New World Ashes (19 page)

EVERYTHING INSIDE
OF
me screamed to leave, to be anywhere but here. I wasn’t the only one either. Several citizens on the street had become rigid with apprehension. Ryker’s hand caught my elbow as if sensing my thoughts. He pushed me forward slowly, careful not to draw attention to us. My heart was pounding in my ears, but as I watched the growing number of soldiers I knew they weren’t here for us.

To most it would appear that the soldiers were merely milling among the crowd. But I knew better. They were moving in a well-calculated formation. Slowly closing in on their target. Trapped at the center of the swarm was the little family I had been watching. They were blissfully unaware. Then in perfect unison every soldier’s gun rose. The inner squadron aimed at the family, while those on the outer edges turned toward the surrounding crowd. The reaction was instantaneous.

I didn’t miss it this time. Citizens began dropping to their knees, falling into a unified forced submission. I was barely a beat behind Ryker, but his hands were faster than mine. As he moved to put his hands behind his head, he pulled my hood back. His was already down.

“Up. Don’t touch.” I heard him mutter in the commotion.

Carefully, I pulled my hands up behind my head. I understood his warning.
Do not disrupt the hologram.
My fingers lingered an inch off my skull. One wrong movement and we would be completely exposed. The tiny device clipped on my ear felt suddenly like an obtrusive lead weight.

The soldiers descended on the family, who were shrinking with fear. All of their belongings had been dropped in haste. The food packages had broken open spilling out a sludgy green paste into the street. It slowly crept across the spotless pavement, staining the freshly laundered white linen uniforms that had come loose from their discarded bundle. Both mother and sons trembled with fear.

The soldier closest tapped his earpiece. After a slight delay he began to recite the words being fed to him. “Chase Randal Corvin you are hereby placed under arrest in accordance with law Ten C-53—you have been found guilty of conspiring to commit crimes against the city.”

The mother fell back onto her heels, but kept her arms securely behind her head. Tears sprung to her eyes. The teen boy’s face drained white. His mouth dropped open in horror. The soldier nearest him lowered his gun and procured restraints. As he leaned over to grab the boy’s hands, life returned to the teen.

The young man turned, latching onto the soldier, his eyes crazed with fear. “I haven’t done anything! I swear! I am a loyal citizen! I’M LOYAL!”

The soldier recoiled, trying to restrain the boy, but his antics were escalating. A nauseating crunch could be heard throughout the street as another soldier slammed the butt of his gun into the boy’s face, rendering him unconscious.

My hand twitched. Ryker shifted next to me.

The small child who had remained frozen in terror until now, exploded into hysterical sobs. He threw himself over his brother’s body, pleading with the soldiers not to take him.

“You’re wrong! You’re wrong!” The boy screamed in a falsetto. “My brother didn’t do ANYTHING! Chase is good! This is wrong!
The Minister is wrong!
”

More guns aimed at the child and his brother. Without moving my head, I looked around. To my disgust, no one moved to help them. In fact, most of the civilians had their eyes turned away. As if what was happening right in front of from them wasn’t real.

The mother leapt forward, grabbing her youngest child. She clutched the screaming boy to her chest while slapping a hand over his mouth to silence him. But it was too late. His words were already out and everyone had heard them. Nervous eyes now flickered from the soldiers to the little boy. The child continued to fight his mother, thrashing in her arms as he screeched behind her hand. Terror spasmed across the woman’s colorless face as the soldiers advanced on her.

A female solider descended on them barking at the mother. “If you cannot control yourself
and
your son, I will see that you are exiled under accordance with law Ten F-34—suspicion of aiding and abetting a known hostile. As for punishment concerning that little outburst, Soldiers will be waiting at your residence to administer ten lashes to the child for his insolent words.”

The boy’s eyes widened with fear and despite the mother’s straining arms, his frantic flailing grew more violent.

In one swift movement the female solider unholstered her gun and pressed the tip of the barrel to the struggling boy’s forehead. Her finger poised on the trigger.

The boy froze.

Every single muscle in my body tensed for attack. If she shot, so would I.

The soldier lowered her voice dangerously. “A simple
lashing
is a kindness… your son could be executed for speaking such blasphemy against our Minister.” She then turned her gaze on the quaking boy. “Minister Fandrin is showing you compassion, child. Do you understand?!”

The boy’s head jiggled in what looked more like a tremor of fear than a nod, but the soldier seemed placated. Glaring at the mother she lowered the gun, though she did not re-holster it.

The mother nodded too, cradling the now still boy. Tears were streaming down her face as the soldiers hauled her older semiconscious son to his feet and began to drag him away. She did nothing to stop them. The young man’s once immaculate uniform was now splattered with blood, his dark head lolling to the side. My blood boiled as the mother merely turned away, clasping a hand over her mouth to staunch her own cries.

There was no mention of a trial or hearing—that boy would never see justice. The soldiers were dragging him away to his death. And nobody was stopping them.

My chest felt like it was going to explode. Rage and revulsion ballooned inside of me, growing with each passing second. How could Ryker ask me to help these people who wouldn’t even help their own? I was thinking about getting up, walking away and telling all of these cowardice people to screw off, but a voice called out through the crowd, causing my brain to go silent.

