by Jess Petosa
He looked down at her. “We’ll lead the way in the first transport. Stay close as we leave Zone D. We have to travel through the Outer Sector to get to Sector 4, and there may be rebels.”
Ally thought of the rebels that had fired at them when they arrived, nearly killing her and Luke. The soldier must have read the look on her face.
“Don’t worry, the transports are bullet proof, but that won’t keep them from jumping on top. There are some tight roads to navigate but if we spot rebels, we will start to move quick, so keep up and be careful.”
Ally nodded and turned back to the transport. She really wasn’t the best driver but they would have to manage. She ran to the back transport, where Luke was already climbing in to the drivers seat, and relayed the message. He seemed uneasy.
“Maybe I should drive your transport to the Sector,” Max offered.
“Don’t be silly,” she responded. “I’ll have to learn how to drive it well anyway.”
Max didn’t look happy but he didn’t say another word. She hurried back and jumped up in the driver’s seat of her transport. Her new home for who knew how long. Sabine and Stosh were both in the back so she was alone in the front. Maybe she should have let Max come and drive.
That thought was lost when the transport in front of her started. She started hers up and put her foot on the gas, trying to concentrate on the driving in front of her. She wished the soldiers hadn’t mentioned the rebels at all. They drove through the streets outside of Zone D. The homes were modest and uniform, all the same shape and color. When they had entered the city, they had been in the back of a transport and were not able to see their surroundings. This was still part of Zone D, and therefore was occupied by Ordinarys, confirmed by the lack of bracelets on their wrists.
They were only driving for five minutes when they came upon another gate, this one larger and seemingly thicker than the last one. Ally figured they had arrived at the Outer Sector and the nerves started to eat away at her belly. She wished she had someone to talk to, someone that would listen to her nervous babble.
A soldier approached the transport in front of her and spoke to the driver through the window. After a few nods, he headed back to the gate and in a few seconds it was opening. Two guards stood on either side of the gate, their guns trained out toward the outer sector. If a band of rebels decided to attack, would they really be able to stop them? It wasn’t for Ally to worry about. She was sure that they had it all figured out.
She followed the soldiers through the gate and looked through her side mirror to watch Luke do the same. Ally could almost make him out in the mirror, his dark hair growing in thick and his violet eyes bright in the daylight. The sun was halfway up the horizon as they approached mid-morning. She pulled her focus back to the transport in front of her and focused on its rear tires, following its moves precisely while trying to observe her surroundings as well. The Outer Sector started as ruined homes and skeletons of smaller transports. It reminded her a lot of the abandoned section of Champaign, the part that Max wanted to rebuild someday. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
Ally could see the larger buildings in the distance, their cracked surfaces reaching toward the sky. They were not going closer to them, but driving parallel to them. Hopefully the rebels chose to stay in that part of the city rather than closer to Zone D.
Suddenly the transport in front of her swerved and then picked up speed. Ally sat up straight, on full alert. She pressed her foot on the gas pedal, paying close attention to the road in front of her. A group of men stood in the street, waving guns and long brown sticks in the air. One of them fired at her transport and the bullet bounce off the front window. Ally screamed and then covered her mouth. Her heart raced wildly. The soldiers’ transport was swerving back and forth to keep the rebels from jumping onto the side and it seemed to be working. Ally did the same. She didn’t have enough time to look in her mirror to see how Luke was doing, she had to focus. Hopefully Sabine and Stosh would find something to hold on to.
A hatch on the roof of the transport in front of her popped open and two soldiers climbed onto the roof. They aimed their guns and began to fire at the rebels on the ground, taking four of them out in as many seconds.
A shadow caught Ally’s eye and on the building to the right she noticed several rebels pop up. She honked the horn of the transport, hoping to alert the soldiers. They swung their guns around but not quickly enough. The rebels opened fire. Thankfully the soldiers were in full bulletproof gear and the bullets were more of an annoyance than anything else. One of the rebels fell from the roof, clutching his chest, and Ally wasn’t sure where the bullet that hit him had come from. The soldiers in front of her were trying to regain their footing. Friendly fire? Max?
Ally didn’t know how the soldiers even managed to stay on top of the transports. She was having trouble not sliding around and she was in a seat. She continued to swerve like the transport in front of her and soon they were past the group of rebels in the street, and there didn’t seem to be any more on the roofs of the buildings.
Ally breathed a sigh of relief when the transport in front of her slowed. She could see a large, metal gate a few streets ahead. They were almost to the Sectors that housed the Exceptionals.
A horn sounded behind her.
Ally instinctively looked out her driver’s side window. A small vehicle was barreling down an alley beside her, and it wasn’t slowing down. She tried to speed up but it was too late. She closed her eyes and held on tight as the vehicle slammed into the side of her transport.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
[ marnie ]
As soon as the swerving started, Evan had jumped up and was digging through the packs in the corner. Marnie had found a handhold and was clinging to it for dear life. She was fearful that if she let go she would be thrown across the vehicle. Evan had managed to keep his balance despite the wild movements. He was pulling on his gear when the gun shots started.
