The Killables (15 page)

Raffy stopped and turned around. ‘Killable?’

‘Yes, Killable,’ Evie said, running to catch up with him. ‘K’s aren’t reconditioned,’ she said breathlessly. ‘They’re left outside the City walls for the Evils to kill. They eat them. Like savages.’

‘And my brother told you that, did he?’ Raffy asked, his voice still defiant but a look of something close to fear crossing his face.

‘He told me that he kept you locked up so no one could talk to you. He tried to tell them that you were delusional, that you’d made up all that stuff about the communication device. He said he was trying to protect you.’

‘Like he tried to protect my father?’ Raffy asked. ‘Evie, he called the police guard. He called them on our own father. Our father was a K. So you’re saying he was stuck outside the City walls? That Lucas knew?’ He bit his lip and looked away, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

Evie looked down. Could Lucas have done such a thing? Was Raffy right about him after all? No. She steeled herself. No, she couldn’t believe that. ‘Maybe he did, Raffy. I don’t know. But he still helped us escape. He stopped the Evils from killing you. And he . . . he . . .’

‘He what?’ Raffy asked sarcastically.

‘He told me that my parents aren’t my parents,’ Evie said, her voice cracking as a lump appeared in the back of her throat. ‘He said that I was brought to the City. He said they killed my real parents.’

‘What?’ Raffy froze.

‘He said they let people in who had children, then took them away and . . . and . . .’

Raffy shook his head; his eyes were flickering as though he was processing information. Then he grabbed her shoulders. ‘Your dream. Your dream!’

Evie nodded, tears cascading down her cheeks. Tears of grief, exhaustion, fear and betrayal. ‘They kept telling me I had to fight my dreams. And then they said I was dreaming about the City. The Brother knew – he knew all along. And Lucas told me. Why would he tell me the truth if he wasn’t trying to help somehow? Maybe my parents came from this other City. Can’t you see we have to go there?’

Raffy stared at her for a few seconds and then pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her, his sobs merging with hers as they clung to each other.

When he released her, she looked up to see that his eyes were full of fire, and the hopelessness that had taken up residency had finally been evicted. ‘We’ll find the other place,’ he promised her. ‘We’ll find it. I promise you. I’m sorry, Evie. I’m so sorry.’

Evie smiled through her tears. ‘I’m sorry too,’ she managed to say. ‘I’m sorry too.’

Raffy kissed her tenderly. ‘We’ve got each other, and that’s all that matters. Right?’

Evie looked at him, at the boy she had loved for so long, her best friend, her confidant, and she nodded. And even though as Raffy pulled her towards him once more her mind filled with images of Lucas, of the pain in his eyes and the desperation in his face, she forced them out again, burying the guilt in her heart.

‘Come on, then,’ Raffy said, shooting her a smile. ‘It’s getting dark. Time to get moving.’

They made their way out of the cave, back out to the eerie, forgotten landscape. They ran, then walked to catch their breath, then ran again, across cracked, dry earth, through ceilingless warehouses, down dirt paths that they realised had once been pavements.

‘Wait,’ Evie said suddenly as she saw something in front of her. She stopped, bent down and pulled it out of the earth.

‘What is it?’ Raffy asked.

‘It’s a toy,’ Evie replied, turning it over in her hands. A perfect form of a baby girl, made from plastic, a substance rarely found within the City walls. Only old things were made of plastic and old things were frowned on because they were the things of the evil people, because plastic was not manufactured in the City, and because only new, City-made things were truly good as they encouraged industry and productivity and all the good things that made the City so wonderful. As Evie inspected the doll she could hear the scorn of the Brother, of her mother, ridiculing it, calling it a toy of evil, telling her that it would corrupt her. Toys weren’t allowed in the City; the only ones she’d seen were from the Old World, found occasionally and played with before being confiscated by teachers or anxious parents. But she wasn’t in the City now.

‘I’m going to keep it,’ she said.

‘Seriously?’ Raffy screwed up his face into an incredulous frown. ‘It’s dirty. And it’s a child’s toy.’

‘I was a child once,’ Evie said quietly. ‘It shouldn’t be left here on its own.’

‘Well, if you really want to keep it, I’ll put it in my bag,’ Raffy said, then stopped as they heard something. A rustle.

