Savage Run (32 page)

When she was there? Who is ‘she’ and where
is ‘where?’ I knew where I had her? Who are they talking about?
Me?

“
You of all people—”
Nicholas says, “—should know that freedom is more important than
being safe.”

I move my head discreetly in their
direction, but then Nicholas notices me. “Heidi. Good morning.”

Mai turns away from me and walks directly
over to Arthor. I’m not quite sure what to say. Does Mai know me
from somewhere? No, she couldn’t be talking about me. It doesn’t
make sense. I mean, it’s not like I’m her daughter or anything—she
wouldn’t keep that from me, would she? I look at Mai, but she has
her back to me so I can’t see her expression.

“
Listen up, everyone,”
Nicholas says, and the others gather around. Mai’s gaze is down. I
focus on what Nicholas says instead. “This is the phase where
you’ll be in the volcano lands, where you’ll crawl through the
Caves of Choice, and where you’ll be braving Savage Jungle—all in
the O-Region.”

The thought of creeping through the caves
makes it difficult to breathe. When I was five, my father locked me
in the chest that he keeps next to the couch. I overslept and he
wanted to teach me a lesson so he kept me in there for an entire
day without food and water. Since then, whenever I’m in an
unusually tight space, I start to hyperventilate.

No one speaks as we make our way down the
hill toward the entrance where our transporter waits. We’re all
probably thinking about Johnny and how we’ll manage to stay away
from him and not get killed. We get in the transporter and head
toward Volkov Airport. On our way, I see a half dozen drones
following us. I wish I could get rid of them somehow. I try not to
look at Johnny, but it’s difficult to avoid his prying eyes. I look
at Mai, but her eyes are down.

Five gray cargo aircrafts wait on the
runway. The remaining participants are at the airport, as are their
representatives. A drone is hovering around ‘Cory the Great,’ as
he’s been dubbed by the news. The transporter stops about a dozen
feet away from the aircraft I’m assigned to, and just as I’m about
to get out, Mai takes my hand. I sit back down.

“
Before you go, Heidi, I
wanted to let you know how proud I am of you. I think you’re an
inspiration to young women everywhere and I am honored to have been
your representative. You will make it, okay? Just never give
up.”

“
I won’t.”

“
Everything is and always
has been as it should be.” She wraps her arms around me and we hold
each other for a long time. Even when I try to let go, she
continues to hold on. Her embrace feels like Ruth’s, filling me up
with whatever it is that I’ve been missing. I want to ask her about
what she said to Nicholas, but I can’t get the words out. And
besides, if she says she knows me from somewhere, we don’t have
time to talk about it now. Maybe I’ll bring it up after I finish
the last phase.

“
I’ll see you on the other
side,” I say.

Her dark brown eyes look at me with
gentleness. “Be braver and stronger than ever.”

It sounds like what Ruth said. I hope I can
be.

I step inside the aircraft—it’s a cargo
plane with seats on the sides—and immediately a Unifer tells me to
go all the way to the end and take the very last seat. Passing the
other participants, I see Johnny sitting in the first seat. The
right side of his lip is bruised and I can’t help but feel pleased
that I was able to cause him some pain. But when he smiles at me
like he’s planning my demise, the pleasant feeling vanishes. I push
past him like I don’t have a care in the world and make my way to
the back, looking for Arthor. But he isn’t here. I see Cory’s white
hair in the second to last seat. I gulp. He’s intimidating. And
President Volkov’s pet. But it’s not like I can pick and choose
where to sit. Besides, perhaps I can get some tips from him.

“
Trying to steal my fame?”
Cory says as I sit down. But then he laughs and leans over. “I hope
you do well, Heidi,” he whispers. “It would show the pompous
President Volkov that he’s wrong about women. And wrong about
you.”

His comments surprise me. “Thanks.” I buckle
my seatbelt, and note how his thighs are about the width of my
waist.

“
What you and Arthor have
done for each other throughout these past few days is amazing. I
wish I could have been so lucky to have the kind of friendship you
have.”

“
Yeah, he’s pretty
amazing,” I say.

“
As are you.”

