Blue

by Brandy Wehinger

  Then there was nothing. They had stopped.

  Seizing his opportunity to make another run for it, Lukas rolled himself through the undergrowth to where it opened out onto clear ground. He was just staggering to his feet when a horse appeared on the sand in front of him.

  ‘Elliot, give up!’ The rider’s voice was commanding.

  Lukas was taken off guard. Did he say Elliot?

  ‘Stop running. It’s over.’

  The man spoke again just as two more horses emerged from the brush. They were over-excited, their chests heaving in and out like bellows, the whites of their eyes showing.

  Lukas closed his eyes and sank to his knees. This is it, he thought. I’m really dead this time. At least it’s over. He was aware of riders dismounting and coming towards him, but he wasn’t going to run again. Why try? It was finally done.

  A man’s voice growled, ‘Elliot Grosvenor, we’re taking you in for the crimes you’ve done. Don’t try to fight or I’ll bash your head in.’

  Lukas opened his eyes. A large, bald-headed man was standing near him with a club in one hand and a rope in the other. He looked like a wolf cornering its prey. Lukas’s mouth was impossibly dry and gravelly from weeks of not speaking, but he croaked out, ‘I’m not him.’ He looked up earnestly at the man. ‘My name is Lukas—’

  But Lukas didn’t finish his explanation. A shadow came over him, and he heard a whir of something being swung through the air. Then there was darkness.

  KATIE, autumn, 62 A. Z.

  ‘I’VE PREPPED THE tomatoes and herbs like you said. Did you get the bird?’

  Elliot was smiling as I crawled up the final rung of the ladder into the room. But he froze and his smile faded as soon as he saw my face.

  ‘Elliot, they’re looking for you. Gunslingers. And they’re close.’ I hated having to tell him.

  ‘How? Where are they?’

  I threw my empty sack on the floor, brushed Elliot aside and walked to the window to look out into the valley. ‘This is serious. They’re going to find us,’ I muttered, more to myself than to him.

  ‘Why? Where did you see them?’ Elliot came to look out the window beside me, scanning the hills for trespassers.

  ‘I should never have done this to you, Elliot. I’m sorry,’ I whispered, not looking at him.

  ‘Katie, stop. We won’t let them catch us. Tell me, where are they? How much time do we have?’ He pulled me towards him and searched my face. I looked into his pleading eyes and felt guilty and selfish for having let him throw his life away to be with me. He had once had everything and now he had nothing and was being hunted.

  I sighed and explained to him what I’d seen. ‘I need to find out their plans, though. Tonight I’m going to sneak over to the place they’re staying and eavesdrop. See what we’re up against.’

  ‘No! Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous. Let’s just pack a couple of bags and get out of here.’

  ‘Look, it might be too late. We need to know what we’re dealing with.’ I turned from him. ‘I’ll be fine. They won’t even know I’m there.’

  Elliot ran his hands through his hair. He pulled me around to face him. ‘If anything happens to you, I’ll kill them.’ His blue eyes burned with an intensity that caught my breath and for some reason confused me.

  ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me. I know how humans tick. I’ve been on this planet for over eighty years and have made it this far.’ I looked into his eyes with a steady stare. ‘We have to be smart about this.’

  Elliot blinked and looked down, accepting. But his dark expression showed his opinion. ‘Okay … I feel like we should just run, but if you think this is what needs to be done, then—’ He sighed, and shook his head.

  We spent the rest of the afternoon shutting up the Tower, trying to make it look as if no one had lived there in years. That evening was bleak, but for each other’s company. No cooking fire in the hearth. No evening light giving us the last warmth of the day. Instead, we sat holding each other for security and memorising each other’s face by the light of one small candle.

  VIRGIL, autumn, 62 A. Z.

  VIRGIL KNEW SOMETHING was up as soon as they came back through the gates and saw the other search party’s horses still saddled. The poor animals were a mess: caked in sand and dried sweat, their heads drooped to the ground with dehydration and fatigue. One of them had a gash on its shoulder. Old blood dried in a streak down its legs, and flies congregated on the wound. Virgil was not impressed.

