When he doubled over, she put both of her hands together to form a fist and brought it down on his back as hard as she could. He was now on the floor on his hands and knees. She approached him to kick him.
Instead of the kick connecting with his body, he caught her right foot and pulled it. Roxal lost her balance and fell to the floor. Hard. Her right tailbone screamed from the contact with the cold, solid floor. He pulled her body towards him using the leg he had caught. Her right leg was now trapped under his body, so she used her free left leg to knee him in his side. He rolled to her right as she scampered away to her left. Now they were both on their feet and he yelled.
“Security Force! There is an escape in progress!”
She ran to him and punched him in the nose before he could say anything else. There was a crunch and blood now ran down his face. She punched him in his throat and he began gasping for air. She punched his face again, and this time he went down. She went into his right pocket and felt the comm pad inside. It was fastened somehow and her hands were shaking so much she could not open it.
Roxal searched the table where he had placed the injector and found a sharp medical apparatus. Using it, she tore into his pocket and took the comm pad. Holding on to the comm pad, the injector, and the medical device, she listened for sounds of movement outside the door. Hearing nothing, she looked around the recovery room once more before leaving.
On a wall not far from where she stood, she saw a storage shelf that contained extra clothes. She grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants and put them both on over hers. She was not sure what conditions she would encounter on the outside and wanted clothing other than the thin recovery garments she was wearing. She noticed that what she was now wearing was golden-yellow and not blue, but wearing the wrong caste colors was the least of her problems at this point.
She put the comm pad, the injector, and the medical apparatus into the pocket of her new shirt. Finally, she walked back over to Quarx’s still unmoving body and took his shoes and put them on herself. Then she dragged his body over to the door, used his limp hand to activate the biolock, and stepped into the hallway. She hoped he was still alive, but did not check to see if he was, because she could not afford to take any longer than necessary to get out.
Once outside the medical room, she listened for the sounds of anyone coming. She did not know if anyone had heard his call for the Security Force. So far, she still heard nothing. He had told her the comm pad would help her escape, so she activated it. As she looked at the thin, reflective screen, a blinking dot appeared along the lower edge of the display with a flashing arrow pointing to the right.
Roxal assumed she was the dot and the arrow was where she should go. So she followed the arrow. As she scampered along the path as the arrow directed, her tailbone began hurting on her right side. Limping, but not stopping, she continued on.
The arrow first led her straight. Then, after passing two hallways on either side, she went left down the indicated hallway. Each time she came to an opening, she paused and held her breath, trying to steel herself for what would happen if the Security Force was waiting for her. After doing this a few times, she realized, The Security Force would not sneak up on me. They would loudly let me know they were present and then kill me.
After having this thought, she continued forward as fast as her limp would allow. After the first left, she continued going forward and turning as her map dictated. Finally, as she walked down a long hallway, the arrow disappeared. She touched the screen to make sure it was still activated. It was, because the dot representing her was still on the screen. So, not knowing what else to do, she turned around and went back the way she had come.
She alternated between looking at the screen and looking in the direction from which she had come for signs that she was about to be caught. After going about ten steps back, the arrow reappeared and pointed in the direction in which she was originally going. Roxal turned around and continued, again, down the hallway. After her third step, the arrow disappeared yet again.
She took one step backwards and waited. Only her dot was on the screen. She took another step backwards, looked over her shoulder to see if she was still alone, and then down at the screen. Still, only her dot was present. She took another step back, looked over her shoulder, and then down at the screen once more.
This time, the arrow was back. Only it was no longer flashing. The solid arrow was pointing forward, but Roxal knew if she took another step forward, it would disappear again. Doing her best to not move it forward at all, she sat the comm pad on the floor and searched the hallway for a clue as to where she should go, since forward was obviously not the correct answer.
On the section of hallway on her right, she felt along the wall from the floor to as high as she could reach for some sort of indication of a section that was different. After a quick search of the right side of the hall, she walked over and did the same to the left. Roxal started high, moving her hands down the wall towards the floor. At about waist level, she could feel that the wall felt different. Though the color was still bland metallic gray, it no longer felt like metal. Instead, it felt like wood.
She knocked on the wood section and the sound echoed, as if the panel were hollow. Though she was still hurting from earlier, she kicked the panel with the heel of her right foot. Pain shot up her leg and into her lower back. She stopped moving to allow the pain to dull. She then took the injector out of her pocket and gave herself an injection in her left upper arm. Shortly after the injection, the pain dulled to where she could barely feel it and she felt reenergized.
It took two more kicks before there was a hole in the wooden panel. She reached in and felt around. On the top of the section to the left, she felt a lever with a handlebar attached. She grabbed the handlebar and tried moving it in all directions. After pulling it down and then towards her, the entire panel began to move. She quickly pulled her arm out of the opening in time to see the entire lower panel wall section move back away from her, and then slide to the right.
