New World Order

by S. M. McEachern

  Sanjay looked around again and then whispered, “Can you tell me where you got the gun and those clothes?” His eyes were practically gleaming. “We searched that old town where we found you, but we didn’t find anything.”

  Were my clothes and rifle really that important that they’d stopped long enough to search the buildings? Then I remembered we’d stashed the bikes just outside of town. We had approached the city from the direction of the Dome—from the southeast. Would they have found the bike tracks leading back to the Dome? Not that I would care if this small ragtag group found our city. They wouldn’t stand a chance against us. But if they found the city and took that information back to their so-called advanced society, that might be a problem. I didn’t know how big an army we were up against. It was an alarming thought, but I reminded myself that if they had found the bikes, they would have taken them. I checked around the camp to make sure. No sign of the bikes, and no one had mentioned them.

  But I was well aware of how much the rifle and my clothes meant to these recruiters. I looked at Sanjay conspiratorially. “Help me get out of here and I’ll lead you to where I got them,” I whispered. “There’s so much treasure that you’ll own your own rig in no time.”

  Sanjay shifted and flicked a nervous glance at Hollywood. “You mean just us?” His eyes returned to me.

  “Just us,” I confirmed.

  He bit his bottom lip, and then he shook his head. “Too many cats. We wouldn’t make it very far.”

  Cats? I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but I didn’t want to get sidetracked. Hollywood might be back any minute, and I would lose the opportunity to convince Sanjay. I motioned to Naoki, Ryan, and Talon. “They can come too.”

  He surveyed my fellow recruits and then his eyes flew back to mine, a note of suspicion in them. “You’re just playing with me.”

  “I’m not. I swear,” I said. “I know where there’s a whole—”

  Sanjay cleared his throat and affected a stern look. “Like the boss says, cooperate and you can have more.” He walked around the cart to Talon. “Got another one waking up,” Sanjay said to Hollywood as he came up to us.

  I hadn’t noticed Talon waking up. That meant all of us were alive and accounted for.

  A deep booming voice rang out across the camp, telling everyone to move out. As our wagon jerked into motion, I fixated my eyes on a distant mountain peak and wondered if that was the Dome and whether I would ever see it again.

  ***

  Even without my warm coat, I welcomed the early spring storms that slowed our progress. For one thing, every step we took carried me farther away from home. For another, my need for water was more acute than my constant shivering from the cold. Whenever it rained, all four of us threw our heads back with mouths opened to catch as much as we could.

  They only gave us three small rations of water per day and one evening ration of food. Twice a day, we were each let out of the wagon to relieve ourselves while under guard. It was almost pointless, considering our dehydrated, malnourished bodies had little waste to get rid of. Still, I welcomed the opportunity to stand up and test the strength of my legs.

  Ryan railed the most against being shackled, uttering expletives against our captors until he was exhausted. Talon was quiet. Naoki and I were observant, waiting for an opportunity to escape. So far, none had come. Our hands were secured behind our backs in such a way that too much movement not only tightened our plastic binds, but also painfully wrenched our arms.

  From the bits of conversation we overheard, recruits were valuable cargo and a recruit wearing synthetic fibers even more so. Almost everyone in the camp had stopped by to admire my rifle, and on a few occasions, I braced myself for it to go off. I couldn’t remember if I’d had a chance to unlock it before they shot me with devil’s blood. My guess was no because so far no one could fire it, and the men were debating whether it was even operational. Hollywood insisted it was the real thing and that it was going to earn him a huge reward from Father Ryder. But his fellow recruiters refused to believe it was anything more than some kind of plastic relic. Even I scratched my head over that one. How could they confuse steel with plastic?

  The position of the sun indicated we were moving south-southwest. A wide river ran to the east of us, and the caravan never strayed far from it. Even when the river wasn’t within sight, we could hear it, and the image of all that cool, fresh water rushing down the mountain occupied my thoughts. Today it sounded louder than usual.

