18 Walls

  It’s a pretty long way from the camp to the city. We’ve been issued transport passes in the form of small, rectangular dark green cards.

  “There’s the bus stop,” says Sean, pointing to an orange slanted metal shelter under which are two grey benches. “We can catch a bus to the city from here.”

  “Or we could just walk?” Raine suggests. “How far can it be?”

  She sounds impatient. I think she’s secretly more eager to see the city than she lets on. Fortunately, before we make a decision, the bus arrives. The only bus that services the area. We hop on. It takes us along a long, winding road hemmed in by the looming shadows of the jungle on its edges. Gradually, the scenery changes. Buildings appear. The road widens up, then narrows once again, this time flanked by red-roofed buildings, their terraced tiles and whitewashed walls dull with age. And finally, we enter the heart of the city.

  Amidst a backdrop of dazzling lights, each burning its lifespan with strange exuberance, hundreds of vehicles squeeze and jostle their way down the roads, disgorging their human cargo into the belly of the metropolis. Grandiloquent skyscrapers stand tall and proud amongst the hustle, gazing over the city with icy indifference. Howling madly, trains, the behemoths of automotive society, rocket their human boluses down oesophagus-like tunnels. But perhaps the most astounding thing about the city is the people themselves.

  The sheer volume of human traffic shocks me. Like an army of ants fleeing an anteater, they move down the streets in a massive, pulsating crowd. Children, their school bags bouncing on their shoulders like oversized snail shells, run energetically along, eager to get home. Adults, their deadened eyes and slumped shoulders marring the flawless smoothness of their suits, trudge in a zombified trance. And finally, there were the teenagers, the pendulums between the adult and children world. Their feet dragging, their postures forcibly straightened, they stream out from the various educational institutions littering the city, pausing now and then to wave desultorily to another kindred soul they vaguely recognise.

  “Wow,” Raine breathes, her face pressed so close to the window that it fogs up.

  “Never seen this before?” I ask.

  She pulls away from the window quickly.

  “Don’t worry, neither have I,” I reassure her. “I’m like you, remember? I’ve never set a foot into the city before.”

  Her face returns to the window. To be honest, I’m in awe too. We alight on Sean’s instruction. After all, he’s the one who’s spent the most time in the city. Behind the bus stop, a pebbled path opens up towards a river, its pitch-black waters supporting a fleet of small boats, each illuminated dimly like exhausted fireflies. Beside the river is a little boulevard, festooned on one side with various restaurants, bars and cafés. People walking by give us strange, almost cold looks. I’m not sure why. Maybe they’ve never seen uniformed soldiers in this part of the city before.

  As we walk along the promenade, simply drinking in the sights, I’m struck by a feeling I don’t recognise. It’s warm, tingly, slightly uncomfortable but at the same time, comforting. I don’t want this to disappear, I realise. This is what we’re protecting. Not the parents who abandoned Raine nor the alcoholic who abused April, but the innocent children who play at the water’s edge, the mother who smiles so gently into her infant’s pram, the various puzzle pieces that make up the city.

  “It’s so different, huh?” Raine muses. “So different from what you and I are used to.”

  “Yeah. This isn’t the world I grew up in,” I say. “I wonder what would’ve happened if we’d been brought up under such circumstances. Maybe we’d have lived much…happier lives?”

  “But we’d never have met.”

  “Huh?” I turn to her and she turns away sharply, using a hand to push her hair behind her ears.

  “Nothing. I mean…it’s kind of a good thing, I guess,” she mutters hastily. “I mean, we’re kind of close now, no?”

  “Like family? That’s true. I probably don’t have stronger bonds with anyone outside this squad.”

  “Family, huh? Yeah. Definitely,” she sighs.

  Shit. Family’s the last thing I should be talking about with her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, it’s not that.”

  “What?” I ask.

  “What what?”

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No.”

  “Then why do you seem kind of…” I search my mind for the correct term. “Kind of…uh…disgruntled?”

  “You’re imagining things.”

  “Okay.”

  She raises an eyebrow, then shakes her head and strikes up a conversation with April. I get the feeling I’ve touched a raw nerve somewhere. Her brother? Possibly. But it didn’t seem to be about that. And she’s usually pretty straightforward.

