by Petosa, Jess
She pulled back.
“We shouldn’t,” she said as she stepped back from him. “Maybe if things had started differently..." She stopped talking, not wanting to finish the sentence, but she could see in Max's expression that he understood. Maybe if she had never gone to the City, and had met Max first. Or maybe if she had been born in Champaign, they would have been together. But things hadn't happened that way, and she owed it to Luke to give their relationship a fighting chance. If she did that, and things still didn't work out, at least she could say she tried.
Max leaned toward her again. “I don’t give up that easily.”
Suddenly the music stopped and the dim lights cut off.
"Raid!" Someone yelled from the back of the room.
The doors burst open, and tall figures marched into the room. In the dark, they would look like tall, menacing figures. Ally's Exceptional eyesight could see them for what they really were though. Exceptional Guards. She grabbed Max's arm and pulled him away from the chaos.
"What is going on?" she yelled at him.
He shook his head. "It is rare that they do a night raid. They must know you are here.”
Ally’s eyes widened with panic.
"It will be fine," Max was pulling Ally now, toward the back door near the stage. "We are prepared for this. We have a place we hide the Exceptionals that live here, in case the City decides it wants them back."
“Wait, how many Exceptionals live here?” She had thought she and Carla were some of the only.”
Max ignored her and pulled her down a dark hallway.
They burst out into the back of the club. It was silent outside compared to the noises in the club. Since the townspeople had nothing to hide from the Exceptionals, they would eventually line up in the streets and get the interrogation over with. But Ally, Stosh, and Sabine had something to hide.
"My brother!" Ally cried out. "And Sabine..."
"They will be safe," Max stopped pulling her for one moment. "I saw them slip out the side door with Jed."
"Willow?" Ally croaked.
"Carla will take care of her, and Cody. I need you to trust me, Ally," Max's eyes pleaded with her. "Please. If I could I would drag you out of here, but I know you could fight me off."
"What does it matter if they catch me? I want to go back anyway!" The thought just dawned on Ally. If the Guards caught her, she would have a quick trip back to the City. Back to Luke.
"I could tell him that you guys are coming. We could arrange a meeting with the guns," she said quickly.
Max shook his head. "We can't chance it. For all we know these Guards are working separate from Luke."
Ally let out a frustrated groan. "Why can't anything ever go as planned? This is why we need to have several plans for our trip," she pointed out as she marched past him.
Max caught up quickly, a slight grin on his face. "I knew you'd come around. Follow me."
They ran toward the outskirts of town, where several warehouses stored food, goods, and weapons. Max led her to a warehouse in the middle of the pack.
"You'll have to move the door," he peered back at Ally. "It is too heavy for me."
Ally felt self conscious of her abilities in that moment. It felt wrong that she would be doing the heavy lifting, but it was a burden she had chosen to live with. She carried the answer to those problems in her pack each and every day. She stepped up to the door and placed her hands along the edge, pulling it with half her strength. It budged, but just barely.
"Man, this door really is heavy. What is it made of?"
"Titanium, I think. Just hurry up!" Max was looking antsy now.
Ally could hear the Guards moving through the woods, something Max couldn't even sense yet, but they were still minutes away. She gave the door a pull with her full strength and it slid to the side.
"There is a staircase to the right. Follow it down three flights and knock on the door at the bottom two times. There are two doors, make sure you knock on the one marked with the blue cross. Another Exceptional should open it for you," Max rattled off instructions.
"Where are you going?" She stepped into the dark doorway and watched him.
"I have to get back to town. I'll need to be accounted for. Either me, or someone else, will come and get you when we think it's safe. It might be several hours though. Close the door behind you."
Ally nodded and slid the door back into place, watching Max's form disappear along with the outside light. She located the staircase in the dark and hurried down the flights of stairs. She reached the door with the blue cross and knocked two times. The door appeared to vibrate and then slowly, it slid open. Two violet eyes peered out at her, looked her up and down, and the door slid the rest of the way open.
"Hey, it's Max's girl," the boy Exceptional cried out. "The special one from the City.”
Ally could hear the acidic undertone to his voice. Maybe she would take her chances with the Guard after all.
"Quit it, Minx," a girl's voice sounded from inside the room. "You are just jealous that the City didn't want you."
The boy disappeared from the doorway and a scuffle took place inside the room. Ally took the moment to step inside, and in less than a second counted twenty-three pairs of violet eyes. Ally was taken aback. She had no idea there were this many Exceptionals living in Champaign, and she was surprised neither Heath nor Max had mentioned it. Given the sour welcome she received when she entered the town, she was astonished that these Exceptionals were here.
A young girl stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Neena."
Ally smiled. "Ally."
"Oh, we've heard all about you," the same boy from the doorway said from the ground, where a younger girl was sitting on his chest.
"I'm Lilla," she said with a giggle. "Don't mind my brother Minx, he's just jealous."
"Am not," Minx said from underneath Lilla.
Ally spent the next five minutes introducing herself to the rest of the Exceptionals in the room. A few she had seen out and about before, having no idea they were Exceptionals, but most were unfamiliar. When she asked about it Lilla had an easy explanation.
