Beyond the Gates

by Jason D. Morrow

  My mind took me to strange places. From what I understood, the Starborn abilities are in the blood, part of our DNA. So, if Papa is a Starborn, that would mean I have the same blood in me. That means I potentially have the ability to do something like Papa.

  Keeping all this to myself was the biggest challenge. It will continue to be my biggest challenge. The one question I had was why Screven was looking for Starborns.

  Nine simply told me it was because Screven felt threatened by their power. When I asked her if she’d ever met a Starborn, she shook her head and changed the subject.

  When I asked her who the man from Screven was that does the interrogation, her face became grave. She sat and stared into the distance for what felt like five whole minutes before answering.

  “His last name is Holbrook,” she said. “A misguided young man who shouldn’t be here.”

  By here, I wasn’t sure if she meant the prison, or if she meant alive. Her words had a kind of bitterness in them.

  Now, it’s my turn to sit in the white plastic chair with leather straps. I was called to the room just two prisoners after Papa.

  Hutch could tell I was nervous and tried to comfort me, but it didn’t do any good.

  I’m afraid of breaking. I don’t want to ruin Papa’s plans. But I know that it will all be over in a matter of minutes. The pain will be difficult to bear, but could it really be all that bad? I shudder when I think: yes, yes it really could be that bad.

  Warden Black smiles wide when I enter the room. “I was wondering when you were going to come in, Skylar.”

  I hate the way he says my name. His bird-like features are more pronounced in this dark room.

  “I hope you are making a life here as you can,” he says.

  When I sit in the chair, and the guards start to strap down my arms, Warden Black stops them. “She will not be questioned the same as the others.”

  This time a man steps out from the corner, and I know it’s Holbrook. “What are you doing?” Holbrook says to Warden Black.

  “She is my prisoner, Holbrook. I have the right to withhold her from your interrogation tactics.”

  “You do not have that authority,” he says. “I’m here by order of Jeremiah.”

  “And I run this prison by the authority of Jeremiah,” Warden Black says, his eyes widening.

  Holbrook turns to the guards and tell them to strap me down. They hesitate a moment, looking up to Warden Black for confirmation.

  “Do it!” Holbrook screams. His clean-shaven face contorts into wrinkles and barred teeth. “And if I have to tell you again, all of you will get a turn!”

  The guards finish strapping me to the seat.

  “Please, Mister Holbrook,” I say in the sweetest voice I can muster. “It’s no secret what this questioning is about. I can already tell you that I am not a Starborn, nor do I know any Starborns. Though…” I hesitate only slightly. “I have met one before, I think. She had the ability to be invisible.”

  The room is silent, all eyes fixed on me.

  “Of course, if you had a prisoner like that here, I suppose you wouldn’t know it until you started seeing footprints in the ground without someone there. I guess you wouldn’t have caught them at all if they could be invisible.”

  I don’t know why I am lying to them. I guess so it will keep them from hurting me, but I can’t predict what Holbrook will do. If this were just a meeting with Warden Black, I would already be on my way, I’m sure.

  “What happened to her?” Holbrook asked.

  “Shot dead by a hunter,” I say. “One minute she was invisible, walking through the woods. The next minute she was naked on the ground, blood running out of her chest.”

  The room is silent again as if they wait for me to tell them more.

  “So, you could go ahead and shock me all you want. It will hurt, but I already know you don’t usually kill anybody by this method. You just hurt them badly. You make them want to die. Truth is, most of us here already want to die. We just sort of hope it will be quick, instead of torturous.”

  Holbrook’s mouth hangs open, and when he realizes everyone in the room is looking at him, he shakes his head.

  “Take her blood,” he says.

  One of the people with a lab coat sticks my arm with a needle and draws more blood than they probably need.

  Holbrook walks to a table of wires and machinery. He grabs a set of cables and turns a knob on the machine all the way to the right.

  “Warden Black,” Holbrook says. “I will be filing a report on you and your prison. You are far too light on these prisoners. They are all here for one purpose.”

  Holbrook turns to me, the wires humming in his grip. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t ask me any questions. He sets the hot metal against my skin and doesn’t take it away until I’m unconscious.

  When I wake, I can barely move my arms or legs. My muscles feel like jelly. Vomit soaks the front of my shirt. Nine sits over me, her hand rubbing my forehead. I’m on the floor in my cell, and I feel like a boulder has landed on me.

  “What happened to you, child?” Nine asks me, rubbing her fingers over my shaven scalp.

  I tell her in a weak voice about the shock…the lack of questions. I tell her that I tried to be diplomatic. That I was just trying to be nice and possibly work my way out of experiencing so much pain.

  “I feel responsible,” Nine says. “I should have told you Holbrook is not a man of reason. He doesn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body. And you trying to speak nicely to him probably came across as a twelve-year-old being condescending.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be.” Tears fall from the corners of my eyes and into my ears.

  “I know,” she says. “But you’re going to have to get one thing straight. You can’t sweet talk your way out of anything in this prison. You may have had Warden Black wrapped around your tiny little finger, but that’s gone now. Holbrook may be leaving today, but he isn’t just here to see if there are Starborns among us. He’s here to evaluate the prison and how well it’s run. God forbid, he comes back to take over for Warden Black.”

