by Otter Lieffe
“We'll follow the train tracks out from Central terminal to the North Exit.”
Pinar knew the exit was never heavily guarded. That section of the tracks was lined with razor wire and the trains running through such a tight tunnel had proven to be enough of a disincentive to anyone trying to get in—or out—of the City.
“The trains won't be running in this weather,” she signed with more confidence than she felt. “If we stay together, we'll be okay. We can do this.”
She looked at Ash who smiled back at her with admiration.
* * *
“The North Gate, Admiral,” said Gus confidently. “They'll make a dash for the North Gate and try to get out the train tunnel. It's the only other way out. We should send troops there immediately.”
* * *
Ash and Pinar gazed out at the crowd of wet, exhausted people looking to them desperately for hope. Pinar was full of doubt.
I'm making this up as I go along. I'm probably taking them all to disaster. What chance do we have really?
To her surprise, Ash suddenly cried out as loud as she could—
“To the forest!”
Her voice was immediately joined by countless others. Hundreds of voices shouting out together against the rain.
“To the forest! To the forest!”
Ash and Pinar carefully climbed down from the rubble pile. “Job done,” said Ash. “You were awesome.”
“I kind of was, wasn’t I…?”
* * *
The Admiral looked pleased.
“Very good Lieutenant. We'll send a battalion immediately.”
Gus couldn't help but smile.
This is working perfectly. If they catch the resistance trying to escape, I'll probably get a promotion—if not a medal. I'm already back en route to getting my life back.
“Care to join us?”
“I'd love to, Sir.”
“I thought you might.”
The Admiral stood, walked over to the window and pulled the blinds closed. “But there's something I want from you first, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, Sir?”
The Admiral walked over and stood in front of Gus's chair. He began to unfasten his belt and Gus's mouth went dry.
“Yes, soldier,” said the Admiral. “Now, on your knees.”
Chapter eighty
The train tracks lay at the bottom of a steep concrete valley that bisected the City from North to South. On any given day, they were busy with the constant back and forth of solar trains carrying soldiers, food, and building materials.
As Ash and Pinar arrived at the Central terminal, they expected to see the tracks empty, the trains shut down because of the bad weather. What they saw made them gasp in horror. The tracks were empty of trains, but they were also covered by metres of dark, frothing water. The concrete valley of the tracks had become a river.
And that, Ash realised, means our only way out of the City is blocked.
Pinar was shouting something at her but the pounding of the rain and the water flowing into the river made it impossible to hear.
“Sign! I can't hear you.”
“I said 'Fuck'!” replied Pinar. “It's completely flooded.”
“Yeah I noticed that.”
“What do we do now?”
“I have no clue.”
“We have to think of something.”
“Still no clue.”
They stood for a moment watching tree branches and other debris rushing downstream. Waterfalls cascaded down to the tracks from the streets on either side.
It's impossible to get down there, much less walk—or swim—the two kilometres to the gate. And the streets running parallel to the tracks are flooded and dangerous.
Kit appeared from the crowd and came to stand next to them. She was soaking wet like everyone else.
But, Pinar noticed, her hair still looks really good.
“What about over there?” Kit signed and pointed.
Following her finger, Ash and Pinar saw a narrow sidewalk running along the river between the flooded street and the concrete that sloped down dramatically to the tracks. It was barely a metre wide but raised just enough to keep them out of the water.
“It looks dangerous,” signed Pinar.
Ash nodded.
“But it's as good as we're going to get.”
“How do we get across?”
“There should be a footbridge, a bit further along,” signed Kit. “I use it to get to work sometimes.”
“Let's go.”
Still holding hands, Ash and Pinar waded into the street. The water was knee deep but they were already as wet as they could possibly be. Dragging their tired legs through the water, they climbed out onto the raised path and turned back to check the others were following. The massive crowd followed them, holding their bags above their heads as they pushed against the current.
“We're leaders again, Pin,” shouted Ash. “How did that even happen?”
“Honestly, I have no idea.”
Soon everyone was up on the narrow, slippery path, a long line of three hundred and something people standing soaked and tired, deafened by the downpour and the roaring river. Without another word, Ash and Pinar turned and began the walk north. The resistance followed closely behind.
* * *
Water was everywhere. The sun, already high in the sky, was hidden by clouds and the City was as dark as early morning.
Ash had to stay completely focussed on the ground in front of her just to avoid slipping and tumbling into the deluge below her. After a while when she could take no more, she stopped and turned around.
“Let's pause for a moment!” she signed above her head, as large as she could. The crowd came to a halt.
“Pinar, we're completely exposed here and it's dangerous. How long before one of us falls in?” Ash looked down at the river below them, her fingers trembling as she signed.
