Authors: Eloise Dyson
‘You had to pick the hall with the guard, didn’t you?!’ she demands in a whisper.
I realise now that she’s holding two backpacks and to my surprise, wearing makeup.
‘Well you’ve broken possibly every night-time-related rule tonight already. Welcome to the rebels! We’ve been expecting you,’ she jokes, throwing me one of the backpacks. ‘I noticed you didn’t bother packing and thought I’d be the amazing best friend I am and pack what I knew you’d want. There are two of your books in there, too.’
I try not to laugh at how we’re about to risk our lives to leave, and she’s concerned about ruining my reading habits. In a sudden wave of emotion, I hug my best friend. She hugs me back and Zach interrupts us.
‘As lovely as that is, we need to get out of here,’ he says, pulling us apart.
‘Wow! Number one rule? I have to say, we’ll be the first to break that one,’ Nina says. ‘I’m in.’
The number one rule is to never leave the Compound. It’s more of a law and surely will be punishable by death, though no one has been stupid enough to try it yet. I’m not surprised she’s in, she loves breaking as many rules as she can!
‘Wait... so you’re actually leaving?’ a boy asks Nina.
I look at him and realise that it’s Jed, her training partner from this morning. I hide a smirk behind my hand and make eye-contact with Zach, whose goofy grin returns.
‘Yep,’ Nina replies, winking at Jed.
‘I’m coming too then,’ Jed replies.
Several of the other boys, who must have been listening in to this conversation chimed in that they were coming with us in hushed voices. When I do a head count, it turns out that all of them are wishing to join me, with no reason as to why they should come.
‘Okay,’ I say, with my voice still in a whisper as I attempt to take on the authoritative tone of Chief Matthews. ‘Firstly we need to get rid of the guard. Unless you’re all as ludicrous as Nina and want to take the window.’
A couple of the boys smirk, one of them throwing an admiring glance at Nina. I clear my throat and he looks at me again.
‘So that’s our first move?’ Jed asks. ‘Take out the guard? How do you propose we do that?’
‘I’m sure twelve against one is no challenge at all!’ Zach says.
It’s already getting out of hand, so I explain the idea I had to cause a distraction, making the guard fall right into our trap.
‘I like it,’ says Callum, another of Zach’s friends.
The plan is formed silently. Jed and Simon, the boy who aggravated the guard earlier are to start a loud argument. When the guard comes in, he will walk in to the sight of Nina and I sat on a bunk with Zach, then hopefully his surprise will buy us a couple of seconds for Callum and two boys I don’t know to knock him unconscious. We all get into position and Jed shouts various insults at Simon while Simon throws himself to the floor. As predicted, the guard bursts into the room and the lights turn on. Only he doesn’t notice Nina and me with Zach, and instead barrels towards Simon. The guard forcibly throws Jed off Simon’s bunk, and pulls Simon towards the door by his neck. I react before I think it through and dive towards the guard. But almost everyone else in the room thought the same. The guard didn’t expect this surprise attack, and he collapses to the floor unconscious after the several bodies collided with his, punching every part of him they could reach.
‘That went better than I expected,’ exclaims Nina happily, now talking at a normal volume.
‘Yeah, I could’ve sworn you would have messed it up by falling in love with him on sight,’ jokes Zach.
‘I have eyes for only one,’ replies Nina, making everyone in the room laugh.
Even I allow myself to laugh just this once. At that moment, the door bursts open. Half of us prepare for more guards, but Nina pushes past me. I realise now that it’s not more guards, but girls I recognise.
‘Kayra,’ Nina says to me. ‘Your willingness to leave at close to midnight has resulted in me just
having
to tell someone. One thing led to another and now our entire dormitory is coming with us.’
Three people escaping will be hard enough already, but twenty is a whole different story. But the prospect of having more company means a better chance of survival outside of the Compound.
‘Okay everyone,’ I say, speaking up while Nina closes the door behind the last couple of girls. ‘I didn’t expect everyone to get involved, but I must explain my story before we leave so you can know what’s really going on.’
I explain my story for the second time tonight. The reactions vary from looks of excitements to looks of horror. As I finish, Jed is the first to speak up.
‘So you’re saying that your sister is out there somewhere and your plan is to do what once you find her? Bring her back here?’
