Shymers (25 page)

It could be Olive.

My eyes follow the movement of grass until it reaches the edge, where the break of trees begins. I hide behind the safety of a large tree trunk to watch the person slowly rise up from the grass. Immediately, I know the blond hair is too bright to be Olive’s. Little bits of the girl’s face are revealed to me through the blades of grass until she is standing. It’s Tayrn. She scans the area before falling back to her knees.

Why is she alone?

We are still too close to the border for me to yell out to her, so I dive back to the ground and drag my body through the grass with my arms. We collide into each other when our paths all at once cross.

“Harrison!” she cries happily, leaping over me. I fall on my back, our arms wrapped around each other. This is the first time we’ve had any real physical contact between us. I laugh. This life is already worth risking everything for. Her embrace reminds me of my family. She rolls off of me, lying on the ground beside me.

I turn to her with my elbow propping me up. “Where are Olive and Bree?”

Just like that, her smile vanishes. She blinks rapidly, her eyes wet. “I’m so sorry, Harrison.”

I grip her by her arm. “What do you mean? What happened? Where is she?”

“I told Olive today at school like you asked. She said Bree wasn’t coming, so I was going to take her myself. She followed me all the way through the Future territory, then…” Her voice breaks and her eyes close. She shakes her head back and forth.

“The
n
wha
t
?” I yell, forgetting that we are supposed to be hiding from the soldiers protecting the wall. “What happened, Tayrn? Where is Olive?”

Tears splash down from her eyes, dropping sideways and landing on the bridge of her slim nose. “Someone took her inside government headquarters! I didn’t know what to do! I was scared! I just…I took off without her!” Her lids flip open and she silently pleads for me to forgive her.

Everything turns hazy.

Olive was caught.

She isn’t coming.

I collapse back to the ground, the weight of this dismal news crushing me. I should have burst into the girls’ chambers and brought Olive with me the night before, even though it would have been dangerous. I never should have agreed to run away with her. All my hopes and plans for a few happy months of life with Olive have vanished. Plunging a burning hot blade into my heart would not hurt as much as this feeling does now.

“How could you just leave her?” I ask through clenched teeth.

“Harrison, I’m sorry!” she cries, reaching out to touch my shoulder. “I didn’t know what else to do! I had no other choice! What could I have possibly done if I had gone in after them?”

There probabl
y
wasn’
t
anything she could have done to stop it without putting herself in danger. Still, it doesn’t keep me from being mad at her. She was there. I am helpless to do anything. I pull away from her touch and spring to my feet. “I’m going back to get her.”

She yanks on the bottom of my shirt, sobbing. “No, you can’t! It’s too late for that! You can’t go back!”

“I have to,” I say, trying to keep the desperation from my voice. Olive is the only reason I am here. She is the only reason I’ve had to smile since my family’s deaths. I can’t just let her life end with suspension, or even worse yet, an early death.

Tayrn tugs on my arm so forcefully that I fall back down beside her. I welcome the hard impact with the ground. I welcome the pain that starts in my tailbone and shoots all the way up to my back. I deserve it.

I failed Olive.

I wasn’t there to protect her as I should have been. With my hands clenched I scream out.

“Harrison, please. You have to be quiet!” My cousin pleads between tears. “I’m sorry! I can’t imagine how much it hurts to lose her now, but there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t go back to the government center and bring her back here. She would want you to be happy in your final months, even though you have to do it without her.”

My face crashes down into my hands. Olive was everything that mattered to me. Without her, I have nothing. I am nothing. There is no point in continuing on.

“Listen to me,” Tayrn whispers into my ear. “We have each other. I can still take you to finish your playlist. We can stay here in the Free Lands. In your final moments you’ll be free, Harrison. You’ll be happy.”

I remove my hands from my face to stare down on her. “I won’t be happy unless she’s with me. If I can’t go back and get her, then I’m going back to join the Rebels. If she’s in suspension, maybe I can help bust her out when the revolution begins.”

Her eyes grow wider. “Revolution? What revolution?”

“Your girlfriend and the other Rebels said it’s coming. Their leader is in suspension and plans to start it from there. I belong with them. I wanted to join the Rebels before my parents died, but my mother was too afraid of what would happen to me if I did. I should have stood up sooner and fought with them. I should have done what was right all those years ago.”

“What would it have mattered? The Rebels haven’t done anything before now. They continue to lose more people to death and suspension, yet Society continues to operate in the same old mixed-up way. Joining the Rebels isn’t going to make a bit of a difference, Harrison. We have been hearin
g
foreve
r
how there is going to be an uprising, and how things will never be the same. Well nothing has happened! Lani didn’t say anything to me, probably because even she thinks it’s never going to happen! It’s all just talk!”

I shake my head. “You’re wrong. The
y
ar
e
going to do something. They told me they’re ready to go. You should see how passionate they are about the uprising, Tayrn. The
y
wil
l
make a difference. And I’m not going to stay out here like some kind of coward while they’re in there doing what is right.”

“What about me?” she asks. Her voice is small, like a young girl’s. “What will happen to me if you join them? I can’t go back there, Harrison. We both know that by tomorrow, my parents will contact the government to tell them I’m gone. I still have my communicator in. Lani said there wasn’t time for them to do it—she wanted me hurry so I could find you. Either you’re going to have to stay and take it out for me, or the government will activate it and find me.”

Looking back at her, I sigh.

Olive

17 – Who are You?

