For a horrible moment, I think the truck is going to stop and remain completely exposed on the bare hillside, but it has built momentum, and it flips, crashes, and beats itself into a dented, destroyed mangle of metal, before finally smashing into surface of the lake. We watch the truck vanish under the steely water, vanishing with a few white bubbles and loud gurgle as if it never existed in the first place. It seems symbolic: the final piece of equipment that contained us is destroyed.
Lance laughs gleefully, and then holds his hand up in a high-five gesture for Seiger. The lieutenant regards the young man with an expression of disdain, ignores him and turns to the group. I smother a chuckle as Lance’s hand falls to his side like a dead bird. He tries his best not to look offended, but it isn’t often his good attitude goes unappreciated.
“Alright, come on,” Seiger orders coolly, giving everyone a wave to follow him. His guards gather around him like bees swarming. There are a dozen of them, all looking severe and intimidating in their outfits, but now that we are free of the compound, they aren’t edgy and jittery. They prop their guns on their shoulders and stride forward with Seiger, looking loose and carefree. Some of them remove their helmets and they look so similar to Jacob with their shaven heads and firm faces that I have to smother a laugh. I will have to forgive them all for keeping us locked away in the facilities now that they’ve helped us escape.
Though I will never forgive Seiger for killing Clara and for ordering the execution of the Ds, I now owe him my freedom and my life.
Because I owe Seiger so much, I take my place behind him and we follow him into the ancient forest. We veer off the road as the mottled shade of the trees falls over our group, making the temperature drop another degree or two, and take to traipsing through the enormous forest in a completely random direction. Though Seiger moves forward with determination and self-assurance, I’m sure he doesn’t know where he is going or what he is looking for.
We follow him regardless.
It is a beautiful place, not at all like the bush I am so accustomed to. The Australian bush that I know is dull and pale, but this rainforest is bright with every shade of green, birds screech in the high treetops and insects chatter in weird, clicking languages amongst the damp, brown leafy debris underfoot. The temperature is cold thanks to the moist fog hanging at the base of the trees, some of which look big enough to be hundreds of years old. There isn’t snow or frost, but every surface is wet. Moss covers everything, from the pebbly stones scattered through the leaf litter to the large, perfectly round salt-and-pepper granite boulders that are spread through the forest. The natural green carpet grows up the trunks of the trees like they are wearing vests, and little orange flowers bloom amongst it. It is a totally new world for me, alien and strange. There are tall brown stalks scattered around that sprout not only flat leaves but oddly curled tendrils that look like fury, deformed arms of the plant. I spot what I identify as a deer, which I’ve never seen in the flesh, flee into the trees and vanish. Unlike the noisy wild horses, I hardly hear its gentle footfalls.
Those in the Bs who aren’t accustomed to hiking or hard work shuffle along, moaning with disgust when they stand in a wet, muddy patch or have to push through a thick grove of dew-laden plants. None of us have shoes on, since most had been sleeping or close to it when we’d been freed. Luckily, the forest base is luckily quite soft and moist, but occasionally I’ll hear someone yelp in pain when they stand on a rock or pointed tree root. One of Felix’s old bimbos, Candice, I think, whines every step of the way, and I bite my tongue to stop from snapping at her. We’ve all had a long, hard journey and complaining isn’t helping at all. Despite Seiger’s demands that we keep quiet and stop whining, half a dozen people still grumble and mutter under their breath.
“Bunch of silver foxes you lot are,” Lance says loudly. The people from Facility Two look at him enquiringly, not knowing what he means. My fellow Facility One members understand that he is calling them weak, and we all snigger amongst ourselves. Warden was right about one thing: we certainly bonded with those in our facility.
