Fliers

by Laura Mae

  Sydona changed the subject. “If I can get Raoul to get a pen, can you do me a favor?”

  Maverick frowned but went along with it. ”You’re in luck. I already have one.”

  He reached behind the mesh table and grabbed a pen covered in dirt.

  “Where’d this come from?” She asked.

  “I got it years ago. Forgot I had it actually, until now. Used it to write notes to people, when I had friends… What do you need it for?”

  “A message. Mind if I use one of your books?” Sydona asked.

  “I suppose.” Maverick grabbed his only book from under his cot and handed it to Sydona. Sydona tore out the blankest page she could find and wrote: Borba i amor bez strah.

  Maverick looked over her shoulder as she folded it up. “What does that mean?”

  Sydona smiled. “Hope.”

  “Am I getting my book back?” he asked.

  “Oh. Uh, no…” Sydona said with a head shake.

  Maverick sighed.

  “I learned more words, if you want to practice,” Sydona suggested to get his mind of his stolen book.

  “Well, I guess since I have nothing to read now,” Maverick said with sarcasm.

  They practiced well into the night, even skipping dinner. They quizzed each other to make sure the words really stuck and went over the alphabet, spelling names of people they knew. Maverick taught her his daughters name, Joelle. He was a single father when he was taken from his home with his infant daughter. They had been separated in the chaos, and he had been in captivity and traveling with the NFA for the past sixty years. He told her that he had been looking for Joelle ever since, hoping that she would at least be at the same camp, so he could see her again. He thought that since the NFA knew they were related, they made a point to not have them in the same area.

  Sydona assumed the only reason she was in the same place as her parents was because she had been brought there decades later. Thinking back to when she was eight, she was even more grateful that she had gotten away because she may have never had the chance to see her parents again. Then, she wondered why her parents were still together. Maybe his theory wasn’t completely true.

  As the night sky darkened and filled with stars, she started to worry about Raoul since he had been gone almost the entire day. They decided to stop for the night, and Maverick even formally gave Sydona his book since he had it memorized. It had been days since she read anything, so she was excited to be able to escape into another world and be distracted from reality. She could only read for so long before her eyes strained, and she had to give up and fall asleep.

  During the night, Sydona woke to a high pitched cry from a tent in the next row. She didn’t move but lay in bed listening to the commotion. A muffled sound escaped every so often as if a hand or pillow blocked the sound. The cries were that of a female, and some of the noises were of a deeper voice with a harsh tone. Grunting and moaning filled the air, and the deeper voice cursed at the woman to shut up. A tear fell down Sydona’s face as she realized what was going on, and it made her feel nauseated. She scrunched up the blanket with her hands until they turned white then turned her head to face Maverick. To her surprise, he was wide awake and lying on his side, unable to block out the noises. He looked just as distraught as she felt. She wondered if this was as common as others committing suicide, but by the look on Maverick’s face, she guessed not. After several agonizing minutes, it became quiet again, but the sounds played over and over in Sydona’s head all night. It took hours for her to eventually fall asleep, but somehow she did.

  The next morning she woke up with heavy lids and painful thoughts. But as soon as she saw Raoul at the foot of her bed, her spirits lifted.

  “Hey you,” she said sleepily. “How did it go?”

  Raoul yawned, stretched like a cat, and pointed to the underside of the bed. She flipped her hair to the side and peered underneath to see a stash of food. Apples, oranges, bags of almonds, chips, snap peas, cups of noodles, and random pieces of candy littered the ground.

  “Oh my god, how did you get all of this?” she seized a green apple and started eating it ravenously.

  “I have my ways. These guards are idiots!” Raoul giggled and sucked on a hard candy that didn’t quite fit in his mouth.

  Maverick woke at the sounds of whispering and giggling and asked for an orange. Once they all filled up on snacks, Sydona and Raoul spoke seriously.

  “So what did you find out?” Sydona started.

