by Ramona Finn
Knowing those cheers were for me made my chest swell with pride, and for a moment I knew what it must have felt like to be R.L. Farrow, celebrated for saving mankind. It had, up to a point, been my lifelong dream, before my mother had become ill—to be as loved and celebrated as the Farrows. But as my head came back down from its bubbly euphoria, I realized that I had done something Farrow hadn’t done: I was being celebrated for bridging our gap with the surface. For increasing our chances at peaceful cohabitation.
As we neared Skylar One’s place of honor, our troop dispersed into the crowd, leaving only myself and Skylar Two standing before him. I drew in a slow breath and tried to stop my hands from trembling, no longer certain whether they shook from fear or weakness. Either way, I didn’t want the Rejs to know that I lacked confidence in my place among them. A shifty demeanor would mean I’d gone through all of this for nothing.
“Congratulations, Tylia Coder of the Geos.” Skylar One bowed and passed something wrapped in cloth to his son. “You have passed your trial,” he told me.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond, and so I was relieved when Skylar Two turned to his people, unwrapping the cloth so that they could view the treasure cradled in its folds. He turned it to me for inspection. A glass vial sealed with wax hung on a leather rope.
“Our people have long been crafters and creators. Our most cherished skill is crafting glass,” he said, casting his voice across the cave as if in ceremony, though the words felt like they were for me and me alone. “This vial contains water collected from the areas affected by the Virus. Each vial hangs around our neck daily, but it is technically a single-use item gifted to those who have passed their trial.
“We hold the Virus close to us to remind us what we have survived. It is both a weapon and a burden, for like this glass, life is fragile—and once shattered, it cannot be recovered. We do not take life lightly. He placed the leather string over my head. The glass was cool against my skin as it sat nestled over my mother’s necklace.
“Nor do we take it lightly when someone risks their own life,” Skylar Two continued. “You have risked your life to join us. To save your mother. To unite mankind. We do not take this lightly. As of today, the name of Tylia Coder will be carved into the stone of the mountain as one of us. Today, you are officially welcome here as a Rej.”
Cheers erupted from the crowd and caused me to break out in goosebumps as they reverberated in my soul. At the same time, I felt crushed beneath the weight of the road before me. I no longer envied R.L. Farrow his public appeal. Because the weight of the mantle of responsibility it had come with felt like too much to carry.
Skylar Two bowed his head, ending the ceremony before weaving his fingers into mine. His face glowed with bittersweet joy as he pulled me to him in an embrace, and I decided to amend my thought… The mantle of responsibility would have been too heavy to bear if I had been alone.
We danced together long into the night. Somehow, this party was even more grand than my send-off had been. Later, when we’d retired for the evening, Skylar confessed that many of the resources used to celebrate my return had been reserved for their chosen one. Guilt rushed over me at his confession.
“You are the one, Ty, I know it.”
Doubt shredded my heart as I tried to weigh the potential cost of being honest about my doubts—not just regarding my freedom, but also my relationship with Skylar Two. Whether fate or free will had woven us together, we were undeniably bound to one another.
And then Skylar Two tried to give me his headscarf.
“You’re going to need one eventually,” he said. “And it’s only fitting that you take mine. A guy’s gotta take care of his pet, hasn’t he?” He smiled slyly, as he’d repeated what had become an inside joke between the two of us.
I moved to punch his shoulder playfully, but he surprised me by grabbing my wrist. Before I was able to react, he spun me until I got rolled up in his arms. The scent of warm cinnamon bark rustled tufts of my hair as he kissed my forehead.
“Seriously, Ty. You’re one of us now. You should start dressing the part.”
I’d be leaving in the morning, maybe for the last time, and we both knew it, but maybe this was his way of telling me I’d always belong there. No matter what, I didn’t want what precious moments were left to end in the jagged edges of an argument.
“Hold onto it for me for now,” I said. “For when I come back.”
