Throne of Ash

by Lena Lee

  I could sense him running behind me as I got into a rhythm. My legs and arms burned slightly but my lungs felt good. I knew my path well, committing it to memory in my first few days in Felix. I really wanted to look back but knew I’d just freak myself out if I did too soon. He was far enough behind me, I could hear his shoes hitting the pavement and his breathing.

  As I zipped between the last structures, my feet left the hard surface of the concrete and hit dirt. I could see the top of the wall running along the tops of the apple trees in this area. I darted into the rows, gradually veering to my right. The smell of apples hit me like a wave and my stomach growled. Food always had this effect on me, since half the time I was hungry. Sure, I had enough to sustain me, but training didn’t help with the pangs of hunger I sometimes experienced. Apples were fucking delicious too.

  There were two possible exits here. The one I usually used was possibly out of the equation. It was a passage of sorts that tunneled under the wall to the other side. It required time to maneuver the heavy metal covers on each end. Kyra and I had discovered it when we were fourteen but had never been brave enough to open the cover into the city. That changed once I could cloak myself. I still had no clue what its purpose was.

  The other exit was one I had only used once to test its viability in case my more favorable entry point was compromised. It was some kind of drain system that had enough space for me to crawl under the grating. The only problem was if it had been used recently, I might have to submerge myself all the way in the sludge to get through. I was hoping for the best since I had just showered.

  The second exit was much farther along the wall and much farther away from the safety of Blight’s fences which made me nervous. I didn’t relish having to be outside the fences any longer than necessary. As I neared my first and more favorable option I glanced back to see if there was any hope of me using the cleaner and safer route.

  Holy mother. The other two men from the street had joined McCreeper. Damn it, where did they come from? I changed course and slowly aimed my trajectory towards choice two. If I ran along the wall, they would catch me. They were about 100 feet away, too close for my comfort. I was one stumble away from being toast.

  I wasn’t even sure what The Establishment did to my people if they got inside of the wall, there had never been anyone able to get inside, at least none to return to tell about it.

  As I approached the drain I wondered if they would follow. The smell here was disgusting and the space in the pipe narrowed drastically where the wall was. Disgusting didn’t bother me, although it did make me want to gag. They were taller and broader than me so if it were a tight fit for me, they might not even be able to follow. Only one way to find out.

  “What is she doing?!” One of McCreeper’s sidekicks shouted. Caught off-guard I see. Choice two was looking more promising, even though I had just showered and my next bath day wasn’t for another five days, especially now that it didn’t seem like I could come back here again.

  There was about ten feet until the pipe narrowed to three feet in diameter. I crouched down and moved along, my boots making slurping noises as I slid through the muck. It had a rancid smell, not quite death-like but it wasn’t roses.

  “If you think for one second I am following her in there you are-” The other McCreeper sidekick sounded like he had been punched in the stomach. “Screw that. I’m rappelling.” Rappelling? That couldn’t be possible with the height of the wall and the smooth surface.

  I reached the section of pipe that narrowed with a grating and was thankful there was just a few inches of sludge. I grabbed onto the top and swung my feet in front of me, there was a slight slope which dropped into another tunnel. The sludge did get all over my pants, but desperate times call for desperate measures. At least I didn’t have to swim through it.

  As soon as my feet hit the ground, I continued forward to the exit. I couldn’t hear anyone behind me and breathed a sigh of relief.

  The worst part was yet to come. I had only been outside the fences once at night and that had been enough for me. I pulled my knife out of my belt as I crossed out of the pipe and onto the barren land.

  Night beasts hunted here for whatever else scuttled around. I couldn’t see much since the moon was behind clouds, but I could feel their presence. One of our highly skilled hunters once killed one of the creatures that appeared to be some weird offspring of a wolf. The meat had smelled so rancid, not even the flies would touch it.

  I glanced to my right and focused on the faint light coming from Blight. I would stay along the wall since the section of fence I used to enter and exit Blight was near the wall. One side of the town was against the Felix wall and the other three sides were chain link and barbed wire. Their only purpose was to keep hungry creatures from snacking on humans.

  I took a deep breath and sprinted forward, hoping they would ignore the sounds of my running. It had briefly occurred to me that I should walk very slowly instead, but I had three men after me and I smelled anyhow. A little too late for a change in plan. They seemed to be leaving me alone for the time being at least.

  I was about halfway to the fence when I could make out their eyes as the dim moon light reflected off them. Their eyes seemed to glow like lights as their heads turned in my direction.

  Except they weren’t exactly looking in my direction but up above me. A quick scan of the field and I could see at least twenty were out there. I almost freaked out but focused on the spot in the fence where there was a gate, or where it would have been had three men not just dropped down from the wall about ten feet in front of me. Holy apples, had they just literally climbed the wall?

  I stopped abruptly and my head jerked to the pack of beasts. Oh shit.

  I always had wondered when death came my way if it would be swift and painless or if it would be agonizingly drawn out. I had a sick feeling that being attacked by a pack of night beasts might be an agonizingly long death.

