SAFE (9 page)

Each
grabbed an arm and carefully balanced me up. My right foot held my weight while
my left dangled in the air.

“Try
putting some weight on it,” James said.

“Flipping
ankle!” I screamed in pain from the exertion.

“Sit
down and let me look at it,” Lucan ordered.

Great,
I
thought. Now not only was I slowing us down, but I was about to show my nasty foot
to a completely gorgeous guy. They carried me over to leaves piled against a tree,
then Lucan untied my boot, carefully slid it off, and rolled my sock down. He
left my sock covering the worst part of my foot, my toes.
Thank god.
The
furry dog sat and watched the process patiently.

Lucan
gently massaged his fingers all over my lower leg and ankle, and then he moved my
foot in a small, circular rotation. I noticed the vines were no longer on my
feet, then an agonizing pain shot up the side of my leg. My fingers gripped
into the ground around me. Fortunately, neither Lucan nor James seemed to have
noticed the lack of vines on my skin.

“Well,
I don’t think it’s broken, just massively sprained,” he said.

My
chest rose. “That’s good news.” And I quickly rolled my pants-leg down covering
my skin.

“Yes,
but the bad news is…it’s not going to heal unless you stay off it.”

“So
what are we going to do?” I asked.

“Here.”
James took the gun from around his neck and handed it to Lucan. “I expect this
back later,” he uttered prior to releasing his grip. “I’ll carry you on my
back.” He bent down in front of me, I gripped my hands around his neck, and he
stood up without any trouble. “Now let’s keep moving.”

I was upset about my ankle and more than just a
little worried about everything else—my vines in particularly. But for a while,
my fear subsided. James’ pace was constant and he rubbed my legs while we
walked, careful of where he touched. I knew he was happy to be the one to have
come to my rescue by carrying me. Lucan seemed to have answers for everything since
we first met, and now James was finally the one with a solution to the problem.

I
knew he was worried about my thoughts of Lucan, but truthfully, nothing could
get in the way of how I felt about James. Nonetheless, I didn’t mind seeing him
squirm.

“Hey
you two, look.” Lucan stopped and pointed ahead towards the tips of some tall
trees.

A
bright, whitish blue wall masked against the clouds. The color of the perimeter
blended well with the bright appearance of the sky, making it more difficult to
view through the numerous tree limbs. I’m not sure I would’ve noticed it this
soon if it hadn’t been for Lucan directing our sight. The perimeter was massive,
but still a ways off, yet we were getting closer. I squealed excitedly, temporarily
forgetting the final task of climbing it.

Now
that we had a visual target, we picked up our pace and I kept my eyes on the
wall I had always been warned about. James’ arms wrapped around underneath my knees
and suddenly, he stopped. Lucan too.

Lucan
turned his head side to side and quietly lowered his bag to the ground,
clutching a knife in each hand. James gripped my knees tighter.

“Get
ready, someone’s here,” he whispered. “I need the gun, Lucan.”

A
whistle appeared from behind a tree to our left, yards away. “Are you referring
to the gun you stole from me?” the whistle, a voice, butted in.

It
couldn’t be. James killed him. Didn’t he?
The same guard from
the night I was taken into custody waved his fingerless hand in the air and
took a step closer to us. “It healed nicely, don’t you think?” he said, gloating,
his other hand hidden behind his back.

“Nice
to see you too, Rexx,” James replied as he slowly dropped me to the ground. I
reached into my pack, handing him the severed fingers, and Lucan tossed him the
gun at the same time.

“You
think I’m stupid. That I’d just show up by myself?” Then Rexx whistled three
low-pitched signals. Immediately, two other guys, guards, walked out from the right
of us, same distance in length as Rexx. “That’s my gun, and I’m going to need
it back,” he continued.

“How
did you know we’d be here?” James asked, buying time as he put Rexx’s fingers
in place over the trigger. I wasn’t sure how many bullets were left, but
hopefully there was enough.

“I
didn’t. My boys and I voluntarily left before the others last night and we took
a long shot guess you might be headed this way. The others thought we were
overreaching, but I knew better. I know you. We go way back, don’t we? Stupid me
thought we were actually friends until you crushed my head against the window,
stole my car, stole my gun, oh and let’s not forget, cut off my fingers.” An
evil grin plastered across his face. “I heard you coming a mile away; we’ve
been waiting for you. Though, I was surprised to realize you crossed sides. So
should I call you a Lower now too?” He thrusted his chin at Lucan. “Unfortunately,
I’m gonna get extra points at the Academy if I bring you in alive, but as for your
girlfriend and the Lower, I wasn’t given specific orders. So I guess that verdict
is still up in the air.” His fingers drummed against his temple, pretending to
think hard about the decision to kill us. Now he was mocking our terrible situation.

