-Worlds Apart- Ruination (21 page)

“Hey Albert, any problems today?” The one asks.

“No, quiet day. I just finished patrolling the tenth parallel, it looked good there.”

I lunge forward squeezing myself against the concrete wall. I roll my head skyward. If I stay right here I’m hidden. Three steps out and they’ll see me. My stomach knots as the protein bar tries to make its way out. I hold my breath trying to steady myself against the wall. An hour passes, my arms feel the strain more than anything. The bags are tearing at every fiber inside my body as they try pulling me downwards. It takes everything inside me to keep the bags up. Any movement will trigger the patrols to look down. My arms tremble as sweat rolls down my face.

“Well Albert, I guess you should get out of here. Craft should be here any minute.”

“Right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

This might be my only chance. I sidestep toward my tunnel. The beacons sway against each other, clanking with each step. I glue myself to the wall and continue sideways. I lower the first bag toward the entrance. My arm still burns without its weight. I stand directly over the loose dirt, I sink as it gives way under my weight. I lower the other bags to the open side and crouch. I push the loose dirt to the sides. After thirty minutes of digging I re-expose the bottom of the wall. I creep into the tunnel. It’s a brutally slow process of reopening the tunnel to accommodate my baggage. I work for hours with the Borg pacing a nearby wall.

Its pitch black outside once I’ve finally finished. I drag the bags through the tunnel, coming across inside the wall. The dark’s so thick there could be a Borg two feet in front of me and I’d have no clue.

I take the better part of an hour masking my tunnel before I lift the bags back to my shoulders. I move forward into the black, I still have two miles to cover tonight.

The job seems impossible in this darkness. I pick my way through the woods using the stars and Mark’s compass to guide me. These two miles would have taken under two hours in daylight but now it takes me four.

I secure the last beacon, it flashes blue. I sink to the ground with the grey box fisted in my palm. I hold the white buttons down just like Mark showed me. Across the wall Jake’s sitting there waiting for my signal.

I unwrap another protein bar. I’m through the second bite when I hear the crashing and breaking of branches overhead. I follow the noise until I find the dropping box, it’s probably five-feet by five-feet in size.

It lands on its side with a small parachute skipping in the gust. I pry it open as beacons and stakes pour outta it. I transfer half of them into the duffle bags before I fall asleep on top of the box.

Chapter 33

It’s hard to believe I’ve been out here sixteen days. I’ve been getting up at first light to haul brutally heavy bags through the thick forest, mud, and rivers. At last the end’s here. Jake made the final drop last night and when I pried the crate open Jon had left me a note.

‘
Only the strong and good will persevere and save not just himself, but all humanity. We will be waiting for you on the other side
.’

I guess he meant it as a sort of compliment. Thinking about being back on the other side with Vanessa keeps my spirits up, even in the cruel heat that’s carpeted everything for two weeks now. The air’s heavy but I pick my way through the woods, crossing dry creek beds.

Daylight’s winding down when I come to the dried bed that Vanessa and I crossed our first night here. It feels like a generation ago that I watched her drag her way across the mud. I say a silent prayer, I pray she’s still at the hillside like I’d seen in my sight years ago.

I finish my prayers with a gust of wind picking up my torn shirt. I shiver, it’s almost nice but then it hits me: a storm’s coming. I grab the bags and start running toward her hillside. Every five hundred feet the damn grey box beeps reminding me of my job. I’ve gotten fast at securing the beacons but it feels like it’s taking too long. The sky darkens as rolling thunder bangs in the distance. I cover the ground sprinting. Even with hauling the bags and securing the beacons I’m at a ten-minute-mile pace.

The threatening storm pushes me faster through the woods. I break through the trees and I’m a half-mile away from her when the first bolt strikes. It reaches from the sky like a hand with fingers open wide. It was close to her, for all I know it was on top of her. The tree the bolt struck lets out a dying groan as it crashes to the ground.

My box beeps and I stop, sweat pours outta me. I secure the beacon and run, pushing myself forward. Two minutes and I’ll be there. Another loud crack vibrates as a bolt touches down. I’m in the middle of securing another beacon when the lashing wind carries smoke to me.

