Outliers_A Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Novel

by Kate L. Mary

  “Are you sure?” I asked my sister, thinking she must be wrong. Praying that she was. He had to have gone hunting because there was no way Bodhi would do this to me. There was no way he would be this selfish.

  But my sister nodded. “He left with Xandra.”

  Xandra.

  The sound of her name felt like a punch. She was taking him to the tunnel, leading him into the city through the secret entrance. Why would she do this to me? How could she? Xandra had to know what this would mean for Bodhi, what it could mean for the entire village if the Sovereign decided they had had enough of the Outliers. This one act could be the end of us all.

  I had to stop him.

  I had already gotten dressed, but wearing my normal clothes would prevent me from getting into the city. My uniform would be necessary.

  “How long ago?” I asked my sister as I began to undress.

  “Less than an hour, I think.”

  Every move I made hurt, but it took no time at all for me to get out of my clothes, and then I was pulling my uniform dress on, trying not to think about the blood splattered across the sleeve or the painful rub of the fabric against my bruised skin.

  “I need to hurry,” I said, heading for the door, finding it impossible to ignore the way my inner thighs throbbed with each step I took.

  Anja followed me out, keeping stride with me. “I just found out or I would have told you sooner.”

  “I have to get to him,” I said, walking faster. “I have to get to Saffron’s house before he does something stupid.”

  My sister hurried to keep up, gasping out, “I am coming with you.”

  I spun to face her, stopping her in her tracks. “No. You must stay here. Understand? I cannot risk anyone else.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off when I grabbed her and pulled her against me. “I am serious, Anja. You must stay here. I need to know that you will be here to look after our mother if I do not make it back.”

  “If you do not make it back?” Anja pulled away so she could look me in the eye. “What do you mean?”

  “The Sovereign will kill Bodhi if they catch him, and they may kill me just to make an example of us.” I looked beyond my sister at the village, wondering if I should tell her the truth about what my husband’s actions might cost all of us. When I looked back at her, I said, “If the Fortis show up and we have not made it back, I want you to take our mother and run. Understand?”

  Anja’s brown eyes grew to twice their size. “Where do I go?”

  “Into the wilds. Stay away from the other villages. Going there would be too dangerous. You only need to hide until the Fortis are gone. Okay?” She nodded, and I pulled her in for another quick hug before turning away. “I have to go.”

  I had only taken two steps when Anja called after me, “Please come back, Indra. Promise me!”

  I was unsure if it was a promise I could keep, so I said nothing and kept walking.

  I had known that the walk to the city would take longer than usual, but it seemed to stretch on forever. My body was more bruised than I had realized, and each step seemed to exacerbate the aches that radiated through me. Even worse, the sun was out in full force. It reflected off the sandy wastelands to my right and nearly blinded me all the while burning down on my head like it wanted to turn me to ash where I stood.

  By the time the wall and Fortis village came into view, I was drenched in sweat and my body throbbed so much that every step took effort. I never slowed though, not once. I told myself that all I needed was to get to Saffron’s house and then I would have help. Mira would be able to help me keep an eye out for Bodhi. Possibly Asa too, although my confidence in him was shaken thanks to the events of the previous day.

  The Fortis village was alive with the pounding of hammers, but very few people were up this time of day. They slept late and stayed up even later, meaning most mornings we were able to get through with very little abuse thrown our way. Thankfully, today was no exception.

  I made it through the gate to find the city buzzing with activity. It was late morning, a peak time for running chores, and the people crowded into the streets slowed me down and made it impossible to get very far without being jostled. The throng thinned out the closer I got to my destination, and by the time I made it to Saffron’s street, the crowd was small enough that I could see all the way to the end of the road.

  The house came into view and my already pounding heart beat faster. It only took one glimpse for me to realize that I was too late. A large group of Fortis guards were gathered in the street, right in front of Saffron’s house, and there were even a few men and women I had never seen before going inside. I began to move faster, running on legs that threatened to give out, pushing myself with energy I should not have had.

  I was still a whole house away from the crowd when Bodhi was dragged through the door. A trail of blood ran from his nose and his right eye matched mine, purple and nearly swollen shut, but he was still fighting.

  “Bodhi!” The scream forced its way out of me as I pushed myself harder.

  His head turned my way and he searched the crowd for me, but there were too many people separating us. Without thinking, I pushed past the guards gathered in the street, shoving men more than twice my size out of the way in my hurry to reach my husband.

  “Indra!” Bodhi yelled when he finally saw me. He fought harder, earning him a shake from the guard at his back. “What are you doing here? Go home!”

  I pushed one last man out of my way, and I had just reached Bodhi when my legs finally gave out. I dropped to my knees on the ground, sobbing at my husband’s feet, desperate to get to him and throw my arms around him but too weak and exhausted to do it. Instead, I grabbed his legs and wrapped my arms around him.

  “Why?” I sobbed. “You promised. You promised you would stay with me.”

