The Gender Secret

by Bella Forrest

  Viggo seemed to notice the determination stamped on my face, because he sighed. “We’ll keep an eye out. If we see something we can seal up with the blanket in my bag, we’ll try, all right?”

  I nodded. Viggo whistled to Samuel, who had been standing next to him, panting the entire time. I watched as both of them started to move again, heading up the hill.

  I took a moment to collect myself, and then followed behind them at a light jog.

  The sun was setting, creating long dark shadows on the ground. I put one of the aerosol containers in my pocket and pulled out my flashlight, shining it. It did little to illuminate our paths as we ran, but it was better than nothing.

  The forest flew by me, and I tried to keep my breathing even. My ears were trying to pick up the high-pitched keening of the flies over the sounds of our footsteps and panting, but since we fled the glen where we had found her, there was nothing. It was almost eerie, like the forest was holding its breath to see what would happen.

  I kept trying to find places for us to hide, but it was hard. In the several times I had needed to hide in a log or a hollow, they had seemed plentiful. But this part of the forest was denying us any spark of hope.

  I cut over to the first log I spotted, using the flashlight to illuminate the area. I inspected it quickly, but my heart sank. It had multiple holes along its length, likely left behind by some wood boring insect. Viggo’s blanket was too small for it to cover everything.

  We started running again, and I kept my eyes peeled. I eventually saw a tree with a hollow spot in the center. The top half of the tree had collapsed, leaving the top part of the trunk a jagged ruin, with wooden slivers jutting up. I dashed over it, ahead of Viggo, and shined my flashlight inside. The hollow was a little more than a crack—there would be room for one of us to hide, but no more. I sighed, and resumed running.

  The third place was one of those trees where the roots erupted from the ground like walls. I thought we could string the blanket up between two of them, and seal it off from detection, but the roots were spread too far apart, even at the base. There was no way it would work.

  I felt my final sliver of hope diminish as the last trickle of light disappeared from the canopy.

  Viggo had stopped to drink more water, and I jogged up next to him before stopping. Fire was raging under my skin as the muscles in my legs burned. I placed my hands on my knees to keep from collapsing, sucking in air through the mask.

  “Vi—” Viggo said, his voice soft.

  I shook my head. “No,” I insisted, knowing what he was going to say.

  He sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You are my priority,” he said, simply.

  I gazed into his green eyes for a long moment. I was on the verge of saying okay, of agreeing to leave Ms. Dale there, when Samuel barked.

  Turning the light on him, I saw him facing the way we’d come, his ears up and his body low. He was quivering in fear.

  I heard it seconds later. The buzzing from the swarms I had heard before were nothing compared to this. It was the sound of a massive body of water crashing on the earth—angry and loud. I turned my flashlight, and saw flashes of red making a beeline for us. We had paused for too long.

  “Run,” I shouted, turning on my heel. Viggo had already started running with me. I was relieved to see that he was carrying Ms. Dale, but in a few minutes, it might not matter.

  Once again, I was going to be responsible for the deaths of the people I cared about. But I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

  I ran behind Viggo, keeping up with him as fear fueled our legs to move fast. I kept a canister of aerosol ready, just in case.

  The buzzing drew nearer, and as the light from my flashlight bounced over the ground, I saw a flash of crimson. It hit me in the chest.

  I looked down in time to see it shoving its needle nose into the flesh of my skin. I slapped it, feeling its body crunch under my hand, its crushed body spurting the blood it had just absorbed all over my shirt and chest. I noticed more coalescing, and could see that one was on the back of Viggo’s neck. I quickly used the aerosol container, and sprayed it.

  It fell off, but more were coming.

  The insidious thing about red flies, I realized, was that you could hardly feel their bite. Another one landed on me, using its six long legs to clamp down on my skin. For all I knew, there were already a hundred on my back, draining me dry.

  I smashed that one, and began spraying the aerosol can behind me, trying to ward them away. It helped, a little. I raced up so that I was running alongside Viggo, spraying us both with the can.