“I know.”
“And if the tracks are as flooded there as they are here, there's no way we'll make it out through the train tunnel.”
“I know. But let's just get there and cross that bridge when we come to it,” Pinar shouted back. “You never know, the rain might stop.”
Ash said something under her breath that Pinar didn't hear.
“We don't have much choice,” Pinar continued. “And besides, the City's flooded and the Life Accounts system is in total crisis. The State probably has better things to do.”
Ash rolled her eyes. Pinar's eternal optimism could be a bit much sometimes.
“I hope you're right.” She turned back to the north. “Let's keep going.”
* * *
Gus was on his knees, his eyes watering.
I hate this. Who does this upstart think he is?
Gus held his breath and kept sucking.
* * *
Another slip and Ash was on her knees, barely centimetres from the edge of the sidewalk. The pain flashing through her joints was almost more than she could take. She grabbed Pinar's offered hand and pulled herself back up. They both unconsciously looked down at the water cascading onto the flooded tracks.
That was way too close.
“Are you okay?” someone shouted to her.
It was Danny. He had seen her stumble and had come running up.
“You must be exhausted,” he yelled.
“I'm old is what I am,” replied Ash curtly.
And it's true, she thought. I've already lived a long, long life. I'm far too old to be here. Every part of me is crying out for rest. I just want to lie down, curl up and never move again.
“I could carry you.” Danny suggested carefully.
“I can walk myself thank you very much.” Ash crossed her arms.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest…I just—”
Pinar joined in the conversation.
“Stop being so damn proud, Ash. Falling off this path and drowning won't make you
a better feminist.”
Ash didn't reply. They walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes listening to the unrelenting water all around them.
“Fine. But I'm not light, you know.”
“No problem—hold on tight!” He bent his knees and crouched over slightly while she jumped onto his back and threw her arms around his chest. His balance was perfect.
All those years of working the pole came in useful, he thought to himself as he hoisted Ash up a little higher and continued walking.
* * *
Ash soon got used to being carried. She felt safer and although she had to hold on tight and didn't dare look down at the river below them, she could feel her tired legs recovering, the pain in her knees lessening.
She also had a taste for the dramatic and after a while of being carried high up, supported by Danny's strong body, bolts of lightning racing above them, she looked down as almost the entire resistance followed her and realised that she actually was starting to enjoy herself.
Through the blur of rain, the North terminal finally appeared up ahead and beyond it, the City walls filled the horizon as far as Ash could see.
And still no sign of the State.
Within minutes, the mass of people, soaked and exhausted, arrived in front of the station. The line spread out around an old, lifeless clock tower and although the pavement was slightly higher here, several inches of water still splashed around their heels.
Ash patted Danny on the head.
“Get me down from here,” she shouted in a voice that was more commanding than she intended.
Danny obediently crouched down and let her slide off.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Thank you.” She was relieved to be back on her own two feet. “Much better.”
“Glad to be of service.” He smiled back. “So what's the plan now?”
Ash looked over at the tracks beyond the terminal that disappeared into a dark tunnel through the wall. The water was a little lower here, but there was still at least a metre flowing over the tracks.
I can't imagine how we'll ever get through there in the dark. The State isn't going to just let us walk out of the City, not after everything we've done.
She looked around at the hundreds of people gathering around the clock tower, at the faces she knew—Jason and Pinar hugging each other, trying to stay warm in the rain, Vicki, the runner from the forest, Kit still in her improbable heels helping someone with their bags, and a few others that she'd met and chatted to over the last week. Then she scanned over the hundreds of people that she hadn't had chance to speak to.
She might never know their names, but she knew they would follow her and Pinar to the end of the world if she asked them to.
Turning to Danny and looking him straight in the eye, she said:
“Honestly? I have no fucking clue.”
Chapter eighty-one
The State's army arrived like a vision in a nightmare. Lines and lines of soldiers and their dogs appeared from the east along the wall and troopers on horseback galloped in from the west. By the time the resistance could see or hear them through the rain, they were already there, armed and completely impassable. They stood barely thirty metres ahead, blocking their only way out of the City. Ash held Pinar's hand and Pinar held Jason's.
We're already too late.
Pinar felt a shudder go through her body or maybe through Ash's body. She couldn't be sure. She didn't need to look at her friend's face to know she was crying. She wanted to comfort her but there was nothing she could think of to say. She saw only the hell that lay before them.
After everything we've been through, Pinar thought, it comes down to this. We'll live out the end of our lives enslaved in a factory, our hard work powering the State's economy. Gender oppression will split us apart as surely and unquestionably as death. And Ash will be locked away with men until the day her brave life ends. We'll probably never even see each other again.
