Token (Token Chronicles) (5 page)

She turns away and walks into her shack. I am standing in the street dumbfounded. Something is wrong, but I don’t know what. She will tell me tomorrow if it was important so I head back to my shack. I jump into my bamboo-framed bed, which is filled with plenty of the cotton we have picked from the local fields. My head hits the fluff, and I am out like a light.

It feels like no time has passed at all when I hear the morning siren informing us it’s time to get up and go on shift. I head out again with Nayze, Yency, and Benja to the pineapple fields. The day’s work seems to last an eternity. I want to go see Hadley about last night. Something was off. I work extremely hard to make sure we reach our quota quickly today. I didn’t even say bye to the guys before I took off sprinting with my pack attached to my back. I took my usual plunge into the blue water once I got there, and I surfaced on the other side expecting to see her there waiting for me with wet waves of blonde hair and a gorgeous dimply smile, like always.

But she wasn’t there. I start to worry, but I quickly remember I did finish early today so maybe I finally beat her here for once. I didn’t. I waited around for another couple of hours before I began to head back. Once I got to the familiar path, I see Yency running towards me as fast he can. He has always been one of the calmest people here on the Island. Nothing ever seems to affect him or get him worked up. This is unusual. He comes to a quick halt in front of me and hunches over with his hands against his knees to catch his breath. He must have been running a while for him to be this winded.

He starts, “Kincaid, where the hell have you been? We have all been searching for hours.”

I ask him, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

He takes his hands off his knees and stands up and puts his hand firmly on my shoulder as if I am going to need support. He looks at me with a torn expression and says, “It’s Hadley. She was sold last night after the Feast.”

I can’t find any words to force out of my mouth. He is trying to read me to see if I comprehended what he said. I just stand there. He repeats himself to make sure I understand, “I am sorry, man. Hadley was shipped out this morning with the others. She  is gone.

Chapter 2

 The water seems to be flowing much more rapidly down the wall of the caverns creating a loud thunderous roar against the rocks below. The usually sparkling liquid beneath me seems much more lackluster without its customary glow. Even the lights that use to sparkle through the fissures in the walls are covered with clouds today. I don’t remember it being this way. I don’t know how I ever liked this place. Of course, it has been nearly eleven weeks since I have been here, to our porch. The first time since Hadley was sold. I have not been able to force myself to come here until now, but my day was so stressful I thought maybe it would still have maintained the calming influence I always enjoyed. Maybe this could be the one place on the Island without the capacity to hurt me. But I was wrong. Everything here is only making things exceedingly worse. Everything reminds me of her. But, then again, everything on this forsaken Island just reminds me of her now.

I have come to realize I never liked being on this Island. I used to think it was tolerable. To have so many people around me I have known my whole life, I had always found the sultry weather to be suiting, and I was probably the only person on this entire Island who had their own secret getaway. But the sooner I can get out of here, the better. I just dealt with the long arduous work hours, the abuse from the Grods and Holds, the awful food rations and living quarters because she was what I got to look forward to everyday. Without her, I am empty. The Island was never my home. She was.

If I can just get out of here the first day I am eligible for auction, I can start performing better than any of the other Tokens wherever I end up. I just need to make my owners gleam with pride over me and develop a strong bond with them. I will make sure they favor me over everyone else no matter what it takes. I have to earn my freedom. If there is any chance, I have to try. I have to find her. It would certainly help me though if I could have found out where or who she was sold to, but I was denied access to that vital information.

Sitting on our limestone porch without her is too depressing. I can’t take being here any longer. I hastily swim out of the lagoon and begin my walk back to the District. Once I clear the forest and get back on the traditional path back, I come across the spot. The place where my world crumbled to pieces. The very thought of that day makes me drop to my knees, and I fall to the soft dirt.

*

“Hadley is gone Kincaid.”