And yet, a lump formed in my throat. I wanted to take those words back. It wasn’t fair to leave him with hope like that. “Here,” I said, removing my mother’s necklace from my pocket. I pulled one of the bindings away before securing it back where it belonged around my neck. But then I wrapped the piece of ribbon I’d removed around his wrist, securing it loosely but firmly. “In case I don’t come back,” I said softly. We both knew it was a probability more than a possibility. As far as we knew, no one who had passed a Rej trial had chosen the Labs. Nobody had gone back to whatever I was facing. “Now, you won’t have to forget me.”
“Ty.” Skylar Two’s eyes bore into my soul, “I could never forget you.”
As he leaned in to kiss me for what could possibly be the last time, I tried to believe that he could keep that promise.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I didn’t get much sleep that night. I just stared into the darkness, listening to Skylar Two snore quietly. When the world began to wake up, I slipped out of the room. I hated goodbyes, and what I was leaving behind was complicated. I decided it was best to be gone by the time Skylar Two woke up.
I paused only long enough to grab my jacket, which still held my comm and the broken tracker. My hand hovered over Skylar Two’s headscarf.
I wrapped it around my head as I hurried toward the mouth of the cave. My heart raced as I thought of what I was about to do. I hadn’t been allowed to leave the cave alone in so long that the very idea of trying made my muscles tense. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. The last thing any of us needed was for me to look skittish as I left the mountain. I held my head high, trying to project confidence. I could no longer hide from either world, nor could I blend in. I was a part of both worlds now—that of the Geos and the Rejs—and I had to find a way to bridge the gap between them if I was ever to protect the people I cared about.
I kept my stride steady as I approached the guards from behind, letting my heavy footsteps announce me. The guards turned with a nod and hit their fists against their chests in a motion I had only seen a handful of times before.
It was a Rej salute, given only to those of the highest esteem. They were saluting me.
Before the gravity of that could fully sink in, I realized that my fist had automatically mirrored their movements. Rej customs had become my customs, too.
I passed them and headed down the mountain quickly so that my temptation to look back wouldn’t win. I knew that, if I looked back, if I realized what I could be sacrificing to save my mother and mankind, I wouldn’t be able to leave.
I chose the smoothest path down the mountain at first as I waited for the tears that blurred my vision to subside. As I recovered, though, I was able to take in the little things about the Above that I knew I would miss the most. The aroma of the wildflowers caught by a summer breeze, and the feel of the earth between my toes. Dew droplets on grass. I even took time to mourn the days I’d spent staring out of the cave entrance longingly, pretending to be one of the several critters climbing up and down the trunks of scattered trees. So much time spent wishing I was free that I hadn’t realized what I was trying to be free of.
I scanned the sky, looking past the tree tops to see if I could locate my home. Or, at least, what would soon become my home, but the scattered clouds made it too hard to catch sight of the Labs.
My eyes traced the foothills, making note of the places I was vaguely familiar with. To my right was the area I’d been taken to for my trial, so I decided to bear left as I climbed to the mountain’s base. Maybe I could at l
east get an idea of the direction I should go based on other landmarks.
After a moment, movement caught my eye. It was a group, too big to belong to anyone else from the Acceptance. Upon closer inspection, I became pretty sure it was a group of EFs, likely searching for survivors. My heart soared. I must have been closer to the Geos than I’d thought!
I willed my legs to press forward excitedly, trying hard to memorize their position before the forest rose before me, blocking my view. I pulled Ben’s comm from my pocket and secured it in my ear, hitting the power button and holding my breath. “Please work,” I whispered. There was a crackling sound, followed by a lot of static. And then, right before I lost hope…
“Tylia?” Ben’s voice filled the void in my chest, replacing it with relief.