The sound of a gunshot suddenly rings out loud and clear, and it echoes like the tolling of a huge, metal bell. We all stop dead in our tracks, ears strained, and bodies tensed. My nerves tingle with frightful electricity. Madison grips hold of Jacob’s hand. Isobelle’s head is thrown up and her eyes are huge and wild looking, the whites showing around her iris. Even Seiger and his guards suddenly organize their guns for attack, but they are too slow. If the gunshot was aimed for us, someone would be dead already. Wherever it came from, the bullet wasn’t intended for us.
Then Whil murmurs glumly, “lyrebird” and people all relax and resume walking.
I frown. I knew lyrebirds could imitate many sounds, but a gunshot? And if they imitate noise, they had to hear the noise of a gunshot in the first place. While my companions relax, I stay on edge, glancing around as we continue.
“Say Seiger, where is it we are going?” one of the men from Facility Two eventually asks after half an hour of walking. There are no more sounds of gunfire.
“Warden’s troops caught a man snooping around a town nearby here the other day,” Seiger began. “He was brought into the compound,” then, unnervingly and offhandedly he continues, “after torturing him for some time, the man coughed up some information about people living in this rainforest. Not rebels, but people who escaped the initial rallies and banded together to escape and hide. We are going to find them.”
“So we don’t know where in this rainforest they are?” the same man asks.
“No. The man died pretty quickly.”
We fall silent at the thought of the poor man suffering just because he escaped and tried to live in peace. He hadn’t hurt anyone or caused any trouble, but Warden had still tortured and killed him. I’ve never hated someone so fiercely in my entire life. When I think of all she put my companions and I through, the hatred eats away at me like a poison and only concentrating on the peaceful forest around me quells the anger.
“Wait,” I say, a thought occurring. “If Warden knows people live here, it can’t really be safe for us to stay, can it?”
“She doesn’t care if people are out here and she won’t expect I’ve brought you here. The people that live here are surviving exactly how she and the rest of the government wanted,” Seiger says, holding aside a huge fern in the road as we stream through in a single-file line. I stand beside him as the group wanders by. “If they don’t cause trouble, they’ll be left in peace. So long as she doesn’t figure out that the Bs are here, they are safe. They’re living exactly how she and the other government officials want them to.”
It crosses my mind that such people, who live off the land and are physically and mentally strong, would make perfect Bs. That Warden would indeed want them to be part of her breeding program. I briefly think that maybe our escaping will mean these peaceful forest souls will be enslaved and used as the new breeders. I pray such a thing will not happen because of us.
“’She and the rest of the government’? Is Warden one of them?” Alex asks.
“Yes. Warden is one of the fourteen people now in charge of the country. That’s why she wasn’t there last night to stop us. She went away for a meeting and then had some sort of secretive business to attend to that she wouldn’t tell me about. She left a very pathetic number of her own guards at that compound, so it was the perfect opportunity to escape really.”
“Secretive business?” I ask. “Like what?”
Seiger shrugs and pushes another fern away from our path. “Like I said, she wouldn’t tell me. I have worked with her for a few months, and each fortnight she leaves the compound for several days and she never tells anyone what she is doing.” Then he looks at me with a dark expression. “Let me just tell you that breeding wild human beings probably isn’t the government’s most heinous plan. There could be much worse going on, things I wouldn’t even know of.”
Warden’s secretive behaviour sounds dange
rous, but my mind wanders away from that road of thought and down another. Warden is one of the government’s top dogs. I should have known and tried to end her life while I’d had the chance.
But killing her wouldn’t solve any problems. They’d still have thirteen other governors in charge and would eventually replace Warden anyway. I don’t know how this government can be stopped or whether it’s even possible. Without a head honcho to take out it seems unlikely a few dozen prison escapees could ever change the fate of our country.
