The 17 (26 page)

It had also become much colder. Zack could see his breath even as the fire cast off heat in his direction.

Then, it began to snow. Large fluffy flakes floated down, and then hard frozen pellets that quickly doused the flames.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Zack said.

They quickly gathered themselves and briskly walked the narrow path back toward the center ring. It became warmer with every step until they emerged into a sundrenched field again.

The habitats on the horizon had changed markedly. Zack could see a large marshland, a mountainous desert and an island set in the middle of clear blue water. The urban sprawl he had seen nearly dead ahead just hours before was on his right.

Waldan was agitated by the sight. “How can this be? If we are spinning on an outer ring, everything should look the same. This is not right.”

The central ring and its lone structure still sat at the bottom of the slope. Zack eyed Waldan, who pointed toward the building with a webbed finger and said, “Let’s go.”

†††

The inside of the building reeked of rancid death. Blood smears trailed out of rooms and into others. There was the thrumming of a generator echoing through the halls. Zack had not heard that purr the last time he was here and he told Waldan as such.

Waldan whispered “A trap?”

They tried to head upstairs, but each staircase was blocked by solid cement.

The Ankhs wanted them only on this level.

As they padded down the hallway, almost in a crouch, Zack saw slight movement through an open door to his left. He peered in and held his hand up for to Waldan to stop.

The thick Gorn—he couldn’t stop thinking of him as that—halted and also peeked into the room. All they could see under the rubble of chairs and desks were two legs covered in the same gray material they wore, only with teal accents. They were startled when the legs began to twitch wildly.

Zack entered the room as he felt a groping webbed hand try to stop him.

It was too late.

Zack carefully removed a desk and a pair of chairs. A boy with a wisp of whiskers on his chin and dark eyes looked up at him.

It was the German.

The boy coughed, which made Zack flinch and backpedal into Waldan.

The boy groaned and whimpered as Waldan knelt to examine him. “He has clean bite marks on his neck. He will be dead soon.”

Zack got on his knees and pressed his ear to the German’s chest. His heart beat weakly The German flinched and raised his arm, a dagger, dripping of blood, clenched in his hand. He waved it weakly at Zack and spat at him, before his arm dropped limp.

Zack and Waldan’s watches began wailing. They cupped it in their hands to try to dull the sound, but that was futile. Zack listened for an echo of other beeps, but heard none.

“29”

Zack sprang to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

They made their way to the end of the hall and stood in front of another door, this one blue. Zack pushed on the bar and swung it open and they spilled into a dense fog.

Waldan was even more flustered than before. “This … is madness.”

Zack was loath to agree.

They were both startled to hear moaning coming from the fog and then loud cries and anguish. Their watches beeped again.

“28.”

Waldan pulled a short sword from his pack and held it up in defense. “We need to get to higher ground, maybe above this fog.”

Waldan disappeared into the murk, Zack slow to follow. He stumbled around in the dense mist, and then stopped when he heard the clanking of metal on metal mere feet away.

Zack heard grunts and squawks from inside the fog, and then he heard a long gurgling whimper and a thud.

Zack cautiously cut through the fog toward the source of the sounds and emerged in front of Waldan, who lay on the concrete with blood seeping from a wound to his chest.

Waldan’s mouth filled with blood as he tried to speak and he reached out with a webbed hand to Zack, but his arm fell limp. Zack’s watch wailed again.

“27”

He heard the wailing of another watch from nearby and bolted away from it, stumbling up the hill. As he crested the rim and emerged from the gloom, he looked back toward the building and saw a gray cloud hang over the valley. It obscured all but just the very top of the structure. He heard more fighting and more whimpers—the sounds of death—and then more dinging from his watch.

“26”

He felt a cold hand on his neck and flinched. He reached out blindly for it, grabbed a wrist firmly and twisted. He heard an “ow” and felt the figure drop to one knee before he saw who it was.

Mizuki pulled away and fell backward. She peered up at him in shock. “Nice to see you, too.”

Zack smiled, blurted out a string of I’m sorrys, and helped her to her feet. He embraced her tightly enough to feel her heart pounding away on his. She was cold—
she was always cold
—and she rubbed his back tenderly.

“I’m so glad to see you,” he said.

“I figured I’d find you here. It wasn’t easy getting here, you know.”

They clasped tattooed hands and for the first time since he had arrived in this barbaric circus he felt safe and calm.

Zack squeezed her hand. “Are you alone?”

“Yes. About a dozen of us are gathered in a building in the city. Caroline found me. She’s a feisty one. Have you seen Waldan?”

Zack closed his eyes and lowered his head. He didn’t need to say it, but he muttered the words anyway. “He’s dead.”

Mizuki peered down at the display on her watch. “We can only lose eight more. And there’s so much land to cover. I don’t think this is going to work. There are others here—a lot of others—not just thirty-four of us. It’s a slaughterhouse. We’re getting cut down.”

“How do we get back?”

“That’s the thing. You can be walking toward something, then a fog rolls in and when you finally emerge from it, you are someplace else and the horizon has changed. It’s like the laws don’t apply here.”

It was as if this area were off-kilter, a funhouse reflecting mayhem. Little had made sense since Zack had been abducted by the Ankhs. This place had proved to be an even bigger riddle.

They headed out toward where the city once loomed, a thick fog forming around them. They realized the urban sprawl may very well be gone when this cloud lifted. They had no choice, really, a theme of their existence in this world the Ankhs had created.

As they trudged along, barely able to see mere feet in front of them, they listened intently for sounds—any sounds. They heard none.

Mizuki held his hand, the moons together again.

At least they had that.

Finally, the fog dispersed almost as quickly as it had formed and they stood in a clearing with flowers of all colors rising to their knees in a field that looked like a painter’s palate.