“Yes!” I almost cried with relief. “I made it, Ben. I’m on my way back. In fact, I’m almost—”
“The EFs are out doing clean-up,” he interrupted me. “I don’t know what’s up, Ty, but something weird has been going on and... look, I can’t say why, but just, don’t trust anyone, okay? In fact, avoid everyone else if you can. Just come home to me, okay?”
“O-okay,” I sputtered. “But how? I don’t know how to get back.”
“It’s cloudy today,” he realized. “You can’t see the Labs?”
“No, I can’t see anything but trees at this point.”
“That’s weird,” he said, and I heard the sound of keys clicking. “I don’t see any of the elevators leading to trees…”
Great. So I’d been off track as soon as I’d started? I wondered if the others had been as unlucky. And then another thought popped into my head. “Ben, have any of the others checked in?”
More static. And then, “That’s the thing. Almost all of the trackers showed as inactive as soon as you guys hit the surface—almost like the signals had been blacked out. EFs were sent to investigate what caused the power outage, and when we were finally back online, the trackers started updating. The participants’ trackers all showed them as deceased. Every last one of them.”
My mouth went dry. “Maybe it’s just a glitch,” I offered, trying to sound confident. “Coders are fixing little glitches like that all the time. Mine broke almost as soon as I got to the surface, too.”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Look, just promise me that you’ll be careful,” Ben pleaded. “We can figure it out once you’re home safe. Just get here quickly, okay?”
I bit my lip. I didn’t like going into a situation blind. “Yeah, okay,” I sighed. “I’m on my way. Keep checking in, okay?” And then I asked again where I should go, to get back, but there was only static in return—the signal had cut out again.
I crept through the forest on edge, my hearing fine-tuned to determine whether the sounds I heard were animal or human. By the time I made it a mile or two into the woods, my senses picked something else up. It was a smell unlike anything I had ever experienced, and I couldn’t seem to escape it—not without turning around—and the last thing I wanted to do was change course and get lost in the forest. Imagine, surviving the Acceptance just to get lost on the way back!
They’d told us they’d find us if we survived, and bring us to the elevators, but that obviously wasn’t an option. I’d have to find my own way if I wanted to survive this, because if even Ben Farrow was telling me not to trust the EFs and those sent to find me, there was no way I’d chance talking to whoever was out looking for us.
I pulled Skylar Two’s scarf tight around my face as I moved deeper into the stench that blanketed the woods. As I moved from tree to tree, trying to keep my movements unpredictable, just in case, I realized that I’d taken a stance specific to the Rejs. The survival skills I’d learned from Skylar Two, and from Wallace before him, were now woven deeply into my subconscious. The thought was somewhat reassuring, but that feeling didn’t last long. Not very long at all.
I’d found the source of the stench. And I knew, in the pit of my stomach, before I cleared the brush for visual confirmation. Around me, insects buzzed like a room of terminal fans whirring out of sync.
Knowing that I was about to see something and then actually seeing it were two completely different things. While I knew I was about to find a body, and possibly the body of someone I knew, I had no idea how my body would respond; I’d surely not expected that it would respond by emptying the contents of my stomach into a nearby bush.
His body was pale and bloated, and based on the cleanliness of his skin, I was pretty sure he’d died from the Virus. Whether that had been before or after the gaping injury in his leg, I wasn’t experienced enough to tell, nor did my mind have the capacity to handle investigating.
I choked, trying to catch my breath, only to be overwhelmed by the stench of death hung up in the air.
Once the spasming in my abdomen had receded, I staggered past Jax’s body, hoping to make it out onto the other side where the air would be fresh. It was then that another sound caught my attention. Another human sound. I sprinted forward, desperate to replace the images burnt into my brain with someone I could still save.
I was relieved to find that, by the time my legs began to burn, I had outrun the smell left by Jax’s remains. It was right about then that I found the source of the sound I had been chasing. It was the female doctor candidate, Jade. She was curled up against a tree, apparently delirious with pain. I crept up quietly as I assessed the situation from afar. She hadn’t seen me yet, and I hadn’t decided if I wanted her to.
