“Hey! Not so rough!” Red’s voice was muffled through the window.
“Now what?” Mud asked.
“Now we’ll just hide you in the trunk. They’re not going to check the trunk, are they?”
Mud shrugged. “I don’t know. I doubt it.”
“All right, then.”
“Isn’t there a better way? What if I suffocate?”
“The only other option is through the snake forest. Is that what you want?”
Mud took a deep breath. “Okay. It’s worth a shot. If I die, I die.”
“You’re so melodramatic.”
They looked around to make sure nobody else was in the parking lot. There could be no witnesses. They popped the trunk. Mud climbed in and tucked into the fetal position.
“This isn’t so bad,” Mud laughed. “It’s not as cramped as I thought it would be. And, at least I have a nice pillow.” Zero shook his head and smiled as Mud grabbed hold of a large purple robe and fluffed it like a pillow.
“Try not to take very long looking for a safe place to leave me—even if we have to move to a different spot after a few days,” Mud said.
“Absolutely.”
“Then you can explain to me why we’re taking this drunk piece of trash with us instead of just stealing his car.”
“All right, deal. And you can answer a few questions I have about the city of Gualan.”
Chapter 4
Zero put his foot on the brake and turned the ignition key. A feeling of panic shot through his body when the engine roared to life. This car felt much more powerful than the forklift back at the loading docks, which was the only thing he had ever driven before.
He could see the different transmission options on the center console, but it took him a moment to figure out that he needed to push the thumb button in order to slide it into reverse. He pulled back the shifter until it reached R, let go of the brake, and began to inch backward. He watched behind and turned the wheel. A horrible screeching sound filled the night air as his front bumper scraped along the passenger side door of the car next to him. He looked around, hoping the booming music was loud enough to mask the sound to anyone who might be nearby.
A voice sounded from the trunk, but it was too muffled to understand what Mud was yelling. That was probably just as well.
Once he had fully backed out of the space, he pressed the thumb button and shifted into drive. He crept forward. He liked the feel of this car. It felt a lot smoother to idle through the parking lot than he remembered the forklift being, which bounced and vibrated all over the place. He decided he had better speed things up. If he idled all the way to the city gate, then the guards there might suspect he didn’t know how to drive, and they would become suspicious. He eased down the accelerator and gripped the steering wheel.
He approached the gates, took a deep breath, and reminded himself to act cool.
“Wild night?” the guard at the gate asked.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re driving a little slow there. Have you had too much to drink? Are you sure you should be driving home?”
“I’m fine. I promise.”
The guard pulled a flashlight off his utility belt and began illuminating the inside of the car. He paused when he saw Red in the back seat. “What’s his story?”
“Wild night. This is actually his car.”
“Alright, then. You sure you’re okay to drive?”
“Positive. I haven’t had anything to drink. I’m just, you know, still getting used to this car. Like I said, it’s not mine. I’ll get the hang of it by the time I get around the corner.”
“If you say so. Go ahead.”
Zero exhaled a sigh of relief as he pulled away. He had to urge himself to drive faster than he had driven through the parking lot so that he wouldn’t look suspicious. He pushed on the gas and was up to 45 miles per hour by the time he reached the first turn. His knuckles were white on the wheel—his eyes twice their usual size. He hit the brake much harder than he wanted to, and the tires screeched before he made the small turn. He couldn’t help but check the mirror over and over again to make sure nobody was following them. Every inch of distance between him and Gualan helped him feel more relaxed.
He scanned the area as he drove, looking for an opportune place to leave Mud for the night. He passed an orange orchard and knew he didn’t want to stop anywhere near there. The closer they were to fruit trees, the closer Mud would be to Remnants, who were hard enough for someone of Zero’s size to manage. Mud wouldn’t stand a chance.
Five minutes past the orange grove, he noticed a small dirt road branching off the main road. He hit the brakes much harder than he intended, causing Mud to yell something again from the trunk. Red also mumbled something incoherent. For a short moment, Zero was afraid that Red was about to wake up, but he simply rolled over on the back seat and was snoring again within seconds.
About two hundred yards up the dirt road was a tiny wooden shack. It was only about ten feet square. There were no lights on inside. There was no garden, chickens running about, or any other signs of someone living there—Remnant or otherwise. He slowed the car to a stop, pulled out the key, and turned in his seat to watch Red. When he was satisfied that Red wasn’t going to wake up, he stepped out and popped open the trunk.
“It’s about time,” Mud said as the trunk opened. “You’re either the slowest driver ever, or we’re halfway across the world by now.”
“Hey! Cut me some slack. This is my first time driving a car.”
“What? Are you serious? I would have never gotten into that trunk if I’d known that. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s probably all for the best, right? If you wouldn’t have gotten into the trunk, you’d still be back in Gualan—forever. Besides, I think I’ve got the hang of it.”