  “Here,” I shouted over the cacophony of noise. I thrust the flashlight into his hand and pulled out the other aerosol.

  I began spraying both of us in a frenzy. Wave after wave of red flies swooped in to bite us, but they veered off whenever I was spraying the mist. I was keeping them away by doing it, but it was only a temporary measure—I would run out of spray long before they lost interest in us.

  Viggo was faltering under Ms. Dale’s weight. I could tell from how he was running. He was winded, and constantly trying to shift her weight around so that they wouldn’t trip, but he couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

  Then the flashlight beam cut across some trees, and I saw a blinding flash of white peeking through the green and brown fronds. It was hard to see, like the trees and leaves were there intentionally, keeping it hidden.

  As my mind raced, the light again cut across it, stunning my eyes with its brightness. I remembered the flash of white that I had seen from the canopy, before I had crashed. And now again here.

  From the air, I hadn’t really been able to make it out. Down here… it seemed uniform. Consistently the same. The white was unnatural and foreign, way out of place for The Green. My mind was scrambling to try and identify it.

  Whatever it was, it was worth checking out. I grabbed Viggo’s arm, shouting for him to follow, and then cut toward it. I pushed through the dense undergrowth and when I emerged on the other side, I almost stopped moving when I realized what it was. Excitement coursed through me, and I yelled for Viggo again.

  It was a building.

  19

  Viggo

  Running while carrying a woman is no easy feat, even for someone in as good a shape as I was. Running for your life while carrying a woman was an impossible task. I wasn’t even sure how I was accomplishing it at this point. It was like I had flipped a switch in my mind that had turned off everything essential, except what I needed to run. It felt mechanical, like I was a robot, only capable of running, yet it freed my mind to think about some things.

  I hated suggesting that we leave Ms. Dale behind. It was a practical suggestion, but it still didn’t sit right with me. I knew that Violet had, and likely was, still considering it. I understood her hesitation, I shared it with her. I wasn’t eager to have someone’s death on my hands.

  I imagined it was worse for Violet. She had seen so much death the past few days, and been responsible for more than a few. I could tell that her decision to rescue Ms. Dale was a bit of a selfish one, for multiple reasons.

  The first was that the two women shared an emotional connection. Violet was downplaying it, but I had picked up on it when she had talked about her. There was an affection there, which made sense, considering Ms. Dale had clearly been a mentor for Violet.

  The death that had been haunting Violet for a while was also playing a major role in her decision. I could see the guilt and regret in her eyes when she talked about the deaths of the last few days—she hadn’t wanted anyone to die—she felt responsible. Because of that, it was like she was trying to prove to herself, and the world, that she could actually save someone. I wasn’t sure that Violet was aware of that drive, but it was readily apparent to me.

  But I could also tell that Violet wasn’t only considering her emotions in saving Ms. Dale. There was a logical reasoning behind it. Violet had questions, and Ms. Dale could have some answers. It was all about surviving un
til she could get those answers.

  I couldn’t blame Violet for being selfish: I had questions as well. The mysterious egg that was the focus of all this, and Lee’s letter… It was nagging at me, like an unfinished puzzle with missing pieces. I guessed that was why I decided to become a warden. A lot of people, when they saw my size and fighting prowess, assumed I became a warden for the more violent aspect of it, but I liked solving things, and was more intrigued about understanding the why and the how, than beating down the who.

  Truth be told, I only liked fighting in the ring. I liked the rules and the structure of it. Causing harm to someone was better if they knew that they had signed up for it, as twisted as that sounds. There was an expectation in cage fighting, a knowledge shared by both competitors, that someone would get hurt, and we accepted it.

  Most people who committed crimes or did illegal things did it with the hope of not hurting others. In fact, they tried everything to avoid it. Most crimes were non-violent, so there was a certain expectation that their arrest, if it came, would be non-violent as well. This wasn’t always the case, but it made me uncomfortable to inflict violence upon them when they didn’t accept that as a reality of their crime. It didn’t stop me from doing my job, of course, but it did keep me from being aggressive toward criminals who hadn’t hurt anyone physically when they committed their crime.

