Ordinary (Exceptional Book 3) (14 page)

[ ally ]

Sabine lost consciousness an hour later, and they made her as comfortable as possible in a sleeping bag in the transport. Stosh slept silently by her side, his arm wrapped around her torso and his head on her shoulder. She just looked as though she was sleeping, and that was how Ally believed her to be.

Ally was taking the first watch. She sat on the back of the transport, using a small flashlight Zone D had supplied to look over the map. The fire smoldered to the right of her, the remaining wood giving off a slight orange glow.

Tomorrow they would enter the first town. This meeting would set a precedent for the rest of the trip. She was nervous, but knew it was what needed to be done. She went over the plan in her head. She and the General had come up with terms, ones that Zone D could agree on.

Ally ran over the words over and over, hoping for an uneventful night so they could all get some rest.

Early the next morning Ally and Stosh didn’t speak as they ate a breakfast of leftover stew, heated over a new fire. They stared at the flames in silence, listening as the wilderness around them came alive with the sounds of birds and animals rustling through the trees.

Once Ally had taken her last bite of stew she looked up at her brother.

“How are we going to do this?” she asked.

“Hm?” Stosh responded, his focus set on the fire.

“Are you going to stay here with Sabine? Should we drive the transport and hope we have a good explanation for the unconscious girl in the back. Plus, I’m not sure what we’ll do if they try to take the transport from us.”

“We go together,” Stosh said. “Until Sabine wakes up, I don’t think we have any other choice.” He stood and dumped the remainder of the stew on the fire. The small amount of wood they had used sizzled and popped.

Ally watched him walk back to the transport. She was worried about her brother, more than she had been before, even when he was dying of infection. An infection he had overcome, but she wasn’t sure about a broken heart. She had come close to a broken heart after she had left the northern City, but then she had at least known that Luke was still alive. There was a chance that they could still be together.

None of them knew the chances for Sabine, but Ally had to believe it would turn out okay. She grabbed her bowl and headed back to the transport, throwing it into an open box near the door. Stosh was seated next to Sabine’s unmoving body, running his fingers through her short, red hair.

Ally closed the doors tight, hoping that Stosh at least had the sense to lock them from the inside. She had decided against locking from the outside in case something happened to her and they needed more than one option for an exit. The hatch above wasn’t easily accessible to Stosh, let alone Stosh with an unconscious Sabine.

Driving the transport while trying to follow the map proved slow going, but it was only fifteen minutes before Ally pulled up to what she believed to be the town the shown on the map. The street she entered on seemed deserted. The road was broken up and blocked in some parts, and the buildings left were crumbling. She made a left turn and started to explore, hoping that she would happen upon the inhabitants on her own, and safely.

Three streets over, she caught a blur of movement to the left. A little boy ran into the bushes, disappearing from view. Ally stopped the transport and turned the engine off. The boy was a spotter, he had to be. She wouldn’t need to go to the townspeople, they would come to her.

She was right. It took what felt like forever, but eventually they came to her.

They came to her in the form of five grown men armed with a variety of weapons, from a large, wooden club to a small, black gun. Ally was leaning against the transport, Stosh by her side. They tried to appear harmless, their arms tucked by their sides and smiles on their face.

The leader of the group was immediately apparent as one of the men took lead and raised a gun at them.

“This town is claimed,” he said to them, his voice drawn out like the people of New Eden, but much cleaner.

“We aren’t here to stay,” Ally said. “We are here with a message from Zone D, as well as the Northern City.”

Ally and the General had decided it would be best to mention both cities to the towns, and definitely Zone D since it was closest.

The man’s hard expression and stiff demeanor faltered for just a moment.

“The Northern City, heh?” he asked. He spoke as though he knew of it.

“Go on,” he said to them, motioning with his gun.

“We’d like to discuss this somewhere more comfortable if possible, and with your town leader,” Ally said.

