Innocents
Chapter 22
Adrenalin fuels us in our frantic dash. Flynn leads me wildly through the woods, switching directions constantly in an attempt to throw our pursuers off our tail. Finally, I see it through the trees. A sight I never thought I would be so relieved to lay eyes upon: the gates of Murderers. I nearly cry with relief as we sprint the last hundred meters to safety. There are excited whoops as the Murderers Guards catch sight of us, expecting a fight.
“Please!” I shout breathlessly, “My name is Brie Vanguard and these are Eaton and Calder. We were sent from Innocents over two weeks ago to deliver food, but we were attacked.” We slide to a stop at the gates and I clutch the chain link fence in desperation, gasping for breath, “Please, you have to let us out!” I plead, my voice high with panic.
The guards regard us curiously. “We have to call this in first,” one says finally, “Wait here until you’re cleared.”
“No! You don’t understand!” I’m practically screaming, and for the second time today, tears are running down my cheeks. “We’re being chased by Murderers, they’ll be here any second. You can’t just leave us here to die!”
The guards look at each other and for a heart stopping moment, I think they are going to refuse. A shout sounds behind us, and I know the Domus are nearly upon us. Then, one of the guards shrugs and takes out her keys and unlocks the gates. Frantically, Flynn and I rush through the gates and they slam closed behind us. Before I can make it more than a few steps I feel the cold sting of metal against my skin. I yelp and jump back, colliding with the owner of the knife pressed to my neck.
Nervously, I look around and see that the guards have also surrounded Flynn. To my relief, at least one of them is kneeling down to examine Heath.
“We’re going to have to clear this with Innocents before we let you go,” my guard tells me.
“Okay,” I say, keeping a wary eye on Flynn, praying he will stay calm and not attack, “My guards instructor is Saffi Mehta. She will tell you who we are.” My guard nods and then barks orders at another, telling him to contact Innocents. We wait for several long minutes, my legs are numb and shaking with exhaustion, and just when I don’t think I will be able to keep myself standing any longer, the guard comes back into view.
“Innocents confirmed, seventeen days ago they sent a group of five to Murderers including Calder Schultz, Eaton Simmons, and Brie Vanguard. Their descriptions seem to match those of these three.” My guard relaxes and allows her knife to fall back to her side; Flynn’s guard does the same. All I want to do is rush to Flynn and bury my face in his shirt but I restrain myself, knowing it might raise some eyebrows. Instead I turn to one of the guards, “Eaton needs medical attention. He was cut on the leg when we were attacked. He’s been unconscious ever since.”
The guard looks at me reassuringly, “We have some medical supplies on hand in case of attacks, we’ll see what we can do for him.” His voice is warm and comforting. I thank him as he and another guard carefully carry Heath to a small outpost a little ways down shore. The sight of his blood pooling in the sand makes me dizzy and I feel my knees start to buckle. Flynn catches me and I relax into his arms. I notice that his shirt is saturated with blood and I frown as I catch sight of the wound, remembering that he also was stabbed. “You need to get someone to look at that,” I mumble, but Flynn brushes me off.
“No, I need to be here with you. I’ll be fine.” I don’t have enough energy to protest, so instead I rest my head against Flynn’s shoulder, ignoring the curious looks the guards are giving us, I just can’t bring myself to care right now. Almost apologetically, one of the guards steps forward to bring our attention back to reality. “I know you both must be exhausted and I hate to question you after what you’ve been through these past two and a half weeks, but the PSC needs to know what happened in there.” Wearily, I drop to the ground and sit pretzel legged in the sand, Flynn sits next to me, never letting go of my hand as I begin to tell our story. I edit it to omit the parts of me meeting Flynn, giving a generic tale about getting lost on Murderers and having to find our way to freedom. Flynn says very little, leaving most of the talking to me, and when I’m done, I think we have the guards convinced.
“We’re going to get you back to Innocents now,” one tells us, her voice sympathetic, “We’ll send you back with shift change in fifteen minutes. Don’t worry, you’re safe now. It’s all over.”
“Thank you,” I say, hearing the relief in my words. It really is over. I can almost feel the weight of the fear and anxiety that I have been living with be lifted from my shoulders. Free. I close my eyes, as the relief hits me.
“How is the injured boy who was with us?” I hear Flynn ask. I tense again, dreading the news the guard might bring. “We stopped the bleeding for the time being, and bandaged the wound. But the knife damaged several muscles and we still don’t know the full extent of the injury. He’s going to need surgery back at Innocents.” The guard replies. At least he’s going to survive, I think. Flynn seems to be thinking along the same lines because he relaxes, resting his head against my shoulder, his thumb tracing a circle on my palm. We stay this way until the Murderers guard comes to tell us its time to go.
Flynn helps me to my feet and I brush the sand from my clothes. Waiting for us at the dock is a pontoon boat identical to the one that took me here. I shudder at the memory; so much has changed since then. I have witnessed countless murders and my own hands are stained with the blood of others. Already on the boat are two Murderers guards that I haven’t seen before, waiting impatiently. Heath is resting on one of the benches, still unconscious, his leg wrapped in a heavy bandage. As soon as I step onto the boat, I sink onto one of the benches, staring off across the ocean. Somewhere out there is Mainlands, where Flynn and I can finally be free of fear; start over, have a life worth living. One of the guards starts the engine and soon we are on our way back to Innocents.