The Disappeared (18 page)

‘That’s not a “maybe” that’s a “yesbe”.’

I smile. ‘You mean a “definite”. You will “definitely” win the fight.’

‘Do you want me to have a win?’

I nod my head out of politeness, but then I realise it’s true. I do want her to win. I want her to have anything she wants.

Even though I usually try to avoid the Fight Nights, on Friday I arrive early with Ilex and Ali to get a front row seat to watch Kay.

‘Do you think she’ll win?’ I ask Ilex.

He looks at me in surprise. ‘Kay doesn’t lose.’

I suppose I already knew that was true. Even so, there’s a knot of tension in my chest and I realise that I’m nervous for her.

The drum room fills up with jabbering Specials. On Fight Nights the atmosphere is always charged. There’s a lot of high-spirited banter and jostling and shoving. It feels like we’re balanced on a knife edge. Everybody is having a good time now, but I think it would only take a few wrong words and the whole place would erupt in a free-for-all.

Kay catches my eye as she bounces through the door. She weaves swiftly between the crowds to come and speak to us.

‘Shout for me,’ she teases Ali.

Some scuffling between a group of Red boys breaks out on the floor. The knot in my chest has tightened. ‘I still don’t understand why the enforcers allow this,’ I say to Ilex. ‘I know you said that they’d rather Specials fight Specials than have them getting aggressive with the enforcers, but it’s so dangerous.’

Ilex looks to Kay for an answer.

‘Specials like it,’ Kay says.

I don’t imagine that the enforcers are particularly interested in Specials enjoying themselves. Maybe the enforcers have other motives in allowing so much violence. ‘Maybe they want the Specials to be good fighters,’ I suggest. ‘Maybe they’re afraid of another war.’

‘What’s war?’ Kay asks.

My jaw drops open. ‘You know – war, like the Long War?’ I can see by her face that she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. ‘Has no one ever told you about the Long War?’

‘No,’ Kay says.

Ali shrugs.

‘No war talk in the academy,’ Ilex says.

Unbelievable. It really is like being on a different planet in here. The enforcers control the Specials’ entire world. Why on earth would they hide the war from them?

‘What’s war?’ Kay asks again.

‘A war is a fight. A really big fight between countries or even different, um, types of people. The Long War was between our country and the Greater Power. The Greater Power invaded – that means attacked – our neighbours, that’s the country next to us, and started using their people as slave labour.’

‘What’s that?’ Kay asks.

‘When they make you work and don’t pay you.’

‘Oh.’

‘So . . . then we got involved, but the Greater Power started bombing us – that’s how the Wilderness was made. The Wilderness is the area that got the worst of the bombing. Didn’t you even know that?’

Ilex looks at his feet.

‘I thought the Wilderness was there all the times,’ Kay says.

‘No. Only after the war. So . . . the Greater Power cut off our supply routes. There were food shortages. People were getting really angry and then the old government was overthrown by the Leadership. They took control and made a peace deal and started sorting everything out.’

All three of them are just staring at me.

‘Why are you telling this?’ Kay asks.

‘Because you should know! Everyone should understand what’s happened in their past and what it means for them. It’s because of the war that The Leader decided that we needed to train more factory workers to make our country great again.’

Kay narrows her eyes. ‘So that war thing means I’m in the Academy learning to be a factory worker?’

‘Well, yes, but that’s not all that the war—’

‘I knew that.’ She flicks her ponytail over her shoulder and heads for the centre of the floor.

I sigh. Why is it so hard to explain things in here? It’s like the whole structure of sense has been torn down. I turn to Ilex and Ali. ‘You’d never heard about the war and how important it was either?’

Ilex’s eyes slide to Ali. She shakes her head firmly.

Ilex points to the centre of the room. ‘It’s starting,’ he says.

Rex struts on to the cleared fight floor. The Specials start shouting at the top of their voices. I wonder if Rex would be able to gain control if a riot broke out. He’d probably just join in.

‘Do you want fights?’ he shouts.

The audience roars back. Ali shrinks closer to Ilex.

‘Let’s have good fights. Now it’s tough girl . . . Kay!’

I shout this time, I can’t help myself. And I’m not alone; Kay might not have reached the inner circle of Reds and their friends yet, but people know who she is and they know what a good fighter she is.

Kay bounces lightly into the middle of the room. She looks full of energy.

‘And Kay fights our Red . . . Lou Emerly!’

I spin round to watch Lou get up from her seat in the centre of the Reds crowd. She smoothes her dark auburn hair behind her ears and makes her way towards the fight floor. As she passes Dom, Dom whispers something in Lou’s ear and gives her a high-five. When she reaches Rex I can see that she’s pretty skinny and not much taller than Kay. I don’t think the fight will last long.

Rex blows his whistle and the Specials start screaming.

Kay raises her hands, but before she can get a punch in Lou slams her fist into Kay’s cheek. She stumbles backwards. While Kay is off-balance Lou swings her skinny leg up and aims for Kay’s stomach. I expect Kay to twist out of the way, but instead Lou’s foot connects and Kay is knocked to the ground.
Get up
, I urge but Kay stays down. Lou stamps a foot into Kay’s middle again. Finally, Kay rolls over out of the way. She gets to her feet, but slowly.

