Chapter 23
Eduard and Becca make their way to the forest, back where everyone else is to warn them, but when they arrive, no one is there. Nothing is there.
“This is the right spot, right, Eduard?” Becca asks, starting to feel panic grow inside of her.
“Yeah. Where is everybody?” He breathes, already panicking.
Gunshots echo from deeper in the woods.
The two of them stand between the trees, unable to see anything in the growing darkness. No one hunts with guns anymore. No one is allowed to have guns besides officers.
And officers’ guns don’t come out unless they’re after somebody.
“Run,” Becca and Eduard murmur as they take off running. It’s getting hard to see the trees, and it’s even harder to watch where their feet are going. Eduard keeps stumbling over tree roots and Becca keeps losing her footing.
There are voices, and then another bang.
Dogs barking.
They have dogs.
And they’re coming for Becca and Eduard, looking for the rebellious group that threatens the society’s existence.
The sounds of their feet falling onto the fallen leaves seem to get louder as the duo run away.
Another gunshot.
Bark on a tree in front of Becca explodes, and she holds in a shriek. Her legs pedal faster with her breath and her heartbeat, but oxygen isn’t reaching her brain, and her eyesight is failing her. She reaches up with clumsy fingers and unties the long ribbon holding the stolen mask in place.
It falls to the ground with a light thud and Becca runs on, Eduard following behind her.
“What if we climbed a tree?” Eduard heaves, taking off his mask too.
“Dogs would smell us,” Becca breathes, pumping her arms to help her keep running.
“The water!” Eduard shouts and makes a hard left, making Becca slide on the forest floor and almost fall as she turns to follow. “They can’t smell us in the water!”
The sounds of the dogs seem to get closer as they reach a clearing. In the center of all of the trees is a big lake, its surface dark and like ink under the night sky.
Eduard jumps in without a second thought, but Becca worries about the sanitation for a moment before following him in. She drops the book she holds into the grass to the side of the lake, where it can’t be seen, so she hopes.
The water is freezing as she reaches a spot she can’t touch the bottom at. She starts to shiver and Eduard wraps his arms around her to keep both of them warm. Becca presses up against him, heat radiating from his body as he watches for the men and the dogs.
They break the clearing.
“Hold your breath,” he whispers to Becca as they duck under water.
She holds her breath as long as she can. She doesn’t know how long they stay under, but her lungs feel like they’re about to burst. Warmth still makes its way to her from Eduard, but it’s almost not enough as the water’s cold fingers twist around her and swirl through her hair and over her scalp. Her heartbeat seems louder in the water as she waits for Eduard to break the surface again, the water pressure as they sit on the bottom pressing into her ears. One of Eduard’s arms is outstretched and holding onto a plant to keep them grounded.
Suddenly, they start rising slowly. Her head breaks the surface and she tries not to make too much noise gasping for air and coughing. Her arms are frozen around the boy, too scared to let go, too cold to move.
“They’re gone,” Eduard whispers as he moves the sopping wet hair from Becca’s face. She looks up at him in the disappearing sunlight.
A movement in the water behind them.
They turn around slowly to see a figure swimming up to them.
Becca starts to back away, letting go of Eduard, and he does the same. The figure continues to press forward.
Becca trips and splashes into the water once again.
The dogs bark.
“Shhh,” she hears from the figure. “Guys, it’s me. It’s Mikey.”
“Shoot, Mikey!” Eduard whispers, punching the other boy in the shoulder with tremendous force. “Thanks for scaring us.”
“They’re coming back,” Becca says as the dogs bark at the tops of their lungs. “They’re coming back.”
Mikey swears under his breath. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
“How?” Becca asks, crowding in close to the two boys. “They’ll smell us. And then we’ll be puppy chow.”
“We just have to run as fast as we can.”
“Where’s Nixon?” Eduard asks.
Mikey takes a deep breath and gulps. “He was shot.”
Pain flashes across Eduard’s face and he looks back at Mikey. “Alright. Let’s go.”
They’re out of the water and on the solid ground. Becca grabs her book and Mikey hands her a bag. Her bag.
“I saved it, just in case you were still alive.”
“Thanks,” Becca says as Mikey takes off his mask too and puts it inside his backpack.
Glad her backpack is waterproof, she throws the book inside the bag and slips her arms through the holes as they start to run, all of them with their bags.
They make their way back to the city, not having really anywhere else to go. The street lamps all flicker, an eeriness falling between the various sized buildings. The sounds of the dogs aren’t as close as they were, but Becca knows that they’re gaining on them.
They stumble into an alleyway and find themselves before a Dark Clan housing unit.
“Come on,” Eduard says, pulling the strings tighter on his backpack. He begins to climb the wall, using the windows and gutter to lift him up, as well as the cracks in the wall.
