The Forsaken (21 page)

I glance up and see that now the group of male hunters is standing in a shirtless row. Liam, Markus, Sinxen, and about ten other boys. All of them are carrying plenty of weapons, including some massive metal-tipped spears. The boys look fierce, and I’m glad they’re on our side.

My eyes gravitate to Liam. He notices my gaze, and his face softens a little. He risks a subtle wink. My heart surges.

“We
will
find a way off the wheel,” Veidman is saying. “We
can
find an answer. . . .” He looks at Meira, faltering a little. “I guess that’s about it.”

Some of the kids applaud him.

“See you in half an hour,” he murmurs, and climbs down from the stump, followed by Meira.

“I guess we should say good-bye to Rika,” I tell Gadya.

“She’ll just cry like a big baby. Let’s not make a production out of it.”

“Gadya! We have to say good-bye. You guys are friends.”

“Okay, okay,” she says, exasperated. Her eyes are watching Liam. I want to talk to her about him, but it never seems like the right time, and also, I’m chicken.

In any case, neither of us can find Rika. We search the cooking areas, but there’s no sign of her.

“She’s gone to help the Ones Who Suffer,” a girl tells us vaguely.

“Looking for Rika was a dumb idea,” Gadya snaps at me. “She obviously doesn’t care about us.”

We trudge back to the fire pit. The troops are amassing. I realize that roughly one tenth of the camp is leaving, and the rest are staying. That means nearly twenty of us will be forging ahead into the jungle. Other than the male hunters, there are a couple of hut builders, me and Gadya, and then Veidman.

The ones who are going are easy to spot, because of their weapons and their packs. Along with my bow and arrows, I have a pack too, slung over one shoulder and filled with cups and tallow candles. Others carry different provisions. Several of the sturdier boys are carrying our water tureens and flasks.

For security reasons involving the potential spy, no maps have been drawn of the bulk of our journey to the city on the shore of the gray zone. Those details have been committed to memory by Veidman, Liam, and a few trusted others. They couldn’t risk writing them down, which means we’ll be relying on their mental notes to reach our goal—a pretty risky proposition.

We wave our final good-byes to everyone as we follow Veidman onto a trail and into the verdant jungle. I’m surprised that Rika didn’t say good-bye to us. Maybe it was too much for her. I’m lost in the sea of my own thoughts and emotions. I’m sad about leaving, but also filled with nervous excitement about what lies ahead.

Liam and some hunters walk at the front of our line, with a few of the other hunters bringing up the rear. Gadya and I are near the middle.

After just ten minutes of hiking through the thick vegetation, I already start feeling tired. I don’t know how I’m going to manage too many miles.

“So, you didn’t bring your guitar?” Gadya asks me out of the blue.

Startled, I turn to her. “No.”

“You think I don’t know about you and Liam.” She doesn’t sound mad anymore. Just sort of resigned. “Well, I do. I’ve even talked to him about it.”

I stop walking for a second. “You have? Liam never mentioned that.”

“Yeah. Well, don’t worry. Everything’s cool. I’m not going to flip out on you.”

I’m not sure what to say. “I tried not to let anything happen. You have to believe me. All we did was kiss. Once. No, wait. Twice, technically.”

“I know how it is. Liam has an effect on people.” She laughs, but it sounds forced. “Really, it’s okay. It’s time for me to move on anyway. It’s not like there aren’t enough other cute guys around.”

“You sure you’re okay with this?”

“I’m trying to be.”

“Thanks, Gadya,” I tell her. I feel relieved that she knows the truth. But also really guilty, because I tried to hide something from her.

“Just remember what I told you about him,” she adds. “Don’t forget that I tried to warn you.”

“Sure.”

We keep walking.

An hour passes. Then another.

Sometimes we talk among ourselves, but mostly we’re silent. Gadya doesn’t mention Liam again. She also doesn’t seem bothered by the weight of her pack and her weapons. Meanwhile, my pack is killing me.

