Aberrant (20 page)

The others walked out slower, retrieving their arrows as
they glanced at Joshua. No one said a word. Joshua's ashen face slowly regained
color as he brought back his arrows, his eyes staring deep into mine.

"You okay?" I asked keeping my voice low.

He answered, "I'll be glad when this is done."

I couldn't have agreed more.

CHAPTER 18

Our first day of training was over. Lying in bed, staring up
at the top bunk I wondered at how easily Joshua fell asleep. I was exhausted,
but my mind kept racing. I couldn't stop thinking about how another recruit had
almost killed him. Even if it hadn’t been intentional it still haunted me. I
shifted on the mattress, trying my best not to think about it. The more my
thoughts kept running, the harder it was to relax.

"You awake?" I heard Joshua's soft whisper and smiled.
He swung himself over the edge, hanging down from the bed with his head facing
me.

"I am," I whispered, my smile growing. "Can't
sleep."

Joshua laughed softly. "Neither can I with all the
rolling around you've been doing."

I hadn't realized it had shaken the bunk beds. "Sorry."
I blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed. The bed squeaked for an instant, and
Joshua carefully maneuvered himself down from the top, practically swinging
into the mattress beside me.

"No rules here about sleepovers," he teased,
sitting with me on the bed. He shifted down, careful not to hit his head, lying
beside me as we shared my pillow.

My eyes narrowed, thinking it over. "Seems they plan on
killing us if we fail. Might as well make the most of the time we have together."
I tried to make light of the situation, but I couldn’t fake sarcasm in my tone.

His hand reached out, gently running a soft touch against my
arm. "We'll be okay," his voice assured me. But I knew he must have
felt the same way I did. I felt the soft brush of his lips to my forehead as
his body grazed mine. Buried beneath the covers, I was burning up. My eyes
closed for the briefest of seconds as I heard his soft voice beside my ear, "The
other recruits have more training, but we have each other." My eyes opened
and I rolled onto my side, letting the blanket dip down my waist. I was
grateful for the cool air against my heated skin. I didn't see how the two of
us together would help us pass the tests.

"Yeah, because that will save us," I huffed,
closing my eyes when I heard another recruit shift in bed. I shut my mouth, not
wanting anyone to hear us. What we shared was between us. Joshua reached out,
his thumb traced my bottom lip as I listened for any other sounds. The room was
eerily quiet, and slowly my eyes fluttered open feeling his stare on me.

"You did amazing today," Joshua complimented me. I
felt my cheeks redden from embarrassment.

"Thank you." I leaned in, brushing my lips gently
against his cheek. I hadn't felt like I'd done well in training, but it was
nice to hear someone was cheering me on.

"Don't thank me yet," he breathed. "We still
have almost two full weeks of training to endure before the tests."

"I know." I didn't want to think about tomorrow,
but found it hard not to imagine all the possibilities. Would they hand us
swords and expect us to fight until we bled? Would they force us to kill each
other?

"You're quiet," he mused, brushing a stray hair
from my eyes. I sighed softly at his touch. It was warm, inviting and had a way
of helping me relax.

"Guess I am." I leaned in, resting my forehead
against his. "Do you think we could sneak out, explore the town
tonight?" It was a risky maneuver, but I wanted to see more. Did this town
have a tech center like Haven? I knew their healing center was advanced – I'd
seen what it had done for Joshua when we'd come here. What else was special
about this town?

Joshua considered the idea, a line of worry creasing on his
brow. I opened my mouth to ask him what was wrong, only to hear his voice
interrupt my thoughts. "We could try and escape?" he suggested,
gauging my reaction.

I bit down on my bottom lip, the words playing through my
head. I didn't feel like this place was horrible, it just wasn't home. They fed
us, sheltered us and yes, expected something of us, but so did the government. If
we left, where would we go? We'd always be on the run and risk encountering
other outlaws. At least we had new lives here, and maybe fitting in wasn't the
worst idea.

