by E S Richards
“It can’t be,” she started, “how did they...”
“I don’t know,” Cain cut her off. “But now we have to get out of here. Right now!”
Zahyra didn’t need to be told twice and turned back around to sprint up the remainder of the small hill they were now climbing. It then dipped down again suddenly to where the perimeter wall was built, awkwardly fashioned to make the settlement difficult to break into. She wasn’t sure how they were going to get out but she was now so glad Cain had convinced her to run rather than fight. Somehow the safe haven had managed to find her again and she wasn’t willing to look any one of its members in the face again for a very long time.
“Try and find a weak point!”
Zahyra reached the perimeter wall first but Cain’s voice carried down the hill to her. Immediately she moved towards the wall, assessing the structure for any parts they could break through, any cracks in the stone or rotting pieces of wood. As this side of the settlement backed onto the forest this was the least reinforced wall as far as Zahyra was aware so ultimately it was very lucky Vincent had sent them in that direction.
Joining her Cain too began to assess the wall in front of him, he was certain if he could find a weaker part he would be able to break through. Now he knew he was even more determined to do so, the thought of having to face anyone from the safe haven again willing him on with such force. Especially with the discovery of their new weapons.
As he searched the wall he also thought about how the safe haven could have found the settlement and came to the conclusion almost immediately that Asher must have told them. That worried him even further as he knew the boy would have never revealed the location willingly, meaning the safe haven must have done something to him to make him talk. Searching frantically for a way out of the settlement Cain prayed Zahyra hadn’t come to the same conclusion as him so quickly.
“Over here!”
Zahyra’s cry pulled Cain away from his thoughts about Asher and he rushed over to her side. Sure enough the wooden planks she was pointing at were already splintered, their strength wearing thin after years of battling the elements.
“Stand back,” Cain ordered and shrugged off the rucksack into Zahyra’s hands.
He then took in a deep breath and ran at the wall, turning just before he hit it so his shoulder and side took the brunt of the force. It still hurt though and he couldn’t help let out a small cry as he hit the wood.
“This might take a minute longer than I’d thought,” he admitted, turning to face Zahyra again. “Can you edge up the hill again and keep watch?”
“No problem,” Zahyra nodded and started to move away from Cain, pausing after just a few steps to turn back and fling her arms around him, squeezing his body tightly.
Cain grinned as Zahyra let go almost just as quickly and jogged steadily back up the hill. He waited until she was down on all fours in a low position, watching out over the rim of the hill with her rifle drawn before he turned back to the wall, readying himself to hit it again.
Thankfully, after only a couple of minutes and several repetitive blows the wood began to crack and splinter some more and Cain could start moving it away with his hands. Once he had made a gap big enough he turned back to check on Zahyra, finding her still in position on the hill.
“Zahyra!” He called her name, but the wind blew his voice straight back at him. Combined with the noise from all around the settlement he knew it was unlikely she would ever hear him. Glancing around to check the area was still clear he picked up his own rifle from against the wall where he’d laid it and jogged up towards her, shouting her name as he went.
“Zahyra!” He finally caught her attention as he limited the gap between them to just a few meters. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Okay,” she nodded and moved to get up from her position. “Wait a minute...”
Zahyra turned back to look at the warped settlement and the carnage that was still tearing it apart in front of her eyes. She locked in on a single safe haven soldier, cautiously patrolling the street nearest to her. Something about him looked strangely familiar and she racked her brain trying to make a connection with the man.
“Zahyra, come on,” Cain urged her. “We need to get out of here.”
“Zac!” The name suddenly came to her as the young soldier’s full face came into view. “That’s Zac!”
Cain couldn’t believe what was happening as Zahyra suddenly started tearing back down the wrong side of the hill directly towards the safe haven solider. All he could think was that she had officially lost her mind as he gripped his rifle firmly in his right hand and started to run down the hill after her, right into the middle of battle.
Chapter 12 – Zahyra
Getting answers was the one thing spinning through Zahyra’s mind as she hurtled down the hill towards Zac. She wasn’t even completely sure it was him, but he was one of the only people – in fact probably the only person – who had shown her kindness during her time in the safe haven and she wasn’t just going to ignore him.
She remembered his face vividly and the help he had offered to her in the safe haven’s library/study room. That had been the first moment she had carried any hope for her time in the safe haven, although it hadn’t last long Zahyra still smiled at the memory. A shred of light in some of her darkest moments.
“Zac!”
This time when she shouted his name the solider finally heard and spun around, his rifle drawn. Zahyra waved her arms in front of her face as she continued to run towards him, not once slowing her pace. For a split second she doubted whether she had made a mistake, whether Zac was truly loyal to the safe haven.
She remembered what he had said about desperately wanting to become a solider, that their job was one of the most important ones in the facility. When Zac recognised who was running towards him however he lowered his weapon, a mask of confusion spreading across his face. Zahyra noticed the change in expression and closed the gap between them in a few seconds, coming to a stop with her hands on her knees in front of him.
“Zahyra?” Zac asked questionably. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey,” Zahyra breathed in response. “What’s going on?”