  Of course, if they met me with violence, then I had no problem showing them exactly how violent I could be…

  Violet’s hand on my shoulder jerked my mind back to reality. I had been running on auto-pilot, but now I felt blood pouring from multiple bite wounds on my neck and arm—Violet had been doing her best to keep the red flies off of me, but they’d still gotten through.

  I glanced over at her. She was pointing off to the left, and shouting something. I realized that I was having problems understanding her—likely the blood loss and exhaustion were messing with my senses.

  She shouted something again, her lips forming words that seemed foreign to me. I blinked, trying to clear the cobwebs from my head and focus on the now.

  “Viggo!” Violet said, her hand squeezing my arm tightly.

  “Yeah!” I responded.

  “Flashlight!”

  I held out the flashlight, which she took, replacing it with an aerosol can. I immediately began spraying it over me and Ms. Dale, letting the cool mist envelop us. I could feel the sting on my skin as some of the droplets made contact with open wounds. I knew there were a lot more we couldn’t see.

  Violet took off in the direction she had pointed, and I followed. It seemed like she was moving toward the densest part of the foliage. I wanted to shout at her to stop, because running through that would be dangerous. Then I realized, the density of it would help provide cover from the massive swarm that was threatening to envelop us. It would help diffuse their numbers, and if they collided with a tree or branch hard enough, they would die.

  I admired her sharpness as I pushed through the leaves. Using the forest as a shield was dangerous, and we had to slow down our pace considerably, but still, it would probably help more than it hurt.

  I had barely started running in the thicket, when suddenly I was out of it again, a giant white structure looming up in front of me. I pivoted, making a hard left, and I heard the soft plops as the red flies chasing me hit the wall at breakneck speeds.

  A path was carved out around the structure, and I followed Violet’s bobbing flashlight beam, chasing after her. How had she known this was here? It was exactly what we needed—but it was such an odd find that it almost seemed surreal.

  There were no windows, and I could tell the structure was made of concrete. The path around it had been carved out from the wilderness, but as I ran, I could see that the surrounding plant life remained. In fact, it seemed like it had been cultivated, which was smart. It was perfectly hidden, buried deep in The Green.

  It wasn’t very big, either. I rounded the corner after about twenty feet, and came to another wall about forty feet long. Violet was already turning the corner to the next part, and I pounded after her, Ms. Dale flopping against my back.

  The red flies were back, buzzing around me. I compressed the nozzle to the spray, keeping them off us, but it slowed me down a little. I could hear Violet shouting from ahead.

  I staggered around the corner, my breathing now coming in ever shorter bursts. Violet rushed toward me, excitement lit upon her features.

  “There’s a door,” she shouted. I nodded, and struggled to put one foot in front of the other. My legs were shaky. I could see the silver entrance ahead, but my vision was becoming blurred.

  As Violet continued spraying me, I felt the sting from a dozen new bites. I realized that they had been on me, biting me all along. Blood was also dripping from several bites on Ms. Dale. We were slathered in the stuff.

  Violet grabbed me, trying to pull me after her. I watched the excitement morph into concern, and realized I was growing dizzy. I felt like I was lying on my back, trying to watch people who were upside down.

  Then I remembered Samuel. “The dog,” I rasped. “Where is he?”

  Violet shook me, and said something again. I stared at her blankly. Blood was pouring from her now, and I realized that I was holding her back. Samuel would be okay—he was a resourceful dog. If he had been smart, he would have fled into the jungle away from us. Violet, however, wouldn’t abandon us to save herself.

  Looking into those gray eyes, I did the only thing I could to save her life.

  “Go,” I said, pulling Ms. Dale off my shoulder and thrusting her into Violet’s arms. She staggered under the other woman’s sudden weight, but I was already stumbling away from her.