  I doubted he could hear the words, but he had to know what I was saying. He had probably imagined the words coming out of my mouth his whole walk here, and yet he had come anyway. He had risked everything and lost, and now I was about to lose everything because of it.

  “Get up, girl.”

  A boot made contact with my lower back and I cried out. My hands slipped from Bodhi’s legs, and then he was gone, dragged from sight and swallowed up by burly bodies that stank of rage and sweat. Someone grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet, and even though it hurt and I screamed, I was thankful for it. I needed to find Bodhi, only I was too weak to stand. The guard’s grip was punishing, but I barely felt it as I searched the sea of men and women surrounding me, desperate for a glimpse of my husband.

  When the back of his head came into view, his blond hair looking lighter than ever amongst the sea of dark clothes the Fortis wore, I almost burst into tears. He was being dragged away from the house, away from me, and the man holding me was pulling me in the other direction. I kept my eyes on my husband, watching until he had finally disappeared from view.

  I gave up the second he was gone and allowed the man holding me to drag me forward. My feet tripped over one another the whole way, unable to find purchase or incapable of holding me up. I was unsure which one, but I also was unable to make myself care. All I knew was that everything was over. There was nothing left for me. Not anymore.

  “You. Stop,” someone called out. “This girl works in the House of Saffron.”

  The man holding me stopped and I nearly fell to the ground. “She caused a disturbance.”

  “You don’t think Saffron can discipline her own Outliers?”

  “Fine. Let her be your responsibility then,” the guard holding me growled.

  He shoved me forward and I slammed into a form that was as solid as a wall. I clung to it, knowing that I would fall if I let go, and to my surprise it took hold of me with hands that were so gentle they felt like a dream.

  “It’s okay,” the man holding me whispered. “I have you.”

  When I looked up, I found myself face to face with Asa. He was looking me over, studying the cu
ts and bruises on my face, and the raw pain in his eyes mirrored the agony rolling through me.

  He swallowed, but said nothing before scooping me up into his arms. He took me in through the housemaid entrance, into the mudroom that just yesterday had been the staging area for my destruction, and set me on the bench before kneeling in front of me.

  Once we were face to face, I saw that I was not the only marked by violence. Asa had a cut on his cheek and bruises on his neck, as well as more cuts on his knuckles, and when he shifted, he winced as if he were in pain.

  “What did they do to you?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry about me.” He swallowed as if talking hurt, but I was unsure if it was physical or emotional pain. “I wasn’t here to save you. It won’t happen again.”

  “No one can save me now.” I leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling.

  We were both silent for a moment, and then Asa took my hands in his. The contact shocked me so much that I was forced to tear my gaze from the ceiling. He had never touched me before today, and carrying me inside had not really counted, not like this, because it had none of the intimacy that his warm, calloused hands on mine did. It should have felt like a violation, being in this room and having a man other than my husband touch me, but instead it achieved something that no one but Bodhi had ever been able to do. It comforted me.

  “That was your husband?” Asa asked.

  “It was.”

  “He came here to avenge you.”

  Asa’s gaze went down. I knew he was not looking at our hands, which were still entwined in my lap, but at the bruises on my wrists. I wanted to pull away then. Not to avoid his touch, but to cover the marks that seemed to have Lysander’s name written all over them.

  “That was very brave of him,” Asa said when he was once again looking me in the eye.

  “Brave?” I shook my head. “He will die for what he has done.”

  “Maybe he couldn’t live knowing he had done nothing.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  Asa looked down again, only this time he was staring at our hands. My skin looked impossibly pale in his, like the first dusting of snow on the embers left behind by an evening fire, and the sight of it was a reminder of who we were. Of the two very different worlds we came from.

  I pulled my hand from his, and he stood without so much as a blink. “I’ll try to find out where they’ve taken him.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Asa avoided looking at me when he slipped from the room.

  I was not alone for long. Only a few beats after Asa left, the door opened and Mira appeared before me. Her eyes were wet, her face twisted with pain. When she knelt in front of me, I found that I was surprisingly numb. It was as if I had already died. As if just seeing Bodhi in custody had been enough to take me out.

  “Indra,” Mira whispered.

  She reached out to take my hand, just as Asa had only a short time ago, but I barely felt her touch. Not only that, I could think of nothing to say.

  “Are you okay?” she asked when I said nothing.

  I was only aware of the fact that I shook my head when my hair swished across my shoulders. “I tried to make it in time. I tried, but I could not save him.”

  Mira started crying again. “I am sorry. I am so sorry. I had no idea he was here until I heard yelling, and when I ran in he was already d-down. He—he was—”

  Her words were lost in a tangle of sobs. It was unimportant, though. One day I would want to know what had happened, but right now I was unable to focus on anything.

  The door behind Mira opened and a guard stuck his head in. Greer.

  His mouth morphed into a grin when he saw me. “Mistress is looking for you.” He shook his head. “Bet you wish I’d been the one in the room with you yesterday. Remember that next time and get your clothes off faster, no backtalk.”

  Mira wiped her face with the sleeve of her dress and glared at Greer.