“We’re on a raid gathering... woah! Stop where you are!” Zac cut his sentence short as Cain caught up to Zahyra, running onto the scene at full pace. In an instant Zac’s weapon was raised again, pointing directly at Cain.
“Zac, it’s okay!” Zahyra quickly moved between the gun and Cain. “I’m with him, he’s not dangerous.”
Zac lowered his weapon a fraction but still kept one eye on Cain, warranting a growl from the slightly older man.
“Zahyra,” Cain spoke quietly. “We need to go.”
“Cain wait,” Zahyra looked from Cain to Zac and then cast her eyes around the rest of the settlement. Gunshots and screaming could still be heard all around them, but it was clear the worst of the fighting had come to an end. Sadly Zahyra already knew which side would have won as she turned back to Zac and took in his soldiers’ uniform.
“Zac what are you doing here?”
“We’re on a raid like I told you,” the boy started. “We got a tip that there’s something here that we need, I don’t know what though. I’m pretty new to the red band, this is my first outing actually.”
Zahyra could see pride in Zac’s face when he spoke and she shook her head slightly, baffled by how naïve he was. She wondered quickly where their tip off about the warped settlement could have come from and Asher’s face flew into her mind. Gritting her teeth Zahyra knew that would have to wait for a later moment, their period of safety in the settlement quickly running out.
“Zahyra we need to leave.”
Cain’s voice came again from beside her, she knew he was right but she couldn’t leave Zac again without getting any answers.
“What’s the safe haven like, Zac? Have you seen my brother?”
“Your brother?” Zac looked genuinely dumbfounded. “I didn’t even kn
ow you had a brother. And I thought you were still there! Not that I’ve seen you in ages, I’ve looked around a few times, thought maybe you would come back to the library. Where have you been? Why are you here?”
“Zac there’s so much you don’t know about that place. I was... They... There’s too much to explain.”
“Well why don’t you just come back with me and we can talk about it at the facility?”
“It’s not safe there Zac, you don’t really want to go back do you?”
“It’s better than being out here, surely you know that?”
“They tried to kill me! You can’t trust them!”
Zahyra couldn’t contain her outburst any longer. Zac’s blind devotion to the safe haven was driving her crazy. She couldn’t understand how anyone could live there and not see it for what it truly was: a prison. But then, it was clear no one in the facility had been told what really happened the day they had escaped. She felt sorry for Zac. He was an innocent boy and now they were trying to turn him into a murderer, into one of them. She couldn’t stand by and let that happen.
“Come with us, Zac.”
Cain let out a low growl beside her at her suggestion, clearly displeased with Zahyra’s proposal. Zac still hadn’t said anything after Zahyra claiming the safe haven had tried to kill her, his mouth hanging slightly open in disbelief.
“I can’t,” Zac spoke slowly. “You should come back with me, Zahyra. I don’t know what you mean but I’m sure the safe haven wouldn’t have tried to hurt you. You must have misunderstood. I’ll go tell my sergeant I’ve found you, come on.”
Zac reached forward and tried to grab Zahyra’s arm at which point Cain finally intervened. He lumbered forward, creating a clear blockade between Zac and Zahyra and disarming Zac in the process.
“Hey!” The boy argued. “What’s your problem?”
Cain growled again but somehow managed to hold his tongue, saved by Zahyra stepping around him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Look,” she started speaking again, her eyes scanning the settlement. “If you won’t come with us Zac, then fine, that’s your loss. But you can’t tell anyone at the safe haven you saw me, okay? Promise me that.”
“I have to tell them Zahyra, you need to come back. Look at this place, look around you, you can’t –”
“That’s it!”
Cain’s words caught Zahyra off guard, but not quite as much as his fist flying forward and punching Zac in the face did. She watched in horror as he crumpled to the ground, instantly knocked unconscious.
“What did you do that for?” She cried out, moving forward to check Zac was all right.
“He’s fine,” Cain shrugged handing Zahyra both his own and Zac’s rifle. “We need to go and this kid, whoever he is, is now coming with us.”
“What?” Zahyra questioned Cain as he bent down and picked up Zac’s unconscious body. “What are you doing?”
“He was going to tell the safe haven about you Zahyra. I can’t let that happen. Like it or not – although I suspect you probably like it because you invited him – he’s now coming with us. Now move!”
Zahyra opened her mouth to argue but was stopped short as footsteps began to get louder in the distance. The safe haven was coming and Cain was right, they had to get out of the settlement immediately. Shouldering the two additional rifles she took off at a jog behind Cain, still confused by his actions as he held Zac firmly in place on his shoulder.
Glancing back when they reached the summit of the small hill she saw four more soldiers appearing where they had just stood, clearly scouring the perimeter for any survivors. Without another pause she sprinted forward, making for the gap Cain had made in the wall. Cain was already on the other side when she made it through, arriving just in time to see him drop Zac’s body on the floor.
“Cain,” she started, keeping her voice low to avoid attracting attention. The gap in the wall was sure to get noticed soon enough. “What did you do that for?”
