“Got it, I won’t use any,” Toby says, pulling Alexander along with him.
Once they are out of earshot Zavy speaks first, “So what kind of gift do you have?”
At first, I’m confused by the question. Only I know that I am a Force Lifter. “Excuse me?” I ask, trying to get some understanding out of this.
“Oh come on Adaline. Your father left you, your mother and younger brother are dead, King Renon knows you have no one left. The fact that you can cause him to put a search group together means you have to be of some use to him. No offense, but you don’t have all that much to offer on your own.” Zavy laughs like this is some sort of joke.
“Wait what? I don’t understand. That would mean Alexander would have the gift too. I mean, they’re after both of us,” I stumble over my words, trying to keep my secret as long as I can.
“Well, maybe. I think the fact that one of his own guards betrayed him would be enough reason to find him. But, I want to know what gift it is that you have,” she says as she stares at me, her light green eyes pleading for an answer.
I feel sweat begin to bead up on my forehead. I knew I shouldn’t have been so quick to follow her back here. While Zavy and I were friends I have a keen memory that she never did anything that she didn’t think would benefit her. “I don’t have a gift Zavy,” I say very flatly.
“I have one,” Zavy offers and she catches the curious light flicker in my eyes. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”
I weigh the decision in my head. I do want to know what gift she has. I need to understand who I am working with. I know that if we stand a chance at staying hidden from Paylon and his search group we’re going to have to work together. “Ok, fine. So I’m a Force Lifter. I mean that’s what my mother had called it. She said I have an enhanced sense of sight,” I mumble, upset that I’m not the only one who knows anymore.
“Yeah I know what a Force Lifter is, but I don’t believe you. That’s one of the most powerful gifts,” she says as she turns and points up into the trees. “Ok, if you’re a Force Lifter build us our shelter. I can tell you’re just dying to use your gift out here.” She smiles as she looks back at me, her eyes full of excitement.
I look at her and then to the trees that surround us. “Zavy, I don’t,” I pause, not wanting to admit that I don’t even know how to use it.
“You don’t know how to use it do you?” Zavy asks me, her eyes wide.
“I just found out yesterday. My mother told me right before they took her. She said she was a Future Holder,” I explain to her.
Zavy shrugs her shoulders and says, “Well then show me what you can do. I won’t judge.”
I look back up into the trees and try to picture the branch snapping off and falling to the ground. The branches begin to shake and pine needles start to rustle and fall to the ground. I pause and take a breath as the forest falls still.
“Let me try again,” I say. I hold my breath and squeeze my hands into fists. I stare at the branches above, focusing on snapping them. I hear a small crack and exhale, adrenaline rushing through me. “Did you hear that?” I say and turn to Zavy.
“Wow, you cracked a branch,” Zavy says, rolling her eyes. “Are you going to drop some or do I need to go up there and do it myself?”
I flip my head and look back at the trees. More small cracks click through the canopy of branches above until some of them start to fall to the ground.
“There you go!” Zavy says. I keep breaking branches until there are tons of them scattered around us. “That should be enough. Do you think you can form them into a shelter for us?”
I look from Zavy to the branches. “Absolutely, not. I didn’t think it’d be that hard to use. I can control it better when I get my adrenaline going. I can’t just turn it on though.”
“You’ll figure it out, don’t worry,” Zavy says, brushing me off.
“What about your gift?” I say, stopping her from turning away from me.
“I’m a Communicator,” she says simply and tries to pull herself from my grasp.
“What does that mean?” I ask her and she laughs.
“You must not have paid very much attention to Ms. White’s lecture,” Zavy says, referencing our school teacher.
“That was seven years ago,” I say defensively but she cuts me off.
“I have an enhanced sense of hearing. I can communicate with people and animals.” Before I can ask her any more questions or have her show me she pulls from my grasp. She goes and starts to collect the branches and looks back at me. “Well come on, are you going to help or just stare at me?” I start to walk around and pick up branches. We begin to form a pile in the center of the clearing. On my next trip out I head to the far edge and scoop up the last of the branches. I spin to head back to our pile when my foot gets caught on something and my face meets the dirt.
“Are you okay?” I hear Zavy ask, but the laughter in her voice tells me she isn’t all that concerned.
“Yeah I’m fine,” I groan out. I roll on my back and sit up to see what my foot had gotten caught on. Peeking up out of the light dirt is a thick metal ring. I squint, examining its muted silver surface. I move onto my knees and start cleaning the dirt off around it.
“Zavy, come look at this,” I call over to her. She appears over my shoulder and I show her the metal disk that was hidden beneath the dirt. It’s fairly large, about two feet across. “What do you think it is?” I ask and look up to her. The wicked grin on her face tells me she knows exactly what I’ve just found.
Zavy kneels beside me and loops her hand through the metal ring, “It’s a bunker,” she says and pulls up on the disk. Slowly the metal disk hinges up, exposing a dark hole.
“A bunker? Like from the showers?” I ask, referencing the asteroid shower that ended the world before ours.
