Waterproof (10 page)

Jackson ignored the girl and stayed silent as I cuffed her two ankles together without much more fighting from her. When finished, I ste
pped back and looked at the girl. She seemed young with short blonde hair, a pretty face, and perfect teeth. Perhaps close in age to Vee and me. The mercenaries got younger every year and I wondered why the mindset of my generation hadn’t all decided to rebel against the government. Why would she choose to hunt other human beings?

“Name?”
Sasha demanded again.

“Fuck you,” the girl replied.

Sasha whipped the gun around and hit her in the side of the face. I heard something crack, but felt no sympathy.

When she looked back up at Sasha, the red welt on her cheek had already started to bruise. “You should just kill me. I’m not going to tell you anything.”

“Name?” Sasha asked, gun pointed at the girl’s skull.

“Number
137652.”

“This isn’t a joke. What’
s your name?”

Silence.

“Jackson?” Sasha said, and without another word my friend knew what to do. At close range, the arrow pierced clear through her other thigh in a matter of seconds.

Her screams echoed in the otherwise silent forest. With gritted teeth and heavy breathing, she squeezed out one word.

“Rachael.”

“Nice to meet you, Rachael,” Sasha said over top of the girl’s agony. “Now, tell us where they took them.”

Spitting on the ground, Rachael cackled. “Fuck. You.”

This time Sasha hit her hard enough to bring unconsciousness.

“What are you doing?” Trevor asked, but he didn’t move from his spot.

“She’ll wake up and when she does, she will talk.” Sasha secured the gun in her lower back and picked up the bags.
Her fiery red hair glowed in the morning sunlight like a sailors warning. “Let’s get ready to move. We’ll follow their tracks.”

She started to walk away and then turned back to us. “Get her on the
vehicle and make sure she stays alive.”

“Then you need to stay away from her,” Trevor grumbled at our leader, but either
Sasha didn’t hear or she chose to ignore him.

I helped the guys gather up our supplies and our prisoner, taking one last glance at the cabin.
I’ll find you, Vee.

TEN

Vivienne

At some point I must have fallen asleep, because the truck’s sudden stop forced me to fall on top of Max. Hunter had nestled down between the mound of body parts and his swollen face made it difficult to determine whether or not his eyes were open.

“What’s going on?” he asked
.

“Are we here?”
Someone’s voice drifted from behind a pile of prisoners. Fear echoed through the truck as she asked the question we all wanted to know.

“What will they do to us?”

“I can’t go in there.”

“They’ll kill us!
”

Panic
wafted through the small space along with the smell of defeat. No one knew what to expect because no one ever came home. The idling vehicle did little to calm our dread as we waited like cattle being led to the slaughter house. One by one the terrified voices filled the din, whispering questions and reciting prayers that would go unanswered.

“Vee?”
Hunter asked, trying to find room to sit up. “Do you know what will happen to us?”

I looked around the darkened truck to see that several deserters eagerly awaited my response. How did I suddenly become the expert?

“We’ll have to work. Probably preparing bottles or cleaning toilets or something mundane like that.” My heart pounded in my chest when I thought about toilets and latrines, and my Zach digging hole after hole without complaint. Every pore of my body knew that part of my life was over now.

“Or they’ll just execute us for running away.”

I snapped my head around to look at the man hunched in a corner who’d just incited unnecessary fear in all of those trying to be strong. His dirty hair covered his face and the burlap-like tunic hung from his gaunt frame. He looked like he smelled.

“I had a friend once,” he continued. “
He got captured and they cut off his head and stuck it on a stake as a warning to others.” The man shook himself. “They don’t need us as workers. They need us to set an example.”

“How do you know that
story is even true?” a young girl asked. I couldn’t see her face, but her voice quivered with each word.

“I just know,” he replied.

“Stop it,” I said. “It’s just a scare tactic. We live in a civilized world not the Dark Ages.”

“Civilized?” The man tried to stand only to fall on top of three other prisoners. He continued talking from the floor. “You’re sorely mistaken, miss. Civilization went away the moment those nukes left the planes.”

“He’s right.”

“They don’t need us.”

“We’re going to die.”