“I told you,” Cain replied, catching his breath. Although Zac was younger than him, he was still almost fully-grown and quite a large boy to have to carry. “He wasn’t coming with us willingly and he was going to tell the safe haven about you. I had to get him to come somehow.”
“But what do we do when he wakes up?”
“We’ll deal with that when it happens,” Cain spoke curtly, ready to reach down and pick up Zac’s body again. “Now come on, we have to put some distance between us and this place. Head into the forest.”
Zahyra sighed, knowing it was useless to argue with Cain at that point. She also knew he was right, Zac was still loyal to the safe haven and he would have given the pair of them up if he’d gone back to them. Kicking herself as they started to move towards the forest Zahyra wished she’d never ran over to him in the first place. When she thought about it rationally she realised it was very unlikely Zac was going to have any information about Asher, or anything else going on in the safe haven. She could sense the jealously coming from Cain now Zac was around as well, another thing she was immediately regretting.
As they moved at a slow pace deeper into the forest Zahyra’s frustration at herself slowly grew. She had put herself and Cain in danger by running towards Zac and for what? Literally just another mouth to feed and an obstacle to come between her and Cain. After everything they had been through recently, escaping the safe haven, losing Asher, dealing with Cyrus, she didn’t want to do anything that would stop herself and Cain from coming even closer together.
In fact – being alone with Cain was the one good thing that had come from Asher’s departure. She hated herself for even thinking that, she missed Asher every second of every day and worried about him greatly. Especially now that the safe haven had found the warped settlement; that information had to have come from her brother, the timing was just too perfect for it to be any other reason. Zahyra knew he would have never given up that information willingly, which meant that Asher hadn’t received the welcome they had all hoped for. Deep down she had known something was wrong even before the safe haven had turned up, their arrival just confirmed it for her.
So many questions and decisions to be made tore through her mind as they walked, enough distance now between themselves and the settlement to stop running. What would they do with Zac when he regained consciousness? How did Cain feel about their new companion? Was he angry with her for inviting him? For even talking to him? And what was the safe haven doing to Asher in order to make him talk?
Her mind shuddered as she remembered some of the parts of her T128 trial and how easily they could be used as a form of torture. She wished she had put up more of a fight to stop Asher going back there. They should have just left there and then, they’d all been forced out of the settlement now anyway.
“Wha?”
Zac’s groggy voice as he regained consciousness brought Zahyra’s focus back to the present. Cain was shifting the boy off his shoulders and setting him down beside a tree, so Zahyra scurried forward a few paces to stand beside them both.
“Where are we? And,” Zac flinched putting a hand to his head as he looked around himself. “What happened to my head?”
“You hit it.” Cain shrugged as he turned away from Zac, sitting down separately himself and stretching his limbs. Casting him a look Zahyra understood she was going to be the one who had to explain everything to Zac, the rookie soldier now staring up at her expectantly.
“Did he hit me?” Zac asked accusingly, narrowing his eyes in Cain’s direction.
“He didn’t have a choice,” Zahyra replied simply, moving to block out Zac’s view of Cain. “But I am sorry. Are you okay?”
“All things considered yeah, I’ll live.” Zac winced again as he spoke, clearly in more pain than he was letting on. “But, where are we Zahyra? Why have you brought me out here?” Zac’s face suddenly clouded over. “You’re not going to kill me are you?”
“No!” Zahyra quickly rebuffed Zac’s suggestion. “No of course
not. I’m sorry Cain hit you, but he really didn’t have a choice. You can’t tell the safe haven you’ve seen me Zac, you really don’t understand what is going on at that place do you?”
“So tell me,” Zac spoke simply. “The safe haven is the best thing that ever happened to me. They’ve sheltered me, clothed me and fed me. They taught me how to defend myself and about the world around me. I didn’t have that growing up so forgive me if I think that makes them the good guys.”
Zahyra sighed. She could tell this was going to be a tough battle, but seen as it was her fault Zac was with them now she knew she would have to endure it. It was, sadly, her only choice.
“Look,” she started, “if I had arrived with a similar situation to yours I’d probably think the same thing. Hell, I’d probably still be living in the safe haven now if I’d turned up alone and my ranking was different. What is your generation number by the way? I don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
“I’m a Gen 2,” Zac shrugged, “I have an incredibly heightened sense of smell. Like, super sensitive. Like, I can tell you there’s a small stream about half a mile east from here sensitive. Why? What’s yours?”
“Super smell,” Zahyra smiled ignoring his question for a moment, “that’s pretty cool. So yeah, if I’d arrived as a Gen 2 like you I’d have probably stayed. And if I’d arrived alone of course. You see, they weren’t quite as welcoming when the three of us arrived. You’ve met Cain; he’s a Gen 4, I’m a Zero and my little brother Asher, well, he’s something else altogether.”
Zac raised his eyebrows at Zahyra’s avoidance of her brother’s mutation, but she swept over it quickly. She knew she couldn’t trust Zac entirely yet and keeping her brother safe, even though he was in the least safe environment in the world at that moment, was still her number one priority.
“The first thing that happened to us,” Zahyra continued her story. “Was separation. After our scanning Cain was immediately removed from the safe haven. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him, he was just deemed too dangerous and that was it.”