New World Order (23 page)

Naoki looked at Ryder, curled his lip, and spat on the ground. A few guards had broken away from the group and were moving the plastic grate adjacent to where I had been digging. A dozen holes in the ground were revealed.

“They’re not human beings,” Naoki growled.

Fear rose up and pressed against my chest. My breathing became harder. “What did they do to you?”

One of the guards pushed
him away from me. The rest of the men, all bound and without the use of their hands, were herded toward the holes.

My head swung toward Ryder. “What the hell are you doing?”

He didn’t say anything, just motioned toward a prisoner standing in front of a hole. A guard worked a lassoed rope under the man’s arms and then sent the prisoner feet first into the hole. He disappeared. The holes were
only about three feet wide—too narrow for a six-foot man to sit or lie down in. My mind traveled back to the morning, when I had thrown dirt at one of the holes. I had heard someone cough.
I had heard someone cough!

I turned on Ryder. “You son of a bitch.”

Sunny

A decent fire was blazing not far from where Jin-Sook lay under a blanket. Eli sat beside her, feeding her sips from his water skin. Summer was sitting a few feet away, eating a package of mush and staring into the fire. Two soldiers stood near the flames, their backs to me. Reyes lounged against the inflated side of our raft, eating his own packaged meal.
Hayley sat by the water’s edge, arms hugging her legs to her chest and chin resting on her knees. Price and his buddy passed me on their way to the fire, having finally finished the business of burying their fellow soldier.

Two somber groups, neither quite sure if they should trust the other, attempting to share the same camp. I wasn’t surprised by Hayley’s decision to make camp there, given
that the bourge couldn’t see well at night, which made travel difficult. However, it didn’t mean I had to like it. If it weren’t for Jin-Sook’s injury, we’d have gotten in the raft and left. But I wanted to make sure her wound was closed and no longer bleeding before we set out again. A good night’s rest would go a long way to help the healing process.

Looking around the camp, I was undecided
about where I should go next. Talk to Reyes about the raft or check in on Jin-Sook? But then my stomach growled, reminding me to eat. It had been a long time since my last meal. I looked down at my belly, startled that I had forgotten all about the baby.
Sorry, little guy. Mommy’s been busy.

I did a mental double take. Had I really just called myself
mommy
? Such a familiar word, yet so foreign
when applied to me. Giving my head a shake, I put the thought out of my mind. I had enough to worry about, but food first. I set my pack down, took out a packet of food and a water flask, and mixed up some mush. Bringing the pack to my lips, I chugged a mouthful as I made my way to the fire.

I paused by Jin-Sook. “How are you feeling?”

She had a sleepy, dreamy kind of smile on her face. “Summer
gave me some pills,” she said in a thick voice.

I smiled. We all had pain medication in our first aid kits.

“Her shivering has stopped,” Eli said. I dropped into the empty space next to Summer and tossed back another mouthful of mush. “I’m worried about infection though.”

“It’s dressed in antibiotics and we have plenty more, so infection shouldn’t be a problem,” I said. I was more worried
about Jin’s ability to travel.

“Antibiotics?” Eli asked. “What are those?”

Two of the soldiers at the fire chuckled arrogantly at Eli’s ignorance. I ignored them.

“Medicine that protects against infection,” I said. I finished the last few mouthfuls of my dinner and thought about opening another pack.

“So how’d it go?” Summer asked and motioned to where Hayley was sitting. “What’s-her-name
looks a little upset.”

Pursing my lips in a brief
ssshhh
sign, I let my gaze wander to the four soldiers sharing the fire. It was then that I noticed Price kept darting his gaze toward Summer. He seemed always to be doing that when she was around.

“Wilcox came clean,” I said in a low voice. “So Hayley—aka what’s-her-name—is trying to absorb the news that her friend Alex was a traitor.”

“Do you know how many of our people have died from infection?” Eli said, completely oblivious to the change in conversation. “And we were living right next door to the cure?”

“If it’s any consolation,” Summer said, staring at the Domers, “we lived right
under
the cure, and no one shared with us either.”

One of the soldiers scoffed. “Whatever,” he said and left.

