I smile. I made it and today I will be the first person in almost a century to walk on the surface of the Earth, if only briefly.
I wonder what the radiation will do to me, how bad it really is out there. Will it kill me within a few hours, or will it take days? I’ve learned about the side-effects in my studies; the vomiting, hair loss and dizziness. I guess if it gets too bad, I still have my father’s gun tucked into my jeans with bullets left. Besides, I came up here to die, to be with Rey and to ensure I never have to live through another Gamble or look at Wyatt Walker ever again. My chance to be free of the O.Z. and all its suffocating limitations. A few hours of sickness is worth all of that.
Gripping the wheeled handle of the door, I throw my body weight against the old, corroded metal, forcing it to the left. It squeals and groans, resisting at first but slowly relenting and twisting under the pressure.
“Warning,” a recorded voice calls as a red light on the wall flashes in distress. “Opening this door may result in illness or death.”
“Don’t care,” I mutter, dragging the wheel around again.
“Warning,” the voice calls, continuing its chant over and over, as if I’m going to listen the third or fourth time. Anyone who’s made it this far knows the risks and isn’t going to stop because a recording says so.
After a third tug, I hear a click and the release of air as the seal of the door breaks. I stop, my breath held. What am I doing? I don’t know what waits out there, what I will see or how quickly or slowly I will die. Apprehension grips at my insides like a vice. It’s not too late, I’ve only been exposed for a few seconds. I can reseal the door.
And then what? I can’t go back, I erased that choice the moment I aimed gun at Wyatt. Besides, I don’t want to anyway. There is nothing left for me in the O.Z. There is no happiness and no future, and while there isn’t much of a future outside this door either, at least there is the sky. Whatever happens to the Earth, there will always be the sky. I’ve wanted this moment my whole life, I can’t let fear stop me.
“Ok. Here it goes.”
I thrust the door open and step into the world.
A brilliant masterpiece of deep emerald and dark mahogany and dazzling gold meet my eyes, colors I recognize yet now they are so much better and brighter in ways I could have never imagined. I blink several times, my eyes unable to process the vibrant, magical world before me.
Everywhere I look I see thick trees and tall, lush grass, stones and giant boulders covered in moss, wildflowers of every color and shrubs rustling their leaves. A breeze floats over the land, lifting strands of my hair and carrying a smell I’d never known before; fresh air and grass and flowers. The smell of outside.
Glancing up, my breath catches in my throat because the sky… the sky is a dazzling array of gold and indigo and sapphire with pink clouds like fluffs of cotton. The sun floats over the distant horizon and it’s so red I’m almost convinced it must be made of glittering rubies as its golden rays explode outward like a magnificent crown.
Spinning in a circle, tears spring to my eyes as I’m unable to tear my gaze from the beauty soaring for eternity above me.
Shutting the door, allowing it to lock and automatically re-seal behind me, I sit back against a nearby boulder and rest the gun on the ground, its purpose no longer necessary. The air smells fresh and flowery and tastes sweet. It might be because of the radiation, but that doesn’t even matter because it’s so glorious. I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with the warm, spring air.
Slowly the sun vanishes behind the trees and a navy velvet encases the sky. It begins to sparkle and I realize they’re stars twinkling from millions of light-years away, dancing in the darkness for me, the only person on the entire planet to witness their performance. I feel a pang of sadness because Rey would have loved to see this. Has it really only been twenty-four hours ago that I fell asleep beside him? Only slightly more than twelve since we said our last good-bye? My fingers trace my lips, as if I can still feel his against them.
“I’m so sorry, Rey,” I whisper into the night. “Maybe I’ll see you soon and I can tell you all about this.”
But of one thing I am certain. If I am going to die today, there is nowhere else in the world I want to be, because the stars are the most beautiful thing I could ever behold.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A crunching startles me and I realize I’d been asleep, propped against the large rock and blanketed by the stars. I sit up and squint into the blackness. Could it have been an animal? I’d always been taught that animals didn’t exist on the surface anymore because of the radiation, but nothing on the surface is what I expected. Maybe some small creatures have figured out a way to survive.
