Divided (12 page)

23

Kai

     ‘Everything’s too quiet,’ I say to Arys.

     We’ve been in the city for almost twenty four hours and we’ve only come across two Hunters, who were both unarmed.

     ‘Maybe Hunters don’t live here, they’re just rumours spread to keep us from here for some reason,’ Arys suggests, looking at me.

     ‘Yeah, that sort of makes sense, but why?’ I ask her.

     ‘Tribes or loners might have wanted it for themselves,’ she shrugs.

     I was a loner. First abandoned, then found, my parents killed, I found my little brothers, and now I’m in a tribe. Safe.

     We walk for hours, Arys talking to Kayra regularly. I slide my hand into hers and hold it while walking. It’s soft and warm and now very familiar to me. She looks at me and smiles.

     ‘We really need to try and work on the connection thing,’ she says. ‘I can’t keep blocking her out when talking to you.’

     Her blonde hair is being blown around in the breeze and I can’t help but watch it.

     ‘So we have to work on controlling your emotions and getting them to work with your connection with her,’ I say to her.

     She smiles at me, and I feel happier as we walk through the city.

     After a long time of walking, Arys finally speaks.

     ‘I can feel her! She’s really close!’

     Arys lets go of my hand and looks around. She’s trying to talk to Kayra again. I realise that we’re never going to be completely alone again; Kayra will always be with us.

     ‘Follow me!’ she tells me, pulling me by my hand.

     I keep my spare hand on the hilt of my knife, ready for attack, just in case. We run over broken buildings, and under door frames, ash blowing up around us as we sprint through the messy terrain. She trips a few times over stray bricks, but regains her balance easily.

     ‘Arys!’ I say to her, catching my breath.

     She spins around and looks at me with wide eyes. We’re standing on a crumbled house. It’s not safe.

24

Arys

I look at Kai, expecting him to say something. He looks behind me, a look in his eye that I can’t quite work out. I put my hand on my sword and slowly turn round, expecting to see a lot of Hunters. But then I see her. Kayra. I walk gently towards her, my legs feeling incredibly heavy as I make my way down the debris towards her. I reach her and we’re in front of each other for the first time in fifteen years. We stare at each other in amazement; it’s like looking in the mirror, but at the same time looking at a complete stranger. Her hair is the exact same colour as mine, but it’s short like Kai’s. She’s strong, unlike me, but we’re the same height. I notice she has the same face as me, but mine is thinner. And her eyes! They’re bright green, where mine are brown. She’s healthy. This is my long lost sister, the one I’ve thought dead for fifteen years. The sister I promised to find and here she is! Standing in front of me, looking at me in amazement.

     ‘I promised I’d find you,’ I finally say.

     I try to smile at her, but I can’t and we both burst into tears and embrace each other.

     ‘Yes you did,’ Kayra says, still crying. ‘My sister, who will never break a promise.’

We finally stop crying and Kayra pulls away from me.

     ‘Oh, I’ve missed you,’ she says, wiping tears from her eyes and looking at me again. ‘I’ve been with you through everything though, I never left you. I’ve felt your emotions and been with you every step.’

     I start to cry again, and Kayra smiles before hugging me. I hear footsteps running.

     ‘Hunters! There are too many!’ Kai screams, pulling his knife from its sheath.

     ‘No!’ Kayra jumps in. ‘It’s okay, they’re my friends! They aren’t enemies, they’ve just finally caught up to me!’

     I look behind Kayra to see a boy standing there. He must have been there this whole time, but I never realised he was there. Behind him, I see about twenty people running towards us, all roughly my age. Half girls, half boys I note.

     ‘They all came to help me get here,’ Kayra explains.

     A girl with black hair walks up to me with her hand extended.

     ‘Hi, I’m Nina,’ she says to me, shaking my hand. ‘I’m Kayra’s best friend.’

     The boy who was stood behind Kayra comes closer too.

     ‘Hey! I thought that was me!’ he says.

     I pick up the sarcasm in his voice and laugh with Kayra. She rolls her eyes and introduces him as Zach.

     ‘And who’s this?’ she asks.

     ‘Kai,’ I say.

     Kai comes closer to us, and as they shake hands, I see that he’s looking at her the way he looks at me. I guess that’s something I have to get used to now, as we look almost exactly the same.

