They zipped through the line quickly and without incident. After receiving their masks and other equipment, Jacob picked his ATV. Moving quickly and quietly, they hopped aboard and made it into the exit tunnel without so much as a raised eyebrow from Jacob’s people. Breaking through the end of the tunnel into the open air, Hazel felt a release of the tension that haunted her on the Inside. Her shoulders relaxed, as did the muscles in her neck and back. She breathed easier as she dug her heels into the wheel well, leaned back, and threw her arms open into a ‘V’ above her head, and screamed, “Wooooooo!!!” She was finally free once again.
“I know, right,” Jacob said as he craned his neck around. “Imagine my surprise when I first exited. We were taught that no one gets to leave.”
“I couldn’t imagine living in there my whole life,” cried Hazel. “I need the open air, even if it is toxic.”
“Yeah, but you are stuck in there now. There is no escape, except trips like these, and most Insiders will never take one,” Jacob explained.
“I know,” Hazel answered in a dejected tone as she leaned her head against Jacob. “Can you teach me how to drive this thing while we are out here?”
“No sweat, it’s pretty easy,” Jacob replied as he sped them forward. “To steer, all you need to do is turn the handlebars the way you want to go, like this,” he explained as he made a sharp turn left, almost throwing her from the back. “This is the throttle, on the right handlebar; turn it forward to increase speed.” Then he demonstrated the use of the breaking system, before stopping and asking, “You wanna take a turn in the front?”
“Sure, why not? It seems like fun.”
“Indeed it is,” Jacob confirmed. “It’s an incredible feeling—the wind rushing past you, nothing in front of you as you speed through the wasteland.”
Hazel had no feel for the throttle, giving it too much, too fast, much the same way Jacob did when Sylvia taught him to drive. “Not so much, more like this,” Jacob explained as he placed his hand over hers and gently turned the throttle, feathering it to avoid the jerky start and stop motion.
The touch was subtle and gentle. Hazel felt funny, like when she first saw him, but magnified. Her face flushed, and other parts of her body tingled, a sensation she had never felt before. She was unsure how to handle these feelings or what to do about the man that made her feel them. Hazel liked the way Jacob made her feel, and felt an undeniable connection with him when he touched her, even with all the layers separating them.
“OK, I got it,” Hazel said as she brushed his hand away and opened the throttle. The open air raced past her, the wind reinvigorating her free spirit, a spirit that those on the Inside did their best to erase and replace with a personality of their own choosing. Hazel had broken their mold, and found her inner self buried deep in her altered psyche.
The pair switched places again and Jacob turned them around, but he was not piloting them toward the ‘Haus. Instead, they cruised through the wasteland, Jacob serving as her guide. He gave the throttle a good turn and they soon reached top speed, racing toward a small hill. “Hold on tight,” he yelled as the ATV shot off the top of the hill.
They soared through the air. Her stomach jumped up into her throat as they raced back toward the earth. They made a big splat noise as they landed in the thick mud below, which sprayed up on both of them. After she wiped the mud from her mask, something appeared in her vision, far off on the horizon.
“What is that?” she asked. “Over there.” She pointed out into the distant horizon.
“That…is called a forest. It’s a bunch of trees.”
“Trees?”
“It’s something you will just have to see for yourself. It would be too hard for me to explain. You’d have no frame of reference for anything I’d tell you,” Jacob said as they slowly rolled through the thick mud.
The land rose, becoming less muddy. The drier the land became, the faster Jacob drove, as mud from the tires sprayed in every direction. As they pulled closer to the forest, the ATV began to sputter before stalling completely.
This is fantastic! We will both be stuck here now.
“Don’t worry. We won’t be stuck for long. Our battery packs just ran out of juice.”
So much for that thought.
“Hazel, unstrap the bag behind us and pull out two of the shiny metal battery packs,” Jacob instructed as he removed his mask. “I will have us moving in no time.”
That news wasn’t exactly great for Hazel. She liked the idea of being stuck out here with Jacob. She hopped off of the stalled vehicle and did as he asked. She unzipped the bag and removed one of the batteries, handed it to Jacob, and watched carefully as he replaced the old one.
He flipped a tab, opened the shiny metal case, and removed a black cartridge that he slid into the ATV. Then he placed the old battery back into the metal case. Jacob walked to the other side of the machine, bent down to remove the old battery and said, “I’m ready for the other one.”
Hazel stood behind him, holding the new battery and its case, testing its weight, while Jacob repeated his last request. She ignored him and with both hands tightly gripping the case, brought it down with great force upon the back of his head, knocking him out cold.
He laid face down, blood trickling from his wound. Hazel replaced the second battery pack and hit the ignition, and fired up the engine. She thought twice about what she was about to do. Even though part of her knew leaving him in the wasteland was wrong, she did it anyway, running away from his multicolored eyes and the wonderful feelings they filled her with. And just as when she ran away the first time they met through the glass, she never looked back.
Chapter 43 (Jacob Niles)
Jacob had thought things couldn’t get any worse. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He sat up, his bag only a few feet from him in the dirt.