Roxal stared into the open dark void. The light from the hall in which she stood did little to penetrate the darkness. She picked up the comm pad, put it in her pocket, and entered the dark space on her hands and knees. She crawled forward slowly, carefully feeling ahead with her hands. She also reached over her head in the darkness to feel what was above. Over her head, she touched a ceiling, so she crawled on. Based on what she felt, she was making her way down a crawl space towards an unknown destination.
Finally, she reached out her hand to feel the ground in front of her but instead felt open air. She inched closer, making sure to not move her body past the edge of what she felt. Using her hands, she could tell that before her, not only did the floor disappear, but the ceiling that had been over her head did also. She carefully sat on the floor and maneuvered her legs so that they were now in front of her as she lay on her back.
A twinge of pain from her tailbone reminded her she was still injured. Using her arms, Roxal cautiously inched her body forward. Her legs hung out into space. She inched herself forward more. Now her knees bent and hung over the ledge. She sat up and took the comm pad out of pocket. The arrow was flashing again. Now it confirmed what she feared; she was supposed to continue forward.
As she sat wondering how she should continue moving, she heard voices from the entryway of the passage through which she had just crawled.
“We need portable light sources. Get them and we will follow her.”
The Security Force had finally caught up with her. This made her mind up as to what to do next. She placed the comm pad safely back into her pocket, turned over on her stomach, and slid her body forward and over the ledge. Holding on to the edge with her fingertips, with her arms fully extended, she stretched her toes downward and felt for a floor or some indication as to how far the drop would be. However, she only encountered open space. With only one option before her, Roxal let go of the ledge.
Her feet unexpectedly landed on a solid su
rface shortly after she let go. The force from the drop jarred her already sore tailbone as she bent into a crouch to absorb the shock of the landing. Then she started to cough because she was choking. Choking on dust dislodged by her fall. She dropped to the floor and felt what she had landed on. Instead of feeling a hard metallic floor as she expected, she was feeling soil.
As a child, Lauren had often made what she called mud pies while they played in the dreamscape. During these dreams was the only time Roxal had ever felt soil before, until now. This is my planet that I am touching, she thought.
Light beams now shown above her from where she had dropped. “This opens into a room! She must be in here somewhere,” a voice from above her cried out.
Jumping to her feet, she took out the comm pad and walked forward as the flashing arrow was still indicating. The light from the comm pad illuminated a thin fog of dust stirring as she moved across the room. After a few steps, she could feel a slight breeze. She stopped in the swirl of dust and searched for its source. In the distance, she heard what sounded like wind and mechanical equipment. She slowed her pace slightly, watching the comm pad for directions but also looking over her shoulder to make sure she did not see the lights the Security Force members were now using.
The light from her comm pad reflected onto a wall that abruptly appeared before her. It was metal but was covered in thick dust that stuck to her finger when she touched it. The noise from the machinery now drowned out everything. It was definitely on the other side of this wall. Checking her comm pad, the arrow was still blinking forward. It wanted her to go through it.
Scanning from bottom to top, she quickly moved down the wall, looking for a way to get past it. Then, unexpectedly, she found a possible way to advance. There, in front of Roxal, was a doorknob. Again, she thought of Lauren because the only place she had seen doorknobs was in Lauren’s dreams. She turned the knob, which opened a door inward. Light and noise seemed to flood through the opening in which she stood. She raised her arm, covered her eyes to shield them from the sudden onslaught of light, and then stepped through the door.
When her eyes had adjusted, she found herself in another room full of working equipment. The ceiling was at least twenty feet above her and it was made of many rectangular clear panes, like windows on Earth. And through these clear windows, Roxal got the first glimpse of Trebor’s sky. It was a reddish orange color and looked like it was warm. Tears fell from her eyes as she turned in a circle to take in the scene.
The sky was beautiful; nothing like the scenes of dreary, stormy skies she and the other Citizens had been shown her entire life. After making three complete revolutions, she noticed a ladder and an access port of some kind in the corner. She walked to the ladder, unable to take her eyes off of her sky. Her sky, not Lauren’s. When she reached the ladder, she climbed up, disengaged the latch on the access port, and paused.
Why have they not found me yet? Anyone following me should have caught up to me by now. Are they letting me go because they know the air is toxic and will kill me so they need not bother?
Roxal took a deep breath and realized she did not care. If the air is toxic and I die when I breathe it, it will not matter. Because at least I would die on my own terms and not at someone else’s whim. She opened the access port’s door and climbed out.
Her senses were almost overwhelmed. First, she felt the heat of her sol. Next, smells she had never experienced before bombarded her. And the sounds, the sounds were loud enough to drown out the machinery below. But she did not feel sick and breathing was not a problem. A wind blew over her body. The cool breeze, the smells, and the sight of the red sky made her feel giddy. Then she looked down to the ground outside the compound and saw living, thriving trees and plants.
Not far from where she stood was a ladder descending to the ground outside of the compound. She hurriedly walked to it and climbed down. When she reached the bottom, Roxal bent and touched the ground again. The feel of actual dirt under her fingertips, and not dirt from Lauren’s memory, was amazing. The deep red and purple of the ground was beautiful. As she marveled at the soil, she heard the sound of people running towards her.