“Leave—Her—Alone,”
James demanded. His veins bubbled intensely around his neck and he held the gun
tightly, pointing it firmly at Rexx.

Personally,
I never knew Rexx, I’d seen him around the Academy with the rest of the guards,
but we never had any classes together at school, him being two years older than
me. However, I’m not sure that would’ve made any difference right now—he was
here to kill. Kill us all. And in that instant, I realized this was no game.
Yes, I knew this earlier, but now here I was again, about to die.

“Shoot
him!” I yelled, feeling bad just a tad.

James
pulled the trigger and a line of bullets sprayed towards Rexx, he ran to the
left as he pulled out a gun from behind. I wasn’t sure how he achieved a higher
rank than James. Clearly, he was incapable of the brains for combat. James was shooting
and Rexx hadn’t managed one shot yet.

“STAY
DOWN!” James yelled at me as I heard two explosions coming from the opposite
direction.
LUCAN!

I
threw my body flat against the ground from my former seated position. Logs were
everywhere in this forest, fallen and shoved about from the previous storm. One
single, stubby one, a foot high, blocked my body from instant death. I pulled
the dog down, held her against me, and looked over to where Lucan had been
standing. He was gone. Nowhere in sight.

THAT
SPINELESS WIMP!

I
turned my head slightly to see if the other two guards ran after him, but I
couldn’t raise my head far enough to find them. Whistling bullets zoomed pass
me. Then I picked my head back up and looked towards the guards’ direction again.
All I could see were clouds of smoke where a bunch of trees had been blown
outward, lying strewn about in large, splintered pieces. A ten-foot hole had
been cleared in the woods where a grim cloud now hovered. The smoke dissipated
fast as James kept shooting and I finally spotted the two guards’ bodies lying
in the center of the exploded debris—dead.

All
of a sudden, James’ gun jammed. Our only weapon. The bullets flew in our direction,
bouncing off the stubby log blocking the dog and me. James dove over my head
and quickly rolled to a nearby tree for cover.

 “So!
I guess it’s just you and me, buddy,” Rexx hollered.

James
shook his gun violently back and forth, trying to clear whatever the reason was
for it jamming. He looked at me, shook his head in defeat, and threw the gun
out to the side.

“That’s
what you get for stealing things,” Rexx said, toying with him. “Look, how about
this. You let me kill the girl and you come in alive, unharmed. We can work
this all out back at the Academy. You’ll be permanently demoted, but alive.”

I
rolled over, looked at James, and nodded my head. It was his only chance. I
wasn’t prepared to die, but I knew what had to be done. James yelled for me to
stay down. I ignored him and slowly stood up, readying myself for the swift
bullet to the head and closed my eyes as I balanced on my one good foot. The
dog whimpered at my side, choosing now to verbally show she cared.

There
was no breeze. Sweat gathered on my forehead underneath dry mud, my mouth
filled with moisture, a spontaneous reaction to the fear rising inside me, and
then I took my last breath.

“Looks
like your girlf—” Rexx began.

I
winced at the pain coming my way, from the bullet about to pierce my skull.
After a second, I realized there was no pain. There was no bullet.

I
opened my eyes. Lucan appeared out of nowhere from behind Rexx, placed a hand
around his face, and in one swift motion—he slit his throat. In a last effort
attempt, Rexx grabbed him from behind and flipped him over his shoulder onto
the ground. But it was too late. Blood poured from his neck and he grabbed the
open laceration, trying his best to stop the bleeding—gurgling muffles escaped
from his lips. Immediately, Lucan jumped up, grabbed Rexx’s head, and twisted
it with one move, breaking his neck. Rexx’s body flopped over sideways, giving a
ragdoll appearance, into the mud that splashed around him.

I
stood in disbelief and beyond thankful we had allowed Lucan to accompany us on
our suicide journey.

“That
should do it.” Lucan brushed his clothes off with his hands and ran towards us.

For
the first time James stood there, not saying a word, staring at Rexx’s body.

