by Dawn Husted
The sky was still dark and the moon peeked behind the tree to my right. I wasn’t sure how long I had been asleep. A loud snoring sound came from Lucan.
“He’s been going on like that all night,” James said, his eyes red from being tired. He rolled them along with the next snore.
I ignored his rant and laced up my dry boots.
“We should get going,” I said to James. “How long was I out?”
“About three or four hours.”
“You should have woken me up, James. I could’ve switched with you. You need some rest too.”
James shrugged his shoulders. “I’m fine.”
I walked over to Lucan to wake him up, but James beat me to it with a small rock, hitting him in the stomach. “What did you do that for?” Lucan stretched his arms and arched his back, looking at me.
“I didn’t,” I glared at James. “We need to get going. So put your boots on.”
We poured water from the swamp on the fire and stomped the rest of the amber ashes out. For an hour we trekked in a line behind one another like little school children walking from one class to the other. The dog trotted beside me and no longer behind us, somehow I had moved up the ladder in her doggy world, maybe actually getting to pet her soon.
I never asked Sidnee if the dog belonged to her little boy Jace. The sadness that surrounded Sidnee was also clearly visible in the mutt’s demeanor—no need to ask. Maybe the dog was on this journey with me, hoping in her small world that I would to lead her to him. If that was the case, she was heading in the wrong direction.
I walked with my thumbs looped around the bottom straps of the pack hanging on my back. The sun finally began to rise, and gleams from its light shined through the tops of the thick trees, but the branches clawed at the sky, blocking us from the sun’s warm rays. My clothes were half-dry, I was dangling somewhere between a cold sweat from walking and the dampness from my clothes, both making me even colder, not helping my situation. I didn’t think it was possible to overheat from walking and yet be cold at the same time.
Occasionally, I’d look behind me and peek at James to make sure he was still there. He was quiet, hiking without any visible sign of the same troubles I was having, making me feel like a total sissy.
“Do y’all mind if we stop for some water?” I paused where I stood. “Did we even bring any water?” I suddenly realized we weren’t as prepared as I thought. James and I didn’t exactly know our lives were taking such a radical turn when we fled the other night.
“I do, love.” Lucan turned around, smiling as he flung his duffel bag from his neck onto the ground. He walked over, holding a large bag wobbling around with water inside, a small black spout twisted off the end. I leaned against a tree and squeezed the bag, squirting a few streams against my tongue.
“Thanks.” I wiped my lips. “Do you want any, James?”
“No. Don’t need it,” came his short reply.
“James, stop it. Just take some, okay?” He was acting different than I’d ever seen him before. He was—jealous. He’d never been jealous. He never had to be, not where we lived.
“I said I’m good,” he replied again.
“Okay, have it your way.” I closed the spout and handed the bag back to Lucan.
Then we continued walking in a line. There was no visible trail, but Lucan seemed to know exactly where he was going, a specific spot he was targeting.
Maybe the top of the perimeter was weaker at one area? I wondered again what awaited us ahead and hoped Lucan hadn’t forgotten any supplies we’d need. His bag was rather large, but not big enough for a ladder or anything. Were we planning to catapult over the top? I laughed to myself at the image of the two of them tossing me over. I wouldn’t put it pass them. However, I’d die once I hit the booby-trapped ground on the opposite side, or break every bone in my body.
With the sun now more than halfway through the sky, I finally started feeling warmer. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around my waist, leaving only my long sleeves exposed in an attempt to dry them out more. I knew there was another pair of clothes in my bag, but I opted to save them once we were out of the soppy jungle. Who knew how long we would be stuck out here; I needed my two pairs of clothes lasting as long as possible.
The invisible trail we were on began thickening with additional overgrown foliage. Long ropes of vines hung below every branch and wrapped around others, blocking our view even more. The weeds were so thick, I could no longer see below my thighs. Wild plants hugged every inch of my legs. I wondered why Lucan insisted on us taking this path, not detouring. I swatted every grimy insect that flew in front of my face. Lucan and James did the same. I began regretting my wish for more heat—suffocating inside of this sauna with mosquitos everywhere. Gnats became numerous and then there were even more mosquitos. I wanted to roll my sleeves up, but was afraid of exposing any more skin to the bloodsuckers, leaving me a wide-open human blood bank.