‘No!’ I tell Jed. ‘Once we leave, there can be no coming back here. We have lived our whole lives in this place, thinking we’re being kept safe. But after the new training announced today, is no one suspicious as to what it’s for? We’re in a prison and they cannot be trusted. They have given us no insight to what we’re here for and why they saved us, and not just themselves. We have to see the bigger picture!’
There is a long silence in the room.
‘So who’s with me?’
I watch as people raise their hands. It starts off with Nina and Zach, their hands shooting upwards even before I can finish talking, then it ripples until everyone in the room has their hands raised.
‘Fantastic!’ Zach says, clapping his hands and smiling broadly at the group. ‘So what’s the plan?’
I hadn’t thought past getting Nina and Zach to come with me. Now nineteen people are looking at me expectantly, waiting for my great plan to escape the Compound.
‘I... I don’t have one,’ I say pathetically.
One of the boys whose name I don’t know speaks up, his voice determined.
‘I may have an idea,’ he says. All eyes turn on him. ‘As we’re all breaking rules tonight, I can come clean. For almost a year, I used to sneak out every night and privately train in the Training Building. It was when my ranking was critically low and Chief Matthews was becoming harsher on me. I learnt how to hack the system to break in, and I would go to the top floor and work my way down, going through every level, practicing with every weapon and every simulation in there. Then one night, due to extra guards, I arrived at the Training Building late. When I got to the top, I saw from the windows that vehicles were coming through the gates, and others exiting the gates. I tried the same the following night, and after doing it for a few weeks, I noticed that once every week, between two and three in the morning, vehicles come and go through the main gate. I don’t know if that still happens, as six months ago, I was caught leaving the dormitory. The punishment wasn’t too severe; I was forced to clean the toilets in all the dormitories for a week. I’m so lucky not to have gotten the Swipe.’
‘And you know where these vehicles are stored?’ Zach asks.
‘If it still happens, then yes, I think I do.’
‘It’s a long shot,’ I say, thinking out loud. ‘In several ways, firstly, if it still happens. Secondly, if it’s tonight. And thirdly, if we can actually manage to escape in one of those vehicles. But it’s better than anything else we can think of on such short notice.’
I look at the time. It’s almost half-past one. Lights out was two and half hours ago, so the amount of guards who patrol the dormitories will be thinning by now.
‘Pack everything you need. If this thing works, there’s little chance we’ll be returning here,’ I say with finality in my tone.
17
Arys
I’m sat by the fire I’ve just finished building. The heat reaches me instantly, warming my feet. We have been away from the Tribe for two days now. I managed to pull Kai from the Hunter attack, knocking the Hunter unconscious and stealing her vest and gloves. Kai has only just recovered, and so while we should have been travelling and possibly reaching the city by now, we’re still only a couple of miles from where we were yesterday. We decided to stop walking here, and I built the fire. The plan, should Kai be up for it, is to get up just before sunrise to continue walking. I’m stretched out, my feet towards the fire and I’m leaning my weight on my hands. Kai is sat at the other end of the fire, sharpening his knife on a rock he found. His head is still roughly bandaged with one of the spare t-shirts we packed. We’re next to a river, the running water relaxing me after a stressful evening. My hands find their way to my sword, which I always keep at my side. I sit up, unsheathing it and examining it for the hundredth time. I feel the weight of it, balancing it in my hand and imagining how to use it to its full potential.
‘Can you train me?’ I ask, the words coming out of my mouth before I realise I’m saying them.
‘What? Do you mean right now?’ Kai responds, the sharpening sounds ceasing.
‘I don’t know. Are you too weak?’ I ask.
He stands up and pulls me to my feet.
‘I thought you’d forgotten I’d promised,’ he says happily.
We stand next to the river, hoping the rushing water will block out most of the sound we’ll make. Kai set up a smaller fire, so we could see what we are doing and his sharp facial features now glow in the firelight as I grip my sword in my hand. He’s holding a wooden stick that he found on the floor; he doesn’t want to hurt me with any of his weapons and doesn’t think I’m capable of hurting him, even with a sword. We both wear the gloves and vests we took from the Hunters.
‘Am I holding it right?’ I ask him foolishly.
