New World Order (6 page)

“Yeah, but in one piece?” Reyes asked, thumbing toward
the wooden canoes. “I have something better.” He set his backpack on the ground, unzipped it, and pulled out a thick, black square. Words were stamped on it, and he took a moment to read them. “It says we need to unfold it completely before we pull the ripcord to inflate it.”

My spirits lifted. “Is that what I think it is?” During my year at the Academy, the students were given hands-on demonstrations
of military equipment, and one of the items was an inflatable raft.

Reyes set about unfolding it. “If you think it’s a raft, then yes, it is.”

“Thank God,” Summer murmured.

Silently, I agreed and stepped forward to help him. Although I still had mixed feelings about Reyes’ participation in the search, I begrudgingly admitted to myself that bringing the raft was working in his favor.

“Where did you get it?” I asked.

He shrugged, his eyes remaining focused on his task. “Doc told me where I could borrow one.”

I cocked an eyebrow at that. When did Reyes have time to “borrow” a raft from military inventory? It had been my understanding that Doc’s suggestion that he come with me was last minute. And now that I was thinking about it, I again questioned why Reyes had so readily
agreed to come. He had never made it a secret that he hated Jack and often boasted about challenging him to a rematch after Jack had kicked his butt in the Pit… or rather, allowed Reyes to make a fool of himself. So why did he want to help find Jack now?

“You had time to snag a boat from inventory?” I asked, keeping my tone lighthearted. “I would’ve thought you’d want to use what little time
you had to say goodbye to…” I had to think for a moment—was he still with Dawn? “…um, that special someone.”

Summer laughed, and it brought a smile to my lips. While she was drinking, she laughed so rarely, but over the past few days her sense of humor seemed to be coming back. “Don’t you mean special someone
s
?” she asked coyly, eyebrow arched high. “Last I heard, Reyes was up to a new girl
every night.”

The corners of Reyes’ mouth turned upward, the only indication that he was listening to our conversation. The raft was now fully unfolded and he set about stretching it to lay flat.

I noticed he hadn’t denied the charge. “At that rate, aren’t you afraid of running out of girls?”

His face cracked into a smile. “Ergo my desire to see what’s beyond the mountains.”

I regarded
him with a bland expression. Was that really his motivation for being here? Women?

Once the raft was unfolded, Reyes pulled the cord and it began to inflate. As it went from small to bigger and bigger, everyone stopped mid-task to gather around and watch. Sometimes I had to remind myself that technology and the items it produced were a fascinating oddity to them. For those of us from the Dome,
where the inventions and know-how of pre-War mankind had been preserved, they were commonplace. But outside the Dome, technology had been obliterated along with everything else on earth.

“It’s supposed to hold up to seven passengers,” Reyes said.

Willow’s saucer-sized green eyes grew even bigger. “Then there’s enough room for me!”

“You’re not going, Will,” Dena said with a firm shake of
her head. “You’re not old enough.”

Willow folded her arms across her chest. “I’ll be seventeen in two weeks!”

Dena sighed wearily. It was then that I noticed how tired she looked. Older. There were more gray streaks through her twisted braid, and dark shadows outlined her red-tinged eyes. “Which makes you sixteen and not old enough. I’ll not hear any more from you. Go home.”

“But—”

“
Will!
” Jin-Sook said sharply.

Willow snapped her attention to Jin, looking poised to put up an argument, but she seemed to think better of it. She unfolded her arms and stomped away.

Dena watched her go with a tired smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “She’s always been stubborn.”

Reyes looked at me. “She?”

I nodded, understanding his confusion. Even though Will had stunning features,
like all other women of the Nation, her clothing hid her femininity. “It’s a cultural thing,” I said.

“That’s a relief. I found him strangely hot. Annoying, but hot.”

Summer rolled her eyes.

The raft finished inflating. Two folded oars were strapped to the outside of Reyes’ pack, and he unstrapped them, snapped them straight, and locked the joint in place. “Who’s driving?”

“That monstrosity?”
Eli asked.

