Firebrand (15 page)

A
lice threw herself against the bars. “Are you crazy, Jerren?”

He stood back to admire his handiwork. “Crazy? No, but you are.”

She thrust a hand through the bars, snatching at his tunic, but she couldn't reach him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Is that a serious question?” Jerren shook his head. “You turn up out of nowhere. There's only a handful of colonies left, but no one's ever seen you before. Oh, and somehow you managed to steal Dare's ship.”

I looked for a way out, but there wasn't one. The whole thing was a setup. They'd even made us leave our bags outside because they didn't want to waste the food when they left us behind.

Jerren placed his box on the ground as Kell took a step back.

“You can't do this,” said Alice, still defiant and hopeful. “You haven't got it in you to watch us die.”

He opened the box. “We won't be watching.”

“Correction,” said Kell. “
I
won't be watching. Now please get your hand away from there, Jerren.”

Jerren froze. He kept his hand over the open box.

“Don't be the first victim, boy. It's not worth it.” Kell stepped forward and placed the barrel of a gun against Jerren's head.

Somehow Jerren smiled. “
Boy,
huh?”

“You think I don't know that it was you on the ship the other night?”

“It was me and Rose,” I said.

Kell looked up. “Yes. But who helped you get back into the fort without being seen?” He laughed in the face of my silence. “You shouldn't have hidden from us on the ship, Jerren. If you'd just stepped out, we'd have known you had nothing to hide. But then, you
did
have something to hide, didn't you? Wanted to scope it out, see if you could sail it.” He
tsk
ed. “I guess your parents would've approved of that.”

“Not after you killed them.” Jerren gritted his teeth. “I always knew it was you. Always.”

Kell raised his hand, but before he could strike Jerren, a figure leaped off the wall and landed on him. His gun bounced harmlessly away.

I'd completely forgotten Nyla had been with us. In his haste, so had Kell. Now Jerren had picked up his gun, as well as the one from his own box. He pointed them both at Kell.

Jerren's hands were shaking from anger, not fear. I could see it in his rigid shoulders and the set of his jaw. “I begged our father not to come to Moultrie that day,” he muttered. “I told him it was a trap, but he said I was wrong, that you'd never betray us. Said Mother needed him. And that you were his closest friend.”

“Your parents stole supplies and hid them,” spat Kell. “They planned to steal our ship too. Chief decided having people like that wasn't good for the long-term health of the colony.”

Jerren slammed one of the guns against the bars. The ringing sound reverberated around the tunnels. “Was this where you locked her? Right here? Did she really get bitten at all?”

This time, Kell didn't answer.

“You were going to put me in there too, huh? How was I going to die? A bullet to the head? Or was it going to be slow? Starvation or Plague—a nice, painful death for a traitor.”

“As you say, boy: a
traitor
.”

There was a click as Jerren cocked the gun. “Where did you put my parents?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Kell sounded bored now, but I wasn't fooled. He wiped his sleeve across his forehead to hide the perspiration. “I think it's time you gave me back my gun.”

Before he could move, Jerren fired. The shot was loud; the scream that followed, deafening. Kell creased up, right hand clasped against his left biceps. Blood was already seeping through his sleeve.

“You shot me!” he yelled in disbelief. “You . . . you shot me.”

Jerren lowered the other gun so that it pointed at Kell's leg. “A flesh wound to the arm. Next time it'll be your leg. Now, where are my parents?”

“Let us out, Jerren,” Alice implored him. “We can help—”

“Shut up! You're staying right there. You're not one of us, and you never will be.” He jabbed the gun closer to Kell's right leg. “As soon as Kell tells me what I want to know, we're done here. But you won't be coming back with us.”

Jerren's words must have reassured him, because Kell began talking. “They were buried in a storeroom under one of the cannons. There are dirt mounds there.”

Jerren took a deep breath. The tension that had marked his features slowly disappeared. He beckoned Nyla to him and handed her one of the guns. With his free hand he removed a key from his pocket and gave her that too. “Let them out,” he told her.

Kell's eyes opened wide. “But . . . you can't. They're not like us.”

“Us?”
Jerren snorted. “There's no
us,
Kell.”

Nyla fumbled with the lock. As soon as the door was open, we burst through. Alice snatched the gun from Nyla and pointed it straight at Jerren.

“That's right,” said Kell. “Tell him to end this, Alice.”

Jerren didn't flinch or turn toward her. It was as if he'd expected nothing else. “Who do you trust right now, Alice?” he asked calmly. “After what you've just heard . . . who do you trust?”

She kept the gun on him a while longer, but then lowered it. When Jerren held out his free hand, she returned it to him.

“There's rope in my bag,” he said. “Tie Kell's hands behind his back and throw him in there. Give him a taste of what it's like to be locked up.”

Alice and I tied Kell's hands and legs securely and pulled him to his feet. Rose stood behind him and pushed him, shuffling, into the cell. Immediately, Nyla closed the door again and locked it.

I stepped forward to stop her and felt a click at the side of my head. “Rose stays in there too, Thomas,” said Jerren. “I'm not going to risk you three turning on me.”