Marnie screamed.
“The transport is bulletproof,” Evan yelled.
She had never heard him yell before.
The swerving continued and Evan fell to the side, rolling toward the back of the transport. Marnie reached to help him without thinking and went tumbling with him. They ended up in a tangle of limbs at the back door.
“Sorry,” she mumbled under the weight of his body. His chest was smashed into her face.
He pushed himself off of her. “No problem.” His mouth was a breath away from hers. “I have to finish getting my gear on. I have to help.”
He crawled back toward the front and Marnie dragged herself to the nearest handheld. Had Evan been about to kiss her? She watched him pull his gear on and grab a gun. With one foot on the bench, he pushed up on the hatch in the ceiling, forcing it to pop open. He grabbed the side and pulled himself up with just the strength in his arms.
She heard a few more gunshots and squeezed her eyes shut. Hopefully Evan was okay. The transport stopped swerving in a few moments and the speed returned to normal. Marnie breathed a sigh of relief. She knew they had to almost be to the Sector, it wasn’t that long of a trip. She hadn’t known that rebels attacked this frequently but after hearing about Ally’s experience with them when she arrived in the City, perhaps they were just angrier than ever.
A transport honked. It was close enough that it had to be hers. She heard Evan yelling. Luke yelling. And Max yelling…
At least, she thought is was Max.
There was a squeal of tires and a screech. Evan came flying back through the hatch in the ceiling just as the transport made a severe turn, one that surely would have thrown him off the roof. The transport stopped dead and Marnie heard more yelling. She focused in on it with her Exceptional hearing.
“Keep moving,” a male voice she didn’t recognize yelled.
“I NEED TO HELP…” Luke sputtered out.
“We’ve got it handled,” the male yelled. “Head to the Secto
r. The soldiers are waiting and ready. GO BEFORE I SHOOT YOU.”
“Not if I shoot you first,” Max yelled back.
There was gunfire but it wasn’t close enough to be inside the cab of the transport. More voices joined outside.
Rebels.
“MOVE. NOW.” The male voice yelled.
The transport lurched forward and swerved to the left and then to the right. It picked up speed for a minute or two and then skidded to the stop. Marnie heard the sound of a gate opening.
“We’re there,” she told Evan, realizing he had no idea what was going on outside. Despite her Exceptional hearing, she didn’t really know what was going on outside.
The transport moved slowly and she heard the sound of the gate closing again. That was quick. Had everyone made it inside? The transport stopped and clicked off. Evan stood and ran to the back doors, unlatching them and pushing them open. Marnie scrambled to her feet and followed behind him, letting him grasp her waist to lower her from the transport.
Luke was marching wildly toward the gate.
“I need to get back out there,” he yelled at no one in particular.
Max was trying to keep up. Marnie jogged to his side, Evan close behind her.
“What happened back there?” she asked.
“The rebels attacked the transports. It looked like we were clear of them but then one used a running car to slam into the side of Ally’s transport. It was chaos. Rebels exploded from the buildings and the first transport with the soldiers opened fire on them. Ally’s transport was thrown to the side and then disappeared down an alley. I don’t even know where. Luke stopped to help but the soldiers waved him on.”
Marnie absorbed Max’s words and looked around. They were the only transport within the gate.
“Where’s Ally?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”
They reached the gate where Luke was already arguing with one of the soldiers. “If you don’t let me out there you aren’t going to like what happens.”
His violet eyes were glowing but Marnie noticed that no one had removed his cuffs yet. Neither he nor Max could do much of anything.
The soldier didn’t seem intimidated. “I have orders not to open the gate.”
“The General said we aren’t prisoners,” Luke responded. “You have to let me out.”
The soldier shook his head. “The rebels are too close. I cannot risk the lives of all the Exceptionals in this Sector because you want out. You will have to wait until we are given the all-clear.”
Luke let out a frustrated groan. “How long will that be?”
The soldier didn’t move. “Hours maybe, could be minutes. We never know.”
“It may be too late then,” Luke said through gritted teeth.
Max touched his shoulder. “Luke, if it is going to be too late, it already is. We have no idea where Ally drove to. She may find her way back here, or at least get herself to a safe place. You wouldn’t know where to start.”
Luke backed down. Marnie had gotten the idea that these two didn’t particularly enjoy each other but right now they seemed like friends. They seemed like they respected each other.
The soldier nodded. “The soldiers who radioed ahead said they were scaring off the rebels and then going after the AWOL transport. They’ll find them and bring them back.”
Luke turned and headed back toward the transport, running his fingers roughly through his short hair.
“So what, we just wait?” Marnie asked Evan.
He nodded. “We just wait.”
Two hours later the gate creaked open. Luke jumped up, as did Max. Curious Exceptionals had gotten as close to the gate as the Guards would allow. Marnie’s mom stood on the outskirts for a few minutes and then disappeared back into the crowd. They were brought food but only Marnie and Evan had taken a few bites, while Luke and Max had paced laps around their lone transport.
