SAFE

by Dawn Husted

“How in the world could you guys not hear her or us down here for that matter?” I asked.

  “That’s why she’s still alive; we have some questions for her.” He finished unwrapping the rope from around my waist and I quickly realized why I had no chance of untying it myself. It was one long piece connecting my feet and intertwining with the back of the chair—all the way up around my waist and back down through the legs of the chair. I bent over, rubbing my ankles and arching my back, hearing it pop and dislodge from the uncomfortable position I had been in for far too long. My body felt like a crinkled piece of paper trying to flatten itself back out.

  “Here, come on,” Lucan said, reaching up for the door.

  I looked over and spotted a large, hand-drawn map on the wall opposite of me. It was a black and white diagram of a land with water all the way around. I reached over, grabbed it from the wall, and quickly folded it up as Lucan jumped out the door. Then he reached down and pulled me up. The sunlight had started to dim and the long, treacherous day was ending. I opened the map as my feet landed on the ground.

  Light gleamed from the door and I studied the map quickly. A long, curved line labeled perimeter was drawn wide around the center and the rest looked like terrain with pictures of a few hundred crosses inside a clearing. The grave. It was a drawn map of our Land and the terrain we hiked through. An X was placed with the label hutch above it. “This must be where we are,” I said, pointing to the location. I looked over the edge of the map, but neither Lucan nor James was nearby.

  “Lucan!” I yelled.

  “Turn around, we’re right here,” James replied. I was jumpy.

  The girl had been tied against a nearby tree and both of the guys stood in front of her with their arms folded. She wouldn’t look at them and I felt a little less nervous by seeing her in such a vulnerable state.

  I folded the map and approached her. “What are we going to do with her?” I asked. Her green vest was off, tossed to the side, and her legs resembled a sprawled out V along the ground.

  “That’s why we couldn’t hear her.” James pointed at the vest lying on the ground. “It’s padded with some type of soundproof material. As soon as I took it off, I heard her heart. That room she had you in must be lined with the same stuff.”

  “She said she was put here to kill anyone trying to escape on this side of the perimeter.” I told Lucan and James the rest of what she told me as I eyed her.

  James kicked her boot. “Is that right?” he asked.

  She didn’t say a word and refused to acknowledge our presence, looking off to the side. Licking her lips.

  James ordered Lucan to hand him a knife and he reluctantly did so. Then James held it up to the girl’s throat. “I asked you a question. Were you put here to kill us?” he asked, pressing the knife against her toned skin.

  Again, she said nothing.

  “Fine.” James turned away and motioned for us to gather to the side.

  We huddled in a small circle not far from her, but far enough to where she couldn’t hear what we talked about.

  “Look, Lucan. Why don’t you go below, see what you can find that might be of some use to us, and I’ll keep interrogating her. We need to learn everything she knows and then we’ll figure out what to do with her,” James said.

  As much as I didn’t like her and knew she was crazy, I wasn’t a murderer and couldn’t kill a defenseless girl. She was tied up, no weapons, and was no longer a threat towards us. Before Lucan left, I told them what I thought and that we shouldn’t kill her. Instead, I suggested we leave her there, let fate sort it out. James said he’d think about it and Lucan didn’t take either side. Then he walked over and jumped down into the hutch while James and I walked back to question her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  All of a sudden, she decided to speak. “How did you get around my cameras?” she asked, glaring at James.

  He bent down to her level. “Is anyone else coming? Are you here alone?” he questioned.

  She didn’t answer.

  “How did you get around my cameras?” she said again. “I have a few in the area.” She nodded to the trees in the distance.

  James replied—annoyed. “It wasn’t hard. Once we knew someone took Penny and we followed you here, we were naturally more aware of our surroundings and heard the cameras moving as we waited outside. From there it was simple—all we had to do was stay out of sight. Now that I answered your question, you need to answer one of mine. What’s your name?”

