“If we get caught–” I felt the butterflies waking up in my stomach all over again.
Joshua nodded. “It was originally your idea,” he smiled. “Come on, I know you want to.”
“I do want to.” It was worth looking around, and I was curious about the rebel alliance. I knew Joshua was too. I shifted carefully on the mattress to sit up, making sure not to make a sound. I didn’t want to wake any of the sleeping recruits. “If we get caught–”
“We won’t,” he assured me. I wondered when he had become the daring one out of the two of us. Quietly, we climbed off the bunk, grabbed our shoes and tiptoed out of the room.
“Do you remember which way was out?” I whispered. The building felt like a maze at times, but only because I wasn’t used to such elaborate setups. Here everything seemed to be in one place.
Joshua pointed to the left. I nodded silently, doing my best to keep our voices to a minimum. The quieter we were, the better chance we had of not being overheard. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it as we rounded another corner to the right, heading for the main entrance. I hesitated before opening the door, pulling it back slowly, trying my best to peek out before pulling it wide open. I was amazed to find no one outside. No guards anywhere in fact. We walked out and perused the fields. Darkness bathed the town situated a few hundred feet away. Without saying a word, we both headed in the direction of town, using the moonlight to guide us.
We did our best to walk in the shadows, keeping to the tall brush in the fields and avoiding the path that we’d driven in on. We held hands, refusing to let each other out of sight.
Joshua kept his voice low, but his breath tickled my ear as he leaned in, “We should keep an eye out for our vehicle.” I knew he was right. It would be helpful if we needed to plot our escape. We reached the edge of the tall grasses and continued forward. There was nothing to hide us from the town. I felt my heart quicken and walked faster trying to find cover. I didn’t like being out in the open, exposed.
Joshua didn’t say a word, merely followed my lead. He must have felt the same. As we reached the backside of buildings, I pulled Joshua through an alley between two houses, grateful the shadows once again hid us.
There was nothing to see along the row of houses and so I pulled Joshua with me, avoiding the moonlight as best as we could across the street and through another dark alley. I paused as we reached the second street, this one growing more familiar. “We drove through here,” I whispered to Joshua remembering the clinic and the house we’d stayed in just a few yards away.
The road was made of red earth and packed down, but I could make out a fresh set of tire tracks. “Ours?” I mouthed, nodding toward the vehicle marks on the street. If they were, we could follow the tracks to the vehicle. Maybe Joshua’s idea wasn’t so bad, escaping.
Joshua sighed, “Who else’s would they be?” We hadn’t seen any vehicles in town, but we’d been cooped up in the recruit building all day.
My eyes surveyed the perimeter. No guards were on duty. The town appeared to be asleep. I knew electricity had been used in our complex during the day, though the entire town went dark at night. It made sense. If a drone flew over and saw nothing, the city would appear to have been abandoned long ago.
I kept my voice down. “Should we follow it?” I wasn’t confident in walking further into town where we’d come face-to-face with Chancellor Collins.
“We could, but remember we turned around, went to the clinic and the recruit center.” I grimaced, realizing Joshua was right. We’d have to follow the tracks back, not the ones here. “Besides, it’s not as though they’d leave it out in the open.” I didn’t know if they solely didn’t trust us or if they worried the government would know someone was living here.
“They hid it,” I acknowledged, realizing it would take more than a little searching along the darkened streets. It could take hours of sneaking around, possibly days to find the vehicle, assuming they hadn’t stripped it down to parts and destroyed it.
Joshua’s voice sounded anxious. “Let’s head back.”
We’d barely spent any time exploring the town. “Not yet.” I shook my head.
“We shouldn’t, Olive,” he said. “That’s where we got caught last time.”
I glanced at Joshua. “We were driving a car, headlights blazing.” It was no wonder we were stopped. “Relax,” I insisted.
From the distance I heard a slight pop and click. I froze in place and gripped Joshua’s hand as we took a step back against the building allowing the four stories to tower us in darkness.
My heart skipped a beat. The Chancellor was no more than two houses away, walking outside with a lantern and heading our direction. I pulled Joshua tighter. I felt him grab my waist as he yanked me four steps to the right, into an alley between the buildings. Grateful for his quick thinking, I held my breath, frightened the Chancellor would hear. Slowly he approached the center of the road and stopped. I glanced at Joshua only to see him shake his head no. We shouldn’t move or say a word.
Each passing second felt like a lifetime. The Chancellor stood waiting for something. I had no idea what. Could he hear my heart drumming against my chest? My hands shook, and it wasn’t from being cold.
I didn’t move, incapable, and knew if we did, we’d be caught. Neither of us knew the consequences of our actions and didn’t want to find out. From the distance, I could see headlights beaming, and I squinted as they shone brightly on the Chancellor.
Joshua and I crouched down as we tried to stay out of sight, now that the town seemed to be bright as day. The car gradually approached, slowing down, though the engine hummed and rattled, awakening anyone within a ten-mile radius. The headlights finally dimmed, but I didn’t chance moving.
“Stay down,” I heard Joshua’s voice against my ear and nodded. There was no way I was about to get up now. The car screeched and stopped dead in front of Collins. I couldn’t help but wonder if this stranger was about to be escorted from the vehicle like Joshua and I had been.
Instead, Chancellor Collins walked around to the driver’s side door and handed him something. My eyes squinted, but it was too far away and much too dark to make out what he had given the stranger. A book, perhaps?
I kept my mouth shut for fear of being overhead. Words were exchanged for a few minutes, and finally the item was handed back to Collins before the man turned the car around and headed out the same way he’d come in. I glanced at Joshua, only to see him shake his head. We needed to remain quiet. I shifted and turned back to see the Chancellor walking toward us. I hoped we hadn’t been seen! Neither of us moved or breathed. Collins strolled past, oblivious to us hiding right in front of him as he entered a nearby building, closing the door.
Joshua was the first to speak, and I realized how long I’d been holding my breath. “We should head back, now,” he told me firmly.
“Okay.” I didn’t object. My heart pounded as we briskly walked by the building the Chancellor had stepped inside. I hoped he couldn’t see us as we stalked past the window.
“What do you think that was about?” I asked as we jogged back through dark allies, empty streets and an open expanse until we finally reached the cover of the tall grasses.
“I have no idea.” Joshua sighed. “I thought there were no visitors here,” he remarked as we carefully opened the door of the front entrance then silently made our way to bed. I climbed into my bunk and closed my eyes, exhausted from the ordeal of almost being caught.
I heard Joshua’s soft, “Goodnight,” as he climbed onto the mattress above.