Utopia

by L. J. Higgins

  “This was between us, okay? They need to sort it out on their own… no help, Fletcher,” Domino gave Fletcher a mock glare before jogging to catch up with the others and to keep an eye on Maya and Alber.

  “What was that supposed to mean?” Fletcher asked me.

  I grinned. “It means she knows you won't be able to stop yourself from interfering.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lark assured us we hadn't been walking for long. The perspiration soaking my shirt and dripping from my forehead, and the ache in my arms and legs told me otherwise. The sweat stung my raw wrists, and I was sure my blisters had managed to grow more blisters on top of them. Never before had I walked over such difficult terrain. Utopia was flat. No hills, no dales, flat. Earth was far from it. The rainforest was thick with vegetation, making it almost impossible to push through. Vega was leading at the front of the group to kick over and snap thin trees and sticks to clear what I guessed was supposed to be a path.

  Not only did we have to avoid tripping hazards and branches that wanted to knock our heads off, we also had to scramble up steep inclines and slide and stumble down deep embankments. There were also vines that wanted to rip at our skin and clothes, and little black blobs Lark had said are only interested in drinking our blood. I'd been fortunate to miss out on the honor of feeding one, but both Fletcher and Lark had needed one each removed from their arms. On the plus side, we hadn't run into any of the wildlife that might kill us, and there was plenty of small streams to keep us hydrated. The cool, icy cold water hurt my teeth as I sculled it down, but I swear my body was sweating it out quicker than I could swallow it. I didn't understand how I could be so thirsty when the air around me was so damn wet.

  “Okay. That's it. I need a rest,” called out Braven, plonking himself down on a large boulder and laying Alber at his feet.

  “I second that,” replied Lark, sitting on a fallen tree.

  The rest of us filed in behind them, and Vega walked towards us as we all settled down for a rest on rocks and tree trunks. The heat was stifling, and I fantasised about stripping off and walking the rest of the way in my underwear. But the memory of the clawing vines and blood sucking blobs scared me enough to keep my clothing on.

  “This heat is ridiculous,” whined Fletcher, wiping at his forehead. His cheeks were flushed pink like the rest of us.

  “That's the tropics for you. We're lucky it hasn't rained yet,” panted Lark.

  “Rained? As in water pouring from the sky,” I groaned. The idea of it had sounded so magical when reading about it on my computer tablet at school. The floating cities had been built just above the cloud line, which meant we never got to experience rain. Now the thought made me want to cry.

  “Yup, it rains a lot here. So expect to get wetter and stickier before we get closer to Eden,” said Lark.

  “Is that possible?” asked Vega.

  “How long will it take to get to Eden?” asked Fletcher.

  “Don't freak out on me,” he said. “Approximately eight days, give or take a day or two with us dragging these two and Domino having to keep checking on them.”

  Eight days. We'd barely walked a few hours, and I'd have to go on like that for eight days. Part of me wanted to stay there. Live out the rest of my short life in the tropical rainforest. I'm sure it could make a nice home. That was, if you ignored the tiny insects biting you and making you itchy to the point you wanted to chop your own limbs off. Then there was the chance of being bitten by a snake or a spider. Okay, I think walking was the best option.

  “It won't be like this the whole way. It'll get drier as we head inland. Much drier, so make sure you enjoy water and food while you can.” He dabbed at his face with the bottom of his sweat-soaked shirt.

  “Great. We'll go from soaking wet and sticky to dried up and parched,” Braven replied.

  “To be honest, I'd welcome a little rain right now,” said Vega.

  They continued talking about the weather. Vega preferred the idea of the wet heat, whereas Braven and Domino were looking forward to drying out a little. While they continued their discussion, I was distracted by a distant sound. I'd never heard it before. It was a whipping sound from a fair distance away.

  “Rora, what is it?” Fletcher asked, the rest of the group quietened.

  “Can you hear that?” I asked, rising to my feet and straining to hear.

  Lark's eyes grew wide. “Choppers. How did they get choppers? Quick everyone, we have to hide.”