  “Mag,” she said, kicking the ground with her heels.

  “Nice to meet you, Mag. Now why would someone put you on this Land to kill us?” he asked. It didn’t make sense; no one other than the guards would have any reason to want us dead. So a contract, or however she put it, didn’t match with anything else we had learned.

  “Who placed me here is what you need to ask,” she replied, adjusting her arms, which were still tied around the trunk.

  “Yes. Who?” James said.

  “His name is Colonel Adams West.”

  “And why would this colonel hire you?”

  “The same reason he hired the person before me and the person before that person and the people before them. To keep you here or kill you. My orders were to kill you on sight.” Her words held a defeated tone. She kicked the ground with her heel again as she said the word kill.

  James and I looked at each other, stunned by her answer. I shrugged my shoulders in an I don’t know kind of way.

  “Guess you should’ve killed us when you had the chance. Why would anyone need to keep us here?” James continued.

  She began laughing uncontrollably. “Wow, you all really are a bunch of stupid lab rats—just like I thought.” The words lab rats were spit out like a repulsive, bitter taste invading her mouth.

  “Lab rats?” I asked, unsure of why she would use that term to describe us.

  “Look at you.” She nodded up and down towards James. “How dumb do you have to be to think the way you and your friend look is normal? I mean, really. Come on!”

  “He is the way he is because of the vaccine our people took when we first settled this place! There’s nothing wrong with him. Just me,” I said, raising my voice, a question towards the end of my statement.

  “Look, all I was told is this island is some… sort of… experiment, for lack of a better word. It started with the people in power before Colonel West was in charge, after the lands were broken up by the earthquakes. Whatever vaccine you’re referring to, I have no idea what that’s about. All I know is, you’re all a part of research, or test subjects, for a plan ending with lots of money. By whom and for what, I don’t know.”

  As she rambled on about experiments, I remembered my backpack.

  “James, did you grab my pack? I think it was left back at the campsite,” I said.

  He nodded and pointed at the ground near Lucan’s duffel bag. I walked over and picked it up, grabbing the glass vials from inside. I held them in my hand, facing Mag. “These are the vaccines I was referring to. My dad said they were being used on the other Land. Do you know anything about that?” I demanded. James gave me a funny look; I hadn’t the chance to tell him about the vials yet.

  She shook her head. “I already told you what I know. Now, will you let me go or not?”

  “Who else knows we’re here?” James demanded.

  “Nobody.”

  “How do we know you’re telling the truth and that there won’t be an armload of you people waiting for us as soon as we step foot off this place?”

  She chucked again. “Wow. You really don’t get it, do you? There is no way off this island for you. It’s surrounded by water. You’re not leaving.”

  James gave me a worried look and Lucan jumped back out the hutch door.

  “Did you find anything?” James asked.

  “Not much, just some more ammo and a few guns. I think this is what she shot us with,” he said, holding up the long, metallic gun she was piecing together earlier. “Oth
er than that, the place is empty.”

  Mag was still tied up, not trying to escape. I walked over to Lucan and James and unfolded the map. “Look, I found this below. Maybe she’s lying,” I said, draping the map flat against a large rock. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough light to read it, so I took it back over to the door for a better visual.

  “Okay, it says we’re here.” I pointed to the hutch, the grave, and the perimeter. We observed the drawn waves of water surrounding the island. It was a surprise to us that the edge of the Land on this side of the perimeter, including close to where we were, was drawn with distinct ridged and jagged shapes.

  “Are these cliffs?” I yelled over towards Mag and pointed to the map.

  She nodded.

  I sunk in my posture. “How are we supposed to get around that?” The idea never crossed my mind that there wouldn’t be a beach entrance of some sort.