  Before she could say anything, I pulled my hand from hers and stood. “Go back to work, Mira. No one else needs to get into trouble today.”

  Greer followed me through the kitchen to the dining room, and then to Saffron’s office. Even after I had stepped through the door he stayed close to me, and his presence on top of everything else made me feel as if my skin was covered in bugs.

  Saffron was behind the desk, her electroprod sitting in front of her as usual, and a frown on her face that pulled her waxy skin tight.

  She stood when I entered. “Indra.”

  Her gaze swept over me, and she visibly started. She must have suspected that there had been a confrontation between her son and myself last night, otherwise there would have been no way to explain why Bodhi had come here today, but she clearly had not known the extent of it.

  She covered her surprise quickly, although not before glancing to her left. That was when I registered Lysander’s presence. I kept my focus on his mother, but I knew he was watching me. I could feel his gaze on my face the same way I had felt the sun during the long walk here. It burned me.

  “Mistress.” I bowed my head, working to focus on the hardwood floor beneath my feet as Saffron walked closer.

  “I understand your husband is the one who came into my house today?”

  “So I have been told,” I said.

  “He attacked my son.”

  My gaze went from the floor to Lysander. He was lying on a couch like he was relaxing after a long battle, his own electroprod resting on his lap. Lysander’s shirt was ripped and bloodied, revealing the soft paunch that he called a belly, and he had a bandage right above his right elbow, and another cut on his chest. Hopefully it got infected and he died.

  I moved my gaze back to the floor. “I have been told that as well.”

  “That’s all you have to say for yourself?” Saffron scoffed. “After everything I’ve done for your family?”

  I lifted my eyes, daring to meet her gaze. “I was unaware that I was responsible for my husband’s actions. Would you take on the responsibility for something your husband had done? Or your son?”

  Anger flashed in Saffron’s eyes. Any other day I would have shrank away from it, would never have dared to say anything like that to begin with, but I had nothing left to lose. Bodhi would die today, of that I was positive, and there was a strong possibility that I would as well. Just to teach the Outliers a lesson. Either way, I was unable to find the strength to hold back. Not anymore. Not knowing what they were about to do to me. What Saffron’s family had already done to me.

  “It is as much your responsibility as it is his,” Saffron said through clenched teeth. “Because of the altercation you had with my son yesterday. There are consequences for your actions, Indra, something you are about to get a lesson in, and something you should have thought about last night before refusing to do your duty.”

  “You should have kept your mouth shut and let me search your friend,” Lysander called from his position on the couch.

  His mother waved him off, not taking her eyes off me. “I know you thought you were sticking up for your friend, but the law is the law, and no one is above it. Lysander was doing his duty.”

  “Would you stand by and watch your people be abused?” I asked Saffron. “Would you be able to do nothing while someone you loved was taken advantage of?”

  Saffron stepped forward and slapped me. The sting of her palm against my cheek registered only because it forced my head back, but I felt very little pain from it. I should have. She had hit me right where my cheek had rubbed against the wall as Lysander violated me. For some reason though, it felt no more violent than a burst of wind blowing across my face.

  “No, which is why both you and your husband will be punished today,” Saffron said, her shoulders heaving with anger or adrenaline. “We cannot have anarchy in Sovereign City, and if Outliers like you aren’t made an example of, that is what we will have. Your husband will be a warning to everyone who works in the city, and when he is dead, you will be taugh
t a lesson as well.”

  She spun on her heel, her skirt swirling around her, and snapped her fingers. Immediately Greer was at my side, and his hand wrapped around my arm so tightly that it felt as if he were trying to squeeze it in half. Then I was pulled from the room.

  20

  After leaving Saffron, Greer led me through the winding streets of Sovereign City toward the center of town. His hand gripped my arm the entire way, and he walked so fast that I stumbled every few steps. With his hold on me, I never had a chance to fall. I was unable to really feel his grip, but I was with it just enough to know that it would hurt later, and that I would have a bruise there.

  We reached the town square and my heart thumped harder. It was empty at the moment, but before long people would be crowded into it. People who had never spoken to my husband, but hated him just the same, each one of them eager to watch as Bodhi had his life stolen from him.

  The raised platform that stood just in front of the government building overlooked the square. It was the very same platform I had stood on while Ronan had his hand cut off, and it held the same chairs that Saffron and her family had sat in that day. It was also were Greer dragged me now, up the steps and toward the door leading into the government building. My heart beat harder even though I knew my punishment had not yet arrived. The square was still empty, and if I were about to face my punishment, it would be brimming with people.

  Instead of stopping on the stage, he pulled me inside the building and down a hall as gray and cold as the streets I walked down every day in this city. Doors made of thick, aged wood lined both sides of the hall, each one with a heavy padlock that told me they were for prisoners. No windows looked into the rooms, but I still found myself craning my neck in hopes of trying to discern which one held Bodhi. He was here somewhere, in this building at this very moment, and I knew it, but I also knew the Sovereign would never give me the chance to see him. It was unimportant to them whether or not I got to say goodbye to my husband.