“All of our lives,” Gadya points out.
“Why does the Monk want you?” I ask David. “What does he care about you, now that his drones have managed to stop Dr. Barrett and our entire plan from working?”
David raises the black box. “The Monk wants this back. He suspected I had something like it, but he wasn’t sure. I kept it well hidden in a hollowed-out tree. But then he saw me use it to escape from him and the drones, so now he knows it exists.” He gazes around the forest that surrounds us. “To the travelers, this box was a useless hindrance. But to the Monk, it’s the key to total domination of the wheel. With the feelers linked and under his command, he might even be able to head off any attacks from the UNA. The Monk could start his own nation on this island, if he wanted. A psychotic kingdom.”
His words hang in the air.
“So they’ve probably sent an army after us already,” Liam says. “No wonder the travelers wanted to get rid of us so fast.” All of us are standing up now. David’s revelation has increased our sense of urgency.
“Any more secrets you want to share?” I ask him.
“No, that’s everything.”
“Yeah, right,” Gadya spits.
“The drones might not even be that far away,” I say. “They’ve had the entire night to travel.”
We’re scanning the forest. It’s silent and still.
“Do the drones have any way of tracking us?” Cass asks David.
“Probably,” he answers. “It’s best not to underestimate the Monk—whoever he is.”
“Then the travelers left us out here to die!” Cass snaps, eyeing Gadya.
“They didn’t know the Monk was coming after us!” Gadya retorts.
Cass raises her hands, balling them into fists. “You sure about that? How do I know you’re not in on this just like David.”
“Cass—” I begin. “Gadya—” But they ignore me.
Gadya grins at Cass. “It’s been a while since I’ve kicked a drone’s butt, but I’m ready to do it anytime you want. Just let me know.”
“I’m not a drone, but I’m happy to shove your face in the dirt and dance on your head!” Cass snarls back.
“Stop fighting!” I yell, stepping between the two of them before it can escalate. Liam joins me.
Both Gadya and Cass glare at each other around us.
“Knock it off!” I call out. “We need to find a feeler. Not fight each other!”
“Yeah, we can schedule that for later,” David murmurs from behind us. Both Gadya and Cass turn their angry glares toward him.
“You’re lucky they’re not coming after you,” I tell David.
“Very lucky,” Liam adds. He gazes around at the group. “Alenna’s right. It’s time to stop arguing and go feeler hunting.”
Gadya nods. She slowly lowers her fists. “Good idea.”
Liam and I step back. Gadya heads in our direction, without a second look at Cass. Cass goes over to Emma’s side.
We start walking back the way we came, in tense silence, divided by hostility. I keep my eyes on David.
It’s surprisingly simple to find the path that the travelers used to take us here. That’s because the underbrush is flattened, like they just dragged our unconscious bodies across the ground. There’s no sign of their tracks leading anywhere else, unless they went back the same way that we’re going now.
We are right in the middle of the thick jungle. And I’m assuming that we’re completely lost.
But twenty minutes later, to my surprise, we stumble out of the trees and see the elevated highway right there in front of us. For a moment, I think that the travelers are still going to be there underneath it. That this was some kind of test, or lesson for us.
Liam and I pause, squinting at the platforms under the highway. I don’t see anyone up there right now, but that doesn’t mean the travelers aren’t around.
“Don’t waste your time,” Gadya says, brushing past me. “They’re long gone.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“They’d leave their whole camp?” Emma asks.
“They’ll build another,” Gadya says. “Like us villagers used to do.”
“That’s crazy,” I mutter.
“That’s the kind of thing that keeps them alive. They don’t take any chances. They’re miles from here already.”
“At least they didn’t get us lost,” Liam says. “Could be a lot worse.”
David nods in agreement, scanning the sky as he clutches his black box. I still don’t know what motives really drive him. He seems so different from the boy I met on the wheel nearly two months ago.
We keep walking. I can’t believe that the travelers would have abandoned their whole camp just because of us. But that’s clearly the case. I see the remains of their wooden platforms under the road and in the trees. They are desolate and completely empty.
“They left the ropes,” Liam says, pointing. “Look.” I follow his gaze and see them hanging down like vines. Some lead directly to the platforms, and some lead up to the road, farther along where the barricade is.
“You sure that box still works?” I ask David.
“Pretty sure.”
“We need to get up on the highway and see if we can find a feeler,” Gadya says.
We keep heading through the underbrush. “What if no feelers come?” I ask Liam.
“We could walk back closer to the cathedral,” he says, then pauses. “Or we could clear the barricade and go forward on the tram until the road gives out. Hope that we cross into another sector or something and that the hidden motion detectors trigger a feeler to show up then. If it does, we can point David’s box at it and try to control it.”
I nod. I never thought I’d be eager to find a feeler. Not after I spent so much time fleeing from them the first time I was on the wheel.
With a feeler in our control, we have a chance at plucking the Monk into the sky. And revealing his true identity. Knowledge is the key to surviving the wheel, and right now Liam and I need to find out what’s really going on. Killing Minister Harka should have ended the drones’ reign of terror. Who else would dare to take on his mantle and continue leading his deranged flock?
