Through the Ashes (The Light Book 2)

by Jacqueline Brown

  I looked at her. She didn’t move her gaze from mine. I could see the concern she tried to hide.

  “Okay,” I said, strapping it around my waist and moving Trent’s pistol to the other side.

  ***

  Sara, Blaise, and East each carried an old purse, the strap running from a shoulder to the opposite hip. Josh took a bag that’d long ago held a laptop. Haz had his own pack on his back, and Jonah had filled my pack as full as possible with things like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and aspirin. The others, too, had emptied the medicine cabinets of their contents—though Sage and her mom had already taken most things. A moment later we stood at the front door of the apartment complex.

  Haz took the lead. We made our way through the abandoned streets littered with dead trees and rusted machines. I wondered then how many others had fled from the city. There was no reason to stay. There was no land to grow things on or animals to hunt. Resources were scarce and the population, in the beginning at least, was large. I realized that the settlements contained only those who thought they had to stay for some reason. Everyone else would’ve fled and some—not all—would survive. How many were hiding in the woods, trying to avoid others, like we were? How many were watching us from the shadows as we traveled here? It was an oddly comforting thought.

  Trent liked to believe that the strength of the country lay here in this city, but he was wrong. The strength of our country lay elsewhere in the shadows, in the woods, on the farms. Those people might still be good. They might not believe the strong should dominate. They might see the value in all life, no matter how unworthy Trent believed those lives to be. That was the true strength of our nation before, and I had to believe it still existed at least somewhere, other than my ancestors’ land.

  We crouched at almost every corner as troops passed. When we neared the bridal shop troops were everywhere.

  “They must know we spent the night there,” Haz whispered to East.

  She nodded. “Circle back. We have to go a different way,” she said, signaling for us to turn around.

  After a few hours of going forward, then backward, then forward again, we reached the tents where most of the troops stayed. Trent’s apartment building marked the center of their settlement. A few troops milled around near his building, but the rest weren’t in sight.

  “This might actually work,” Sara said as we hid behind a half-burned building, waiting for a pair of soldiers to walk by.

  I wanted to be hopeful, but the fear was too strong.

  East led us away from the tunnel, where we entered the beltway. That way would’ve taken us through the heart of the family settlement. We would be seen, and I doubted Trent would care if he killed children that happened to be in the line of fire. Instead, we made our way to a small parking garage. We hid behind cars and snuck our way toward the back of the garage. Occasionally, at our feet we saw the remains of a small campfire and a few empty tin cans here and there. People had been here. I looked around. I saw no bones, no signs of death. People had been here and they left alive. Perhaps they had also crossed the walls and ten-lane highway to find freedom.

  “There’s a culvert,” Haz said, pointing to the base of the giant sound wall that surrounded the highway.

  “Where?” East asked, her eyes squinting.

  “See how the trees grow in a circle? It’s because the water from the road drains and creates a little wetland area after it rains.”

  Jonah stood beside me. “How big is the culvert?” he asked.

  “Big enough for one or two of us to crawl through at a time,” Haz answered.

  “Once we go through,” I said, “we’ll be in the middle of the highway, with nowhere to hide.” I felt the fear growing in me.

  “I don’t think Trent will be expecting that,” Blaise said. “He probably expects us to go under an overpass, like we did last time.”

  “At least with that, we can see how many guards there are and who they are,” I said.

  Haz stood scanning the area. “We can’t see who’s waiting on the outside of the tunnel, only who’s on this side or in the middle of it. There’s no way to know if there’s zero or a hundred soldiers waiting for us on the outside.”

  “But outside of the beltway isn’t Trent’s territory,” I said. I needed to believe that once we escaped the beltway we’d be free, and Trent would no longer be hunting us.

  Sara put a hand on my arm, her voice low and soft. “But you know this isn’t about his territory, it’s about revenge. It’s about hurting you.”

  I accepted her words. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. When it came to Trent, she was always right. If only I’d understood that sooner, before death seemed so close.

  “We have our knives and we each have at least a couple of shots,” Blaise said. “That’s more than we had before.” I envied her optimism.

  “If we see Trent, we kill him,” Haz said, his voice without emotion.

  “What?” I asked, staring at him.

  “Agreed,” Jonah echoed, looking at Haz.

  I stared at him.

  “Hopefully, we won’t see him,” Blaise said, though I knew she was just placating me.

  “But if we do, we agree,” Haz said, glancing at each of us.

  No one spoke.

  “I don’t know if I can do it,” I whispered, my head throbbing.

  Reaching out to take my hand, Sara said, “Bria, Trent won’t show you mercy. I know you loved him, maybe part of you still does. But there’s no other way to keep you safe, to keep all of us safe.”

  “Could you kill him?” I asked Sara. “Could you be the one to take his life? To cause his last breath?”

  “I-I don’t know,” she said, her head lowered.

  “This isn’t about Trent. It’s about me, about each of us,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” Blaise asked.

  I looked at my friends and Haz. “Can those of you who have killed tell me they don’t wish they hadn’t? Not that the person wasn’t dead, but that they hadn’t been the one to do the killing?”

  My words were met with silence.

