Redeemer (10 page)

“He's going to throw up!” Mikel yells.

That sends a few of them into motion.

While all eyes focus on Mikel and Kint, I look to Isabel and she nods. I back away from the chaos, which seems natural enough since I was beside them and I don't want to be puked on. I continue scooting until I'm nearer the back door and the guard. She glances at me but doesn't seem at all concerned, since I stare at Kint with everyone else. My eyes are drawn to her right sleeve where a medic patch practically glows at me.

“His face is turning blue. I think he can't breathe.” The deception feels wrong in my heart, but she believes me easily enough.

She pushes past me to get to Kint, and as our bodies bump, I grab the keys as quietly as I can. Glancing around one last time to confirm no one watches, I unlock the door and slip outside.

I don't wait for Isabel to catch up—she wouldn't want me to. Instead, I race back toward the hospital. A few moments later, footsteps pound the ground behind me.

It's probably Isabel, but I'm not about to turn around and find out.

Navigating the dark streets of an unfamiliar city isn't easy, but I've been through here twice now, so it isn't completely foreign.

Left turn. Down two blocks, via the alley, turn right.

Finally, the hospital rises before me. Getting inside shouldn't be a problem. I've noticed things aren't nearly as guarded around here as they should be, unless you count the transport holding station. It looks like Lesser 4 isn't the only scantily guarded city.

I file the information away for later.

If everything is going as it should, no one even knows we've left. Yet.

Eventually, though, the guard is going to return to her post. She's going to see the door is unlocked, and she's going to know. A quick scan of the Lessers will tell them exactly who escaped, and then they're going to start looking for us. Again.

I creep into the alley beside the hospital. My feet itch to make my way to the cemetery behind it. To see Mom's cross one last time. But I would never find it, not in the thousands of crude, wooden crosses sticking out of the ground, and especially not in the dark.

“Good foot work.” Isabel slides into the alley beside me, breathing in huffs. “I managed to close the door behind me. That should buy us some time before the guard notices the lock has actually been undone.”

Thank God.

“I need to get to Fischer. I'm not leaving without him.”

Isabel gives me a sidelong glance but doesn't speak.

It's probably foolish—very foolish—but I can't leave him here, broken and reserved to his fate. “If I can get in, it should be easy to get back out. I just have to steer clear of the doctor.”

Isabel nods. “Come on. I'll keep watch.”

We dart to the front doors and she peeks inside. “The halls are clear. Get inside and behind something, quick.”

Rushing into the building, I hide behind the front desk. It's the same place the medics greeted me the day I came with Guard Nev. This is where I learned Mom was dead.

I squat and wait for Isabel to return, and a few minutes later she appears beside me. “Go toward the room you were treated in before. The doctor is upstairs with a different patient. I overheard the female medic discussing it. Be swift.”

If there's anything I've perfected over the last several months, it's how to sneak. Not counting the crash into the fence earlier tonight, of course.

Poking my head out from behind the counter, I retrace my steps toward the room where Fischer sewed up my arm. I don't have far to go.

“Hana?” Fischer hisses. He comes from a room, carrying a chart.

“Come on, Fischer. We can get out, but we have to go now.”

He glances around and pulls me inside an empty room. “You can't be caught here. How did you get away?”

“No time for that! Let's go, Fischer. You can escape with us. We can go west and find Guard Nev, just like we'd planned.”

His head is shaking but it's not computing. Why won't he come?

And then it hits me. “Frost Moon threatened you, didn't he?”

Fischer's eyes grow sadder. If that's even possible. “He said my parents would be shipped out on the first shipment after my rebellion.”

“But Fischer, they might be shipped out tomorrow, regardless. You have to see that. He isn't about to start doing things fairly now.”

Still he shakes his head. Fury begins in my toes and works its way up my legs, torso, and brain. “Then I'm staying here. I'll let them catch me again. They'll take me away and Frost Moon will probably ship me out, too.”

Fischer closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “We can't do anything, Hana.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it's true!” It's the first time I've ever heard him raise his voice.

My shoulders sag and I shake my head. “I can't believe, after everything we've gone through, you're willing to give up so easily. Do your parents know? Surely they wouldn't want you to do this.”

For the first time, I get a reaction. My words hit the mark.

My memories move back to several months ago—it feels like a lifetime—to the day when Fischer and I met at the levies. We talked about everything from our families to our upbringings to the Bible. That was the day I questioned whether or not I was meant to be with Keegan after all. It was the first time I allowed myself to admit I might rather spend my life with Fischer.

Those feelings haven't gone away.

Fischer had told me his parents joined the underground rebellion. They refused to give up the Christianity they had found.

I know without a doubt they wouldn't want Fischer giving up so easily.

I press against him and stare straight into his eyes. “Come with me, Fischer. Help me get out of this city and figure out what to do.”

I have never been this close to a guy, with our bodies melded together. Heat rises up my cheeks, but I ignore the embarrassment.

He pushes a frustrated breath out through his nostrils and nods. “We have to hurry.”

Victory tastes sweet, but it's short lived because now we have to figure out how to get out of the city.

Fischer is allowed to move freely through the hospital, and he gets us out with no problem. Guards don't roam the streets, so the she-guard must not have noticed our escape just yet. That is good, because once they do notice, they may put the pieces together and punish Mikel and Kint.

“We came in through the front gate,” I say, “but there are many gates in the other cities—I've seen it myself. There must be a different gate somewhere.”

He quirks an eyebrow at me. “I grew up in this city. I know where every gate is, including the ones they don't guard.”

I should have thought of that, but I don't say so. Instead, I follow close behind him, with Isabel right behind me.

Fischer holds my hand as we move. The warmth is something I didn't know I was missing until now. My mind wanders now that I don't have to find my way, and I begin to imagine what that warmth would feel like on my neck, behind my ears.

