Authors: Eloise Dyson
39
Kayra
Arys has been gone two days. I’ve been assuring Kai non-stop on how she’s doing now that I feel her emotions again. The connection isn’t as strong as it used to be; the shock, grief and love has done that, but for now, it’s all we need. We’re all on our way to the Festival, after debating with the entire Tribe, it’s the best place to be, away from the horrors that the campsite reminds them of. The Tribe won’t be returning there, and the location of Papa’s grave may soon be forgotten. I barely knew him, but that thought makes me miserable. The Tribe packed up, sharing the load of the remaining tents and personal belongings. Not many tents survived the assault, so people have been assigned to share with others. The people who came with me from the Compound have been working tirelessly, trying to keep from giving a bad impression. We’ve lost some people too, but everyone is hiding their grief over them.
‘Shh! It will be okay,’ I say, rocking Alaoden side to side, trying to stop him crying.
Zeke taught me briefly how to look after babies, but this doesn’t seem to be working with Alaoden, and he must now be missing the comfort and security of his own mother.
We reach a small clearing in the trees, and Kai, leading the group, gets his bearings.
‘We’ll take a short break for food,’ he says authoritatively, and starts walking the perimeter of the clearing.
The clearing is much smaller, and to me, more beautiful than the one they were camping in. The grass is a bright green, and patches of wild flowers grow, almost out of control, causing it to look like a scene from a book. Alaoden is still squirming and crying in my arms as I sit down on the grass. Zeke and Iris come towards me, holding a small bag of food.
‘Wild turkey,’ Zeke says, crouching down next to me and offering me some cold meat. ‘Kai’s considering sending a hunting party out so we get a more decent meal tonight.’
‘I might join them,’ Iris says. ‘The misery is getting a little too much while everyone’s walking and now has the time to think on it all.’
‘If it weren’t for Alaoden, I would,’ I say.
‘You’re better with him than you were,’ Zeke says.
Alaoden is now asleep, his tiny thumb in his mouth, and a pleasant look on his face. I continue to rock him gently.
‘But you’re still holding him wrong,’ he laughs, taking my arm and gently resting it under Alaoden’s head.
Alaoden wakes up again, and looks around, his eyes wide, taking in the new company.
‘He looks hungry,’ Iris says brightly. ‘I can take him to one of the mothers if you’d like?’
Both Zeke and I agree, and watch as Iris tenderly lifts Alaoden into her arms and carries him through the centre of the clearing. She gives him to Emily, one of Alaoden’s mother’s friends. She also lost a child in the fire, and from this distance, seems happy to look after Alaoden. Iris returns, smiling slightly. We all lie back on the grass, staring at the sky. The few clouds that are in the sky look streaked, like a paintbrush has been swept across the sky. Lying here is peaceful for a few minutes, and we’re all comfortable in each other’s silence, listening to the people around us talking and eating. Zeke has become like my best friend in a short space of time, now that Zach and Nina are always together.
I rest my cheek on the grass, and watch Zach and Nina joking together. They’re both entertaining the kids, who are all running backwards and forwards to them. Zach’s goofy grin is visible as he gets attacked playfully by the majority of the kids.
‘You know something,’ I begin. ‘I used to see guys as just decent punch bags.’
‘And now?’ Zeke asks, with slight humour in his tone.
‘They also make pretty decent babysitters!’ I say teasingly.
‘You nailed it!’ Iris laughs from her position on the other side of Zeke.
Zeke pushes me away jokingly and sits up.
‘Hey, okay fine! They’re also good hunters I guess,’ I say light-heartedly, also sitting up.
‘Well we do have to be good at all that!’ he argues.
‘Why?’ I ask.
‘Really? You seriously can’t guess?’ he asks, sighing. ‘To survive. If your wife dies, you have to look after any kids yourself.’ He looks at Zach and Nina with the kids running around them, all of them laughing. ‘If I do have kids and my future wife dies, I don’t know if I could do it without her.’
He looks down at Iris, who is still lying down, listening to us. Her eyes are closed and he’s staring into her face longingly. From what I’ve gathered, they’re either engaged, or madly in love. It’s silent for a few moments, until Emily returns with Alaoden sleeping in her arms.
‘Thank you for caring for him,’ she says, handing him back to Zeke. ‘Christina would be proud of you both for doing this.’
‘You’re wrong,’ I tell Zeke when Emily walks away. ‘You could manage it on your own.’
‘I could,’ he says slowly. ‘I just don’t want to.’
