For the first time since rushing out of the house, I lift my stare in front of me instead of watching my shoes and I lose my breath at the sight of it. It’s unreal…the vision of at least three hundred people running toward change. The empty fields that stretch ahead are alive with fight and desperation. It sends a thrill over the surface of my skin. I’ve let these people out of their chains and even if they die in this field, they die with wind whipping their faces and the fresh grass at their feet.
I touch Kaden’s handgun that’s tucked nicely into my waistband. I dropped my rifle fifty metres back. I had no choice but to let it go. It was too heavy to run with. Where is he? He better make it to the camp. Painful tendrils of dread burrow through my stomach.
Please.
I push forward and the ground underneath my feet begins to slope into a decline. Shortly after, running becomes easy. My muscles no longer burn and I can’t stop, even if I wanted to. The sensation ends abruptly as my speed comes to an end and the muscles in my legs beg for relief. My lungs burn like fire and I gasp for air as I force one foot in front of the other and climb the steep slope. Scattered around me, Unfortunates struggle with the hill, but they force themselves onwards, like I do. I hear sobbing; the calm air is tainted by the sounds of gunshots and wails. They’re close. They’re far away. I don’t have the courage to look and see who won’t make it. My heart won’t let me.
It feels like hours have passed by the time I reach the top and I come face to face with the Unfortunate camp. My old home. A loud clank echoes around me and the large, ten-foot concrete gate slowly opens. We stop, all of us, not knowing if the moderators on this end are friend or foe.
My heart stops beating as a moderator steps out, his gun cocked in our faces. The air is tense and silent…until he lowers his gun and waves us in. The Fortunates and Unfortunates in front of me flood in, squeezing and pushing, desperate to get away from the whizzing bullets that fly past. I stop twenty metres from the gate and finally allow myself to turn around. My stomach sinks at the sight. People shove past me, their shoulders slamming into me and knocking me off balance. Even so, I can’t look away. Smoke and fire billow from the town, dusting the inky sky in black and grey, filling the air with smells of burning and grass. Screams surround me and echo in my head. Women call for their children, men call for their wives. The world slows down as I scan the hills, looking at the fallen Fortunates and Unfortunates who are tiny specks in the distance. Moderators chase us in droves, their black uniforms looking like poison against the deep green grass and the white tunics of the Unfortunates.
“Unh!” I grunt as I’m shoved to the side.
I crash to the dry ground and tuck my hands into my chest, careful not to get them trampled.
“Anna?” A warm hand wraps around my bicep and tugs me to my feet.
John Milano slips into my line of sight and he cups my face, turning it to the side and inspecting my skin. “I’m sorry! Are you all right?”
I nod, shrugging him off. If he’s here, surely Kade isn’t too far behind him? I try to push him to the side to get a better look. The crowd racing toward us begins to thin out as their moderators remain on the opposite hill. Still, I don’t see him. My husband. Where is he?
“Did you see Kaden?” I ask, desperately.
John glances over his shoulder, his face grave and uncertain. “No. I didn’t—”
I shove past him and jog in the opposite direction. A bullet zips past me and John gasps.
“Anna!” he shouts. “You’re going to get yourself shot. We need to close the gates.”
I ignore him. Kade wouldn’t go down so easily. He’s coming. I know he is. I clench my fists on and off while John yells at me. Straggling Fortunates and Unfortunates limp past me and into the Unfortunate camp…
Until I’m the only one standing there.
People yell at me like I’m stupid, like I want to get shot, but the bullets have stopped. The moderators on the opposite hill no longer shoot and the silence stacks stones in my stomach. My lower lip trembles and my heart…well…it freezes in time, not daring to take another beat in fear of shattering into a million pieces.
“Anna…” John shouts one last time. “You’re the only one standing out there. You need to—”
I shut him out as my gaze catches something for the briefest second. I watch the curve of the hill, hoping to see the bob of a head again. Hope builds in my chest, ballooning rapidly. A smile of relief inches across my lips.
“Mummy?”
I frown, my smile rapidly receding, as a little girl bounces over the top of the hill, appearing out of nowhere. Her pretty flower dress is covered in blood and it sticks her curly, brown hair to her round face.
A woman breaks out of the crowd and I glance over my shoulder as she rushes forward. “Mya? Oh, my baby!”
The Fortunate lady scoops her child into her arms and sobs, apologising and thanking the universe. Despite my disappointment, my heart swells. I can’t imagine how distraught she must have been without her daughter.
“Where’s your brother?” the mum asks, brushing Mya’s hair out of her face.
“He’s hurt,” Mya replies, her lips pinching into a pout. “The man is carrying him.”
“What man?” I cut in, frightening the little girl.
She wraps her tiny arms around her mother’s neck as I step closer.
“The man,” I say calmly. “Where is he?”
Pouting, she points over the hill and I follow her arm to the opposite hill. My heart splinters and all I can do is stare…
…no.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Kade
The young boy was lifeless in his arms. Kade didn’t know if the kid was dead or alive, but his little sister begged for him to carry her big brother. He couldn’t say no to her or her large, green eyes. Groaning, Kade hugged the boy closer to his chest and forced himself to go faster.