The man looked toward the back of the group and one of the men nodded. He stepped forward, letting the club he was holding drop to his side.

“The name’s Kirk,” he said. “I’m the leader of this town.”

Ally found it interesting that he had hidden himself at first. She wasn’t sure what it said about him and his leadership.

“Ally,” she said, stepping forward. “This is my brother Stosh. We have another friend in our transport but she is sick and currently incapable of being present.”

The formal talk felt so odd to Ally, but she had practiced it over and over in her mind. She needed to seem older than a teenager, and wise enough to sway century-old standards and practices of these towns.

Kirk eyed her carefully, his eyebrows furrowing. “You follow us in that vehicle. Bon will ride with you, but first… we check the back.”

The man with the gun stepped forward and Ally motioned toward the transport and nodded at Stosh. Stosh jogged to the back of the transport and opened the doors. Kirk and the remaining men approached slowly and peered in. All they would see was Sabine’s limp body still wrapped up in the sleeping bag.

It seems that the sight was enough for Kirk because he nodded at Stosh and walked back to the front of the transport. Ally took her place as the driver, and Bon slid into the passenger seat. He didn’t speak, or smile, but his appearance reminded her of the people of Champaign. She sighed inwardly, glad not to encounter another group like New Eden.

Kirk and the men walked to either side of the front of the transport as Ally coasted with them. They led her a few blocks down the street they were on, and then they turned left and continued a few blocks. The buildings held more shape the further they went, and soon enough the houses were whole and taken care of, and people roamed the streets. There were sporadic gardens and clothes hanging from lines strung between the old light poles.

“Welcome to Hope Town”.

“Thank you,” Ally responded, truly thankful. She felt comfortable as they drove further in, and more confident in her mission. This was just the type of town they needed help from when moving forward with her mission.

The townspeople stopped to stare at their procession, more in awe of the transport than anything else. Ally doubted they had any of their own, at least of this size. They stopped in front of a clearing in the middle of town. It was strange, seeing this small wilderness piece amongst the buildings, and it brought back fond memories of the Northern City, of one of the first times she had opened up to Luke.

She turned off the transport and climbed down. Bon followed suit and met her at the other side, his hand still clutching the gun closely and his finger never far from the trigger. Stosh joined them and leaned toward Ally.

“We can’t leave Sabine in there alone,” he said lowly.

Ally nodded. “I can handle this alone.”

“I don’t like this,” Stosh said. “It feels too… perfect.”

“This was how Champaign was, remember? I’ll be okay. Just stay with Sabine.” She patted her brother on the arm and turned her attention back to Kirk.

“This is our central park. Is this private enough for you?”

Ally nodded. Her only hope had been that he would trust her enough to bring her to town, and he had. That was more than enough. He led her down a cleared path and to an old wooden bench. He held his hand out.

“Ladies first.”

Ally smiled and sat, waiting as Kirk took a seat next to her. The remaining men scattered slightly, wandering just out of earshot.

“So, it’s Ally, correct?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“What is this message you bring from Zone D, and the Northern City?”

His blue eyes were pensive. He had at least twenty years on Ally, but was still handsome, with dark hair peppered with silver, and a thick beard. He was wearing somewhat clean jeans and a black shirt that had the sleeves intact.

“Where do I begin?” Ally said with a slight laugh. So much had happened that she still had trouble believing her life had taken the path she was about to tell. She tried to summarize the beginning of her journey the best she could, starting with the day she met Luke and her time in the City, and moving into her time at Champaign.

“Finding the Southern City was supposed to be an end goal for me, it always had been once I decided to leave the Northern City. But after jumping over that wall, I started to change. The people around me changed. I met new friends in Champaign and had to deal with my change into an Exceptional as well as the appearance of the Rogues. I tried to cling to my end goal, and despite several setbacks, I finally made it to the Southern City… or Zone D as it is called.”