I looked down at my fingernails, caked with dirt, my palms were covered with little bug carcasses, and I wiped my hands across my pants—trying to clean them. My neck itched fiercely with tiny bites all over, my forehead too.
“Am I the only one getting bit?” I asked, swatting at another mosquito poking its straw nose through my long sleeves and into my skin. My arms began itching more. I inched my sleeve up to see where the burning originated. That’s when I noticed. My vines were gone. Instead, spotty red rashes had replaced them. Very visible spotty rashes.
I was scared to turn around, afraid the rashes on my arms were also causing the same feeling of itchiness on my face and neck. What if my vines were disappearing from there too? I started panicking and kept walking—on autopilot. The weight in my chest clinched tighter, and I struggled for my next breath. Not because I was allergic to anything, which is what someone in a similar situation would conclude, but because I wasn’t sure what to do. I wondered how long it would be before Lucan or James noticed the non-so-subtle difference.
What did this mean? I knew what Sidnee had told me, but what if she was wrong? What if I really was sick? Was I contagious, a carrier of whatever killed and disfigured all those people living on the other Land? My stomach rolled with knots and I felt like puking each knot up several times over. I really needed to drink some water, straighten my thoughts out, but the last thing I wanted was to grab either guy’s attention. Instead, I slowed my pace, and James attentively followed in turn—without asking. I was lucky to have him and wondered if he’d even want me once he saw me—when he saw what was happening to me, who I truly was.
My curls weren’t nice and silky anymore, now they were frizzy leaches wrapping themselves around my neck, and I was desperate to dislodge each strand. It was so uncomfortable, only adding to the itching. But they aided my need to hide my exposed skin.
Finally the path began thinning, dense foliage and thick weeds sparser, the ground was still reasonably wet, but Lucan had been right so far. No swamp in site. My boots glistened with moisture, and I moved my toes around, they were dry too. I noticed a small puddle ahead of me and decided on a bold move, knowing I would come across as a moronic girl, but I would rather that than the other option. I sauntered closer and pretended to trip over a stick, causing me to fall face first into a pool of mud.
“Penny!” James ran over and helped me up as I wiped the gunk from my eyes, slinging remnants from my fingers to the side of me. Unfortunately, I misjudged the depth of the puddle and at the same time I tripped, I managed to twist my ankle. I was a massive loser, humiliated, but blissfully happy with the camouflaging results. Neither Lucan nor James said anything about my vines, more concerned with my inability to walk.
Each grabbed an arm and carefully balanced me up. My right foot held my weight while my left dangled in the air.
“Try putting some weight on it,” James said.
“Flipping ankle!” I screamed in pain from the exertion.
“Sit down and let me look at it,” Lucan ordered.
&nbs
p; Great, I thought. Now not only was I slowing us down, but I was about to show my nasty foot to a completely gorgeous guy. They carried me over to leaves piled against a tree, then Lucan untied my boot, carefully slid it off, and rolled my sock down. He left my sock covering the worst part of my foot, my toes. Thank god. The furry dog sat and watched the process patiently.
Lucan gently massaged his fingers all over my lower leg and ankle, and then he moved my foot in a small, circular rotation. I noticed the vines were no longer on my feet, then an agonizing pain shot up the side of my leg. My fingers gripped into the ground around me. Fortunately, neither Lucan nor James seemed to have noticed the lack of vines on my skin.
“Well, I don’t think it’s broken, just massively sprained,” he said.
My chest rose. “That’s good news.” And I quickly rolled my pants-leg down covering my skin.
“Yes, but the bad news is…it’s not going to heal unless you stay off it.”
“So what are we going to do?” I asked.