  “There are a lot of them. I would gather about fifty guards work per day. I counted about fifteen on average in the cabin at a time, sleeping, eating, talking, and cleaning. It was a challenge to stay hidden because everywhere I turned, there was someone around. I also checked the perimeter, and each guard that stands watch is immediately relieved by someone else. There are at least two guards with the job of walking each row all day long. The guards who watch the meals and the ones who guard the front gate. Oh and there’s also a… pretty impressive arsenal, too. Rifles, shotguns, handguns, tranquilizers, assault rifles, and I’m sure others. I wasn’t sure what they were called.”

  “Wow,” Sydona mouthed more than said aloud. “Did you find the announcement station?”

  “Not yet. Like I said, it’s filled with people. Might take me a couple days to find out. Every window I flew into didn’t lead to that room, so it must be in the basement or in the center of the cabin. But I was able to sneak in late last night into the kitchen where I saw food and snuck it into the tent!”

  Sydona smiled and winked. “Thanks, buddy. I’m sure you’ve been starving.”

  Raoul nodded his head and licked his arm and hand that were sticky from the candy. The

  announcement came on for breakfast, and Sydona planned on stopping by her parents’ tent, since it had been a couple of days. She wanted to tell them what she was planning on doing and hoped that they would be more okay with the sign language plan since it was silent. Maverick’s book poked out of her pocket slightly; she wanted to give it to them.

  Once again, the crowd led her into tent five. It was barren of books and everything else, making her a little depressed. She wondered how they hadn’t gone crazy yet from sitting quietly without books or conversation. As a wrinkly hand with a gold band on the ring finger tucked the flap back, she stood up, ready to hug them. Ian and Evelyn came in holding hands, and both gave her a soft hug with a peck on her cheek.

  “Hello, sweetheart. Are you hungry? You missed breakfast,” her mother asked and touched Sydona’s stomach.

  “No, I’m okay. I already ate,” Sydona said. “Raoul got me some food.”

  “He did? How?” Ian spoke up quietly.

  “The cabin. He’s been scoping it out for me.” Sydona could not keep the excitement from her face.

  “What?!” Evelyn exclaimed.

  “Sh, no, it’s fine. We have a plan,” Sydona explained quickly. “He’s going to find where they make announcements, and I’m going to break in and try to talk to everyone. Silas and Giovonna are going to help, too.”

  “No. Absolutely not, Syd,” Ian said in a deep, fatherly voice and furrowed his bushy eyebrows.

  “But it’s--”

  “I agree with Ian; that is stupid and dangerous. We won’t allow it.” Evelyn shook her head.

  Sydona stepped back in shock. “Won’t allow it?”

  She took a few long moments to avoid yelling in case a guard stood nearby.

  “In case you guys haven’t noticed, I am not eight years old anymore. I am sixty-two now and have been on my own since you were taken away. Please don’t treat me like I don’t know what I’m doing. I had to survive for over fifty years without you. I think I deserve to be treated like an adult since I had to grow up after you left me!” Sydona stopped, and her heart sank.

  Everything she felt from the minute the NFA stole them from her life built up to this exact moment. She knew it wasn’t their fault they were taken, but a part of her felt as if they could have fought hard
er to get away. Or at least be running the place by now. The parents she once knew when growing up seemed to be completely different people, and it was beginning to crawl under her skin. The years of looking up to her mother and father and putting them on a high pedestal crumbled like wet sand.

  “I don’t know what to say.” Evelyn grabbed her daughter's hand and was on the verge of tears.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just--I have waited my entire life to see you again, and all the memories I had were of your strong will and strong family values. And now, I see you, and you’ve given up. You have no interest in leaving this place and have accepted your fate. That’s not the mother I knew,” she said while trying to hold back her emotions.

  “Here. Maybe this will help you remember who you were.” Sydona handed the small book to her mother with the message inside.

