Chapter Forty
My feet were numb and my legs were dead but eventually we pushed though one last swathe of vines and Hunter's truck was revealed. I practically wept with relief and only just managed to keep my feet beneath me as we stumbled forwards.
"Lucky!" Hunter said, raising himself from where he'd been sprawled on the bonnet of the truck, leaning against the windscreen. "I was just about to give you up for dead - again." He gave us that booming laugh.
"Where are the others?" Coal asked. They weren't anywhere in sight.
"They crashed out almost as soon as they arrived a few hours back." He jerked a thumb towards the truck bed where I could make out two people-shaped lumps covered with blankets.
I moved nearer to see that Laurie and Alicia were snuggled up with a jumble of coats covering them, not blankets at all.
"Alicia moaned about being cold and fluttered her eyelashes at the boys. They were powerless to resist." Hunter laughed again.
I noticed that the rest of Hunter's group were looking pointedly anywhere but at Coal as they lounged around the clearing, all without coats on. I rolled my eyes and leant against the truck letting my eyes finally fall shut for a moment.
"I suppose the fact that I still had this helped give you incentive to wait," Coal said and I parted my lashes enough to see him waving the receiver at Hunter.
"It did, but do you really think I'd just leave you in the forest?" Hunter jumped down from the bonnet and snatched the receiver out of the air as Coal tossed it to him.
"Yes I did," Coal replied without hesitation. "And much as I'd love to kick your ass for it, I seem to be a little worse for wear at the moment..."
"You can give it a go when you're feeling better baby," Hunter cooed.
I could hear scuffling and I opened my eyes again to see them engaged in some kind of struggle, Coal was pushing Hunter away as he tried to land a kiss on Coal's forehead.
"Ow, ow, ribs, ribs!" Coal protested and Hunter let him go.
"Shall we head home then?" Hunter suggested. He seemed altogether too cheerful.
"It's about time," Coal replied, swinging up into the truck bed with a grunt.
Alicia squealed and kicked out at him but shifted aside to give us room as I clambered up too. I didn't waste any time and snuggled into the donated coats next to the other girls, tossing my own bedraggled jacket aside and relishing the feel of something dry.
Kaloo hopped up and curled by my feet, her light snores filling the silence quickly. Coal propped his back against the rear window of the truck. The bandage on his leg was saturated with blood. I pulled out the first aid kit and helped him tie another around it.
Coal reached out and ran his fingers through my hair as I worked.
"I'm gunna have to steal things from the city more often," he murmured.
I glanced up and caught his eye, my cheeks lighting with a faint blush, as the truck roared to life. I settled down next to him and sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder and falling asleep almost instantly.
I was rolling on a tide, rocking back and forth like I was in the little leaf boat again. I could sense grey light pushing against my eyelids trying to get me to open them, but I resisted.
Something gripped me under my legs and around my back. I rocked one way then the other and then back again as I felt my head lolling and my hair fanning out beneath me.
No, there was no water. But there was lots of swaying. I struggled towards consciousness and realised that I was being carried.
"Ready to rejoin the living?" Hunter's voice boomed out, the sound vibrating through his chest and into me where I was held tight against him. Hunter had a wonderful, rich voice that always sounded like he was nearly laughing, it made me smile.
"No," I muttered tucking my head against his shoulder. I didn't often wake up in a good mood.
"Do you want to skip the meeting then?" he asked, that laughter nearly escaping as though he found me very amusing.
"No." I felt very at peace with him.
In a strange way, Hunter felt like an old friend already and I accepted the fact that he was carrying me without question. Hopefully he wasn't a well disguised serial killer. Either way, I wasn't getting down.
"Well if you expect to participate you'll need to open your eyes," he said.
I fluttered my lashes and let my eyes adjust to the grey light of dawn. We were heading down a street that I recognised from my time in Franklin. In fact we were taking the street to the same destination: The Hub. Hunter nodded to the guards on duty as we passed them.