“Here.” James took the gun from around his neck and handed it to Lucan. “I expect this back later,” he uttered prior to releasing his grip. “I’ll carry you on my back.” He bent down in front of me, I gripped my hands around his neck, and he stood up without any trouble. “Now let’s keep moving.”
Chapter Nine
I was upset about my ankle and more than just a little worried about everything else—my vines in particularly. But for a while, my fear subsided. James’ pace was constant and he rubbed my legs while we walked, careful of where he touched. I knew he was happy to be the one to have come to my rescue by carrying me. Lucan seemed to have answers for everything since we first met, and now James was finally the one with a solution to the problem.
I knew he was worried about my thoughts of Lucan, but truthfully, nothing could get in the way of how I felt about James. Nonetheless, I didn’t mind seeing him squirm.
“Hey you two, look.” Lucan stopped and pointed ahead towards the tips of some tall trees.
A bright, whitish blue wall masked against the clouds. The color of the perimeter blended well with the bright appearance of the sky, making it more difficult to view through the numerous tree limbs. I’m not sure I would’ve noticed it this soon if it hadn’t been for Lucan directing our sight. The perimeter was massive, but still a ways off, yet we were getting closer. I squealed excitedly, temporarily forgetting the final task of climbing it.
Now that we had a visual target, we picked up our pace and I kept my eyes on the wall I had always been warned about. James’ arms wrapped around underneath my knees and suddenly, he stopped. Lucan too.
Lucan turned his head side to side and quietly lowered his bag to the ground, clutching a knife in each hand. James gripped my knees tighter.
“Get ready, someone’s here,” he whispered. “I need the gun, Lucan.”
A whistle appeared from behind a tree to our left, yards away. “Are you referring to the gun you stole from me?” the whistle, a voice, butted in.
It couldn’t be. James killed him. Didn’t he? The same guard from the night I was taken into custody waved his fingerless hand in the air and took a step closer to us. “It healed nicely, don’t you think?” he said, gloating, his other hand hidden behind his back.
“Nice to see you too, Rexx,” James replied as he slowly dropped me to the ground. I reached into my pack, handing him the severed fingers, and Lucan tossed him the gun at the same time.
“You think I’m stupid. That I’d just show up by myself?” Then Rexx whistled three low-pitched signals. Immediately, two other guys, guards, walked out from the right of us, same distance in length as Rexx. “That’s my gun, and I’m going to need it back,” he continued.
“How did you know we’d be here?” James asked, buying time as he put Rexx’s fingers in place over the trigger. I wasn’t sure how many bullets were left, but hopefully there was enough.
“I didn’t. My boys and I voluntarily left before the others last night and we took a long shot guess you might be headed this way. The others thought we were overreaching, but I knew better. I know you. We go way back, don’t we? Stupid me thought we were actually friends until you crushed my head against the window, stole my car, stole my gun, oh and let’s not forget, cut off my fingers.” An evil grin plastered across his face. “I heard you coming a mile away; we’ve been waiting for you. Though, I was surprised to realize you crossed sides. So should I call you a Lower now too?” He thrusted his chin at Lucan. “Unfortunately, I’m gonna get extra points at the Academy if I bring you in alive, but as for your girlfriend and the Lower, I wasn’t given specific orders. So I guess that verdict is still up in the air.” His fingers drummed against his temple, pretending to think hard about the decision to kill us. Now he was mocking our terrible situation.
“Leave—Her—Alone,” James demanded. His veins bubbled intensely around his neck and he held the gun tightly, pointing it firmly at Rexx.
Personally, I never knew Rexx, I’d seen him around the Academy with the rest of the guards, but we never had any classes together at school, him being two years older than me. However, I’m not sure that would’ve made any difference right now—he was here to kill. Kill us all. And in that instant, I realized this was no game. Yes, I knew this earlier, but now here I was again, about to die.
“Shoot him!” I yelled, feeling bad just a tad.
