by P. S. Lurie
“Careful,” I say, as I grab Tess and stop her from falling over.
“Thanks.”
“Mind your head,” I hear Ruskin say to someone up ahead but I don’t know who. He and I have been through here twice, and Melissa and Selene once on the way back although Selene remembers nothing. A few Middlelanders scouted through here but that’s about it. Not that I can guarantee but I doubt there are any side tunnels or secret exits on top of this one so I have to believe that Ronan is telling the truth or we’ll be shot on sight as soon as we emerge. Worse, making me stumble as the thought occurs to me, in the pitch black underpass, any guards with heat-sensitive glasses would detect us before we even heard them coming.
Dante cusses as his torch dimmers to the lowest of light and then the bulb gives out completely.
In the dark, I feel a hand make its way to my palm and fingers that are familiar to the touch slip through mine. I squeeze them back.
“Everyone ok?” I whisper.
“Yes,” Ruskin says, along with a few other murmurs.
Because of our first journey through here in the opposite direction, Ruskin and I realised that the tunnel was too long to carry Selene in the dark plus we didn’t know what we’d find at the other end, so we scoured the hospital for any light sources we could find. The longest-lasting portable technology were hand-held devices with nozzles at the end that Melissa explained were for examining ears, throats and up nostrils. The lights were powerful and got us through the first fifteen arduous minutes of dragging Selene as Melissa led the way.
We pass certain points that we have to filter into single file where the tunnel narrows and I remember how it proved impossible for us to walk in a line of three, carrying Selene side by side. At first we thought about returning to the hospital and attempting the journey again but with a stretcher, until the substitute torches went flat on us and there was only darkness in either direction; we hoped that we were near the exit so pushed on. Those final five minutes were some of the scariest in my life.
Selene had long passed out when we scrambled for the stairs but we managed to manoeuvre her to the top and into daylight. Dante helped, and as terrified as we were to encounter him, we soon learnt that we were grateful he monitored the passage daily or we would have hit a dead end and had to retreat. We could have still been in the Upperlands if it wasn’t for him.
The other thing that saved us was that not one of us admitted at the time how petrified we were but that night, in temporary housing once we had realised the people were Middlelanders, we broke down in tears of relief and postponed terror.
“This is ridiculous,” Travis says, as he scuffs his hands along the side of the tunnel and I hear gravel crumble to the ground.
“The uniform has a light,” Selene pipes up.
“We might be detected,” says Ronan.
“We’ll be detected anyway,” Tess says.
“You still have those glasses?” Claire asks.
“Lost them.”
“Turn on the light,” Travis says.
Dante rebukes him, his own light having already failed. “We’re doing fine without it. Just keep walking.”
“I say we use it,” counters Ruskin. “If any guards are here then it doesn’t matter whether it’s light or dark.”
I hear Melissa’s voice from near the back of the line. “It’s still far. We’ll go crazy without light.” She’s right; even without Selene to slow us down it’s a long distance. When Ruskin and I first came into the Upperlands, our brothers had strong spotlights and the rush of adrenaline overwhelmed any sense of time and distance.
I calculate that we must be under the Fence by now, so maybe halfway in total.
“We can move quicker if we can see where we’re going,” Samuel says.
“Agreed,” Claire voices.
No one has disagreed with the decision except Dante but he’s outnumbered. Ronan pushes past me and I hear a click as a light emanates from his sleeve and grows stronger. He turns a dial as the tunnel ahead becomes visible. “There’s a good thirty minutes of power so we should be fine,” he says.
“That’s more than we need.” I look behind me and Ruskin’s face is beautifully lit by the back-glow. Behind him the rest of the group fade into obscurity. There should be no danger from that direction so we only need to worry about what’s in front of us; if anyone does come this way it will be a good test of Ronan’s loyalty, although I’m one of the few of us to carry a gun so I’ll have to work out whether I’m prepared to kill a child. For now, I let Ronan lead the way.
I can’t believe I’m relying on an eight year old boy to guide me.
Melissa
I’m quite happy at the back of the line just behind Tess. Samuel has decided there’s nothing to worry about so strides ahead, determined that he would protect his girlfriend if anyone shoots at us although we’ll all be dead if that’s the case, it’s just that some of us will drop quicker than others.
Selene is just ahead of him and I can just about make out her limp. She may be concealing it to the others but I know her better than anyone. She’s as tall as Travis and barely has enough space to stand in the tunnel. When we carried her through she was frail and curled up and her stature wasn’t an issue. Over the past months she’s returned to her former self: looming over everyone with her height but also her stubbornness. She may look fierce on the outside but she’s still plagued by the memories of people from which she can’t escape.
“You doing alright?” I ask Tess, having dropped back a little from the main group.
“Yeah,” she says curtly, not stopping to turn to me, unwilling for this conversation.
“You could have gone with the others onto the boat.”
“So could you.”
“I’m the one who knows the Upperlands, remember.”
“And I’m the one who ran away last time.”