We continue walking, Kai in the lead. He leads us diligently, his mind set solely on getting to the Festival. I’ve tried contacting Arys, but we’re too far apart, physically and emotionally for it to be successful. We’re going deeper and deeper into the forest, and little sunlight is coming through the trees now, resulting in a cool, very dim atmosphere. I leave Zeke and Iris alone, Zeke holding Alaoden, and catch up to Kai cautiously, unsure if he will willingly talk about Arys.
‘Do you have any idea where she might be?’ I ask him hesitantly.
To my surprise, his tone is lighter than I thought it was going to be, and it’s as if he hasn’t been guarded and reserved all this time.
‘No, but she used to talk about running away to the city,’ he confides. ‘She wanted to fight off the Hunters and live there, but that was when we were still kids.’
Nina joins us, confidently pushing us apart and standing in between us.
‘Maybe she’s run off with another guy,’ she smirks.
‘Nina! That’s not helpful!’ I hiss at her, looking at Kai to see that his eyes are once again focused straight ahead.
‘It’s the truth!’ she says. ‘Girls get bored of guys and move on! It’s the circle of life, Kayra.’
Zach laughs and joins us too, ruining what I was hoping to be the time when I can convince Kai that Arys is still okay.
‘No,’ Zach says laughing. ‘I think that’s just
your
circle, Nina.’
She shoves Zach a little too forcefully, knocking him sideways into a tree. I try not to laugh at his face as Kai strides away faster. Zeke and Iris approach me with Alaoden, and for the first time I suddenly realise that we can’t keep him forever, we’re going to have to let him go eventually. I tell Zeke this and he nods sadly, knowing that he also can’t look after him like this.
‘Do you think we could give him to another family?’ I ask, walking next to him. ‘Someone will take him in at the Festival.’
‘How do we trust them?’ he asks. ‘They could abandon him to Hunters when he gets too much of a burden.’
‘Who
could
do that, Zeke?!’ I ask, looking down at Alaoden in his arms.
He’s sleeping still, his small head resting in Zeke’s hand.
‘I was thinking that we really can do it,’ he says. ‘Care for him together, I mean.’
‘Zeke, you know we can’t! We’re still young! And I’ve been trained as a fighter; I can’t do the whole family thing.’
‘Yeah, okay. Find him a family then,’ he says bluntly.
He gives me Alaoden and joins Kai at the front of the group. Alaoden will have to go into another tribe; I will probably never see him again after the Festival.
40
Arys
Fran comes into my room with a tray of food, followed by her brother.
‘You know, you never told me your name,’ I say to him, trying to be friendly.
‘I know,’ he says frankly.
Fran puts the tray down, and walks out of the room without saying anything. I look again at the unfamiliar meat that I ate yesterday. There’s a small loaf of bread next to it, and some thin slices of a yellow coloured food that I don’t recognise.
‘Aren’t you going to tell me?’ I ask him.
‘I don’t have one,’ he replies. ‘I had a name, but I don’t go by that anymore.’
‘Then why does Fran call you Al?’
‘She has her reasons,’ he says, smiling a little.
‘Fine, I’ll call you Al too then,’ I say.
‘That’s not my name, though!’ he laughs.
He doesn’t suit the name Al. I always imagine someone with that name as someone young and weak.
‘What should I call you then?’
He thinks for a moment, before smiling at me again.
‘Lee,’ he says. ‘Just call me Lee.’
‘Is that your name?’ I ask.
‘No, but it’s better than you calling me Al, too!’
He smiles and walks out of the room, the door closes behind him with a click, and I hear his footsteps going away.
‘Bye, Al!’ I shout after him.
‘It’s Lee!’ he calls back.
Hours pass, and I stare at the same dark spot on the ceiling until everything else is a blur and it’s just me and that spot. The food was good, and the yellow coloured food tasted creamy, with an odd mixture of sweetness and saltiness. I like it though, and it tasted better than a lot of the food I’ve eaten in my life. I don’t know if the Hunters really have been controlled all of this time by the Compound, or if this is just a conspiracy theory set up by Lee and Fran. I lie there thinking of the people who destroyed my life. What for? Why are we being hunted and what do they possibly gain for doing it? All we’re doing is trying to survive, like them! I try and imagine a world without Hunters, where after the earthquake we all survived without having to constantly watch our backs. Kai wouldn’t have killed one hundred and seventy four people, that’s for sure. Then that number hits me. One hundred and seventy four people who possibly can’t control what they’re doing. One hundred and seventy four innocent people, trapped in the bodies of killers are dead at Kai’s hand. Then my number comes back. Fourteen. I’ve killed fourteen possibly innocent people. I try to remember their faces, but in the chaos of the battle, I don’t remember anything about any of them. Someone knocks on the door three times, before the door opens. Lee stands in the doorway, smiling at me.