James pulled the trigger and a line of bullets sprayed towards Rexx, he ran to the left as he pulled out a gun from behind. I wasn’t sure how he achieved a higher rank than James. Clearly, he was incapable of the brains for combat. James was shooting and Rexx hadn’t managed one shot yet.
“STAY DOWN!” James yelled at me as I heard two explosions coming from the opposite direction. LUCAN!
I threw my body flat against the ground from my former seated position. Logs were everywhere in this forest, fallen and shoved about from the previous storm. One single, stubby one, a foot high, blocked my body from instant death. I pulled the dog down, held her against me, and looked over to where Lucan had been standing. He was gone. Nowhere in sight.
THAT SPINELESS WIMP!
I turned my head slightly to see if the other two guards ran after him, but I couldn’t raise my head far enough to find them. Whistling bullets zoomed pass me. Then I picked my head back up and looked towards the guards’ direction again. All I could see were clouds of smoke where a bunch of trees had been blown outward, lying strewn about in large, splintered pieces. A ten-foot hole had been cleared in the woods where a grim cloud now hovered. The smoke dissipated fast as James kept shooting and I finally spotted the two guards’ bodies lying in the center of the exploded debris—dead.
All of a sudden, James’ gun jammed. Our only weapon. The bullets flew in our direction, bouncing off the stubby log blocking the dog and me. James dove over my head and quickly rolled to a nearby tree for cover.
“So! I guess it’s just you and me, buddy,” Rexx hollered.
James shook his gun violently back and forth, trying to clear whatever the reason was for it jamming. He looked at me, shook his head in defeat, and threw the gun out to the side.
“That’s what you get for stealing things,” Rexx said, toying with him. “Look, how about this. You let me kill the girl and you come in alive, unharmed. We can work this all out back at the Academy. You’ll be permanently demoted, but alive.”
I rolled over, looked at James, and nodded my head. It was his only chance. I wasn’t prepared to die, but I knew what had to be done. James yelled for me to stay down. I ignored him and slowly stood up, readying myself for the swift bullet to the head and closed my eyes as I balanced on my one good foot. The dog whimpered at my side, choosing now to verbally show she cared.
There was no breeze. Sweat gathered on my forehead underneath dry mud, my mouth filled with moisture, a spontaneous reaction to the fear rising inside me, and then I took my last breath.
“Looks like your girlf—” Rexx began.
&nb
sp; I winced at the pain coming my way, from the bullet about to pierce my skull. After a second, I realized there was no pain. There was no bullet.
I opened my eyes. Lucan appeared out of nowhere from behind Rexx, placed a hand around his face, and in one swift motion—he slit his throat. In a last effort attempt, Rexx grabbed him from behind and flipped him over his shoulder onto the ground. But it was too late. Blood poured from his neck and he grabbed the open laceration, trying his best to stop the bleeding—gurgling muffles escaped from his lips. Immediately, Lucan jumped up, grabbed Rexx’s head, and twisted it with one move, breaking his neck. Rexx’s body flopped over sideways, giving a ragdoll appearance, into the mud that splashed around him.
I stood in disbelief and beyond thankful we had allowed Lucan to accompany us on our suicide journey.
“That should do it.” Lucan brushed his clothes off with his hands and ran towards us.
For the first time James stood there, not saying a word, staring at Rexx’s body.
“I thought you left us,” I muttered—alive.
“Me? No. I’m in this for the long haul,” he said.
James shook his head. “Thanks,” was all he could say.
“I told you. You can trust me,” Lucan replied.
James grabbed the broken gun and finger lying on the ground.
“You don’t need that,” Lucan said.
“But I might be able to unjam it.” James shook the gun and opened the chamber.
“Ya, on the other hand, I have a gun you can have and it doesn’t require a decaying appendage for operation.” Lucan said the last part with a gross expression across his face as he looked at the fingers in James’ hand.
James was not amused. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t your gun?” Lucan laughed.
“Well, are you going to give it to me or just stand there gabbing?”
“Whatever. Follow me, we need to hurry. If the others didn’t know where we were, they do now.” Lucan walked past me and I climbed onto James’ back.