“So where are we headed?” Gwen asked, her legs pumping up and down on the hard, black floor.
Nothing.
The small man laid the case flat on his lap and opened it, a small chime sounding from within. A computer sat in one side and sixteen flat, plastic rectangles the size and shape of handhelds nested in the other.
“What’s in the case?” Gwen asked, hoping she could get some response out of someone.
The man scratched his nose and pursed his lips, squinting at the screen. I didn’t think he even heard her. I’d had enough. I stomped my foot and everyone looked up, their eyes fiery red from the sun’s rays.
“Where are we going?”
Denis spoke, his mouth struggling to form words through his bruised lips. “I assume we are headed for Pau Brazil, right? My father has always been very creative with his punishments.” He spat blood on the ground in front of him and wiped his mouth on his already crimson-spattered shirt.
All Grant’s cryptic statements rolled out of a sack with a clunk, and I pieced them together. There were no hard parts to this puzzle; it fit together easily with sharp edges and straight lines.
“So your psychopath sister is having us dropped in Ring Two with my mother and sister,” I said resignedly. My punishment was to watch them die and know I couldn’t save them. Judith was honoring his sick wish.
Denis nodded.
“Do you know what the plan…?” A sharp punch to my stomach blew the words from my mouth.
“No talking!” an older soldier snapped.
I connected with Denis’ eyes. The warning in them was huge, lighting the clouds. I closed my mouth and gazed down at my cracked, purplish fingers.
Joseph would be there. The thought drove me into the sky and pulled me through the dirt. They knew he would be there because of Olga. I wanted to crack her open, peel her shell off, and show everyone what she’d done. He was in danger—the whole group was. But the only thing my heart would hold onto was the idea of seeing him again, despite the million obstacles between us.
It was all part of Grant’s twisted sense of justice. He wanted me to have hope. He wanted me to fight. And I would. I would find my mother and sister, and I would try to save them. Even from death, I heard his cruel laugh and pictured his calculating eyes.
The rain eased and the sun rose chillingly over the vast forest beneath us. Gwen put her hand over mine, and I was pulled back to the last time I was in a chopper, Joseph’s warm hand over mine, his reassurance. We were scared and didn’t know what was ahead, but in that moment, the future was immense and could have been anything—there was promise in the sky. Things had changed. I shook my head and laughed, causing some of the soldiers to glance in my direction in surprise.
There wasn’t much I could do, little I had control over, but I promised I wouldn’t give up. Never. I would always fight. It was the only certain thing. A solid, glowing part of me that had endured every single atrocity they’d thrown at me.
I didn’t know any other way.
I couldn’t be any other way.
I curled my fingers around Gwen’s hand and she squeezed them tightly. She was with me.
I was ready for my lungs to burn, to scream with the force of the turning blades above me. To survive.
I wish I could have slept. Most of the soldiers closed their eyes at different times, resting for their mission. Their hunt-down-my-friends-and-kill-them mission. It made me smile a dark smile to know this would not be easy for them. They were in for the fight of their lives.
My eyelids were peeled back with pure adrenaline as they took in the lush green beneath. The river. The places I’d stepped in and over. I could hear the water over the rocks, the patches of ice shifting and cracking on the surface. It brought me home, gave me strength.
I searched for the Survivors, hoping to catch a glimpse of them walking, but of course, they weren’t there. They would hide well. They weren’t likely to be caught in the open.
Gwen and I whispered to each other as we passed over the first town. “When we hit the ground, we will have to run, like really run. How are your legs?” I asked.
Gwen raised them in front of her and wiggled her bare feet. “Better than ever!”
The soldier snorted next to her and rolled his eyes.
I stared down at my dress, torn and muddy. I had court shoes on, better than nothing, but they would slow me down.
The small man spoke, his voice sounding like the air being let out of a balloon slowly. “Unless you have super speed on your side, I don’t like your chances. Once you touch down, you’ll have thirty minutes before the tip, the…” He stopped midsentence and pulled his top lip into his mouth.
A few soldiers jerked their heads in his direction but then the older soldier growled, his teeth sharp and gappy. “No talking. No questions. Those were the orders.”
“Yes sir,” several said in unison.
Denis slept, and I wondered what I was going to do with him. Did I owe him anything? Should I include him in my plans? The truth was I felt very little for him, but he had promised to save my life in exchange for my help with Grant. He had said he wanted to change things…
The chopper jolted over an air pocket. Below, the rings of Bagassa darkened the perfect forest. We were close now. Pau was next.
Just before Pau, the helicopter slowed and hovered, bouncing lower and lower, sending us flying up out of our seats. The soldiers started unbuckling their harnesses and hooking themselves to ropes. The chopper lowered until it was quite close to the ground, hovering like a dragonfly.
Denis startled awake when the body of the chopper tipped as soldiers shifted their weight around the craft.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
The door slid open and the soldiers jumped out one by one without answering. Only two were left behind, plus the pilot and the computer man, who glanced up from his screen. “An ambush works better with the element of surprise, don’t you think?”
They were going to sneak up behind Joseph and the others.
I grabbed at my harness and started unbuckling it, ready to hurt someone, push them out of the door, scream a warning, anything, but the soldier next to Gwen braced me with his strong arm and pushed down on my chest until the last soldier dropped and the helicopter rose higher. When we were high above ground, he violently shoved me against the wall and re-buckled my harness, sneering.
“Wouldn’t want you to fall out and kill yerself, now would we?” he growled.
I closed my eyes and banged my head back in frustration. They won’t find them.
It took very little time to arrive at Pau.
The chopper brushed over the walls and headed for the center circle where it touched down. The soldiers undid our harnesses and shoved us out of the door. Denis fell flat on his chest, the saturated sandstone pavers absorbing more blood. I heaved him up and stared at the chopper, everything coming full circle. I was back. Changed. The same. My hair whipped around my face as it rose. I shivered and tugged my ragged sleeve up over my collarbone, an insubstantial gesture against the cold morning. The small man shut the case and waved happily at me.
“Good luck!” he shouted before a soldier slammed the door.
Thirty minutes.
JOSEPH
We walked through the night, collapsing at the edge of the forest, nestling in several small caves that punctured the rocks leading to Pau. I woke after a short sleep to hear Pelo’s voice echoing off the walls.
He was electrified, bouncing up and down, peppering Desh with questions about the mechanisms behind the technology. He was nervous. I started to wish I were going with him, if only to keep him safe for her.