by H. J. Lawson
“Go now,” the young woman orders.
“Thank you.” Dax flings open the exit door in the workers' quarters, and we all pile out toward a huge grey stone wall that wraps round the dome... a wall that’s as high as the Cueva is deep. We are at the Purenet boundaries. This is all that stands between us and our freedom, a frigging giant wall.
As my eyes trail up the wall to find the top, a soft breeze floats across my face. I continue looking up—there is no dome anymore. My naked skin is out in the open. It's different from when we're ordered to go outside, standing there with others, terrified that we are killing ourselves. Today the warmth makes me feel free, alive.
“The sun will not hurt you anymore,” Dax states.
“Why not?”
“It stopped hurting us about twenty years ago, possibly even longer.”
What? I shake my head. “But people in Cueva still get sick from it.”
“It's not from the sun, it's from the food,” he admits.
“The food?”
“Yes. When my father found out that the sun was no longer harmful, he had to find another way to control the people in the Cueva. He had the labs inject diseases into the bio meat. I found out a few years ago and I wanted to stop it.” Dax throws his guard's helmet on the ground, revealing his whole face for the first time. His pure white hair is like mine. His eyes are blue with green warmth around the pupils, just like... my mother's.
I stare at Dax for a moment. We’re related, aren’t we? My mind asks.
I think so, Dax’s mind replies.
Dax and the other men pull out what appear to be guns, but with three-pronged hooks and a cord coil on the top. I don't like the look of this.
“Step back,” Dax instructs.
Then, one after another, they shoot the guns; instead of a bullet, the hook flies out and attaches itself to the top of the wall.
“You will have to come with me,” Dax says. He turns to the group. “Everyone ready?” Even though he appears to be the youngest, he is clearly the leader. Everyone nods; the tension in the air is heavy as we wait for the door to open and the guards to come running through.
“Let's get the hell out of here; their pure white crap is giving me head pains,” Hayden laughs. His white uniform is somehow already dirty. I know what Hayden means; it's blinding in there.
“Skylier, you want to come with me? Not sure if little Dax can hold on to you all the way up,” Hayden laughs, as he fires his gun—without looking up—to the top of the wall.
“Cut the crap, Hayden,” Dax snaps. It's clear that Hayden is a few years older than Dax, and he is definitely more muscular, like Lowell. Lowell, along with the others, will be on the shuttle back to Cueva; what am I going to do after I get out of here? Will Lowell stand by me, or have I shamed the ones I love like Madam Enid?
“You ready?” Dax asks me softly, dragging me away from my worrying thoughts.
“See you guys up there.” Hayden winks at me as he flies up the rope, making me smile for a second, until I realize I’ve also got to fly up there.
“You sure I've got no other way out?”
“Nope.” Dax shrugs and smiles. He waves his hand, indicating for me to move closer to him. “Okay, hold on to me tightly. Whatever happens don't let go... the drop will kill you.”
Quickly I place the bag of medicine on my back and grab hold of Dax so I'm facing him. He raises his gun in the air.
“Ready?” he asks, taking in a deep breath. From the corner of my eye I can see something moving. It's the guards; they have gotten through the door. Their guns look as if they have replaced their hands, like they are half-man, half-robot. A blue light flickers along the edges, getting brighter each second. They are charging them up!
“Yes, go, they're here!”
With that, Dax presses the button on his gun. Our bodies fly upwards through the air, and the wind whistles as we fly through it, taking my breath away. My arms grip tightly around his waist.
“Get them!” one of the guards below shouts.
Our bodies spin around from the force, smacking us into the textured stone wall.
“Arh,” I scream out in pain. The skin is ripped from my arms as I'm dragged up the wall. My grip becomes weak and I cannot hold on for much longer.
Zoom... zoom rings by my ears. They are shooting at us!
“No!” the man next to me yells. His cord wiggles out of control, taking him with it, as they both crash to the ground. The guards shot out his cord; they are trying to bring us down to our deaths.
Zoom... zoom fills the air, followed by screams of pain. Then the injured fall silent as the toxins ripple through their veins, killing them.
The ride comes to a shrieking stop as we reach the top. “Help Skylier,” Dax yells out to Hayden, who is standing on top of the wall.
He grips hold of me, ripping me away from Dax's body, and sets me on the wall, as if I am a child's doll.
Dax, Hayden, and the others begin firing down toward the guards.
“We need to get out of here!” I yell out over the bullets and screams of pain.
“Not until everyone is up, stay down,” Dax orders, as he tries to shield my body.
As soon as I see the ground beneath me, I wish I hadn't. Bodies lie lifeless on the ground, with starkly contrasting bright red pools of blood staining their white uniforms.
We will be the same as them if we don't move soon.
One after another, the people scaling up the walls are dropping; Dax takes a few guards out but we are just outnumbered.
Zoom... Zoom. “Ahhhhh!” screams one of the men next to me. His body flies backward, with blood spurting from the back of his shoulder. The force knocks him off the wall and his body plummets to the ground with a thud.
“Go... go, guys, we are all up!” Dax orders.
