Savage Run (25 page)

“
When did you get up?” I
sit up and my head spins. This is not good. The first obstacle—the
floating disks—requires me to have impeccable balance.

“
I never went to bed. Too
many things to take care of.”

Half conscious, I throw the sheets off, and
make my way across the hallway to check on Arthor. Passing through
Mai’s living room, I notice Nicholas isn’t here yet. Did he come
back at all last night?

When I get to Arthor’s room, he’s sitting on
his bed, already wearing a yellow and red Savage Run outfit,
pulling on his shoes.

“
Ready for phase two?” I
ask.

“
Yes, my leg feels just
like new again. How about some breakfast?”

I hadn’t noticed how tense my neck was until
it relaxes with his answer. “Let me just get ready first.” Just as
I get to the living room, Nicholas enters with a glass in his hand.
The instant our eyes connect, my stomach twists like I just ate a
jar of worms. Was last night as bad as I remember? Did I actually
try to…kiss him? Wait, I did kiss him—on the cheek. And anyone
could have seen us! Mortified, I look away. The drink must really
have been strong for me to do something so irresponsible. I take a
deep breath and try to clear my thoughts. This is beyond
ridiculous. I don’t need this kind of complication right now; what
was I thinking?

“
Hi.” Nicholas hands me the
glass and tells me to drink the green liquid. His expression is
perfectly normal and it makes me think that maybe I’m exaggerating
what happened. “Sleep well?” he asks.

“
Yes.” I gulp the drink
down as fast as I can, the sour beverage having an aftertaste of
grass. “Can I have a word?” I whisper.

He shoots me a glance, as if saying no.

“
I just want to…I just
wanted to say…” It’s hard to get the words out. “Thanks for
bringing me back to my room last night.”

His face is unforgiving. “It’s hard to be
partners with someone who keeps breaking the rules, Heidi.”

Like he keeps the rules all the time. Well,
obviously he wants to ignore what I did last night, so I should,
too.

Mai parades into the room and sits down at
the kitchen table. “We have an hour until we need to be at the UVC
station. Do you have any questions before we leave?”

“
Just survive,
right?”

“
Right,” Mai says with a
stern smile.

I place my empty glass in the sink. Though
it tasted horrid, my head feels clear again and it took away the
nausea. With no time to spare, I head back to my room and take a
quick shower, after which I slip into my Savage Run outfit.

Just as I finish dressing, there’s a knock
on my door and Nicholas enters. We’re alone again, and I have no
idea what to say. I really hope he doesn’t bring it up.

“
About last night…if you do
something like that again, I’ll have to disqualify you.”

Something like what? Try to kiss him? Leave
my room? Get drunk? Dress as a girl? I didn’t think he would revert
to threats. “You know, you’re so two-faced.”

“
We don’t have time to hash
this out.” His eyes darken.

“
That’s the problem with
all you Masters. You have to control everything—even
conversations.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m your registrar! It’s
my place to tell you what to do!”

“
Sounds just like something
your father would say.”

His lips squeeze to a line and his nostrils
flare. “I’m here as your registrar. Will you let me deliver the
message?”

I consider it for a moment, but I finally
nod.

He takes a deep breath. “In the balancing
phase, look for other paths—plateaus even. Remember, it’s just a
game, and there are many ways to finish, not just the most
obvious.”

I nod, forcing myself to calm down and think
about the obstacles, not at how angry I am with him. “Are there
shortcuts to every course?”

“
I don’t know.” He reaches
behind his head and cups the back of his neck. “They track your
time from the moment of your first step to when you get back on the
capsule, understand?

“
Yes.”

“
It’s not about who’s
first. It’s about finishing in the top fifty percent, so pace
yourself.”

My nerves creep up my spine toward my
neck.

“
Usually women have better
balance than men do, so this next phase should go in your favor,”
he says. “And the drink I gave you should help remove any toxins in
your body from last night.”

I stifle a groan. Not thinking about it.