     ‘Nice to meet you, Kai,’ she says before turning to me. ‘What do we do now, Arys?’

     That’s a good question. What
do
we do now? Our plan was to get Kayra... now what?

      ‘We should get back to camp and ask Papa,’ I say, unsure of what else we can do.

     ‘Who’s Papa?’ Kayra asks.

     ‘He’s the man who took me. He kept me safe,’ I reply.

     ‘I have so much to thank him for already, then! He saved my sister!’

     She smiles at me and I return the smile.

We start heading back the way we came. Kayra shared some of her food with us and she refilled both mine and Kai’s backpacks with food from various people’s bags. As we walk, I hold Kai’s hand, with Kayra on the other side of me. I look at her to see her deep in conversation with Zach, who is walking next to her. The rest of her group follow us behind. Everyone, including Kayra look horrified at what they see. The ruins everywhere, ash, dust... It’s all become normal to me now. Even though we live in the country, away from the ruins, we still often see them.

25

Kayra

I can’t believe my sister is with me right now, walking next to me! I will remember this day for the rest of my life.

     It takes a full day of non-stop walking to navigate our way out of the city. We camp outside overnight, just outside the city, in a small copse of trees.

     ‘Do you think we’ll ever go back?’ Zach asks, looking at me.

We’re sat on the grass under a tree. The moonlight is shining through the leaves, casting light on his face.

     ‘I don’t think so. We could never get back in for starters, unless it’s possible to hijack the vehicles again.’ I say. ‘We’re out here forever now, Zach.’

     I see him smile in the small amount of light.

     ‘I’m glad. I would rather lie out here every night than to be cooped up in that prison for the rest of my life!’

     ‘It’s not that bad out here,’ I say, shrugging. ‘Out here, you get freedom. Something our old life never had.’

     It’s like I’ve stepped into another world. Everything’s different here.

     ‘Well, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,’ Zach says, yawning and stretching out. ‘Lots of walking... We’d better get to sleep.’

     He lies down and turns on his side, facing away from me. I listen as his breathing steadies and he falls asleep. We’re all spread out through the trees. I look around to try and spot Arys, but can’t see her in the darkness.

     ‘
Arys, are you still awake?
’ I say to her.

     ‘
Yeah, Kai has just fallen asleep,
’ I hear her reply.

     ‘
So has Zach! That’s boys for you!
’

     ‘
I’m coming to you,
’ she says.

     I look over as Arys becomes visible, slowly walking around people, and approaching me. She sits next to me as I sit up against the tree.

     ‘What’s it like? At camp? Will we be accepted there?’ I ask her. It’s been the one thing worrying me since she decided on going there.

     ‘We’re all a family there. We protect each other from the Hunters. You will be welcomed!’

     ‘Hunters?’

     ‘You haven’t heard of them?!’ she gasps. ‘They come into your tribe and kill every last person there. They used to take you into cells on your own and starve you until you are too weak to fight, and then when you’re dying, they would beat you to death with their hands.’

     I try not to show my horror, but she carries on talking, either not noticing my reaction, or choosing not to acknowledge it.

     ‘Now they just burn your tribe,’ she continues. ‘They stab any survivors.’

     My hand flies to my mouth as I picture grotesque monsters raiding a camp, killing everyone, even the innocent babies.

     ‘Why would anyone do such a thing?!’

     Suddenly, panic spreads throughout everyone. Looking around us, everyone is getting up quickly. Kai is already awake again, and rushing through everyone, waking them and telling them to remain silent.

     ‘Hunters!’ he urges, pulling a bewildered Zach up to his feet.

     I draw my katana and Nina instructs everyone else to as well. Holding my sword steadily, I look from behind the trees. One of the cars is parked carelessly on the side of what was once the road. Several people are around them, carrying nothing, but their eyes searching carefully. It then properly hits me that the things everyone refers to as Hunters are just normal people too, which is why Kai confused my friends for them. Zach takes aim with his pistol. We easily outnumber them, and if they aren’t carrying any weapons, we’re in no real danger at all.

     ‘We can deal with these,’ I whisper to Zach. ‘Tell Kai.’