"I don't know." I didn't want to say that I liked
it here. That didn’t seem like the right choice of words, but I also wasn't
ready to take off on foot. I had no idea where the car was, and from what I
could tell nothingness surrounded this town for hundreds of miles. I sighed,
rolling onto my back as I stared up at the top bunk. "I can't sleep,"
I admitted. Either way, I'd be awake. I'd rather know the town and familiarize
myself with an escape route, should it become necessary.

"We don't have to leave." Joshua offered, leaning
up on his arms and staring down at me. "We could just explore the
area." It had originally been my suggestion and now I was even second-guessing
it.

"If we get caught–" I felt the butterflies waking
up in my stomach all over again.

Joshua nodded. "It was originally your idea," he
smiled. "Come on, I know you want to."

"I do want to." It was worth looking around, and I
was curious about the rebel alliance. I knew Joshua was too. I shifted
carefully on the mattress to sit up, making sure not to make a sound. I didn't
want to wake any of the sleeping recruits. "If we get caught–"

"We won't," he assured me. I wondered when he had
become the daring one out of the two of us. Quietly, we climbed off the bunk,
grabbed our shoes and tiptoed out of the room.

"Do you remember which way was out?" I whispered. The
building felt like a maze at times, but only because I wasn't used to such
elaborate setups. Here everything seemed to be in one place.

Joshua pointed to the left. I nodded silently, doing my best
to keep our voices to a minimum. The quieter we were, the better chance we had of
not being overheard. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it as we rounded another
corner to the right, heading for the main entrance. I hesitated before opening
the door, pulling it back slowly, trying my best to peek out before pulling it
wide open. I was amazed to find no one outside. No guards anywhere in fact. We
walked out and perused the fields. Darkness bathed the town situated a few
hundred feet away. Without saying a word, we both headed in the direction of
town, using the moonlight to guide us.

We did our best to walk in the shadows, keeping to the tall
brush in the fields and avoiding the path that we'd driven in on. We held
hands, refusing to let each other out of sight.

Joshua kept his voice low, but his breath tickled my ear as
he leaned in, "We should keep an eye out for our vehicle." I knew he
was right. It would be helpful if we needed to plot our escape. We reached the
edge of the tall grasses and continued forward. There was nothing to hide us
from the town. I felt my heart quicken and walked faster trying to find cover.
I didn't like being out in the open, exposed.

Joshua didn't say a word, merely followed my lead. He must
have felt the same. As we reached the backside of buildings, I pulled Joshua
through an alley between two houses, grateful the shadows once again hid us.

There was nothing to see along the row of houses and so I
pulled Joshua with me, avoiding the moonlight as best as we could across the
street and through another dark alley. I paused as we reached the second street,
this one growing more familiar. "We drove through here," I whispered
to Joshua remembering the clinic and the house we'd stayed in just a few yards
away.

The road was made of red earth and packed down, but I could
make out a fresh set of tire tracks. "Ours?" I mouthed, nodding
toward the vehicle marks on the street. If they were, we could follow the
tracks to the vehicle. Maybe Joshua's idea wasn't so bad, escaping.

Joshua sighed, "Who else's would they be?" We
hadn't seen any vehicles in town, but we'd been cooped up in the recruit
building all day.

My eyes surveyed the perimeter. No guards were on duty. The
town appeared to be asleep. I knew electricity had been used in our complex
during the day, though the entire town went dark at night. It made sense. If a
drone flew over and saw nothing, the city would appear to have been abandoned
long ago.

I kept my voice down. "Should we follow it?" I
wasn't confident in walking further into town where we'd come face-to-face with
Chancellor Collins.

"We could, but remember we turned around, went to the
clinic and the recruit center." I grimaced, realizing Joshua was right.
We'd have to follow the tracks back, not the ones here. "Besides, it's not
as though they'd leave it out in the open." I didn't know if they solely
didn't trust us or if they worried the government would know someone was living
here.

"They hid it," I acknowledged, realizing it would
take more than a little searching along the darkened streets. It could take
hours of sneaking around, possibly days to find the vehicle, assuming they
hadn't stripped it down to parts and destroyed it.

 Joshua's voice sounded anxious. "Let's head
back."