“
You have little to worry
about.” His eyes soften a tad. “You have a gift. Use it. I’ve seen
the videos from the obstacle courses. When you’re in the thickest,
you have no fear, only instinct, and that’s what’s needed out
there.”

I want to scream at him. One minute he’s
threatening me, the next, he’s building me up. But instead, I turn
toward the window and look across the city.

“
You have the edge over
everyone. You are unique. You are strong.”

I don’t feel strong.

“
What do you want, Heidi?”
He’s right behind me now and places his hands on my
shoulders.

“
I want…” I can’t think
straight when he’s so close to me. I try to refocus my thoughts. “I
want to be free.” I turn around to find his burning eyes, and I
notice how his breathing has become as shallow as mine.

“
In another life…maybe…” He
pulls me in close to him, his arms wrapping around my thin frame. I
press my hands against his broad back, the side of my face resting
against his chest and we stand for a while without words. What was
he going to say? In another life I’d be free? In another life I’d
live?

He releases his arms from around me and his
eyebrows are drawn low over his eyes. “You will get through this
next phase, you hear?” His voice has become demanding. “Just stay
close to Arthor.”

“
But…”

“
Promise me,” he
repeats.

“
You’re forcing me to make
a promise I can’t keep,” I say.

“
I’m not forcing you. I’m
just getting you to commit.”

“
What’s the
difference?”

“
Think about it. You’ll
figure it out.” He briefly presses his lips to my forehead and then
without another word, leaves my room.

* * *

Nicholas and Mai take the remaining seven of
us to the UVC station—the official starting point of phase two. No
one speaks the entire way, each engrossed in his own thoughts about
what’s to come or perhaps what has transpired. How many of us will
die today? I glance at Nicholas only once, and catch him looking at
me. He smiles softly.

After we exit the transporter, we look for
the number sixty-seven—the capsule the Culmination participants are
to leave from. Bumping shoulders with other participants, following
after the others, I push my way through the crowd. I pass a sobbing
guy with a huge red birthmark on the side of his face. His arms are
flailing and his representative is shouting at him to get a grip.
The young man braces his chest, his shoulders jarring with silent
cries, his chest rising and falling quickly with every strained
breath. I think we all feel the way he does, but the rest of us
control our fear. Why can’t he?

Noticing that I’ve fallen behind, I run to
catch up. When I find them standing by our capsule, Mai stands a
little removed from Nicholas and the participants, and she’s
yelling at someone on the phone. My first thought is that she’s
talking with President Volkov, but what good is it to worry about
that now?

Nicholas extends his hand to me like a
proper representative should, nodding confidently toward me,
scrutinizing me.

Is he still waiting for me to say I’ll
commit to getting through this next phase? “Fine. I’ll commit.” I
say.

He inhales, and his shoulders drop a half an
inch. “Good.”

“
Commit to what?” Johnny
asks.

“
It’s just something for
the Imp and me,” Nicholas says, not taking his eyes off
me.

The UVC emerges from the tunnel with a
swooshing sound, and I file onto it with the other Culmination
participants. I take my seat and buckle my harness, and as the
doors slide shut, my chest tightens. When I look out the window,
Nicholas is watching me, his expression unyielding, yet melancholy.
He nods and mouths something, and even though I can’t hear his
voice, I know what he’s saying: “Partner.”

I nod back, an aching weakness taking hold
in my chest. Before I’m ready, the capsule whisks me away, but I
continue to hold his eyes until I can no longer see him—and in my
mind, even longer.

“
Who’s going to protect you
now, Imp?” Johnny says.

To my, and from the look on his face,
Johnny’s surprise, Arthor declares, “I am.”

Johnny huffs. “You think you’re strong
enough? You’ll see, once we get out there. There’s going to be so
much going on that you can’t possibly be there all the time.”

“
He’s not the only one who
needs to watch his rear,” Arthor says. “So back off or you won’t
know what hit you.”

“
Hardly.” Johnny looks at
me with a devilish smile, the wheels in his head turning, probably
thinking about how he’ll finish me off. I need to stay as far away
from him as I can. “Besides, I know your secret, and I know the
best way to hurt you.”