“I can’t climb this,” Becca whispers to Mikey, whose face twists with concern.
“Here, come on. I’ll be right behind you.”
Becca takes a deep breath and swallows her fear.
Now would be a good time to be that other me, she thinks.
She places one foot on the lowest windowsill and grips the top of it as she heaves herself up with her tired leg muscles. Mikey helps her with every step, making sure she won’t fall.
The dogs aren’t far behind now.
Becca’s hand slips.
She quickly replaces it, her stomach in her throat. She needs to make it up all the way. She can’t fall, can’t die now… No matter how much she deserves it.
More barking dogs.
Lights come on in different buildings from the disturbance.
It’s after curfew.
Eduard finally stops climbing and crawls through an open window. He pops his head and shoulders back out and reaches down to help Becca up into the room.
Once Mikey is in, Eduard closes the glass window and turns back into the room.
Becca looks out to see the dogs approaching the building and jump up on the wall. She pulls her head back so they can’t see her when they look up.
“We need a plan,” she says suddenly, taking charge.
“We don’t have masks on. They’ll know who we are the moment they come in here,” Mikey says.
Becca gets an idea, the woman popping in her mind. “Shower. We can act like we’re taking a shower.”
“Together?” Eduard snorts. “I don’t think so.”
“No,” Becca says, getting excited she’s come up with an idea. “One of us could be, per-say, ‘getting in the shower’ when they walk in.”
Eduard thinks about this for a moment and then nods. “Alright. Mikey, go get a towel.”
“What—why me?”
“Because, like I said, you can talk yourself out of any situation. Here’s your chance. Becca and I will be in the bathroom. Come in after they leave so we can get out.”
Mikey nods, a humorous smile Becca doesn’t understand slipping across his face. It only widens after Eduard smacks him in the shoulder and shakes his head at him.
“Stop it. Go,” Eduard says sternly, and Mikey laughs as he makes
his way to the bathroom to get a towel.
Becca and Eduard follow and crack the door as Mikey goes back into the bedroom to undress and cover himself with the green towel he’d grabbed, as if he was about to be getting in the shower.
Becca turns on the water and pulls the knob on top of the faucet to turn the showerhead on.
The door bangs open, the sound of dogs no longer there.
“Um, can I help you?” Becca hears Mikey say rudely.
“Were there any intruders that came in here, sir?” One of the officers says to him.
“Nope. Now would you please leave? I’m about to take a shower and I feel my towel falling.”
Becca hears one of the officers clear his throat in embarrassment. “Sir, might I ask if you’re about to get in the shower, why is your hair already wet?”
Mikey groans. “You really have to know every—ugh! Fine, if you must know, I tried to take a shower but the water was too fricking cold, so I decided to get out and wait for it to warm up.”
“Would you mind if we checked out your bathroom, sir?”
“Um, yes. Yes, I would mind. My underwear is in there. I find other people looking at my underwear kind of embarrassing, don’t you?”
“We won’t look at them,” Becca hears them say as their footsteps make their way to the door.
Eduard points to the partially open shower curtain behind them and steps in quietly. Becca follows, the water warm against her skin. She feels all the muck and grime falling off her, and she tries to be as still as possible so the water doesn’t make much of a difference in sound as it hits the tub.
The door opens just as she ducks completely behind the curtain.
The officer’s footsteps walk slowly toward the tub and Becca feels her breathing shallow out.
“There. You’ve seen my bathroom, and my underwear, might I add. Can you leave now?” Becca hears Mikey whine and step into the bathroom as well. “It would be greatly appreciated if you would leave me alone.”
“Sir, I could have you arrested for talking to an officer like that,” the man in the bathroom says, taking a few steps from the bathtub.
“And I could do anything I wanted to you, seeing that I’m a black mask and you’re a white.”
“Where is your mask, sir?” The man asks.
Oh no, Becca thinks, looking at Eduard.
She hears Mikey groan again, this time more hysterical. “It’s right here—” She hears some rummaging and the sound of a zipper. His backpack. “I put it in here because I don’t want the paint to run when the humidity escapes from the shower water. Any more flipping questions, officer?”
Good job, Mikey, Becca smiles.
“No, sir.”
“Awesome. Now get out.”
The door shuts and Mikey comes back through the bathroom door and pulls the curtain back. His body is ripped, muscles sticking out from every inch of his tan skin. Becca can’t help but feel both intimidated and surprised. Her heart beats faster the longer she looks at him, and she has to look away. She shakes her head and chuckles quietly to herself.
“Okay, lovebirds. Let’s go.”
Becca catches Eduard making a face at Mikey before he shuts off the water.