We were soon moving down the twisting walkway that would take us back into the meeting room where we'd been briefed on the mission before we left. It seemed like years ago but it was actually only a few days.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked, noticing that no one was with us.
"They went ahead. I promised Coal that I'd wake you up and deliver you to the meeting before he went for a health check, but it was like trying to wake the dead so I went for the easier option," he replied.
I noticed that my weight was causing him about as much difficulty as I would have had carrying a pen. He was insanely strong.
"Thanks." I stifled a yawn as we ducked inside the huge room.
I thought momentarily about the fact that I was being carried in like a child but everyone had seen me already so there wasn't any point in using my legs now. I couldn't muster the energy to feel particularly bothered about it either.
"Do you want to sit with Coal by any chance?" Hunter asked with a definite smug tone to his voice.
"I don't mind," I lied as he swept me down into a big, soft, office-type chair and I tucked my legs beneath me.
Hunter pushed the chair across the room on its wheels, my hair blew around me and I giggled like an idiot as he ran. He delivered me into a spot beside Coal, roughly shoving Alicia along to make room.
Coal raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. His dressings had been changed for new, cleaner ones and someone had tended to the cuts and scratches he had elsewhere too. Luckily it looked like the King hadn't done too much damage to his face and with the blood cleaned off he looked almost the same as he had before the fight. There were just a few cuts, a split lip and a gash above his right eye that now held a six stitches.
"What did you find on the city networks then? 'Cause I could really do with a bath," Alicia said, stretching out in her chair.
She had been patched up too and I could see the shadow of a purplish bruise forming around her left cheek bone but she was just as beautiful as always. It just made her look even tougher.
"We know, believe me," Hunter laughed.
"Shut up! You're not exactly fresh as a daisy you know," Alicia snapped, flicking her ragged hair over her shoulder.
I felt pretty gross myself. I was cold, wet and filthy and all I really wanted was to wash it away but apparently this meeting wasn't going to wait.
"Can I interrupt now?" A stocky man not much older than me, stood up and took our attention.
His brown hair looked as though he spent a lot of time running his hands through it and he wore thick rimmed glasses. Despite his bookish appearance, like everyone else who I had encountered in Franklin, he had strong muscles showing on his bare arms and through his shirt.
Hunter mimed zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key and Alicia huffed and leaned back into her chair.
"Okay. So, I'm Jayden. Me and my sister Livi are basically the tech team here." His eyes lingered on me and Laurie before he continued.
"I don't have time to teach you all how to do my job so I'll give you an overview and you can take my word for it. We got the lists, and a whole lot more too." He grinned like a kid on Christmas morning. His fingers were constantly moving as though typing on a keyboard and he seemed unable to stop fidgeting.
"The lists confirm several things that we had suspected, firstly that a lot of the people who we had made contact with and who were trying to help us from ins
ide Harbour city, have been discovered and killed. Also it shows that a good portion of them have been imprisoned and, we believe, tortured. Probably for information that would help their Guardians to find other revolutionaries and, of course for any information they know about us."
"Imprisoned?" Laurie asked, looking surprised. "You mean sent to SubWar?"
"I don't say things that I don't mean." Jayden frowned at her.
"Are you usually wrong then?" she challenged.
I shook my head at her.
"I saw it myself, there was a list of prisoners," I said before they could continue arguing.
Jayden gave her a firm look before continuing while Laurie frowned in confusion.
"Luckily none of them really know enough about us to be able to give them anything worth having. Still, as it took us a long time to start persuading any Harbour city residents about the lack of danger out here and of the normal lives we are able to lead without threat of contamination, it is a major blow." He frowned and his foot started tapping on the floor.
"Lack of danger?" I whispered to Laurie who rolled her eyes.
"However, there are some of our contacts still at liberty within the city." Jayden continued tap tap tapping with his foot. "Though they may be wondering why we've gone mute on them for the last five years. We hope, firstly, to regain our standing with these people inside and then see if it's possible to get into the city and release the prisoners." He ran his hand through his hair making it stand up even more.