  Evelyn looked at her daughter and the book, perplexed. Sydona felt overwhelmed with the range of emotions pulsing through her and didn’t want to lash out at them anymore. The words she shouted at them rang through her mind with guilt. She had to leave before she did any more damage to their already fragmented spirits. Lifting the tent flap, she wiped her face and left without so much as a goodbye.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sydona left her parents with blurry eyes and shaky hands and headed back to her tent. A wave of mixed emotions flowed through her like a monsoon, and she wasn’t sure which one she should be more focused on. With all of the confusion in her head, she was completely oblivious to the fact she was out in the open with guards walking around.

  It all happened in a flash. As Sydona heard a guard yelling at her to stop, she turned to see the guard being distracted by a glowing orange light. The man waved the gun around, trying to hit Raoul down and missing terribly. Then, Raoul flew in the opposite direction of Sydona, and the guard ran after him. This was her chance to run back to her tent and hope that the guard didn’t see her face or recognize her at all. Her heart felt as if it was going to pop out of her chest, and it made her emotions all the worse. Now, she had to worry about Raoul who put himself at risk because of her.

  Luckily, she made it back without anyone else seeing her. Diving back into her bed, she threw the covers over her as if she had been sleeping the whole time. She thought she saw Maverick on his side from the corner of her eye and prayed that he didn’t try to talk to her. After several minutes passed, nothing happened, and she could finally breathe again. Her heart began beating normally.

  Raoul risked a lot to get her to safety, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she knew that he was okay.

  What was he thinking?! she thought to herself. After the encounter with her parents, this was almost too much for her to handle. Her leg shook uncontrollably, she bit her nails raw, and she stroked the ends of her hair so much, she swore it was falling out. The one thing she really needed at that moment was someone with her, anyone. Even Willow the Widowed would do. The nickname Giovonna gave her made Sydona smirk.

  She then thought about Willow, where she could be, and how it felt like forever since she saw her. Could she be getting backup? Willow was part of the Sparrows and was in the military, so Sydona knew she wouldn’t give up easily. She thought her mother had that trait once, too. If it was lost, maybe Sydona could help her rekindle the flame just enough to ignite again.

  Several hours passed, and she had not moved an inch, but her eyes were still red and sore. To her surprise, she felt someone touch her hair. She instinctively swung her fist as hard as she could in a backwards motion, hitting the person behind her.

  “Son of a--!” the person yelled quickly and grabbed his head in agony.

  “Silas?” Sydona sat straight up in bed. “What are you doing here?”

  He rubbed the side of his face and plopped down on her cot. His face was still bloodied from earlier, and her punch looked like it reopened the wound.

  Sydona sat next to him and grabbed his face gently to assess the damage. “I’m so sorry... And I mean for earlier, too.”

  “That guy was a douche. Don’t even worry about it,” Silas said softly and tried smiling at her, but his lip was still split. As he gazed at her longer, his face changed as if he were looking at a ghost.

  “What?” Sydona asked curiously.

  “Your eyes!”

  “What about them?” She darted her eyes, seeing if she could somehow feel what was wrong.

  “They’re… turning blue…” he said with wonderment.

  “What?!” Sydona exclaimed and looked around the tent for something reflective.

  “Well, not totally blue. More like a purply-blue.” Silas couldn’t take his eyes off hers.

  Grabbing the lantern, she rotated it around to find something she could see herself in. The glass was turning black, but in one little section, she was able to see her eyes. Silas was right, her eyes were much more blue than normal.

  “Are you wearing some weird version of Gia’s contacts?” Silas asked.

  “No…” Sydona frowned. Then, it hit her.

  It had to be the bracelet and the shocks that went through her body. Somehow the effect of it changed her eye color. Why would it affect that part of her body though? She thought the amount of electricity that went through her was enough to kill her. In everything she knew from reading books and her basic knowledge of science, nothing could explain it.

  Sydona kept a hold of the lantern, blinking her eyes several times and waiting for it to go away. She wiped off the surface of the glass, but it didn’t do anything to make the reflection clearer. After a few minutes, her eyes slowly changed back to a normal purple shade, and she relaxed a little.

  “Oh, they changed back!” Silas smiled.

  Sydona returned to her bed and sat next to Silas.