I wish I had the Camus book with me to get more insights on what to do. I try to remember quotes from the book, but the text merges together in my head. I remember reading something in it about how society always disintegrates and becomes a wild jungle in the absence of personal freedom and culture. This is literally what has happened here on the wheel.
I keep trudging forward. I stretch out my hand and find Liam’s. I hold it tightly. I notice that he’s gone silent. I glance over at him and see that his eyes have a faraway look.
“You okay? You thinking about something?”
“Naw. It’s nothing.” He pauses. “Just my dad.”
I squeeze his hand. “He’ll be fine. I saw him fight. The drones are the ones who should be worried.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself.”
“Maybe we’ll find him out here in the forest. Stranger things have happened on the wheel. I’m sure he and his men got away from the cathedral.”
Liam nods. “I just don’t want him to think that I abandoned him. Like I let him down.”
“You didn’t.” I brush back a coil of hair, looping it behind my ear. “He knows that we’re the best chance of figuring out the wheel and helping take it over.”
Liam squeezes my hand back. “I hope you’re right.” He pauses. “You worried about your mom?”
“All the time,” I admit. “I hope she made it back to Southern Arc, but there’s no way to know for sure.”
“If we get back to the scientists, maybe they’ll have some means of contacting her. Besides, Southern Arc’s definitely safer than the wheel.”
“True.” We stare out at the ropes swinging down from the road in front of us.
I’m surprised the travelers left anything here. Maybe it was their way
of trying to help us without getting too involved. I can already hear Cass complaining about having to go up the ropes.
“Ready to do some climbing?” Liam asks, with a crooked grin.
I smile back, with a resigned sigh. “I’m ready for anything.”
21THE FEELER HUNT
SOON WE’RE BACK UP on the highway. The six of us stand there in the sweltering heat under the sun. It’s much warmer today than it was yesterday.
The tram is parked on the side of the road, where we left it.
But the barricade that the travelers made has been removed. The only signs of it are greasy bloodstains left by the hoofer carcasses. The metal track has been cleared for us to continue, if we want to.
Still, I know that the road supposedly cuts out ten miles from here. We’d end up in the same situation as before. At least here, we have the abandoned platforms nearby to hide in if things go wrong.
Liam walks up ahead a few yards to check out the track.
“Alenna,” I hear David say softly. I turn and see that he’s come over to my side. “You still trust me, right?”
I’m not sure why he’s even asking me this right now. Why does he care? I look him in the eye. “I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I tell him honestly. Deep down, I’m not sure I can ever risk trusting him again. “I don’t want to get hurt. I have to protect myself.”
He looks wounded. “I thought you knew me better than that.”
“I thought I did too.”
I look away from him and see Liam already heading back toward me. David moves away again quickly, off to the side with his black box. It’s like he doesn’t want Liam to hear him talking to me.
“I wish we had some fireworks to set off,” Gadya says. “That’d get some attention.”
“That would bring drones instead of feelers,” David muses, fiddling with the box.
“Shut up,” Gadya snaps at him.
“What are you doing with that box?” Liam asks David.
“Searching. Trying to find any feelers in the area. I think I can get this box to emit the radio signal to draw them to us. The scientists gave me a code and it’s stored in here somewhere. I just have to remember the right sequence of switches.”
“Try it,” Liam says. “But if you screw up, or if you’re lying, then things are going to get pretty unpleasant for you.”
“Fine, but I just can’t control how many feelers turn up,” David continues. “Should I still try? Because if the transmitter calls the feelers to us, a hundred might show up. Maybe more.”
We’re all looking at David. Maybe he’s working for the Monk and this is some way to call the drones to us faster? The thought makes me shiver, despite the heat. But we have to take the chance. I look up at the peaceful blue sky, dotted with clouds, and at the lush treetops around us.
“From up here, we’ll be able to get to the ropes in time if any feelers show up,” I say. “Like the travelers did. We could hide under the highway and try to control them from down there.”
Liam nods. “David, how many can you control at one time?”
David looks at us. “I don’t know. According to the scientists, they’re programmed to operate off a sequential algorithm. Once they’re linked in a chain we can get them to hang in the sky. Totally harmless. That’s what I did with the three that accompanied me here—I just used them for protection while I traveled.”
“Press the switches to call them then, and let’s find out what happens,” I say.
We stand there, watching.
“Yeah, do it,” Gadya urges.
David slowly flips some switches, then some more, his fingers moving faster and faster. My eyes are glued to the box. “There. I think I got it,” he finally says. “The transmitter should be like a homing signal now. Hopefully something will be headed our way soon.”
“Let’s hope it arrives before the Monk and his drones get here,” Emma says.
I stare back up at the sky again. We stand there for a few moments. Waiting and watching. Looking out in every direction.
Liam and I stand next to each other. He’s scrutinizing the horizon. He suddenly pauses. I can feel his whole body tense.
“You see something?” I ask.