They looked at each other in alarm. There was no sign of anyone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t in danger.

‘Let’s go,’ whispered Raffy and they started to move, as quietly as they could, Evie hardly daring to breathe as she willed her feet to land lightly in front of her.

As they ran, a wooded area appeared in front of them and Raffy grabbed her hand, pulling her towards it. ‘This way. Through the trees,’ he panted, and as they ran between them, Evie was taken aback by the majesty of these trees, bigger than she had ever imagined they could be, so high it was as though they could touch the moon itself. Their huge trunks emerged from a ground knotted with weeds and brambles that clawed at her ankles and stung her flesh. But she barely noticed the pain, such was her wonder at this overgrown place, this place of secrets, of something stronger than anything the City could achieve. They ran until they could run no further, and could hear nothing but a gentle breeze shaking the branches.

‘Okay,’ Raffy said, leaning over to catch his breath. ‘We should stay here.’

‘Do you think it was the police guard?’ Evie asked anxiously.

Raffy shook his head but she could see the fear in his eyes. ‘It was probably nothing,’ he said, obviously doing his best to sound relaxed and confident. ‘But if it was the police guard then this is the best place to hide from them. We can climb up the trees if we have to.’

Evie nodded cautiously. ‘And if it wasn’t the police guard?’

Raffy met her eyes; they both knew that the alternative was just as horrifying. The Evils.

‘I don’t think it was anyone,’ Raffy said with a shrug that belied the tension in the air. ‘But no one will find us here. Look, there’s a tiny stream so we know there’s water. We can find shelter and food.’

‘Food?’ Evie looked around doubtfully; all she could see were trees and brambles.

‘Berries.’ Raffy declared confidently. ‘And there will probably be rabbits. Birds. I can catch some.’

Evie digested this, her brow furrowing. ‘How will we . . . eat them?’ she asked eventually.

Raffy laughed. ‘You’ll have to kill them,’ he said, his eyes glinting. ‘Then you’ll cook them. It’s only fair, if I catch them.’

Evie stared at him in alarm. ‘I can’t kill a rabbit,’ she said, edging backwards. ‘I can’t. I wouldn’t know how to. I . . .’

He laughed again and grabbed her playfully. ‘You’ve never skinned a rabbit?’

Evie shook her head. They had rabbit in the City, but that rabbit was killed in the farming district; by the time Evie saw it, it was always diced and sold in a bag. Not covered in fur with a head and eyes and . . .

‘Nor me,’ Raffy grinned. ‘No idea how to catch one, either. To be honest, I’m not sure they even live in places like this. I was just, you know, trying to impress you. Let’s focus on berries for the time being, shall we?’

‘Idiot,’ Evie laughed. Although as she watched Raffy crawl around looking for berries, it occurred to her that whilst it was a relief she wouldn’t be killing a wild animal later, their chances of survival out here were looking pretty slim.

She walked towards him, trying not to wince every time brambles stung her ankles or scratched her arms. ‘Have you found something?’

‘Blackberries,’ Raffy said, holding one up. ‘Not quite ripe yet, but I think they’re edible.’

Evie reached out to take it from him, but as she did so she felt something grab her around the ankle, hurling her up in the air, tangled into a net, ten feet from the ground. Raffy ran towards her but he too was immediately swept up into a net, hanging from the tree above where they had stood.

Seconds later, men appeared beneath them and the nets were cut down. Paralysed with fear, Evie watched in agonising silence as she and Raffy were grabbed, their mouths covered with the men’s hands, and dragged away.

She is with Raffy; they are holding each other, clinging to each other, because they know that people are trying to pull them apart. ‘You love me,’ he whispers. ‘Only me.’ And she nods fervently because she knows that it is the truth, she knows that they are bound together, that there is something between them that cannot be broken, that it has always been Raffy and her, and it always will be. And then it becomes cold and the hairs on her arms stand upright. She knows that Raffy feels it too because he stiffens and looks around, and suddenly they are there, surrounding them; they are like ghosts, ominous floating creatures, but she knows immediately who they are. She knows that they are Evils, that they have come for them and they have to run . . . And they are running, but they can’t run fast enough, and as her heels hit the ground she is leaping into the air, up into the clouds, but it is not enough, it will never be enough. Evie stumbles; she is on the ground. Raffy turns and she can see the fear in his face, and even as he runs towards her she knows it is too late. He is shouting that there has been a mistake, that it is all a mistake, and then he is gone, he has been replaced by Lucas, who is looking deep into her eyes and telling her that she has to be strong, that she has to be brave, that he is depending on her. He puts his arms behind her head and lifts it gently, then he leans down and she sees the pain and anguish in his eyes, sees that he needs her. Her match. Lucas. And she can’t help herself as his lips find hers, and he is kissing her, and she feels safe, complete, everything suddenly makes sense. But she closes her eyes and when she opens them again he is gone and she is alone and it is very cold . . .