Summer sneered at the three
remaining. Price smiled back at her. “You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked.

Summer looked a little taken aback, and her sneer faltered. She gave him a once-over and shook her head. “No. Should I?”

He skirted the fire and moved closer to us. “Probably not. My name’s Zachary, but most people call me Zach. I worked in President Holt’s private kitchens.”

As soon as the words were out of
his mouth, Summer became visibly flustered. She shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at him. Her reaction didn’t register with Price, though. He stuck out his hand for her to shake. She stood and backed away from it as if it were toxic. I drew up beside her, ready to protect my friend. Her psyche was still too fragile to mess with.

Price’s smile faded away, replaced by a look of uncertainty.
He dropped his hand. “You’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever known. I just wanted to tell you that.”

Summer didn’t respond, just walked away. Zach watched her go, a look of defeat shadowing his features.

I studied him while his attention was on Summer. There didn’t appear to be anything remarkable about him. He was of average height with light-brown hair and dark-brown eyes set in a youthful
face. I estimated he was a year or two younger than Summer and me. He wore the rank of private, a rank that didn’t need the extra two years of education required by officers, so it was possible he was only seventeen.

When Summer was beyond the light of the fire and he could no longer see her, he turned back to me.

I extended my hand to him. “I’m Sunny.” He shook. “You worked in President
Holt’s private suites?” It was kind of sneaky of me, and a part of me felt badly about that, but Summer and I had never kept secrets from each other until she was forced into a life as Holt’s mistress. It bothered me that she never talked about it. The only way I knew to help her was to share her pain.

Zach nodded. “If anybody else in the world knows what a monster that man was, it’s her.”

“Else?” I asked suspiciously. It couldn’t be. He was from the Dome. And male. “Do you mean
you
know what a monster he was?”

He nodded and dropped his eyes. “It’s not something I talk much about, though.” He pasted a smile on his face. “Just let her know she was an inspiration to all of us.” With a curt nod, he left to rejoin his comrades.

I went after Summer and found her sitting next to Reyes.
I sat on the other side of her. “What was that all about?” I asked.

Lifting her head from Reyes’ shoulder, she gave me a sidelong glance. “I don’t like reminders.”

Indecision about whether or not to pursue the topic gave birth to a long pause. But I didn’t want to drop it. “He kind of implied he was a victim of Holt too.”

“Huh,” she said, clearly not surprised.

“He also said you were
an inspiration to
all
of them.” Her head had returned to its resting spot on Reyes’ shoulder, so I couldn’t see her reaction.

Reyes smiled and tightened his arm around her. “Of course she was,” he said. “The glass is always half full in her world.” She raised her face and shot him a dry look. He flashed her a frown. “Sorry, poor choice of words. You know what I meant, though.”

“You guys know
I don’t want to talk about it,” Summer said.

Resting against her, I reached over and picked up her hand where it lay on Reyes’ chest and squeezed it. “You can’t keep it inside forever.”

She squeezed my hand back. “I’m pretty sure I can. But if I can’t, you’ll be the first person I talk to.”

“Hey, what about me?” Reyes asked.

She slapped his chest playfully. “Not you. You have a big mouth
and too many girlfriends.”

“Pfftt...” His smile grew broader. “I don’t talk to them if I don’t have to.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why am I not surprised,” I muttered under my breath. “So about the raft, Reyes,” I began, and I noted he clenched his jaw. “Where did you get it?”

He looked over Summer’s head at me. “Probably the same place you got your special cargo. From Doc.”

I bit my lips together
to stop my laugh and saw Summer do the same. Obviously Reyes hadn’t figured out what my special cargo was, but I had the urge to assure him that I didn’t get it from Doc.

A shuffling noise across the rocky shoreline alerted me to Hayley’s approach. She plunked herself down on the ground facing us. “I’m interested in knowing where he got the raft too,” she said. “And whatever this special cargo
is.”

Summer straightened up, a wary look on her face. I wondered what else Hayley had overheard. Hopefully everything. She
should
know what the real President Holt was like, that it wasn’t just urchins who were casualties of his insanity.