  “How did that happen, do you think?” he asked and scratched his scruffy face.

  With everything going on, Sydona didn’t want to worry him, or Giovonna, over what she went through. Although it could be the flint for the fire they needed to start a revolution, her wounds were still healing. Especially from her parents. She couldn’t imagine what they would do if they found out what he did to their only daughter. Probably nothing. But she would rather wait to tell them. For the time being, the pain of Raoul’s actions slapped her in the face. The guilt of worrying about herself instead of Raoul hurt her stomach.

  Silas seemed to catch on to the fact that Sydona didn’t want to talk about it, but she had a feeling that he knew she was hiding something.

  “Where’s Raoul?” he changed the subject.

  She shook her head, and her stomach twisted even more. “I think he was captured,” she whispered.

  “Oh no...” he breathed. Then, he hesitantly turned his body, so he could touch her back and rub it.

  His worry was comforting to her. Raoul was the one she would turn to in the past when she felt down or depressed. He may have been small, but his familiarity was all she needed sometimes to feel better. But Silas was with her now, and she needed someone to lean on, someone to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. The big gentle circles he made on her back were working, and it somehow made her want to be closer to him.

  “Can you just lay here with me for a little bit?” She spoke softly with cracks in her voice.

  Silas lifted his hand off her and asked, “You sure?”

  Sydona nodded and lay down on the cot. Silas took a few minutes to join her, and she assumed he was nervous about it. They had to lay extremely close to one another, but they both hung halfway off the bed still. Silas wiggled around to get comfortable and laid his arm around her body. His warmth soothed her, and she could even feel his breath on her neck. This gave her goosebumps that she hoped he couldn’t see. It had been several years since she had been so close with a man, and it was a little exciting for her. His presence helped her forget the events from the last couple days if only temporarily. Her heart beat harder the tighter he held her. Sydona could tell he enjoyed being next to her because his fing
ers gently caressed her arms. Feeling like a caterpillar inside of its cocoon, she soon fell asleep in Silas’s arms.

  Another several hours passed, and she opened her eyes to see Silas still lying next to her, and she smiled. Turning over to face him, Sydona waited for Silas to wake up. Her heart leaped as he opened his eyes and returned her smile.

  She looked over to the other side of the tent and saw Maverick reading his usual book in the glow of the stadium lights that never died out. Sydona peeked over Silas to address him.

  “Maverick,” Sydona whispered. “This is Silas, the guy who knows--you know what.”

  Maverick glanced up at them and slammed his book shut, ready to learn.

  Silas sat up sluggishly and rubbed his eyes. “Alright, let’s do this.” Silas taught Maverick the words he requested to know, also benefiting Sydona greatly. They spent the rest of the lantern’s life learning sign language.

  <><><><><>

  Three days came and went with the same old routines and sneaking around to learn sign language. Sydona hadn’t visited her parents since their last conversation. Even at mealtimes, they constantly wore guilty faces and could barely look their daughter in the eye. They still hugged and everything, but tension lingered in the air, which made the meals with the whole group awkward. Sydona eventually told Silas and Giovonna what happened with the bracelet and how she felt about the whole thing, causing Giovonna to hug her any chance she had.

  Blue still crept into her purple eyes, but the color never fully changed to blue. Giovonna described it as flecks of blue or a mixture of paint in water. She wasn’t sure what it meant either. Even though she took advanced science classes and was intelligent compared to most teenagers, none of it sounded familiar. If there was a library around, she would have looked up more information. Sydona had no other visible changes other than the mark under her bracelet. It didn’t seem to be fading away either.

  Learning the new language also kept her from thinking about Raoul, who still had not shown up. She thought the faster she learned it, the faster they could come up with a plan to break into the place to look for him and find the announcement station. She tried to remember everything Raoul had told her about the guards from one day of watching: how many there were, where they were posted, and the schedules he noticed. She wished that he had found out where Dr. Malik worked, though. He was the one person that could put a stop to it all if he was dead. And although she knew the arsenal existed and what was in it, she wasn’t sure at all where it was.