Evie woke to find herself shivering, a man staring at her, just a few inches away. Her head hurt in a way it had never hurt before. She tried to move, but her ankles and wrists were tied together. Her stomach clenched as she remembered the trap and the strong hands pinning her down, Raffy fighting and losing, being thrown down on the floor face first. She remembered their bags being ransacked, questions shouted at them, demands for information. She remembered being made to walk for hours until she could walk no further; remembered being offered a drink of water, accepting it and collapsing on the ground. She could remember nothing else; she had no idea how she’d arrived in this cold, dark place. She could smell the man’s breath, sweet and acrid at the same time, like the Gathering welcome drink, like bonfires, like . . .

‘So you’re awake. Well, that’s good,’ he said. ‘Sorry about the pain. Had to remove your chips. Just a precautionary measure.’

Evie stared at the man apprehensively. She didn’t know what he was talking about. She just knew that he was one of the men who had cut her and Raffy down. He had no hair on his crown; the rest of his hair was closely cropped and silver-grey. His face was lined with creases and dirt; it was nut brown from the sun. He wore a vest; no shirt. In his hand was a gun. Its metal glinted at her menacingly.

He wasn’t civilised, she realised with a thud. He was an Evil. He was an Evil and he was going to murder them.

She knew this deep in her gut. She also knew this meant that in all likeliness she would be dead within hours.

The man studied her for a few seconds, then laughed, putting the gun in his back pocket. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you. If I was, I’d have done it by now. I do want to know who you are, though, and what you were doing on City land.’

‘City land?’ Evie asked uncertainly. ‘We weren’t . . .’

‘Oh, yes, you were.’ The man smiled. ‘Thought the land outside the City belonged to no one? They patrol it. Don’t like anyone coming too close. And you were close.’

Evie’s eyes darted around, searching for Raffy, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he escaped? Were they torturing him? Had they killed him already? She studied the man, looking at his face, searching for signs of an amygdala that was directing his every move and corrupting his every thought.

‘Looking for your boyfriend? He’s behind me.’

The man shifted slightly and Evie could see what looked like a pile of clothes on the floor on the other side of the room. It wasn’t moving. Her mouth fell open.

‘He’s alive,’ the man said, ‘if that’s what you’re worried about.’

Evie said nothing. The man seemed to be reading her mind and she didn’t like it.

‘So,’ the man continued conversationally, as though this were normal, as though she hadn’t been captured, brought to this strange place, then tied up like an animal. ‘Who are you? Why are you here?’

Evie looked at him angrily. The ropes were digging into her wrists and ankles; she willed them to loosen, willed this evil man to leave her so that she might wake Raffy and they could work out some way of escaping. Then, suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move; the pile of blankets that was Raffy jumped up and hurled itself at the man, pulling him backwards. Evie jumped up to help him but immediately fell down again as the ropes cut at her skin.

The man cried out; seconds later, another man appeared, an ugly squat man with arms that bulged with muscle; he dragged Raffy away, punching him in the stomach and throwing him back to the floor.

‘So that’s how it’s going to be,’ the first man said through gritted teeth, spitting some blood onto the floor. He stood up and looked at Raffy in disgust.

‘Talk some sense into him,’ he said to Evie, then he and the other man walked out, closing the door behind them.

Immediately Evie shuffled along the floor towards Raffy, who was lying on his back, his face covered in blood. She couldn’t touch him, couldn’t clean him up; she could only look down at him, her eyes suddenly filling with tears because this wasn’t supposed to happen, because they had come so close to escaping, to finally being free.