“I’ve been out here for years and I’ve never found one,” Zavy says, still taking in our discovery. “It has to be like a hundred years old.”
We’re quiet for a moment until Zavy looks up to me. “I’m not going down there,” I start to say defensively.
“This is the perfect shelter,” she cuts me off. “I’ll go down first and check it out.”
“Zavy be careful,” I start, but she has already lowered herself on to the ladder of the bunker.
“What do you see?” I holler down and her face swims back into view as she climbs up.
“Nothing, I need some light.” She crawls out of the hole and moves to the pile of sticks I had dropped when I fell. She opens the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder and pulls out a line of dirty white cloth. She takes leaves, wraps them in the cloth, and then wraps the cloth around the sticks.
“What are you doing?” I ask and watch her pull out a large knife and piece of metal.
“Making a torch,” she says as she strikes the metal with her knife. Sparks shower from the metal and onto the cloth until it finally catches and an orange flame engulfs the torch. “Hand it to me,” she says and crawls back down the ladder. I see her tan hand peek up in the light and I hand down the firing torch.
“Adaline, come down,” Zavy’s voice echoes up to me. The narrow and dark stone hole makes my stomach turn. I have to remind myself it’s not a prison cell. Eventually, curiosity takes over and I climb down the dirty cool rungs of the ladder. My feet hit the stone floor and I spin around and take in the glowing room.
I breathe in sharp, taking in the space. It’s a square concrete block with a low roof. It looks as though it was never even touched. It does resemble a large cell and I have to keep my heart calm. Out of instinct, I catch myself glancing back toward the ladder to make sure I still have a way to get out.
We dig through the room, taking a mental inventory of what we find. Along the wall to our left are cabinets full of grey slick bags. I pull one from the cabinet and the word BACON is printed on it. I rip open the bag and my nose is filled with a smoky scent. They’re food packages. I scan the cabinet and see that there are enough to last
for years.
My stomach has been begging for more food since this morning. I pour the bag’s contents out on my hand and find that it’s a clumped together white powder. I place it on my tongue and as the powder dissolves a smoky meat flavor takes its place.
“What did you find?” Zavy asks, coming up to my side.
“Try this,” I say and offer her some of the powder food.
“Oh, that’s pretty good,” Zavy offers. “The texture is horrible though,” she adds and I agree.
“There’s enough here to feed us for years,” I add showing her the cabinets full of the grey bags.
We continue to search the room while eating some of the food rations. On the back wall there are four beds with thick blankets. On the other side are two couches facing each other and a couple of extra chairs. There are a lot of things I’ve only seen in books or heard about in stories; a television, lamps, cooking machines, and clothes I would never imagine seeing my mother tailor.
I let my hand rest on the glossy black television and I remember just yesterday Titus had said he wanted one. Just yesterday I had told him they don’t even exist anymore. Tears well in my eyes at the thought that if he had made it out he would have actually gotten to see one in person and not just in the old school book we read.
“They really thought they’d have electricity during an asteroid shower?” Zavy scoffs, dusting off one of the side lamps.
“How do you prepare for something you don’t know anything about,” I mumble, trying to understand what these people must have been thinking. “It doesn’t even look like anyone lived here.”
“They must not have made it before the shower started,” Zavy says and I think it must be awful to spend your time organizing this space to be dead before you could even use it.
Hand-woven rugs are placed around the bunker as well, trying to soften up the stone space. Zavy and I dig through the last crate in the back of the room and find it mostly full of books and children’s toys, but at the bottom we find a pile of candles. Zavy spreads them throughout the bunker and lights them with her torch before putting out its flame. From up on the surface we hear leaves and sticks break and a distant child’s laugher. We surface to find Alexander and Toby are back from hunting.
“There you are,” Alexander says, turning to face us as we walk up to them.
“Have you ever seen a bunker before?” Zavy asks and a coy smile grows on her face.
“No,” Alexander says, trying to figure out where this is going.
“Adaline may have just found the hidden gem in these woods.” She turns and we follow her back to the bunker. Toby drops to his knees and speaks down into the hole to hear his voice echo back to him.
“Whoever prepared it never used it,” I say. “We were thinking we should use it as our shelter. I’m not sure if it will stop the Hounds,” I say, remembering the group of Lost Souls looking for us at this very moment, “but at least it will keep us hidden from view.” Alexander nods and we file back into the bunker to show him.
“This may have just saved our lives,” Alexander says, walking around the bunker. It doesn’t take Toby more than a few minutes to find the crate of toys in the back. “This is really amazing,” Alexander says and turns to me.
“I didn’t actually find it intentionally,” I admit but the happiness on his face only grows. “We aren’t staying here though, we’re still going to Libertas, right?” I ask in a hushed voice to Alexander.
I see a drop of joy escape from his eyes at the thought of leaving the safe haven we just discovered. “We’ll discuss it more tonight,” is all he offers.
“How about we go and see what kind of food you got us?” Zavy asks as she makes her way back toward the ladder.