  “Choppers?” I asked. “What are choppers?” Whatever they were they sounded horrible.

  “Helicopters. They have a helicopter,” stressed Lark lifting the head of Maya's bed.

  “Lark, Alber's not well. I don't think we should move him yet. His heartrate keeps dropping and…” started Domino.

  “No time. If we don't get moving, he'll be as good as dead anyway. If they have a helicopter, there's no telling what weapons they have. Come on, let's head down this gully.” Lark dragged Maya over a ledge, and we all filed down behind him.

  The gully had a trickle of water running through it, making the rocks and pebbles slippery. I stumbled a few times as Lark picked up the pace, but managed to regain my footing each time. The water rose until it was deep enough to seep into my shoes, making my feet wet and my toes rub together. The urge to stop and tear off my boots was overwhelming, but the whipping of the chopper blades kept my legs moving.

  Lark kept up the fast pace for a fair distance before we reached the bottom of the gully. We followed him as he broke into a jog, continuing along the water's new path. The whipping of the helicopters' blades grew louder as it approached overhead, kicking my heart into a frenzy. Helicopters weren't supposed to exist anymore. I thought the only way to travel was by airship.

  “In here,” yelled Lark as the sound of the chopper grew louder and filled the rainforest around us. The leaves of the trees rustled, and the sky above us grew darker.

  Lark stepped between two rock walls, and we all followed him inside. Fallen trees covered the opening above us, and we all crouched down waiting for the helicopter to fly over. Fletcher moved to my side and wrapped an arm around me as the trees around us shook and the sound popped my ears. The sound was soon accompanied by the loud rush of pouring rain. It quickly soaked me through and sent a shiver over my damp body.

  Peering up through the heavy drops, I caught sight of the helicopter as it circled over us. Had they seen us and were looking for a place to land? Or had we managed to escape them? The sound was so loud, I raised my hands to cover them as best as I could with my sling on and I squeezed my eyes shut, burying my head against Fletcher's chest.

  * * *

  “Aurora, Rora, it's okay. It's gone,” Fletcher's voice brought me to, and I looked around at my drenched fellow rebels. I wasn't sure if I'd passed out or managed to block out the entire situation. But the world around us was quiet again except for the patter of rain and my own rapid breath.

  “You okay?” asked Fletcher.

  “Yes. No. What are they doing with a freaking helicopter?” I blurted out.

  Lark shook his head, his eyes still wide. “I have no idea. We were told they were all lost when the world ended.”

  “Great. So now we aren't only on the run from the Utopian Guard with an airship. We're on the run from people who can track us down in minutes and may have powerful weapons?” asked Vega.

  “Looks that way,” said Lark.

  “You have to be kidding me.” Vega ran her hands over her damp hair.

  “What now?” asked Domino. “Alber's getting worse. He's freezing, his blood pressure has dropped too low, and I can't get any fluids into him without a drip of some sort.”

  “I don't know.” Larks shoulders slumped forward and he looked her in the eye.

  “Here, wrap him in my jacket.” I tugged my jacket from around my waist and handed it to Domino. She gave me a thankful smile before tucking it around Alber's body.

  “Should we stay here until Alber
is stable, or do we keep moving?” asked Braven.

  “I said I don't know.” Lark didn't lift his eyes from his lap.

  “You what?” snapped Fletcher.

  Lark threw his arms in the air. “I don't know. I don't know. What on Utopia are we doing here? We were supposed to be on Eden finding out the truth. Not down here hiking through the rainforest hoping we stumble across another floating city.”

  “Stumble across? I thought you knew where we were going?” Braven's eyebrows creased in the middle, and he squared his jaw.

  “He does know. It's all a bit overwhelming.” Domino came to Lark's defence.

  Vega paced around our small hideout. “Admit it Lark, were screwed. We can't survive down here. We're sweating and pissing out water faster than we can get it into our bodies, and we have enough food for what, two days max?”

  “A day and a half if we're lucky,” Lark admitted.

  “What are we supposed to do if you don't know what to do? You're our leader, Lark, and what? You're giving up on us? I've followed you into some stupid crap, but this has got to be the stupidest.” Braven threw his hands in the air before lashing out at a nearby tree with his fist.