“Somewhere in my journey a new end goal started to form inside of me, and it grew and molded itself before I even realized what was happening. I reached a point where I knew that staying in Zone D wasn’t going to be enough. What was the point of finding a new City to live in if the threats are the same? Something needs to be done.”

Kirk had listened to her intently, never seemed uninterested or ready to protest. He pinched his beard between his thumb and pointer finger. “What are you proposing?”

This was what Ally had been preparing for. If she was honest with herself, the ideas and plans were still evolving in her mind, and would continue to form as she found supporters, but she had to appear confident as she told her story, and shared her dreams.

“That we rebuild this country.” Just those few words made Kirk’s eyes widen.

“So something impossible?”

Ally frowned. “This country had to be built from nothing once. Why not twice?”

Kirk didn’t seem convinced but at least he was still listening. Ally continued.

“We’ll start with a new government, but a fair one.” Sabine had been teaching her about government and how the Old World was once run. Also, how it had run itself into corruption. “We need leaders who can help make the best decisions for our people, both Exceptionals and Ordinarys equally. We need to rebuild communication between the towns and cities, and reestablish electricity and clean, running water. Warm water!”

Kirk smiled at that last sentiment. “And you plan to do all of this? You and your boyfriend, and a sick friend in the transport.”

“He’s my brother,” Ally pointed out. “And no. We can’t do all of this. We can’t even crack the surface on our own, but with help….”

Kirk shook his head. “I knew there was a catch.”

“If you believe in my cause, it isn’t a catch. If you don’t, well, then I never would have had serious help from you anyway.”

Kirk shifted his attention to the side, where a few of his men from earlier were standing. He looked back at Ally. “I lost my wife three years ago to an illness. Illness that we probably could have prevented with the proper medicine. By the time we decided to ask Zone D for help, it was too late. We have three daughters at home.”

Ally’s heart sank.

“If ever I needed to believe in hope for our future, it’s now. Tell me what you need.”

Ally smiled. She knew that every meeting wouldn’t be this easy, but she was glad the first one had been. It gave her the self confidence to move on.

“Since you are the town closest to Zone D, at least in terms of friendly inhabitants, we want you to establish contact with the city and start the process of road building and communication.” Ally reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out a small, yellow chip. It was one of many the General had given her.

“Send a representative to Zone D in two weeks time, entering through the eastern gate.” It was the gate least affected by the Rebels in the city. And the General had chosen two weeks because they were finally going to take care of the rebel issue in a forceful way, and hopefully most of them would be captured or gone at that point. “Hand them this chip and you will be escorted to the General. From there you can discuss what you’ll need and you can help each other with this.”

Kirk took a chip and turned it over in his hand. “How did you manage this?” He looked up at her. “We’ve always been neutral when it came to affairs with Zone D, but even so, they never seemed interested in aiding us unless there was an emergency.”

Ally leaned back against the bench. “I think this is just the beginning of people seeing that our country needs to change. Sickness, violence, greed. Not to mention the inequality between Exceptionals and Ordinarys. No one really wanted to say it but someone had to, and I guess I was the first person that the General thought truly believed it.”

Kirk motioned to his men. “I’ll need to talk with my townspeople about all of this. If we come to an agreement in two weeks, I’ll send a group to the city.”

That was all Ally could ask for.

The men grew close and Kirk whispered something to one. He nodded and left the clearing.

“One more thing,” she asked.

“Yes?”

“Well, we are kind of down a few people because of a Rebel attack in the City and…”

Kirk held up his hands. “I’ll find two volunteers.”

Ally stood. “I can’t thank you enough for how welcoming you’ve been. We weren’t really sure what kind of reception we’d get.”

“I doubt you’ll be welcomed by all, but most of the people I’ve done trade with are open to change.”

Ally felt an immediate sense of relief. “I hope so.”

The man was returning and he had brought someone with him.

Ally looked up and covered her mouth, fighting her body against the temptation to crumble to the ground.