“Anyone found consorting with the rebels
will be
brought to justice. We are here to protect you, the people. To keep life within The Wall safe. To keep The Sanctuary pure.” Gage’s voice rang out, echoing back off the surrounding buildings. He was dressed in his military best, white uniform adorned with silver metals and the emblem of The Sanctuary. “For The Minister! For equality! For The Sanctuary!”

The crowd echoed back his cry with less enthusiasm.

“Take him to be sentenced!” Gage pointed at the young teen barely older than himself. The older soldiers obeyed, dragging the still bleeding, still unconscious youth toward a vehicle waiting in an alley. I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming.

Gage’s cold, dead eyes swept the street as if hoping someone would challenge him. A chill swept up my spine as his eyes passed over the area where we knelt. A manic smile grew on his lips as he took in the crowd. A sadist ruling over a city of submissives. Without another word he turned and marched to the vehicle. The moment Gage’s back was turned, my hand quivered, longing for the gun in my pocket.

Ryker hissed out of the side of his mouth.

An older soldier, maybe Mae’s age, stepped toward us, his barrel pointed right at my nose. “Do you have something to say?”

I looked up at him, my mouth opening with a smart retort ready to spill free. My hands were equally eager to disarm him and retaliate. But just before the words slipped out, I caught sight of myself in the reflection of the man’s visor. It wasn’t my face staring back, but Petra’s. Thaddeus’s warning came back to me. It would be
his
family punished not mine. I could escape with no repercussions, but he and his wife would die for my rash actions. Ryker’s breath was steady next to mine, but I could feel the tension rolling off of him.

Closing my mouth I shook my head and stared submissively at the soldier’s shoes.

“Thought not.” He grumbled and stepped away, but he was keeping a closer watch on us than before. It felt like an eternity until another citizen drew the soldier’s attention away from us, an older man who had simply shifted his weight to relieve the pain in his knees.

When the transport vehicle pulled away, the soldiers began to lower their weapons. A sharp whistle sounded, making me jump. On cue, the people began to gather their things and resume their evening. Now the only difference was that no one smiled or nodded at the mother still cradling her distraught child. On the contrary, they gave them a wide berth.

Only the soldiers and I could not seem to look away.

My entire body cringed when Ryker’s arm wrapped around my waist. Pulling me close in the pretense of helping me to my feet, he whispered in my ear. “Get up. Walk at a casual pace and put your hood back up as soon as we clear the corner.”

THE SECOND THE
front door to Thaddeus’ house clicked shut behind us I exploded.

“What the hell was THAT!?”

“
That
was a false arrest.” Ryker pushed back his hood. Thaddeus’s face winked in and out as Ryker’s fingers fumbled to remove the clip from his ear.

“A
false
arrest?
That’s
what you wanted me to see? The big life-altering moment that would make me want to save
those
people?” I ripped the device from my own ear. It gave a mechanical screech as I yanked it away and flung it into Ryker’s emotionless face. “I just watched a teenage boy get sent to his death, and the only one who said anything was his kid brother! Nobody else did a damn thing about it!”

“
Those
people couldn’t have done—”

“Couldn’t or
wouldn’t
? Because there is a
huge
difference.” I shoved past Ryker into the passageway door he had just opened in the wall.

“Those other people in the streets are innocents trapped here, just like—”

“Innocents?!” I rounded on Ryker. “That young man,
he
was innocent. And the people you want me to so righteously save let him be dragged away to his death today. It seems to me that the adults here have forgotten what morals are. The only ones who seem brave enough to stand up to The Minister are children!
They
are the innocent ones. Not the other cowards huddling in the street.
I
have heard people scream for help in Tartarus and done nothing to save them. I now realize that by ignoring their cries, I am partly responsible for their deaths.
I
was not innocent. And
those
people are
not
innocent either.” I gesticulated with my finger, pointing back at the streets we had just left.

Ryker paused at the door to the tunnels, carefully checking his watch before turning the handle. His face was growing red with frustration. This obviously wasn’t going as he had planned. The color deepened when he opened his mouth to speak and I cut him off again.

“Initially, I only chose to help the Subversive because it helped me, but the truth is, it was the first place where anyone ever looked out for me. They looked after each other. They risked their lives
for each other
. Hell, even the Tribes defend their own! Your people,
your people
do nothing but watch each other suffer and act like it’s not happening. Do they really not know that their beloved leader is just a monster in a skin suit?”

“These people have been spoon-fed lies since the day they were born. They know almost nothing about the man they think is their savior. And those who know, believe it’s better to sit beside the throne than be crushed beneath it.” Ryker’s voice rose. When I refused to stop and listen his hands clamped over my shoulders and with sheer force he slammed me up against the wall.  My body recoiled as he pressed his against mine, pinning me in place. My chin hit the middle of his heaving chest. Sparks flew between our eyes as we glared at each other.

His mouth twisted as he spoke. “Those people have been mistreated and abused for so long they’re not sure what is right or wrong anymore. Our population is over twenty-five thousand. Nearly
forty-five
percent are military. Sure, there are some who agree with The Ministry’s brutality and supremacy. But most of our people spend
every day
in fear.”