Divided (23 page)

49

Phillip

I walk through the endless fields, back the way I came in. My father might finally be proud of me. He might treasure me the way he secretly treasured Kayra the first time he saw her. He was always proud of Kayra, never me. He allowed her to stay in the Compound; I was forced to live amongst the Chipped volunteers, adopted into a disgusting family... they beat me, despised me, and only put up with me because of the payments they received from my father to keep me away from his business.

     ‘Which way now?’ Nathan asks, his hair, like mine, blowing madly in the wind.

     We’ve reached a place where the earthquake’s destruction has opened large cracks in the earth, the fissures dropping almost thirty feet into the ground.

     ‘Go right,’ I say, steadily crossing over the fissures.

     I’ve spent my life hiding away, watching over Kayra and upon turning fifteen, helping to send the Chipped out to clear off the survivors. Now I finally can be something more. Someone that my father can genuinely be proud of. Now I’m valuable.

     After hours of walking, we make our way into the city and find one of the cleanest roads, where I left my car abandoned four days ago. Due to the Festival, none of the survivors came into the city, and it’s in the same state I left it in. It’s the one gift from my father when I turned eighteen. It was one of his own, I suspect it’s his least valuable one, but to me it’s priceless. Compared to the cars that the Chipped drive, it’s much more expensive. The usual silver shine to it is now already coated in dust, but it can be cleaned. We both get into the car and I drive out of the city.

The guards open the furnished double doors to my father’s office. Books line every wall, black bound books, nothing electronic. This somehow makes his office reflect his image of power. Everything is clean again, the way it should be. Not like it is outside the gate.

     He’s facing me as I enter the room, leaving Nathan outside the door. He stands impressively, his intimidating figure darkened by the shadow of the Compound’s wall. His face is already showing anger at the sight of me.

     ‘Once again, I am unsurprised by your lack of dedication to my work,’ he says instantly.

     ‘I haven’t failed you, sir! I’ve brought you new information!’

     ‘I did not send you out for information, Thorne. I sent you out to bring back the fools who attempted to undermine me! Your sister included!’

     ‘This information is regarding my sister!’ I plead.

     ‘The future of this government was entrusted to
you
, boy!’ he thunders. ‘I trusted you to
obey
me! To prove your allegiance to me! You’ve grown weak! I did not raise you to be weak!’

    ‘Raise me?!’ I splutter, losing my own temper now. ‘You didn’t raise me! You sent me out to live with the people you claim to have saved!’

     ‘Do not raise your voice at me!’ he shouts, the walls shaking, as if they too, are submissive to his voice. ‘You were raised by those people to teach you! To teach you that a firm hand brings out the best in people!’

     ‘Arys is alive!’ I tell him.

     He stares at me blankly, his eyebrows raised, looking at me in an almost pitiful way.

     ‘Yes, you fool! Arys is alive! Although due to your disobedience, she could have died! You had to watch over her, you failed me! And for what?! What were you doing that was more important than the future of my people?!
Our
people?’

     I don’t answer his questions, but instead use the other name.

     ‘Not that Arys! She’s not the real Arys. It’s Kayra!’ I say urgently.

     He stares back, with disbelief in his face. I don’t know if it will work, or if it will anger him more, but I try and explain everything.

     ‘Kayra has been with us for sixteen years!’ I continue. ‘Her adopted parents tricked us! They swapped Kayra and Arys! The real Arys went to live with the survivors, Kayra came here. They’re both like me! They’re united, they can communicate their minds!’

     He moves around his desk and stands over me. I'm almost as tall as him, but this close, he makes me feel tiny.

     ‘Are you telling me that I have wasted time and money on you, when Arys could have been here, making sure my plan succeeds?’ His voice has gone quiet, and somehow, I preferred it when he was shouting. ‘You’re saying that I worked restlessly to create the enhancement that bonds people, allowing them to communicate silently through their minds, when all along, there was another, already like that? Another more worthy of the position I offer?’

     I don’t know what to say. This was supposed to fix us, bring us closer together.

     ‘Dad, I-’

     ‘No!’ he barks. ‘You are no longer my son! Sons do as they are commanded! They don’t disobey; they don’t throw away their father’s orders for selfish desires!’

     This is worse than I ever imagined. He pushes me back with great force, and it takes all of my self-control to resist retaliating and punching his face.