"That last will be the hardest to achieve. We've been able to find records of the prisoners and information that confirms that they're being held somewhere within the city itself. But it's going to take a while before we can work out precisely where they're being held-"
"You mean they're really there?" I asked, feeling my heart constrict. "You found more than just that list to confirm it? You double checked the names?" I gripped the arm of my chair so hard that it hurt my fingers.
"Yeah." Jayden frowned at me. "We've found multiple records of interrogations with dates and time and even some footage of some of it."
I gaped at him as his words sank in. That meant it was true. I hadn't let myself believe it but if he really had as much proof as he was saying then they were really there, locked in some prison. My mom and dad were alive.
"Harbour city is a huge place," Jayden continued. "It's been built specifically to keep everything out here, out, so getting in won't be easy."
"It would be hard for you," Alicia said cockily. Coal and Hunter laughed appreciatively. Jayden ignored her and carried on. I was finding it hard to focus on what he was saying. My mom and dad were out there. Waiting for me.
"We're using the connection we've built with the super computer to re-establish our links within the city but we have to be careful. The whole system is filled with traps to detect unauthorised use. Basically, for now, us geeks are busy here and the muscle is going to have to hold off for a while while we do our thing." He gave Alicia a pointed look and ran his hand through his hair again. He looked distracted, like he really couldn't be bothered to talk to us and we were wasting his time.
"My parents are in there," I said quietly, looking directly at Jayden.
"In the city?" He looked confused, the tapping actually stopped for a moment.
"No. In the prison." My mood had plummeted from the moment he started speaking and I could feel my temper rising in the background as I listened to him analysing everything without emotion. Jayden stared at me with his mouth slightly open, he clearly had no idea what to say to me.
"It's going to take time, we can't just go storming in there," Coal said gently. He reached out a hand to me but I snatched my arm away.
Alicia raised an eyebrow but she didn't say anything.
"I work quickly, it might be possible sooner than we expect." Jayden shrugged.
"Okay," I breathed. "But it needs to be soon, or I'll go myself and break them free with my bare hands. Anyone who tries to stop me within that city will sorely regret it." My voice had nearly risen to a shout and I could feel my hands shaking. I tore my eyes away from Jayden, who looked utterly lost, and looked back to my friends. I knew we would get my parents back but I also knew we weren't leaving any time soon. If I stayed there for another second, I was going to scream.
I got up and walked out of the room.
The sun shone down with force in Franklin, the rain obviously hadn't found its way this far south. I wandered around the town aimlessly for a while, letting my feet take me anywhere they wanted to while my mind whirled and I tried to tame my anger.
Eventually, I found a spot in the town centre where a huge tree stood alone on a green like a sentinel keeping watch.
I let out a breath through my nose and bit my lip against the pain in my chest. I'd grieved for them, mourned them and even found a way to come to terms with their deaths. And now I found out that they'd been alive the whole time.
I didn't know whether to scream or cry or laugh and I couldn't quite manage to do any of them.
I sat in the springy moss around the tree's base and leant against the towering trunk. The sunlight shone on my skin and I drank it in with my eyes closed, feeling the warmth sink into me. I would never get enough of the feeling of sunlight and wind and rain and everything real about the world that had been hidden from me for so long. I kicked off my boots, which were still hanging onto some moisture, and dug my toes into the soft moss.
"Is this a private gathering or can anyone join?" Coal asked hesitantly from somewhere above me after I'd been sitting alone for a while. I could feel his shadow laying over me. I kept my eyes closed and shrugged.
I felt him settle down next to me, not near enough that we were touching but I could hear the steady rise and fall of his breath somewhere to my left. We sat there for a long time and I felt the lengthening shadows move across my face as the afternoon passed us by.