He relaxes his defensive stance and moves closer to me, holding my arm as he adjusts my posture.
‘Use your sword like an extension of your arm,’ he advises. ‘Hold it lightly, but steady, keeping it pointed at your opponent.’
I do as he says, and when he stands with his stick raised at me, I point it steadily at his chest.
‘For now, stick to swinging with your whole arm, and try to avoid using just your elbow,’ he says, smiling at me. ‘Now attack me!’
I'm taken by surprise, and swing towards him. He steps casually to one side, blocking my attack with his stick.
‘Now I’m in a good position to hit you with the hilt,’ he announces, stepping back from me. ‘I’ll repeat what you just did to me, and you copy my parry.’
He swings his stick at me, and I copy his previous block. It’s successful, and making a sudden decision, I hit him sharply with my sword’s hilt. It catches him off guard and he stumbles backwards.
‘Good!’ he exclaims, rubbing the side of his face.
We continue like this for at least another hour. I learn how to predict and block his attacks, and retaliate quickly enough. By the time we’re finished, I have managed to knock him to the ground twice. Kai collects a small amount of water from the river and uses it to extinguish the temporary fire. Every muscle aches as we make our way back to the main fire.
‘You did well,’ he says.
He doesn’t seem to be in as much pain as I am as I lower myself onto my blankets, curling up and letting the fire warm me.
‘Where did you learn to fight with a sword?’ I ask him, watching as he relaxes into his blankets across the fire.
‘In my old tribe, I had two trainers. They both showed me techniques and this,’ he says, raising his curved knife, ‘was a gift from them when I left the tribe.’
I stare at my sword again which is lying a few feet away, within reach in case any Hunters attack while we sleep. I still haven’t killed any and I begin to hope this training is never put to real use. After a short while, Kai begins snoring softly, and I feel my muscles relax as sleep begins to take me. My last thoughts before I fall asleep are of my sister, wondering if she knows that I’m coming to find her.
18
Kayra
We’re all packed and ready to leave within fifteen minutes. We make our way downstairs, through the several storeys easily. Luckily, no guards are around and we step out into the cool night air.
‘Where are the vehicles stored?’ Nina asks Isaac, the boy who snuck out to the Training Building.
‘We can’t go without food supplies,’ I object, leading the way to the dining hall.
As we turn the corner at the end of the street, I see two guards walking side by side. Unlike the first guard, they’re both armed with guns and in heavy body armour. They’re walking away from us, but I push everyone back and out of sight.
‘Guards!’ I whisper urgently.
Once on the other side of the street, people begin arguing over what to do next.
‘We can take them!’ Malcolm says.
‘But what if they call for backup? We have to leave tonight!’ Nina argues.
‘We could just take a longer route round?’ suggests Jed. ‘It’s not as if there aren’t several ways to get there.’
‘What? And come into contact with even more guards?’ says Katie.
‘Quiet!’ I hiss. ‘I think the best option is to take out these two guards. We need weapons anyway, just in case.’
A few people try to argue, but my decision stands. We decide to use the same technique we used to attract the attention of the first guard, and Nina lets out a scream loud enough for people in the surrounding area to hear. If any other guards come, we outnumber them anyway. Only the two come running. Zach and Callum are ready for them, punching them as soon as they round the corner.
‘I told you we could take them,’ Malcolm says with a grin.
Zach proceeds to remove anything useful from the unconscious guards. He takes their two pistols and a radio communicator. He tosses the radio to me, and he keeps a pistol to himself and gives the other to Callum.
‘What’s the radio for?’ I ask him after he’s done distributing the weapons.
‘If any of the guards notice anything suspicious, we’ll hear them on that,’ he replies.
‘Wow! That’s brilliant!’ I say to him, admiring his quick thinking.
‘To the dining hall!’ says Zach, pointing his gun in the direction of the Training Building.
We reach the courtyard within five minutes, and meet no guards along the way. I run up to the door, but it’s locked shut. The panel on the side flashes green, awaiting someone’s handprint.
‘Think you can get this open?’ I ask Isaac.
He inspects it for a second, and then pulls several items out of his backpack.
‘It’s the same as the one for the Training Building,’ he says while fiddling with the panel. ‘I managed to get my handprint registered on that one without raising suspicion, so this shouldn’t be too difficult.’