That could be interpreted in many painful
ways. I feel the blood leave my face.

“
Dude,” Timothy says to
Johnny. “Quit being such a jerk. We should hang together, us guys
from Culmination.”

“
Yeah, the more of us that
make it, the more connections we’ll have once we become Masters,”
Abe says.

“
You only say that ‘cause
you need somewhere to stay since your mamma kicked you out,” Johnny
says. “Besides, I caught Joseph dancing with Nicholas last night.
And smooching. Betcha didn’t know he’s gay.”

“
What?” I exclaim. “You’re
absolutely crazy!” I know exactly what he’s doing—turning everyone
against me. After this, they won’t know how to act toward me, just
like people don’t know how to act toward someone who’s different
than them. And instead of seeing a person, they see only a problem,
in which the only two solutions are hostility or avoidance. I
suspect they’ll be avoiding me, afraid I’ll be hitting on them. The
imp. The gay imp. However, I doubt he knows that Arthor is gay, and
this confrontation has a secondary effect: the more I deny being
gay—saying it’s crazy—the more I’ll hurt Arthor. And of course it’s
already working because everyone in the capsule is either staring
at me or avoiding eye-contact at all costs. “It’s not true…” I look
at Arthor and I see the subtle disappointment in his eyes. “I’m not
gay.”

“
I saw the way you were
looking at Nicholas.”

“
So what if he is gay?”
Arthor’s voice is bold. “I know several people who are, and they’re
actually some of the nicest people I’ve met.”

“
It’s illegal,” Johnny
says.

I smile a little. “Well, I’m not gay, but I
can definitely vouch for what Arthor is saying.”

“
I know someone who is gay,
too,” Fletcher says. “He’s really nice.”

“
Dude, gays are just
disgusting,” Timothy says. “I was hit on by one once and…it was
just gross.”

“
Seriously, guys. Are we
really going to talk about this all the way to the obstacles?” I
say.

“
Yeah, Johnny.” Arthor
says. “We have more important things to focus on right now besides
determining if we side with the gays or not.”

With that, the topic dies down, though I
notice that they look at me with guarded eyes. We settle into a
conversation about Culmination and how unfair the hierarchy is in
our country. I learn that the Advisors are just as upset about
their inferiority to Masters as Laborers are—maybe even more
so—because they live between both classes, never being good enough
to be a Master, yet not feeling they have the right to complain
since they aren’t as destitute as Laborers.

When the conversation ends, my mind wanders
back to Nicholas. He’s been paying a lot more attention to me than
I thought. I’ve been such an idiot around him. Gosh—drunk? I
exhale. But one thing I don’t understand is why he kissed me on the
forehead. It was so quick, like he wanted to do it before I could
pull back and get it over with before I had a chance to respond.
Maybe now I’ll never know.

We emerge from the underground tunnel, and
the capsule stops at the top of a mountain, overlooking a black
desert valley. Even before I get out, I see multiple rows of white
disks floating high in the air above something that looks like
long, crystallized metal blades. Participants are already hopping
from wobbly disk to wobbly disk above the jagged chasm below, white
knuckling the edges when they land, and helicopters with reporters
are flying above them.

Hot, sticky air enters the capsule when the
doors slide open. I step outside onto the wooden platform and read
the sign.

Phase 2, Round 1 must be completed in 10
hours. Afterwards, the disks vanish. Each participant’s timer
starts when his feet touch the first disk and only the fastest
fifty percent will be allowed to continue.

Clearly, I’m not as fast as the majority of
these guys and the thought of having to compete against them makes
me nervous. I step to the very edge of the platform to see if I can
find any clues as to what the shortcut might be. However, nothing
indicates that there is a shortcut, so instead, I assess how much
force I will need to hop onto the first disk. It’s not too far
away, but far enough that I have to jump to get to it. I look down
into the gorge and see a body, his limbs bent in unnatural
directions. Grimacing, I look at Arthor.