Zack wondered what world contained such splendor. He could tell as Mizuki gazed out with a broad smile that she wondered the same.

The sun was warm on their backs and a soft breeze hit their faces. Zack reached out and felt the softness of the flowers in his fingers.

Mizuki scanned the horizon. “I don’t see the city.”

Zack looked, too. All he saw was a mash of colors from the motley crop of flowers.

“Where do we go now?” Mizuki asked, panicked. She looked down at her watch. “At least no one has croaked in awhile.”

Zack pointed to a gathering of trees in the distance to their right. “We should head over there. We’ll have shelter. It’ll be getting dark soon.”

“It’s always getting dark soon,” Mizuki grumbled.

By the time they had reached the trees, the sun was already dipping. It was a bright red oval and the sky around it a burnt amber.

They sat, backs resting against the trunk of a tree that seemed as old as the Ankhs themselves, and stared wistfully at the setting sun.

“If we get out of this,” Mizuki said and then paused. Zack waited expectantly for her to continue. “Can I go home with you?”

Zack smiled. “You’d have to eat our food.”

Mizuki made a fake gagging sound. “Ugh. It’ll be worth it, though, to be with you.”

“I’d like nothing more.”

Zack was exhausted and he could tell Mizuki was as well as their shoulders slumped.

Zack’s eyes were heavy and he had trouble focusing them on anything for more than a few seconds.

Mizuki placed her hand on his cheek and caressed it. “Go on. Go to sleep. I’m okay. I can stay awake.” She smiled and pecked him on the forehead. “My people don’t need as much sleep as you lazy humans.”

Zack had barely seen the end of her wink before he drifted off.

†††

Zack's head snapped up and banged against the rough bark of the tree.

He could barely see Mizuki sitting next to him in the twilight, but he could feel her hand that still cupped his face.

“Guess I still can't sleep,” he lamented.

Mizuki cocked her head and scoffed. “You've been out for hours.”

Zack looked off to the horizon again, the sky still orange with the faint glow of the setting sun. “What do you mean? The sun hasn't completely set yet.”

“It just sort of stopped there. Like I said, the rules don’t apply.”

Mizuki scooted over and laid her head on Zack's lap. She peered up at him with a crooked smile. “My turn to sleep.”

And with that her eyes closed and she was deep in slumber.

Zack watched her doze, her nose twitching from time to time, her eyes flittering under the lids. She was dreaming, he supposed of her home, or of her family and friends, or of him.

He hoped it was the latter because she occasionally flashed a contented smile as she fidgeted and dug her head deep into his lap.

She was so beautiful, so peaceful. Perfection.
He combed his fingers through her hair as he stared at the moon tattoo on his hand. He had the grin of a smitten boy.

How she could sleep so soundly?
He gathered he had done the same pressed against that tree. Fatigue is a powerful thing. So was sleep.

His thoughts wandered to all those he had met on this surreal journey. They were all so different, but yet so fundamentally the same. They were all burgeoning individuals with strengths and weaknesses, skills and foibles.

They were all cast out in some form or another, tossed away by their world and vulnerable because of it.

They were also all young. They made mistakes. They felt things more powerfully than most. They were simultaneously strong and weak, brave and afraid. They all had handled this torment with surprising grace.

Youth was youth, no matter if it was covered in scales, white as a Maine snow or hidden under a metal mask. It had the same fears, the same dreads, the same simple, innocent joys and the same clean slate. It was always pregnant with potential untapped.

Mizuki more than others.
She was the first of the seventeen, with the Ankhs the longest and had the most resilience of anyone he had ever known.

And he loved her. Deeply. Completely. Eternally.

He held her for hours, the sun finally setting. He couldn’t see her in the darkness, but he could still feel her cold skin and hear her gentle, shallow breathing.

Finally, she stirred as the sky brightened again, much sooner than it should have.

Mizuki blinked and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. “How long?”

“A few hours?”

“But the sun is coming up.”

“And that surprises you because… ”

She smiled and elbowed him. He always marveled at how sharp her elbows were, like the tip of a spear.

Mizuki stood and studied her surroundings. Her eyes darted along the horizon, her lips contorting with confusion. “I'd say let's get moving to find the others, but I have no idea how to find the others. Everything changes. I'm completely turned around. I don't even know which way is east or west.”

Zack had a directional handicap of his own. It was called being a young adult male. “Maybe head back to the center ring and hope we can see the city again and get there before everything gets flipped around?”

Mizuki, obviously at a loss herself, shrugged and said, “Lead the way.”

They marched through the field of flowers again, only they weren't as vibrant. Some had shriveled while others were just brown husks. It was much colder as well, which was very much to Mizuki's liking, but uncomfortable for Zack.

As they trudged on, Zack’s legs began to wobble and he grabbed an energy bar out of his backpack. Mizuki nibbled on roots and they each took an occasional sip of what little water they had remaining in their canteens.

Finally, they emerged into a clearing again and walked to the ridge of the slope that led down to the building, which stood unchanged.

Zack and Mizuki spun, their eyes set on the horizon. Zack spotted the city and a column of black smoke that rose ominously from its center.

Zack sighed and pointed. “That doesn't look good.”

“It’s okay. I told Caroline to set a fire with some old tires we found as a beacon. C’mon. We better hurry.”

Her pace was rapid
—
she was always a brisk walker. Zack needed to break into a jog just to keep up with her loping strides.

They were still at least a mile away when the air became moist and thick.

“No!” Mizuki screamed. “Not this crap again.”

Soon, they were enveloped in a dense cloud so thick Zack could barely see his hand as he reached out to grab Mizuki.

He pulled her toward him. “Stay close. Hold my hand.”

They shuffled along, heading toward where they thought the city was, listening for any sound.