Divided (26 page)

58

Arys

I’m lying on the bed in the lab. Lee and Dan are at each sides of me.

     ‘This has never been tested before, Arys,’ Lee says calmly. ‘We’re not sure how it will affect you with the other enhancements you’ve been given.’

     ‘What?!’ Dan cries. ‘You promised that she would be safe!’

     ‘I’ll be okay, Dan,’ I say. ‘I’m not going anywhere!’

     Dan shakes his head. ‘You don’t have to do this! There are other ways to stop this war!’

     He knows this is the only way. Running away now isn’t an option. I’ve run all of my life. It’s time to face my enemy.

     ‘I’m stronger than you think, Dan,’ I say, noticing that he’s been silently crying.

     That’s a lie, I know it is. I’m much weaker than he thinks, but I can’t allow him to think otherwise.

     ‘I know you’re strong,’ he replies. ‘You’re the strongest person I know!’

     Lee clears his throat loudly, and all of us laugh.

     ‘Okay,
second
strongest person,’ Dan laughs weakly.

     ‘You’re going to have to wait outside, Dan,’ Lee says to him, more seriously now, opening a thin box containing the syringe.

     Dan kisses my forehead once. ‘I’ll be right
here
waiting for you,’ he says with a slight smile.

     ‘Well, not here... but here!’ I reply, smiling back at him.

     I watch him as he leaves the room, the door softly closing behind him. I’m alone with Lee now.

     ‘This will put you to sleep,’ he explains, holding up the syringe.

     It’s colourless, and less intimidating than the bright green one.

     ‘Are you ready?’ he asks, reassuringly.

     I nod, and I feel a slight prick as the needle gets pushed into my arm.

     ‘If this goes wrong and I don’t wake up,’ I say softly. ‘There is one thing I want to know.’

     He turns to face me. ‘What’s that?’

     ‘What’s your name?’ I ask feebly, feeling the effects of the injection pull me into a sleep.

     He leans close, his face so close to mine that I can feel his warmth.

     ‘Alaoden,’ he whispers, his warm breath on my ear.

     The name echoes in my head, and I know that I’m unconscious. I fall into a sleep, unaware of the world around me, yet my mind is still alert.

     He can’t be
the
Alaoden? There were legends about him. He was once a Hunter, but he was saved. The only one of his kind that we knew of. He lived on his own for many years until he fell in love. The woman he fell in love with fell pregnant, but the people who saved Alaoden needed him back. He couldn’t stay; he owed these people too much. Alaoden left his wife and unborn child with a promise: “I’m leaving so you can stay. I’m leaving to protect you”. Christina told us that she named Alaoden after the brave hero in this story, who sacrificed himself for others. She wanted Alaoden to be remembered, and so named her son after him. I never connected the stories before. We found Christina alone, stumbling into camp, heavily pregnant and in desperate need of help. She said he husband got taken by Hunters and that the story of Alaoden was made up to give hope of one day Hunters stop what they’re doing... that they will see the light... that they will stop causing us to run.

      Alaoden, or Lee as I now know him, was de-chipped. He stuck to his promise, he protected the tribes the best way he could.

I wake up with Lee and Lana looking down at me. Lee looks weary, yet relieved to see me awake. I see the fingernail marks on his face... he may have thought he’d killed me.

     ‘You did it!’ Lana cries, clapping Lee on his shoulder.

     ‘Alaoden,’ I say, my voice cracking and weak.

     ‘I’ll get Danny,’ Lana says, leaving us alone again, closing the door behind her.

     ‘Yes, but you can stick with Lee,’ he says, smiling. ‘I’ve grown to like it.’

     I try to return the smile, but my body aches all over, weakened by the enhancement.

     ‘Are you
the
Alaoden?’ I ask him.

     ‘Yes,’ he sighs sadly. ‘I’m
the
Alaoden. The Alaoden who fell in love, got her pregnant and then left her and our unborn child with a promise I couldn’t keep.’

     He knocks a table angrily, spilling syringes and knives to the floor loudly.

     I shake my head. ‘That’s not how she told the story.’

     I explain the story to him, from his lover’s perspective. Of how she named her child after him, to give hope. By the time I’m finished, he’s crying uncontrollably.

     ‘I broke the promise!’ he cries. ‘I broke the
one
promise I made to her!’

     I sit up in the bed, ignoring the pain spreading through my body.

     ‘You protected her! I know you did, and more importantly, she knows you did!’

     He looks up at me, giving me a look that I can’t read. Anger? Or regret?

