Calico

by Annaliese Purrington

  Suddenly, I hear something. As if trucks were driving through the forest. Large trucks.

  “What’s that noise?” Bella asks. She can turn into an owl, of course she can hear it. She has the inexplicable hearing. Then the noise stops. But a voice over a microphone bellows out over the city.

  “This is the Mayor of the Southern City. Mayor Zara. All Morphs must turn themselves in immediately! Come out to the front gates now. I repeat, all Morphs must turn themselves in immediately! This is the Mayor of the Southern City.”

  I hold my breath. What now?

  “Come on,” August says. “There’s a bunker entrance over here.”

  Bella and I follow August to a building. Mayor Hall said that there’s an entrance behind every building. We run across the street and crash into people as we bolt for the back of the building. My heart lashes against my chest like it is about to burst out. I try to stay as calm as I can, but it’s hard. The Southern City seems like they’re about to break into the Western City. I can feel the fear all around in the people running past and with me. My vision is a little blurred from fear, but I can see enough to follow August.

  “Come on!” August says, as Bella and I run around the corner of a building. We look around for the entrance to the bunker but it’s not very easy to find. I notice that there are three other people with us. They must be Morphs who live in the city. Mayor Hall said nothing about what the bunker doors looked like and I, truthfully, am irritated that he hid it so well.

  “Maybe it’s this,” August says, moving a small dumpster out of the way. A grey slab of concrete lies on the ground with a stone handle. That’s got to be it. Why else would a random trapped door be sitting here? August opens it. The handle lights up as it scans his hand. It must check that he is a Morph. Bella and I scan our hands too and then jump in to climb down the cold stone handles of a ladder. I go down after Bella. The ladder is rough and cold. Even damp from the water dripping down from the rain we had not too long ago. It’s dark too. I can’t see where the ladder leads too, but I hope it’s not too much farther.

  Once Bella hits the ground, a light sparks on from a beautiful copper light fixture on the wall. The ground is clean concrete and so are the walls. A cold draft blows through the tunnel that goes on for what seems like forever in the deadened darkness in front of us.

  Bella and I wait for August to climb down and the other three. Two girls and a boy. They all look alike in a way. Maybe they are siblings.

  “Come on.” August says and runs down the tunnel. As we run, lights flicker on. Lights with the same copper light fixtures. We sprint down the tunnels, not knowing where it will lead us.

  “Where does this tunnel go to, and when does it end?” Bella asks.

  “It goes to safety.” It’s the only words August says.

  I know this is the Morph’s bunker, but there’s something about the look of it that makes me question it. It’s so plain and damp. The only thing that looks nice are the light fixtures. Suddenly, we come to a dead end. Nothing in either direction except behind us. But there is another trapped door. This one is metal and round. August turns the handle and the thick door opens to reveal another long ladder.

  We all six climb down it and find ourselves in a warm area with soft black carpets and grey walls. The light fixtures are black down here and I feel heat being blown down from vents in the ceiling. Lots of other people are down here too. The room goes on for I don’t know how long. It’s huge. People are scurrying around, gathering children, blankets, food and filling up water bottles. Drink and food venders are neatly tucked in the walls all around here. The other side of the room looks plain except for a few blankets on the ground. There’s a giant TV on the wall not too far from us. It shows the Western City above, live. Huge red and black trucks are pulling in. The Southern City, or in other words, Morph Hunters, are scanning everyone they can catch. They break into a few houses after no one answers at the door and scan the people in the homes. Although the Southern City is taking over above, it’s not as mad and crazy as I thought. The Southern City is calmer than I would have thought. But I think too soon. I see a group of Hunters run to the mansion gates. They take out a huge pole-looking object and touch the iron gates with it. In an instant, the gates turn to a black liquid. They run up to the mansion.