Tension tightened my chest at the thought that Eli might veto using the raft. I had only met Eli for the first time three days ago when I came to the Nation to visit Dena and Jin-Sook. That had been when I found out they were planning to launch a search for the missing men as soon as the river ice had broken up, with Eli as the guide. He was a former recruit who’d managed to escape
and eventually found his way to the Nation. He was sure he knew the way back to Ryder’s city. And even though I really didn’t want to venture onto the river in one of their hand-carved canoes, Eli was key to finding my husband and the other missing men. So if it were going to come down to a choice between traveling by canoe and losing Eli, I’d take the canoes.

“It’s pretty indestructible.” I gave the raft a good kick to prove my point. “And it’s not supposed to tip, even in rough water.” I looked to Eli. “Do you want to check it out yourself?”

“One thing’s for sure,” Reyes said. “It’s safer than a dead tree.” Gritting my teeth, I turned away from Eli to direct my stare at Reyes, nailing him with imaginary darts shooting from my eyes. Reyes returned
my glare with a blank expression. “What? It is.”

God, he was thick… and expendable on this trip. Eli was not.

Ignoring Reyes, I refocused my attention on Eli, intent on encouraging him to at least give the raft a try, but Eli was already touching the rubber vessel, his brow furrowed in uncertainty. I tried not to stare at the cross-shaped scar on his cheek. Dena had told me it was the brand
the recruiters used to mark him as their property. A shudder went down my spine at the thought of Jack being branded.

“It doesn’t provide much camouflage,” Eli said. “And how are we supposed to walk with it? It’s enormous.”

“We’re walking?” I asked, a little confused.

Eli nodded. He took a few steps away from the boat, squatted over a muddy patch of shore, and beckoned for us to join him.
Using a small rock, he drew a series of squiggly lines, clumps of trees, and the odd jagged edge seemingly inserted randomly. A crude map emerged in the mud.

Flicking his head toward the river we were gathered beside, he used his index finger to trace one of the squiggly lines he had drawn. “We’ll follow this river valley south, eventually turning west, heading down to the foothills, and out
onto the plains.” He moved his index finger as he explained, following the map he had drawn. “Our end destination is here,” he said, using his finger to make a big X in the mud. “We’ll travel mostly by water, but there will be times we’ll need to go on foot to skirt rapids and change rivers.” He looked at our raft. “I understand there’s not much camouflage for us while we’re on the river, but we
need something small and lightweight that fits in with the terrain when hiking through the forest.”

Before I could say anything, Reyes spoke up. “We deflate it, fold it, and put it in my backpack. Once again, easier than a friggin’—”

“We’ll take care of the raft,” I said, cutting him off. Reyes’ lips tightened, but at least he stopped talking.

Eli turned to Dena. “What do
you
think?” he
asked, motioning toward the raft.

Dena eyed me. “I’ll let Sunny make the decision on this one. She’s always proven to have good judgment.”

I smiled my thanks for her trust in me. “It’s safe and easier to transport across land.”

Dena gave a curt nod. “The raft it is.” She held out her hand to me. “Walk with me.”

I took her proffered hand and followed her lead. She didn’t speak right
away, and eventually I began to feel uncomfortable with the heavy silence. “How long do you think it will take Willow to calm down?” I asked conversationally.

“If I know Will, not long. She’s too busy plotting out ways to impress me so she can make Protector status next spring.” She chuckled. “I think her long-term goal is to take my job when I’m finished with it.”

“Doesn’t she lack a certain
maturity
to be an Elder?”

“Unlike your senators, the Elders of our nation must earn their place on the council—and you’re never too young to start.” She stopped walking and turned to look at me. “Are you sure about this?” Her change in subject was swift and well out of earshot of the other others.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.” I squeezed her hand reassuringly, appreciating
her concern. “I miss him so much.” The admission made my eyes sting with tears, and I blinked them away.