To my right something snaps and I jump, eyes wide with fright because there is no way that sound came from a small critter. Something far larger prowls in the night and stalks toward me through the underbrush. I scramble for either my gun or my flashlight, preferably both, but in the darkness I find neither, my fingers running over nothing but grass, dirt and pebbles.
A low growl slices through the silence, cutting to my bones like a sharp blade. I turn to stone, unable to move as two eyes glimmering in the silver moonlight appear around the edge of the boulder. A moment later, a giant grey animal slinks around the rock. The only reason I recognize it as a wolf is because I’ve seen pictures in my lessons. I also know that they were dangerous and that this particular wolf stands with its nose only two feet from my own.
The animal growls again, a rumbling deep in its throat as it curls back its lips to display rows of dagger-like white teeth. Its tongue lashes against its snout as it takes one me
nacing step closer. Forget the radiation, I’m about to become some animal’s dinner.
Then a light appears, dim at first and winking in and out of the trees, but as it quickly moves closer, I see that it’s firelight hovering about four feet off the ground. I stare in disbelief, all but forgetting the wolf because whatever that light is, there is no way it’s being carried by an animal.
A figure materializes from the darkness, a lantern in his outstretched hand. He’s old, older than my father, with dark skin, stark white hair and lines creasing his face. But I can’t understand, or even comprehend what I’m seeing. There aren’t humans up here. They were all killed or they went underground. Nothing can survive on the surface.
And yet a man now stands no more than ten feet away.
I think the wolf is going to be scared off, but instead the animal sits on its hind legs, still watching me with a hungry expression. The man continues to approach, and I am so terrified and confused, I have no idea what to do so I do nothing at all.
At first, he doesn’t notice me until the lantern light falls across my body and for a moment he seems as surprised to see me as I am to see him. I lift my right arm to shield the light shining into my face. The man’s eyes glance over my barcode tattoo and his mouth gapes open in shock.
“My goodness, who do we have here?”
“Don’t come any closer!” I bark, fumbling around again for my weapon. Where the hell did I put it? The creature snarls, fur on its back standing straight and if I ever find the gun, I’m not sure whether I should shoot the wolf first or the man.
That’s when movement out of the corner of my eye causes me to swivel my head around. I find another man to my left and when he lifts his own lantern, casting light on his features, I realize I was so very wrong last night about the stars. With hair the color of onyx, long lashes, chiseled cheekbones and eyes such a vivid, radiant turquoise blue I wonder if they are even real, this man is the most beautiful thing I will ever see. He’s dressed in dirty, tattered jeans and a black t-shirt that stretches across the well-defined muscles carved along his chest and arms.
Then this flawless, picturesque image of beauty… opens his mouth.
“We really should just kill her.”
That’s when I notice the gun slung across his back, but only because he swings it around and aims it directly at my torso. It’s nothing like the tiny, pathetic weapon I stole from my father, which seems like it will now be completely useless even if I could find it. The gun this second man holds is huge and black and can probably drive fifty bullets through my heart before I could fire a single shot from my father’s. A squeak of fear escapes my lips as I try to scuttle backward along the ground, putting as much distance between me and both the wolf and the gun as possible.
“Hey!” the man says, angling the gun straighter and narrowing his eyes along the barrel. “Move again and I really will shoot you.”
“You’re not shooting anyone right now, Jax. Stop pointing that damn thing at her. And call off the wolf before we scare this girl to death,” the older man barks before he kneels on the ground beside me. The second man, Jax, thinks for a moment, clearly deciding whether or not he wants to listen to orders.
“Tisis, heel,” he eventually says and whistles through his teeth. The wolf immediately trots over and sits by his side, as though it’s completely lost interest in making a meal out of me.
I tremble with terror and have no way to fight back, but the older man smiles, and his dark brown eyes are so kind and fatherly I feel some of my tension release. They’re humans after all, and I’ve done nothing wrong. At least not anything they would know about. Why would they harm me?
“Look, I’m not planning to hurt you. Didn’t expect to find a young lady out here by herself in the woods is all. What’s your name?” the older man asks, his lined face displaying a look of concern. I try to ignore the guy named Jax who has only lowered the gun a few inches and still regards me with intense loathing.
“Um, Kelsey.”