I didn't sleep and I was sure that Coal didn't either. He just sat with me and waited. Eventually the sun dipped below the horizon. I opened my eyes and turned towards him.
"I'm sorry," he said, his eyes wary.
"For what?" The temperature was dropping quickly now that the sun wasn't touching us.
"That we can't go and get your parents right away."
"It's okay." And it was. Part of me wanted to go charging out and rescue them but another part of me was still reeling from the shock of finding out that they were alive. Some time to process the information wouldn't do me any harm. I felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of them stuck in some cell needing rescue.
"I understand if you don't feel the same way about me anymore," Coal said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"What?" I frowned at him.
"I would understand it, if knowing that your parents were captured because they were involved with us, would mean you couldn't feel that way about me anymore." His eyes were guarded as they looked into mine.
"It was five years ago, how old were you then?"
"Fourteen," he replied.
"How could a fourteen year old be responsible for infiltrating the city?" I asked.
"I'm still part of the group that was responsible."
"I'm not angry at anyone here," I said firmly.
"Why not?"
"Because all they wanted was for everyone to have a chance at a life in the real world, and to bring down the lies that trap everyone within that city," I spat, my own anger surprising me.
"But your parents-"
"Were captured because they dreamt of getting out. That's what's wrong here, not the people who were trying to help them achieve it but the people who are trying to stop them."
"Do you think we're doing the right thing then?" he asked, looking concerned.
"Yes." A long silence followed my answer as we looked into each other's eyes.
"We should go in." He stood and offered me his hand. I pointed at his bandaged ribs and stood by myself.
"If you don't
heal you won't be any use helping me get my parents back," I said, smiling at him as I brushed the dust from my trousers.
My legs had gone numb and I kicked at the ground to help get the blood flowing again. The moss was starting to feel cold and damp under my bare feet but I didn't want to put them back into my stuffy boots so I just carried them instead.
I felt disgusting. Somewhere nearby, a shower was waiting for me and I ached to get to it as soon as possible. At least Coal was still as gross as me.
"I hate healing," Coal sighed irritably.
He put his arm around my shoulders and walked with me, back into the same apartment we had slept in the last time we were in town. I wondered vaguely if we were still avoiding his house.
Laurie, Alicia and Hunter were waiting for us when we arrived. They looked uncomfortably away from me as I entered the room.
"I'm fine," I told them, throwing my boots into a corner of the room.
"The shower's lovely," Alicia said with a grin.
"Subtle Liss," Coal grumbled. "You can go first," he said to me.
I opened my mouth to object but I couldn't bear to wait any longer so I thanked him instead and headed straight to the bathroom.
I washed my hair three times and scrubbed myself until I was bright pink. By the time I emerged I felt cleaner than I had in weeks. I sighed and slipped into some of Alicia's clothes. It crossed my mind that I would need to get some more things of my own now that I was going to be staying out here.
Coal was waiting outside the bathroom door as I left and I smiled at him before he headed inside to get cleaned up too.
"You might like to know that we just got a message," Laurie said, sounding strangely cheery.
Alicia gave her a stern look.
"About?" I asked.
"Taylor. They think he's waking up." She grinned, ignoring Alicia.
"When can we go?" I asked, stepping towards the door.
"In the morning, I promise. He's safe but we can't travel at night, not around here." Alicia caught my arm to stop me and shot a dark look at Laurie under her lashes. "I thought we agreed not to tell her until the morning so she wouldn't try to go charging off?"
"I never agreed," Laurie said simply.
I took a deep breath, ready to argue but I glanced at Alicia and knew there really wasn't any point. I let it out in a huff and moved to slump on the lumpy couch.
Coal emerged from the shower wearing a pair of sweat pants. Hunter was busy preparing us something to eat and my stomach rumbled loudly as I realised I hadn't eaten all day.
Alicia and Coal started having a whispered conversation behind me and was fairly sure I knew who they were talking about, but it didn't really matter.