  The TV turns into multiple sections. The various sections show different places in the city. I focus on the camera that shows the Hunters coming to the mansion. They are fighting with a few of the mayor’s guards now. But the Southern City is winning. There are not enough guards and too many Morph Hunters. Two Hunters run into the mansion and what I see next is what I wish I had not seen. They scan Mayor Hall. The scanner light up and, in an instant, Mayor Hall vanishes like dust.

  I look away. He was trying to help us. Trying to do his best for us. But now he’s gone. Because he was a Morph too.

  People all around scream, gasp, and cry over the loss of their mayor. The mayor who took the time and effort into making this bunker just for the Morphs. I look up at August. His face is expressionless. None of us knew Mayor Hall was a Morph. I wonder what he was. A bear like August? A hawk? A wolf? I guess I’ll never know.

  “Oh, my gosh!!” Bella says with her hand over her mouth. It’s amazing how she got here in one piece. She must be a pro at running and climbing in six-inch heels.

  I lose attention on Bella’s fashion and the death of Mayor Hall and look around. This can’t be real. But this is the reality. This has to be a dream. I think. But if it is a dream, then August and Bella are not real either. I want to keep my new friends, but I want this Morph nightmare to go away. I wish Morphs weren’t real. I wish we never existed. That way the stupid Southern City wouldn’t be able to go after us. I wish the Southern City never existed. No. I wish The Southern City’s mayor never existed! I wish Mayor Zara was never the mayor! What even went down in her life to make her hate Morphs so much? Seriously! I need answers! No. I need the Southern City to go down! That’s what I need! No more bragging rich city! No more of this hunting of innocent people and animals!

  Then at this moment, everyone goes silent. I listen carefully and hear a slight noise. It rattles a hanging light fixture way down on the opposite side of the room as me. The noise gets louder as if someone was trying to hammer their way through the cement ceiling. Then it hits me. I get angry. At least I tell myself I’m angry. I’m terrified honestly. The noise gets louder, and people run over to my side of the room. A piece of cement falls down on the other side of the room. It crashes to the floor and crumbles. Then another piece falls. And another until... CRASH!

  Half the room fills with the ceiling as a huge machine breaks through it. Hunters from the Southern City raid the bunker. Grabbing people left and right. It’s chaos again. I lose August and Bella, but I’m sure I’ll find them again, once I get out of here. I climb over the broken cement and climb up to the tunnel we ran down. I see a few kids looking around trying to find their parents and siblings. I can’t help but feel sorry for them. No one has died yet, so there’s still a chance the small kids can find their families, but they need to get to safety. So, in my good-natured heart of mine, I risk my life to go back down and grab the two children I saw. Two girls who look around seven years old. I help them up to the tunnel and grab their hands as soon as I’m up. We run down the tunnel together, leaving the Hunters and Morphs down in the bunkers. I still have heard no one die yet. My heart can barely handle this. I don’t know what I’d do if someone got killed now.

  Chapter 25

  Once we get to the ladder that leads above ground, I help the two girls up. We get above ground and as soon as we do, four people who look like a family gets startled. It looks like they were about to go back down. The two girls go to them and look at me with thankful eyes. It must be their family. I smile a smile I try to look soft and sweet. The parents say thank you to me as I run off. Risking my life to help those two girls was worth it. I feel a small lift from my body. Knowing I did good from
this mess makes me feel lighter and more motivated to find Bella and August. I run to the front of the building and look around. Massive trucks line the streets. I nearly trip over myself as I abruptly stop. The Hunters are walking back and forth on the streets. Armed. I peer around the corner of the building and look around. How can I find Bella and August with Hunters all around? I see, off in the city's distance, the Western City Army coming to help. I go back into the shadows.

  “Cali!” A voice calls from behind me. I swing my head around and see Bella running to me.

  “Where were you?” I ask, relieved to see her. I see August a few yards away. Back towards the trapped door.

  “We were hiding behind the fence over there, about to come looking for you.” Bella points to a piece of a fence leaning against the wall of the building.

  “We need to get out of here. Fast!” August says, walking over to us.