Sobbing soon filled the darkness and I wished our captors would hurry up and get us out of here. If I spent
too much longer with these people, I feared I would give in to the despair in my stomach telling me we were doomed.

The truck lurched forward, knocking many of the deserters down, and forcing me to bump into Max again. I heard the distinct sound of
a metal gate scraping behind us and realized we must be getting close.

After
five more minutes of slow movements over bumps and turns, it had me wondering if we’d actually arrived at the factory. But then I smelled it. A sickly sweet odor oddly reminiscent of cotton candy. Or sugar. Perhaps that was part of the water bottling process?

The truck stopped again a
nd within seconds the tarp ripped open at the rear exit. Bright sunlight blinded us but the sound of birds chirping trumped my curiosity. I thought we were coming to an industrial park, yet the smells and sounds inundating my senses told me otherwise.

My personal captor, Riley, reached his hand inside the truck. “Come with me,” he said. I looked around only to notice everyone staring back. Riley had spoken directly to me.

“Not without him,” I said, grabbing hold of Hunter’s hand.

A slight smirk pulled at the corner of Riley’s mouth.
“Fine.”

“And him,” I said nodding toward Max.

“He’ll join you later.”

“N
o, now.” Although when I looked more closely at Max, I realized he wasn’t going anywhere. Still breathing, his two hundred plus pound body would be impossible for me to carry. I bent forward and whispered into his ear. “I’ll find you later.”

Hunter gave Max a quick hug before following behind me to escape our dark prison.
Riley kept his hand outstretched waiting for me to take the bait. I couldn’t do it.

When I stumbled out of the back, a searing pain raced through my leg. My knee felt more than just bruised. However,
I did the best I could to control my face and not let them see any of my weaknesses.

And by them, I meant the
armed guards standing every twenty feet apart from each other and watching the perimeter with careful eyes. A ridiculously tall fence bordered the east as far as I could see. Around the top, barbed wire curled in a spiral formation reminding me of a slinky and a snake all at the same time. If the large, automatic weapons weren’t enough to instill fear, than the armed sniper in the evenly spaced watchtowers did the job.

“This way,” Riley said, as though expecting us to follow him.

For the first time, I turned around and looked at the sight in front of the trucks.

“What is that?” I asked. Hunter’s jaw dropped open,
seeing the same scene.

“Welcome to Oasis One.”

Hunter and I didn’t move. One by one the prisoners jumped out of the truck, and one by one they had the same reaction. This wasn’t a factory where people were forced to work. This was a city with a thriving population in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world.

“How…?” I couldn’t even form a complete sentence. The smell of candy, pine,
and
moisture
overwhelmed me. The only time we’d been close to seeing nature as it used to be happened as we ran for our lives through a government monitored wetland.

“Better than living out there, isn’t it?” Riley asked. I looked up at him, curious as to why he felt the need to
speak to me.

“Sir?”
An armed guard jogged over to Riley, holding his cap down against the wind. “Sir, they’re ready for you.”

Riley nodded and for the first time I really took notice of his outfit.
If the stripes on his shoulder where any indication, I’d guess he held some sort of higher rank in the mercenary’s twisted society.

“You’ll be going with them.” He jerked his chin toward the
row of deserters lined up against the chain linked fence. “But don’t give them any trouble or they’ll put you in lock down.”

“What?” I asked, confused again by his sudden interest in my safety.

“It’s not too bad if you go with the flow. Serve your two years and earn your freedom.”

Before I could ask anymore, he turned on his heel, threw the gun over his shoulder, and walked away. He disappeared between the cargo trucks and some part of me wanted to run after him. I couldn’t explain it, but I just knew he’d given me a very valuable piece of advice.

As I looked beyond the line of prisoner transporters, the sharp points of tall buildings pierced through the hazy sky. Wanting to get a better look, I dragged Hunter a few feet to the side and wrapped my arm over his shoulder.

“Do you see this?” I asked in awe.

“I thought all of the cities were destroyed,” he said.

“Me too.”

Green pine trees and magnificent oaks flanked the metropolis as though completely unaffected by the wars or water loss. If this was Oasis One, or the factory, we should be close to the Mississippi River. Maybe that explained the excess greenery uncommon in most of the world. Everyone knew the government built dams to covet what little usable water remained.