  “That would be terrible,” I say.

  “Yes, it would,” she says. She rests her hands in mine. “But you should know, Warden Black is about as terrible. He’s not a good man. He may like you, but that doesn’t mean he’s not half-crazy. Incidents like these often stir up a hornet’s nest. It’s less likely Holbrook will take over and more likely that Warden Black is about to get a lot more strict.”

  I swallow, fighting back more tears. “I don’t want to be here,” I say.

  “Words of the century,” she says. “None of us want to be here. The prison. The Containment Zone. Within reach of the Screven army. It’s inescapable.”

  “Somebody will stop it someday,” I say. “They have to.”

  She nods slowly and turns away, looking out of the cell through the bars. “Someday,” she says, “this will all be over.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Skylar

  NINE IS QUIET this morning. Katherine and Janet don’t say much either. Each of them knows that the interrogation happened yesterday, something I’m sure they had to go through at some point.

  I don’t know what made Holbrook want to turn up the voltage as much as he could and shock me until I passed out. There had been anger in his eyes. Hatred. I had never done anything to the man, yet he seemed to find pleasure in torturing me without even asking questions.

  As the spoon of broth reaches my lips I can feel two tears slither down the sides of my cheeks. A surge of panic assaults my heart because I’m not supposed to cry. I’m not supposed to show my weakness. I have to be strong, but how long can I do that? How long can I make it? How long can I wait for Papa to come up with an escape? I’ve been here for such a short time. Can I really take months of this? Years?

  I feel a soft hand on my shoulder and I look up to see the three of them looking at me. Janet rubs my shoulder with her thumb, then pats my back briefl
y.

  “You okay, kid?”

  I don’t say anything. She’s not looking for an answer. She just wants to comfort me and she knows she can’t. She can’t tell me that this will all get better. It won’t. Not unless we get out of this place and never come back.

  A shadow looms over us and we look up to see Natasha standing behind Nine. My back stiffens and I can’t help but squirm in my seat a little.

  Janet takes her hand away from my back and focuses on her food, but it’s too late. We’ve already attracted Natasha’s gaze.

  “Well, well, well…” she says. “Looks like someone went through Holbrook’s questioning yesterday.” She laughs under her breath and sets her tray on the table and sits next to Nine. Nine doesn’t look up from the table. Instead, she slurps at the broth almost as if she’s annoyed.

  “You need to get one thing straight, kid,” Natasha says. “You can cry. You can moan. You can do all the things that worked for you before you got here, but there ain’t nothing that’s gonna help you. Janet may pat you on the back, but does that really make you feel better?’

  It does…

  “You’re gonna end up dead like the rest of us. It’s only a matter of time until you’re a pile of bones at the top of Vulture Hill.”

  “Leave her alone,” Janet says. “This place is horrible enough without you making things worse.”

  “Ain’t it worse to try and make someone feel better? Doesn’t that make you the liar, Janet?”

  “We’re all liars,” Nine says, looking up at Natasha. “We lie to each other, to ourselves, just to make it through the day. We tell ourselves that it’s not so bad sometimes. We tell ourselves that we won’t be a pile of bones at the top of the hill one day. Whether it’s true or not, it’s how we can cope. And people like you, Natasha, simply make things worse for the rest of us.”

  It feels like the entire table is frozen. Natasha stares at Nine, but Nine doesn’t back down.

  “I’m sure Warden Black wouldn’t appreciate hearing how you harass twelve-year-old girls during mealtimes. I’m sure he would love a report when I meet with him today.”

  Natasha’s eyes narrow. Then, she picks up her tray and stands.

  “Say what you want, Nine, but we’re all dead. Not one of us will make it out of here alive.”

  “So, do you offer an alternative way for us to live then?” Nine asks, looking up at the large woman.

  Natasha clenches her jaw, looks at the floor for a moment, then walks away.

  “Great,” Katherine says, “you’ve just made us all a target, Nine.”

  “No I didn’t. Natasha is looking for the same thing we are, she just doesn’t know how to cope.”

  “Right, so she’s going to cope by targeting us,” Janet says. “You know I have to share a cell with her, right?”

  “I have Warden Black’s ear,” Nine says. “She tries anything with you, tell me.” She looks down at me. “Cry all you want right now, but after this it’s time for you to be stronger. I don’t believe for one second that we’re all going to die before we get out of this place. So, if we’re going to make it out of here, then we have to be strong. No more tears.”

  The words feel cold, but somehow they are encouraging. I don’t expect the surge of confidence that comes from Nine’s little speech, but a slight smile forms at the edge of my mouth.

  With or without Papa, it seems I’m not in this alone.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Liam

  A LOT HAS changed since my interrogation. It happened three days ago, and now it seems the guards are more strict. Yesterday I stood to put away my tray, and a guard pointed his gun at me, yelling for me to hurry up and get out of the mess hall.

  Since I had a chance to see and talk with Sky before we were questioned, I have seen her in the mess hall several times. At every meal, I stand up, we lock eyes for about two seconds, then I set my tray down on the conveyer belt and leave.