A transport pulled through the gate slowly. Marnie could see right away that a soldier was driving, and that another soldier sat next to him, but that didn’t mean Ally and the others weren’t in the back.
The transport stopped once inside and a soldier climbed down from the transport. His face was unreadable as he approached their group, Luke at the lead. Marnie wasn’t too worried just yet, the majority of the soldiers in Zone D looked aggravated one hundred percent of the time. The four of them gathered around the soldier in a semi-circle.
“We were not able to regroup with Transport B once we had cleared the rebels from our path. The good news is, our tracker shows that the transport managed to pick it’s way through the Outer Zone and is now outside and traveling east.”
Luke ran his hands through his hair. “Are we able to communicate with them? What if they were hijacked by rebels? What if they are injured?”
The soldier shook his head slowly. “We tried but it seems as though the crash caused their communicator to malfunction. All we can get is static.”
Luke turned to Max. “We have to go after them. If there is a tracker, we can catch up.”
“What good would that do?” Marnie said. “We were planning to split off eventually. If they were hurt, the transport would be stopped. Same thing if rebels had taken it. The rebels would have left by now if they could.”
“She has a point,” Max said. “If they already have a head start, it could be a day or two before we catch up with them. I think we need to stick with the plan. It’s what Ally would want.”
Luke look poised to argue but finally bit the side of his mouth and marched off. Max looked longingly at the gate for a moment and then followed suit. Evan, who had been standing at Marnie’s side, looked after them.
“They didn’t get to say goodbye,” he said.
Marnie nodded, a frown on her face. “They didn’t get to say goodbye.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
[ ally ]
The transport skidded to a stop in a grass clearing, dust and dirt kicking up into a cloud around them. Ally’s heart pounded in her ears, and her hands ached from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. She didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t even comprehend what had happened. Before she knew it, she was crying.
When was the last time she had really cried?
It was moments before her door was open and Stosh was pulling her down and into his arms.
“What happened, Ally?” he asked.
Sabine was by her side. “Did someone die? Oh God, who died… Ally!”
Ally stepped back and wiped at her eyes. “No… no one died. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
Stosh looked around. “We didn’t make it to Sector 4, did we?”
Ally shook her head and told them what had happened, starting with the crash.
“I was somehow able to straighten the transport out and I just started driving down the first alley I saw. Halfway down, another group of rebels appeared and two of them jumped on my hood, while the other one opened fire. I….” she paused and took a deep breath. “I ran over the rebel with the gun, and the other two fell off when I went around a corner at the end of the street. I just kept driving, trying to get away, and by the time I had time to think about it, I realized I had no idea how to get back to where we left the others. I tried to use the radio but it wouldn’t work. I tried to drive in as straight of a line as possible and this is where I ended up.”
Ally took some deep breaths, coming down from the adrenaline high she was on. All she had thought about while driving was that they had come too far to be killed by a few Rebels.
Sabine leaned against the transport. “Should we attempt to go back and find the Sector?”
Stosh put his arm around Ally. “Yeah right! I’m sure the Rebels are crawling all over the streets right now. Both times we’ve been outside Zone D they’ve been nothing but a problem. At least the soldiers knew where they were going, but we don’t have a clue. We could be driving around until
our gas runs out.”
Sabine sighed. “What about the others, Ally? Could you tell if they made it?”
Ally shook her head. “I couldn’t see anything in the chaos. I think we were the only ones to be hit, so hopefully they were able to make it to the Sector. They had the transport full of soldiers to help them.”
“What do we do now?” Sabine asked. “We don’t even know where we are in relation to our maps, and we are now down a few men since we didn’t get to pick up the Exceptionals who were going to join our team. I know we don’t have much of a choice, but I really hate that we have to move on like this.”
Ally nodded. “I hate it too, Sabine. Give me a minute to think.”
She removed herself from Stosh’s side and began to pace back and forth beside the transport. Somehow she had managed to perfect wearing paths into perfectly good surfaces over the last few weeks, but it was how she did her best thinking.
Stosh and Sabine talked privately by the transport, their fingers interlocked. A new problem dawned on Ally, one that was minuscule in the grand scheme of things, but important to her personally. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to Luke, or to Max. She hadn’t left her status with either of them as anything definitive, and somehow that felt worse. She could feel the warmth of tears welling up in her eyes and she tried to brush them away.
She stopped walking. “We’ll drive until we find a town, or a sign, anything that will tell us where we are on the map. Finding out our location is most important right now so that we can make our way to the towns that the General had marked as friendly.”
“If they still are,” Sabine pointed out. “It doesn’t seem like the General or his soldiers travel outside of Zone D very often.”
Ally shrugged. “I trust him, for the most part. It is all we have to go on.”
She was having trouble feeling okay about not getting to say goodbye to Luke or Max, and her emotions kept trying to bubble to the surface. Even then she could feel her bottom lip at the start of a tremble.