‘Afternoon!’ he says brightly.
The door shuts behind him as he walks into my room, or prison cell.
‘I’ve brought you a few things, but first I want you to close your eyes,’ he says.
I don’t want to trust him, but there’s something about him that I can’t help but like and trust, so I shut my eyes. The door opens and then closes again with the now familiar clicking noise, and after a few short moments, it opens again.
‘You can open your eyes now,’ he says.
My eyes open and I see him stood in front of me holding out a large brown bag.
‘What is it?’ I ask, taking the bag from him.
He stays silent as I open the bag and pull out black clothes. The trousers have a scaly sort of feel to them, the top is a short-sleeved t-shirt, and a black jacket of the same material as the trousers. Unity’s emblem is on the front of the jacket, a white in a circle, with the letter ‘U’ printed inside it. The words along the white circle say “
United, we stand firm. If divided, we shall crumble.
”. They’re like the clothes that Kayra and her people from The Compound wore when I first found her.
‘What are these?’ I ask, looking up at Lee.
‘That’s the boring bit,’ he says mysteriously, winking at me.
I reach into the bag and extract another item. A small black box. It’s made of metal, and it fits comfortably in one hand. I open it to reveal a black and silver watch, the same as Kayra’s.
‘But I can’t tell the time,’ I say a little too miserably. ‘Thanks though.’
‘No, you don’t understand!’ he says, the smile not vanished from his face at me not appreciating what I assume to be an expensive item. ‘It’s so we can talk to each other!’
‘Where am I going?’ I ask, already knowing and dreading the answer.
‘I’m sorry Arys, but you have to,’ he says, the smile now leaving his face, leaving him looking concerned and suddenly serious.
I nod, and then carry on looking through the bag. I pull out another black box, similar to the first one, only slightly longer.
‘What’s with the dark theme?’ I ask, trying to lighten the tension now between us. ‘I’d say you have an obsession!’
Lee keeps his face straight, his eyes focused on the bag.
‘You probably won’t like this one,’ he says.
I find out why straight away. I open the box to see a syringe resting on a padded cushion. The syringe is full of a bright green fluid. I drop the box straight away.
‘No!’ I scream at him, standing up and letting the clothes and watch follow the syringe to the floor. ‘No more enhancements!’
All of a sudden, I remember everything. All the injections as a baby, the tub of water where they injected me the final time... all the pain. Kayra was there, watching me. She was talking to me, the connection growing stronger the longer I was in the water. I was in a blue glass box, filled with water. I had a mask on, giving me oxygen as I was submerged in the water, the pain increasing the longer I was there. Kayra screaming for me while in my mother’s arms... My mother – what does she look like? I can’t even remember her. The rapid beeping stopped, leaving in its place one solitary beep, like the sound of death. Long and painful. Everything paused and went black, went dead.
‘Arys?!’ Lee shouts, shaking me violently.
I open my eyes to see his now pale face inches from my face, shaking me from side to side.
‘What happened?’ I ask stupidly, holding my hands to my head.
A headache has started, but it feels like it’s been there for hours. I massage my head and look down at the floor to see the syringe poking out from underneath the pile of clothes.
‘You just... weren’t really there,’ he says shakily. ‘You started staring at the syringe and screaming.’
‘I’m sorry... I had a flashback,’ I say, the throbbing in my head slowly easing off now.
‘What did you see?’ he asks calmly.
I look at him, he looks freaked out still and telling him that I died as a baby might not be the best thing to say right now.
‘What does that syringe do?’ I ask him, changing the subject.
‘It takes away the enhancement that makes you do as you’re told. You’ll keep your free will. Usually the enhancement they give you takes a while to wear off, and some control it more easily than others.’
‘I’ve had an enhancement that makes me do as I’m told?! Who would even make that enhancement?!’
He has a pained expression on his face for a second, and then sits next to me on the bed.
‘I shouldn’t be the one to explain all of this,’ he says. ‘But there’s no other way and you have to know the complete truth.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask him timidly.