“I
thought you left us,” I muttered—alive.

“Me?
No. I’m in this for the long haul,” he said.

James
shook his head. “Thanks,” was all he could say.

“I
told you. You can trust me,” Lucan replied.

James
grabbed the broken gun and finger lying on the ground.

“You
don’t need that,” Lucan said.

“But
I might be able to unjam it.” James shook the gun and opened the chamber.

“Ya,
on the other hand, I have a gun you can have and it doesn’t require a decaying
appendage for operation.” Lucan said the last part with a gross expression
across his face as he looked at the fingers in James’ hand.

James
was not amused. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“How
was I supposed to know it wasn’t your gun?” Lucan laughed.

“Well,
are you going to give it to me or just stand there gabbing?”

“Whatever.
Follow me, we need to hurry. If the others didn’t know where we were, they do
now.” Lucan walked past me and I climbed onto James’ back.

We
followed Lucan until we came to his duffel bag hiding in between two trees
where he stashed it during the ambush. Lucan tossed James a gun and we ran towards
the direction of the perimeter.

When
we finally reached the large wall, Lucan stopped and stared at the vastness.

“So
what now?” I asked.

“Now,
I get to work.” He opened his duffel and pulled out a slender, black, hard case.
When he opened it, it was filled with tools. Some of them were slim and silver with
a sharp curved edge, others blunt and round like, and there were a few pliers
as well. On top of all the tools was a bundle of neatly organized, multicolored
wiring.

“What
are you using that for?” asked James.

“I’ll
explain to you later. Right now, I need to focus or we’ll lose our only chance.”
Lucan concentrated as he unrolled a long, red wire and grabbed a pair of small,
needle nose pliers. Then he turned around and walked against the wall to the
right, tenderly moving his palm against the side.

I
looked at James, neither of us having any idea what Lucan was doing.

He
took another step and we heard the sound of a click come from below his boot.
He pressed down with more force against the ground and a rectangular section
eight-inches wide popped out from the wall of the perimeter. Lucan placed his
hands around the rectangle and twisted the handle to the right, clicking it
into place. Then he took his foot off the ground and faced the wall. The
rectangle area was a disguised shield for what laid underneath—an electronic screen.

 “This
is where it’s gonna get tricky,” Lucan warned.

Once
he took off the exterior wall plate, he was left with a translucent tablet
similar to what the doctors had back in the Colony.

“As
soon as I detach the top, I suspect I’ll only have a few seconds to disarm it
before the door locks permanently. So be quiet.”

I
looked, but didn’t see the door.

Lucan
gently popped off the top of the tablet, exposing tiny, hair-like wires
attaching the two. Then he used his pliers to reach in between the small space
as he bent over and grabbed the other wires from his pocket. From there, I
couldn’t see what he did next.

“Okay,
cross your fingers.” He pressed together the top and bottom parts of the
screen, making it one again and proceeded to tap a few buttons. Immediately, a
door seven-feet high lifted from the wall and slid quietly open.

“How
did you do that?” I exclaimed.

“Cross—your—fingers?”
James asked.

“Let’s
hurry, I still have to close it,” Lucan ordered. He ran over, grabbed his
duffel bag, and then they ran to the other side. I was still on James’ back,
and the dog followed fast.

I
was more than a bit surprised to see… well… nothing. There was merely grass on
the opposite side of the perimeter. Of course, the woods were still there. But
there were no death traps waiting for intruders. Nothing but the trees, the
perimeter, and now us.

“I
don’t understand,” I said, looking around. The wall curved slightly, encasing
the outer areas of where everyone lived. There was no sign of an ocean, but I
knew if we kept hiking we’d come across it at some point. However, I had no
idea when. I worked in a tall building, but there wasn’t much to see and the
Academy blocked the only view to the port. The perimeter was placed such a
distance away from everyone, that neither I, nor anyone I’d ever known, had
been near it.

Once
we cleared the door, there was an electronic screen on the opposite side, same
as before, but this time there wasn’t any need to step on a button for it to
appear. Lucan walked over, opened it the same way, and pressed a few buttons,
closing the door securely back into place. The screen he typed on freely moved
back in its fortified hole, pulling away from Lucan’s hands. Both the door and
screen camouflaged themselves within the exterior. The perimeter wall was once again
one complete, solid mass, stories high in the sky.