It’s a bone of contention between some of the Middlelanders who believe they did the right thing in escaping by sea on the night of the first cull and those who think they should have stayed behind and fought the Upperlanders. The choice of language is important and I know which side Tess is on by calling what she did running away.
“You and Samuel couldn’t have been Rehoused together.”
No comeback.
“You haven’t told him yet, have you?”
Tess hushes me, irritated because the sound will carry our exchange and revealing her pregnancy could end up with Samuel forcing her to leave. Me too as her companion, I reckon, so I end my questioning. I’ve mulled over whether I should say anything about her secret but it’s her choice and it’s not like sitting on a boat in freezing conditions overnight, waiting to see if anyone is coming to attack, would be brilliant for her health.
I’m still contemplating our chances of passing the hospital because I know Tess is worried about the baby as she senses some complication, so I wouldn’t mind carrying out an ultrasound for her peace of mind.
It’s only when Ronan switches on his torch that I consider that the electricity might be turned off through the Upperlands so the plan might be a lost cause before it even gets going and I decide not to mention it to Tess.
The air becomes wetter. I feel the damp settle on my forehead and the heavy condensation makes me thirsty. I remove my backpack to fetch some water but I’m stopped mid-process by the noise of someone approaching from the other end of the tunnel. Apart from the sound of the footsteps, I hear a gun clicking a bullet chamber into place followed by Ronan’s voice. “Hands up.”
“Don’t shoot,” says the man, as he approaches. I crane my neck to see through the crowd in front of me and can just about make out the figure of a middle-aged man with his hands in the air. Ronan turns down the light beam and the stranger’s face comes into view.
I’m the only one out of the ten of us that knows who he is.
Theia
“My mother loved you but she loved me more.” My opening gambit isn’t much but I know where I�
�m leading with this.
“Clearly.” Spit flies out of Dr Jefferson’s mouth, like a wild animal already provoked into not being able to stop and think why I’m saying this, unless he just thinks I’m a brat after all.
“Do you remember? I spoke to you on the walkie-talkie just after she died. You had killed everyone in the hospital. ‘We can be together,’ you said.”
“And you told me she was dead. That they killed her.” He throws his arms out in fury towards President Callister’s direction but swings them too far and it knocks him off balance, as if his limbs are detached from his body. I don’t know the degree of his torture but his injuries seem extensive. I wonder if he’ll have any strength to make an impact.
“I lied.”
“You?” He can hardly believe it but his question ends in a growl. “You killed her?”
I’ve dreaded telling the truth ever since that night because I still hold myself responsible for her death even if I wasn’t the one to pull the trigger. I have to say the words out loud to provoke Dr Jefferson into attacking me.
“I broke their rules. Guards in a helicopter spotted me trying to escape and they shot at me. My mother, Penelope” – I throw in for effect – “ran into the firing line and took the punishment.”
“Penny,” he whimpers.
I feel his pain too. We both loved this woman and we were both wrong about her in our own ways but Dr Jefferson didn’t doubt her loyalty until it was too late, whereas I questioned it too early and never had a chance to tell her how wrong I was. She died not knowing this, wondering why I had turned away from her.
Outside of hearing her voice, I can’t remember the last time I suffered an involuntary flashback to that night yet one image swipes through my mind. My mother’s looking for the necklace that I had traded in for fireworks earlier that day but nothing hangs around my neck. She died thinking I’d given up on her.
I can’t give up on Leda and Ronan. I need to carry on winding up my adversary because I can sense that he’s almost there.
“She could have lived.”
“I took her place,” I say, forcing false pride to resonate through my tone. He lurches forward, not liking what he’s hearing. One more addition should do the trick. “And now we decide whether Leda has a sister or a father.”
I imagine Adam Jefferson will determine that he deserves to live over me for this fact alone, that he wants to be reunited with his daughter but I’m foolish because I forgot he was willing to give her up to the Upperlanders at the arena and instead he scoffs and shakes his head. “You think I care about a baby? I wanted to be with the love of my life. You took that from me.”
With that, he rushes at me with a stagger. It’s only as he’s about to make contact do I realise that during the great cull and my time in the prison I have never killed anyone with my bare hands and now I have no choice if I want to live past this point.
Zeke
I’m catching up to what’s playing out beneath me but by the time the fight ensues I have more questions than when I first stumbled upon this commotion. From what I can make out, the girl who looks about my age, Theia, is talking to the beaten down man whilst President Callister watches on. I’ve never seen our leader when she wasn’t speaking rehearsed lines and adorned by the community. As I listen to their conversation two things strike me: firstly, this girl is important to President Callister even though there have been plenty of opportunities in which she could have died and, secondly, that Theia has obviously been provoking the doctor into attacking her but he hasn’t needed much encouragement. I want to help in some way but this doesn’t concern me and any one of the twenty or so child soldiers will kill me at the merest hint of my presence. I check behind me but still no one is following, which is easily explained by the fact it’s heating up and I’ll be flushed out. I should escape from the metal furnace or at least shield my eyes from the violence but I’m fixated and can’t keep myself from watching on.