So they have Security Force fighters out here also. No wonder they did not chase me inside, she thought and ran to the edge of the forest. Just before she entered the trees, she stopped. She slowly extended her arm towards the copper leaves, half expecting them to disappear as part of a trick by The Keepers. With her hand outstretched, her fingertips brushed against the leaves. As if reacting to a burn or shock, she quickly pulled her hand back and more tears flooded down her face.
Footsteps sounded louder as they came towards her, and she ran into the forest. She entered the brush and kept running, doing her best to ignore her injured tailbone. Thin, sharp tree limbs whipped and scratched at her face, exposed skin, and clothing. When necessary, she climbed over, under, and through obstacles. When her path seemed impossibly blocked, she would backtrack and find alternate paths. Roxal ran like this until she no longer heard any pursuers and her tailbone began throbbing more than she could ignore. At the next fallen tree she found, she sat on it and rested.
She removed the comm pad and looked at it. The arrow had disappeared again. Now, the only thing on the screen was the dot representing her. It was larger and flashing faster. Roxal had no idea what this meant she should do. So she just sat. The stimulant was beginning to wear off again and she was getting tired. Also, her tailbone was throbbing angrily.
Without any idea of what she should do next, she slid down the log and onto the ground and took stock of where she was. She reached out and rubbed her hand through the lush copper grass and small yellow flowers that grew near where she sat. The log on which she was leaning had blue flowers growing on it. She bent over and smelled one. It tickled her nose, and she let out a gasping, strangled sob. My planet is not the wasteland the Reps taught me it would be.
Even though trees grew all around her, she could still see the sky. It was a brilliant red, different from the blue of Lauren’s dreams. And the trees, all of the trees around her were full of copper and waxy-looking pale yellow leaves. Everything around her seemed healthy and strong. Even though she had not seen any animals, she heard them scurrying along in the wilderness and calling out around her as she rested.
And the smells; the fragrant odors emanating from the multitude of flowers all around her stirred emotions in her she did not know she had. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was alive; even the malodorous scents were a joy to smell.
Her sol beat down on her. As the adrenaline from her escape wore off, Roxal found she wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. With the sound of the wildlife and scent of wildflowers all around her, she relaxed back onto the log. She then shifted to her uninjured left side and lay her head on the fallen tree. She closed her eyes, and sleep began to take her under. Roxal was so tired that she was unable to open her eyes even when she heard a voice whisper in her ear, “All betrayers will be destroyed.”
CHAPTER 23
For the second time on the first day in which Lauren had been able to really sleep, the phone rang, waking her up.
“Hello, Kyle,” she answered, hoping it had not taken her too long to answer and that she had missed his call.
“No, Lauren. It’s Estella. Why would Kyle be calling you? You said he was home sick.”
“Because, Estella, Kyle’s not sick.” Lauren yawned and cleared her throat. “I didn’t make it to my appointment this morning because he wasn’t here. We had a fight last night and he left. But everything is fine now. We talked earlier today, and everything is fine.” While she spoke, Lauren got out of bed and looked at the clock. It was 6:48 PM. Kyle should have been home almost an hour ago.
“Oh, Lauren. I’m sorry. Why did you make up a story about him being sick? You could have told me what happened when I called earlier today.”
Lauren checked her phone. There were no missed calls from Kyle, nor any texts. He would have called if he
knew he was going to be late.
“I didn’t really want to talk about it with you because there’s nothing you can do.” Lauren walked over to the closet and pulled out clothes. Even though she was tired, she was nowhere near as exhausted as she had been. This was unlike Kyle. She knew he had been at work when he called earlier. She decided to go to his office and make sure he was okay.
“Lauren. Often when one member of a couple suffers any type of serious medical condition, it can cause stress in a relationship. This stress often leads to separations and other relationship difficulties. I would have understood if you had told me. I maybe could have given you a few suggestions.”
“I know. Estella, it’s not that I doubt your abilities. I’ve just been through so much, and I’m tired. I was never the type of person to go to therapy before I got sick. So talking to a therapist is not something that comes naturally to me.” Lauren slipped her feet into her flats. Now that she was fully dressed, she went downstairs to get her purse and keys.
“Well, how about this? I’ve just finished meeting with my last patient here in the office. I could come by your home and we could talk. And if Kyle calls or stops by while I’m there, I‘ll leave.”
Lauren walked through the kitchen with her purse on her shoulder and took the keys off the key rack beside the door that led to the garage. “I just don’t think—”
The front doorbell rang, interrupting her response.
“Hold on a minute.” Lauren tucked the keys into her fist and walked to the front door.
Why would Kyle ring the doorbell? Lauren thought as she went to open the door.
She pushed back the curtain covering the front door’s side windows and peered out. Instead of seeing Kyle standing on their welcome mat, it was Lucas.
“What is he doing here?” Lauren said in a low voice to herself.
“Who, Lauren? Who’s there?” asked Estella with an urgency and intensity in her voice that, combined with the fact that she had momentarily forgotten she was on the phone, startled Lauren.
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