The man raises one bushy, white eyebrow. “Just Kelsey?”
I can’t tell him my last name. I have no idea who these men are, what they may or may not know about the O.Z. or who my father is, how they are even alive up here in the first place. I mentally grab for any other name I could give.
“Zuritsky,” I blurt before I can even think. “Kelsey Zuritsky.”
“Well, Miss Kelsey, I’m Daniel Hollins. This kid here with me is Jaxon Cole and that animal is Tisis. She’s mostly more bark than bite unless you’re a rabbit. I’m guessing you came out that rusted old door over there?”
“How did you know?”
“Your barcode,” Jax snorts as if I’m an idiot. “Only your kind have them.”
“My kind? You mean you’re not from the Occupied Zone?”
The boy sneers. “Yeah, right.”
“Then how do you know about the barcodes? Have there been others from ROC?”
“Not any time recently,” Daniel replies. “Last one I heard about was nearly three years ago, though you’re the first I’ve ever personally met.”
My head spins, vision tunneling and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sick. Actually, I am definitely going to be sick and I turn sideways to retch onto the grass. The bile burns my throat and I’m surprised I manage to throw anything up because aside from a couple of rolls, I can’t remember the last time I ate.
“Seriously?” Jax asks with annoyance.
Wiping at my mouth, I sit back up, embarrassed. “It’s the radiation. It must affect me faster than you because of the artificial air in ROC. My body isn’t used to it and it’s already making me sick.”
Daniel chuckles, casting a knowing glance at Jax, as if they share an inside joke, of which I am not on the inside.
“What’s so funny?” I snap.
“There’s no radiation,” Daniel says.
I can only stare with my mouth hanging open because clearly this man is dumber than he appears. “What do you mean? Of course, there is. Our scientists have been tracking it for a century, ever since the first bombs were detonated.”
“There were also no bombs,” Jax says. “Well, not nuclear ones at least.”
“Is this some kind of joke?”
Daniel shakes his head. “Nope, but we’re not going to sit out here and discuss this. Come on, new kid.”
I don’t move. “I’m not going anywhere with either of you. Especially not with that animal or that guy pointing a gun at me.”
Daniel’s face turns stern, his dark eyes piercing. “I’m sorry, Miss Kelsey, I wasn’t clear before. Given the history between the citizens of ROC and those of us who live in what you all like to call the Unoccupied Zone, we can’t have you run off to plot God knows what against us. While I’ll make sure Jax here doesn’t shoot you or let Tisis take a bite, I’ll ask that you please cooperate because I’d really hate to tie up a young lady, even if you are our prisoner.”
“Get up,” Jax orders, nudging me with the butt of his gun. I hesitate for a moment, but the wolf snarls again and I scramble to my feet, hands lifted defensively.
“Should we blindfold her?” Jax asks Daniel as if I’m not even present.
“In the dark through the woods? No, that’ll just slow us down and if she breaks an ankle one of us has to carry her. She’ll never be able to figure out the right path anyway, nor am I worried about her escaping, we’ve got more than enough armed folks to keep an eye.”
With another prod, Jax pushes me in front of him. Daniel takes the lead and seeing as I’m outnumbered and out-armed, I have no choice but to follow him through the trees and undergrowth.
“Can you at least tell me where we’re going?” I demand.
“To the compound,” replies Daniel, as if that means anything to me. But I don’t bother to ask for an explanation because I doubt one will be given.
Branches snag at my hair and clothing and three times I trip on the uneven terrain, regaining my balance on the first two and sprawlin
g to my hands and knees the third time. Rocks and stones dig into my palms, cutting the soft flesh. Daniel reaches down and yanks me to my feet while I’m pretty sure I hear Jax laughing.
“Not what you expected, is it Sub?” the young boy snorts.
“I’m not a Sub.” Though I have no idea how he could know the term we use for those who live in the lower sectors.
“You have a barcode on your wrist, came out of the little civilization under the ground and seem to think we’re radioactive beasts up here. That makes you a Sub.”
Arguing with him will only prove a waste of breath, of which I seem to be in short supply as we trudge onward through the dense forest.
The Gamble (The Gamble Series Book 1) Page 7