Her eyelids pressed tightly closed. “Why would he do that? Did he really think they would take him to the mountain?”
“Well, I guess. I talked to one of his friends, and said our betrayer was mad about Samuel and that we had no food and thought they should do something so the State would take them back.”
Freya gave a bitter laugh. “What a fool. The High Council wouldn’t let him live—or anyone else—knowing anything that he knew. The surface is inhabitable. Colonization a hoax. They wouldn’t let anyone back in the mountain.”
Her heart sunk into her stomach.
It’s my fault. I said I would send them to the mountain as an empty threat, and he really thought it was an option.
Aakil pushed his shaggy straight hair away from his tired eyes. “I put together a clip of the incident. Samuel said we needed to show everyone the guy get shot while helping the soldiers. I thought it sounded all right, you know, help the other guys from inside the dome get their heads on straight. But…”
“Aakil?”
He pressed his eyes tightly closed. “Samuel wants to execute the men we found inside the dome.”
Her breath hitched in her chest. “But he can’t do that.” Her vision blurred. “We can’t let him do that.”
Aakil gently placed a hand on top of her arm. “I know. But he’s been up to a lot since you and Colin were put under. He blames you, for everything. He says you should have killed those men right when you first got here. That you’ve mishandled everything. There should have been no food shortages—”
Her brows knitted together. “He’s saying the shortages are my fault?”
Aakil frowned and gave a slight shrug. “He says we all jumped the gun when you contacted the High Council instead of hunting and checking supplies first.”
Freya took a deep breath to wind up, to protest, defend herself, something. But she momentarily fell silent instead. “I did mess that up.”
“We don’t know that, not for certain. There was a silent alarm, and we all agreed. We could have maybe bought two hours for hunting at best had we hunted before contacting them.”
“But, that might have been enough.”
Aakil pushed off her bed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Freya, you’re not getting it. I’ve been trying to tell you all along that Samuel is a problem. We’ve got to do something about him before it’s too late.”
Her gaze wandered to the white, sterile wall. She understood that Samuel wanted to blame her, or even that he thought he could do a better job. She never wanted to be a leader. Maybe she should step down and spend the rest of her days in the greenhouses.
The thought lasted a fleeting moment before the harsh reality slammed into her. Samuel wants to execute those innocent workers.
Samuel may blame her for everything, but maybe he shared in responsibility. If he hadn’t taken extra rations, or bullied the people he thought less of, then maybe things would be better. But Aakil was right. If he thought he could execute those innocent dome workers, she had to stop him.
“What should we do?”
Aakil looked near her but didn’t meet her eyes. “No clue. The medic says you’re past the worst part, but you might still be a little wobbly on your feet. And we’ve got to come up with something. Fast.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Okay, so Samuel and his entire army want us to step down and execute the workers we found inside the dome.”
“I think he wants us to step down. But who knows? He might want to kill us too. He was getting everyone all riled up in the common room. I only heard fragments of it.”
“Do you know what he says he’ll do better? Will he lead everyone to the mountain for a war? How does he claim he can fix this?”
Aakil nodded slowly with his eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure. All I heard was a bunch of blame, and how he should throw us out of here.”
Her skin blanched at the thought. “That sounds more violent than simply demoting me to the greenhouses.”
“Freya, the guy is nuts—and he’s making everyone else nuts too. People are hungry and scared, which has given Samuel a perfect platform. I think he just wants to kill those dome workers so there is more food for him and his army. I already came up with the idea to seal the access points, which means they need less labor. You’ve already done the heavy lifting in the greenhouses. Colin trained a bunch of the pregnant women how to work the Security system. They don’t need us anymore.”
It made sense, a little too much sense. Maybe Samuel would lock them up so he could eat their share of rations. He would leave them in a cell until there was more than enough food for his army.
She pressed her eyelids tightly closed. “Okay. What are our options? We don’t want a firefight. If everyone is already worked up, then I don’t know that giving a speech or broadcast will do anything. So, if—”
Aakil spun around and looked at her, wide eyed. “A broadcast.”
“Aakil, I just said that wouldn’t work.”
A spark ignited in his eyes. “You should do a broadcast to the mountain. Tell every civilian there that we’re here, inside the dome. We’re not on another planet.”
Her eyebrows shot upwards. “And what good would it do now? You think it will turn Samuel around? We don’t have an army.”
Aakil shook his head. “Yes. You give your address and declare war on the mountain. It’s what those men came here for. I’ll set the broadcast to play both inside the dome and mountain, then we call the men into action. Hopefully, they’ll temporarily forget about killing the dome workers or imprisoning us.”
Freya’s head started spinning, and it had nothing to do with the damage to her inner ear. “I don’t know, Aakil. I feel like I’ll only get those civilians inside the mountain killed.”