  My stomach clenched at the arguing. How was this supposed to help? Yelling at each other, acting like we were a lost cause, punching inanimate objects.

  “We're depending on you, Lark, you can't do this,” Vega growled.

  “Maybe I'm sick of you all depending on me all of the time. For Elites sake, you're all old enough to take care of your damned selves,” Lark bit.

  “I don't want to be here. I'm supposed to be up on Utopia eating and drinking, missing my sister and best friend. But instead I'm stuck here with a bunch of people I don't know. I don't even know if my sister is going to wake up,” Fletcher yelled.

  “You don't want to be here? How about we don't want you here? We never did. The only reason you had to come along is because your daddy is a wuss and didn't save his son.” Vega was hitting him where it hurt.

  Fletcher retaliated. “What the hell is your problem? You don't want Braven but you can't stop looking at him, you hate Aurora when you don't know her from a bar of soap…”

  Vega narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Stop,” I said, but they continued arguing amongst themselves.

  “You son of a bitch. You don't know a thing about me, so don't stand there acting like you do,” yelled Vega.

  “Back off, Fletcher, if you don't pull your head in I might knock it off,” Braven added.

  “Fletcher, I asked you to keep it to yourself,” said Domino.

  “You told him? You told him about me and Braven?” Vega pointed in Domino's face.

  “Back off Vega, Domino's been like a mother to you,” replied Lark.

  “Stop,” I tried again louder.

  “Yeah. And why did she have to be like a mother, Lark? Because my mother died following you. Now I'm going to die making the same damned mistake.” Vega shaped up to Lark with Braven close behind her.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  Each of them fell silent, their surprised stares landing on me.

  “This is ridiculous. Pull yourselves together. Yes, this totally bites. It's hot, I'm sick of being bitten by these horrible little creatures…” I slapped at a bug as it landed on my neck, “and we have no food. But guess what? We're alive. Against all odds, we're alive. We should've died in the crash, but Alber risked his own life so we could keep ours, and how are we repaying him? Standing around his unconscious body yelling at each other. We're never going to survive if we don't pull together. No wonder these two aren't waking up. Who'd want to wake up to this depressing sight?”

  “Aurora,” interrupted Fletcher.

  “No, Fletch, I'm not done,” I snapped at him.

  “Aurora, look,” he insisted.

  Chapter Twenty

  A groan caught my attention as Fletcher ran past me towards Maya, who was trying to open her eyes. Fletcher crouched down beside her, holding her hand.

  “Fletcher?” she asked, her eyes opening a little.

  “I'm here, Maya. I'm right here. Aurora's losing it, but we are all here with you.” He smiled at me with watery eyes.

  Maya relaxed onto her bed, her eyes focused on her brother.

  “We thought we'd lost you,” said Domino as she moved to Maya's side to check her pulse.

  “Me? No way.” Maya attempted a grin. “Why is Aurora losing it? Is she okay?”

  I looked around the group, my mouth opening and closing, unable to form words.

  “Don't worry about Aurora right now. Let me check you over,” replied Domino.

  “Why am I wet?” she asked patting at her clothing.

  “It was raining, but it seems to be giving us a break at the moment,” replied Fletcher.

  The heavy drops had faded from little specks to nothing in minutes. The weather on Earth was temperamental, much like my group.

  “Aurora was right. I don't know what got into me,” began Lark as he rose to his feet. “We survived a crash I would've considered un-survivable. We escaped Utopia with the guard hot on our tail and we rescued Maya from the cells. If we can do all of that and still be standing, we can make it to Eden.” He reached out and placed his hand on Vega's shoulder. “I'm sorry, Vega.”

  Vega looked to her boots. “So am I. I didn't mean what I said.”

  “Me either.” Braven held his hand out towards Lark.

  Lark took a hold of it and pulled him in for a hug. Braven's muscles relaxed at Lark's touch.

  “I'm sorry too. It's none of my business what's going on with you guys. I was …” Fletcher began.