  He dismounted and led his horse to the water trough. Owen and Jessy looked as if they, too, knew something had happened and wanted to rush inside the shack to get the news, but Virgil’s warning eye made them remember their priorities. Virgil pulled the saddles off the other group’s horses and dumped them in a pile on the ground — a message to them about how to treat their animals. These creatures were the Gunslingers’ only real advantage over the Corpses. They gave them speed and height and, without them, the Gunslingers were dead.

  After watering all the animals, Virgil walked with the others towards the building. He’d come out later and take care of the wound and the chipped hooves, but now it was time to see if the men inside had a good enough reason to explain their blatant disregard for their horses.

  He wasn’t expecting the mess he saw when he entered: an overturned chair, the contents of the dish cupboard lying broken on the floor, a splatter of blood on the wall, and a tall, thin, one-armed man tied to a chair in the corner of the room, his face bloody and puffy. Virgil stared, and his stomach churned. This was the same Blue he’d seen playing dead under the bush not so long ago.

  Owen’s eyes were wide. ‘Who’s this?’

  ‘This is Elliot, boys.’ Ray’s smile was defensive. ‘Ran him down in the gulley.’

  Virgil looked at the Blue closely: black hair, six foot four at least, probably around twenty-five years old when he turned. This was not Elliot.

  Owen had obviously appraised him too. ‘This guy doesn’t have red hair, boss.’

  Ray glared at him. ‘Are you an expert on Blues, Owen?’

  ‘No, boss, I’m just think—’

  ‘Well, don’t. Have you even seen a Blue before?’

  ‘No, boss.’

  ‘Then shut up!’ His face was just inches from Owen’s. ‘I’m surrounded by idiots! I tell you. All of you. Dumbest fools anyone ever had to work with!’

  The room was silent. Owen had crept backwards and sat close to the door. Jessy was pretending to remove a splinter from her hand, though her eyes kept darting up to study the Blue.

  ‘I’m not Elliot.’ The Blue’s voice filled the room. ‘My name is Lukas Harcourt. I’m from the Tree Sanctuary on Middle Mountain. I got bit—’

  ‘Shut up!’ Ray thundered. ‘Of course you’ll say you’re not Elliot. You wanna save your head. You think we’re stupid?’

  ‘My name is Lukas. I was the orchard manager at Tree Sanctuary.’

  ‘Shut up, I tell you,’ Ray roared, and he threw his water cup at the Blue. It hit him in the face with a slosh and banged down onto the floor.

  Virgil looked at Jessy and raised his eyebrow to ask her if she recognised him. Jessy put her hand up to her face as if to wipe it and mouthed the words back: ‘Not Elliot.’

  Virgil shook his head and looked down. Well, Ray was going to be the one looking like an idiot when he brought the wrong guy back to the City. Oh well.

  Now Virgil had something else to do. He walked back out to the yard. He took a pail of water, a cloth and brushes, and set to work on the first horse, washing away its dried sweat and easing its tired muscles as best he could in the fading light of the day. He worked steadily and efficiently, intent on getting through all the horses before he retired for the night. Then he felt a shift in the air. He paused and listened. Nothing. But something was there. He scratched his head and bent back to his task, unsettled but determined to stay calm.

  He began brushing down the legs of his own horse and, without pause, muttered,
‘You and yours aren’t safe in these parts anymore.’ He didn’t look up and scan the darkness as he would have liked to. He concentrated on his work. ‘You’re in danger and need to pack up and move on.’

  Virgil felt eyes on him but moved on to the next horse. ‘Your boyfriend has made a lot of people really angry and they’re looking for his head.’

  Anybody looking out from the shack would have just seen Virgil doing what Virgil was always doing. Nothing out of the ordinary.

  ‘I saw you today on the cliff and I know you followed us,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to be the one to get you, but I can’t say that about the bald man or the short one with long hair.’

  At last a soft voice answered him, ‘Who have you got in there?’

  Virgil was surprised by the question, but he didn’t pause in his work. Did she really not know the Blue they had bound to a chair in there?

  ‘Someone like you,’ he answered. Then he heard her move quietly away, back into the desert.