  “Wake up!” Hollywood yelled at us as we broke out of the forest into a clearing by the river. The terrain was a relatively flat mix of wet, grainy sand and rounded stones.

  We all perked up. They didn’t usually bother waking us when they stopped to replenish water supplies. Naoki’s face creased with worry.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Hollywood.

  “You get what’s called a hygienic break,” he said.

  Phillip smiled, showing more gum than teeth. “Yeah, we finally get to wash the stench off you.” He waved a hand in front of his nose.

  Ryan sat up even straighter, the gleam of freedom in his eyes. I nudged him with my elbow and shook my head almost imperceptibly, knowing Hollywood didn’t miss a thing. Ryan’s obvious anticipation was going to get him into trouble.

  The entire caravan made its way close to the shoreline. During our journey down the mountain, the river had maintained a thin, mottled cap of ice. But here it flowed unrestricted and, it seemed, in greater volume.

  “The snow and ice are melting,” Naoki said, motioning with his head toward the top of the mountain. “Spring floods will start soon.”

  That’s why there was little vegetation here. It was a floodplain. Having grown up inside a biodome, I had never witnessed spring coming to the land.

  The guards and foot soldiers took turns bathing. They stripped naked despite the cold wind and even colder water, laughing and joking in their now-familiar, obscene way. When the first group had finished, they dressed and tended the bears while the second group bathed. After all the recruiters had washed, they started on the recruits. The foot soldiers served as backup to our personal armed escorts.

  Our hands were not unbound, just unhooked from where we were tethered to the cart. As Ryan hopped down from the wagon, I observed him surveying the area around us, his gaze darting from the river to the forest and back again. But too many archers stood between the water and the trees. As soon as I caught his eye, I subtly shook my head and pointed with my chin toward the water. Naoki was watching us and tapped Talon with his elbow to get his attention. Our best chance for escape was the river. The current was swift and would carry us away quickly; although with our hands bound, it could be suicide.

  Turning my face downward, I said in a barely audible whisper, “Follow my lead.” Naoki nodded.

  Our escorts started herding us toward the water.

  Then Ryan head-butted Sanjay and bolted for the trees.

  Hollywood and Phillip unsheathed their knives and grabbed Naoki and me. Talon took a step back toward the cart. “Don’t move,” Hollywood warned him. Within seconds archers surrounded us.

  Ryan kept running, hands tied behind him, and at first no one stopped him. They just laughed. He’d almost made it to the tree line when a foot soldier stepped out to block his way. But that didn’t stop Ryan. He tucked into a shoulder roll, evading an arrow speeding toward him, rolled right back onto his feet, gave the guy a roundhouse kick to the head, and sent him flying. Two more foot soldiers came at him from either side, and Ryan ran three steps up the trunk of a tree, flipped, and landed on one of them with his legs wrapped around the man’s neck.

  Hollywood released me and grabbed his bow. Before he could take aim at Ryan, I shouldered him and sent him into the side of the cart. Someone else took a shot at Ryan and an arrow ripped through his thigh and into the neck of the soldier he was strangling. They both went down.

  Hollywood righted himself and hauled back a fist aimed for my head, b
ut before he could release it, someone yelled and startled him.

  “Who shot that?” an angry voice demanded. He was looking right at Hollywood. He took a few steps toward our cart, his eyes never leaving Hollywood. “I said, who shot that arrow?”

  One of the armed escorts from an empty cart stepped forward. “I did.”

  After a brief staring competition, Angry Man turned on his heel and faced the guilty escort. “What the hell were you aiming for? You shot a perfectly good soldier in the neck!” The soldier was on the ground, blood gurgling from his gaping mouth.

  The escort’s eyes widened. He seemed scared and confused. “We’re supposed to hit recruits in the legs so we don’t kill them. That’s what we’re always told.”

  Angry Man shook his head and went back to where Ryan and the foot soldier lay on the ground. He tore the arrow from Ryan’s leg, and Ryan didn’t move. I hoped it was just the effect of the devil’s blood.