  “You really don’t have a clue, do you?”

  I spin around. It’s Rick, dragging an uncomfortable looking Sean along.

  “What?” I frown. “What did I do now?”

  “Come on,” he chuckles. “There’s two months left till our deployment.”

  “And people tend to want to get these things out before it’s too late,” Sean adds. “I mean…oh. You still don’t get it. Okay.”

  “Get what?”

  “Nah.” Rick shakes his head at Sean, grinning knowingly. “Don’t worry. He’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Find out what?” I’m getting real tired of this guessing game bullshit. “What the hell are you talking about? What am I supposed to…”

  “Hey, look!” April calls to us excitedly from the front of the group. “Up ahead!”

  I cast my gaze in the direction she’s pointing. Almost immediately, I forget the words I was about to say. A bridge sits snugly over the water’s surface, connecting the opposite banks of the river. On each side, above the railings of the bridge, are looming steel arches, each annealed via multiple cylindrical pillars, making the structure look like a DNA molecule sliced neatly in two. The pillars are illuminated in the colours of the rainbow, their reflections glittering brightly in the murky water below.

  “Last one there buys supper!” Rick yells, sprinting up ahead of everyone else.

  We exchange looks, then laugh and follow. There it is again. That weird feeling I can’t shake. It’s comforting but at the same time, sad. It’s so beautiful, so peaceful that it kind of hurts. It hurts that I know it has to end someday.

  “Ren?”

  I blink and shake myself from my thoughts. Without thinking, I’ve slowed down to a trot while April, Sean and Rick are way ahead.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you okay?” Raine’s face is disturbingly close to mine.

  “Uh…yeah. Just uh…thinking.”

  “About?”

  “How it’s kinda peaceful like this.”

  “Oh. You’re right. I don’t want this to end too.” Her eyes take on a faraway look. “It’s hard to imagine that in two months’ time, we’ll be in a world miles away from this one, won’t we?”

  “Cruel, isn’t it? For us to experience something like this… Honestly, I’m reluctant. I’m so reluctant to go.”

  “Me too,” she muses, her voice barely above a whisper. “Everything I’ve known since birth somehow feels like a lie right now. I want to let myself into the moment, but…I’m afraid.”

  “Afraid?”

  “I don’t feel like I have the right to be here. I’m afraid that if I let myself enjoy it, it’ll all be taken away.”

  I finally know why I could never leave her alone. Because underneath that strong, abrasive front, this is her true nature. This is Raine. Scared, insecure and strangely considerate.

  “No,” I say, perhaps a little too forcefully. “You do belong here. With me. With us.”

  A small, surprised smile touches her lips.

  “I guess I’ll content myself with this, then.”

  “Mmhmm.”

  “By the way,” she adds, pulling on my shoulder. />
  “Yes?” I stop walking.

  “You’re buying supper,” she says, quickly stepping in front of me and over the line demarcating the start of the bridge. “Last to the bridge, remember?”

  “Did you just…?”

  “Only kidding. We’ll split.”

  “You’re about as funny as Idphor with a toothache.”

  She sticks her tongue out at me as we catch up with the rest.

  After walking around for a bit and stopping for a quick supper, we head to our final destination. The walls. We get as close as we can without being yelled at by the soldiers on patrol. From where we are, we can see only the first of the 18 walls. It stretches as far as the eye can see, with gateways built at intervals for vehicles to enter and leave. There are guard posts at certain parts of the wall, the only light source coming from a single, naked bulb in the post. Guards climb up and down using steel rungs bolted into the wall itself. In the darkness, it looks almost monolithic, a humungous barrier keeping us safe from the unknown beyond.

  “Gives you that comfy feeling of safety, doesn’t it?” April remarks.

  “Especially knowing that there are seventeen more of the same thing beyond this one,” Rick grins. “Can’t say the same for those soldiers, though. Climbing up and down that thing isn’t really my idea of ‘safe’.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but we didn’t have to do this, did we?” Raine asks. “Where’d these guys come from?”

  “They’re Neutrals,” April reveals.