Aakil gripped his unkempt dark hair. “Freya, I hate to break it to you, but we’ve run out of options. If we let Samuel lock us up, not only will our lives end, but so will others. He’s a bully, not a leader. If he takes over, they’ll never have an army large enough to challenge the State. Our best chance of doing any damage to the State is by showing the people inside the mountain your face.”
She closed her eyes, trying to steady her breath. “Okay. Say we sneak into the State House and I give an address. Is there anything else we can use? Do we have any information? Do we know if we killed all the soldiers from Idaho or if there are more? Do all the accesses outside have guards?”
Aakil mashed his lips together. “Not a clue. Why does it matter? Personally, I’d rather not think about those soldiers and our odds against them. This will be a bloodbath, but it’s better than starvation.”
Freya barked a dry laugh. “I think we need to think more about their military then Samuel. I’m trying to gauge how many soldiers they have. How many can we kill before they’re defenseless?”
Aakil grimaced. “Freya, it’s the State. They don’t normally have a shortage in their military. I mean, look at the military underground. It’s like a second city under the one everyone else lived in.”
Her brows knitted together. “No, Aakil. It’s not. It spans the length of our city, but it’s only one level. Most of our buildings have upwards of 30 floors.”
“Yeah, I guess, but they’re in the mountain now. How do we know everyone isn’t part of the military?”
Freya gnawed on her lower lip while she thought. “There is that chance, but I have my doubts. The State has always maintained the status quo. There is the High Council, the military, and their compliant citizens they give token Council positions to. There were always numerous people who didn’t fit into one of those groups. I think they don’t want everyone compliant, despite what they say.”
Aakil’s eyes lit up. “If everyone was like them, then what would make them special? Their devotion to whatever messed up cause they serve defines them.” He pinched his thin lower lip between two fingers. “You know, I think their military to civilian ratio inside the mountain could be similar to what we had in the dom
e.”
“That’s exactly my point. If everyone is military, then who cooks or grows their crops?” Freya panted. “They retire most military personnel by their mid-40’s. Since we left, they probably retired more than they recruited when they moved back to the mountain.”
Aakil nodded. “Right.” He closed the gap between them and grabbed her hands. “Let’s go.”
She resisted his touch, looking at him sideways. “Shouldn’t I talk to the medic first?”
“Normally, yes. But we need to act before Samuel does. Let’s get Colin and get out of here.”
Her heart fluttered.
Are we really doing this? We’re so unprepared.
She accepted Aakil’s outreached hands, using his stability to stand on her wobbly legs. They needed to strategize in her office because Aakil could be right; time was working against them.
Chapter 36
Freya
Only through a firm grip on the bed frame, she remained on her feet. Seeing Colin in this condition was enough to make her faint. His skin paled. Dark circles encompassed his eyes; he hardly resembled the man she loved.
A repetitive squeaking noise pulled her attention from Colin until Aakil rounded the corner with a wheelchair.
Her eyes widened. “You didn’t say he can’t walk.”
Aakil held up a defensive hand. “He lost a lot of blood. He’ll be fine.”
The more she thought about Aakil’s plan, the more she thought they should leave Colin in the clinic. What if he got hurt? He couldn’t afford to lose more blood.
Her eyes darted toward the wheelchair. “I don’t know. His bed has wheels on it. I say we just roll him down to the State House, as is. Then we don’t have to worry about hurting him.”
She looked at the IV running clear fluids into his arm, heard the monitor beep to the rhythm of his heart and smelled the disinfectant. His eyes remained closed despite her touch and their conversation, he didn’t stir. The idea of moving him from his bed to a wheelchair seemed obscene.
“And you know what, now that I’ve seen him, I don’t want him coming with us at all. We should leave him here. He’s too weak. Let’s go do this broadcast, get everyone riled up to fight, all while he recovers safely here under proper medical supervision.”
Without response, Aakil grasped Colin’s arm and tugged out the IV. Freya gasped as a small spurt of blood sprayed the white linens until Aakil covered the entry point with gauze.
Colin stirred, groaned, and rolled his head to the side, yet his eyes remained closed.
“Freya, normally I’d agree with you, but we need to stick together. Samuel’s got it in for us. Besides, we have a better chance of getting killed than surviving the day. And I know if Colin was awake and knew we’re going on some crazy last-ditch mission against the High Council, he’d want to come with us.”
Her eyelids pressed tightly together as she worked on remaining calm. “I’m sure Colin would be mad we left him behind, but he might not live to make it into battle if we take him with us.”
“Freya, you don’t get it.” Aakil threw down the role of medical tape. “He doesn’t have anything without you. From the second he stepped off the spacecraft till the moment you woke up, getting you back was all he thought about. He doesn’t have a purpose without you. There would be no reason to continue to fight against the State, Samuel, or anyone else if you were gone.”