Dax latches the hook to the wall. Without being asked, I grab hold of him. I want to get the hell out of here.
We fly down the wall.
“Aaaah!” Dax's body lands on top of mine as we crash to the hard dry ground. We are now out of Purenet and over the surrounding walls.
Dax's elbow pushes down into my ribs as he wobbles to get up. Every muscle in my body burns. Hayden reaches out to help me off the ground and I let him. My hand is the only part of my body that's not in pain.
My arms are raw and dripping blood where the flesh has been torn away. Just looking at them makes me dizzy. The rest of my body would also have been ripped to shreds if it wasn't for this awful grey dress—ironically, the one the Chancellor gave me.
“Sorry, are you okay?” Dax asks.
He looks like he's dancing around in front of me, as though there are two of him. I shake my head side to side as I try to lose the weird visual.
“Here, drink this.” Dax passes me his flask.
I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until I pour the sweet, delicious liquid down my throat.
“Hey, save me some.”
I pass it back, licking my lips to savor the last taste.
“What is it?”
“Cider. I will tell you more about this stuff later. Let’s get to our bikes.”
“Come on, you three,” someone yells back to us. In my confusion, I hadn't noticed everyone else left us. Their silhouettes quickly become a blur on the dry, red, desert horizon of nothingness, with only harsh mountains to break up the empty space of no one's land.
“Can you run?” Dax asks as he stares at my raw arm.
I want to say no, but what other choice do I have? I chose this life, now I own it and have to run for my freedom.
“Yes,” I say strongly, in a tone I've never used before.
We take off running on the uneven, rocky red ground that reminds me of the cave floors in the Cueva. There is a new feeling in my body. I feel alive. Freedom is keeping me moving.
I glance back over my shoulder and the Purenet city is tiny, just a dot on the world. I cannot see any guards, but they will be here soon on their trucks and bikes.
Chapter Eleven
My lungs feel like all the air is being squeezed from them. Placing my hands on my hips, I breathe in and out slowly, as salty sweat pours down my face.
“Out of breath, Cueva?” Hayden laughs, and I squint my eyes in disgust. Neither of them is out of breath.
“Let her be,” Dax says as he climbs on to his motorbike. They'd hidden the bikes in a cave behind the rocks. I wish I could lie down in the cave and take a nap. My body is exhausted.
“Come on, you can ride with me,” Dax says.
I've never been on a motorbike before. Grounders would sometimes speed past as I was having my UVA ray therapy. Just watching the motorbikes excited me, and now I'm going to ride one. It has a beautifully streamlined design, matte-black with aqua detailing. The shiny silver pipes look like mirrors as they catch the sun's rays.
Dax swipes his finger over the control panel and the bike begins to hum softly. I lift my body onto the seat, automatically wrapping my arms around Dax.
“Are you ready?” he asks me over the rhythmic, humming sound.
“Yes,” I say.
“Hold on tight. She goes fast.”
“Ahhh!” I squeal, as the bike starts moving.
I grip even tighter around his waist. If I fall off at this speed there'll be nothing left but my bones.
The flesh on my face is drawn back by the wind as my hair flies into the sky behind me; the powerful wind steals my breath.
Hayden rides next to us and we exchange smiles of joy.
So this is what it feels like to live.
Dax lowered his mind block from me when we took off, but I don't bother him with questions. I just want to enjoy the ride—and I'm not sure I'm ready for the answers.
I love the humming sound the bike makes and this feeling of flying.
I haven't seen the others for the last hour. They took off before us and I bet Dax is going slower because I'm on the back of his bike.
Every so often a sign of the desert's harsh conditions comes to light in the shape of a body stripped dry from its human form, with only its skeleton remaining. Wild animals roam this land, searching for the weak.
The blazing orange sun is setting and it looks as though it is burning the ground around it as waves of heat blur the horizon. This is my first sunset, and the color is breathtaking. The moon is rising in the north. This is the time I would normally be getting up for school, not getting ready to go to sleep; but I'm worn out.
It's lovely.
I know. You never get used to the natural beauty.
Are we nearly there? I'm losing the feeling in my hands and butt.
Ha ha, yes, nearly there, and you can give your butt a rest.
Goddamn...
I hate that, it's hard to remember someone can listen to my thoughts. Rian used to do it all the time to me when we would chat before lights out.
I love our family bond; it's as though we are one. I wish he was closer so I could speak with him. By now Xander will have figured out I'm Rian's sister, which means I’ve put his life in danger. I hope he’s okay, he will understand… he has to.
Will Xander go after the rest of my family? I ask, terrified with what Dax’s mind will say.
Dax’s body tenses up under my grip. Skylier, I just don’t know. I hope not, his mind says.
My body tenses up like Dax’s.
As the desert turns pitch black, my thoughts do the same.
What will he do to them? He can’t harm them, they have done nothing wrong… my sister is just a young innocent kid, my mind pleads.
Xander is rotten to the core, like my father.
A weakness washes over my body as Dax’s mind tells me the truth.