  Everyone stares at her. She returns our gazes with a questioning one of her own, as though she doesn’t understand our surprise.

  “Idphor gave me the option,” she explains. “All Neutrals are given the option to stay as guards instead of being deployed to the frontlines. After all, we tend not to last very long out there.”

  “And…and you chose to be deployed?” Rick splutters incredulously.

  “I made up my mind when I joined,” she says calmly. “That I’d fight to make this world a better place. If I can’t make a change on the inside, then I’ll do it on the outside. I’ll help create a world where we’ll all be able to lead peaceful lives.”

  “But…”

  “I’ve thought it through. This is what I want.”

  Her eyes tell me she has thought it through. It’s not our place to tell her otherwise. Rick knows this too and he backs down, chewing worriedly on his lower lip.

  “To be honest,” April says, “I wanted to come here to see for myself what I might’ve been doing if I had accepted Idphor’s suggestion.” She stifles a yawn. “I’m glad I didn’t. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be fine, especially with you guys around.”

  And on that hopeful note, our night draws to an end. A mixture of alien feelings weighs on my chest as we head back to camp. It hurts, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Maybe I’m more of a normal human being than I had thought. Just maybe. I only know one thing. Staying with them will probably bring me closer. Closer to the acceptance I need. Two more months. The clock is ticking.

  9

  The incessant hum of the crowd is driving me nuts. Far off in the distance, the roar of engines can be heard, the rising cloud of dust in the horizon heralding the arrival of a group of vehicular monstrosities. The seven-tonners. Our ride to the 18 walls. Unfortunately, before that, we’re to receive a pep talk from some important person in the military. One of the Captain’s deputies, probably.

  “Soldiers!”

  “Yes, sir!” we answer in unison.

  “Do you know why you’re here?”

  Mixed replies.

  “That’s right!” he yells after a short pause. “To protect the freedom of our people! To defend this nation from the Savages! To protect your loved ones!”

  We cheer in response. He waits for the cheering to subside before launching into one last rallying cry.

  “Soldiers!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Will you defend our land?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “WILL YOU DIE FOR THIS COUNTRY?”

  “YES, SIR!”

  “ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?”

  “YES, SIR!”

  “THEN GO FORTH AND MAY VICTORY BE YOURS TO CLAIM!”

  Thunderous applause rings out. I cast a worried glance at April, only to find her pumping her fist in the air with the rest of the crowd. She’s still a Neutral. No matter how much effort she puts into trying to bring out her Extension, nothing happens. As for the rest of us, I think it’s safe to say we’re proficient. Proficient enough to kill.

  We’re loaded onto the tonners. With a belch of acrid smoke, the vehicles take off down the dirt road, jostling their way towards the 18 walls. As we get nearer, it becomes clear why we’ve managed to keep the Savages out thus far. Each wall is massive, even larger close up than what we saw two months ago. Eighteen slabs of seven-metre-thick concrete, sixty metres in height. There are gateways carved into the concrete and reinforced with steel. Between each wall is a gap of about ten kilometres. The first wall, the oldest of the lot, is in a pretty bad state, now that we’re looking at it in broad daylight. The concrete is crumbling at certain areas, its once-smooth surface marred by a spider web of cracks. Various creepers and lianas wind their way up the wall, prying open the cracks bit by bit. Each wall we pass is in progressively better condition than the previous one, until we finally leave the last wall behind. It’s a dreadful feeling, abandoning civilisation and heading off to war. I feel like I’ve just swallowed a rock.

  “Holy shit! Get a load of this!” Rick yells gleefully. “The scenery’s beautiful!”

  “We didn’t come here to sightsee,” Raine snaps.

  She looks sick. The rest aren’t as reserved. Pretty soon, hundreds of soldiers are craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the scenery whizzing by. The lush greenery soon morphs into a plain, dull brownish landscape. We’ve arrived. It’s a makeshift camp of sorts, with hundreds of tents set up to accommodate the squads.

  A burly man steps up to us.

  “I’m Ulas. I’m in charge here. Whatever your orders are, you’ll take them from me via that radio on your arm.”

  He taps a round device attached to my left forearm. He doesn’t shout, but there’s something about his voice which makes us listen unconditionally.