The moderators behind him stopped shooting a little while ago. He didn’t know why, but he definitely wasn’t going to complain about it. In the madness, he lost Oliver and never found Anna. Dread punched him in the stomach. He hoped she made it.
Kade glanced up from the dry grass at his feet and hope ignited as the pointy roof of the Unfortunate camp came into view. A few more metres and he’d be at the top.
Dropping his stare, he grunted and groaned. His bones creaked and cracked. There was no doubt about it. After tonight, Kade would be sore, the sorest he’d ever been.
“Kaden?”
He paused as the sweet tenor of her voice breathed life into him. He lifted his gaze and there she was…covered in mud and scratches, splattered with blood and who knows what else. Her ponytail was loose, allowing strands of hair to stick to her cheeks. He made it.
She made it.
“Fynn?” the woman beside Anna gasped, cradling the girl he’d found sitting beside her unconscious brother on the outskirts of the town. “No…”
John Milano and an unknown moderator rushed out from the camp and took the boy from Kade’s arms. Without the extra weight, Kade felt as though he was going to float away.
Before his heart had a chance to beat its next beat, a new weight was in his arms. A weight he welcomed. Hers. Anna cried into his shirt. He couldn’t tell if they were tears of joy or tears of sadness. He guessed both were valid emotions.
Kade wrapped his arms around her shaking body and held her tightly. They did it. They escaped the town and found their refuge in the Unfortunate camp at the top of the hill. The easy part was over and now the real battle was about to begin.
Anna pulled away from him, her swollen eyes wide and fearful. “I thought I lost you.”
He couldn’t imagine how she was feeling. If it was anything like the pain he’d felt, he wondered how she was still standing. Kade cupped her face in his hands and pulled her forward, kissing her deeply. She kissed him back, bunching his shirt in her fists, and pulling him harder against her.
Leading up to
today, he thought he’d miss his home. Freeport was where he grew up, after all, but as he put Freeport behind him and carried that boy and his little sister as far as he could, he realised his home was with his wife. Wherever she was, he was content. Seeing her face as he forced himself over the curve of the hill was all he needed to realise that.
Pulling away, Kade took her hand in his and led her inside the Unfortunate camp. It was huge with plenty of space to house everyone. He supposed it had to be to fit in so many children. Which reminded him, where were they? For now, the people who fled the town sat in the dirt at the front of the building, waiting to be told what to do and where to go next. Top priority were the injured, followed by women and children, then came the men.
Men and women flocked to Kade and Anna’s side, asking them questions. Some wanted water, others food. Some were after medical help and others wanted to be put on watch immediately. It took Kade twenty minutes to convince everyone to relax and wait for things to be sorted and an additional eleven hours after that to have everyone in their own space inside the house while moderators kept watch.
In that eleven hours, the town of Freeport fell silent. They made no move to attack. The only thing they did was keep their moderators on the hill, watching.
By the time the sun reared its head, Kade was exhausted. Countless times he nearly fell asleep standing up.
Exhaling, he stepped out into the enormous, empty courtyard and sat against a thick stone column. In the center, Anna spoke to two moderators, telling them to relieve the ones in the towers on either side of the camp. She ordered them to alert her if they saw anything before turning toward him. Swiping her hand over her face, she yawned and sauntered closer.
“It’s morning,” he told her as she closed the distance between them. “You need some rest.”
“I’ll sleep if you do.”
He smiled. “That sounds good.”
Anna stepped into the space between his legs and sat down, resting her back against his chest. “We’ll have to sleep here…I need to clean the blood out of Soyer’s room and scrub everything down tomorrow.”
“While you do that, I have to go down to the cave and grab those Unfortunates from the mine. I told them I’d meet them there when I got the chance.”
“Okay.” Nine closed her eyes and sighed. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“We do.”
“And it’s not going to be easy.”
He shook his head and closed his own eyes. “It’s not.”
“But at least we have each other.”
His lips twitched at the corners and he wrapped his arms around her waist and tipped his head back against the concrete. “We do.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he allowed himself to be dragged into a deep sleep, where his real life problems couldn’t hurt him. His sleep was dreamless and calm, the perfect stress reliever for a mind torn by war and suffering.
∞ Anna ∞
Kade jolts, forcing me from my slumber. I blink rapidly, trying to get a grip on the situation. I expect to hear guns and smell gunpowder.
I don’t.
There’s no chaos, no death. So why are they waking me? I sit forward, wincing at my aching muscles, and squint up at the three men standing in front of me, John included. The sun is high in the sky, way too high for it to still be morning.
“What’s going on?” I slur, wiping drool from the corner of my mouth and sleep from my heavy eyes.
“It’s Vince.”
Kade’s legs tighten either side of me and I freeze, hating the way my stomach rolls. While I slept, I forgot all about the hell I brought down on everyone yesterday…but it’s still here. It’s still happening.