Skylier, listening to my thoughts will not help… the only thing we can do to help is to get your mother her medicine, and… his mind trails off.
And what? My mind pushes.
I’m not sure, after all, that you weren’t part of the plan, he admits. His mind goes blank, blocking me from entering his thoughts.
The bike jolts as we fly across the land. I can tell Dax is having problems riding, but my eyes can see in dark.
In the distance orange flames dance in the evening wind, “over there,” I yell out to Dax.
Dax nods as he rides in the direction of the flames.
A sound softly rings out in the silent desert, as if something is gliding through the air. A louder thud follows.
My body tightens up, as I know what is coming...
“Ahh!” someone screams.
Did you hear that? I ask Dax.
No. What?
They are here. We are too late.
Dax's body tightens up, as he moves the bike in another direction away from the flames, dimming his lights as low as he can, allowing just enough light to see where we are going. Hayden does the same.
Looking over toward the flames, even from this distance away from them I can tell they are raging too large.
Dax moves speedily away from the enraged flames, toward another red rock formation.
Once we are hidden behind the rocks, Dax turns the bike off, and the desert is silent.
I want to climb off the bike, but my body is frozen in the seated position. I lean sideways to allow my weight to help me lift one leg over. My feet land on the ground with a thud, and my body forces me down, as if my legs cannot even hold my weight.
I start breathing in slowly to relax my body and mind.
Dax steps off the bike and heads over toward the edge of the rocks, where Hayden is already standing.
I follow.
We peer around the edge. The blaze is raging high, almost as high as a Purenet building.
I focus on listening to mumbled voices,
“They must be close. We cannot go back to the Chancellor without them.”
“Anyone for chargrilled Grounders?” one of the voices laughs. My legs buckle beneath me as I realize what they mean.
Dax bends over me. “What did you see?”
It's not what I saw, it's what I heard. I cannot tell him, the words cannot come out.
They killed them, they burned them to death. They are laughing about it.
Dax slumps his body down next to mine.
What else did they say?
They cannot go back to the Chancellor without us.
Chapter Twelve
Dax and I are frozen to the cold, rough ground that reminds me of home. I would be in class now if I hadn't decided to go with Dax. And, just maybe, his friends would still be alive.
Ashamed, I rest my head on my knees as I try to conserve the last bit of body heat.
Hayden's voice breaks the silence. “We have to wait here until the sun rises. We cannot ride in the dark, and if we turn our lights on they will see us for sure. Or we can wait for them to leave, whichever comes first.”
Dax nods in agreement.
“I can see in the dark. And read minds.” I lift up my head proudly.
“Really? I heard some Cuevas can do that. What else can you do?” Hayden asks.
“I can hear the softest whispers.”
“You can do both?” Dax asks.
“Yes. It took years of training my mind to stay calm and focus. There is nothing much else to do in the Cueva—just school, work, eat, and sleep. It's kind of boring. Most people don't bother now; they are focused on getting out of Cueva.”
“You were going to go back. You were going to spend the rest of your life at Cueva, with that boy from the selection room? Is he your boyfriend?” Hayden asks as his eyes burn into me with the need to know more about Lowell.
What is Lowell to me? Is he my boyfriend? I always dreamed we would be together. Has all that changed now?
&nbs
p; “We were not allowed to date in Cueva until after selections,” I mutter.
“Those rules would have never stopped me,” Hayden smiles. A tingle dances over my cheeks; half of me is enjoying the attention, the other wants to curl up into a ball and hide in the darkness.
“Yeah, Hayden’s... a bit for breaking the rules, and not very good at it,” Dax mocks.
“What do you mean by that?” Hayden questions.
“Well, you got thrown out of Purenet, didn’t you? And how many times out of the Grounder community?” asks Dax.
Hayden folds his arms, then taps his finger on his lip, nodding, “I think I’m up to twelve times, but I don’t think that is too bad for the three years we have lived there.” Hayden smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Dax, you know me and the Grounders have a love-hate relationship. They love to hate me.”
Dax leans back into the rock and adjusts his position. “You know that’s not true.”
Hayden kicks a small stone on the ground. “You know it is,” he says, frowning.
“You don’t help yourself,” Dax replies.
“It’s not my fault, just good genes,” Hayden says, smiling.
“Of all people, you had to date Tanis’ ex-girlfriend.”
“That wasn’t my best decision, she was as crazy as him,” Hayden laughs. “I’m not with her anymore, and we weren’t really dating.” Hayden’s crystal-blue eyes stare at me, pulling me in.
He’s no good for you. Dax's mind jumps into mine.
I turn toward Dax, frowning. I can make my own decision, thank you.
Trust me; you can do better than him.
What’s wrong with him? I look over to Hayden.
“Nothing,” Dax says, and his mind adds, he’s my best friend, he’s just a player.
Hayden stands looking puzzled. “Did I miss something?”
Dax and I glance at each other; we've been alternating between mental and vocal conversations. No wonder Hayden is confused.
Dax remains silent for a moment. “We can read each other's minds,” he says, as he waves his hand between us.