  The three of us shot different ideas around, leaping off the cliffs, climbing down, or walking the edge of the Land just to see if we could find an easier spot to enter the ocean. We knew we didn’t have a whole lot of time. If nobody was coming for her, then guards might still be coming for us—casing the Land wasn’t an option. We were left with either jumping into the water or climbing down the cliffs and then still going into the water. There was no way of lowering a boat, mainly because we didn’t have one, but even if we managed to make one, how were we supposed to get it safely to the water? The other Land couldn’t have been too far if they were sending supplies and vaccinations over. We each agreed swimming would be our only option. We realized our eyes were never meant to see the map so we didn’t question the hand-drawn accuracy. And if Mag had been here as long as she said, then it was probably about as accurate as possible.

  “James, do you think she telling the truth about us all being part of an experiment?”

  “What are you talking about?” Lucan asked.

  “Nothing,” James replied. “Look, of course she wasn’t telling the truth. She’s trying to mess with our heads so she can find a way to escape when we’re debating the details and not paying attention to her.”

  Mag’s voice murmured into the conversation. “If I were able to show you how to get off the island, would you let me go?”

  James looked up at us. “No,” he replied. “It’s a trick... We can’t trust her.”

  “With the two of you, there’s nothing she’ll be able to do without one of you stopping her. Why not just see what she’s talking about?” I suggested.

  James and I looked at Lucan. His vote would decide what to do, like a kid stuck between two parents arguing. Either way, one of us would be disappointed in him. He nodded towards me and shrugged his arms, “What do we have to lose?”

  “You’re making a mistake,” James blurted. Then he turned around and walked over towards Mag. “How do we know you’re not leading us into a trap?”

  “You don’t. I guess you’ll have to trust me,” she smiled.

  “Don’t think for one second I won’t kill you. If you so much as look at us the wrong way… We don’t need you. You kidnapped Penny and killed god knows how many other people. I don’t trust you, but I will allow you to lead us wherever it is you’re talking about.” He untied her and she slid her back up slowly against the tree, rubbing her wrists. James pointed a medium-size gun directly at her and signaled with the tip for her to start moving.

  “It’s this way.” She pointed to the left behind us and began walking.

  I asked where the dog was and apparently neither of them had seen her. She was with them when they were tracking me, but they lost sight of her on the way here. I hoped she was okay.

  The further we walked from the hutch, the thicker the trees became and the less light there was. We couldn’t see anything.

  “I’ll get the night goggles.” Lucan unzipped his duffel bag, pushed aside a few objects, and continued digging around. “They’re not here!” He dug around frantically, and then he turned the bag over on its side. “There’s a hole! It must’ve torn when we ran after her. The goggles and some of my other stuff are gone.”

  James walked over and snatched the girl’s vest from her hands. He picked up a large stick, wrapping the vest around the tip until it was secure. “You still have the matches and lighter fluid?”

  “Yes, that I do have.” Lucan tossed over the two and James drenched the vest with the liquid and lit it on fire, making a suitable torch.

  I slipped my pack on and James handed over the torch for me to hold. Lucan grabbed his duffel bag and held it sideways over his shoulder with the tear on top, careful not to let anything else fall out.

  I looked at Lucan. “I want a gun.” I needed something to guard myself with and decided I deserved a weapon as much as the both of them. It was about time I learned. “Something easy,” I added.

  Lucan pulled out a gun twice the size of my hands. “It’s the smallest one I’ve got. All you have to do is point, aim, and shoot. But be careful not to aim it at any of us—it’s loaded.”

  I reached over and grabbed the heavy, metallic piece, the sheer weight of it catching me off guard. It was much heavier than the guys made it appear. I tightened my grasp, then walked past James and steadily lit the path for Mag. Pistol in my left hand, torch in right. James had a gun aimed at her from behind. The torch was bright; I had to be careful not to set the forest ablaze, low-lying branches everywhere, leaves layering each arm a single foot above my head, and tall shrubs every few steps. I became more alert after sparks lit a tree, and quickly swatted them out with my boot as they floated to the ground. I pinched what was left of the charred leaves with my fingers, making sure they were out, burning my hand in the process. However, I acted as if it didn’t bother me, not wanting to appear weak—to either of them.