  KATIE, autumn, 62 A. Z.

  ELLIOT WAS STILL pacing the dark upper storey of the Tower when I got back. The poor guy was a mess, sweating and dishevelled. I couldn’t help the quick surge of pleasure I felt at seeing how he loved me, worried about me, rushed to embrace me.

  ‘Well? What did you find out?’

  We sat on the floor and I told him what I’d heard about the bald Gunslinger, and how he thought he’d already caught Elliot but had actually captured someone else. I also told him about how volatile the man was, and how he had screamed at his companions when they tried to tell him he’d made a mistake. Then I told Elliot about the cowboy who spoke to me.

  ‘But how could he know you were there, Katie? Why didn’t he want to capture us? What do you think?’

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t figure it out.’ I wasn’t used to being noticed when I didn’t want to be. The white-haired cowboy was somehow special. Humans weren’t usually so observant or sensitive. ‘Whatever the reason, I got off easy. But Elliot—’ I sighed. ‘They’ve got a Blue in there.’

  ‘So what?’ Elliot looked at my face. ‘Wait … another Blue? What are you thinking?’

  I cringed a little, knowing that once again I was going to do something out of character. Generally I prefer to mind my own business and let others solve their own problems. ‘I want to help him escape.’

  ‘What? No! They already know you’re sneaking around them. It’s too dangerous!’ Elliot ran his hands through his shock of red hair and shook his head. ‘Please don’t do this.’

  ‘I know, I know. But I won’t be able to live with myself if I just ignore this. Maybe it’s being with you, being around another person after so long. I don’t know, but I feel as if I can’t help but get involved this time.’

  ‘But we’re free. They think they’ve got me. By the time they get the wrong guy back to the City, we could be long gone! It’s the perfect cover for us. Don’t you see?’

  I’d thought of that, too. If we left now, we could be in another territory by the time the Leaders in the City were presented with the wrong fugitive. But I couldn’t leave a kindred spirit, another Blue, to suffer at their hands.

  How could I have not known there was another Blue around? We’re sneaky and rare, but I’m usually aware of most things happening in my part of the desert. Perhaps I’d been too busy with my human, enjoying playing house. I’d been such an idiot, and I’d started the whole mess. The best I could do was try to control the damage.

  I took Elliot’s hands, interlocked my fingers with his and said, ‘I know it’s dangerous, but I have to help.’

  Elliot took a long time to answer. Then he took a deep breath and said steadily, ‘All right. I don’t think we should be doing this. We know only half of what we’re up against, and it’s dangerous and probably pointless. But if you’re going to help, I’m coming along too.’

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted.

  ‘And that’s non-negotiable.’

  The way he said it, I knew it was useless to argue.

  LUKAS, autumn, 62 A. Z.

  ‘PLEASE,’ LUKAS SAID again. ‘I’m not who you are looking for.’

  Owen walked a wide berth around the chair, trying not to look at the poor creature tied to it, and knowing that the words he said were true.

  ‘Please, you have to help me,’ Lukas pleaded. He had seen the unspoken division amongst his captors, the way some of them wished to defy their bullying leader. Doubt was plain on the face of this ruddy-skinned man, who was busy trying to cook while the others were out doing chores.

  ‘Look, I can’t help you,’ Owen said quietly, glancing quickly through the window to make sure they were alone. The other Gunslingers looked absorbed in their tasks, cleaning gear and organising supplies. Earlier, Lukas had heard the white-haired Gunslinger say they’d be staying one more day at the post before heading to the City because the horses were exhausted and one of them was lame.

  Lukas tried again. ‘But what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve never done any harm to anyone and I’m not the guy you’re looking for.’

  The Gunslinger sighed and walked to the window, looked out and went back to Lukas’s dark corner. ‘I know. But there is nothing I can do. Ray, our boss, will kill me.’ The frustration was plain on his face.

  ‘What’s your name?’ Lukas asked then. He didn’t much care, but desperation made him think it would be wise to try to befriend the man.

  ‘I’m Owen. Please, I can’t do anything for you. I’d like to, but I just can’t.’