I wait for him to say ‘for a girl,’ but he
doesn’t. “Congrats on your recognition. President Volkov seems to
really…look up to you.” I try not to sound disgusted.

He leans over again and whispers, “It’s
nothing more than an illusion to promote President Volkov’s cause.
I know he’s using me, but what he doesn’t know is that I’m using
him.”

“
Oh?” I look around to make
sure no one is listening in on our conversation.

“
He thinks he’s so generous
to offer us lowly Laborers and Advisors our freedom, but what he
doesn’t know is that one day, when we’re strong enough, numerous
enough, we’ll rise up against him and bring equality back to
Newland.”

I’m shocked by his words. Maybe I have
misjudged him completely. “Well, when you’re ready to begin that
fight—”

He laughs, his ice blue eyes dancing. “Let’s
just get through this next phase and then we’ll talk.”

The trip to the O-Region takes just a little
over an hour. Cory tells me that when he completes the Savage Run,
he plans to marry his fiancé, June—a Master. The reason he wanted
to complete the Savage Run is because June’s family won’t let them
marry unless Cory becomes a Master.

Approaching the O-Region, I wish I could
look out a window, but there are none.

“
Everyone up!” the Unifer
says. “Reach underneath your seats and get your parachutes. You
have one minute to put it on.”

“
Looks like we’re
skydiving,” Cory says.

I unbuckle my belt, jump out of my seat and
lift it up. Underneath, crammed into the seat, is a parachute. My
hands are already shaking so violently that I struggle to pull it
out. I watch as Cory puts his parachute on and then I strap my
parachute around my hips and shoulders and lock the belt, securing
it properly just like he did.

“
Goggles,” the Unifer says,
handing them out as he passes us.

“
Have you done this
before?” I ask Cory.

“
Oh, yeah, about twenty
times. It’s a rush!” He smiles and the goggles make him look goofy.
“You?”

“
No, but I’m sure it will
be a blast,” I say sarcastically. My fingers are cold and sweaty,
and it makes it difficult to adjust the goggles in place. A few
seconds later, the back of the aircraft opens, and a hurricane of a
wind whirls through the fuselage. A god-awful smell that reminds me
of rotten eggs streams through the cabin.

Cory inhales deeply. “Ah, the smell of
volcano.”

I wrinkle my nose and grab hold of my seat
to steady myself as the plane bumps forward.

“
Now would be a good time
to locate the ripcord on the parachute,” the Unifer says. “After
you’ve jumped, count to ten, and then pull it forcefully to release
the chute. At the end of round three, there are eight cages. Only
the eight fastest contenders get a cage and will be racing for the
top three spots! So get your butts down there—ASAP!”

I grit my teeth. One of those spots is
mine.

“
The first one across the
finish line is the ultimate savage! Good luck!” He lines us up and
when he passes me, he gives me a strange look. Is it because I’m a
girl? Or is it something else? I stand behind Cory and he’s
clenching his fists, exhaling sharply, and pumping his fists, like
he’s revving himself up to go.

Another Unifer at the rear end of the plane
starts yelling for us to jump, shoving one participant out every
ten seconds. The line is moving fast, and I’m not ready to jump.
What if the parachute doesn’t open? It will open. But what if the
one I have is rigged not to open? No, I’m just freaking out and
need to calm down. Everything will be okay; President Volkov agreed
to let me continue and I’m sure if my chute doesn’t open, the
benefactors will suspect foul play.

Three participants stand ahead of me. A few
seconds later, two. Cory jumps. I stand at the edge, seeing the
yellow and red parachutes open beneath me, the lava-filled island
moving by slowly. The wind tosses my hair and fills my ears with a
loud hissing sound. I sway forward, the turbulence and wind pushing
me back, making it difficult to advance.

“
This is the end of the
line for you!” the Unifer shouts.

Before I’m able to make sense of what he
says, he shoves me out of the plane, and I plummet toward the ocean
below.

Chapter 25

My first instinct is to knot together in an
infant pose, my arms and legs drawn close to my torso. But this
only causes me to roll. Instead, I slowly reach my arms and legs
out, and as the wind pushes against my limbs, the spinning
decreases until I’m being steadily drawn toward the earth’s crust.
As my hands reach for the ripcord, it feels like they’re moving in
an ocean of molasses, the wind is so strong. Searching frantically,
I finally locate the drawstring and grab hold. I slowly count to
five—I gather I’ve already lost five seconds—and then pull the
cord.