I’ve watched every announcement during the Surges when the Middlelanders were still in their homes and then again at the arena as the monthly executions took place. The only one I missed was the very last in which the Upperlanders were told to pack and move into the Utopia because, by that time, I was already up here, unaware about the fate of my neighbours who weren’t as fortunate. I know President Callister has kept us in line through ordering us to be grateful and loyal and anyone not fulfilling these requirements was speedily removed. But this girl has managed to outlive what should have been an obvious guilt: she has a baby sister, far beneath the age allowed of the Middlelanders to be Rehoused.
The one thing I don’t need to question is why President Callister would risk Theia dying in this fight because it is an unfair match from the get go. The doctor who seems to be in love with Theia’s mother – she died, the great cull I come to learn – has no chance in his withered state.
If I had any doubt that President Callister was callous then this is the final nail in the coffin. I don’t understand why this is happening, only that it is a hideous thing to arrange and I want no part in any world that she will control.
The man who loved Theia’s mother attacks and there’s nothing I can do except to watch on in breathless horror. He throws himself on top of the girl, managing to get more of an advance than I gave him credit for but that’s where his strength ends because whilst he tries to pummel her there’s no effect. She doesn’t manage to knock the man off balance but every direct hit he makes, about one in every four or five, is weak and she doesn’t flinch and for the other attempts it’s easy for Theia to defend herself and swipe his hands away. Still, she does little more than defending herself and I wonder if she can’t bring herself to hit him. It’s a question no one knows the answer: could you really hurt someone if it came down to it?
I receive my answer when, after grunting and shifting her weight, Theia seems to glance at President Callister and I guess that she’s checking that her sister is facing away before she retaliates. She swivels her body and Dr Jefferson slams into the floor. He’s winded and not moving anywhere as she catches her breath, moves on top of him and starts to untie the piece of fabric that is wrapped around her wrist. She hesitates and then kneels beside him. I can’t hear what he says to her but after his few hushed words she winds the cloth around his neck.
Dr Jefferson doesn’t try to wriggle free. There seems to be an almost tacit understanding between them, as if whatever he said gave her the permission or conviction to end his life. It’s a matter of seconds that feel like hours as he takes his final breaths and then the silence is broken as Theia lets go, collapses onto the ground behind her and lets out a bloodcurdling scream that signals the soul that she has taken not just from him but from herself.
Ruskin
“That’s my gun,” Jack says to Ronan, realising that the soldier had stolen it from him sometime in the dark but I’m not concerned about that. Instead, I take in the man’s silhouette.
“Jason?”
Jack grabs my hand. “No,” he whispers, but I have already worked out it isn’t my brother from the stature alone. However, in that moment, wishful thinking gave me so much hope but as the man comes into the light he is much older than Jason would have been. I don’t recognise him.
“Who are you?” Ronan asks.
“You came from the Middlelands?”
“Tell us your name,” says Travis, firmly.
“Patrick. It’s Patrick. I’m no danger to you. I just want to get out of here. I’ve tried this tunnel so many times but it’s always sealed.”
Melissa brushes past me. “I know who you are.”
“Let me go,” he pleads, but Melissa continues.
“In the prison. You tried to kill us. Theia and Maddie locked you in a cell after you killed a woman.”
“That’s not fair,” Patrick says, as he thrusts his hands farther into the air. “We all tried to kill one another. Those were the rules. You can’t put that on me.”
I remember him
now. When we were in the prison courtyard, after Jack’s mother had been killed and Selene had arrived, a man shouted at us from behind the bars in a cell from a few floors up. “We left you to drown,” I say, just narrating events and ignoring the complexity of guilt due to leaving someone to suffer a painful death, as if that was a justified action whilst cold-blooded murder wasn’t.
“Didn’t drown. At first I guessed the Fence held the water out but that didn’t make sense when I heard the bombs. This tunnel convinced me that they lied to us all.”
“No flood,” Selene says. “The water receded. Before the great cull in fact.”
Patrick cackles bitterly at the revelation that we’ve already learnt but still hate hearing. “Fucking Upperlanders.” Then he creases his eyes at Selene. “That group of women I attacked... I could’ve sworn I saw you before but... no... you’re much too young.”
“My mother,” she says.
Melissa takes over. “We attacked you? I remember it differently. You impaled a woman with a metal leg.”
“We all did what we had to. Not like any of you are innocent.” It’s an educated guess and one he murmurs to himself as not one of us can rebuke the accusation, especially not Melissa who I imagine is thinking of killing Jack’s mother in order to protect us.
“Why are you coming this way?” Ronan asks.
“I’ve tried to get through this tunnel for weeks now ever since I found it. No way through the Fence and no way over it. I’ve waited nearby to see if anyone would use it. Then I heard echoes. I was a Middlelander too.”