18 Walls

by Teo Xue Shen

  I think. And I get my answer, albeit reluctantly. Ivy, who’s watching me closely, nods in satisfaction.

  “Good. By the way, how’re you feeling?”

  “Like shit,” I echo my earlier statement. “But I’ll get better.”

  “Any idea when you’ll be discharged?”

  “Probably about a month later,” I shrug. “Although I won’t be at my fullest any time soon. The leg is a burden.”

  “So, how do you plan to, you know,” she twirls her fingers in her hair, “assassinate the guy.”

  “I’ll go back to the military. Pretend that I escaped capture and have important information. They’ll have to grant me an audience. And that’s when I kill him.”

  “Classic,” she comments wryly. “He’ll be guarded. Probably by Hekatonkheires. How will you get past them?”

  “I have one month to figure that out.”

  “All right then, I’ll leave you to rest.”

  I watch as she vanishes out the door. Two days pass. Hyung, Sean and Ivy visit several times a day. They bring me updates on April and the rest of the world. The entire Reformation Movement’s military base has been placed under complete lockdown following our encounter with the Hekatonkheires. We’ve just proven how deadly they are. The rest of the country’s military bases will probably follow suit. They’ll feel it soon, the initial chaos when they fight the Hekatonkheires, followed by the eventual realisation that they can’t win. Apart from eat, sleep and recover, I do precious little else. It’s boring, but I’m not complaining. My mind is too cluttered to think about doing anything else.

  “WATCH OUT! HEY!”

  I’m rudely awakened from my slumber on the morning of the third day. Something’s hurtling towards me. I can sense the vibrations in the air as it travels. A split second later, the window of my hospital ward shatters. A round object comes flying in its wake. Instinctively, my Extension shoots forth, gingerly catching it with a pincer. What the heck just happened? Are we under attack? Heart pounding, I bring the object closer. A baseball. I sit in silence for about a minute or so, just holding the baseball with my Extension in confusion.

  Then, the door swings open and a kid comes running in. I vaguely recognise him. He served us food at the cafeteria when we first arrived. He looks from me to my Extension to the shattered window and a horrified expression creeps over his face. He gestures frantically to himself, then rubs his open hand in a circular motion over his heart. He’s apologising. That much is obvious. I want to tell him that it’s all right, but I don’t know how. I’m saved from my dilemma when another boy barges into the room. He’s about thirteen or fourteen.

  “Jonathan! Where’d you…oh.”

  His eyes widen as he gives my Extension an overall appraisal.

  “COOL! HEY! IT’S AN EXTENSION!”

  “Uh…yeah…it’s an Extension,” I say awkwardly, unsure of what to make of him.

  “Mister…” he begins.

  “Ren. Just call me Ren.”

  “Hi!” he replies brightly, sticking out his hand. “I’m Raj and that’s Jonathan.”

  I shake his hand.

  “If you don’t mind, could you help me tell your friend not to worry about the window? He looks like he’s about to have a panic attack.”

  Raj turns to Jonathan and signs rapidly. A look of relief crosses the latter’s features.

  “I’m sorry about your window,” Raj says, facing me once more. “We were playing baseball outside cause we can’t go further due to the lockdown and I kinda hit the ball a little too hard. I didn’t expect it to come flying in here.”

  “It’s fine,” I say. “Where’d you come from anyway? What’re you guys even doing inside a military base?”

  “We live here.” He shoots me a strange look, as though it’s a completely normal thing to do. “Our parents were supporters of the Reformation Movement.”

  Were? Now that the window’s broken, a gentle breeze blows back the curtains, revealing the outside world. I crane my neck so that I get a glimpse of what’s beyond the window for the first time. Directly opposite the hospital is an orphanage.

  “I’m Ren,” I gulp. “I’m a soldier from the Reformation Movement, I guess.”

  There’s a lump in my throat I can’t swallow. The Reformation Movement. Would any of these have happened if I hadn’t joined up with them? Would my friends have been reduced to such a state? While I’m brooding, Jonathan taps Raj on the shoulder and signs.