  Perhaps it had been my fear blinding me, keeping me from seeing her when I looked before. But there was a new hope renewed within me.

  It would seem that she survived her questioning with Holbrook and also didn’t say anything about my Starborn ability. Guilt covers me every time I think about it, but there is no scenario in which I can see her relaying the information about me and it turning out well for either of us. My sense is they would kill both of us. Or use us in some terrible way. It’s hard to guess with these people. I have never met a more secretive enemy.

  I can’t guess their motivations. I don’t know what they will do next. One moment, I’m able to stride across the room and talk to my daughter before a terrible interrogation, the next I’m not allowed to make a peep while I’m in line for my meal. Or the guards point their guns at me and yell for me to get out of the mess hall.

  Rusty said that since he’s been here, the tension has always come and gone. He said for the last month or so since I got here, things have been relatively easy, but things seem to be getting back to normal since Holbrook came and went.

  “Back to normal isn’t a good thing,” Rusty said, his right eye twitching. “Back to normal means harder working conditions. Beatings for no good reason. Executions.”

  The conversation ended there. I had had a tough time getting anywhere on my escape plans, but I didn’t seem to be the only one.

  I have learned one thing, however. When the lights go out, after about an hour, the guards seem to stop patrolling the corridors. I discovered this when I couldn’t stop thinking about Holbrook’s questioning and wondering over and over what kind of pain Sky had to go through.

  I have tested the theory every night. One hour after lights out, and the guards are nowhere to be found until about midnight, then around two in the morning. Then, nothing until it’s time to wake.

  Since the hour has passed and there are no guards to be seen, I get off the top bunk and make my way to the bars in my cell. There are snores in almost every direction. A few creaks of the beds with some trying to get comfortable. Someone murmurs in their sleep. I try to search my brain for clues, weaknesses in the prison’s defenses so I might break through.

  I know now that Sky is in disposal, which is a terrible thing, but actually has the benefit of me being close to her during the day. If I’m right, she’s only one field over from me. And if what I’ve heard is true, prisoners working in disposal are allowed outside the prison. This doesn’t mean anything necessarily, especially if guards are watching them closely.

  “Thinking about your daughter?”

  The voice startles me, and I turn quickly to see Rusty sitting on the side of his bed.

  “I don’t have a daughter.” I turn my head and stare out at nothing, wondering what in the world might have tipped him off. “Why are you up?” I ask.

  “Can’t sleep,” he says. “Thinking about ways of getting out of here. Thinking about asking for your help.”

  “That’s a switch,” I say, shaking my head.

  “I’ve made it my job to notice things,” he says. “Don’t worry. Most people here only notice their own toes. Me? I’m an observer. Got to be if I’m gonna get out of here.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah? Well, maybe you shouldn’t be so obvious when you’re looking over at the women’s side of the mess hall. Anybody with half a brain could see that you and that little girl look at each other. Makes sense. You came in at the same time. She’s what, eleven? Twelve?”

  It’s a question meant to bait me. “I wouldn’t know,” I say.

  “Come on, Liam. Look at it as a chance to let me trust you.”

  I turn and look at him.

  “I just want you to admit it first. What’s the harm? You think it’s information I could use to gain favor with Warden Black? I avoid the man like the plague. I don’t want to get a bullet in my brain, which I can guarantee will happen before I get another round of solitary.”

  With weeks gone by and nothing to show for it, there is
a temptation to admit my relationship. Partnering with Rusty could really be a benefit. But even if he wasn’t a rat, and even if he had no intention of telling anyone that Sky is my daughter, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t let the information slip out accidentally. And I’m not sure what Warden Black or Davis or even Holbrook might do with that kind of information. They would certainly use her against me if they found out. I don’t know how or when or why, but it would happen.

  If it did, then I would offer the cure to them. There is a chance they would leave us alone after they had it, especially since Holbrook seems to be looking for the cure, albeit through the means of a Starborn with healing powers.

  Though I feel tempted to reveal I have a daughter, I shake my head at Rusty. “I have nothing to admit. I don’t have a daughter. And for that I’m thankful. If I had a daughter and she was here, I would go crazy.”

  Rusty stares at me, not believing what I have to say. Still, a smile forms at the corners of his mouth and a shallow breath of a laugh passes by his lips.

  “You’re a good man,” he says. “And to be honest, I feel like you’re safer to trust given that you don’t lay claim to the little girl on the other side of the prison. It means you’re loyal and stubborn. That, or you’re telling the truth, but I don’t think so because you seem to be a terrible liar. Still, I need someone who’s loyal and stubborn.”

  “You don’t need someone who is a terrible liar,” I say. “If that’s what you believe about me.”

  “That’s only true if you get caught trying to escape, which we’re going to avoid.”

  “So, you’ve finally decided to trust me?”

  “I don’t think I have a choice anymore,” he says.

  “You don’t want me to help you,” I say.

  “And why do you say that?”

  “Because if I am lying and I do have a daughter here, then that would mean any plan we make would involve getting her out, too.” I stare into his eyes, my jaw set. “What kind of man would try to escape a place like this without his daughter?”