The only blessing, Pinar realised, blinking back tears of her own, is that at least that day won't be too far off.
Chapter eighty-two
Using a loudspeaker, an Admiral on horseback was shouting at the crowd, but the rain was so loud that they could barely make out what he was saying.
“—End of the line. Stay where you are and you—harmed. We—” the loudspeaker crackled as lightning tore across the sky. “—Factories. You can't escape.”
As the Admiral's horse came closer, Ash could see that there was someone sitting behind him. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky and she recognised who it was. She felt suddenly so sick she thought she might throw up. It was Gus and he was grinning at her. I knew from the beginning that he was bad news, that he couldn't be trusted. I always knew.
“What next?” Jason signed to Pinar and Ash. Ash looked around for a way out, but already the State lines were moving closer. If we had more time, we could have escaped the way we came—back along the walkway—but where would we go? The City is a trap and we're as good as dead here anyway.
She looked at Pinar and could see that she was losing hope. Hundreds of people stood near her, wet and exhausted. Before she realised that she'd made up her mind, Ash was already walking towards the troops.
Chapter eighty-three
The crowd opened up and allowed Ash to pass. Too shocked to even speak, much less do anything to stop her, Pinar stood frozen and watched her friend go.
Ash waded across the concourse and towards the station, stopping barely ten metres in front of the first line of troopers. She could smell the horses. She could hear the dogs growling. She had no idea what she was doing but she also knew that there was nothing else to do. She had only her soaked, exhausted body left to fight with and she wanted to go home. She thought desperately of the forest, her forest, and the happiness that she'd found there.
I wish I could see it just once more. I wish I could die out there, not here surrounded by concrete.
And as fast as she wished it, she was there.
Chapter eighty-four
Ash stood on the deck of her boat.
She faced upstream in a warm, dry breeze as the boat moved along a stretch of river she had never seen before. This is a dream. I'm dreaming.
Behind her, Pinar stepped out onto the deck, her hair shining in the bright sunlight.
“I thought I might see you here,” she said standing next to her friend, holding the rail and looking out at the river.
“Are we…okay?” asked Ash.
Pinar turned.
“Most of us. Just look.”
Ash turned downstream then, and she saw. On the river, following them was a fleet of boats. She could see Kit and Danny on the closest one and at least another thirty behind them. Beyond, far behind them, stood the mountains and the trees of the forest, black and smoking.
“Where are we going?” asked Ash, but she already knew the answer.
“We're going to find a new home.”
Chapter eighty-five
There was concrete beneath Ash's feet again and she lifted her hands and prepared to fight. She took a deep breath in and got ready to shout over the noise of the rain.
But there was no noise.
There was no rain.
The City had fallen silent.
Sunlight flooded the streets as dark clouds tore themselves apart. The only sound came from the gurgling drains as the rainwater flowed away and the street cleared. Ash stood, her arms still lifted, unable to speak.
The rain had stopped.
And the State was terrified.
The Admiral stepped his horse towards Ash, and she could see Gus sitting behind him holding on tight. He looked as stunned as the Admiral.
Looking over her head at the approaching crowd the Admiral lifted the loudspeaker to his mouth.
“Witches!” he shouted. “Vergers!” But Ash could see the fear on his face, she could practically smell it. “Prison is too good,” the Admi
ral shouted. “We’ll make an example of the lot of you today and stamp out the resistance for good.”
His horse stepped closer. “And here—” He turned and with a sinister grin, gave his passenger a hard shove. Gus fell to the ground hard enough Ash could hear him thump as he hit the ground.
“—Take this traitorous scum to hell with you!”
Gus looked back up at the Admiral, confused and terrified.
“But I—”
“What?” the Admiral shouted down at him. “You thought I didn't know who you were? The General who turned faggot? The proud officer who got caught with his pants down? Go join your fellow vergents where you belong!”
The Admiral had his horse step back in line and Gus lay stunned where he fell, sprawled out on the wet concrete. He tried to stand up but his ankle hurt too much.
It's broken for sure this time, he thought as he collapsed back down onto the concrete.
And so am I.
Ash stood, frozen, still half lost in the future and shocked silent by the present until, like a cold wind descending upon her, she had sudden clarity.
Her whole life, she had struggled to find her place, to know who she was in a society that hated difference and hated her. But it was all for this moment. For this precise second in time. Ash wasn’t pushing forward with hope any longer but with certainty. The certainty that they would never give up until balance was restored. That resistance could never be killed. That—
A flock of crows flew across the sun, sending shadows across the ground, for a moment darkening the resistance and the State and Ash standing alone in between them. The flock passed by and disappeared beyond the walls of the City.
It’s now or never.
Locking eyes with the Admiral, Ash's voice came back to her.