“Let’s start with Doc,” she said.

As interested as I was in learning more about the raft, I wasn’t about to let her interrogate us. I’d never liked Hayley,
and it wasn’t just because Jack had admitted that they had a little dalliance during high school. Her arrogance rubbed me the wrong way. We weren’t her prisoners, or worse, her slaves. But as much as I wanted to tell her what a self-important twit she was, I knew the words would have little effect on someone who considered me far beneath her. Instead, I decided to use her tactics against her.

Leaning forward, I patted one of her hands and talked in a soothing voice. “I know everything’s happened
so
fast, Hayley, but try to keep up.” I returned to my spot against the raft and dropped the act. “We’re not your slaves or your prisoners.”

She raised her upper lip in scorn. I remembered that Jack had also told me that if Hayley ever challenged me to a fight that I should run, so I knew
she had a reputation for being tough.

“I never said you were my prisoners.”

“Then stop acting like it. If you want to know something,
ask
. A little respect goes a long way toward making friends.”

“I never said you were my friends either.”

“Then I guess we’re done here.”

Hayley became pensive, her gaze skipping across the three of us, resting a little longer on Reyes. Her eyes returned
to me, the contempt softened a bit.

“We don’t have to be friends to work together, Sunshine. I just need to know I can trust you,” Hayley said.

A spontaneous, derisive laugh escaped me, and I shook my head in disbelief. “Can I remind you that
we
were the ones who were attacked by Alex?
You
are the one who needs to prove you’re trustworthy
.
”

“I think Sunshine has a good point,” Reyes said,
not missing the opportunity to take a potshot at me. I narrowed my eyes at him and he returned my glare with smart-aleck smirk.

“Alex was my friend. He was
Jack’s
friend!” Hayley continued. “So I’m having a hard time believing that he was on a covert mission to sabotage the search.”

“I don’t have a hard time believing it at all, Hayley. Do you know where I first met Alex?” I paused, but didn’t
expect her to respond. Her eyes avoided mine, which suggested she knew the answer. “On the range, hunting
urchins
for sport.”

Reyes growled. “Well, if I had known that, his death would’ve been bloodier and a whole lot more painful.”

She looked out at the river, her lips tightening, and then turned back to us. “You have to understand that it was a different world then. There were…
pressures
on us to conform. I know a lot of soldiers who hunted on the range but who never once raised a gun at a human being. Their presence there was just for show, to appease General Powell.”

“Were you one of them?” Reyes asked in a quiet voice.

She met his eyes briefly, and I was sure I saw something flicker there. Shame? Remorse? But it was gone just as quickly as it had come. “I avoided the range.
No matter what Powell said, it went against my ethics.” She pointed to the stripes on her military uniform. “I wear these stripes with pride.”

“There were no
pressures
to elect Powell into the new government, and yet there he sits,” I said. “I can assure you no one from the Pit voted for him.”

The angry contempt returned to her face. “Look, I don’t know why Powell was elected, and FYI, I can’t
change the past. But we’re getting off topic. You and I were discussing how we go about trusting each other to find a mutual friend.” She snorted in disgust and stood. “I’m
giving
you the opportunity to join the official, government-backed search for Senator Kenner. But it’s just like you people to complain that it’s not good enough!”

Reyes was on his feet in a flash, his eyes blazing down on
Hayley. “You’re
giving
us the opportunity? Well, it would be the first damn thing a bourge ever gave anyone!”

Summer and I stood, but we didn’t interfere. Reyes was an imposing, threatening figure who would make the average man think twice about challenging him. But Hayley didn’t back down. This was the fearless girl who Jack had fondly described to me.

Hands on hips, she returned his glare.
“
Excuse me?
We
gave
you a place inside the Dome to ride out a nuclear storm. Shared our food, water, and supplies.
And
even after we fulfilled our side of the treaty, we’re
still
giving
you security, food, and
houses.
” She directed that last word at me.

Reyes’ eyes jerked wide open, and his lips parted in a look of shock. “You
gave
us a place inside the Dome? More like you
forced
us into slavery!”