  “How?” Bella asks.

  I look up. It’s a long shot, but we can try. “Follow me.” I say and climb up a ladder that leads up to the roof of the building. It’s a long way up, and halfway up, my arms and legs ache. But finally, we make it. The buildings are close together, so that’s where my idea came from. I walk to the edge of the building and look down. The Hunters are still walking around down below.

  “Okay, my idea is that we can jump from building to building. Once we’re close to the city wall, we can jump over it and escape that way.” One half of me thinks this idea is epic and something from an action movie. But the other half of me thinks Bella and August will hate it.

  “We can try it. But can I be an owl? I don’t enjoy jumping and running very much.” Bella looks at August and me.

  “Fine but stay as low to the roof as possible. We don’t want the Southern City to know we’re up here.” August walks over to the small gap between the building we’re on and the neighboring one. I, however, back up and just go for it. Agility is what I do. I wait for Bella and August to come across, then we move on to the next one. We speed up once we get a rhythm down. As I jump, I look down. I see a few people in the alleyways peering around corners and hiding in tight places. Must be Morphs if they’re hiding so well. I run across the rooftops and leap across gaps. I feel like a character in an action movie, where I’m the hero leaping across the buildings while the heroic music plays. I’ll never want to become an actress, but it’s still fun to pretend like you’re one. Right?

  We get to the last building and climb down the ladder on the side of it. It’s right by the wall that surrounds the Western City, so I risk it and jump on it when I’m halfway down the ladder. I land on the wall and lightly leap down to the ground on the other side of the city. Ugh. I’m back in the forest. I hate this forest now. Too many memories of bad things. I wait for the other two. When they jump down beside me, we just sit. The sky has a soft cloudy look to it.

  “So,” Bella asks. “What now?”

  “I don’t know.” August replies.

  “We could run?” Bella suggests.

  My heart and stomach lurch at the thought of running back into the forest filled with fear. But it could be the only way to a little more safety.

  “We could, but Hunters are probably out there too. I don’t want to go back in again just to find a group and get caught all over again.” August leans back against the wall. I look at his exhausted face. Expressionless and struggling to stay calm. His emerald green eyes stare at the treetops above. There are a few scratches on his face. He clenches his hands into fists on top of his knees. Sympathy washes over me. I’m going through the same thing he is, but the only thing that is different is that I have a family to go home to when this is all over. August has one too, but he feels like he doesn’t belong there anymore. At least that’s what I’m getting. It’s hard to be alive right now for me. I can’t imagine going through this in his life. I lean back and try to think of something new. Like the birds above.

  “We have to move. The Southern City is getting closer to this side of the city, I can hear them.” Bella gets up, but at that precise moment, the top half of the wall from behind August and me blows up. Shooting bricks left and right. I scream and cover my head. We could have died! We should have died! It’s an astonishing miracle that we are all still alive!

  I stay hunched in my balled-up position. I feel arms wrap around me and pull me up. I look up and see August helping me up. Bella is petrified a few yards away. Only a few gashes on her arm. Nothing bad compared to August and me. I feel the wounds on my back from the explosion. My head aches from being hit by bricks. I grasp August’s arms for support and look back into the city. The Southern City has broken into the Morph bunker over here. The explosion was to break the cement to get to the underground rooms. They can’t open the trapped doors because they’re not Morphs.

  “Come on!” August says and helps me over to Bella, who hasn’t moved an inch. I’m not even sure she’d even blinked. I can walk, but the blast sounded so loud that the noise blew off my hearing and balance. So technically, I can’t really walk.

  We run into the forest, forgetting all of our fears. We just run, and I pray that the Hunters don’t see us running, but I think they’re too occupied with getting into the bunker full of the “dangerous” Morphs.

  From the roar of the flames behind me, I stop. Those Morphs need help. I’m sure the Western City is doing all they can, but my head is telling me I need to go back and help too. I run back towards the chaos. I sprint and never look away from the city. Suddenly I’m stopped by my arms being pulled back.