     ‘Get out,’ he snarls, his dark eyes glistening with hatred for his only son.

50

Arys

I explained everything to Dan about how I can communicate with Kayra, and how we were separated, but found each other. He listened without interrupting, and now it’s his turn to explain. He talks about the Hunters, or the Chipped, as he also calls them. They’re sent out in vehicles every week, others returning. It’s on a crazy rota that he doesn’t understand, but they’re delivered into five major cities in the country, sent to kill the tribes. When they return, they live their normal lives here. He continues to explain how Unity wipe their memories when they get back, removing any memories that they keep of the murders they commit.

     ‘But this is half a city’s worth of people!’ I exclaim. ‘Kai has killed one hundred and seventy four of them, but there must be thousands here!’

     ‘I casually asked a shop owner the population of the city,’ he replies. ‘He said a number over one hundred thousand.’

     One hundred thousand people chipped to obey. No one ever leaves, and I’m sure the entrances are controlled by the Chipped too, to stop unwanted entry. How it’s possible to gather one hundred thousand people and take away their free will scares me though. The majority of them lived here, but others, like Lee volunteered for this life.

     ‘Do you believe it’s possible to free them?’ I ask slowly, looking down at the city lighting up like a million fireflies.

     The sun probably set about an hour ago, but it vanished behind the wall before we could see it. But the lack of the sunset doesn’t bother me as much as it should, as the city is beautiful, the electrical lights lining the streets casting a warm yellowish glow on the roads, and displays of colour in the shop windows below us are glowing with life. It’s hard to believe these people have killed, that a person like this killed Papa...

     ‘I don’t know if it’s possible,’ he replies sadly. ‘But I’m going to try; I now have friends on the inside.’

     The inside? I’m not sure what he means by that, but I don’t ask. I also don’t know whether I should tell him of Lee and North Bridge or not, as because of the obedience enhancement, he could be forced to share that information, and that will mean almost everyone I care about will be put in danger.

     A few minutes pass in silence as we watch people in the street below us, the cool night air blowing over us. The air is thicker here, as opposed to the air in the wilderness. I prefer the air there, but due to the unnatural beauty of the city here, it’s something that I ignore.

     ‘What’s it like out there?’ he asks quietly. ‘Past the wall I mean?’

     ‘Almost everything is homemade, the only exception being stuff that we’ve kept since the Old World... before the earthquake I mean,’ I explain, equally just as quietly. ‘We don’t use anything electrical, and we hunt for our food and forage through abandoned villages for any clothes that aren’t too destroyed. Because of the Hunters, or the Chipped, we move camp every month so they can’t follow us. It must sound boring to you, but to me, it’s home.’

     Suddenly I feel a great pang of longing for the life I had. The life before learning that Kayra was alive. The life with Papa, and Kai, and for once, I even miss Zeke and his show-off nature.

     ‘It doesn’t sound boring at all! Not compared to life here with the strict schedules. Sure, we get our days off every now and then, but it’s nothing like the freedom you have!’

     ‘It’s not freedom. I just wish we had one place that’s ours. Free of any Hunters, not having to constantly be running!’

     He laughs. ‘I’d love to live out there, even if it does mean running. To fight and have something to fight for. It’s just routine here.’

     ‘Here?’ I say, gesturing to the city, and feeling the corners of my mouth twitching upwards.

     ‘No, over there,’ he says pointing to the giant wall of the Compound.

     We’re probably almost two miles away from it, but its tall gray, mammoth size still looms over us. Both keeping people out, and caging people in.

     ‘Run away then,’ I say before I can stop myself.

     ‘What?!’ he splutters, turning to face me.

     ‘The tribes will accept you! My Tribe fought alongside people from the Compound!’

     Dan stands up, his face alight with excitement. ‘Are you serious? I can really leave with you? Be free?’

     ‘Of course I’m serious!’ but first we need to free the people here. ‘Then there will be no need to run.’

     He hugs me tightly, and I return it just as enthusiastically.

     ‘Dinner,’ he says, checking the time. ‘If we don’t leave now, we’re going to be late.’

     Suddenly it’s like the lullaby Papa wrote will be coming true. I think of how true the final lines are. ‘
Hush now, child, don’t try to flee. One day soon we’ll all be free.
’ That day is coming soon. I don’t know how soon, but for the first time since I was a young child, I know it’s coming.

51

Kai

Seven Years Ago

‘Alec, Caleb, you have to stay here,’ I command, helping them into a tree.