Nothing happens.

I pull it again, thinking I might not have
yanked it hard enough. Still, nothing happens. Jerking it over and
over, the Unifer’s last words replay in my mind. “This is the end
of the line for you.” They must have done something to my parachute
so it won’t open!

“
Pull the ripcord, Heidi!”
Cory yells.

Passing him with frightening speed, I see
him sailing downward with his open parachute. “It won’t open!”

“
Pull harder!”

Looking down, I estimate
that at this speed it will only be a matter of seconds before I
collide with the black lava rocks below.
They rigged it!
is all I can think.
President Volkov won. I lost. I failed Gemma. I failed Nicholas. I
failed myself.

All of a sudden, someone rams into me from
behind and hooks his arms and legs around my body. I look back and
see Cory. “You’re crazy!” I scream as we spin out of control.

“
I know!” He smiles like he
really is, but he feeds off of this kind of insanity. “Hold
on!”

He helps me turn around and I lock my arms
around his thick shoulders, my legs around his firm hips. The
ground is so close and I can see the green grass and smell the
scent of it mixed with the sulfur. We’ll die together, and he
doesn’t seem to care one bit. He really is insane!

Cory pulls his ripcord, causing the second
shoot to open, slowing our plunge. “Brace for the fall!”

Just before we hit the earth, I extend my
legs and let go of Cory’s neck. We crash into the ground—not so
fast that I think I can break anything, but hard enough that my
knees and ankles throb from the impact. Before we’ve recovered, the
parachute catches a breeze, dragging us with it a few yards. Cory
pulls a handle and the parachute detaches, setting us free.

“
That was freaking
amazing!” Cory laughs, lying on the rocks next to me.

“
You’re crazy.” The
adrenaline is slowly wearing off, but my entire body is shaking
like a leaf.

“
What happened to your
shoot?” He sits up and undoes his straps.

I remain lying down. “President Volkov made
sure I got the malfunctioning parachute…”

“
Are you
serious?”

I nod.

“
Nicholas talked to me last
night, but in all honesty, I didn’t believe him. Hadn’t I seen what
happened just here, I still wouldn’t have believed him. But he’s
right. And I’m here to help.” He stands up and offers me his hand.
I take it and he hauls me up.

While tearing out of my harness, I look for
a sign or some type of instructions of what we’re supposed to do,
but there is none. However, it’s hard to miss a few participants
running toward the erupting mountain.

Cory’s eyes are already staring the volcano
down. “Let’s do this thing.”

Eight cages. One of them is mine.

We start to run right away. The ground is
black with a few splotches of grass and white flowers. The island
is a mountain shaped like a cone with a small jungle area and a
white ash cloud billowing from the peak, lava running down the side
of it.

“
So are you two…you know…”
Cory starts.

“
Don’t go there,” I snap,
running alongside him, trying to keep up.

“
Just
wondering.”

We sprint up the rocky, black hill toward
the base of the volcano, and I’m breathing heavily.

“
I saw what happened,”
Arthor says, coming up beside me, panting.

“
Yeah, that…prick,” I reply
between breaths. “I got a defective parachute.”

“
Volkov sure wants you
dead,” Arthor says.

I’m glad Arthor is here. I know I can trust
him. We run all the way until we get to the base of the mountain.
There are hundreds of buckets, a scale, and a sign that says:

Fill two buckets with twenty-five pounds of
rocks in each. Carry buckets to the opening of the volcano.

Fifty pounds—roughly half my weight. Like
the others, I grab two buckets and start to load them with black
rocks. Once they’re filled, I prop one of the buckets on top of the
scale and weigh it. Twenty-three pounds. I add another two rocks
and the scale tips to twenty-five pounds. As quickly as I can, I
repeat the process with the other bucket. Some of the participants
have found thick sticks and are laying them across their upper
backs, hooking one bucket on either end. I head into the wooded
area and search for a stick. After searching for a few seconds, it
becomes clear to me that all the good ones are already taken.