"Most of us are wanted back in the City, so we have to stay hidden to keep ourselves safe. We work in these warehouses, keeping track of who takes what and how many items are left."
“Yeah, not all of us get the luxury of living in the nice town homes and spending our days free of work.” Minx crossed his arms over his chest.
"Why not just head south, get away from the City," Ally asked, ignoring Minx completely.
"We like it here," a woman named Esma answered. "Heath is kind to us."
“And the others?” Ally asked curiously. “They are okay with you being here?”
There was no kind way to pose the question.
Esma smirked. “Heath has kept our existence a secret. The less people that know, the less of a chance we have of getting caught. Besides, none of the Ordinarys in Champaign want to come to the warehouses to work. They don’t complain that someone else is doing the job for them, or question who is doing it for them.”
After that Lilla led Ally to a makeshift bed against the right wall. "In case we need to spend the night," Lilla told her.
The room was large, and Ally realized it was the basement storeroom of the warehouse they were in. She grabbed a box off the shelf and opened it up. It was filled to the top with small hairbrushes and combs. Shelves branched off into darkness since only the front of the room was lit at the moment. Many of the Exceptionals were reading books or watching movies on a small TV in the corner. Ally joined Lilla on the floor, anxious to know more about this group.
"Why did you leave the City?" Ally asked almost immediately.
Lilla leaned back against a couch cushion, tucking her hands under her legs. "Same reason for most of us, I guess: differing opinions from those of the leaders."
Ally nodded. "And now they are after you?"
"Are they after you?" Lilla shot back.
"Yes, but I didn't l
eave on the best terms." Ally thought about kidnapping Willow and then slaughtering the Guards at the wall.
"None of us did," Lilla said softly. "Aden doesn't take kindly to Exceptionals leaving the City. We all did what we had to, to survive."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Ally filled the time by picking at a frayed edge on the bottom of her pants. Had she really done what was necessary to survive? Was killing those Guards necessary? Of course, she hadn't known she was going to kill them. She had been hoping to just knock them down and slow down their pursuit. And then there was the other matter, the one she rarely allowed herself to think about.
The look on Luke's face after she had done it.
He had never looked at her like that before. Sabine was right; Luke was most likely a different boy than the one she left. But she was also a different girl.
"How long do these things normally last?" Ally broke the silence.
"An hour or two if the townspeople cooperate. If someone causes trouble, or the Guards feel like checking homes, we could be here until tomorrow," Lilla answered.
Ally sighed. Was this raid forced upon Champaign because of her, or was this just a random occurrence?
"Wouldn't it be nice to be able to raid the City? To make them line up in the streets and account for their families?" Lilla said suddenly.
Ally noticed the brightening gleam in her eyes, and the sinister smile on her face.
Lilla raised her hand, palm up. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
Ally laughed. "I don't really even know what all I can do."
Lilla raised one eyebrow. "How is that even possible?"
Ally fought back and forth with whether or not to tell Lilla her story, about how she came to be an Exceptional, but something inside of her finally decided against it. Lilla was nice, but there was something about her that made Ally nervous.
"They are just still developing," she finally said.
Lilla nodded. "Late bloomer. Watch this..."
She placed her palm on the floor and her eyes began to glow. The lights around them shimmered across the room in a wave, and finally the TV sparked and turned off. The Exceptionals gathered around it grumbled and complained, and Ally heard Lilla leave several of their mouths.
"You can control electricity?" Ally's mouth hung open. "No wonder you ran from the City, you were probably at the top of Aden's acquisition list."
Lilla nodded. "I can only manipulate what is already there. I can't create it, but it is still pretty cool. I can also move objects a few inches at a time, like most of the other Exceptionals."
Ally raised her hand, trying to figure out how to display her abilities. "I can move objects pretty far if I concentrate enough. That part of me developed easily. This part however..."
She finally centered her thoughts on a large, blue ball sitting against the opposite wall. There were no Exceptionals in her path, or sitting within ten yards of the object. She let her abilities loose and watching as the white light lit up the space between them, and made contact with the ball. The rubber material wobbled for a moment and then burst into a thousand pieces. A burnt circle and scraps of rubber were all that were left in a matter of seconds.
Now Lilla's mouth hung open. "Whoa"
The room fell completely silent, and Ally didn't have to look around to know that the rest of the Exceptionals were watching her.
"So that tree by the club..." Minx appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to Ally.
"That was me," she said with some amusement.
Minx grinned at her. "Cool."
He was younger than she had originally thought. Eleven or twelve years old, maybe. Both he and his sister had blonde hair light enough to look white, and skin as pale as snow. She imagined that if their eyes weren't violet, they would be blue like ice, to match the rest of their appearance.
Over the next two hours she learned a little bit about Lilla and Minx. How they had lived in the City since birth, and had spent a good amount of time in the training center. It was when Aden started to come after Lilla that their parents decided to make a run for it.
"There is a group in the City that helps Exceptionals escape," Lilla told Ally.
Ally stared at the concrete floor in front of her. "A group? I mean, don't get me wrong, it is great that there are people helping, but we managed to escape quite easily on our own."