His trouble was only beginning. The knot on the back of his head and the mouthful of dirt was the start. The missing ATV could be covered up easily, with no consequences outside restricted travel penalties in the Whisperers’ network.
A missing Medic was a whole other story. Especially a Medic that was the ‘sister’ of his ‘girlfriend’, a girlfriend who happened to be a high-ranking training agent of a secret organization. He sat up, rubbed the painful spot on the back of his head and felt blood. The tracks from the ATV headed straight to the forest. He wanted to follow them, but he knew he had to get back to Newer Orleans. Along the way, Jacob hoped a story came into his head that would explain all of this.
How he lost an ATV. How he lost a citizen of the ‘Haus in the wasteland, a citizen that should have never left the ‘Haus in the first place. His head was groggy and the full extent of his trouble hadn’t set in yet. The fight. It was a long walk back to Newer Orleans, and just getting there would be problematic enough.
Though it was his head that was hurt, other parts of his body started to ache as he trudged through the wasteland. First his lower back, then his ankles, knees, and hips. The ground was not like the shock absorbent material of the walking paths and treads in the ‘Haus. It was hard and uneven, and every step became agony. Every breath tickled his lungs as the slight toxicity of the atmosphere entered him. His mask had gone with the ATV.
Overactive ears picked up faint noises, and every time, he hoped it was Hazel having a change of heart. She knew the repercussions Jacob would face if convicted of taking up arms in a dispute, a highly probable scenario given what took place in Decon just before their exit. His only witness was missing, leaving two Medics to tell the tale. He was likely headed to the lowest rung on the ladder in the society of the ‘Haus, a Wiper. His mission, his membership in the Whisperers, everything, was now gone.
Sad as it was, his best possible outcome was being given a sentence to clean glass. Compared to the other options, that seemed like child’s play. He would need medical attention, but was afraid of what would happen if he slipped into unconsciousness. One reset had already been attempted, so another attemp
t was sure to occur. A cleansing would surely require a blood transfusion, so a blackout seemed not only probable, but inevitable. What happens to me then is anybody’s guess.
As the sun left the sky to hide behind the horizon, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up, blowing directly in Jacob’s face. The agony of his injuries increased as the degrees dropped. The biting wind found its way past his outer clothes and into his Nu-Skin, chilling him to the bone. As the space around him slowly faded to black, a beacon of hope in the form of a faint blue glow lit up the horizon. Jacob followed the source of light, sure that it would bring him home.
Step after agonizing step, he trudged through the wasteland, kicking up dust and dirt as he went. The wind howled, but he had become deaf to the sound of Mother Earth’s chilling breath. Newer Orleans was not yet in sight, but her glow continued to lead him home. The monotonous sound of the whipping wind was interrupted when a familiar rumble danced in his ears.
Jacob’s spirit brightened, sure that Hazel had finally returned. He turned and peered into the darkness, expecting to see a light heading in his direction. The noise continued to get louder, but he still saw nothing.
I must be hearing things.
He ignored the sound and spun back in the direction of the ‘Haus to continue his journey. It wasn’t long before Jacob noticed a single dim bulb flickering in the distance. He wanted to hide, but had nowhere to take cover. He stood still, hoping for the best. Hoping that Hazel had doubled back and was back-tracking the route Jacob had showed her, starting at the tunnel. But he knew better, deep down, to think that scenario was anything more than a fantasy. More than likely it was another Whisperer sending out a search party. Either way, he could do nothing to hide, so he stood still, frozen while he waited for the flickering light to close the gap between them.
The ATV skipped over the dusty wasteland before coming to a skidding stop just shy of Jacob’s position. The rider hopped off and spoke in an all too familiar voice. “I knew it. I told them this is what happened,” Sylvia yelled. “What have you done Jacob? Where is my sister?”
Jacob didn’t know what to say, so he pretended to be more hurt than he really was, dropping to his knees and exclaiming, “Thank you Mother Earth! You are so great and wise. I knew you’d send help.”
“Get up,” Sylvia ordered. “Cut the crap.” Then she grabbed his outer clothes and pulled him to his feet. “Jacob, this is bad. Worse than I even thought,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “What happened to my sister and the ATV?”
Jacob grabbed her hand and pulled it to the knot on the back of his head, forcing her to rub it. “We were attacked, and we had no weapons with which to defend ourselves.” That was the best he could come up with on the spot.
“So she’s gone?”
“Yeah, they took her and the ATV,” Jacob explained. “All I remember is waking up in the wasteland, and she was gone. I don’t remember being hit at all. I thought for sure they were coming to get me when I heard you.”
“I can’t make this go away. I sacrificed one of the Techs in Decon, to cover your screw up there, but you will have to answer questions about this. It could expose our use of the exit tunnels and put our entire operation in jeopardy. Even if you dodge catching a lengthy sentence as a Wiper, there will still be repercussions within our organization.”
“I know. I dreaded returning even before we were attacked and she went missing,” Jacob said. “I never meant for any of this…”
Sylvia cut him off mid-sentence. “It’s just a pattern with you. You never mean for things to happen, trouble just seems to follow you.” Sylvia suddenly stopped her scolding. “What’s done is done and can’t be changed, but we have to get our stories straight. As far as your little fight, we just picked the Medic with the hole in his neck. Said he lost it and had to be subdued. The shot killed him. Your near strangulation of the other Medic was proof enough of a struggle.”