     I walk towards the sound of a beating drum, echoing throughout the forest like a heartbeat. Slow, steady, and with hope. It speeds up as I get closer, and I speed up, running over fallen trees and jumping over the fissures in the earth, the sound getting louder and louder as I approach it.

     Finally, after almost ten minutes of running, I reach the sound. I push through the branches of the forest, climbing out to the sight of an abandoned Hunter campsite. The drumming has stopped, and the giant animal skin drum sits next to the fire, also abandoned. I recognise it as goatskin; my adopted father owned one in my tribe before it was burned to the ground, the tribe members killed or captured. The only thing I have left of them is my knife which I wear on my belt. It’s long and curves slightly, originally owned by one of the men who trained me. I took it from his dead hand. The fire is already dying down, the logs shrunken and burnt. I check the solitary tent for anything, but it’s empty. This is a trap. My brothers!

     I run as fast as I can through the forest, trying to remember where our camp is. I trip countless times, almost falling into the large cracks in the ground, until I finally reach the tree that I left them in. They’re nowhere to be seen. The Hunters have taken them. With a shout of anger that echoes all around me, I pelt forwards through into the darkness for any sight of them. They’re nowhere.

Today

I wake up with my eyes stinging with tears. I’ve lost everything that I’ve ever loved. My real parents, my tribe and adopted parents, Alec and Caleb, Papa, and now even Arys. Their faces flash in my mind as I think of them all. Whatever, or whoever I care for dies or gets taken from me. I pushed Arys away. I should never have told her my number! I shouldn’t have ever killed anyone! I should never have left Alec and Caleb, it’s my fault they’re gone... my fault they’re dead.

     ‘Kai?’

     I look up to see the morning sunlight flooding through the door into the tent. Kayra is stood in the doorway, looking a little more positive and relaxed now.

     ‘Yeah?’ I say, quickly wiping my eyes on the back of my hand.

     ‘I have to see my dad, I know he’s here.’

     It takes all morning of searching through the tribes, trying to catch a glimpse of a man I’ve never met. We split up, expanding the search after Kayra carefully described his appearance to me, but that was fifteen years ago. Finally, when I’m starting to believe he hasn’t turned up, I spot someone who matches the description. I approach him, a little hesitantly.

     ‘Henry?’

     He looks to be around forty years old, but there’s something in his eyes that says he’s a lot older. His black hair is greying slightly, and a wooden staff rests against his leg. He’s been through so much, I can see that. We all have.

     ‘It’s about Kayra and Arys,’ I say directly, when he doesn’t reply.

     ‘What about them?’ he asks.

     His voice is rough, but not unkind, and he looks at me, studying my face.

     ‘Arys is at the Compound, it’s a long story but she ran away, and I’m not sure if she was captured, or what happened. But Kayra is here and being hunted by the Compound!’

     ‘Kayra is here?!’ he asks, bolting upright, his eyes wide. ‘Lead me to her!’

     My first impression of him of a reserved and cold person instantly vanishes as he almost skips with eagerness, still using his staff as support, while craning his neck to try and spot his daughter.

     ‘Dad?!’ I hear from behind us, and Kayra comes running as fast as she can, tears filling her eyes.

     ‘Kayra?!’ he asks, his voice weak.

     Kayra runs up and hugs him tightly.

     ‘I’m so sorry!’ he cries into her shoulder. ‘I never wanted to leave you and I shouldn’t have left you!’

     ‘No, you didn’t leave me,’ Kayra says. ‘You protected me! I remember you!’

     They separate and he stares into her face, smiling as if he’s seeing the most beautiful sight known to man.

     ‘I’m so proud of you! Your mind is strong, stronger than I ever could have hoped! And so are you, you’ve been through so much.’

     His voice strains constantly, as if speaking is a huge exertion to him.

     ‘They’re hunting me,’ Kayra says urgently. ‘They’ve found out about you switching us, it was my brother... He figured out everything, I told him too much! I’ve failed!’

     ‘No, you haven’t!’ he says, comfortingly. ‘We knew that this might happen. They will send out the Hunters, already they’re highly prepared and will be able to kill all of our tribes just to get to you. We ourselves have to be prepared.’

     ‘To get to me? What are you talking about? What do they need me for?’ Kayra asks in a scared way.

     ‘Kayra, a war is starting.’