     ‘I left her when I needed her the most. Phillip swapped my shifts; I had no chance to see her. I chose my life here over the life with her! The life with my son! And I sent her to find your tribe! Of all tribes! I was stupid’

     I try to calm him down, but it’s too late. I should never have asked his name.

     ‘After the breakout, they tracked the group to the Tribe. I was there when they sent the command to send in the Hunters. I stood and watched the screens as they found her tribe. I watched as all the lights went out, praying that she was safe. That our son was safe. I left for North Bridge as soon as the attack was over and played back the footage. I saw her dying. She had been sliced in her back, and had miraculously managed to climb a tree. Our baby in her arms. She was up the tree, where she had gone to hoping to survive. The smoke reached her, and she wrapped Alaoden in her jacket, resting him in the thick branches for support. She cried my name... my son’s name over and over again. Our baby was crying, and she was singing a lullaby over the tortured sounds of chaos around her. And with her final few breaths, she noticed for the first time one of the hidden cameras that Noah had arranged to be placed around the campsite. She looked into it. Looked right at me.’

     Lee breaks down crying, and I don’t know what to say to him. My body has gone numb. Suddenly, Dan returns with Lana.

     ‘You were out so long that I thought I’d lost you!’ he says joyfully.

     I watch as Lee leaves the room, his hands covering his face.

     ‘Now let’s see if it’s worked,’ he says.

     He helps me down from the bed. My body still aches, and my head has begun throbbing painfully again.

     ‘Can I take a few minutes to rest first?’ I ask him, my mind distracted by Lee’s torturous story.

     ‘You know, before I met you my life was a routine,’ Dan admits. ‘I wasn’t living, I was waiting! Waiting for someone. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was coming. I didn’t know until I bumped into you! You’ve given me the thing I’ve been waiting for my entire life! Days with you are unexpected and real. You’ve given me freedom inside a prison. I no longer feel like I’m in the cage I’m in, it feels like I’m free.’

     He hugs me once, and then closes the door of my dormitory. Lizzy is sat on the top bunk of the bed.

     ‘What was all that about?’ she asks me.

     I wipe the tears from my face; I hadn’t realised I was crying until now. Sad tears from Lee’s story, and happy tears from Dan’s confession. Happy tears are rare in the Tribe.

     ‘Nothing,’ I say quietly.

     ‘Doesn’t sound like nothing,’ she says, hopping down off the bed. ‘Are you okay? You look ill.’

     ‘I just need a lie down,’ I say, walking over to my bed and ducking under the beam; I’ve learnt now.

     ‘Well I was going to invite Ted over, but I can go to his if you’d rather rest,’ she says. ‘People are already preparing for something big, the news has spread.’

     ‘No, it’s okay,’ I reply.

     She pulls out her phone and rapidly sends a message to who I strongly suspect is Ted. I’m used to electronic devices already, and so it doesn’t surprise me.

     Someone knocks on the door three times, and Lizzy runs to the mirror, checking her reflection. After adjusting her hair quickly, she opens the door. Ted comes in looking taller than I remember, but I know that’s impossible. They both sit on a spare bed together, Ted nodding at me to acknowledge my existence. I’m sure it’s his way of greeting me.

     ‘Arys is a bit ill,’ Lizzy explains. ‘She says she’s fine, but she doesn’t look it.’

     ‘I
am
fine!’ I say from my position on my bed.

     Ted smirks. ‘You look like Death himself has just given you a hug.’

     I laugh along with both of them, but my mind is travelling everywhere still.

     ‘Nice to see you too,’ I reply sarcastically.

     ‘As always!’ he grins.

     ‘
Arys, I know you can’t hear me, but right now I need you to! I’m scared and I don’t know what to do.
’

     ‘
Kayra?
’

     I sit up straight, hitting my head on the top of the bunk, making the already throbbing pain even worse.

     ‘Are you okay, Arys?!’ Lizzy asks instantly, her eyes wide in shock.

     ‘Yeah,’ I reply. ‘I just need a walk!’

     I get up and run to the door quickly.

     ‘
Kayra, can you hear me?
’ I call out in my mind.

     I’m positive I didn’t just imagine that.

     ‘
Arys, please,
’ she says, crying; I can feel her emotions strongly, much stronger than ever before. ‘
There’s a war tonight. Zach, Nina, Iris and Zeke have run away. I think they took Alaoden. I know we’re going to lose; the Hunters are stronger. I need you, Arys.
’

     I fall to the floor in the middle of the hall, crying. I should be out there! And she should be the one here, safe. No, I can save them from the inside, like Alaoden did. I have to save everyone.

