Redeemer (18 page)

The transport truck rumbles away, and we wait a few minutes to make sure it's safe to leave. When we're sure the area is clear, we begin the long trek back to the skyscraper while carrying supplies. Les stays back to guard everything else between trips.

I glance at him, surprised he would volunteer for the job. He grins and my goose bumps return. I look back to the path in front of me. He is definitely not what I want to think about right now.

By the time we reach the skyscraper, my arms ache. Sweat rolls down Keegan's forehead, but he doesn't seem all that winded. “Let's drop the supplies here,” he says. We're at the first floor. “Let everyone upstairs come down and carry it up. We've got to go back.”

The group agrees, and Keegan jogs up the stairs two at a time to recruit help.

“Here.” Fischer holds out a bottle of water and I take it without question. It's warm, but I don't even care. It washes my fatigue away.

Keegan is back in amazing time, and we're out the door for our second load. “That went as well as can be expected,” he says.

I glance at him and nod. “Actually, it went better than I expected.”

The group walks in silence as the sun beats down on us. A thought nags at the back of my mind. It bogs down my thinking and no matter how I try to push it away, it won't budge. Finally, I clear my throat and voice my concern.

“We'll never see Tye and Libee again, will we?”

Keegan's face drops almost imperceptibly, but I know him. His answer is barely a whisper. “I doubt it.”

Did they realize what they were getting into when they volunteered to help us? I'm not sure and now I'll probably never know. Still, they risked their lives to join our group. And they probably lost their lives in the process. It's been hours now. Did they make it out?

The thoughts plague me until we reach Les. He leans against the tree, munching on something from one of the boxes. Guard Rok frowns but doesn't reprimand him. Everyone grabs a box and we immediately begin the walk back.

It's going to be a long night.

After four trips, we have everything back at the skyscraper. My back hurts. My hands hurt. My legs hurt. Basically, everything hurts. No one else seems to feel any better.

Isabel and I sit in a leaning position against a wall on the eighteenth floor, both of us eating more than we've eaten in days.

“Do you think it was worth it? Even if Tye and Libee were captured?” The only thing I can see in my mind's eye is Frost Moon. He isn't going to let us get away with this.

Isabel takes a deep breath. She doesn't answer at first, measuring her words carefully. Finally, she speaks. “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I left Lesser City 4 with you. This—all this—is nothing more than I expected. I know I'll probably die before this fight is over. I hope everyone realizes the same thing.”

I shake my head. “I don't think Tye or Libee realized it. I think they died, and they wouldn't have if I would have stayed put in Lesser 4.”

“Don't blame yourself, Hana,” Isabel says. “If you hadn't started this particular crusade, someone else would have started another. The people have been enslaved to the Greaters long enough, and they're tired of it.”

Her words don't soothe me, but they do remind me of something else. “Today at the dome, you knew which way to go. How did you know?”

Again she pauses. Today when I asked, she didn't answer. I'm beginning to think she's going to keep her secret, but then she shifts and sighs. “It's where I met your mom. We were gathering there to discuss the Middle Cities and how they might be of better use to us. It was a convention.”

My skin tingles as I remember her claims of knowing Mom. It can't be true. Why would Mom lie about that? “Mom said she grew up a Middle. She had stories of her childhood and everything.”

Isabel shrugs. “We grew up in the same city—Greater City. We became fast friends once we met. She was going to marry your daddy, I guess. She was going to move to Middle 3 but continue her military work.”

“What was her work?” Suddenly I remember something Frost Moon said. Something he hinted at—Mom's work. He wanted to know what she'd told me about it.

Nothing but lies, apparently.

Isabel shakes her head. “She didn't tell me what she was working on, just like I didn't tell her what I had worked on in the past. No one was supposed to know about the outer Lesser Cities, and I suppose no one was supposed to know what she worked on, either.”

So many secrets, but her words nag me. Even when the group—which has grown to over a hundred people now—lies down to sleep for the night, my mind races with questions. Why did Frost Moon want to know if I was aware of Mom's projects? Why would it matter to me?