We'd barely spent any time exploring the town. "Not yet."
I shook my head.

"We shouldn't, Olive," he said. "That's where
we got caught last time."

I glanced at Joshua. "We were driving a car, headlights
blazing." It was no wonder we were stopped. "Relax," I insisted.

From the distance I heard a slight pop and click. I froze in
place and gripped Joshua's hand as we took a step back against the building allowing
the four stories to tower us in darkness.

My heart skipped a beat. The Chancellor was no more than two
houses away, walking outside with a lantern and heading our direction. I pulled
Joshua tighter. I felt him grab my waist as he yanked me four steps to the
right, into an alley between the buildings. Grateful for his quick thinking, I held
my breath, frightened the Chancellor would hear. Slowly he approached the
center of the road and stopped. I glanced at Joshua only to see him shake his
head no. We shouldn’t move or say a word.

Each passing second felt like a lifetime. The Chancellor stood
waiting for something. I had no idea what. Could he hear my heart drumming
against my chest? My hands shook, and it wasn't from being cold.

I didn't move, incapable, and knew if we did, we'd be caught.
Neither of us knew the consequences of our actions and didn't want to find out.
From the distance, I could see headlights beaming, and I squinted as they shone
brightly on the Chancellor.

Joshua and I crouched down as we tried to stay out of sight,
now that the town seemed to be bright as day. The car gradually approached,
slowing down, though the engine hummed and rattled, awakening anyone within a ten-mile
radius. The headlights finally dimmed, but I didn't chance moving.

"Stay down," I heard Joshua's voice against my ear
and nodded. There was no way I was about to get up now. The car screeched and
stopped dead in front of Collins. I couldn't help but wonder if this stranger
was about to be escorted from the vehicle like Joshua and I had been.

Instead, Chancellor Collins walked around to the driver's
side door and handed him something. My eyes squinted, but it was too far away
and much too dark to make out what he had given the stranger. A book, perhaps?

I kept my mouth shut for fear of being overhead. Words were exchanged
for a few minutes, and finally the item was handed back to Collins before the
man turned the car around and headed out the same way he'd come in. I glanced
at Joshua, only to see him shake his head. We needed to remain quiet. I shifted
and turned back to see the Chancellor walking toward us. I hoped we hadn't been
seen! Neither of us moved or breathed. Collins strolled past, oblivious to us
hiding right in front of him as he entered a nearby building, closing the door.

Joshua was the first to speak, and I realized how long I'd
been holding my breath. "We should head back, now," he told me firmly.

"Okay." I didn't object. My heart pounded as we
briskly walked by the building the Chancellor had stepped inside. I hoped he
couldn't see us as we stalked past the window.

"What do you think that was about?" I asked as we jogged
back through dark allies, empty streets and an open expanse until we finally
reached the cover of the tall grasses.

"I have no idea." Joshua sighed. "I thought
there were no visitors here," he remarked as we carefully opened the door
of the front entrance then silently made our way to bed. I climbed into my bunk
and closed my eyes, exhausted from the ordeal of almost being caught.

I heard Joshua's soft, "Goodnight," as he climbed
onto the mattress above.

"Night," I whispered, letting my body calm down,
and eventually sleep overtook me.

CHAPTER 19

The next day I awoke exhausted as the other recruits
unintentionally woke us. I'd never been a heavy sleeper. We showered and
dressed in the bathroom before heading down to the cafeteria. I still hadn't
made any friends except for Joshua. Margo seemed less than pleased to talk with
me, and the other girls kept to themselves.

Joshua was seated at the cafeteria table with only a glass
of water in front of him. I walked over to the line where breakfast was usually
served to find they hadn’t set out any food. My stomach grumbled in protest.

"Hey," I frowned, seeing the tired expression on
his face knowing I was partly to blame. "Where's breakfast?"

"Morning," Joshua yawned, rubbing at his eyes. We
hadn't said much to each other when we'd had our wakeup call. The girls had
been ushered to the girls’ showers and the boys to the opposite hallway towards
their bathrooms. "I don't know. No one's saying anything. I wonder if
there's a food shortage," he muttered.