She looked skyward, sighing deeply, and resumed a slow walk. I had learned to let Dena say her piece in her own time. When we came to a fallen tree, she stopped again. “You and Jack have spent a lot of time with us over the past year. Jack often comes seeking my counsel on political matters,
but you…” She paused to study me thoughtfully. “I think you mostly come to us seeking refuge.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that statement, yet she was looking at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. She was well aware of the animosity that existed between the Dome and the Pit. Since the very beginning of life in the biodome, strict laws had been enforced to prevent marriages between bourge and
urchins. That kind of prejudice didn’t just end with the treaty. Of course the Nation had become my refuge. It was the only place on earth where my relationship with Jack was accepted.

“Is that wrong?” I asked.

She took a seat on the tree and patted the spot next to her. I sat down.

“Coming to us? No. Seeking refuge? Yes,” she said. “I know you never asked for it, and you’re so very, very
young, but the fact is that life gave you and Jack an important role to play. Your Dome has preserved the best of humanity… and the worst.” She ran her hand along the sleeve of my nanosuit. Her eyes met mine. “And God knows you are a
powerful
nation,” she said with such conviction that it sent a chill down my spine. “With the ability to destroy what’s left of humanity… or save it.”

Her eyes
were misty and, it seemed, beseeching me to do something about the future of humanity. I was stunned. Dena—leader of the Nation’s military and one of the greatest women I had ever known—was looking to me for help. “I promise I’ll find Jack and bring him home.”

Softly, she shook her head. “It wasn’t Jack I was thinking about.”

The statement left me speechless. Was she thinking of
me
? “Dena—”

“We’re not blind to the tension that runs between the
bourge
and
urchins
.” She said the words with distaste. “And Jack has voiced those concerns to me on many occasions. I’m also aware that there have been outbreaks of fighting recently, so I’m left to assume things are escalating.” She took my hand in hers and gripped it tightly. “This earth hasn’t fully recovered from the last war, yet we all
fear another. And you and Jack were our one connection to peacefully sharing this valley with your people.”

There was such intensity to her gaze that I couldn’t hold it. I looked down at her dark and weathered hand clasped around my pale one. It wasn’t as simple as she made it sound. “Bourge and urchin have had almost three hundred years to nurture their hatred, and I won’t lie to you and say
I’m above it all. I’m not. I remember the beatings—still have the scars—and so does every single person who lived in that hole with me, because
everyone
who lived in the Pit was a slave.” I lifted my eyes to meet hers. “But it took meeting Jack to discover that not everyone in the Dome was a slaver. In fact, a lot of bourge were victims of President Holt’s insanity too.” I patted her hand. “Jack
and I have done everything we can to bring our people together through the creation of the Alliance.”

“So Yean-Kuan tells me,” she said with a coy smile. “She says she’s certain you’re with child.”

Dumbfounded, I blinked. “How did she—” I stopped as I realized I was about to confirm the claim.

“My wife has an uncanny insight into people, and I’ve never known her to be wrong. I do feel slighted
that I learned it from her and not from you, though.”

“I only just found out myself a little over a week ago,” I said.

“So you knew when you came to us a few days ago to help plan the search.”

A guilty flush spread across my cheeks. I nodded. “It’s just…it’s new to me, and I need time for it to sink in.”

She studied me for a moment. “The news of your child is too important to hide. He’s
the first of a new generation. A victory for your Alliance.”

Where my child was concerned, the Alliance hadn’t even entered into my thoughts. I had been too preoccupied with Jack’s disappearance, and the few times I’d actually allowed myself to think about our baby, I had ended up in tears. Less than a year ago, his existence had been illegal among our people, so what kind of life lay before
him? Ridicule? Rejection?

“And by
new generation
do you mean he’ll be a half-breed among people who hate each other?” I asked bitterly.

She looked at me, surprised. “You’re scorning your own child before he’s even born?”

My eyes widened in shock. “
I’m
not scorning him. You misunderstood.”

Dena raised her eyebrows in question. “
Half-breed
is the endearing nickname you’ve given him?” My
mouth opened in retort, but she didn’t give me a chance to speak. Pressing her hand against my belly, she said, “He is the first of a new generation—a generation that hasn’t yet been taught to hate. Please don’t be the one to teach him.”

The excuses all died on my lips as I realized she was right.

Jack

“Throw him in the woods for the cats,” Kane shouted as
our caravan pulled away from the river. He was referring to the soldier on the ground.