  Hollywood cuffed me. “Get them back in the wagon,” he ordered Phillip and Sanjay. He walked toward Angry Man, pointing at Ryan. “Kane, with all due respect, he’s still my bounty.”

  “Looks to me like your bounty escaped and someone else got him.”

  Hollywood stopped a short distance from him. “Rules are rules. We can take it up with Father Ryder when we get back.”

  Kane hesitated, but then kicked Ryan. “Have him. Ajuns are worthless anyway. Especially Ajuns who run.”

  Phillip and Sanjay pushed us into the cart, secured us, and went back for Ryan. An argument broke out over whether or not the other cart owners—captains as they were referred to—were going to be compensated for the loss of the foot soldier. Hollywood stomped back to us, opened the wooden box built into the wagon, and took out some computer tablets. I recognized mine right away. They must have gone through my pockets to find it. The others were probably the dead ones that Naoki and Ryan had found. Hollywood gave them to Kane to distribute.

  He returned to the cart in a foul mood and punched me in the shoulder. I noted it wasn’t in the head. I also noted that even though I had shouldered him to keep him from shooting Ryan, the worst punishment I received was a punch in the shoulder.

  I was getting a greater sense of my worth.

  Chapter Four

  Sunny

  Water. Why did we have to travel by water?

  The river was swollen by the spring melt and traveling at a greater velocity than I could ever remember seeing it before. Of course, it was my memories provoking the fear in me. I had very nearly drowned in that river during our escape from the bourge last year. If it had not been for Jack’s knowledge of first aid, I would have died. He was able to accomplish the miraculous: restore the breath the water had stolen from me. And as I assessed our search party, I realized there was no one among us with first aid training. Provided the river didn’t pose the biggest threat, we were a capable team: Jin-Sook was a fierce warrior of Protector status with the Nation; Eli, our guide, was a slight man and older, but Dena had assured me he was capable of looking after himself; and Summer, Reyes, and I were all dressed in the exoskeletons that made us strong, fast, and impervious to bullets and arrows.

  Yet, as I eyeballed the two hollowed-out logs Jin and Eli had brought as boats, I wondered if the river would indeed pose the biggest threat.

  Besides the five who made up our search party gathered at the river’s shore, Dena had come to say farewell, with Willow tagging along. I had met Willow on only a few occasions but knew her well enough to know that she was always trying to find a way to promote herself to the status of Protector. Since Dena was head of the Nation’s military, Willow liked to stay close to her, always trying to find ways to impress her.

  I knew Dena much better. Over the past ten months, Jack and I had become good friends with she and her wife, Yean-Kuan, although I was always conscious and respectful of Dena’s status within the Nation. The Nation was comprised of six barangays, each one headed by an Elder. Together, the six Elders formed the government of the entire Nation. Dena was, in my opinion, the wisest of all six (and a trusted advisor to Senator Jack Kenner), as well as the fiercest military leader I had ever known. The fact that she was giving us a personal send-off told me just how important this search was to the Nation. The recruiters had taken Naoki, Ryan, and Talon too, and it was causing chaos. Not only were the People grief-stricken by the loss of their brothers, but they also feared the recruiters might still be in the area.

  And I was anxious to get the search started. Except for the water part.

  Jin-Sook must have sensed my anxiety—or maybe my expression said it all— because she laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It just means we’ll get down the mountain faster,” she said. If anyone knew the turmoil I was going through, it was Jin. Although we’d met as foes, our bond as friends began the day I had almost drowned.

  “Yeah, but in one piece?” Reyes asked, thumbing toward the wooden canoes. “I have something better.” He set his backpack on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out a thick, black square. Words were stamped on it, and he took a moment to read them. “It says we need to unfold it completely before we pull the ripcord to inflate it.”

  My spirits lifted. “Is that what I think it is?” During my year at the Academy, the students were given hands-on demonstrations of military equipment, and one of the items was an inflatable raft.

  Reyes set about unfolding it. “If you think it’s a raft, then yes, it is.”

  “Thank God,” Summer murmured.