“Over there.” He points back down the highway, in the direction we originally came from. “Just above the treetops.”
I squint. “I don’t see it yet.”
“Me neither,” Cass adds.
Liam is still watching the sky. “Look closer. Something’s definitely there.”
Then, as I keep staring, an object coalesces into view. It’s floating over the trees in our direction, several miles away or more.
“I thought the range was just a couple hundred yards!” I say.
“I did too,” David replies.
“Let’s not make the same mistake we did at Destiny Station,” I say to Liam. “It’s time to get off the highway now, in case things go wrong.”
“I still don’t see anything,” Cass says.
“I see it,” Gadya tells her, pointing out the object.
“C’mon. Let’s go,” Liam says. “Better safe than sorry.”
Liam and I head over to the side of the highway. Gadya, David, Cass, and Emma follow closely behind. I glance back at the black dot in the sky. It’s getting closer fast.
I can already hear the churning sound of its rotors, heading in our direction. We’re watching the sky as we move.
“Now I see it—” Cass finally declares, but she’s interrupted.
“Oh my god!” Emma yells as we reach the edge of the road.
Startled, I glance down.
The ropes have been cut.
They dangle there, hanging just a few feet down into thin air. After that, they’ve been cleanly sliced in two with a sharp blade. I see their coils lying far below us in the underbrush. Without the ropes, there’s no way to reach the platforms, or to get down to the jungle floor. The side of the highway is just sheer concrete and empty space.
I stagger back from the edge.
“Who did this?” Gadya screams, looking around furiously. “Which one of you?” Her eyes find David. “Was it you?”
“Are you kidding?” David yells back. Even he seems startled for once.
The noise of the feeler is even louder now.
“It couldn’t have been any one of us!” Liam calls out. “I was watching everyone! Especially David!”
“I bet it was the travelers,” I say, reeling in fear and panic. “They did this, didn’t they?”
“Why?” David asks. “And how?”
“One of them must have sneaked onto the platforms, got up there and cut these ropes, and then used their own rope and grappling hooks to get back down,” Liam says.
“Damn them!” Cass curses.
I stare at Gadya. “Why would the travelers cut the ropes?”
“I’m not sure that they did! But if it was them, they must have wanted to trap us up here. But I don’t know why . . .”
Her words trail off. The only reason to trap us here would be if the travelers wanted us to die. Perhaps for them, that was the easiest way to avoid dealing with any future problems. But if they wanted us dead, they could have just given us a fatal dose of the poison when they had the chance.
David suddenly holds up his box, flicking switches as he points it at the incoming feeler. “We’ve got bigger problems than the ropes!” he calls out, sounding worried. “I can’t control this thing. I’m trying to make the feeler slow down, but it won’t respond!”
“How could this be happening?” Emma says, close to tears. “David, are you lying? And why would the travelers strand us like this?”
“They did this because they only care about themselves,” Cass replies. “And Gadya thought the drones were bad. At least the drones fight for what they believe in—even if it’s totally insane. The travelers probably killed Alun and threw his body into a ditch.”
“Don’t say that!” Emma cries. “He’s your friend! How
can you be so callous?”
“Yeah, shut up, Cass,” Gadya says.
The feeler is clearly visible now. Just a mile away and moving fast. And we’re out here with no shelter. If David’s box fails to make the feeler do what we want, then we’ll have to fight it.
I spin around, trying to figure out a way to escape the situation. Liam is doing the same thing. Our eyes light upon the answer at the very same moment.
“The tram!” Liam suddenly yells out. “Let’s get in it and go! Until David figures out how to control the feeler.”
We start racing back toward it. I know that the track only goes ten more miles. But the tram will give us some kind of temporary shelter. And the ability to quickly move farther down the road. Maybe that will buy us enough time for David to get the box working.
When we reach the tram, we pile into it, slamming against the metal hull. Liam slides the door shut behind us. Emma presses the buttons in sequence. Now that there’s no obstruction in its way, the tram starts up again instantly and begins to move.
I hear the clattering thrum of the feeler above us. David is flicking switches on the box and raising the crooked antenna up. “I can’t get a good signal in here!” he yells. We’re moving faster and faster, but the feeler is getting louder. It’s coming in low, like it’s about to attack the tram with its tentacles.
“Brace yourself,” Liam says, grabbing me. “This could get rough.”
Everyone other than Liam and me has started screaming and yelling. David is pounding on the controls of the box. The feeler is getting closer.
“What’s wrong? Make it work!” Gadya and Cass are both yelling at David, sounding uncannily similar in their anger and fervor.
“Maybe the travelers did something to sabotage it!” David yells in frustration. “Like how they cut the ropes! I don’t understand why it won’t work!”
“Or maybe you’re lying, like Emma said!” Gadya yells back. “Maybe you’re trying to trick us again!”
“I swear that I’m not!”
Our tram is picking up speed, but it’s not going fast enough to avoid the feeler. At any moment, I’m expecting the first metal tentacle to lash down and knock us off the rails.
The Uprising: The Forsaken Trilogy Page 25