I just stood there for the longest time like I was in a comatose state, not moving or speaking. Just staring blankly into space no longer cognizant of my surroundings. Yency forcibly slaps me in the face a few times to bring me back into reality. When I come back, I push him down and just take off sprinting as fast as my legs can carry me. He was obviously confused, but took off after me not knowing where I was going, or more importantly, what I was planning to do. There is only one person who could help me now, Island 3’s Ambassador from the Federation. Each Island has a representative sent from the Grodar Federation to run all aspects ranging from which Grods and Holds work on the Islands to how much we are allowed to be auctioned for. We know the Ambassador ranks all of us on the Island and sets the prices and predicts the profits he thinks each of us should bring in return. As long as the bids the Elitists offer surpass his minimum expectations, we are sold. If not, they reserve the right to withdraw us and hold us over until the next auction to wait for more money. A few of the Holds have told me they have high expectations for me, but there is only one place, one person I want to be sold to. Wherever Hadley was sold is where I belong.

I rip through the District knocking over anyone in my way not even bothering to look back or apologize. I am sure by now Yency has figured out what I am up to and will surely try to stop me. Luckily, I have always been a bit faster than him so I have the advantage. I see all the sorrowful eyes of my friends from the Island looking upon me. They must all know already. I think everyone on the Island secretly rooted for Hadley and me. They loved seeing us together, seeing the bond we had grown over the years. They wanted to see us have our happy ending, but we won’t unless I can talk to the Ambassador.

I hear Yency yell behind me, “Benja, stop him! He is gonna get himself killed!”

I look ahead as I turn the corner to the last straight away that leads up the hill to the private manor that houses the Ambassador and any other special guests we may get from Knav. Benja is standing directly in the center of the path blocking me from going any farther. He is a big brawny man who has already grown a full unkempt black beard at 15 years old. I have seen him work in the forests when we have to collect the firewood for the kitchen. He can pick up a large tree by himself with ease. It is uncanny. He is an ox of a man, but I don’t slow down. He may be stronger than me, but I am more agile. Quicker. But he anticipates what I am thinking. He must have known I wouldn’t try to run through him, but outflank him. When I attempt to juke to the right, he throws his left arm out to grab my shirt and yanks me to the ground while he sits on top of me. I can’t move, but he has only secured my right arm at this point so I swing my left up with all my might and connect with his jaw. He tumbles over, and I am up and running again before Yency catches up with us. I look back and see Nayze is running alongside him now.

I continue dashing up the hill until I can see the black barred fence surrounding the illustrious manor. The manor is a five story giant white house that must hold hundreds of rooms. As far as I know, the only person who lives in this giant house is the Ambassador. There are Holds who work there, but they don’t live there with him. They go back to their own rooms right outside the District. The Grods and Holds alike are given quarters in small compartments that are barely better than the shacks we stay in. The gate for the entrance is firmly closed with two men standing guard. I can see in their expressions they are confused. It’s not every day they have one of the Island trainees bull rushing them head on. I suspect they are somewhat fearful as to what I am about to do, but I want to ease their minds. I can’t be getting jolted without at least making my case to see the Ambassador. I slow my sprint to a calm walk while catching my breath, and I gradually raise my hands in the air to show them I have no malicious intent.

As I draw closer, I can see one of the guards is Gunnar. I have not seen him since the day out in the District when he jolted me for hours. I thought he had been removed from our Island, but apparently, he was just reassigned. They decided to use his skills to protect their Ambassador at all costs. He was obviously not afraid of doing whatever it takes, no matter who it involved hurting. This might actually be a good job for him. Personal protection. I can tell he does not recognize me right away, or he would have gone into combat mode already. It has been over two years since we last saw each other, and I have matured into a man now. Once I get a few feet away, the other guard commands me to, “Halt!”

I accordingly stop to wait for my next command.

Gunnar is still eyeing me curiously when the other guard demands, “What is your business here?”

I look at him, and I decide to tell him the whole truth. He may be a Grod, but surely he has some compassion. I already know Gunnar contains none.