Alice shot him a furious look. “Let her out, Jerren. This is stupid.”

He kept the two guns on us. “No, it's not. She'll be fine. Something tells me your knots are as good as anyone's.” He smiled. “Even Kell here will be free soon, as long as those directions work out. If we dig up those mounds and find nothing there, though . . . well, then Kell's stay here will get extended.”

Kell broke eye contact.

“Want to change your mind on those directions?” Jerren taunted.

Kell spat through the bars. “Your parents are under the lookout tower. Go through the iron door and down the steps to the end of the corridor. There's a chamber on the right. It's sealed. They're inside. Can't promise what kind of state they'll be in, though.”

Jerren flicked his hand, signaling for Alice and me to go. Rose shuffled to the corner of the cell, as far from Kell as possible.

“Please, Jerren,” I tried again. “Rose doesn't need to stay.”

“It's all right,” she called out. From the shadows, she fixed her gaze on Jerren, not me. “I want him to understand that he can trust us. And if locking me in here with his parents' murderer pleases him, then so be it.”

If she was trying to make him feel guilty, it didn't seem to be working.

“Let me stay instead,” I pleaded.

Rose huffed. “No, Thomas. Just hurry up so we can get back to Sumter.” She watched Kell from the corner of her eye. “I don't think Kell is acting alone.”

That hadn't occurred to me. I'd figured all of this was just one more twist in the secret battle between Kell and Jerren. “Did someone put you up to this?”

Kell hesitated. He knew he was supposed to keep quiet, but couldn't resist the power of his knowledge. Wanted to see its effect on us. “Chief knows everything.
Everything
. What interests me is what he has planned for your parents and siblings.” He bowed his head, but kept his eyes fixed on us. “I'd say it can't be any worse than this, but history tells me that's not true.”

J
erren turned and ran. Nyla was right behind him. They had the key to the cell, which meant we had no choice but to follow. I wouldn't let him leave the island until Rose had been released. And from Alice's expression, I could tell that she wouldn't either.

We crossed the undulating grounds, eyes flitting from right to left, taking in every detail of the sun-scorched grass. Rats might be big enough to see with the naked eye, but missing one could be so costly. Only Jerren seemed to be focused on what was in front of him, as if seeing his parents again could override the dangers we were facing.

Moultrie was no bigger than Sumter, but I was disoriented. Gaps appeared in man-made banks, dark tunnels leading who-knew-where? Jerren knew where he was going, though. He moved from grass to path and sprinted up a series of steps to the lookout tower. From here we had a clear view to Sumter, a mile away. Were we being watched at that very moment? Or were Chief's men busy dealing with the remaining members of our colony?

Jerren stopped beside a green metal door. He wasn't waving the guns at us anymore—barely seemed to notice us at all—but Alice and I didn't take advantage of the situation. This was a quest to find his parents and put the past to rest.

He took a moment before opening the door. Stairs led down to a corridor that felt more like a tunnel. The light was low, the temperature strikingly cooler than outside. To either side were rooms, full of furniture encased behind glass. Parallel bars ran vertically along the entire corridor. From the way he walked slowly, I knew that this part of the fort was new to Jerren, and he was as uncomfortable to be here as we were.

Another dozen or so steps and the light grew dimmer still. Jerren nudged forward and drew alongside the next room. He glanced left and jumped back so suddenly, his back collided against the glass wall behind him.

“What is it?” shouted Alice.

He pointed into the room, eyes wide. “It's . . . a person. But not a person.”

Sure enough, there was a man sitting beside a desk, pretending to write. But as realistic as he looked, he wasn't human. “What was this place?” I asked.

Jerren exhaled slowly. “A long time ago it was a fort, like Sumter. But that must have been over a hundred years ago.”

“I don't like it,” said Alice. She followed Jerren a little farther. “Did you know it was Dare's ship as soon as we arrived?”

He didn't answer, but Nyla did: “Yes. There aren't many ships left. They're as easy to tell apart as people.”

“So why didn't someone say something?”

“Because Chief wanted to find out what was going on,” replied Jerren. He flicked his head at me. “He watched you dumping that body overboard, which is suspicious enough. Next thing, the ship drops anchor and you swim ashore instead of Dare. Like you're the captain. He knew something was up.”

“Who cares? It's a refugee camp. What difference does it make how we got here?”

Jerren stopped walking and faced her at last. “Exactly how many refugees have you seen on this island?”

“How would I know?”

“Put it this way: How many people look like Nyla and me?” His muscles tensed as he gripped one of the metal bars beside him. “I saw you all staring at us when you got off the ship. Point is, they stopped taking refugees after my parents died. That's how I knew they'd worked out my parents were trying to escape, because they shut the place down. Any boat that made it as far as Sumter was greeted with a long line of guns.”

“So why do they keep broadcasting that message?” I asked. “The one calling refugees to Sumter?”

“Because the colony's falling apart. There's not even enough wire to mend the chicken coop. But Chief can't go after ships like Dare does. He has to lure them here instead.”