  Silently, I agreed and stepped forward to help him. Although I still had mixed feelings about Reyes’ participation in the search, I begrudgingly admitted to myself that bringing the raft was working in his favor.

  “Where did you get it?” I asked.

  He shrugged, his eyes remaining focused on his task. “Doc told me where I could borrow one.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at that. When did Reyes have time to “borrow” a raft from military inventory? It had been my understanding that Doc’s suggestion that he come with me was last minute. And now that I was thinking about it, I again questioned why Reyes had so readily agreed to come. He had never made it a secret that he hated Jack and often boasted about challenging him to a rematch after Jack had kicked his butt in the Pit... or rather, allowed Reyes to make a fool of himself. So why did he want to help find Jack now?

  “You had time to snag a boat from inventory?” I asked, keeping my tone lighthearted. “I would’ve thought you’d want to use what little time you had to say goodbye to...” I had to think for a moment—was he still with Dawn? “...um, that special someone.”

  Summer laughed, and it brought a smile to my lips. While she was drinking, she laughed so rarely, but over the past few days her sense of humor seemed to be coming back. “Don’t you mean special someones?” she asked coyly, eyebrow arched high. “Last I heard, Reyes was up to a new girl every night.”

  The corners of Reyes’ mouth turned upward, the only indication that he was listening to our conversation. The raft was now fully unfolded and he set about stretching it to lay flat.

  I noticed he hadn’t denied the charge. “At that rate, aren’t you afraid of running out of girls?”

  His face cracked into a smile. “Ergo my desire to see what’s beyond the mountains.”

  I regarded him with a bland expression. Was that really his motivation for being here? Women?

  Once the raft was unfolded, Reyes pulled the cord and it began to inflate. As it went from small to bigger and bigger, everyone stopped mid-task to gather around and watch. Sometimes I had to remind myself that technology and the items it produced were a fascinating oddity to them. For those of us from the Dome, where the inventions and know-how of pre-War mankind had been preserved, they were commonplace. But outside the Dome, technology had been obliterated along with everything else on earth.

  “It’s supposed to hold up to seven passengers,” Reyes said.

  Willow’s saucer-sized green eyes grew even bigger. “Then
there’s enough room for me!”

  “You’re not going, Will,” Dena said with a firm shake of her head. “You’re not old enough.”

  Willow folded her arms across her chest. “I’ll be seventeen in two weeks!”

  Dena sighed wearily. It was then that I noticed how tired she looked. Older. There were more gray streaks through her twisted braid, and dark shadows outlined her red-tinged eyes. “Which makes you sixteen and not old enough. I’ll not hear any more from you. Go home.”

  “But—”

  “Will!” Jin-Sook said sharply.

  Willow snapped her attention to Jin, looking poised to put up an argument, but she seemed to think better of it. She unfolded her arms and stomped away.

  Dena watched her go with a tired smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “She’s always been stubborn.”

  Reyes looked at me. “She?”

  I nodded, understanding his confusion. Even though Will had stunning features, like all other women of the Nation, her clothing hid her femininity. “It’s a cultural thing,” I said.

  “That’s a relief. I found him strangely hot. Annoying, but hot.”

  Summer rolled her eyes.

  The raft finished inflating. Two folded oars were strapped to the outside of Reyes’ pack, and he unstrapped them, snapped them straight, and locked the joint in place. “Who’s driving?”

  “That monstrosity?” Eli asked.

  Tension tightened my chest at the thought that Eli might veto using the raft. I had only met Eli for the first time three days ago when I came to the Nation to visit Dena and Jin-Sook. That had been when I found out they were planning to launch a search for the missing men as soon as the river ice had broken up, with Eli as the guide. He was a former recruit who’d managed to escape and eventually found his way to the Nation. He was sure he knew the way back to Ryder’s city. And even though I really didn’t want to venture onto the river in one of their hand-carved canoes, Eli was key to finding my husband and the other missing men. So if it were going to come down to a choice between traveling by canoe and losing Eli, I’d take the canoes.