Rogue (Exceptional) (2 page)

       The next day the rain cleared and they headed northwest into the Wilderness.  They found that they would often come upon old settlements— or neighborhoods— and collapsing buildings, areas of the old world that hadn’t been salvaged or useful since before the virus.  Ally figured that these parts were too close to the City for the Ordinarys who had escaped to the Wilderness, and too far out for the City to set up living arrangements or connect power.  Many times they would stay in an old house or business overnight, not wanting to risk sleeping in the open until absolutely necessary.

       If Ally had thought that being out of range of the settlements would keep them from coming upon their inhabitants, she had been wrong.  When they came upon Theo and Flora, she thought they had finally stumbled upon Ordinarys living in the Wilderness.  A second glance told her otherwise.  The male and female had been sitting on an old bench in what looked to be an old park, dressed in matching red outfits.  They each had a matching mark on their forearm, something that resembled a stalk of wheat.

       Theo saw their group first and jumped up, pulling Flora with him.  She held onto his waist tightly, her big brown eyes opened wide in terror.  Theo had matching brown eyes and a similar mop of honey colored hair.  Ally wondered silently if they were siblings like she and Stosh.  She knew by Theo’s posture they were ready to flee at any moment so she stepped forward and spoke.

       “Are you from the settlements?” she asked.

       Theo narrowed his eyes.  “Who wants to know?”

      “Is that a trick question?” Stosh had said with a laugh.

      Theo’s face relaxed slightly. “Yes, we are from the settlements. We came out here to…” he trailed off and looked down at Flora, placing a small kiss on her temple.

       Not siblings.

       “… we came out here to decide.”

       “Decide what?” Ally had asked.

       “If we want to run,” Flora responded, her voice loud and strong, surprising Ally. “The Guards come tomorrow.  My father is going to force me to volunteer.”

      Flora looked up at Theo, a small smile forming on her thin lips.

      “… and I can’t do it,” she finished.

      Ally sighed.  Definitely not siblings.  For a moment she thought of Luke and then quickly pushed him from her mind.  She turned and looked back at the others in her group.  Cody was bouncing in place again, Stosh had his eyebrow raised, Sabine was grinning, and Willow stood off to the side, staring at an old building.

       “Two more?” she had asked.

       The others nodded and they agreed that Theo and Flora could join their now not-so-small group.  Ally was nervous traveling with such a large group.  They agreed that if they needed to separate quickly, that Ally would take Cody and Willow while the others went in an opposite direction.  That way at least one group had a chance to make it.

       So here they stood, a group of seven, on a dirt path headed south.                  

“What did you see?” Willow asked when Ally rejoined the group. She had started speaking again a week into the trek.  First in one word increments, and then finally on to sentences.  Ally knew she had just needed time to process what had happened to her in the City, and what consequences those moments held for her future.

       “I couldn’t see any Guards,” Ally responded. “But we are closer to the settlements than we have been before.  We should head west about a half mile or so and then start south again.”

       “I still don’t understand why I can’t do any of the scouting trips,” Cody said with a pout.

      Stosh shook his head. “One, because Ally is the one with exceptional sight and can see much farther than you.  And two, because I’m her scouting buddy.”

       He tousled Cody’s hair with his left hand and slid his free hand into Sabine’s, pulling her onto the path.  Stosh wasn’t open to talking about his relationship with Sabine, but it was obvious from their actions that they were officially a couple; even if they kept their physical affection to a minimum.  Theo and Flora on the other hand were completely enamored with each other; enough that sometimes Ally had to look away, embarrassed.  Had she and Luke looked like that when they were together?  Or did they look cold and dry, not even a couple at all?  She couldn’t quite decide which grouping she would get rid of first if she had to decide; the two couples or the immature boy and the pregnant girl.

       Willow had been great on the trip so far, but every now and then she would get sick and they would have to stop while she ran into the woods to vomit. Willow was pregnant, maybe six or eight weeks along. She had been in the ORC when Ally had first found her in the City; the Ordinary Reproduction Center. The building served as a holding area for Ordinarys, and Willow had fallen victim to its sick and twisted purpose before Ally had had a chance to break her out. Several times Willow would beg Ally to let her go back to the settlement and turn herself in, that way the group could move on more quickly.  Ally refused, however, because she couldn’t let her friend take the heat, and because she knew it was a risk.  She knew they probably had harsh ways of getting information out of people, and Willow knew too much.

       Ally pulled her pack from the ground and slung it over her shoulder.  She had taken it from the storehouse they had spent the night in the day they found Cody, and it proved to be quite useful so far. Ally started to cut a path through the wilderness, using the position of the sun to turn herself toward the west.  The others would fall into step behind her, just as they always did, and they would travel in their own form of silence.  For Ally this meant
actual
silence but for the others it was a mix of singing, rustling leaves, humming, and sometimes giggles.  She tended to walk ahead on the path and spend her travel time thinking, and planning.

       She felt responsible for ripping these Ordinarys from their homes and dragging them on what might end up being a futile trip.  She had no idea how they would meet up with the others, or if they would even find this so called southern City.  Ally had no idea what dangers waited for them in the Wilderness, and she had a feeling there were worse things than Rogues waiting in the darkness of the trees.  For this reason she kept her hands ever at the ready, and the package of vaccines safely tucked in the bottom of her bag.  Ridding herself of her abilities would be a selfish act at this point, but Kemp had left them for her for a reason. She wasn’t sure of their worth just yet, but knew that a single dose would take away abilities from an Exceptional. Perhaps they could be used as a weapon if necessary.