“So, this is my home for the night?” Mud said, looking the shack over. “It’s not what I would call cozy, but it doesn’t appear to be infected with Remnants, so that’s good.”
They walked to the door and both stood to the side as Zero pushed it open. “Hello? Anybody in here?”
Nobody responded.
“Okay, so here you go. I should be back tomorrow in the middle of the night. Who knows, maybe I’ll even have my own vehicle by then and we can go as far away as our tank of gas will take us. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”
“What’s your hurry to leave right now? Can’t you stay for just a few minutes? The thought of spending the night alone in the old world isn’t exactly a comforting thought for me right now.”
“I need to get out of here before Red wakes up.”
Mud waved his comment away. “Red is out cold. He’s so drunk he won’t even be able to give you directions to his place until some of that alcohol runs its course. That gives us at least an hour before he’ll be able to keep his eyes open.”
They stepped inside the shack. Unlike the dirt floor of the Remnant’s shack out near the avocado orchard, this floor was made of wooden planks which creaked as they walked.
Zero chose a spot on the floor and rested his back against the wall. The moonlight entered through the window and illuminated his face. Mud sat cross-legged next to him.
“So what’s the deal with this guy?” Mud pointed a thumb back toward Red in the car. “Why didn’t we just leave him in Gualan?”
“I have a friend who’s still back in Exile. I need to break him out. He’ll be a great asset. He knows how to cook. He’ll know what foods are edible out here. He knows how to gut and prepare an animal. I don’t know any of those things. Red works in Exile. He is my ticket to get in and get out with Root.”
“I assume you have it all planned out.”
“To an extent, yeah. Whether or not my plan works will be another matter.”
“Well that’s reassuring,” Mud laughed. “But I can see in your eyes that there�
�s something you’re not telling me—something about Red. Isn’t there?”
Zero sat quietly, trying to find the right words. “Remember when you first saw me the other day? When I was up in that tree? When I stumbled upon the city of Gualan by accident?”
“Of course.”
“Well, I was looking for Exile City. My best friend, Lefty, had just been sent there and I wanted to break him out. And I did. I broke him out. We took off into the woods. I knew there was a good chance we would die out there, but I thought it would be a jaguar or a Remnant that would get us. Nope.” He took a breath. “It was Red. He killed him.”
“Really? The guy passed out in the back seat there? He killed your best friend?”
“Yes. Drove a knife right into his back. Right through his heart.”
“That’s terrible. I don’t understand. Why?” Mud looked up at the window. “They told us if we ever tried to run away, that they wouldn’t bother coming after us because we would be dead in no time anyway.”
Zero gritted his teeth. “They told us the same thing. They lied. We had been out there for about a day and a half when they caught up to us. They weren’t about to let us go free.”
“But you got free.”
“I did. They didn’t know I was hiding in one of the trees when they killed Lefty. They thought he was alone.” Zero pondered that moment—the memory of his friend’s lifeless body on the ground. He remembered how Caiman had spotted him in his hiding spot, but had somehow convinced Red that Lefty was traveling alone through the forest. Zero wondered what was going through Caiman’s mind at the time. Caiman had never been his friend. He was one of Flea’s gang, always giving him trouble simply because he could when they were in school together. In that crucial moment, though, he went out of his way to spare Zero’s life.
Mud sat in silence, letting everything soak in. “So it’s all a lie? The old world isn’t scary? Do Remnants even exist, or was that a lie too?”
“Oh, they exist all right. In the first twenty-four hours we were out there, we had to fight them off a handful of times. They’re vicious.”
“But you didn’t get infected with the virus, did you?” Mud asked, pulling away. “You didn’t get bitten, did you?”
“Lefty got bitten. Not me.”
“But he didn’t get infected?”
Zero shrugged. “The bite began to swell up and bleed through his shirt, but he was killed before we could tell how bad it might get.”
“What do you mean? If you’re infected, you’re infected, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know. Some Remnants seem much worse than others. Some seem like they’re as bad as rabid animals, while others seem almost human. It’s a virus, after all, and just like when people get the flu, it hits some people harder than others, I guess. Not everyone was the same. We didn’t know how long it would take, or how bad he would get.”
They sat in silence for a while. Mud seemed to be done asking questions, at least for now, and Zero needed a mental break from conversation.
The night seemed darker than it usually was. The moonlight through the window barely made it possible to even see Mud’s facial features. He stood up and walked to the window. He first looked at the car to make sure Red wasn’t awake, then he looked up at the moon. It was mostly covered by clouds now.
Mud began rummaging through the contents of the pillowcase, pulled out an apple, and took a bite. “So, what’s the plan after tomorrow? Where are we going?”
“I don’t really know. Actually, the only thing I do know is that I want to start completely over again. Far away. Everything new.”
“I hear that. And just in time, too. I want to raise my baby like they did in the old days.”
Zero turned away from the window. He opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out for a while. “Uh. Baby? You’re going to raise a baby? A baby person?”