“And he agreed to go along with it?” Jacob asked.
“Not at first, but you could say he ‘saw the light.’ You are the only other witness now that my sister is gone. As long as she doesn’t come back and tell, this will pass,” Sylvia said.
“She wouldn’t tell anyway,” Jacob offered.
“You don’t know her as well as you think you do, Jacob.”
You’re right, but I know her much better than YOU think I do.
“She won’t tell, I know it, because she isn’t coming back,” Jacob said.
“Whatever,” was Sylvia’s short response. “As far as her being gone, we’ll explain it as a system glitch, to buy time to find her. It’s something that has worked before or at least… I mean I heard it has worked in the past,” Sylvia said.
“So this has happened before?” Jacob could tell by the way she said it that it indeed had not only happened before, but had happened to her. People had gone missing, and Jacob wondered if they had ever been found. Or if they were just replaced or even worse, their entire existence erased. What would have become of my existence if I had been reset?
“Yes, Jacob, the Outside is a dangerous place. We have had attacks on convoys before.” She spoke with subtle sarcasm to let him know she didn’t completely buy his story. “Hop on, we need to get you home and cleaned up so you can get some rest. We will be coming back out every day to look for her. She couldn’t get too far with limited battery packs. In the meantime, let’s just hope that this alibi will work. For your own good, when we get back to the ‘Haus, stick to the story.”
Oh I will, because the truth is so much more trouble for me. I’m more confused than ever. I would have bet my life that Sylvia was the mole involved in the decision to reset me, using her sister as a puppet to do her bidding. Now she is bending over backward to make sure I wade through this trouble. It’s like she is two completely different people.
Chapter 44 (Ren Fire)
Every landmark she passed reminded her of something she learned while living on the Island of Hope. At Wehrli’s, she learned to make rope and how to tie all the knots she would ever need to know. Across from him lived a baker named Butch and a butcher named Bake. It was confusing at first, but like most other things, she caught on eventually.
Despite all she had learned in such a short time, she still had questions to ask, and lots of them. None burned at her as much as the one she wanted to ask Niles. The topic was broached months ago on the levee, but as soon as it was brought up, he had killed the conversation. Ren was then afraid to mention it in future conversations.
She had gotten to know him well during their hunts and fireside chats. Seeing him interact with so many people and perform so many tasks had reassured her of his stability. She now felt comfortable enough with him to inquire about the lack of levees on the other side of the river. That night they would sit around the fire, and she would raise her question then.
Ren did everything she could to pass the time. Hunted. Weeded the crops and chased off the critters. Bathed. Visited Butch for some fresh bread and the garden commissary for some veggies. Tidied her quarters, once, twice, and then a third time before a knock on the door interrupted her pacing and nail biting.
“Who’s there?” Ren asked.
The door opened without a response and Niles stepped in through the arched doorway. “Sorry for dropping in unexpected. I just wanted to see if you want to go on a wood run before the brewing storm moves in.”
“Sure, I’ll get ready and be out in five.” Now I won’t have to wait until the fire. After putting on suitable work clothes, and rubbing her skin with leaves that repel parasitic pests, Ren left her small wooden cottage. A tiny gathering waited, led by Niles and Jordan. They passed row upon row of similar thatch-roofed cottages before they entered the marshy area that separated the Island of Hope from the mainland. Large pools remained in the low points, though the water level had receded.
The mud sucked at her shoes with every step, separating one from her foot on several occasions. When they reached the high ground
of the Oasis, the group split up. Ren made sure she was in the group with Harvard, so she could ask him the question she had been dying to ask for so long. As the wood pile grew, Ren knew her time was getting short. They would only be able to drag so much weight back through the mud before the sleds would sink and get stuck.
After dropping a load at the pile, Ren just blurted it out. “Niles, I have to ask you a question.”
“I know, I’ve been waiting a long time for you to ask,” he responded as they headed back for more wood. “It’s about the levee, right?”
“Yeah, how did you know?” Ren asked.
“You have a curious soul, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. You soak up all information you can, no matter the topic. I knew it had to be killing you not to know all this time. I’m surprised you waited so long.”
“So you know why there is no levee on the other side?”
“Yes. I know a lot of things that no one else here knows. Or at least they are unaware they know due to brainwashing. It’s probably better that they don’t remember. It’s quite a burden.” He wiped the sweat from his brow and ran his fingers through his gray hair. “I remember when the levee started going up, along with all the other major civic projects,” Niles explained, picking up a long forked branch. “The first Greenhaus, the massive break wall system to control the rising sea level, the solar fields. We thought we were saving humanity. They thought they could control nature, but Mother Earth had other ideas.”
“Did the other projects fail?”
“That depends on who you ask. Ask those who built them and they will say, ‘No, everything worked precisely according to plan.’ Ask those who suffered in the aftermath, those not chosen to be part of New Earth and left to die on the Outside, and I’d guess they’d give a different answer.”
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