Callen sensed the tragedy and moved Ky’s clothing to find a sea of blood spreading from his stomach. A sharp plastic dagger from the broken base of the bed had pierced Ky’s back and impaled him. Ky would never get the chance to answer Callen’s question.
A shaken Callen, turned to Professor Klim with a pained and sorrowful expression.
“I didn’t want him dead.”
“You have to go. If they catch you the City will make a lie of it and end all the questions being asked. If you escape, they’ll never be able to stop what you started.”
Callen nodded his head, agreeing with Klim. He looked to Ky, now lying dead. The cave they were in had few memories Callen wished to keep.
“They’ll be here soon. They gave him a credit bracelet so they can track him.” Klim said.
Callen came to Klim and extended a hand.
“Thank-you.”
“Good luck.”
It was a simple exchange, but a poignant one. Callen turned to the small tunnel that led to sunlight and crouched down to begin his last journey through the porthole. This time, emerging on the other side would mark the beginning of his third new life.
Chapter 24.
Klim walked his way calmly around the cave, looking at everything like a customer looking at goods in a shop. Less than five minutes passed when there was movement in the corridor outside. Klim went to the door as if greeting guests.
“Don’t move! Place your hands against the wall behind you!” said one of the policeman just arrived.
“Pat him down,” the man in uniform directed towards one of the others, as he touched a voice pad on his jacket and swivelled a small microphone so it hovered in front of his mouth. He placed two fingers on his ear piece to intensify the volume of the incoming voices.
“We have the area secured...... Yes, sir. One body only.. And one survivor ..... Absolutely, definitely Outlocked involvement. ..... Understood.”
The policeman took his finger from his ear piece and turned to yell at his subordinates.
“Out! Now! I want the whole place sealed off! No-one in or out! We’ve got the Chairman on his way to see it for himself.”
The policeman came close to Klim who was still standing with his hands on the wall above his head and his feet well apart.
“The Chairman asked that you wait inside the cave until he gets here. He wants to speak with you personally. And don’t touch anything,” the guard said with a good deal of menace in his voice. Klim moved into the cave and sat quietly on the same plastic crate that he’d earlier tried to use as a weapon. Outside the cave furious activity followed and yellow neon embedded plastic ribbon was placed over the entrance, effectively locking Klim in. Lights were hung on resin hooks that grasped the walls and all the time, Ky’s body remained untouched, waiting an audience with the City’s highest official.
Beyond the cave and moving further and further away from the City, Callen slowed to an easier jogging pace. A single Outlocked guard let himself be seen from a rocky outcrop and Callen instantly began waving and running towards the young scout, who obviously wasn’t prepared for such behaviour from a City intruder. More border guards appeared from nowhere a moment later and began waving spears and screaming. Callen held his arms aloft and walked forward until one of the band recognised him and broke ranks. The others quickly followed and Callen, close to exhaustion, happily became one of their group as they all headed away in the direction of the camp.
Alexi Prion strode down the well lit tunnel. He was far from being alone, joined by three other members of his ruling board and a group of a dozen administrative officers. Behind, a band of reporters with additional lights and cameras documented the moment as it happened. It was an odd sound as they walked. No longer was their progress marked by echoing footsteps, but by commentary from reporters who had yet to witness what lay ahead. At the police line, the Chairman and his party were ushered past the tape and into the cave.
Alexi looked to Klim with surprise. It was not who he’d expected to find. His contemporaries began to survey the room, but the presence of the administrators made the Chairman nervous. Klim’s presence signalled all had not gone to plan.
“I want every one out, except those on the board,” Alexi said, as the disgruntled administrators were forced to leave and wait outside with the officers and media.
“And move everyone back from here. We’d like some privacy.”
The disappointed crowd was moved back.
Klim looked smug when the Chairman returned to him. He seemed pleased by his private audience with the most powerful being in the City.
“Tell me what happened?” the Chairman said.
The question brought an even broader smile to Klim’s face. It was a smile born partially of nerves and partially from the great reveal he had to deliver.
“The Outlocked there fell on broken plastic. You can check if you like. He and the other boy, Callen, were wrestling. Then they fell, quite by accident. Callen escaped by the way. Through there.” Klim pointed at the tunnel doing little to hide his delight.
The Chairman walked the room and tried to mask his reaction so as to appear calm. Klim was feeling more and more confident that whatever happened, his dull and monotonous lifestyle within the city, was finally at an end.
“And you are?”
“Klim. Professor of humanities at Northern University. I teach philosophies and lifestyles.” Again his smile widened.
The Chairman stopped to look at him with controlled rage.
“Philosophies and lifestyle?”
Klim nodded. Both men knew the significance of such a job. The Chairman’s mind was ticking over at speed, searching for an acceptable spin on what had taken place. He was about to wipe the smug expression from Klim’s face and replace it with a forecast of a thousand rainy days.