I formally reply, “If I could just have a little bit of his time, I need to see the Ambassador. It is urgent.”

“What could possibly be so urgent you feel it is necessary to endanger your own life by trespassing here?”

“It is in regard to one of the subjects of our Island who was sold last night after the Retreat Feast. She was very important to me, and I never got to say goodbye or got any explanation. I just want to know where she…”

Gunnar interrupts my request with harsh laughter and ridicule. “What’s the matter? You lose your little girlfriend and now you want to cry about it to the Ambassador. He doesn’t have time for you. Now get out of here before we string you up in the District for breaking the law.”

I can’t help it, seeing him again after all the torment he put me through. The pain I am in now. He will not be the one to stop me from getting through this gate. He will not deny me. I snap. I calmly take a step forward and strike him in the stomach. He falls to one knee and says, “Oh, I remember you now. This is going to be fun.”

He begins to pull out his jolting device, but I kick it out of his hand and punch the other guard in his face in case he was thinking about doing the same. Before Gunnar can stand back up, I swing my right fist down with all my force connecting with his skull. He is out cold. While they are both down momentarily, I begin to scale the fence to the top. If I can just get over and get to the Ambassador before they regain consciousness, maybe he will be sympathetic and help me out. Just as I reach the apex of the jagged bars at the top, I feel a sharp twinge directly between my shoulder blades. I begin to get woozy and feel my grip slipping from the bars. I desperately try to hold on, but my efforts are futile. I fall backwards and hit the ground hard as my head rattles against the dirt and rocks. The last thing I see when I look up is Zeke standing over me with a tranquilizing laser in his hand.

When I finally wake, I open my eyes only to find darkness envelops me. I begin to move my hands around and discover I am confined in every direction with wooden walls. I am only allowed enough room for my shoulders to be squeezed in tightly from side to side, and I have to crouch my neck down to keep my head from hitting the ceiling. I don’t have enough room to sit down, not as if I would want to. The heat is sweltering. Sweat is cascading from my face, but I can’t even reach my hand up to wipe it away. I feel as if I am being slowly boiled to death, and the smell. Oh, the smell is overpowering. Human defecation is all around me. After I have come to this realization, I can feel the bottom of my feet are in some kind of gooey muck. I know where I am. I have been placed in one of the hot chambers. We only ever heard the Grods threaten to put us in here, but we never actually believed they existed. No one had ever seen them or been put in one. We just assumed they had made them up to intimidate us into working harder. I start to feel light headed, and my eyes gradually close and my mind goes dark.

Time has become incomprehensible. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. I have no idea how long I have been here. It seems like I have been confined in here forever. My nose has adjusted to the smell, but every now and then I think I feel something crawl around my feet. I just hope it is my imagination playing games with me. If the Grods could have properly explained the anguish of being trapped in here, no one would ever step out of line. What makes it worse is that I have been holed up in this box for days, probably, and all I have been able to do is think about Hadley.

I am such a fool. I stood in the street that night after the Feast knowing something was wrong, but I did nothing about it. Did she know that she had been sold and kept it from me? No, she wouldn’t do that. Would she? She would have at least given me the opportunity to say goodbye. I am sure I meant more to her than that. But then I begin to think about the words we shared. The tone she delivered them in. She was saying goodbye to me, I just did not realize it at the time. She knew if she had told me the truth, I would have reacted the same way I did when Yency told me. With wreckless abandonment. She was trying to protect me. She was always just looking out for me when she should have been looking out for herself. For us, even. A lot of good it did. I still ended up in this hellhole, and to make things even worse, I still have no answers. I begin to get angry with her for not trusting me to talk about this, not having faith in me to handle the news calmly. But it doesn’t make sense. She was three quarters away from being ready for auction. No one has ever been sold early. I begin to frustrate myself with the lack of questions I have been able to answer so I punch the wall in front of me. It barely makes a noise because I don’t even have enough room to properly rear back my fist.