  “Hang on.” Raj grabs me by the hand. “He says he knows you. You’re one of those around Resh, aren’t you? The new soldiers.”

  If he knows that much, then he must also know that I came from the side which probably took his parents away from him. And he must also know about our recent failure.

  “Yeah,” I admit. “I’m one of them. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re lucky to be working with Resh, you know,” he sighs, ignoring my apology.

  I’m grateful for it.

  “Resh?”

  “Yep. He’s a hero. He visits our orphanage and tells us stories about his adventures. He’s strong, but still, he’s kind. Everyone in the orphanage treats him like an older brother, you know? We all dream of fighting with him like you do now.”

  That doesn’t sound like the Resh I know. Strong and fearsome, maybe. Kind? That word doesn’t exactly sit well with his usual stiff countenance. I’m not usually one to pry, but Raj’s words have aroused my curiosity. Besides, I don’t want to dwell on my current situation any longer than necessary.

  “Tell me more,” I prompt. “His stories?”

  “He once fought fierce battles outside our camps, protecting us from the soldiers of Pangaea. His skill was amazing and he brought back victory after victory. Then one day, he met his match on the battlefield. A man with a segmented Extension, topped off with vicious jaws on one end. That’s how Resh described him. In the end, one of Resh’s men got in the way and Resh lost the fight protecting him. Before his adversary could kill him, a woman, a member of the same squad as his rival, interrupted.”

  “Hang on, this man and woman, they were soldiers from Pangaea?”

  “Yes. She convinced the man not to kill him. Instead, they took care of his injuries. Resh always said there was never another moment his enemies felt closer to him than this.”

  “Wow.”

  “Things got even more complicated after that,” Raj elaborates. “He found out that the two soldiers were labelled deserters, hunted by Pangaea for disobeying orders. They’d lost the rest of their squad assaulting a crazy objective and their failure meant that they would be punished when they went back.”

  My jaw clenches. Something similar has happened before, where I almost lost my entire squad while trying to obey Ulas’ orders.

  “So what happened next?” I ask.

  “Tragedy. The woman was severely injured a couple of days later trying to save another soldier on the battlefield. Since they couldn’t return to Pangaea, the man begged Resh to bring the woman back. To Singapore. Resh agreed. But the man refused to go. He had family back in Pangaea. So Resh took the woman with him and left the man with one of his daggers kinda as a ‘spoil of war’ in hope that he’d be pardoned by Pangaea if they thought he’d successfully gotten rid of Resh.”

  My mind flashes to the empty sheath hanging by Resh’s side. So that’s what happened.

  “To be honest, I don’t know what happened after that,” Raj shrugs. “Resh doesn’t want to tell us.”

  A voice from outside the window calls for the two boys. They can’t hear it, but my enhanced senses can. Soon, more voices join in.

  “All right,” I smile faintly. “I think you’d better get going. Your other friends will be looking for you guys, right?”

  Raj blinks. “Oh, right. I guess we’d better get going.”

  “Here.” I pass him the baseball, which he gingerly picks up from my Extension. “Have fun.”

  There’s a tap on my shoulder. The other boy touches his open
hand to his lips, then brings it outwards towards me.

  “He says thank you,” Raj explains.

  They head for the door. Just before they exit, Jonathan signs something.

  “Don’t worry, things will be fine,” Raj translates over his shoulder. “And we’re sorry about the window.”

  They leave. Things will be fine, huh? What the hell am I doing, getting consoled by two 14-year-olds. My Extension slides stealthily back into my body. Ivy was right that day. I can’t go about doing this alone. I fall asleep thinking about how to explain the broken window to the nurse on duty.