And I stubbornly stop that line of thinking. Now is definitely not the time.

We scurry through alleys and even cut in and out of a few unoccupied buildings.

Fischer stops us at the mouth of a large tunnel in the base of a hill. “We're going to have to crawl. Is that OK with everyone?”

I glance at Isabel and she nods. A moment later we're crawling on all fours through a soggy tunnel. I don't know what makes it wet, and I don't dare ask, but the smell is enough to turn my stomach. Bile rises up my throat but I push it away. The longer I crawl, the easier it becomes, but after a moment I hear retching behind me. Poor Isabel.

Finally, we emerge on the other side and directly beside a gate. The tunnel took us through a large hill, and it got us past the guards with ease.

Fischer puts his finger to his lips and nods toward the way we came. A guard stands on a small platform at the top of the hill, searching the area toward the city. He obviously doesn't expect anyone to come from the tunnel.

The chain link fence separates us from freedom, but its closeness washes over me and gives me hope. The gate isn't even locked. Fischer pushes it open as slowly and quietly as we can manage. He nods me out first, then Isabel. Finally, he steps out and slides the gate back into place.

“Let's go.” Fischer takes my hand again and we run. The area isn't totally open, which is good, but it's tall grass and we can't see where we're going.

We've gone several yards before the shouts begin. A moment later a spotlight shines in our general direction and Fischer pulls us behind an outcropping of rock.

“It won't take them long to spot our path,” he says. “All they have to do is look for the pushed down grass.”

He's right. We can't stay hidden in these rocks.

“Now's as good a time as any, then, don't you think?” Isabel looks past us and toward the left. How does she know which way to run in the dark?

But Fischer doesn't question her. He nods and bolts back into the open.

I follow at a quick pace and whisper a prayer that we don't get caught.

 

 

 

 

14

 

Luckily, the guards' lights haven't caught our trail yet. We get pretty far before we hear the first sounds of pursuit in the distance.

A strange barking echoes behind us, and I frown. “Are those dogs?”

We've never been allowed pets, and I've almost never seen animals except as strays.

Isabel and Fischer don't seem surprised.

“They use them to sniff out runaways,” Fischer says.

I glance behind me and shiver at the thought of being caught by one of the animals. We run and run and run. After what feels like hours, our pace slows until we're barely shuffling along. The sound of the dogs died away long ago.

Taking a shaky breath, I attempt to talk. “Did they lose us?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Fischer says.

For the first time, I let myself relax. It's short lived.

Now they know someone is missing. They'll begin searching, and they'll realize Isabel and I aren't in the holding station. Frost Moon will be alerted I am on the loose.

Not only that, we left without a single piece of food or canister of water. None of us has lived outside a city where we received regular allowances. We don't even know how to find something to drink.

“What do we do now?” I cringe as soon as the words are out. I practically forced Fischer into coming.

“We wait until morning.” Isabel's words are swift and sure. I stand a little taller. “When the sun comes up we'll know which way is west. We'll start toward the Free. You're sure they'll help us?”

“Absolutely sure.” And I am. Miriam made it clear she would help us in any way she could. Hopefully, Guard Nev is with her.

Fischer glances around before sinking to the ground. “Then let's get some rest. No one's looking for us anymore tonight. We'll find food and water tomorrow, and we'll move on from there.”

I glance at him cautiously, gauging his face to see if he's upset with me. But his face is neutral. Not at all the look of someone holding a grudge. I take a deep breath and relax, then lower myself to the ground near him. Isabel sits down, too.

For the first time in hours, I believe this might work. We have a solid chance.

In the morning, Isabel is right. The sun rises and we head in the opposite direction. Luckily, Fischer's tunnel had us running west to begin with so we're not backtracking past the city. We find a stream shortly after we start walking, and we follow it as much as we can. There are several bushes and other plants we can eat from—at least all the agricultural training from Dad paid off.

After three days of walking, my stomach feels like it's eating itself. The plants have been a lifesaver, but they haven't been all that filling. I've never been so hungry in my life. My feet ache with every step, and walking feels like dragging a body behind me.

But the hunger and fatigue are the least of my worries. The hardest part of all has been being with Fischer. All the time.

I want him to show me something. Some small gesture to say he cares about me. That he wants me the way he wanted me at the prison outside of Greater City.

But he gives no gesture. We walk wordlessly for hours at a time, and the only time he speaks is if it's to warn us of something—a snake, a slippery slope, or a low-hanging branch.

His wounds heal slowly, but they are healing. The swelling and bruising on his face has cleared so he almost looks like himself; except he doesn't. His eyes hold none of their former sparkle, and his lips never turn up in a smile. He's Fischer, but he's not.

At the beginning of the fourth day we continue our journey west. After walking an hour, we top a hill and freeze. A city stretches out for miles at the bottom of the hill. It isn't like the smaller Lesser Cities. This one is better kept. Cleaner. Large and bustling.

“It's Middle 1.” I'm as sure of it as I've ever been, even if that means we've veered to the northwest instead of due west. “Greater City isn't far away.”

Fischer nods. “I think you're right. Should we try to get inside?”

Keegan is in Middle City 1, or he was the last I heard. And he believes.

He might help us, at least enough to get us some food. He might even come with us.

I glance at Fischer as my stomach tightens. How can I ask Keegan to come with me when I'm holding Fischer's hand every chance I get?

“I visited Middle 1 once.” We turn to Isabel and she continues. “It was a tour of the cities, and we rode in a fancy transport called a bus.”

I turn back to the city. “I wonder where the other entrances are.”

“No better way to find out than to start looking.” Fischer steps forward and we start toward the bottom of the hill.