  “Calico, no! You’ll get killed!” Bella’s voice echoes in my head. Everything echoes. Not loudly. Only faint echoes. I hear August now. Telling me to calm down. What am I doing? I focus on my actions and find myself fighting them both. Trying to get free of their grasps. Am I really that desperate to help those innocent Morphs back there? My body sure is, but my head is not with it.

  “Calico!” August’s voice calls out. It’s louder in my head than last time. “Calico! The Western City will take care of it. They already are defeating the Southern City. The Western City has more soldiers than the ones that were sent from the Southern City.” I calm down and lower myself on my knees. Everything aches. My head, my back, my neck, my hands and feet. Even my heart.

  Chapter 26

  We wait in a tree a mile or two away from the city. We spend the night in it even, but once the morning comes, and we see off in the distance, the trucks leaving, we hurry back to the Western City. I practically run there. My hearing is back and so is my balance. The faster I can get out of this forest, the better. When we arrive, the damage is not as bad as I thought. Only a few holes here and there where the Hunters broke into the Morph’s bunker, a few buildings hit by cement, a few houses with broken doors, and lots of scorch marks from the small fires made by the explosions to get into the bunker. Then I think about something. How many Morphs died? I know at least one. Mayor Hall. But how many after?

  People walk back and forth, gathering each other, and anything they had dropped when running from the Southern City. It’s very busy on the streets. Dark clouds loom low. Hovering over the treetops. It’ll rain soon.

  “What do we do now?” Bella asks as we walk down a sidewalk.

  “I don’t know.” August replies.

  Just then the speakers which are throughout the city make a static noise then clear up. “Attention citizens of the Western City. This is the Mayor’s assistant. Please come to the meeting building tomorrow at noon to honor your mayor. Dress nicely. We encourage all citizens to come, but you don’t have to. We will also talk about the new mayor. Thank you. If you are injured, go to the nearest hospital and they’ll fix you up or call for a Western City guard. If you have been separated from your children, there are Western City soldiers walking about ready to help you. If you are fine, please return to your homes immediately.” The speakers go silent.

  “Well, I guess we can head back to the Visitor Center.” Bella says.

  “Cali and I wil
l meet you there. We got hit by a few bricks in that exposition. We should go get looked at real fast.” says August. Bella nods then August and I head across the street to the hospital. It’s chaos in here. We wait a half hour, then a nurse comes over to us and puts a few bandages on our minor injuries.

  “You’ll be 100% better in a few days.” She says as she packs up her things to go to the next patient.

  “Thanks.” August and I say together.

  The next day, Bella, August, and I hang out in the Dinning Floor waiting for noon to come.

  “We should go get ready now.” Bella says, getting up. August and I nod then we walk to our rooms.

  I have nothing to wear. I rummage in the dresser in my room at the Visitor Center and only find casual clothes. Maybe Bella has something. Doubt it, though. I go next door and knock. Bella answers in a black dress with frills.

  “Calico,” she says.

  “Do you have anything I can wear?” I try to sound casual, but inside, I am super happy to have a friend who I can ask this question to.

  “Yeah, come in!” Her room is the same as mine, except she made her bed much nicer. I can’t exactly do it right. But I don’t care.

  “I went down to the front desk the first day we were here and asked for better clothing. The clothing they give the Morphs who come are just plain dull. On you they look nice, but on me… forget it!”

  I sit on her bed as she disappears in her closet.

  “My only other dress is this one.” She hands me a black skater dress with a white ribbon and bow on the waist. “I only have one pair of black wedges. But I have a pair of flats that’ll go nicely with this dress. Here try them on and see if they fit.” The flats barely fit. They might be a tad bit small, but it’s only for today.

  I get dressed in my room. I leave my hair down and simple. But when I meet up with Bella, she has her hair curled and half pulled back. She wears dark eyeshadow too. August just wears a dark T-shirt and jeans. Nothing fancy.