  ‘Release me. Say I broke free and overpowered you.’ Lukas could see how scared Owen was of his boss, but there had to be some way to convince him. ‘I know I’m infected, but I’m not a Corpse and I won’t hurt you.’

  ‘I know!’ Owen said, exasperated. ‘I’m not happy about this either. Maybe when we get you back to the City and those stupid Leaders see you’re not Elliot Grosvenor, they’ll let you go.’

  Lukas didn’t reply. He knew as well as Owen that the Leaders would never let him go. He was infected and that meant he’d be destroyed.

  ‘I can get you something to eat before they come back, at least,’ Owen offered at last. ‘Though I’ve no idea how I’m gonna feed it to you.’

  Lukas wasn’t hungry, but he thought it best to accept the offer. Owen was a strong man, but his love of food was evident in his large belly and rounded face. Taking his offer and eating his food would show Owen that Lukas was still like him, still part-human at least.

  ‘I’m starving. What’ve you got?’ He smiled, trying to look grateful.

  ‘Well, let’s see. There’s nothing much exciting here, but I’ve got a bit of rabbit and bread, which isn’t too bad when I put some gravy on it.’

  ‘Thank you. That sounds fantastic.’

  Owen used a stick to spear the bits of meat and bread and held it up to Lukas’s mouth. It was an awkward manoeuvre and bits of gravy-soaked bread kept breaking off and slopping down onto Lukas’s shirt. But it was working. Owen was relaxing, perhaps beginning to see the captive as a fellow person, not a monster.

  ‘Okay, this is too messy,’ Owen said finally. ‘I’m gonna hand-feed you, but don’t you bite me.’

  ‘Not a chance. This is the best food I’ve had in ages. I don’t think you’d taste as nice.’

  Owen shook his head and pulled up a stool. Then he carefully spoon-fed Lukas the remainder of the food like a parent feeding a baby. As if to cover the awkwardness, Owen talked about seasonings and cooking, and Lukas found himself liking him. They might even have been friends if Lukas was still an apple grower back at the Tree Sanctuary. But they would never be friends. Lukas was a Blue and Owen was a Gunslinger in a gang that was taking him to the City and to his death. That was the sad reality.

  They were interrupted by the sound of boots on the decking outside. Owen pushed himself back in an attempt to hide what he was doing, but it was too late. Ray’s tall frame was silhouetted in the doorway.

  ‘Feeding i
t? Are you stupid?’ He stepped into the room and grabbed Owen by the front of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

  Owen dropped the plate, spilling gravy and bread on himself.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing, feeding it?’ Ray screamed.

  ‘He looked sick,’ Owen stammered. ‘He looked like he was starving. I didn’t want him to die before we got him back to the City and got our reward, boss.’

  ‘Idiot!’ Ray pushed Owen backwards, making him fall heavily into the corner of a table, then onto the floor. ‘They don’t die! It’s a Corpse! It doesn’t die unless we bash its skull in!’

  Ray started to pace the small room. Sweat ran off his bald head and his hands shook. He berated Owen some more, and then slammed a flat palm onto the table. The other Gunslingers, who had been standing uncomfortably in the doorway, trying not to be noticed, flinched.

  Ray picked up a stick and walked towards Lukas. ‘You and your filthy kind should be wiped from the planet. You’re unclean, disgusting, worse than the regular Corpse, dangerous—’

  Lukas could see that Ray had snapped. His eyes were wide and his pupils dilated, his face was red and blotchy, and veins bulged on his forehead and the sides of his neck.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Lukas said. ‘It won’t happen again.’

  ‘I know it won’t happen again because I won’t let it!’ He swung the stick at Lukas and smacked him across the face. Lukas felt an explosion of pain as the rough stick hit his cheekbone and broke the skin. Ray pulled back the stick and swung again, this time aiming for the side of Lukas’s neck. Lukas screamed and pulled against the ropes. Ray struck again.

  ‘Boss,’ the white-haired Gunslinger said from the doorway. ‘We need it to be able to walk.’

  Ray spun around, fury contorting his face, and moved towards the man who dared question him. ‘Virgil! You wanna talk to me?’