Laurie sauntered past the counter casually and tried to steal a bite of food. Hunter's hand shot out so quickly that I almost didn't see it. He caught Laurie's wrist and pulled her close to him.
"Try it again and I'll put you on your ass." He smiled broadly and released her.
She pursed her lips and stepped away before coming to sit down next to me.
"Why am I tempted to take him up on that offer?" Laurie whispered and I giggled.
"I can't wait to get back to Fairview," I said with a smile. I hadn't had much time to focus on Taylor but I missed him so much that it almost hurt. I was bursting to tell him everything that had happened and waiting until tomorrow seemed like eternity.
Laurie glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the siblings bickering behind us.
"Taylor's not awake yet anyway. At first light we can hit the road and make sure we get there for when he is," she said. I could see some of the same excitement and trepidation on her face that I was feeling.
"He's not going to believe all of this," I said, trying to imagine how I would explain everything to him.
"Do you think he'll be happy to see me?" Laurie asked after a moment.
"What?" I narrowed my eyes at Laurie, sensing that she was trying to hide something from me.
"You know, just because I only met him a few times and I probably didn't really register with him, considering..." She trailed off and looked away.
"Considering what?" I regarded her curiously.
"You know, just it was a busy time and he was preoccupied with, you know - everything." She waved a hand vaguely.
"Like trying not to get killed?" I guessed.
"Yeah." She looked relieved. "Like that."
I felt something twist uncomfortably in my stomach but resolutely pushed the feeling aside.
"I'm sure he'll be pleased to see you. He liked you when you were training us and we were looking for you right before he got hit." I shifted in my seat. A shiver passed down my spine at the thought of how closely we had escaped death that day.
"Were you? I wasn't sure if it was coincidence or if you'd really been trying to find me. I feel... responsible for what happened to him." Laurie twisted her hands in her lap uncomfortably.
"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "After Evan died, we thought it was going to be us next. We couldn't find our way out so we thought if we could just find you then maybe we'd be safe." I shrugged, it had worked out after all, if not in the way we'd expected.
Coal and Alicia were still having their hissed conversation behind us and I thought I heard my name mentioned.
"I lost sight of you. I'm so sorry about Evan. I've never trained anyone before and I was worried that what happened to him was because I'd forgotten to teach you something important or-" Laurie looked almost like she was going to cry.
"You couldn't have done anything," I interrupted her.
"You weren't supposed to be targets," she said sadly, looking down at her boots.
"I know, please don't think about it. There was nothing anyone could have done to change it. But Taylor and me, we used everything you taught us and we survived - somehow."
"Because of Coal, not me."
"He saved us all, but that training saved us several times too." I reached over and held her hand.
"And how are you going to repay me?" Coal said, breaking the tension and forcing his way in between us onto the sofa. He put an arm around both of us.
"If we're talking about life debts I think you're still in mine," Alicia said.
She jumped on top of us all, making Laurie scream and twist to get away as Alicia wriggled her toes under her nose. Coal grunted as her weight landed on him and she shifted so that she wasn't crushing him.
"No, that Creeper King made us even," Coal protested.
"Yeah but I took out the rest of them so I think that gives me another point."
"We helped," I added.
"A bit," she conceded. Her gaze locked with mine and she smiled.
"I think that one was a team effort then," Coal suggested.
"Okay, okay," Alicia said. "Just remember who you can rely on when you're next in trouble." She smirked.
"You realise you're just setting yourself up for a fall? Next time you need saving, we might not bother," Laurie said.
Alicia jumped up, pulled off a sock and ran past Laurie, slapping her around the face with it.
"I'll kill you!" Laurie screamed as she jumped to her feet and chased Alicia round and round the sofa.
I tucked my feet out of their way and let them get on with it. Hunter laughed as he dished out steaming bowls of stew and handed some to Coal and me. My stomach rumbled appreciatively as I scoffed the lot and Hunter smiled as he gave me second helpings.