The flashing stops for a moment, before returning. Isaac’s hand flat against it, the panel beeps and the door swings open.
‘Nice!’ says one of the boys. ‘Just like that video game!’
We run through the door and then through a second door which leads to the kitchens. We enter a hall with various doors on all of the walls. I suggest splitting up to search for the door which holds the food. After a few seconds, someone calls everyone over, saying they’ve found it. Rachel, is stood in front of a locked door with a panel similar to the first one attached next to it. This door has a window, and I can see through into one of the kitchens, filled with cupboards.
‘It’s this one,’ I say, calling to the others. ‘Can you do the same to the panel, Isaac?’
‘I’m not sure, it looks different to the last one,’ he says, after briefly looking it over.
‘Just smash the window and open it from the inside! We haven’t much time!’ Zach’s friend Josh says, looking annoyed. ‘It’s not as if they’d find it till tomorrow, and by then they’ll have known people are missing.’
‘Give me a chance, I think it’s possible!’ Isaac argues, crouching down and detaching the panel slowly from the wall.
Suddenly, there’s a loud smash, and glass rains down onto the floor. Josh strides into the door, reaching his hand through and turning the handle. The door opens and Josh bows low.
‘After you, milady,’ he says to me.
I apologise to Isaac, and push past Josh into the kitchen. Josh picks up the backpack he used to break the glass off the floor and steps in after me. The room is lit only by moonlight, so Nina hands me her torch.
‘Hold it for me while I gather food,’ she says.
It takes ten minutes to pack as much food as we can carry into our backpacks. Once we’re all done, we exit back the way we came. I notice now that someone has written “
Serves you right for giving us detention. Up yours, Chief!”
on the wall in large black letters. I suppress a giggle again. We leave the dining hall and cross the courtyard, stopping at the large door into the Training Building.
‘Will your handprint still work on this one?’ I ask Isaac.
He presses his hand to the panel. The green flashing stops and a soft beep sounds. The door opens by itself and we all step inside.
‘I’d recommend taking silent weapons only,’ I advise as we dash upstairs to the armoury. I select a katana from the large assortment of weapons hung on the wall. I attach it to my belt and wait for everyone else. Zach approaches me, still carrying the pistol, his natural weapon of choice.
‘We’re really leaving, aren’t we?’ he says to me, his face a mixture of emotions.
‘It’s the only thing we can do,’ I say to him. ‘Are you okay?’
‘It’s only that we’ve lived here all our lives. I don’t remember anything before this, and as much as I’ve complained about living here, we’ve all been kept safe. Are they really the bad guys just for not telling us what the training is for?’
‘I don’t know... but my parents want what’s best for me. They wouldn’t let me risk my life escaping if my life would be better off here. You can all still turn back and return to your dormitories now if you’d like? I won’t think any less of any of you if you choose to do that.’
Nina steps between us, glowering at me.
‘It’s our choice that we’re leaving!’ she says. ‘As much as you think you have more reason than us, do you really think we’d go back to normal life after a night like this?! We’re all sticking with you, isn’t that right guys?!’
Everyone in the room cheers. I didn’t realise they were all listening in. I look back at Zach to see that his grin has returned.
‘Seems like we’re all with you then,’ he chuckles. ‘Now where do we go from here?’
Isaac ushers us all over to the window and points to a bunch of buildings in the distance.
‘The vehicles always leave from those warehouses,’ he begins. ‘I explored that area during some free time, but they’re secured heavily and I didn’t want another punishment for it.’
I look at my watch, the time showing that it’s ten-past two. If the vehicles were leaving, then they would be leaving within the hour.
‘We have to leave now!’ I cry, rushing towards the stairs, everyone following me.
It takes another half hour to reach the warehouses. If it weren’t for the guards, we would have reached them sooner. The warehouses are filled with guards, checking the vehicles and talking through radios.
‘There!’ whispers Zach, pointing to one of the 4x4s parked outside the warehouse.
It’s unguarded and there are another three like it. I think it through realistically. We’ll need at least three of them to escape in, but that would draw too much attention to ourselves. Two would be a squeeze to fit everyone in, but less obvious. As I’m pondering the thought, an alarm sounds from inside the warehouses.