‘I really shouldn’t be the one to tell you,’ he says again. ‘But both of your parents were deep in Unity when you were born, and they knew of things that were happening, awful things. The earthquake was predicted at the same time Victor Thorne, the current Unity leader, was expecting a baby. He and his wife couldn’t raise another child while heavily involved in Unity’s plans. His sister, Heather, volunteered to raise the child as her own, until the time comes for it to be taken into the care of the Compound. As a nurse, it was her duty to oversee the pregnancy of her own future child. She quickly discovered that Mrs Thorne was carrying twins. Then the plan was formed between herself and her husband. Heather was notified as soon as Mrs Thorne went into labour. After some tests, Heather told Mrs Thorne that the babies have to be surgically removed, due to circumstances, and assured her that they would both be safe. She was put under general anaesthesia and two healthy babies were born. Kayra was taken instantly by Heather, smuggled out of the Unity labs, leaving Henry to break the news to Mrs Thorne. When awake, she was told that one baby was born healthily, the other was stillborn. She spent the week with you, before leaving you in Heather’s protection. Your sister, Kayra was hidden safely inside the house and no one but your parents knew that she existed. It was during that year that the government made it the law that all babies born in the city must immediately have the new enhancements. Enhancements that speed up learning, enhancements that protect you against the most common diseases and even serious illnesses, and so many more, including the one that forces you to obey people you respect or fear. This made it so that everyone was equal in their skills, and for parents to have highly intelligent kids who don’t get ill is like a dream come true! Almost everyone went along with it happily. The government doctors were meant to go to you a month after your birth, so in this month, your adopted father used his own enhancements on both of you. Ones that increased your twin connection, helping you to communicate through your minds, which I’ve heard has worked magnificently. He also gave Kayra modified versions of some of the government issued enhancements, resulting in her becoming an equally fast a learner as the other kids, possibly even faster, without any of the downsides. She was still in control of her own free will, and she didn’t have to obey the people she respected or feared. A month after your birth, you got given the injections, but they had a bad effect on you. As you’d already been given some by Henry, they didn’t mix well with the government issued enhancements. You only just survived. Your mind became slightly weakened, and you didn’t react to all of the enhancements as well as you should have. Your emotions interfered with them, causing problems, not only with the government issued enhancements, but also with Henry’s. Unity had you tested, and you managed to pass the test, clearing you to be able to go to the Compound. Then, the week before the earthquake was about to strike, Unity sent officials to all of the parents in the city, explaining the situation and offering their child’s safety. Almost every parent allowed it – in their eyes, Unity were an important part of the government! They were the good guys! And what parent would say no to their child’s certain safety? The few parents who didn’t agree were taken. I don’t know what happened to them. For all the other parents, the contracts were signed and they had one week to say goodbye to their children. On the morning of the day the earthquake struck, you were switched by your parents. Kayra, the secret girl, supposedly dead, with no government issued enhancements went to the Compound under your name, while you were sent off with Heather’s father. There were predicted spots where the damage would be less, so your adopted parents told him where the safest place to take you would be, and he took you there, to start what grew to be your Tribe.’
Everything he’s just said slowly goes through me. I barely know them, but my parents aren’t my real parents. My true father is the enemy, the one I’m against. And he didn’t want me. I refuse to believe it at first, but it all sinks in, making sense. Although Heather and Henry aren’t my real parents, I still feel that they should be, despite learning all of this. And then I realise that one thing hasn’t changed. Papa has always been my real grandfather. He’s Heather’s dad, and my real father’s dad. So he was perhaps the only one who truly cared about me.
‘I know this is all hard for you to hear,’ Lee says, breaking the silence between us.
‘No,’ I say, my voice unexpectedly stable. ‘It explains everything, thank you for telling me.’
‘Are you alright?’ he asks, concern in his tone.
‘Yeah, I think so,’ I say. ‘So this syringe will take the obedience away from me? Giving me back my free will?’
‘You’ve always had it, but strong emotions bring it out even more and it’s something we can’t risk,’ he says. ‘This will kill the cells that contain the enhancement and I wish I could tell you that it will be painless, I really do.’
He no longer looks like a Hunter to me. Now it’s like I’m looking at him for the first time; he’s friendly. Everyone else has lied to me all my life, and Lee is the first to be honest with me. Hunters look evil, vicious and as if they have no other desire than to kill you there and then. Even when we sneak up on them, when they don’t know we’re there, their faces are malicious. But Lee is different. Lee is my friend now.
‘Okay, inject me,’ I tell him.
He takes the syringe from the floor and pulls off a protective cover that hides the needle. The green liquid shines brighter in the light. I close my eyes tightly, offering my arm. I bite my lip as the needle goes in. He pushes the plunger down slowly and the room starts to spin as he takes it out. I grab hold of Lee’s arm. All the colours of the room blur into one, making it hard to see anything.