Suddenly, our line comes to a stumbling halt.

“What—” I begin, but Gadya flashes me a concerned look.

“Listen,” she mouths, motioning at the forest to our left.

At first I hear nothing. Then comes a faint rustling in the trees. The sound of twigs snapping underneath feet. I know it’s not a hoofer. Their hoofbeats are heavier, wilder.

Boys start raising their weapons. I’m not sure whether I should slot an arrow into my bow. Probably, but I don’t want to risk making noise. Instead I unsheathe my knife with a shaking hand.

No one makes a move. We just stand there.

Veidman suddenly shouts, “Show yourself!” His words ring out in the forest, loud and confident. Birds squawk and fly from the trees into the gray sky. “We’re from the blue sector. And we’re armed.” He lies: “There’s a hundred of us!”

The footsteps increase their pace and volume. The person is heading straight at us. My pulse quickens. Bows are being drawn all around me, including Gadya’s.

“Now there’s a hundred and one of you, Veidman,” a girl’s voice suddenly yells.

A second later, the girl crashes out of the foliage, skidding onto the path.

Rika.

“I almost killed you!” Gadya yells. “Are you crazy?”

Veidman rushes over as I lower my knife and exhale. Rika seems oblivious to the fact that she nearly got skewered by a bevy of arrows and spears.

“I know I’m late. I know— But better late than never, right?”

“You gotta be more careful!” Liam says, helping her up.

“Sorry.” Rika climbs to her feet.

“Why’d it take you so long to make the right decision?” Markus grumbles. We’re all gathering around Rika now as she brushes leaves and dirt off her clothes.

“Cooking’s what I do. You all know that. I’m not a hunter or a builder.” She takes a breath, and then keeps going. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that you need a cook.”

We all just stare at her blankly.

“You might work your magic with weapons,” she continues. “But I work mine with roots, leaves, and hoofer meat. There are plenty of cooks back at the village. But not a single one here. Until now.”

“How’d you even find us?” a hunter asks. “You’re not a tracker.”

“I have my ways,” she retorts. “Don’t underestimate me. I can smell hickory bark a quarter mile away, and a patch of mint even farther than that. You think I can’t find a slow-moving group of twenty kids hiking through the forest? Please.”

“It shouldn’t be this easy to find us,” Gadya mutters. “We need to do a better job of covering our tracks.”

A lot of the hunters don’t know what to make of Rika’s sudden appearance. They’re probably wondering if she’ll be a liability. But the more I think about it, her decision makes perfect sense. Everyone will fight better with a full stomach.

“Someone help her with her pack,” Veidman instructs.

He says this because her pack is crammed with cooking pots, and hollow wooden bowls. It’s like she tried to cram her entire kitchen kit into there.

“No, I can carry it. Really,” she protests as a few hunters step forward and grab some items to lighten her load.

“Take this,” Liam says, giving her one of his spears.

“What am I gonna do with that? It’s too big to stir a pot.” But she takes it anyway.

Markus moves over and says something softly to Veidman. Veidman nods in agreement. “We need to keep moving. Each time we pause, we give the drones a chance to attack.”

As we start hiking again, Rika falls back and joins Gadya and me near the middle-rear of the line.

“We came looking for you to say good-bye,” I tell Rika, so she doesn’t think we ditched her.

“If I knew you wanted to come, I would have trained you, too. Like I did with Alenna,” Gadya complains.

“Then I’m glad you didn’t know.” Rika pokes Gadya’s arm. “I’m no athlete.”

“Neither is Alenna, believe me.”

“Hey, watch it!” I say, although I’m pretty sure Gadya’s just teasing.

We continue hiking for the next hour. Rika’s sunny disposition has lightened the burden in my heart. And now we have her stew to look forward to for lunch and dinner, instead of dried rations of cured hoofer meat.

Yet another hour passes. Then another. Time becomes fluid. At some point we pass the invisible boundary that divides the edge of the blue sector from the orange one, but no one makes a big deal out of it, which is probably for the best.