‘Duck!’ Nina says in a whisper.
We all hide. At first I think the alarm is due to us being caught, but the guards all move towards the large gate in the wall of the Compound. It’s covered in ivy, which I always believed was due to the years it’s been unopened, but the ivy remains on the gates as they open.
‘You’re right,’ whispers Zach. ‘They haven’t been honest with us at all.’
Engines flare up all around us as the vehicles leave the warehouse. As the last one makes its way towards the gate, Zach takes the lead, pulling me by my arm towards the unoccupied 4x4s.
‘Hurry!’ he exclaims quietly.
‘We’re taking only two!’ I whisper to the group. Nobody tries to argue with me.
We split up, Zach taking half the group in one of the vehicles, while I take the rest. We all learnt to drive in training two years ago, though like the rest of the training, it’s never been put to actual use.
‘On my mark,’ Zach says from his vehicle. ‘Go!’
I drive the car quickly, only just managing to join the back of the row of vehicles now ready to leave. The convoy slows down to a stop in front of the gates as several other vehicles enter through the gates and park in the warehouses we’ve just left.
‘
Kayra!
’’ I hear my mother’s voice say in my head.
‘
Mum?!
’ I say back to her, hoping she hears me.
‘
Yes it’s me. I’m watching you on the cameras. No alerts have been raised yet, but you only have a short time before they do.
’
‘
What do I have to do?
’ I ask.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see some of the guards walking along the row of vehicles.
‘
Open the glove compartment. Inside you’ll find a radio. When I alert them of another two vehicles, they’ll speak to you through there. Tell them Colonel Freeman authorised it and it’s a 27b situation.
’
‘
Got it. Anything else?
’
There is a short pause before my mother speaks to me again.
‘
You’re almost there now. Your sister is closer and I’m so proud of you both. I love you.
’
I feel slightly abandoned as I feel my connection to my mother weaken as she leaves. I open the glove compartment and hold the radio in my hand. Within ten seconds, a commanding voice comes through.
‘On whose orders are you leaving?’ the voice demands.
‘Colonel Freeman authorised this. He said he needs all the people we can spare, it’s a 27b,’ I tell him, putting as much authority into my voice as I can.
He doesn’t speak for several moments and I feel my heart beating faster, hoping this worked.
‘Very well,’ the voice speaks.
The vehicles begin moving out of the gates. We move slowly at first, but pick up speed. I keep my eyes fixed forwards, the tinted windows hopefully hiding the many people in the vehicles. We drive through the gates and watch as they close behind us. I follow the car in front of me, excitement bubbling up inside of me. I hear Nina let out a long sigh of relief.
‘We’re finally getting out of this hellhole!’ she exclaims, punching my shoulder.
Everyone in the vehicle cheers quietly, holding back the excitement. We cross a vast bridge, the water below us rippling and glistening in the moonlight, looking beautiful in an odd way. We reach the end of it within a couple of minutes, and I watch the wall of the Compound in the rear-view mirror. It’s slowly growing smaller and smaller as we distance ourselves from it. The prison we’ve been unknowingly enslaved in all our lives.
We drive slowly for almost two hours, staying in the convoy, and by now I’m getting worried as to where we’re going. I try and contact my mother.
‘
Mum?
’ I ask. ‘
What do I do now? I don’t know where I’m going.
’
‘
They haven’t yet noticed anyone has left and you are almost out of range of the radio communicators. The trackers in your vehicles are showing me where you are. You’re ten minutes from the city. My suggestion is that you all break off from the group and ditch the vehicles when you reach the city. If you do it right, only the people in front of you will notice you go and they won’t break orders to follow you,
’ my mother replies.
‘
Where are the others headed? What is with the late night travelling?’
I ask. I’ve wanted to know this since before we left.
‘
They take supplies to the people hunting the people your sister is with,
’ she replies.
We say goodbye as we get closer to the city. The sky is lightening slightly now, and as we turn a sharp corner, suddenly the sunrise is visible. For the first time in my life, I’m watching the sunrise. The wall always hid the sunrise, and we didn’t see the sun until later in the day. Of course I’ve read books about how beautiful it is, but seeing it is the most amazing sight I’ve ever seen.