“Yeah. My baby.”
“What baby? Did we leave your baby back in Gualan?”
“This baby.” Mud patted her belly. “My life. The life I have growing here inside of me.”
Zero took a step away from the window and stared at Mud. “I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“My baby. This baby right here.” Mud patted her belly again.
“Your stomach is your baby?”
“No, dummy. There’s a baby inside of me. I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 5
Zero stood in the center of the shack with one hand over his mouth, thinking about what Mud had just said.
“There’s a baby inside of you?” he asked. “How did that happen? How did a baby get in there?”
Mud looked at Zero for a long time before responding. “Zero, are you joking with me? I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re joking or not.”
“You’re making me feel really stupid right now,” Zero said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Really? You have no idea how a baby got in my belly?” She lifted her shirt up a few inches to show her stomach. She rubbed it with both hands. “You really don’t know where babies come from?”
“Sure, I do.” He looked out the window again, staring off into nothing and trying to play it cool. “We used to watch the crocodile babies be born all the time. Lefty was obsessed with them. He always—”
“Crocodiles? Are you serious? Crocodiles? Zero, human babies don’t hatch from eggs.”
“I know that.” He looked at Mud, knowing he wasn’t fooling anyone.
Mud started to giggle during the awkward silence.
“You think this is funny? I feel really stupid right now.”
“I’m sorry.” Mud tried to stop laughing, but failed. “It’s just—I’ve never met anyone like you before. The only men I’ve ever met were Elite. They’re all self-centered and rotten. But you’re different from them—very different. You have an innocence about you that I’ve never seen before.”
He folded his arms. “Is that supposed to be a good thing? Saying I ‘have an innocence’ about me is the same as saying I’m ignorant.”
“No it’s not. I’m trying to say you’re a good person. I can see that. I could see you were different the moment we met. I’ve never really had someone care about me before—especially not deeply enough to risk his life to break me out of Gualan. I don’t even have friends like that amongst the other females.”
Zero turned his back and placed his hands on the window sill, looking out at the night sky.
“What now? Did I say something wrong?” Mud asked. “I was trying to pay you a compliment.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on. You can tell me. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together from here on out, so we might as well get it all out in the open right now.”
“Okay. But don’t laugh.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“You said you know only Elite men and females.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s a female?”
Mud broke her promise. She laughed so hard that tears began to run down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just—I’m sorry.” She gasped for breath. “I am.” She wiped a tear from both of her eyes. “I’m a female. Are you seriously trying to tell me that I’m the first female you’ve ever met?”
“I guess so.”
“You did notice that I look different than you, right?”
“Yeah. All of you from Gualan do.”
“Yes. All of us from Gualan are female. We’re women. Girls. Whatever you want to call us. That’s what the city is all about. It’s a breeding ground. That’s where babies are made.”
“But if that’s true, then why didn’t I see any babies?”
“Because they’re not born or raised there. Don’t you remember when I told you they were about to take my life?”
“Sure.”
“That’s what I was talking about.” Mud patted her belly. “My life. This life inside of me. In another day or two, they were going to take me to the maternity clinic where I would deliver my baby. As soon as this life was born, they would take it away to be raised by someone else—by one of the nursing mothers. But I want to raise my own baby. I want to be a mother, not just a breeder.”
“So—how long before that baby comes out of there?” He pointed at her belly.
“This baby is expected to be born at any time. It could be a week from now, but most likely it will happen within three or four days. That’s what the doctors at the clinic told me.”
“Alright. The clinic. The doctors told you that. But when do you want to do it? Can you wait until we find a comfortable place to stay?”
“Can I wait?” Mud laughed again. “Zero, babies come out when it’s time. I don’t have a say in this.”
“Why not? Just hold it in until we’re ready.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It could come out tonight, for all I know.”
“How many times have you done this before?”
“This is my first.”
Zero threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Well, I hate to tell you this, but you’re kind of on your own. I want to help, but I don’t know the first thing about birthing a baby.”
“Well, you’ll have to do your best, because giving birth is going to be one of the most painful and traumatic things my body will ever go through. I can’t do this alone. If it’s not done right, the baby and I are both in danger of dying.”
Zero didn’t like this bit of news at all. “If I had known you were having a baby and that you could die in the process, there’s no way I would have broken you out of Gualan. You should have told me.”
“Oh really? I should have told you?” Mud started laughing. “It’s not my fault you couldn’t look at a nine-months-pregnant woman and know she was going to have a baby. It’s not my fault you didn’t know what a woman was.”
“Okay. Okay.” Zero leaned his head back and thought. “First thing in the morning I’ll go scouting for some food for the baby. What do babies eat? Berries? Melons? Avocados? I hope they don’t need chicken, beef or pork, because I don’t know where I’m going to find anything like that and I don’t really know how to gut a—”
The Elite: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 4) Page 3