“And I won’t watch him bleed to death because we’re ill equipped to handle this,” she spat. “I understand why you think we need to stick together, but Aakil…” She looked down at his pale skin, brushing a lock of his thick hair off his forehead.
Aakil stepped back and grabbed the wheelchair, pressing it snug against the bed. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that to him. If we go down, so does he. Together. He’d kill me just for letting you run off without him.”
A slight tremor pulsated in her chest. She still thought Colin should stay in the clinic, but Aakil was right. They might not make it through this. Even if it killed Colin to move him, he’d rather bleed out on route than get left behind, despite how the thought sickened her.
“Okay. But let’s just push his bed to the State House. Let’s do the broadcast, then if he’s awake, we’ll talk about how to roll him into battle.”
His lips smacked together in a pause before he proceeded. “Freya, I may have downplayed this situation with Samuel. Those men are hungry and angry, with far too much testosterone to just hang out in a dome. They left their homes for blood, and they’ll have it. I’m afraid they’re losing sight of why they came here, and who the real enemy is.”
“I get that.”
He closed his eyes. “I don’t think you do, or you’d understand that the only chance we have of getting to the State House is through the military underground.”
She cursed and stepped away from Colin, rubbing her eyelids. “You really think they’re worked up enough to stop us from going to the State House?”
“Freya, this isn’t about food anymore. Samuel was in charge back home. Then he comes here, and you chew him out in front of his men for how much he eats.”
White fiery anger boiled in her core at the thought. “He was acting like a spoiled child! The food restrictions were clear—”
“Hey,” Aakil shouted over her, “I didn’t say you were wrong, I just think you need to wake up. Unlike the colonists, dome workers, and Gwen’s community, he doesn’t respect your authority. That’s what this is really about. I don’t think he wants to kill those dome workers because one let the military in, it’s so that they can each have more food and the women for themselves. Those dome workers are competition for both food and mates.”
With closed eyes, her head slowly swayed back and forth. “They all had partners and families back home. I don’t think they would fight over the women here.”
“Freya, they’re men. They will too. If they can’t go home to their families, they’ll create new ones here. Especially as they fight for who’s in charge. Sad fact, humans have never evolved past their primate tendencies. We aren’t safe anymore. Today, your title is being threatened, but tomorrow we could be imprisoned, and the next day executed. We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
Aakil held her gaze for a long pause, waiting for her understanding, consent, approval, or just to make sure she could handle this. He leaned down and draped Colin’s arm over his shoulder. She stopped him and moved to the foot of the bed and unlocked the wheels. With a firm tug, she moved the bed away from the wall and the medical equipment, then gestured for Aakil to adjust the wheelchair.
Aakil locked the wheels in place, then looked up at her. “You’ll get his legs?”
“Yeah.” She grabbed around Colin’s thighs. “On three?”
“Yep. One. Two. Three—” Aakil grunted, heaving Colin’s torso into the wheelchair.
A gut wrenching groan escaped Colin’s lips.
Freya winced. “Did we hurt him?”
Aakil came around and lifted Colin’s gown, which exposed a blot of red seeping through a crisp bandage on his side. He shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what it looked like before we moved him.”
Stars danced behind her eyes. Regardless of if they had just caused further damage, it was done. It would be harder to get him back into the bed than into the State House.
Colin lifted his head briefly before it flopped to the side. “Where am I?”
She immediately knelt on the floor in front of Colin. Freya reached up and squeezed his hand. “Colin, you’re in the clinic. But we want to move you to the State House.”
“State House,” he mumbled with a slight slur.
“Mate, Samuel’s been a real prick since you got shot.”
Colin attempted to lift his head. “He was a prick before I got shot.”
Aakil choked out a small laugh. “True. But he’s gotten worse, if you can believe it.”
Abandoning his efforts to keep his head upright, Colin spoke into his chest. “Unfortunately, I can
. It’s the colony all over again, isn’t it?”
Aakil ensured Colin’s lanky limbs were contained within the wheelchair, then pushed. “No, actually, it’s much worse. He wants to execute all the dome workers, and I think imprison us for not killing them right when we arrived. And, well, for everything else that’s gone wrong. Like not having food and such.”
“You think?” He tried to lift his head again. “Are you guessing, or did he say as much?”
“Well.” Aakil’s tone spiked into a high pitch. “He’s getting everyone worked up. From what I could hear, it started with just removing us from power, but somehow escalated quickly to imprisonment. Honestly, I’m more concerned about what I missed when I came to wake Freya.”
Delivered: A Young Adult Dystopian Romance (The State Series Book 7) Page 26