  I heard Violet shouting, presumably my name, as I moved out of the reach of the aerosol spray. Immediately, the red flies swarmed me. I couldn’t feel their bites, but I could feel thousands of wings beating across my skin as they pelted against me.

  I sank to my knees, struggling to smash as many as I could. Their bodies burst under my hands, as I released even more blood from their bodies into the air, encouraging the feeding frenzy. I couldn’t hear Violet over the sound of the red flies, so I had to hope that she took the opportunity I had created for her to make it to the door.

  I felt my body start to give out. I began to fall over, the dizziness and exhaustion overwhelming my will to remain upright.

  But something caught me before I could hit the ground. I looked up, and there was Violet, one hand on the back of my neck, her fist full of the collar of my shirt. I watched as she struggled to pull me with one hand, her hand using the other to spray the aerosol can over us.

  I felt a surge of anger at her for disregarding my noble self-sacrifice. I was literally sacrificing my life for hers, and she was still risking her neck to save me.

  Ironically enough, that anger helped fuel my exhausted limbs. I clung to it, using it to stand up, and start staggering to the door. Behind me, I heard Violet spraying the aerosol container, keeping the swarm at bay. The aerosol can was failing, I could make out the hissing sound of it cutting in and out.

  I didn’t look back, knowing if I did I wouldn’t make it to the door. I staggered over the threshold, tripping over Ms. Dale’s unconscious body as I did so. I managed to catch myself, but I sat down hard, the dizziness making my vision grow dark.

  I heard Violet shutting the massive airlock door behind us. Several red flies got in, swarming over Ms. Dale.

  Violet was bleeding from several spots, blood trickling down her neck and arms. She stepped over Ms. Dale, her movements disjointed. I could only watch as she reached the other side of the small room.

  I wasn’t sure what her intention was, but it became clear to me as she hit a red button that was glowing dimly on the other wall. Immediately, a white gas started pouring from the ceiling, covering us all.

  And then everything went black.

  20

  Violet

  I pulled the airlock door closed, my tired muscles straini
ng against the weight of it. It took effort, and I was rapidly running out of energy. But we were so close to surviving, I just needed to close the door.

  I succeeded, but several of the red flies had gotten in. I swiped at my arms, dislodging them, but I could make out more of the red creatures on Ms. Dale and Viggo. Viggo had collapsed on the other side of the room.

  I felt a surge of anger toward him and his pig-headed need to sacrifice himself for me. It was irritating that he felt this need to save my life all the time, which had been what had fueled me to completely disregard his sacrifice and rescue him. I made a mental note to talk to him about that later—if we survived.

  I staggered over Ms. Dale’s body toward the opposite wall. My limbs felt like jelly, my legs were quivering with each step I took. I could tell by the glazed look in Viggo’s eyes that he was in a similar state. His face was pale; his lips had lost all color. The blood staining his clothes looked almost black under the dim lighting.

  I saw the glowing red button like a beacon and suddenly remembered where I had seen something like this before: At one of the work camps, there had been a quarantine room like this, to help remove hazardous waste and biological hazards from the workers.

  Placing all of my hope in the button, I pressed it, and then allowed myself the luxury of collapsing. I wasn’t sure what would happen next, but I couldn’t kill the remaining red flies in here. If I missed even one, or passed out before I could kill them all, we were finished.

  As a white gas poured from the ceiling, I heard a hiss, and my eardrums tightened. I realized the room had become pressurized. I swallowed, forcing my ears to pop.

  I watched as the gas filled the chamber, obscuring everything. I heard the buzzing of the red flies as they endeavored to escape it, but there was nowhere to go. I could hear and feel their bodies falling, one by one, until the buzzing was gone.

  I wasn’t sure how long the gas persisted, but the important thing was that our masks filtered out whatever had killed the red flies. Although, given the state of Viggo and Ms. Dale, the waiting would likely also cause their death. I twisted my head, looking up to the button. There was something new flashing just underneath.