Lilla let out a loud laugh and for a moment Ally thought she might be hysterical.
"Ally, you only truly escaped because they wanted you to. Don't you think they monitor those surrounding woods with more than just Guards? The only reason teenage Exceptionals get over the wall to explore the settlements is because Aden allows it. He knows they'll be back. But if he felt that someone was leaving, and he didn't want them to, they wouldn't make it ten feet past that wall."
Ally let those words sink in. "How did you find out about this group?" She was curious that she hadn't heard of it, and that Luke didn't seem to know about it.
"It is very secretive, and usually only known amongst the outer neighborhoods" Ally knew that translated to 'poorer neighborhoods'.
"And they are the ones that got you in contact with Heath?" she asked.
Lilla nodded. "We were brought straight here, and we haven't left since."
Their conversation tapered off there. With her body relaxed against the wall, Ally started to drift off. It had been dark out when they entered the club, and she knew it was getting late. She pulled her legs up into her arms and looked around. Many of the other Exceptionals were curled up on their makeshift beds, trying to fall asleep. Minx had disappeared a while ago, but Lilla still sat next to her, manipulating small amounts of electricity around them. Ally was just about to crawl over to her own assigned bed when two knocks sounded on the steel door across the room.
Lilla popped up, along with several other Exceptionals, including Ally. They all moved as one toward the door, practicing caution as a group. Minx leaned against the door and waited. This time six knocks came, in a musical sort of tone, and Minx pulled open the door.
Max slipped into the room quickly, followed by Heath. They both laid eyes on Ally, a grim expression on their faces.
"What? I'm fine, see. I'm just glad you guys showed up before bedtime..." She stopped speaking when their stares grew uncomfortable. "What? What happened?"
"Ally," Max said as he stepped forward.
"Tell me, Max," she stepped back in response.
"They took Stosh and Sabine," Heath blurted out.
"What?” Ally said with force.
"Ally," Heath said her name this time.
"Don't Ally me," she spat, "Tell me what happened."
"We have hiding spots for runaway Ordinarys," Max started. "Spots more local to the town center. When Stosh and Sabine slipped out the side door, Jed gave them directions to the safe spot. They were intercepted along the way."
"We had to pretend that we didn't know they were here," Heath added. "We all would have been in trouble and they would have searched the entire town. They searched a portion of the homes where you have been staying, but never got to the Warehouse. Something called them back to the City."
"So you just abandoned them?" Ally said. "You didn't fight for them, or try to get them back?"
"There was nothing we could have done!" Heath shot back. "We don't have the ability to fight them. A dozen Exceptional Guards versus hundreds of Ordinarys still isn't a fair fight."
"I would have turned them to ashes," Ally said through gritted teeth.
"Not before I electrocuted them," Lilla said from her side. She had forgotten about the others up until that point.
"We leave tonight," Ally pushed past Max and Heath and entered the stairwell. She knew they would be fast on her heels.
"Ally, we need to talk about this," Heath said as he hurried up the stairs behind her. She could hear more than one set of footsteps so she knew Max was following as well.
"No more talking. I'm going with or without you,
" Ally burst into the warehouse and walked over to the big steel door. A smaller door hung open near the top of a catwalk, which was probably how Max and Heath had gotten in. She used all her strength to slide the door open and the effort broke it off its hinges. The door slammed to the floor of the warehouse, narrowly missing Max and Heath.
"They have leverage now," she said. "They won't want to make a deal for the guns. They are going to be making a deal for my brother and Sabine."
She stopped outside of the warehouse and Heath came to her side. "I know. That is why we need to talk. We can't let this ruin our chances at a deal."
"We shouldn't be making a deal in the first place. We should be giving them the guns because it is the right thing to do. Now I'll be bargaining for the lives of Stosh and Sabine." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Max. Even though none of this was his fault, she felt a little aggravation when it came to their friendship. She realized that if Stosh and Sabine really had been taken to the City, Luke would be in charge of their capture. She felt a small bit of relief at that thought, but it was short lived.
"We leave tonight," she said firmly.
Ally took off at a run towards town. It was pitch black by now, with no moon for light, so it would be more difficult for Max and Heath to catch her. She wasn't going to let them talk her out of this. She would gather her stuff and go to Max's house, where she knew at least he would be waiting. But first she had a stop to make.
"Hey Al." Willow was bent over a bed in the upstairs of the processing center. An older woman lay on the thin mattress, the sheets and blankets tucked tightly around her. Her skin was pallid, and the space beneath her eyes sunken. She was clearly sick.
"Should you be caring for people this sick, Willie?" Ally's eyes traveled down to Willow's midsection. A small bump protruded from her stomach, stretching her shirt ever so slightly.
"Emma isn't sick, Al, she's old," Willow said softly.
The old woman's throat cackled in what sounded like a couch mixed with a laugh. "I could still take you on."
Willow smiled and patted the old lady's hand. "Rest, Emma."
They left the room; Willow shutting the door behind her. "Emma is eighty-three years old, ancient in settlement terms. Carla believes she is on her deathbed, so we are just keeping her comfortable."