“What’s he doing?” Kade asks, his voice husky with sleep.
“Come and see for yourself.”
John extends his hand and I slip mine in his. I grimace as he pulls me to my feet. Every inch of my body aches. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to blink. If they stormed the camp today we wouldn’t be able to defend it. We’re too sore and over a quarter of our number alone are children under the age of seventeen.
“You need a shower,” John points out, smiling mischievously. “You stink.”
I scowl playfully at him. “Captain obvious. I will shower when everyone else is clean.”
I glance out at the open courtyard and watch children play. Some wear fine fabrics, others scratchy tunics, and they play in harmony. My eyes water at the sight. The future is shaped by our children. Raise them how you’d want them to raise your grandchildren.
∞
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Never in a million years did I expect Freeport to do something so drastic. I watch through the telescope as moderators scale down the large fence that surrounds the town in perfect unison, stopping periodically at each hinge.
I see him, Vince, amongst the moderators, wearing his crisp black suit, smiling wickedly at our tower even though we’re so far away. He knows we’re watching and he loves it. I can tolerate his smug smile for all of two seconds before my blood boils under my skin. Beside him, Elizabeth lingers, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand as she glances up at the ugly fence.
They deserve each other, vapid monsters.
“Get him in your line of sight,” I tell Fhil, the only moderator in the tower with a weapon good enough to reach Vince.
What did Kade call it? A sniper rifle. Yes, that’s it.
“As soon as those fences come down I want a bullet buried in his skull and you better not miss.”
Gulping, Fhil scratches the back of his head, burying his fingers into his bright red hair before resting his rifle against the stone windowsill. He crouches low and adjusts a few knobs on the barrel of his gun, right by his line of sight. He closes one eye and places his finger over the trigger.
“He’s lined up.”
I wait on pins and needles as the fences begin to wobble unsteadily, swaying with every blow of wind. As the moderators reach the bottom, the fences fall out, one by one, unfolding like rogue cards from a deck.
Without confirmation from me, Fhil takes the shot. I hold my breath as my world slows down. Excitement coils in my stomach and expands into my chest…only to evaporate as the bullet hits an invisible wall right in front of Vince’s face and is dissolved into nothing. I gasp.
John demands to know what I saw. Kade does too, but all I can do is stare, shocked, as Vince’s gaze locks with mine. He can’t see me, but our eyes are locked. He can feel it. So can I.
How?
With a smirk, Vince turns around and marches back into the town with Elizabeth in tow.
I don’t understand…
What just happened?
I lower the telescope. This war just got a whole lot harder.
Fhil stares at me, confused. He saw it too. It was the perfect shot. It should have killed Vince.
“They have some kind of force field…” Fhil says, lowering his gun. “I lined him up perfectly. It should have hit him between the eyes.”
“A force field?” John repeats, tugging at the collar of his white tee. “Damn.”
We turn to John as he searches his back pocket and pulls out a letter. It’s addressed to me.
“This came for you by bird early this morning.”
Kade and I frown at each other. Did he just say “by bird?” Who sends mail by bird? More importantly, how do you even send mail by bird?
“It’s from the city. They wish to have an audience with you.”
I hand the telescope to Kaden. “Me?”
It’s funny. With all of this plotting I never once took the city into consideration. Who are they? And what do they want? I thought they don’t concern themselves with matters outside of the city’s wall? I snatch the letter from John’s hands and open it up.
Anna Sario,
We wish to speak with you.
You’re at war…
And we can help.
Regards,
Those inside the city wal
l.
Those inside the city wall? It’s dilapidated. How many people are in there? They have to be Fortunates. If they weren’t, they would have intervened a long time ago. I don’t trust it. Not at all. I scrunch it up and throw it out the window.
“It could be fake,” I point out. “Like the one Vince typed up and sent to Kaden.”
John held out his hand, exposing two metal badges. “I’m afraid it’s not.”
“What are those?”
“You can’t get in without these. They came with your letter.”
I swallow hard as unease pins me in the stomach. “You’ve been inside the city…tell me what it’s like.”
Gasping, John breaks into a sweat. He tries to speak but he can’t. It’s as if something is stopping him. Swallowing, he points at his neck.
“He can’t tell you…” Kade states.
I step closer to John. “Is there something preventing you from telling us?”
Nodding, he points at his neck. What does it mean? Did they put a chip in him? I shudder at the thought. No way in hell am I going in there.
“Forget it.” I whirl on my heel. “I’m not going in there.”
Kade snags my wrist and tugs me against him. I whip my hands up to his chest and push off of him.
“They might be our only chance, Anna.”
“Might? You want to risk everything because they might help us?” I shake my head and shrug out of his grasp. “I said no.”
I storm from the tower and hit the stairs, clenching my teeth against the muscle pain as I descend the spiral staircase.
“Anna, wait,” Kade calls after me, his tone thick with frustration. I don’t stop and he snags me by the wrist again, forcing me back. I try to pull away, but he doesn’t let me go. “You’re being irrational.”