“Hey!”

Someone shoved me in the back. I turned and pushed Hunter behind me, ready to fight to the death if necessary.

“Chill, babe. You just need to line up over there.” T
he young man pointed to the group of deserters with his rifle tip. “Time for your shower.”

“What?” I asked again, clearly unable to produce any form of intelligent thoughts.

“You’ll see.” He smiled then quickly cleared his face back to business. “Over there.”

Remembering Riley’s cryptic advice,
I swallowed the urge to bash the guy’s head in and shuffled to the line. I wished for the thousandth time that I had a sword in my hand. At least it would be partially fair then.

T
he trucks continued to block our view of the city, especially since we began walking away from it and down a steep hill. A worn out trail along the fence pointed us in the direction of our new fate. No one fought back. Probably because no one knew what would happen next. Or maybe because we were all still digesting the reality of this oasis in the middle of our shitty world.

“Look, Vee,” Hunter said, pointing to some kind of tunnel entrance in front of us and earning a couple of glares from the guards. “What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hey, there’s Max.”

I looked to the side and followed Hunter’s stare. Several government workers, guards, mercenaries…whatever they were, carried military green stretchers filled with those deserters who hadn’t woken up yet, along the side of the our line. Max’s head had been bandaged and for the first time since last night, I wondered if we would really survive this ordeal. Maybe two years of service wouldn’t be too bad. At least they supplied medical attention.

“It looks like
they’re taking care of him.”

Hunter sighed. “I wish they’d
take care of me.”

I turned his head toward mine, being careful to avoid the swollen cheeks and eyes. “Are you in pain?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Nah. I’ll be okay.”

I nudged him in the shoulder. “Of course you will. You’re the toughest of all of us.”

Hunter sucked in a breath and I instantly regretted my words. There were only three of us now. Wrapping my arm tightly around his shoulder again, we walked in silence until it was our turn to enter the tunnel.

The large stone entryway had been bui
lt into the side of a slope. Still on the Oasis One property, the fence continued well beyond the hill and off into the distance. How much land had the government been able to gather?

“Keep it moving,” one of the guards shouted at us.
Where else would we go?

“I can’t do this!” A woman screeched and pushed her way out of the line in front of us. She darted past two guards before breaking free and running off to the side, away from everyone. Surprisingly, no one followed her. The deserters stood
as still as statues and the guards didn’t break formation along out flanks.

A second later, I knew why. The sharp crack of a rifle split the still air and echoed through my ears. I turned just as the woman fell to the ground and rolled lifelessly back down the hill. The watchtower sniper stepped back into the shadows and the rest of us were ordered to move ahead.

I felt Hunter tense under my arm, so I gave him a tight squeeze. The reassurance was just as much for him as it was for me.
Don’t fight
Riley had said, and now I knew why.

Once inside the darkened tunnel, I relished the moist air. Cool wisps of wind, followed by smells of moss and life brought an unexpected comfort to me. The tunnel itself would fit at least ten people across and b
oasted twenty-foot high ceilings. Probably large enough to bring their equipment inside, I wondered if this underground bunker was used for more than prisoner transportation.

The brick floor and stone carved walls reminded me of the caves we’d made camp in
back when my family first joined the deserters. Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, those caves provided the best protection and made for many great nights exploring all of the small tunnels. Zach and I loved practicing our people hunting and avoidance skills in the dark and far away from our parent’s watchful eye. My heart clenched.

The dim lights gave way to brighter fluorescents and we were all ushered to a hallway on the left. Another hundred feet down the corridor the room opened up and the sound of running water stopped my fo
rward momentum. Running wate
r
—
another facet of modern society I thought gone forever.

Steam drifted over our heads and Hun
ter and I looked up at it like it was an illusion. Only one thing would create steam like that.

“Hot water,” Hunt
er said with amusement. “Vee! They have hot, running water!”

I couldn’t hide my smile. As we walked past the guards blocking the entrance to the shower room, they shoved a towel in our hands and pulled Hunter off to the side.

“Boys over here. Girls over there.” The guy on my side took an extra long glance at my body, making me fight the urge to slap him.