  Day four. There’s still absolutely no sign of Raine. She’s probably still pissed off about the argument we had a couple days back. The more I think about it, the worse I feel. I acted like a pompous fool. I never thought much about it, but no matter what we went through, she’s always been there. It’s lonely. Without her, Rick and April. There’s that horrible feeling of emptiness eating at my soul once again. The doctors tell me I’m doing fine. But I feel no better, wasting away on this hospital bed. I can’t stand it any longer. On the night of the fourth day, I prop myself up on a pair of crutches, wait for my dutiful nurse to leave the room before hobbling towards the door. I don’t make it out because the door swings violently inwards, hitting me squarely in the face. I fall.

  “Knocking first would be…” I stop short.

  It’s Raine. My spirits lift immediately.

  “Hey,” she says, helping me back onto the bed.

  “Hey.”

  There’s a prolonged, torturous pause as we stare at each other awkwardly. My mind goes awhirl. I don’t want to mess this up like I did the previous time. I take a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry,” she mutters. “Shouldn’t have said what I said.”

  I blink. Relief floods through me.

  “You’re not angry?”

  “Huh?”

  “I should be the one apologising,” I explain. “It was stupid of me. I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t have the right to tell you what you should or should not do.”

  “Oh.”

  She seems at a loss for what to say. After another long, awkward pause, she finally continues.

  “Well, I’m sorry for bringing up Street 51. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

  “I remind you of him, don’t I? Aracel.”

  She winces. I know I’m right. I’m a thorn in her side, an unwelcome reminder of the incident which took her brother’s life.

  “Seems like I’ll only cause you hurt if I hang around you. So maybe we should keep our distance…I mean…if that would be better…” I mumble.

  What the hell am I saying? I don’t want that. Smack! The sound echoes through the room. My head rocks back, a reddish welt left on my cheek where Raine backhanded me.

  “That’s not something you get to decide,” she says quietly.

  Great. Now I’ve made her mad. So much for not messing this up.

  “I don’t want to lose anyone any more, okay?” she continues in a whisper. “The thought of that scares me more than anything else. So don’t you dare bail on me. Don’t run away. That’s the last thing I want.”

  “But if you’re simply getting hurt…”

  “Yes, I do think about him often. Yes, you were involved in the incident. But I’m no idiot. An accident is an accident. Staying away from you won’t help me accept his passing. So, forget it all right? Put that whole farce behind us and move on.”

  There are tears in her eyes. They compel me to agree. I nod dumbly.

  “Thank you.”

  She brushes the swollen lump on my cheek with the back of her hand. It tingles and my heart jumps a little. Somehow, it’s hard to meet her eyes. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to notice the flushed look on my face, a bright redness that isn’t from the slap she gave me.

  “Here,” she offers, sliding a file into my hands. “Read.”

  My finger fumbles on the unfamiliar feel of paper. It’s been ages since I’ve read something and the words look strangely foreign.

  “Is diction short for dictionary?” I ask, stumbling on words I haven’t seen since forever.

  “Are you an idiot? It means choice of words. That’s an analysis on the Captain’s speech pattern,” Raine coughs impatiently. “Flip over for the important part.”

  The Captain is scheduled to give a speech about the success of the Hekatonkheires two months from now, when their effectiveness has been fully witnessed.

  I stare uncomprehendingly for a moment before it hits me. The chance I’d been waiting for. My heart pounding in my chest, I read on. The speech is to be presented before the soldiers of the entire military, one base at a time. And if a large crowd is expected, he can’t carelessly use the Hekatonkheires. This could be our only chance.

  “How did you get this?”

  There are bags under her eyes, testament to the sleepless nights she’s been through.

  “Friend’s friend’s friend.”

  “What?”

  “A nurse at the hospital. She has a friend who’s in charge of processing information obtained by our informants in Pangaea.”

  “Okay.”

  I’m a little sceptical. Putting our lives at the mercy of an unknown informant sounds rather unappealing. But Raine strongly believes that it could work out. And if she does, then I will too.

  “I’ll tell Ben to let us out after we work out the finer details,” I say, rubbing my eyes till a kaleidoscope of colours blooms behind my eyelids. “We’ll also need to think about what we’re gonna do if we fail. A Plan B.”