  One second I could taste my freedom, the next it was dashed away, and in the final seconds death was right in front of me with beady eyes and drooling jowls. Maybe it would be quick. I hoped it was quick.

  “Run.” It was directed at me as I felt myself lose control of my cover. Another flaw in this new power. I needed to work on that. Three sets of eyes locked on me and what seemed like shock crossed their faces before their attention was back on the beasts who were advancing quickly.

  “Now, Princess.”

  Oh hell no, he had not just called me a princess. Maybe a warrior princess, but not a crown toting, pink puffy dress wearing princess. It irked me to no end.

  The three men moved out from the wall pulling weapons from their clothing. How did they manage that in Felix? Felix did not have weapons of the sharp and pointy variety. They preferred clubs and electric tasers, but maybe they had other weapons I hadn’t seen. I wouldn’t call myself an expert on inner wall happenings.

  I covered myself again and took off for the fence, leaving them to fend for themselves. If they could jump from the top of the wall or rappel and not die, they could handle a pack of wolf creatures. Especially if they were keen on calling me a princess.

  The noises of the beasts attacking and their sharp yelps as they collided with the three men made me flinch. I knew the men were outnumbered, but what else could I do? There were five times as many beasts, the odds were not for the humans.

  For a brief second, I considered turning back but got myself to safety instead.

  Survive or die.

  I’d survived this long, no use in dying now. I strained to see what was happening but could only hear the noises of an intense battle. There was quite a bit of grunting but also a lot of yelping.

  I vaguely knew what they were up against. Two years ago, I had a brief encounter outside of the fence at night. We had always been warned from a young age about the dangers that lurked, especially at night. Kyra and I would sit for hours and watch for these dangers but never saw any.

  So being the da
redevils we were, and okay, slightly drunk and bored, we decided to take a stroll. We hadn’t made it twenty feet out before we heard the growling. We ran and just as I was about to get through the gate, one of those things chomped down on my calf. It had released me as soon as it broke skin. I was lucky it hadn’t dragged me away to its lair. My leg healed quickly, which was surprising since their bites were laced with toxins.

  But the pain.

  The pain had been worse than getting punched in the boob.

  My attention was drawn back to the situation at hand, as I saw the three figures approaching. Well two if you take into account that McCreeper was being held between them. He looked to be in a bad way with blood seeping through his clothing which were tattered and torn in several places. The other two men were practically dragging him.

  “Count of three?” They approached the fence, bending at their knees and clearing the eight-foot high barrier.

  “What the hell?” How was jumping that high even possible? The Establishment must have designed a special boot to propel sentries over obstacles. I needed a pair. Maybe I would sneak back in one last time to find a pair. “There's a gate.”

  One of the men looked around with a frown trying to locate where I was. “We need to get him inside so we can heal his wounds.” I wasn’t sure what they expected to fix him with, we were ill equipped to deal with grave injuries here. The best we could do was provide him with a sedative to numb the pain or a sharp blade to the skull or heart.

  “Follow me.” I started walking and released my invisibility. Now was not the time for questions, they had saved me after almost getting me killed. It also helped that the two conscious ones didn’t seem to be able to see me when I was invisible, which gave me the advantage in case I needed to get away from them.

  They followed me through the alleyways between hovels. At one point I had called it a home, but since my parent’s deaths, it had not felt like a home, just a place to await my day.

  No one paid us much mind given the late hour and the fact that a man being dragged bleeding through the alleys was not abnormal here. The fight ring circuit was one of many ways we passed the time. Plus sometimes people just pissed each other off and beat the shit out one another.

  As we approached my stone hovel, I hesitated, stopping in my tracks. Did I really want these men to know where I lived? I’d have to move in with Kyra or Theo after this. They would undoubtedly be back for me after they got McCreeper back to Felix.

  “We aren’t here to hurt you. At least I’m not. I can’t speak for my brothers.” The one on the left spoke, snickering to himself.

  I am glad he found himself funny, but he wasn’t. He was about the same height as McCreeper, his blue eyes shined with humor. The other one smacked him in the chest with his free hand.

  “You were the ones chasing me. What am I supposed to think? Clearly you three weren’t inviting me out for a good time.” I faced them and crossed my arms over my chest, my knife prominently displayed. I had never had to use my knife on anything other than a practice dummy, but I would if I had to.

  “Excuse my brother, he often has no filter,” the right one spoke. He was similar to the other two but had brown eyes and seemed to have something shoved somewhere, just like the people of Felix. He had an air of arrogance about him.

  “That is a matter of opinion. I can guarantee you that if you give Rex a chance, he will take you out for a good time.” I rolled my eyes. McCreeper, or Rex as he was properly named, let out a groan.

  “I hope I don’t regret this.”

  We walked two more doors down and I stopped in front of my door. I opened it and led them inside the small room. I lit a lamp on the small table near one of the beds with a match and gestured towards the smaller bed.

  At one point in time the smaller bed had been mine. Since my parents died I took over the larger bed, not that it was any more comfortable. My place was only about the size of a regular bedroom. It had one small shuttered window, a wood burning stove, a few chairs, and other small furniture pieces. It was nothing to brag about, but it at least kept the elements out.