  “You’re right,” Haz said. “He’s caused you enough damage. He shouldn’t damn your soul too. I’ll take care of Trent. God knows, his death can’t damn me any more than I already am.”

  Haz pulled the gun from his belt.

  Thirty-Two

  Above us, a large metal gate was rolled up at the top of the entrance of the parking garage. It was once used to keep cars from entering. Its usefulness had long ago ceased, like the cars that stood scattered about the concrete. I watched a small brown bird fly to the rolled metal, its tiny feet grasping the peeling brown of the once silver gate. The contrast of life and deadness, of a heart beating and wings flapping over cold, rusting metal brought emotions that I hadn’t felt since entering the city. The bird didn’t live inside the beltway—nothing lived inside the beltway—but he came in and would go out. Life existed out there, and with that realization hope began to grow within me. I hadn’t realized how much the dead earth of this place was affecting me. More than ever I longed for home. For JP swinging from a tree, for bees pollinating apple blossoms, for green grass and slithering worms.

  I left those thoughts behind and returned to the concrete world that existed in front of me. The day was overcast, making even the sky a depressing shade of gray. With every step I took the pain in my head increased. My stomach was swirling, and I feared it would not be long before I threw up the last few sips of water I’d taken.

  Metal clanked in the distance. East shoved me down behind a car.

  “Come out,” Haz commanded.

  My heart raced and my head throbbed as my friends and I crouched low behind an old white Cadillac.

  Haz moved out from behind the car. East stood, pointed her weapon, and quickly lowered it.

  “You can stand,” she said, moving from behind the car.

  Jonah groaned as he forced his legs to straighten. Blaise p
ulled me up.

  I looked across the hood, blinking to be sure I was seeing who I thought I was seeing.

  A figure rose, unmoving, her face scared.

  “It’s you,” I said.

  I went to her, the small corner girl who’d helped me escape Trent’s building. “What are you doing here?”

  She said nothing, her eyes wide like those of a young fawn.

  “You know her?” Haz asked.

  “Yes, she helped me escape Trent’s building. I think she works there,” I said.

  “These are slave clothes,” Haz said, sizing up the girl.

  “Slave?” Sara said from beside me.

  The girl watched our interactions, her features becoming less terrified, but she remained silent.

  “There aren’t any slaves anymore,” Josh said.

  “If you believe that, you’re ridiculously ignorant,” Haz said. “They existed here in this country before the attack and they exist now. The only difference is they are no longer hidden by the darkness.”

  “What do you want?” I said, ignoring Haz and Josh and the others, and focusing on the girl.

  She stared at me.

  “Can you talk?” I asked.

  Nothing.

  East moved closer. “Are you here because Trent sent you?”

  “East!” I said.

  “What? We know nothing about her,” East said.

  “I know she helped me escape, so I know she’s not helping him,” I said.

  “Are you here to help us?” Blaise said, her voice soft and kind.

  The girl only stared.

  Her small brown eyes looked scared, like the world was too much for her. I understood how she felt.

  “Maybe she doesn’t understand English,” Blaise said.

  “She looks American to me,” Josh said.

  “How does she look American?” Sara asked.

  “I don’t know. We have a look, she has the same look, so she looks American,” Josh said.

  The girl watched him as he spoke.

  Haz turned. “Let’s move,” he said, and began walking out of the garage.

  “We can’t leave her,” I said.

  Jonah stepped forward. “You can come with us if you want to. I promise we won’t hurt you,” he said, and for the first time the girl’s expression changed from a blank stare to one of uncertainty.

  “She’s trying to make up her mind,” I whispered.

  He nodded.

  “Come with us,” I begged, before turning and following my friends out of the garage. I knew it was up to her. I couldn’t force her and trying would only make her more scared.

  The rectangular culvert stood at my feet. Water draining from the interstate created some dampness at the bottom of the concrete tunnel. The girl stood to the side watching us.

  “I’ll go first. Then East, you follow,” Haz said as he knelt in the damp earth.

  I lifted my head, and the girl shook her head. She walked a few feet and then turned and looked at me.

  “Do you want us to follow you?” I asked.

  She went a few paces and turned to look at me again.

  “We need to follow her,” I said, going toward her.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Haz asked in a loud whisper.

  “Probably,” I said, following the girl.

  The others came, all reluctantly, some grumbling more than others. East and Haz voiced the most concern, and I didn’t blame them. But something about this corner girl who didn’t speak, made me trust her. I knew if there was a way out of this place she would know it. Didn’t the servants or, I guess, in this case, the slaves, always know more than everyone else?

  After a few minutes the girl stopped. She stood staring at a rusted metal grate that went into the ground.

  “Do you want us to go down there?” I asked.

  The girl only stared.

  Jonah bent and pulled on the metal. “Josh, help me with this,” he said.

  The two of them strained and slid the metal far enough for us to slip inside. The girl went down first, and I went next. The others followed. The darkness made my head feel better. A small hand slipped into my own.

  “Everyone, hold hands,” I whispered while reaching behind me for Jonah’s hand.

  Water soaked my shoes and ankles.

  “We must be under the interstate,” Haz whispered from somewhere behind me.