A fleeting memory races across my brain. The hospital in Middle City 3 as they prepared to take Mom away. Mom grabbed my hands and whispered,
There's more.

More what? She must have been trying to tell me something. Mom was involved in Frost Moon's scheme. I should have asked, but I didn't.

Tears burn my eyes and I squeeze them shut. No. Mom wasn't a monster like him. She couldn't have been helping him.

At some point I fall into a cold, dreamless sleep, but my last thought is of Middle City 3. There is one person there who might be able to give me answers. The thought of going home is so alluring, and seeing Dad makes my throat burn with tears.

Unfortunately, I'm the last person he wants to see.

 

 

 

 

25

 

“I want to go home.”

My words are simple, but Keegan's eyes widen and he stares at me like I've lost my mind. “Are you sure about that?”

“I have to talk to my dad. I need a few answers.”

He shakes his head and turns to look out the windows. The room on the eighteenth floor gets more crowded every few hours, and our cramped space isn't great for privacy. I wish I could pull him away now and talk to him. Tell him why I want to go. I want to feel like I can tell him anything, the way I used to. Before testing or mutations. Before Fischer.

But things have been weird between us ever since he came. He's not sure how I feel about Fischer, and I'm not sure how he feels about Lilith.

“I don't think it's safe to leave.” He keeps his gaze outside.

I grab his arm and draw close to him. “Please, Keegan. I need to see him.”

He narrows his eyes as he studies me, but finally he nods. “OK. If that's what you need, we'll give it a try.”

Relief washes over me and I close my eyes. Leaning my forehead on his arm, I say, “Thank you.”

I glance up at him again, but his face doesn't show the adoration it used to. He's frustrated with me. With us.

Maybe he's as confused as I am.

“When did you want to leave? If we go now we'll have to walk, but if you can wait, I think I can get a car. Middle City 3 is a two hour drive from here.” He would know, since he's travelled back and forth multiple times. His gaze moves beyond my shoulder to the nothing and everything out the window.

I don't question how getting a car is possible. He obviously has his ways, and I'm not about to complain about saving my feet a day-long walk.

He disappears sometime after everyone eats breakfast. Even without the Greaters rationing our food, no one eats much. This food has to last for who knows how long.

My mind wanders while Keegan is gone. Everything has worked out as well as we'd hoped. As well as I'd hoped.

I got out of Lesser 4. Of course, I wouldn't have made it without Isabel's help. She told me to have a blessed day, but she was my blessing. God put her in my path, and now I'm beginning to wonder if it wasn't for more than just getting me out of that city.

What secrets does she hold? Whatever they are, they were enough to get her demoted.

We found Fischer and then Keegan. Not only that, but we found a place to stay, food to eat, and even weapons to defend ourselves.

It's crazy to believe we've done all of this, but really I know it's because the opposite is true. We haven't done any of it—God has.

I stand at the windows of the eighteenth floor and stare at the ruins below. Why would God care about helping me? I can't possibly be that important to Him. He has an entire world to care about.

A memory of Mr. Elders comes to mind. We were on the riverboat in Middle 3 when he spoke about God. He said God loves us. God loves me, specifically.

But maybe He isn't doing all of this for only me. Maybe it's so that all the other people can learn about His love, too. Because right now they aren't hearing it at all.

Sadness twists in my gut, but it's short lived. Something moves at the edge of the ruins. It is just a flash of movement behind one of the buildings, and I grip the edge of the windowsill as I lean forward for a better look.

It blurs between two buildings again. There isn't time to see what it is, but whatever it is, it's moving closer.

Then it bursts around a corner two blocks away, and I gasp. It's a car! A car zips closer to the skyscraper.

Les shouts when he spots it from a few feet away, and he and his rats bolt for the stairs. It's only a moment later I realize it's probably Keegan.

What if they shoot him?