  Most of the time.

  “Wyatt, get some water.” Mr. Stick spoke, lowering Rex onto the bed.

  “Is there not a bathroom… or a sink?” Wyatt looked around incredulously before his eyes settled on a bucket with a lid over it in the far corner by the door. I briefly toyed with the idea of letting him discover what that bucket was for. A small smile quirked at the corner of my mouth.

  “Not that one!” I intercepted him before he made that mistake, which I was certain he would not find funny. “Here… it’s probably pretty stale, I got it about four days ago.” I grabbed a jug from the top of a cabinet.

  He seemed like he wanted to impart some comment about this whole situation but chose not to as he took it from me. I guess when you have everything, you never really consider what others might not have. Like running water and toilets.

  Even more reason to hate them.

  At one point in time my people had been stationed in an abandoned city on the other side of the mountains. I had heard there were actual toilets there. Water and other resources became too scarce after some time, so they moved on. At least that’s the story our oral history told.

  “Unfortunately, here we do not have it as you do in Felix.” I went and stood near the door as Mr. Stick started removing Rex’s boots and clothing. He glanced at me briefly but was focused on his brother.

  “Why don’t you step outside for a few minutes. This could get ugly.” Wyatt gestured to the door before turning back to his brothers.

  From my vantage point there was nothing ugly about Rex, well besides the fact that he seemed to be covered in gashes and bites. Oh, and he was a creeper. Under all that though was toned muscle. It was almost enough to make me forget he had snuck into my apartment hideout.

  And chased me.

  I figured I should give them privacy despite my general curiosity and stepped outside. I shut the door and leaned against the wall near the window. I could hear hushed voices but couldn’t quite make out the entire conversation.

  “He should have just... when he....”

  “We don’t know... his head right now. Surely this has to be... for him.”

  “How’d she even... hell hole? Seriously this place is...”

  “Stand back.”

  A bright light shot from around the shutters. It was a quick flash of light but disturbing nonetheless. They had to have knocked over the lamp.

  Hell no, they were not going to burn my house down!

  I slammed open the door and stared gaping at them.

  What. The, Fuck. Mr. Stick was standing over Rex with glowing hands with a pained expression on his face.

  “Why are your hands glowing?” I managed to choke out.

  “Shut the door!” Wyatt growled. I guess funny man was long gone.

  I shut the door and leaned against it. This had to be some new Felix technology like their boots. One was lying next to the end of the bed, which I quickly grabbed. I turned it over and looked inside, just a boot. “How does it jump so high?”

  “What are you doing?” Wyatt was next to me now, snatching the boot from my hands. “They are boots. We are not… from here. Gravity is different here, we can jump high anyways but here is similar to how humans might feel on the moon. Here sit down, you look pale.” Funny guy was back and pulled over a chair.

  “There are other cities still in existence? The elders say that we're the last… how did you make it here without dying?” I plopped in the chair and ran a hand over my face.

  Had the elders been lying to us all these years? Is that why so many left to seek a better way of life? Wait, did he refer to us as humans?

  My mind was going a mile a minute and I couldn’t get it to stop spewing questions in quick succession.

  “I never said we were from Earth.” Wyatt’s grin was hard to read. Was he being serious or joking? He could be mental, the end of the world did tha
t to some.

  “Is that why Mr. Stick is… holy hell, is he healing him?” I jumped from my chair and went next to the bed, where before my eyes the bite marks were slowly disappearing as a soft light radiated from his hands.

  “Mr. Stick!” Wyatt lost it and collapsed onto my bed in a fit of laughter. “He totally has a stick up his ass right?” I glanced over my shoulder at him and gave him a brief smile.

  “My name is Alex. And I can promise you nothing is currently up my ass,” he muttered through gritted teeth, which made Wyatt laugh even more. “Be quiet, both of you!”

  I watched as color slowly returned to Rex’s skin and the bite marks that covered his body disappeared. He must have fallen, or they had all attacked him at once. I didn’t understand why they would go to attack the beasts when they could have easily jumped to safety.

  Alex finally stumbled back from the bed and sat heavily on the dirt floor by the bed, leaning against the wall. He looked tired but relieved. Wyatt reached out and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder to give him a pat. This seemed to ease whatever was going on inside of him.

  I cleared my throat, both of their eyes snapping to me. “Besides the growing list of obvious questions I have… is he going to be okay?” I nodded towards the bed.

  “I’ll be fine.” Rex mumbled.

  A wave of relief spread through the room. I told myself my relief was because I could kick them out now. The relief wasn’t because after Alex had healed and cleaned him up it became painfully obvious to me that Rex was built like a Greek god.

  “Well, it’s been great and all, but I really think you three should be on your merry way now that Rex isn’t knocking on heaven’s door.” I stood and started moving towards the door.

  Normally, I enjoyed socializing. Maybe a little too much honestly. However, with these strangers who had chased me down, I wasn’t keen on spending any more quality time with them. Besides, they were messing with me. It’s impossible to jump over fences and heal people with glowing hands.