59

Phillip

The war is starting tonight. I’m the one starting it and I’m the one in control. Everything is ready, I choose when everyone dies. It will be a bloodbath, the Chipped against the survivors. The Chipped will win easily, they’re prepared. The tribes are happily celebrating life... not for long though. I will singlehandedly bring them down, proving to my father that I do his commands. But I don’t need him anymore; I’m powerful without his guidance. Maybe even my mother will come home. Maybe she will finally look at me with respect and love, like she once did. My father always told me I was a mistake he made and now he has to live with the consequences. Tonight I’ll prove him wrong; tonight he’ll finally see me for what I am.

     ‘Check the computers and gather the Chipped for battle! The war starts tonight! Inform the other cities that we will finally have victory!’ I shout to the room at large.

     They all continue working.

     ‘Tonight, sir?’ one of the employees ask. ‘Are you sure that’s wise?’

     I can’t cancel it now, I’ve given my word.

     ‘I’m sure,’ I say with complete confidence.

     He nods before continuing to type on his computer.

60

Kayra

I’m trying to stay strong, but I can’t. I’ve trained for this all of my life, but it all seems to have gone and has been replaced with a horrible mixture of fear and abandonment. I know these men have families and young children, babies even, and if they die, the children will grow up fatherless. But if I die, who will mourn me? Arys will, but I’m a stranger to her really, we haven’t known each other long. I think of Kai, he’s already like a big brother to me, but he doesn’t see me as a sister at all. Zach, Nina, Zeke and Iris all left me, so they wouldn’t know I’m gone. If I die, I will be forgotten. I’m not the hero everyone made me out to be, I’m just me. A teenager stuck in the middle of a war I should have nothing to do with. It’s not the fact of no one remembering me after I die that bothers me so much, I won’t be around to witness that. It’s the time before I die that matters. That’s when you know who your friends are. I just want to die knowing that I’ve made a difference in the world... or at least a difference to someone, no matter how small the difference.

     ‘
Arys, I might die in this war. And while I know you can’t hear me, I need the closure right now. We didn’t know each other long, but I’m immeasurably proud to call you my sister. If you get out of the Compound, live a long life with Kai. Promise me that? You deserve the best possible life and I’m prepared to die to give you that.
’ 

     I know she can’t hear me, but I’m still glad I said it. I’m at peace now.

     ‘Kayra! I want you to go to the hills with the other women. You need to be safe.’

     I turn to see Kai walking towards me.

     ‘No matter how much you ask for what you want, it doesn’t give you what you want,’ I say.

     ‘It’s not just what I want,’ he replies patiently. ‘It is what’s best for you.’

    I laugh humourlessly. ‘I’m not moving, I’m not letting anyone die for me!’

     ‘There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your friends,’ he says. ‘Papa, your grandfather, always lived by that.’

     He sits next to me, looking at me in a way that makes me suddenly realise that he’s cared all along.

     ‘Before you,’ he continues. ‘Our Tribe was taught that there was only one way to love. To sacrifice yourself to save them. And love hurt me because we weren’t able to love in the way they did in the Old World. But now I see that he was right all along. It isn’t the only way to love, and it’s certainly not the most convenient... but it’s true love. There will never be any love greater than dying for the people you care for, and you’ll find that there are many people here ready to show that love to you, myself included.’

     I drop my head into my hands and cry, releasing it all now. When I look back up at him, he’s smiling at me.

     ‘But if you don’t want us to die while you’re safely hiding away, then here, you’ll need these,’ he says, extending his arms.

     He holds a pile of armour. He hands me a helmet that fits perfectly around my head and down my nose. It’s made of metal and there is a golden pattern engraved into it. He then hands me the breastplate, made of the same metal as the first. On it is engraved “Perfect love drives away all fear”.

     ‘It was your adopted mother’s,’ he explains softly. ‘Your father kept it all these years and now it belongs to you.’

     He then shows me a sword, the long blade looking extremely powerful.

     ‘This was my adopted father’s,’ he says in a voice barely audible. ‘I found what’s left of my old tribe and they kept it in the hope that I was still alive. Meaning I have no use of this anymore.’

     He takes the curved knife from his belt and hands it to me. The moment it touches my fingers, it already feels familiar in my hand, as if it’s been mine all along. I notice that it also has a bear neatly engraved into the handle, an exact replica of the pendant around his neck.

     ‘It’s strong... and it’s been with me through a lot.’

     ‘Thank you,’ I whisper.