My thoughts are lost as we wander without any sense of direction in the forest. A heavy weight gradually leaves my shoulders with each step I take. I feel like I am slowly shaking off a pair of burdening shackles and regaining my freedom and sense of self once more. The undergrowth is thick and wet with dew. Bracken ferns brush my bare legs and larger leafy leaves slap against my face when Seiger eventually lets them fly back from his wake, sick of holding them aside for any of us. We’ve only walked for an hour and the dripping wet foliage has saturated me. I fold my arms over my chest, feeling more and more self-conscious. A few other people are wearing only their pyjama shirts or pants and I hear teeth chattering noisily. Lance’s silky boxer shorts offer no warmth, and his body has gone pale and he is shivering with cold. I am the one to smirk at him now. I haven’t seen Lance looking so out of his comfort zone before. His element consists of cosy lounge chairs, fancy rooms and buffets of food morning, noon and night.
After another hour, we step from the cold shade of the forest and into a small, circular clearing with tiny white flowers growing in the bed of grass. It looks soft and inviting and dappled rays of warming sunlight stream to the forest floor from the opening in the tree canopy above. I move to stand in one of the sunny patches to get warm.
“Take a break,” Seiger says and he goes over to join his dozen guards who are gathered in a circle around a map.
We’re all tired from being woken up and smuggled away in the middle of the night, and even though the sun is warm, the grass is still wet and we can’t lie down. A few lucky people manage to find reasonably dry rocks to sit on but I’m left standing. Isobelle, Madison and Jacob come over to me, quickly followed by Alex and Cameron.
“Who is that guy?” Madison asks, nodding towards Seiger.
I raise an eyebrow. “You haven’t seen him before?”
“No.”
“He was in charge of the rally in my hometown. I think he was a guard or maybe even the leader of Facility Two as well, judging by how many of the Facility Two folk know him.”
“Why’d he get us out?” Isobelle asks brightly, looking at him like she’s never seen such an incredible hero.
I frown at Seiger’s back. “I don’t know.”
Of course, he is a hero to her, to us all at this moment. Another week in that place and both Isobelle and I would have been tied to men we didn’t care for in the slightest. Seiger may not be a womaniser, but if only Isobelle knew what he’d done in his past, she wouldn’t think so highly of him. I decide not to tell her. Seiger is redeeming himself now.
Isobelle is positively overflowing with excitement thanks to her newfound freedom. She begins to jog around the clearing, vanishing into the forest for a few minutes at a time and returning with beautiful flowers she’s plucked from vines. I never realised how childish she really is.
Thank God we got her out.
“I’ve never been so wet,” Lance says, walking over to join my group of friends and shaking droplets of water from his dark red hair. “Seems we didn’t need our escape plan at all. That’s probably for the best—this way was safer.” Lance pauses and looks at me, eyebrows raised. “What was Felix doing to you last night?”
Madison snorts, fed up with Lance’s stupid act, and Jacob looks like he might punch him in the face.
“Geez, Lance,” I say, exasperated. “What do you think he was doing?”
“Playing leap frog?”
Normally I would laugh but the memory of Felix hanging over me and pinning me against the counter is much too fresh.
“Too soon?” Lance says with a laugh and he claps me on the back. “You’re safe now, no worries.”
The redhead wanders away to talk with some people from Facility Two as I scowl after him. This comical way of approaching things is probably his way of showing concern and comforting me.
Still, Yes, Lance. Much too soon.
“What was Felix doing?” comes a voice behind me, and though familiar, it seems foreign when cold and guarded.
I don’t bother turning to face Whil. I’m so angry with him for ignoring me. Did he think he’d waltz out of Facility Two, offer his hand and I would take it like some giddy, lovesick little schoolgirl? To join the little harem he’s no doubt gathered already?
“Freya,” he says and this time reaches to touch my arm. I yank away and swing to face him. Beside me, Jacob is rigid and ready to attack, obviously uncertain whether Whil is friend or foe. Madison looks between us, that all-knowing, smug look etched on her stunning face.
“Why have you been ignoring me for the past month!” I yell, throwing my arms up.
“I had to Freya or else—”
“What? You’d get in trouble from Warden or Seiger. Or perhaps the girls in Facility Two wouldn’t like you and want to sleep with you anymore? Spare me the crap, Whil.”