     Zach silently leaves me for a minute.

      ‘We’re good to go, as long as we don’t draw any more to us,’ he says when he gets back.

     Five of us reveal ourselves from the trees and charge the Hunters. My training finally being put to actual use, I swing the katana round in a full circle, before slicing into them. Other swords clash around me as we take them on and various silent projectiles fly from behind us, lodging themselves into the Hunters. The battle ends in seconds and seven Hunters lie dead around us.

     ‘That was too easy,’ Nina says.

     ‘I still reckon I’m faster than you,’ I joke.

     ‘
That was amazing!’
Arys says to me.

It takes two days to get to their camp. When we arrive, I see tents, like Arys described them to be. Long sheets of material held up with wooden poles. The material varies from canvas, to furs, and some even look like they could be made of animal skin, like leather. Several kids are running around the tents, and adults are gathered around a fire pit. A forest circles the campsite, with tree stumps dotted around everywhere.

     We all walk in, Zach and I side by side, with Nina closely following. The rest of the group are more hesitant than us, believing that tribes aren’t to be completely trusted. I see people noticing us, and I hear their panic from where we are. When we’re less than a hundred steps from the campsite, a young girl runs up to Arys crying, and hugs her tightly. Arys kneels to hug her back, tears also in her eyes.

     ‘I thought you were dead! They told me you were dead but I knew they were wrong! I knew you’d come back!’ the young girl cries happily.

     ‘How could I die, Cara?! I still had my promise to keep, remember?’ Arys replies.

     They separate and Cara looks at me. She takes us both in, her eyes getting wider and wider. I smile at her, knowing she’s confused at how we both look the same. Kai kneels down and looks at Cara in her eyes.

     ‘They’re twins,’ he explains to her. ‘They were born at the same time, so they look the same. But they were separated for a very long time and have only just found each other again.’

     He looks up at me and smiles. His smile unexplainably makes my heart beat faster all of a sudden. Arys turns to me sharply, her eyebrows raised.

     ‘
What was that?
’ she asks me in my mind.

     ‘
What do you mean? What was what?
’ I reply, trying to sound innocent.

     ‘
I felt your emotions grow stronger,
’ she says, her voice sounding wooden.

     ‘
I don’t know what it was!
’

     ‘
I think I do. Kai looked at you and smiled, and then your heart fluttered! I felt it, Kayra, please don’t lie to me!’

     ‘
I don’t know why that happened, I’m sorry though.
’

     Before Arys says anything else, Kai gets up.

     ‘Can you please stop doing that? I feel like you’re talking about me behind my back when you do it!’ he says, laughing slightly.

     Arys laughs and continues leading us all further into camp.

     We reach the fire pit and people are asking Arys so many questions. The voices all merge into one loud sound, and an old man walks out from a tent. I see him drop his book in shock as he sees us. He quickly walks towards us and Arys runs to meet him, hugging him tightly. I recognise him from my dreams as the man who saved my sister. I slowly walk over to them, unsure of what to say and not wanting to interrupt their moment. He breaks away from Arys and steps closer to me, his eyes investigating every part of my face, as if looking into every part of me.

     ‘Kayra?’ he asks in a shaky voice. ‘Is that really you?’

     ‘Thank you for saving Arys,’ I say. I know it’s not enough, but I can’t find the words to say how I really feel.

     He closes the gap between us, hugging me and crying into my shoulder. There’s nothing I can do but cry too, and hold on to this man.

     ‘Kayra, you have
nothing
to thank me for!’ he says, letting go of me and wiping his face. ‘You’ve grown into a beautiful young woman, Kayra! I’m so proud of you!’

     Proud? How does he know me? My only memory of him I have is the man I see holding my sister in my nightmares. Suddenly the nightmares aren’t as bad anymore, and I see how Papa has taken care of her all these years.

     ‘Proud of what? How do you know me?’ I ask him, trying hard not to offend him in any way.

     ‘I was a friend of your parents in the Old World,’ he said.

I recognise the term “Old World”. It’s what Arys calls the time before the earthquake.

     ‘You knew me?!’ I gasp.

     ‘I only ever saw you once. You were so tiny,’ he says, wiping his face again. Papa’s tears still haven’t ceased, and now I start crying again.