Shit, this is it I realize grabbing my bags before I take off. I hurdle rotting logs and tear through sticker bushes that grab at my flesh. More beeping and more smoke. My heart tells me to run but I know I gotta secure the beacons. I drive the stake into the ground and sync the orb. I leave the grey box and backpack next to the last stake. Clouds of smoke roll through the darkening skies. I break the trees bordering her thirsty stream.

A wall of fuming heat hits me head on. Her hill’s almost totally ablaze. My eyes sting and burn as I scan for her but I can’t find her. I’m too late, the hill’s on fire. Her shelter’s getting swallowed by flames as I sit helpless at the base of the hill.

Then I hear her cough. I sprint toward her, there’s a wall of fire surrounding her. I can’t tell how wide it is. Without thinking I drop my last bag and shield my face. I run straight into the flames. My skin sears and heat burns into me. I take three steps through the wall of flames before I break free.

Vanessa’s on her side, bits of her are charred. I lift her lifeless body as smoke and flames frame us. I do the best I can to guard her as I sprint back through the wall. The wind spins smoke around my face disorienting me. I can’t make my way through the blinding fog. The gusts calm for a blink and the smoke clears.

I leap the wall with flames burning what little clothes I’ve got left. I beat out the flames scorching into Vanessa then throw myself to the ground. I roll side to side. I can’t tell if she’s alive, she’s lying so still. 

I sprint to the last beacon and grab my grey box. The tips of my fingers are raw from the heat but I jam them into the white buttons and hold. It’s raw pain for five seconds.

I crawl to her body and drag her past the beacon. Opening her mouth I breathe into her. I hardly have any air in my lungs but I’d give it all to her. It’s because of me she’s here. Her chest rises and falls. I push on her chest just like Kara showed me.

Drops of blood fall from my arms onto her shoulders as I compress. I repeat the cycle ten times. At last a light shines above me and the wind of the hover drives downward. 

Jake lowers the basket from the base of the hover. It drops painfully slow. I carry Vanessa onto it, throwing myself on top of her. He lifts us into the hover. My body shakes wildly and Vanessa still hasn’t moved. My breath is quick and shallow as we’re boosted up. Everything becomes a haze just as I black out.

Chapter 34

It’s the first time in two weeks I’ve seen him open his eyes. “Are you okay?” I ask. We’ve been next to each other fighting for our lives together. He’s finally opened his eyes, his bandaged hands flinch as he arouses.

He lets out a low guttural growl. I imagine it’s difficult for him to talk. Kara has us both pumped full of morphine and other ‘cocktails’ as she calls it, but even still, it doesn’t totally numb the pain. Somehow Tyler’s stayed in a state of unconsciousness for two weeks, even during the scrubbing.

I’m sure that’s not the medical term but it’s what I’ve started calling it. Kara and Jon submerge us in pools of sterile water to irrigate and re-open our burns. All the morphine in the world couldn’t numb that pain yet somehow Tyler stayed unconscious throughout it. Kara told me his body’s in shock. The severity of his burns were much greater than mine. 

I don’t remember much about the fire. From what I’ve pieced together it was Tyler who saved me. He nearly died, actually he still might. Maybe I should feel indebted to him but to me this makes us even. He’s one less person I need to take revenge on but that doesn’t make us friends.

“Vanessa?” He whispers.

“It’s me, I’m here.” The hate that used to course through my veins has calmed some. How could I hate someone who nearly sacrificed themselves for me? His mouth draws into a smile followed by an immediate wince. The abrasions tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Where are we?” He asks.

“You tell me. Jon says you’re one of the masterminds behind this whole thing.”

“Huh.” He half laughs. “Nope, no mastermind. Just a foolish boy.”

“He told me.” I pause waiting for a response that doesn’t come. “He told me how you tunneled your way out. That you found him here. Told me about the beacons and the craft.”

“Yeah.” He stops himself.

“I asked him why you’d do that for me.” I stare at him. He’s quiet and statue-like in the bed next to me. He keeps his eyes directed straight for the ceiling.

“What’d he say?” He finally asks.

“He told me to ask you.”

His green eyes stare unfalteringly straight ahead.

“So why? Why
did
you do all that? And how’d you even know?” I ask just as Kara’s gentle knock sounds from the white door at the foot of Tyler’s bed. “Come in” I say. Really I want to tell her to go away. I’ve waited weeks to hear his reason and I was about to get my answer.