  A mile into the hike, Mag requested a few minutes to rest. Before any of us could respond, she seated herself down against a small tree, the back of the trunk encased with a thick set of thorns. The thumbnail moon barely lit the sky, making the stars visible through the thick branch line. For a moment, it was peaceful, as if I was back in the comforts of home. I breathed in the grassy air through my nostrils and felt the purity of it in my lungs. It was tempting to keep my eyes closed and wish beyond anything that my inner thoughts were real instead of my present reality.

  Many questions ran through my mind about everything Mag mentioned to us. Was she telling the truth about the entire research experiment? But how could nobody have known, not even had a notion about the idea? Maybe my dad did or he simply knew that President Falcon was a bad man. If the wall was one huge perimeter put there to keep us in place, then why hadn’t anyone ever tried to escape? Or maybe there had been someone and we just never heard about them. After all, there was a reason the West guy contracted people like Mag. And if that were true and the other island didn’t exist with all the families that chose to leave in the past, then where was my sister? Where were all the vaccinations going my father spotted leaving on a ship? How high did the clearance level run before an individual, a guard, discovered the truth, if ever?

  My arms dropped to my side. The over-mounting pressure of endless questions weighed on every piece of me.

  “Penny!” James yelled. I opened my eyes and saw the torch dipping towards the ground near my feet. The end of the torch charred against the ground, breaking off in one huge chunk. What was left of the vest was of little use now.

  “Sorry! Lucan, you have anything in that duffel bag of yours?” I asked. The sizzling remains of the vest dying against the earth, tiny embers turning grey.

  “Nice one, Penny,” said James.

  “Shut up, James,” I replied, tired of his know-it-all attitude when this was obviously new territory for each of us.

  The torch was completely out and Lucan scurried around in his bag. I couldn’t see a thing—the stars were bright, but not enough. I heard a small click a few yards away and then James’ voice.

  “Don’t move, Lucan,” he ordered.
>
  The sounds from the scurrying duffel bag became silent. “I feel it,” Lucan replied.

  “Feel what?” I was worried, wondering what the two of them knew that I didn’t.

  Then I felt something else. “Is that you, James?” I asked.

  “Nope,” Mag’s voice was only centimeters from my ear and a cold metal tip pressed against my temple. I then heard two gunshots fly past my head.

  “You better not move, L—ucan. You’re standing on a bomb. I thought we clearly missed it by some unfortunate chance, but you know what I’m talking about. Don’t you?” Mag asked.

  For seconds all I heard and felt was Mag’s breath against my ear.

  “She’s right,” Lucan replied. “My right foot is pressing against a round object in the ground, and if she says it’s a bomb…”

  “If you step off, you will explode. So I suggest you stay frozen.” A twinge of laughter hid between Mag’s words.

  “Not a problem,” Lucan replied.

  “I have Penny, and I will shoot her if either of you move. Err… well, I guess just you, James, since you’re the only able body,” Mag added. “Tell them, Penny.” The end of the barrel pressed harder against my temple and she ordered me to drop my gun.

  I gulped. “She’s telling the truth,” I answered, dropping the pistol next to our feet.

  “Those gunshots were from me. So if I hear the slightest leaf out of place, I will shoot both of you. It won’t be hard to do even if I can’t see you. And if you shoot towards me, you risk hitting Penny or me shooting her before you’re actually able to do anything.”

  “What do you want?” James demanded.

  “You have two options. Shoot yourself, or come after me and I kill Penny.” She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek like this was all one big reward—to her long, endless game.

  “I won’t do that. I wouldn’t risk her life, but what’s to say you still won’t kill her?” he asked.

  All of a sudden, Lucan butted in, “Mag, none of this is necessary.”

  “Shut up, Lucan. You have enough to worry about,” she spit back.