Is this really happening? The Rebels are actually going to make their move? I am both elated and terrified. The last time there was an uprising, so many people were killed. Will this be another bloodbath? But what if they’re able to change the way things are in Society? What will it mean for Shymers? What will it mean for my mother, if she’s still alive?

“When will it start?” I ask.

Kendall holds his hands out to his side. “Soon. They plan to free everyone from suspension and take over Society.”

Wh
o
i
s
this boy and how does he know so much about the rebellion? Could everything he’s saying be true? Did Kai know about this revolt? What about Chance and the others? Is this what he was talking about when he said we needed to leave right away? How long have they been planning this?

I am floored by a raging surge of excitement. There may still be hope for my mother. I may get the chance to see her again. There may be hope for all of the Shymers, especially those living in the orphanage. There may even be hope for me, whatever I am.

“How do you know all of this?”

Kendall runs a hand through his hair and takes a fleeting look around the forest. “Let’s just say I have my connections. You don’t need to know the details. It isn’t safe out here in the Free Lands now. The soldiers are going to be even more determined to stop anyone from running after all hell breaks loose.”

I chuckle at his use of the old world term, but it comes out sounding more like a hiccup in my worn down condition. “Where exactly would be considered safe? Back in Society, where they plan to take over?”

“Going back would be a bad idea. The safest place to be is beyond the Free Lands.”

“What’s out there?” I ask. Are there really other islands like Harrison said?

He smiles a genuine, promising smile. “A whole different world that Society wants us to know nothing about. It won’t be easy to get you there, but once you make it, you’ll be safe.”

Although sore, tired and hungry, in a flash I am filled with a new hope. If there really is something beyond the Free Lands, Harrison and I may have a real shot at being happy. If only I can find him.

“I’m not going anywhere until I find my friends. They were supposed to be at the blackberry patch. Maybe they’ll come today.”

He shakes his head. “You have to leave right away. The Free Lands continue on fo
r
mile
s
, Olive. What if they are lost? How do you think you’ll ever find them?”

With a pang in my chest, I worry he is right. Still, I refuse to give in to the thought that I will never see my friends again. I’ve come this far and I’m not going to give up on the people I love. “I will find them. I know I will.”

“Sometimes what you may think is possible is really the impossible. People just refuse to see it. Now let’s go before someone discovers us out here.”

With a sickening sensation, I follow Kendall deeper into the forest. Kiki seems to take in everything we see with building excitement, yet the spots behind her ears are clean of any marks. Is she a Future? Could she have been born here in the Free Lands?

Kendall leads us to a nearby creek, taking watch for soldiers as I submerge my sore body into the soothing water. When I’m finished, we gather berries and more nuts. My stomach could use something of more sustenance, yet I know it’s too dangerous to start a fire.

We continue walking until I no longer recognize the surroundings. Just when I think we must have reached the ends of the forest, we come upon a tree that looks as wide as it is tall. Kendall pulls aside a wild bush with white flowers that rests against the base of the tree. I gasp when an opening at the base of the tree trunk is revealed. A dim light from within illuminates the beginning of a small tunnel.

Just as with the elevator, I become fearful. As a young child, my father told me stories of places calle
d
cemeterie
s
. After that I would wake from nightmares in which I was buried underground. Crawling through a dirt tunnel does not sound like something I will enjoy.

Kiki eagerly pops into the hole. I watch as her little feet, covered in worn-out tennis shoes, disappear seconds later.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Kendall tells me, still holding the bush in his hand.

“What’s down there?” I ask, my voice quivering.

“Kiki,” he answers with a grin.

I roll my eyes. “I mean what’s on the other end? How far do we have to crawl?”

He reaches out to touch my shoulder, but withdraws his hand before it makes contact. “You’ll be okay, Olive. I promise. It isn’t very far. Do you think I would let my sister go in there if it wasn’t safe?”

My dry throat won’t allow me to swallow. I nod and squat down to the ground, slowly placing my palms against the dirt. I can’t see the end of the tunnel, only a slope that appears to twist downward. I fear I am about to fall to my death.

Kendall’s eyes are warm and soothing. “Don’t be afraid.”

I turn back to the tunnel and begin crawling. The tunnel feels as if it is constricting, threatening to devour me whole. I close my eyes for a moment and concentrate on my breathing. The dirt is cool to the touch and has a sweet odor—it’s the smell I remember from living in the Free Lands and makes me comforted. The sound of movement comes from behind me. Kendall is coming. I continue on.

At one point the tunnel turns. After maneuvering around the corner, I can suddenly see the source of the light below. Low murmurs of mixed voices drift toward me. I crawl until the tunnel grows wider, and turn around on my stomach to slide down the steps, into the pit. Little by little I turn, feeling the presence of people standing behind me.

Kiki stands among a gathering of boys and girls that stare back at me from the center of the dirt room. One of the girls could be as young as thirteen, but most of them look to be my age or older. They all wear bright clothing in various styles and materials. Their faces are collectively covered in dirt, probably from living down here.

The underground space isn’t as small as I had feared it would be. I am still rather uncomfortable with all the bodies filling it. That and they won’t stop gaping at me.

“Hi,” I say to them, hoping they will warm up to me.

A small area used for the kitchen sits off to my right, where pots and pans are surrounded by loaves of bread, containers of liquid and stacks of canned goods. Little lanterns are placed everywhere, glowing with something electrical instead of with fire. The rest of the small space holds a basket filled with clothing, something that looks like soap, a dark metal box and a bucket.