“You’re an expert on the Outlocked and their ways. The press are outside, waiting to be briefed. You will brief them. That’s why we brought you in. You arrived after the boy was killed. You can walk the press through all of this and show them this cave. Tell them it’s how an Outlocked lives. I doubt there’ll be anyone who feels they’re missing out on anything when they see it. You will also tell them how this boy came to be killed. How he found his way to the Outlocked who lived here, right on the City’s doorstep. That Outlocked savage then killed him, stole what he could and escaped before we could stop him. Let them know the government will increase spending on defence and help stamp out any Outlocked living quarters, like this, threatening our borders. Assure them the threat from the Outlocked has been put down. But poor Callen over there met with an end that sadly, shows the stupidity and dangerous nature of his poorly judged hoax.”
Klim was stunned with the brazen fictional account being forced on him. He found it almost comical.
“They’ve all seen Callen. They’ll know it isn’t him the moment they see his face.”
Alexi moved to the body. He recognised Ky. He kicked at him until the body dislodged from the plastic dagger holding it in place. Ky slumped to the ground at the foot of the crippled bed. The Chairman wedged his foot under a shoulder and kicked Ky’s body over to allow it to reposition itself face up. With a closer look at Ky’s face his Board members also recognised him. They looked to their leader with great concern. They could all hear the rabble of hushed voices outside the cave, where the reporters, unable to see any of the events as they unfolded, tried as best they could to hold their audience’s attention with pure speculation. It was a difficult task, as they recapped on their already countless recaps. Few had any real concerns for those involved - they were more worried that the finale to this story would live up to what had gone before. The greatest hoax of the century needed a great final act to secure a few more ratings points.
Alexi raised his foot and brought his hand made leather heel down hard on the side of Ky’s face. He repeated the action not once, but four and then five times and each time, slices of flesh gathered and slipped from Ky’s scull, end
ing up bunched and bloodied as each downward thrust from the Chairman’s foot came to rest. Alexi moved away and wiped the heel of his shoe on the ground and then kicked some lose gravel over the bloody skid it created.
“The Outlocked deface their enemies, believing that without a face the soul can never leave the body. They believe this condemns a person’s inner being to be trapped within its human prison forever. It’s a barbaric ritual, but one that awaits any person following in this boy’s tragic footsteps. And I want you to make that point, very clear.”
“I won’t say any of it,” Klim replied, with contempt in his voice.
“I assume you’re expecting a change of lifestyle for your troubles here today?” Alexi said, accurately summing up Klim’s hopes.
“How long have you left to serve?”
“Thirteen years,” Klim said.
“You have a simple choice. Tell them what I’ve said and see your time left reduced considerably or go back to your current life as a respected professor. I’m sure I can find another expert to say what I want them to say. And then I’ll make sure you spend your sentence confined to your office. The rest of your able bodied life will be spent with your work; nothing else to occupy your mind. We’ll have food brought to you and your only contact with the outside world will be lecturing students. And your sentence won’t be limited to any set number of years, I promise you, you will die at your desk.”
The two men stood toe to toe in the silence that followed. Klim looked defeated. Now it was Alexi Prion’s turn to look smug. Klim walked like a condemned man to face the waiting media.
With the Chairman long gone, the reporters were eagerly lapping up every word the Professor had to offer. He’d been interviewed a dozen times and had given an on camera tour of the devastation within the cave at least four different times. The camera crews were filming every possible angle of the scene with great relish. The body of the young man was paid special attention and the detail shown and screened across every viewer within the city was enough to turn stomachs. The sight was horrendous and even those bitterly opposed to Callen for the lies and false hopes he’d been generating, couldn’t help but sympathize over the terrible fate that befell him.
The students were most affected and the entire campus came to a standstill as they gathered to see the live pictures on the large viewer. Jenny, Jay and Simone were devastated by what they saw. The pictures of their friend attacked and killed, was an image they could never rid from their minds. It was also a strong enough image to challenge the faith they held in Callen’s plea to believe in his existence, regardless of the stories told. The stories being told were too great to be dismissed.
Some hours later, the girls sat like statues, unable to help themselves through their grief, let alone console each other. Jenny’s eyes were bloodshot red from the tears she’d shed. Others rested their heads in their hands to find some inner privacy to grieve. Professor Klim came to them with a solemn greeting. Jenny looked to him for answers and received little more explanation than he’d given reporters. He explained that he drove the boys to the station and dropped them off. He only ventured into the cave on the request of officials after the incident had taken place. He’d rehearsed his story well and was perfectly convincing. The girls went back to ignoring him. But while Klim was only allowed to speak rehearsed lines relating to the incident in the cave, his musing’s were certainly his own to direct.
“Did you see the pictures of him on the viewer?”
The group looked to Klim as one. It was hardly an appropriate thing to ask. They were all trying desperately to wipe those images from their minds, but Klim wasn’t going to let them.
“A lot of blood wasn’t there?”
“We saw the pictures,” Jenny said curtly, hoping Klim would get the message they’d rather not discuss the event in any more detail.