“Does it work?” Alice asked.

Jerren nodded. “If the ship is well-armed, he'll try to trade instead, then send them away. But if it's weak . . .” He didn't bother to complete the thought.

I thought of the sleek ship moored just off Sumter. Was that one of Chief's spoils?

“Dare isn't the only pirate. Chief's a pirate too, and he's smart enough to get his victims to sail to
him
. That's what's happened to you, right? Chief got lucky: Dare's ship without the armed guard. See, he can live without you, but a ship that big is very valuable. And now he has it.” He kept walking. “The plan was to lock you up and leave you here, the way they left my mother. Then your parents would rush over to save you, just like my father did. I suppose they'd never get to leave after that. The rats would do the rest.”

“If they want to kill us, why not just shoot us? I've seen the guns.”

“Because killing uses ammunition. Chief won't waste a single bullet on you when he knows the rats will do the job for him. Besides, killing's a messy business. There are children on Sumter, in case you hadn't noticed. Chief doesn't want them having nightmares just because he had to kill you.”

“How thoughtful,” muttered Alice. “And what about Griffin and Dennis? They're children too.”

Jerren ran his hand along the wall. “They'll be spared, most likely. The colony needs some new blood. Especially kids young enough not to suspect anything. That's why they kept Nyla and me around.”

“So why are you crossing them now? You have to know your chances are better with Kell than with us.”

Jerren had reached the end of the corridor. The light from tiny windows near the ceiling was barely enough to see by, but our eyes were becoming accustomed to it. Still, he wouldn't look through the iron door to his right. “Chief isn't the only one who wants your ship. I swam over the other night to check it out. Everyone always said that Dare's ship was one of the best on the ocean. It is too, but I'll need a crew to escape this place. I'll need
you
.”

Alice huffed. “And you think we'll trust you?”

“I think,” replied Jerren, “that you won't be able to get back into Sumter without my help.” He gripped the wheel in the center of the door. “And if anyone sees you getting back in, Chief won't worry about wasting ammunition anymore.”

Nyla had joined her brother now. She held his free hand and tugged it gently, urging him to look through the small circular window in the door. He'd been putting it off, I realized, struck at last by the finality of what he might see through it.

As one, they turned their heads and stared inside. Neither of them said anything after that, but I knew their parents were in there. However much he'd tried to prepare himself for this moment, Jerren was overwhelmed. He fought back tears, but it was no use. Nyla, meanwhile, simply stared straight ahead, her face hardening.

Jerren spun the wheel in the door and pulled it open. He stepped inside the room and knelt on the floor.

I followed Alice to where Nyla stood just outside. I didn't want to look, but did anyway out of respect for Jerren and Nyla. They shouldn't be the only ones to know what had happened, how low their colony had sunk to destroy any threat. Then I closed my eyes again to block out the image that I knew I'd never forget: two bodies, shrunken, mummified, arms wrapped around each other.

Jerren fingered the remains of his parents' tunics. They'd been white once, I was sure of it, but the fronts were rust-colored.

Blood
.

Jerren poked a finger through tiny holes positioned over their chests. “Shot,” he murmured. “They were shot.”

“Who would've done it?” asked Alice gently.

“Kell.” He wiped his sleeve across his eyes. “He loved them. Did it so they wouldn't suffer.”

“What?”

“He didn't want them to starve, or get Plague. He didn't want to prolong the pain, but . . . he could've just let them
live
.” He broke down in racking sobs—this strong boy, who suddenly seemed no different than the rest of us.

I placed a hand on Nyla's shoulder. “I'm sorry.”

Nyla didn't pull away, but she didn't speak, either. Her shoulder felt rigid.

Jerren kissed his fingers and placed them tenderly on his parents' sleeves. “I'm not sorry,” he said finally. “For years, I've known something terrible happened to them. And I've spent the whole time feeling guilty, wondering if I should've tried to rescue them. Now I know it wouldn't have made any difference. I can stop feeling like a coward . . . a failure.”

With a single deep breath, Jerren stood and turned his back on the grisly scene. The lingering doubts were gone now. He'd be able to move on at last.

He wrapped an arm around Nyla and tried to ease her away too. But however cathartic the situation was for him, Nyla obviously felt differently. Maybe she'd heard her brother talk about this for years but had never really believed it. Perhaps she'd held out hope that when she came face-to-face with her parents again, they'd be alive, just hiding, waiting for their children to join them. Whatever she'd envisaged, it clearly hadn't included anything like the scene confronting her now.

“We'll bury them,” Jerren told her. “Give them a proper resting place. Somewhere we choose, that we'll remember . . . no matter what.” His tone was intended to be comforting, but Nyla still didn't move. She didn't even blink.

Alice cast me a nervous glance. “Jerren's right, Nyla,” she said. “We'll come . . .” Her voice trailed off as her eyes drifted past my shoulder and down to the floor. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

I spun around. Halfway along the corridor, the floor rippled with something even darker than the cold stone.

Rats were advancing on us.