If you control your fear, then you keep your mind clear.
That’s a line I learned from Gadya.

I think about David. It’s hard to believe he was serious about splitting with the two factions and doing his own thing. On this island, setting off on one’s own might be the most courageous—or stupid—act of all. Crazier even than going to war or hiking into the gray zone.

The sun moves overhead, grilling us with its heat, even through the canopy of trees. It’s hard to imagine the gray zone being cold. For now, all the coats, gloves, and other winter wear are stowed inside our packs.

The hike is going well—so well that I start to get complacent, the very thing Gadya warned me against. But we all do. Our voices grow too loud, and even the hunters are lulled into the rhythm of the hike. They relax, their bows no longer at the ready. It’s just too hard to stay that tense, hour after relentless hour.

Between lulls in the conversation, my thoughts drift to Liam. To David. To my parents. And most of all to the rocks that I’ll be searching for once we find a way into the gray zone.

The last thing I’m worrying about is walking straight into an ambush.

THE ATTACK

WE
’
RE STILL HIKING WHEN
the first arrows hit. I’m just putting one tired leg in front of the other and listening to Rika tell us about the stew she’s going to cook tonight.

But Gadya stops moving and looks distracted about a second before everyone else. I’m just about to ask if she’s okay, when something whisks right past my face. It’s so close it blows back a strand of my hair, and nearly grazes the tip of my nose. Stupefied, I stumble backward. And when I turn my head, I see an arrow sticking out of a tree trunk about three feet away, still quivering.

“Close ranks!” Veidman immediately screams.

At the same moment I realize that my worst fears have come true.

We’re under attack!

Everything Gadya taught me goes out of my mind instantly. It’s like I’m frozen. Nothing seems real. Although I’ve been under siege twice already, both times were back at the safety of the village. This is different. Out here we’re exposed. And we’re technically in the Monk’s territory.

“Alenna!” Gadya yells at me, getting right in my face. “Pull yourself together! Grab an arrow!”

Her voice snaps me back to reality. I do what she says, getting the arrow slotted, despite my trembling hands. My training slowly starts coming back. I crouch down low in the underbrush as more arrows whiz past my head.

The others do the same. We’re all moving closer to one another. I stare out into the foliage. I can’t see who’s firing at us. Just faceless shadows leaping through the forest.

Gadya spots movement nearby and unleashes an arrow. She’s already got another one loaded, a millisecond later.

I stare around wildly. Rika is hiding in the center of the group. An arrow hits one of the pans sticking out of her pack, making it crash like a gong.

Liam races over to me. Other hunters are spreading to the sides now, trying to establish a perimeter and scare off the drones.

“Are you hit?” Liam asks, worry creasing his face.

“No. I’m okay,” I tell him.

“Just keep your head down. Use your pack as a shield. It’ll be over soon.”

We crouch down, bows at the ready. Sinxen runs past with his spear. A few more arrows plow into nearby trees, barely missing us.

I peer into the dense jungle. The shadowy figures keep dancing and leaping, making unearthly whooping sounds.

“What are we going to do?” I ask, swallowing hard. I knew an ambush was possible. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon.

“We fight back,” Liam responds, shooting off another arrow.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Gadya mutters. It’s the first time I’ve actually heard her sound scared.

“Can we turn back?” I ask.

“Too late. The drones know we’re here, and right now they’re spreading the word. Probably telling every other drone in this sector to come and get us.”

More arrows hit trees around us. I hold my pack over my head. So far, I’m lucky. I haven’t received a single hit yet.

But not everyone is so fortunate. Markus bears a bleeding gash on the side of his neck. It looks like a flesh wound, because he’s still firing arrows, but I can’t tell for sure. Some of the other hunters have been hit as well.

It’s clear that we’re seriously outnumbered. There are so many arrows coming our way, it’s like being in a hailstorm. I figure there have to be at least fifty drones in the forest.