  “Right, Squad Seventy-Two, prepare to move out. I’ve got Squad Five-Two-Six pinned down for three days now. Get to them and back them up before I lose the entire squad.”

  We just got here. And now we’re off. The location is 12 kilometres northeast of the campsite. Weapons and all, we’re loaded into a smaller vehicle and it speeds off, screeching to a halt in front of a smaller campsite. It’s nothing more than a tent and a watchtower. The driver helps us unload our supplies before disappearing towards the main camp. I guess he doesn’t want to stick around either.

  “Hey.”

  A hand pops out of the tent and waves weakly. It’s attached to a bloody arm. A man lies on a stretcher, his body swathed in bandages. He smiles bleakly as we approach.

  “I’m the leader of Squad Five-Two-Six. The one on lookout is Fabian.”

  “And?” April asks gently.

  “That’s it. We’re the only ones left. There are six Savages around. This is just the edge of the battlefield. Somehow, those Savages made it past the frontlines and we were sent to finish them off. Well, you can see how well that turned out.”

  I raise the communication device to my mouth and inform Ulas of the situation.

  “Finish the task and…”

  We don’t hear the rest. There’s a scream, followed by a deafening retort of gunfire. We run. Barely twenty metres from the watchtower, the ground at my feet is torn apart by a hail of bullets. We scatter. A dark shape comes hurtling out from the bushes to my right. Acting on instinct, I grab my rifle and fire. Ears ringing. Head spinning. I bring out my Extension and strike. The figure raises its arms, which are covered in orange fur. The tip of my tail glances off its surface. I
fire again, forcing the figure to dive, right into the grasp of one of my bulbous pincers. I crush. I hear a strangled cry, then nothing. The rest of Squad 72 is frozen in horror. Whatever excitement they had is now gone. It’s strange how the true horror of such a confrontation never hits you until you’re right in the thick of it.

  There’s no time to think any further. There are four more figures scaling the watchtower while two of them are locked in combat inside. I take aim with my rifle and let fly a deadly hail of lead. The four figures shimmy out of the way, blocking whatever they can’t dodge with their Stracheas. Two of them break away and leap towards us, closing the distance at an impossibly fast pace. I can’t fully register their movements. But somehow, Raine can see them. She lashes out with all eight of her clubs, sending them rolling onto the ground. One of them jumps at Sean, who yelps and ducks out of the way.

  The other sets its sights on me. A golden coat of spotted fur runs down its body, its mouth reshaped into a set of vicious jaws. Cheetah. Anybody can see that. It slams into me, throwing me to the ground, those twenty-centimetre canines too close to my jugular for comfort. With no time to react, I bring up my butterfly knife and jam it between the Savage’s jaws. Sensing a sudden movement to my left, I shield myself with a pair of pincers. Milliseconds later, I feel a couple of dull thuds on my Extension. So that’s what shots to our Extensions feel like. Then, there’s another burst of gunfire from my right and the shots aimed at me cease. Looks like Rick has recovered his wits to cover us with that machine gun of his. I grab each of the Savage’s limbs with a pincer, stabbing it in the torso with my stinger. It struggles violently, chewing through a pincer in the process. As the pain ricochets down my lower back, the Savage begins writhing on the ground in agony. It’s frothing at the mouth. Very soon, it’s dead.

  “Sean!” I yell, looking around wildly.

  I needn’t have worried. Raine is pummelling the other Savage, forcing it away from Sean. Rick and April have taken cover behind a tree and are shooting sporadically at the watchtower, keeping the two Savages on the tower at bay. I take aim at the Savage in front of Raine and wait. Crack. Crack. Snap. The Savage lets out a howl of pain. Its arms, which it was using as a shield, have snapped in at least two places under Raine’s relentless assault. In a crazed frenzy, it turns away from Raine. I fire. The intoxicating smell of gunpowder. The thump of the rifle’s recoil against my shoulder. The Savage’s head rocks back, sending its body into a string of spasms. I would have liked it to be a clean shot through its forehead, but with the speed at which the Savage moved, the bullet goes through its eye instead, splattering the ground with a milky fluid.