Not for the first time, I wish we hadn't found the guns. Running after them, I shout as I descend the stairs. “It's Keegan!”

But no one stops.

They're outside long before I reach the bottom, and I brace myself for the deafening shots I heard at the prison outside of Greater City.

None come. Thank God.

I skip the steps that caved in on the second landing and reach the bottom as Keegan marches inside. His flared nostrils and set jaw tell me he's not happy.

He stops short when he sees me, and I watch as he tries to adjust his expression. “Ready to go?”

I glance out the door at Les and the rats circling the car. “Is everything OK?”

He growls and nods. “Those goons think this car belongs to them. Let's go.”

We hurry to the car and Les scowls but backs off. I glance up and a movement catches my eyes. It comes from the window at our floor. It's only as we pull away I realize it's Fischer. Who knows what's going through his mind as we pull away, but I put it aside.

“How did you get this thing?”

“I sneaked inside the city.”

“You what?”

He laughs and glances at me. “Lilith has a car, and Lilith has almost unlimited travel allowances. She's an often-requested performer, even if she is in training.”

Lilith. So the boy on the campus was right—Lilith is Keegan's girl.

I shift to hide how much this bothers me. “And no one questioned you as you drove out of the city?”

“She drove out. I hid in the trunk. Outside the city she let me take over, and I told her how to get back in the city. She's going to report back to training and claim they must have forgotten to log her back into the city.”

“That's a risky move, isn't it? How often do the guards make that mistake?”

He shrugs. “She didn't like it, but she didn't put up a fight. She's starting to realize the Greaters' way of life is over. Things are slipping inside the city, and she's seeing it.”

Silence falls over us as his words sink in. Life isn't what we thought it was going to be.

“Want to tell me what kind of questions you need to ask your dad?” His words are soft and considerate, not probing or demanding.

I consider the question. What am I supposed to say? Mom lied to me? Maybe to Dad, too. I hadn't considered whether or not he knows the truth. I just assumed he did, but he might be in the dark. If so, I'll never know if Isabel tells the truth or is mistaken about who I am.

“Isabel says she knew my mom.” I pause and look at my hands. “When they lived together in Greater City.”

I chance a peek at Keegan. He stares straight ahead, a slight frown on his lips. “Do you believe her? You haven't known her long, and she did come from Lesser 4.”

A defense rises up my throat—I came from Lesser 4, too. But I don't speak it. He doesn't mean anything by it. “I don't know. She's trustworthy. I know she is. But about this? I just want to know the truth.”

He nods and we continue on in silence. No other vehicles drive the long road between cities, but I suspect no one would give us a second glance if they did see us. No one would expect to see a car on the streets without permission.

“Will you go see your mom?”

He stares straight ahead again, his jaw firm. Finally, he gives a shake of his head. “It's best not to put her in danger.”

He's right, yet I feel that's all I've done is put everyone in danger.

Once we're closer to the city, Keegan hides the car and we make the rest of the trip on foot. It's not hard to get into Middle City 3 from our location on the far side of the Mississippi River. In fact, I'm not sure why I never considered it before.

No fence wraps around the grounds at the river's bank. The guards just take it on faith that no one is going to be stupid enough to swim across.

We're not stupid enough, either. We dart from hiding spot to hiding spot as we look for some way across. Before long we find an old railroad bridge. We learned about railroads in school. They used them in the Early Days, but we don't have enough gasoline or coal to run them now.

At least, that's what we were told. I suspect the true reason is they don't want to spend the gasoline or coal on Middles or Lessers, and the Greaters have a better means of transport.

The bridge is a mile downriver of the place we want to cross, so once we are on the other side we can backtrack. Keegan grabs my hand and we start across the bridge. It's old, and at least half of the boards between the rails are missing. My foot slips at one point, and I go down to my shin before I stop myself. Pain burns my skin, but it's nothing compared to falling all the way through. The broken board hits the water below with a dull thud and I can't help looking. That's a long drop.