Two hours and one scouting trip later, they set up camp in a section of old, crumbling homes.  These homes were different than others Ally had seen on their trip.  They were long, not very wide, and they were set off the ground, as if they’d once been mobile.  The homes sat side by side in neat little rows, an odd display of order in the overgrown and untreated Wilderness.  Most of them had been completely gutted but a few of them had bench type seats built into the walls and tables in broken apart kitchens.  While five of them climbed up into a home that looked suitable for an overnight stay, Theo and Flora snuck off to a home several down in the row.  They would do that every now and then, spend the night away from the group or slip off during meal breaks.

       It made Ally nervous. Maybe a little bit jealous, but mainly nervous.

“Don’t look so sour.  You made your choice,” Stosh said as he laid his pack down on the table.

       He did this every so often, chiding Ally for having feelings at all.  More and more she felt like her emotions were on overdrive.  She found her bottom lip quivering at the thought of their mother, her heartbeat quickening at the worry of an attack, and her skin tingling at the mention of Luke.  Stosh was always there along the way to remind her of the choices she had made, and in those moments she felt the heat of anger filling her cheeks.  In a way, Ally wondered if he blamed her for everything that had happened, as though she were personally responsible for the bullet that took their mother’s life, or the force of evil that was traveling toward them from the Eastern City.

       “I’m not sour,” Ally snapped at him. “I just want them to be safe.  We’re getting farther and farther from the City.  That might mean more safety from the Exceptionals, but it also means we are wide open to whomever, and whatever, is out here.” She motioned to one of the dark, dusty windows.

       “I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Sabine said, nodding in the direction that Theo and Flora had gone.

       “More than fine,” Willow giggled in the corner.

       Ally couldn’t help but smile at the sound, and soon they were all giggling.  All except Cody, who stared at them with a confused look on his face.  This caused them all to start laughing even louder and soon they were all seated on the floor, leaning against each other to keep from falling over.  Ally had missed moments like this; where she could be free and open with her friends.  She couldn’t remember a time when she had laughed this hard in the past month, maybe the past
several
months even.  This was a good reminder as to exactly why she left the City and the settlements behind.

       Stosh hadn’t had luck hunting earlier in the afternoon so they ate a sparse dinner of berries, and laid out their blankets to settle in for the night.  With each day that passed, Ally hoped they were growing closer to the others and closer to the answers they needed.  She fell asleep quickly to the sound of crickets, and woke just as abruptly to the sound of screaming.

CHAPTER TWO

It took Ally a moment to orient herself to her surroundings and realize the sounds coming from outside their resting spot were not normal.  She processed this all much faster than the others and for that reason she was up and out the door before Stosh had even rolled over.  She could tell it was early morning by the hazy blue light that filled the space around her, signaling that at any moment the sun would rise above the trees and sprinkle the area with a new, golden light.  She hurried toward the sound of screaming, knowing just who she was headed for before she saw them.

       Flora sat on the ground, swatting at an Exceptional Guard that stood over her.  He was handling her roughly, attempting to cuff her hands behind her back.  Another Exceptional Guard stood over Theo’s body, which was eerily still.  From here Ally could see a thick gash on his head, and it was seeping red blood onto the leaf-covered ground.  She hesitated for a second, trying to decide what move she would make.  She could hear footsteps behind her, and a startled cry from Sabine.

       “Ally,” Stosh said behind her, as if confirming her worst fear. “You have to.”

       She nodded and raised her hands just as the Guards took notice of them.  They stared at the group with smug expressions, not even worried or frightened by the Exceptional girl and her band of Ordinarys.  They didn’t even know what hit them when the beam of light left Ally’s hand and incinerated their bodies.  Piece by piece their flesh bubbled until all that was left was a cloud of ash.  She pushed all her thoughts of hatred and malice toward the Guards into her mind as her abilities flowed through her hands, finding that this helped quicken the process.

       Flora’s screaming ceased and Sabine sobbed quietly behind her.  Ally had yet to use her abilities in front of anyone but Stosh, and even then that had been to move a fallen tree from a path they needed to travel.  This was the first time any of them had seen her use her abilities to end a life.

       Ally stalked over to Flora, who slid backwards in fear until her body was touching one of the box shaped homes.  Ally reached down and took hold of the cuffs on Flora’s wrists, letting a burst of light snap them apart.  She did the same for Theo, after checking that he was still breathing, and brushed off her pants.  She hurried into a covering of trees and once she was out of sight, she released the breath she had been holding.

       She had now killed five Exceptional Guards in a month’s time.  She hadn’t felt guilty about the first three for a long time, knowing that, given the chance, they would have killed her.  But now that she had added two more to the count, she was starting to experience an awful feeling creeping up from her stomach.  Her mouth felt dry and the trees around her tilted slightly.  She bent her knees and pushed her head toward the ground, sucking in deep gulps of air.

       When Ally was sure that she wasn’t going to pass out, and that she could approach the others with a calm appearance, she stepped out of the trees and headed back toward the box homes.  Theo was awake now and sitting next to Flora.   Sabine was kneeling by his side, applying pressure to the wound and cleaning it simultaneously.  Willow sat off to the side with Cody, working on her shoe again, either fixing the same tear as before or starting on a new one. They had all fallen back into some time consuming tasks that helped pass their down time while traveling.

       Stosh caught up with Ally before she reached the group and stopped her.

       “Are you okay?” he asked.

       She looked over at him, still growing used to the fact that now that she was an Exceptional, her body was trying to compensate by rewarding her with a growth spurt.  There was a time when Ally was almost a foot shorter than him.  She gave her brother a nod.