A play of emotions dance across his features; anger, confusion, and shock, before finally settling on a passionate anger that makes his face flush red and his eyebrows pull low. “That wasn’t how it happened!”
“Tell me how it happened then,” I snarl, stepping towards him. “Go on.”
“What in hell is wrong with you two!” Seiger bellows, coming over and pushing us apart because we are almost nose-to-nose, glaring at one another. The whole clearing of people have turned to look at Whil and I arguing. The noise is shrill and rises above the trees, making a nearby lyrebird steal the sound and repeat it to us in my shrieking tones of “Go-on! Go-on!”
“I thought you’d be happy to see one another,” Seiger snarls, looking between us with an expression of mingled fury and puzzlement.
“Why would I be happy to see him after he’s shunned me for a month?” I demand.
“Well, perhaps because he was the one who convinced me to get you all out of there? Or because he insisted you be rescued first? Or that he told me where I could find the cattle truck to remove you all? Those seem like pretty good reasons.”
I go to retort, but Seiger’s words quickly sink in and my mouth shuts with a snap. I look at Whil, trying to mask my guilt, and his poisonous glare falters as I stare, my eyes wide and cheeks flushing red.
“You think he’d forgotten about you so easily?” Seiger asks, grabbing the scruff of my shirt and giving me a gentle shake. I avoid his eyes, feeling ashamed. “I told him to ignore you because Warden would have noticed you both communicating and thought you were plotting. She would have brought in her own guards and doubled security. Stop being so ungrateful.” He looks around at the gaping stares. “Now, everyone, we’re moving on. I think we have our bearings straight.” He scowls at me. “All our bearings. Let’s go.”
Seiger waves everyone forward. Groaning and sore, everyone stands and follows, except for me and Whil. We linger behind. I stare at the ground awkwardly, shuffling the leaves at my feet. I had so little faith in Whil. I should have known there was a reason for his coldness. I can feel his eyes on my face, waiting for something. An apology maybe?
But when I open my mouth to speak, he just reaches out and takes my hand in his. “I’m sorry, Freya. I had to do it to get you out of there.”
I cringe, feeling even worse now that he has apologised for my stupid misjudgement.
“No, I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t do that. I just… it was so scary in there and having you on the other side of the fence ignoring me… was horrible.” I clear my voice, embarrassed as my words get choked up by a lump in my throat, and my eyes sting. I force away the flood of e
motion and dash traitorous tears from my eyes.
A tense quiet falls between us but Whil quickly breaks it. “What did Felix do to you? He didn’t—”
“No,” I interrupt. “Seiger got to me before he could, but it was close. And poor Isobelle… another few days and I don’t know what would have happened to her.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get out sooner. Seiger had to organise a lot.”
“Why did he do it? Help us all get out?”
Whil smiles, wraps an arm around my shoulder and steers me in the direction our companions went. His touch is strong yet tender, and I feel safer than I have in weeks. It’s a lot warmer now and the fog isn’t as thick as it was when we started our trek. The rainforest feels so inviting and secure, enfolded in the veil of mist and hiding everything beneath the mountain ash trees. We could hide here forever and never be found. Before answering, Whil draws me closer and presses his lips against my temple. My breath hitches as he continues, trailing gentle kisses across my jaw and then down my throat. I instinctively crane my neck, and he chuckles against my skin before pulling away. He looks at me for a moment, and I feel something form between us—a flood of emotion so overwhelming that it seems to make a bridge. His lips part, and even though he does not speak, he might as well have for all that his expression gives away. Catching himself, his mouth snaps shut again and he presses one quick kiss against my lips, making me roll backwards on my heels.
“He didn’t agree with what Warden was doing,” he says casually, while my heart hammers in my chest. “She lied to him about what was being done in the compound—not about breeding, but about how they were breeding. Not to mention he has a bit of a soft spot for us.”
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