  The small hand squeezed mine and I knew she was telling me he was right.

  A faint light grew brighter and brighter.

  Soon we stood, staring at a similar rusted grate to that at the other end of the underground tunnel. The girl stood and stared at me. She lifted a single finger to her lips.

  I did the same to my friends, ensuring they knew to say nothing. Haz climbed the metal rungs and listened, and then cautiously lifted the metal. He strained under its weight. Josh climbed silently behind him and helped lift the grate as Haz climbed out of the hole. Haz held the grate for Josh, and then East followed. They stood guard as the rest of us climbed from the darkness.

  The light above the inside of the earth hurt my eyes and my headache returned with a vengeance. I blinked, my vision was blurry. I fought the rising panic. Blindness before would’ve been bad, but blindness now would mean death.

  We stood at the end of a suburban street. The girl pointed back toward the giant sound wall that segregated the city and its highway from the homes.

  I stifled a gasp as I saw armed soldiers sitting on top of the wall, watching the interstate.

  I tapped Blaise on the shoulder and pointed at the soldiers. She gasped, louder than she should have. A head turned and a moment later shots rang out.

  We ran, the girl with us, seeking cover from the side of a house. My friends returned fire.

  The gunshots made my head scream and my vision become even worse. Jonah threw his gun to the ground and grabbed mine from my waist. He pulled me forward. My feet moved along with his. As we weaved through houses the firing stopped, but the pain in my head was becoming more than I could bear. My stomach churned. I turned and leaned against the side of a house, its cool brick offering the smallest of comforts as I heaved again and again. There was nothing in my stomach to soften the spasm. I felt a hand on my back and Jonah asked if I was okay.

  I inhaled and stood. “Yes,” I lied.

  Shots rang out again from somewhere up ahead. More shots, closer to us. My friends must’ve been returning fire.

  “Come on, we need to catch up with them,” Jonah said, taking my hand.

  I forced my feet to move.

  Jonah’s arm jerked to a stop and me with it. My body shook uncontrollably as the blurry figure came closer. I prayed I was wrong, I prayed that what I thought I was seeing was only my breaking brain creating the most terrifying image it could. But even as I prayed for madness I knew he was real.

  Trent stood there with a gun in his hand.

  “I knew I would find you two together. Always faithful. You’re such a liar!” he screamed, aiming his gun and pulling the trigger. Nothing happened.

  Jonah fired at Trent. The brick wall behind Trent shattered. Jonah pulled the trigger again, but silence followed. He threw the gun at Trent, pushing me out of the way as Trent rushed forward swinging his gun as if it were a club. I screamed as the metal made a sickening thud against Jonah’s forearm … the kind of noise made by breaking bones. Jonah cried out.

  “There’s no reason to risk your life,” Trent said, his breath heavy. “Leave her, and I’ll let you and the others go.”

  “Is that what you would do? Leave her to save yourself? You’re a coward!” Jonah yelled.

  “She’s just a girl. No different than any other, trust me,” Trent said with a forced laugh.

  Jonah charged, taking Trent to the ground, Trent’s gun falling from his hand. Jonah connected his left fist over and over to Trent’s face while his right arm hung limp at his side.

  Trent cried out, begging Jonah to stop, but he did not. A figure,
less like a man and more like a giant, came from around a house. It was the man from the convenience store command. He ran toward Jonah, ramming him with so much force that Jonah’s body bounced on the asphalt several feet from where Trent lay.

  The scream was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I ran toward the man, who was on his knees and now trying to stand. I side-kicked, aiming down at his ribs. He fell to the ground. I sprinted to Jonah. He wasn’t moving. I placed my fingers below his nose and felt the warm air of his breath. I tried to lift him as the man and Trent stood, but Jonah didn’t move.

  “East, Haz help! It’s Trent. He’s here!” I screamed, praying my friends heard me.

  They had to come and save Jonah. They had to take him before Trent could kill him.

  “Stop screaming,” Trent ordered as he neared. Blood poured from his nose and mouth.

  I stepped in front of Jonah, knowing I wasn’t East, knowing I wouldn’t be able to fight off two men at once.

  “Do you want me to take her?” the giant of a man asked, holding his side.

  “No, I’ve got this. Go find the others. Tell them we’re done here,” Trent said, watching me while touching the blood on his lip.

  “You sure? I’d be happy to pay her back for the kick,” the man said, a look of sadistic pleasure on his face.

  “Go!” Trent yelled.

  The man hesitated.

  “Now!” Trent bellowed.

  The man turned and disappeared behind the building.

  “You did this to yourself, you know. I offered you everything. I would have given you everything. And what do you do?” His voice boomed, his anger out of control. “You try and kill me!” he screamed.

  My body tensed as Trent came toward me. I kicked him hard in the chest and he bounced backward. I moved away from Jonah so he wouldn’t be trampled. My head was pounding and my vision remained blurry, but none of those things mattered.

  Trent rushed toward me, his shoulder lowered. I tried to move, but he hit me hard, pushing me against a wall. The back of my head hit the bricks, the pain causing my knees to collapse. Trent’s hands closed around my throat, holding me upright.