She’d fallen victim to the Virus—that much was obvious—but did she have a chance of survival? I scanned the area for the plants that Wallace had taught me to use for fever, the one with the dark berries, but a rustling in the bushes nearby spooked me, and I climbed up the branches of the nearest tree.
From my position, I could see three men approaching Jade. At least, I was pretty sure they were men by the way they walked. They were definitely EFs, based on the markings on their suits. Except, they didn’t wear the same uniforms that I was used to seeing down in the Geos. Instead, they wore white jumpsuits, with helmets covering their entire heads. Every time they breathed, the helmets made a sound like air hissing out of vents. I had seen suits like this before. They were reserved specifically for when those in authority needed to deal with hazardous materials.
Like the Virus.
Suddenly, I was nauseous again. They weren’t about to stumble upon Jade; they were looking for her. For us.
Every one of my muscles screamed at me to run. To get further away from whatever was about to happen… but it was too late. Unless I wanted the EFs to find me, I was stuck right where I was.
The three men circled around Jade, keeping a moderate distance as she reached out to them, crying for them to help her. “Please,” she pleaded, her voice hoarse from the sickness rocking her body. “Help me.”
My heart raced as I pressed the button to call for Ben, but I only got static. I fiddled with the controls by applying pressure, cycling through until the static stopped, but the voice that filled my ears wasn’t Ben’s.
“Just put her out of her misery,” one of the EFs in environmental suits said. It was the only thing I heard before the shots rang out. Four of them, though I was sure they had only needed one. EFs were specially trained in the use of weapons. The first shot had been for the kill. The rest had just been for fun.
I buried my head in my hands as the first shot rang out, trying to swallow the scream that threatened to give away my position. When I finally summoned the courage to look, I regretted it instantly, retching silently as the EFs covered Jade’s body before pulling out a spray can and marking the covering with a giant red X. It was the perfect crime. No one would ever know. No one but me, anyway.
“Think she’s the one?” the EF who’d shot Jade asked one of the others.
“Doesn’t matter,” another answered. I recognized his voice—it was the voice of their leader. The one who had ordered Jade’s death. The one I was pretty sure would
order mine if given the chance. “Word from the Labs is that something skewed the data. The entire project has to be scrapped for now. You know the drill. All contestants disqualified and marked for the clean-up team.”
“Wouldn’t that be a job, eh? Just setting things ablaze as you go. Sounds more like rec time if you ask me.”
“Yeah, well, nobody asked you,” the third EF snapped at him. “I hate clean-up shifts. They give me the heebie jeebies.”
“Need me to call your mama for you, newbie?”
I turned the comm off, frozen. They’d taken Jade’s life as if she were nothing. Less than nothing. I knew they’d do the same to me if they were given the chance.
But I was determined to give them a run for their money. I didn’t know what data had been tainted, and I didn’t care. I was going to get back home, somehow. I knew that if I was able to sneak my way in, if I could make it somewhere crowded, to somewhere I would be seen, then they’d have to let me live. They couldn’t just kill me in front of everyone in the Geos and shatter the illusion that we had a way out from the Geos. A path to a better future. No, they would have to spare me, and take me to the Labs. Anything else would leave the people outraged and restless.
And people who were restless and outraged, even if they had been buried underground their entire lives, crushed by the weight of the earth, were dangerous.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Now I moved through the forest with silent determination. I didn’t know for sure what was going on, but I knew enough to tell that we’d been lied to. I’d had my doubts, of course, from time to time. Everyone did in times of crisis, and most of the lives of my family and my peers and our ancestors had been spent dealing with one crisis after another. But this one was different. It was dark, insidious. It was intentional. But why? Why kill us all over this data problem? I didn’t have an answer. So, who would? Ben, possibly, based on our last communication. But could I trust him? His warning could have just as easily been part of whatever plan the clean-up crew was carrying out for the Farrows.