“You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay down here a little while longer,” I say. I watch the three of them climb up the ladder. The quick remark Alexander had made about our plan to go to Libertas sits heavy in my head. While this bunker is the ideal hiding spot, I feel as though I’ve spent my entire life sitting underground, hidden from the world. This is the last place I want to stay. I’d much rather take what’s useful and move out tomorrow.
Now that Zavy knows about my gift I don’t want to leave her behind, because I don’t know who she’d spread that to. If Paylon found her and got it out of her, or if she took the information back to King Renon himself then I’d lose my advantage in this hunt. So now I know, no matter what, the four of us are in this together until the end.
Chapter 6
From down in the bunker I hear everyone is back to laughing and catching up, leaving me by myself. I sit down on one of the old couches along the wall and pull out the journal my mother gave me. Forever is written at the top of the book. The lock almost reminds me of a belt buckle, except there’s the symbol of a gifted engraved on it. I can remember seeing the symbol on some of the uniforms around the castle. The age of the journal is obvious with its withered corners and the wrinkles across the face of it.
I try and picture the lock opening, but nothing happens. I try again and use all of my strength. I see the lock start shaking almost giving in, but it’s no use. I stop and take in a deep breath, extremely exhausted.
I need to get my mind off this. It’s causing too much stress, and too many questions I don’t have the answers to. For example, what’s written in the journal? What gift does Alexander have, does he even have one? Did my father have the gift? Did Alexander’s mother have the gift? Where are they now? Where is Paylon? Did Codian get the Hounds? Are they headed toward us? I really need something to get my mind off this before I go insane.
My eye catches on the racks of clothes across the bunker. I get up and shuffle through the shirts and jackets. On the ground are totes with pants, shoes, and even more clothes. My eye is drawn to a bright yellow top, but I think better of it. I should probably choose something more muted that won’t call me out as a target. Instead, I pull on a plain black t-shirt and pair it with long denim shorts. The quality of the clothes is unlike any I’ve seen before.
The black shirt is a bit big on me. I take a small black band from a little metal box and tie the front up into a knot so it fits better. The shorts are a little large as well, and I think they may not have been designed to be as long as they are on me. In prison, we weren’t given shoes to wear. I think about keeping it that way, but my feet are already starting to blister from the harsh terrain of these woods. I find a pair of socks and odd-looking white shoes. They are a cloth material on top with thick rubber on the bottom. They are already scuffed with dirt, and not nearly as new as the other items in the bunker. I return my sword to my hip and I grab my small bag and throw it over my shoulder, always careful to keep them close. I climb up the ladder and see that the sun has started to set. Alexander has two wild turkeys ready to be cooked on the fire and Toby is sitting in the pile of ray berries they were collecting.
“Who are you and what have you done with Adaline?” Zavy jokes. She approaches me to see my transformation.
“They’re a lot more comfortable,” I say, gesturing to the clothes.
“Toby,” Zavy calls and her little brother joins her at her side. “Let’s go see if we can find some new clothes.” The two of them head to the bunker and I join Alexander by the fire.
“Didn’t like our makeshift scraps?” Alexander asks and I laugh.
“We didn’t do a good enough job to have them last more than today,” I explain. “Are you going to change?” I ask and Alexander nods.
“I figured I’d give Zavy and Toby a chance to find something and I’ll take what’s left,” he says and continues to place the firewood.
“Are we eating soon?” I ask, my stomach making me unable to think of anything else.
“When it’s dark,” Alexander says and I nod, agreeing it’s safer to conceal the smoke. Zavy and Toby emerge from the bunker just as transformed as I am. They both have found dark green shirts and black shorts to wear. Alexander goes to take his turn and Zavy takes his sea
t by the unlit fire while Toby continues to sort the ray berries.
“He wanted to twin,” Zavy says in a hushed voice and rolls her eyes.
I smile and say, “That’s cute Zavy. He really looks up to you.”
“Did you find out what gift Alexander has?” Zavy asks, changing the conversation suddenly.
“No, I’m not just going to ask him,” I say and look to her. “I want to keep mine a secret,” I add, but she shakes her head disappointingly.
“I won’t tell him, but it doesn’t seem like the best idea. We’re supposed to be a team. You should be able to trust him,” Zavy lectures.
“At the end of the day, he’s still one of King Renon’s guards. Someone at ten-years-old is a lot different when they’re seventeen-years-old,” I shoot, cutting her off. It’s about Alexander, but if I had my way Zavy wouldn’t know either. Yes, we were all friends when we were younger, but a lot of time has passed. I know I’ve changed.
Alexander emerges from the bunker and Zavy and I turn away from each other. He approaches us wearing a dark brown t-shirt that is tight across his chest and black long shorts. I’m reminded again just how different Alexander is. Not only is he one of King Renon’s guards, but he has been fed and trained like a soldier. I don’t think he’s ever missed a meal. What little turkey meat and berries we have tonight will probably leave him starving. I’m a scrawny prisoner and he’s a trained warrior.
Toby brings us each a pile of ray berries to snack on while we wait for night to fall. We all sit in a circle around our unlit fire and Toby is glued to Zavy’s side at all times, like usual.
The Markings Page 6