“Oh Ty, it’s good to see you awake!” She hustles straight to his side with her curly hair bouncing as she goes. “Are you in much pain? I can help with that if you need it.”

“I’m alright.”

“Well it’s time for your debridement, we have the whirlpool ready.” She flashes a halfhearted smile, trying to convince him it won’t be so bad. “I’ll get the wheelchair.” She turns to leave but pauses, “Listen Ty, it’s your first time being awake for this and it’s not pleasant. Do you want me to give you something to knock you out?”

“Nah, I don’t wanna go back to sleep. Let’s just do this.”

Jon comes in pushing the wheelchair. They lift him out of bed together. The bandages do the best they can to conceal the horrible charred skin but even still the blood seeps through exposing the extent of his injuries. I shudder involuntarily.

He looks at me again, “See ya soon,” he says as they wheel him out.

I lay in bed with my head racing as unanswered questions rattle inside. Why, I wanted to know why. I need order and reasons for just about everything in my life and this seems so out of reason and order. It makes me uncomfortable. There’s no sense behind why he saved me, how he knew. So many things still unanswered. I daydream for at least a half hour before I finally hear his screams. It takes Kara thirty minutes to unwrap our burned skin before we’re finally submerged in the agitating pool. My stomach knots and turns as I listen to him screaming in agony. Screams of pain he wouldn’t have to endure if it wasn’t for me.

Chapter 35

Since that day I haven’t had a chance to talk with him. That night Kara and Jon flew us to a private treatment center for skin grafts. Tyler’s surgery was the night after mine. That was six weeks ago. After days of agonizing boredom and countless hours staring up at stark white lights the doctors finally say we can go home. Not that we have a home but I’m guessing they mean to Jon’s.

I can’t imagine the expense Jon’s paying to cover our treatments and keep the doctors quiet about us. It must be a lot, not that I really grasp what that means since I’ve never actually seen money.

I recognize Kara’s voice. “Hey Vanessa we’re about to transport you back so I’ll be sedating you for the trip. It’s safer that way.”

“Is Ty coming too?” I ask. I started calling him Ty, it’s a habit I picked up from Jon and Kara.

“Of course.” She says sinking the needle into the IV. Unlike the medication at the leap, this cocktail takes immediate effect. My eyes flutter closed.

I wake gasping as my throat tries to suck-in the air I need to survive. Ty’s hand covers mine, “It’s ok Nessa, I’m here”

“What? Where am I?” I’m frantic.

“You had a bad dream. You’re safe now. We’re at Jon’s, remember?” I stop to think and then it comes back. I’m not in the woods with the fire surrounding me, I’m safe. I withdraw my hand from under his.

“Sorry,” he says noticing my retraction. 

We’ve been back at Jon’s for two weeks now and I’ve been trying to avoid these interactions with Ty but they seem to happen nightly. Some nights I wake in a cold sweat, other times my screaming wakes us both. Either way he comforts me, always by my side reminding me I’m safe.

“Remember before goin’ off to surgery? You’d asked me why I saved you,” he says. The room’s pitch black and only a muted streetlight casts its subtle rays into the corner of the room, but I know he sees my eyes on him now. “I was gonna tell you, I just didn’t know how. Actually I still don’t know how.”

“Try,” I coax.

He inhales, holding the air in his lungs before he begins. “I guess you know but I’m gonna say it anyway, I’m from the Outer.” I sit immobile and patient. He continues, “I was pretty happy with my life before all this. I had family and friends. I did things I loved. I went swimmin’, fishing, and sailing… all sorts of stuff we didn’t have when I came to the Inner. I was blissed in the Outer. I didn’t wanna leave, I wasn’t like you; I never wanted to get to Central. I just wanted to stay where I was.”

“So what changed?”

“You can’t laugh, alright?” I nod as he continues. “I can see the future. Not like the whole future, just parts and it happens randomly. I can’t control it either. I had a vision with you in it when I was fourteen. It’s stupid but I sorta fell for you. It was blurry but I saw us meet that night by the house and I saw us on stage at the banquet, and then I saw you die in the fire.” His eyes search mine but I sit in a trance. “From that day on I promised myself I’d find you and save you. It’s stupid and you probably don’t believe me but it’s the-”