“Funny though,” said Klim. “With the blood and the mess of it all, you can hardly even notice they swapped their clothes, your friend and that other boy.”
Jenny looked up at Klim, her eyes again wide and full of life. The others also suddenly gave Klim their full attention. Klim wasn’t interested in making too much of the moment and continued throwing away his thoughts.
“Hardly surprising no-one noticed. Almost the same clothes they were wearing - except for the hood. I just can’t work out why they’d swap like that.” Klim left the thought with Callen’s friends as he walked away, still muttering to himself. Jenny, Simone, Jay and the others got up and began to run in one motion. They headed for the main university viewer, still reporting on Callen’s demise in an unending stream of sensationalised story. The presenters were now finding fairly obscure ways to work those horrifically gory pictures back onto their screens. As Jenny and her friends looked at the images with fresh eyes, they realised Klim was right. The clothes were Ky’s and not Callen’s, but unlike Klim’s poor attempt to work out the significance, they had no doubt what those clothes on that lifeless body meant. Callen was alive.
Chapter 25.
Callen was taken to a second group of Outlocked, still some distance from the main camp. It was a group being led by Lien who was conducting a search of the area for Ky. Ky had been missing for over a week when Lien returned from his journey to the City and there had been no sign of him since. As the group of scouts joined his camp, Lien couldn’t believe the sight of Callen amongst them and he flung his arms around the young man with all the warmth and sincerity of any father welcoming a son back into his arms. He was given food and water before Lien felt comfortable enough to find some privacy to speak alone.
“I didn’t know. When you left I went to the Elders to tell them what had happened. I’m ashamed to say I was more worried about Eve than anything else. But I had no idea about any of it. Gerda asked me to come with her. I was shocked when I found out where we were headed.”
“I believe you,” Callen said.
Callen’s forgiveness brought great relief to Lien who wasn’t sure, if the tables were turned, he’d be so trusting.
“I know one person who’ll be pleased to see you,” Lien said trying to raise Callen’s spirits. Callen hardly moved. His head stayed still and he never once looked away from the ground.
“Ky’s dead,” he said.
Lien’s shock was evident and he wanted details. The two sat for almost an hour as Callen retold the events that led to Ky’s death. As far as Lien was concerned, it was something brought about by Ky and the City, not by Callen’s journey. Ky had made his own decisions and the price he paid was more than enough to right his memory.
Callen appreciated everything Lien was saying, but he was a long way from forgiving himself for a trip he considered a failure. The fact that Ky lost his life as a result only compounded his guilt.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about,” Lien said to him.
Callen wasn’t convinced.
“I thought I’d be making a name for myself. That’s why I did it.”
“You’re not the first person your age to be ambitious.”
“Would you be saying that if Eve was the one who died?”
Lien looked to Callen.
“She’s fine and so are you. Learn from it. You have to move on. And you will, trust me. It takes a long time to forget what the City teaches. But there isn’t a better place to do it than here.”
The large wooden gates to the camp swung open as Lien’s party returned from their search. Within the camp heads turned in astonishment at Callen’s presence. The party came to a halt and both Lien and Callen dismounted and ran towards the opening that led to the building at the camp’s centre. They entered and passed quickly through Lien’s office, coming to a halt at the far door. Lien gently knocked as Callen bounced from foot to foot in anticipation of seeing Eve.
“Sweetheart, it’s me,” Lien said, trying to sound as comforting as he could. There was no reply.
“Can I come in?”
“Did you find Ky?” a timid wavering voice asked. Lien tu
rned the handle, opening the door. He could see his daughter lying on her bed, her face away from him.
“We didn’t find Ky,” he said.
“Eve,” Callen called unable to restrain himself any longer. Eve spun around towards the voice. It was the first time since her return that her head had not been buried in her pillow.
“Callen!” she screamed, as she jumped from the bed and threw herself into his arms. The couple kissed, then hugged, then kissed a second time with total disregard for Lien who, for once, found himself enjoying the sight of his daughter’s embrace with Callen. Slowly Lien backed himself out of the room, closing the door behind him and giving the couple privacy as they both began their new lives together.
Chapter 26 - Epilogue.
Alone, on a green pastured hillside, one of the Elders waited for a visitor from the City. It wasn’t an event that happened often, but when such a request was made by the City’s board, the Elders saw no reason to disallow it. On this occasion the woman approaching, looked old, which was usually the way of such visits. They tended to be granted later in life and only on request from an outstanding citizen. The woman approached and was duly greeted by the single selected Elder who introduced herself as Lita and asked what she could show the newly arrived guest to the Outlocked lands. The older woman’s reply brought a smile to Lita’s face and she instantly understood why she, out of all the Elders, had been chosen for the task.
“I’m looking for the grave of Callen Helfner,” she said.
Lita nodded and began leading the way across the grasses to an open field of impressive gravestones. As they walked, she took great pride in announcing her relationship to the man being sought.
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