  “Plan B says we get the hell out and never go back.”

  “You’re not wrong.”

  “That is, if we can. Seeing how deadly the Heires are…”

  “Wait, Heires?”

  “That’s what they’re calling the Hekatonkheires now,” she informs me. “Since Ben doesn’t exactly want to call them Bob.”

  We lapse into silence, each brooding about what the future could hold. If we fail, we’ll be tortured and killed. But if, by any chance, we do succeed, well… I don’t know. Anything could happen. The thought of that scares me more than death itself.

  “When are you gonna tell the others?” Raine finally breaks the silence. “They deserve to know.”

  Again, she’s right. She’s not the only one I wanted to leave behind.

  “I’ll tell them later,” I sigh. “April included.”

  “Mmhmm.”

  Silence falls, except it’s different from the past instances. This silence is comfortable. Serene. And within the secure confines of this silence, Raine’s head begins to droop until it touches my shoulder. Her long, silky hair, the warmth from her cheek and the peaceful expression on her face make me wonder why I had ever thought of leaving her behind.

  18

  “I’m sorry. I can’t go,” Sean says, a conflicted look on his face. “I’ll just slow you down if I go.”

  “What a shame,” Raine remarks sarcastically.

  I shoot her a warning look and she rolls her eyes in reply. Relief is etched all over his face.

  “Same here. I’m sorry.” Hyung shakes his head.

  Neither of them meets my eyes.

  “Don’t apologise,” I smile faintly. “Your families take priority. I can understand that much, even if I haven’t got my own.”

  It makes sense. For Raine, Ivy and me, the worst repercussion of failure is death, whereas for Sean and Hyung, their families might be implicated if their identities are found out. That means we’re down to three, excluding April. I glance over at Ivy, who, to my surprise, has agreed to go along. She catches my eye, winks mischievously and turns away, whistling all the while. She’s an enigma, that one. Even so, I’m sort of glad she’s coming. She’s a female version of Rick, with a bit of insanity mixed in for good measure.

  “Whatever the case, when we’re done, the both of you can return to your families,” Ivy points out. “Just act like we got separated during a firefight. You�
�ll get to skip the chaos that we plan to cause and still reunite with your families. A pretty good deal, no?”

  Sean and Hyung nod mutely. Hope blossoms in their eyes.

  “All the best,” Sean mutters. “I mean it. And Ren?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You already have the answer you’re seeking so desperately.”

  “What?”

  “You’ll understand soon,” he sighs. “Let’s meet again.”

  Just before Sean leaves, something passes over his face. Regret? Shame? I don’t know. He looks as though he’s burning the scene before his eyes deep into the recesses of his brain, as though he will never see all of us together again. And the truth is, I think so too. It’s more than likely that one or more of us, possibly all, will perish.

  “Now, all that’s left is April.” I heave myself off the bed, grunting with effort.

  Ivy doesn’t bother waiting. She grabs my arm, slings me over her shoulders like a bag of rice and stalks out of the ward. Despite my protests, she only sets me down outside April’s room.

  “Ready?”

  I gulp and nod. We enter. She hasn’t moved an inch from her corner. The lights have been dimmed, obscuring half her face in deathly shadows. I’d be lying if I said she looked fine.

  “Hey,” I begin, tapping her gently on the shoulder.

  Silence. She doesn’t even react to my touch. Taking a deep breath, I proceed to tell her about our plans.

  “And so, two months from now, we’re gonna kill him,” I finish.

  It’s fleeting, but something flickers across her eyes. Still, she remains silent. I get to my feet and we leave.

  “We’ll be waiting,” I call out softly as the door swings shut behind us.

  As soon as Ivy carries me back to my bed, she disappears, probably to search for Elize, the pretty nurse and also the one who gave Raine the information on the Captain.

  “Can you really recover in one month?” Raine asks worriedly.

  I know I still look like hell. In fact, I’d probably lose to an 82-week-old jack-o’-lantern in a beauty contest.