  “It's okay, Fletcher. We know,” ended Braven.

  “I'm sorry to break up this apology party, but we have to keep moving,” said Lark. “I'm sure whoever was in the chopper will be back for another sweep of the rain forest and we won't be safe until we get to Eden.”

  “What's a chopper?” asked Maya.

  “A helicopter. We'll fill you in on what happened once we get moving,” replied Lark.

  “Will Maya be okay?” asked Fletcher.

  “It's okay. I'm sure I can walk.” Maya pushed herself up from her makeshift bed.

  “No you don't.” Domino placed her hand on her chest. “Lark will carry you until I decide you're well enough to walk by yourself. As far as we know, you're suffering from concussion, but until I can observe you for a bit longer now you're awake, we can't be sure.”

  “Sorry, Lark,” sighed Maya.

  “It's my pleasure, your majesty.” Lark gave her a bow before lifting up the head end of the sheet of metal.

  Maya rolled her eyes but managed a small smirk. Fletcher didn't leave her side as we packed up and rolled out of our hideout. Lark decided it was safer to stick to the stream running through the gully in the hope if they did fly over again, the thick tree cover and the fact we didn't have to carve a path through the trees would hide us.

  The trees were huge. They stretched up much higher than the glass wall at the edge of Utopia had, blocking out the heat of the sun but trapping in the moisture of the damp ground below us. My toes no longer ached in my combat boots; instead they'd gone numb and I feared they'd topple out of my boots when I pulled them off.

  When you weren't fighting off the bugs, which Lark informed me were called mosquitos, or wiping the sweat from your brow, the rainforest was a beautiful place. The trickle of the stream we walked along helped relax me and the crunch of the small gravel under foot assured me all of my teammates were nearby.

  I could never have imagined there were so many different shades of green. Some plants were a glossy deep olive colour while others were furry and a bright shade of lime. Now and then loud screech would sound above us and looking up I could spot bright coloured birds in the branches of the trees. Along with the noise of the birds was the chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs. Part of me wanted to see one for myself, but Lark's description of a slimy, big eyed creature changed my mi
nd pretty quick. They were more than welcome to stay hidden in the undergrowth.

  We'd walked for hours by the time Lark decided it was okay to stop and have a bite to eat. Not that I was hungry. On Utopia I would've eaten two meals in the time we'd walked, but all my body craved was water. The light had long faded and the darkness was falling heavy around us, making it hard to navigate our way through the rainforest.

  “We better make camp before we can't see our hands in front of our faces,” suggested Lark, placing a sleeping Maya on the mossy floor.

  I hoped Braven had managed to keep his torch tucked away in his utility belt.

  Braven, Lark, Fletcher and Vega worked to pull branches and leaves over to where we sat to form a makeshift roof over Maya and Alber. The folk of the Undercity would've laughed at its poor quality, but it was the best we could do in the situation.

  Domino fussed around Maya and Alber while the rest of us attempted to get comfortable. Domino had returned my jacket, replacing it with one of the blankets we'd stored away in the backpacks. I folded it up to make a semi-comfy pillow and lay down on the cool damp ground. Fletcher sat next to me, his eyes not leaving his sister, who was talking to Domino and sitting up.

  “Looks like Maya's much better,” I said.

  He turned to look at me. “I was worried there for a while. It's so nice to see both of my girls happy and healthy.”

  “That's a bit possessive, don't you think?” I asked with a smirk.

  “Well, we almost died. And I had to give up my comfy warm bed to sleep on the dirty ground next to you, so I get to be.”

  “Okay, I'll give you that one.”

  He lay next to me, fashioning his own pillow out of his jacket.

  “Fletch?” I said as he settled down.

  “Yes, Rora?”

  “If it counts for anything, I'm kinda happy you're here with us.” My cheeks warmed at my confession.

  “Thanks. Me too. I mean, how would I have been able to do this and get away with it?” he asked.

  “Do what?” I regretted the question as he reached over and tickled me. I rolled to my side, squealing and giggling smacking my bad arm on a branch. “Ouch.” I winced.