‘What the hell is the matter with her?’ I ask Ilex.

‘She won’t win it,’ he says.

‘Why on earth not . . . ?’ Then I realise. Lou is a Red and also Dom’s best friend. Kay doesn’t want to upset them. ‘That’s stupid. I thought Kay wanted to be the best fighter. Is she going to lose just because Lou is a Red?’

But Ilex isn’t listening to me; he’s watching Ali, who is staring at Lou with an expression of horror
.

‘What is it?’ he asks.

Ali shakes her head.

Ilex looks back at Lou, who is trying to get her hands around Kay’s throat. ‘It was that one, wasn’t it? Lou is the one that got your hair out.’

Ali gives the smallest of nods.

Ilex gets to his feet.

‘No, wait,’ I say, pulling him down.

The fighters are locked in a hold. Kay is clearly holding back.

‘Kay!’ I yell above the sound of the shrieking Specials.

She turns her head so she’s looking at me.

‘Lou is the one who pulled Ali’s hair out.’

Kay’s eyes scrunch. I don’t know if she can hear me. ‘Lou hurt Ali!’ I shout as loud as I can.

Kay breaks out of the hold and looks up at Lou. Lou is saying something to her. Some taunt.

Kay’s whole body changes. She pulls up. It’s like I can see the power running through her. In a blur she lifts Lou’s arm up high, spins under it so she has her back to Lou and yanks on the hand to flip Lou over her shoulder. Lou lands hard on her back. While she struggles to get up, like an upturned beetle, Kay lays in with the kicks and punches.

The Specials love this change of fortune. They’re on their feet screaming Kay’s name. It’s like the charge in the air has suddenly ignited.

‘What is it?’ I ask Ilex.

‘Reds
don’t
lose,’ he says.

He means that Reds are always allowed to win. I didn’t know. I’ve tried not to watch many fights. I should have expected it. I should have known that even in a fist fight Reds get the unfair advantage. My stomach contracts. What will happen to Kay if she beats a Red?

Lou is back on her feet. Kay storms in with a double jab to the stomach followed by a high spinning kick which catches Lou under the chin.

‘Come on, Kay!’ I shout. ‘Give it to her. Take her out. Show her—’ Halfway through my scream I notice a dark figure in the doorway. An enforcer. I look up. It’s my mother. She’s staring right at me. My words die on my lips. She doesn’t look impressed to find me ranting at the fighters. But she doesn’t know what Lou did to Ali. She doesn’t know how much every non-Red kid in here wants to see a fair fight for once. And I can’t tell her. I hold up my hands in a helpless expression. My mother looks back to the fight. Kay has Lou in a headlock with one arm. She jams her other elbow down on her. Mum’s mouth is open in horror.

Lou breaks away, but Kay hounds her with a series of punches to the head followed by a powerful kick that sends Lou crashing to the floor. Kay swoops down on her, pinning her arms behind her back and pressing her face into the floor. Rex blows his whistle. The audience go crazy. She’s done it. She’s won.

My eyes swing back to my mother. She shakes her head in disgust and slips back out of the door.

Marvellous.

This isn’t exactly the way I pictured my mother meeting the girl I like.

For days, all anyone can talk about is Kay’s victory. Lou is furious. The morning afterwards, she and Dom push past Kay in the corridor and the rest of the Red girls follow their lead; none of them will speak to Kay.

‘Don’t worry about those Red girls,’ I say to Kay, while we’re chatting in the salon. ‘Who cares what they think?’

‘King Hell!’ she growls in annoyance. ‘You don’t get it, do you Blake?
I
care. I want to be Dom!’

She’s right. I don’t get it. She won that fight fair and square and she did it for Ali. She should be proud of that. Why does she care so much about being Dom and what the bitchy Red girls think? I want to tell her that she doesn’t need them, that she’s better than them.

‘Listen, Kay—’ I start, but I’m interrupted by Rex walking into the salon with Dom and his usual train of followers.

‘Hey . . .’ he says, stopping by our chairs. ‘It’s our no-ranker brainer boy.’

I flinch backwards as he reaches out to slap me on the back. His entourage laugh. Rex smirks. He doesn’t seem to mind me so much when he’s making fun of me.

He turns his grin on Kay. ‘And our top-ranker, Kay.’ He turns to Dom, who is hanging on his arm. ‘Kay’s a big good fighter, isn’t she?’

Dom narrows her eyes at Kay. ‘Yes,’ she sneers. ‘Kay likes the win.’

Rex winks at Kay and he and his pack move on to the other end of the salon.

I shake my head in disgust, but Kay is beaming. ‘Maybe you’re right,’ she says. ‘Maybe I don’t care what the Red
girls
think.’

I don’t get the opportunity to explain to my mother about why I was cheering Kay on in her fight, because the last time I saw her we didn’t have time to arrange our next meeting before we got interrupted by the impeccables. I have to wait for her to sign me a message in class. Finally, eighteen long days after our first late-night meeting, my mother signs to me that we should meet tonight.

When she arrives through the back of the cage at two in the morning she starts talking straight away. ‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to meet you, but I’m worried. Every time I turn around Rice is watching me. He knows I saw that fight.’

It wasn’t a smart move. Enforcers never go to Fight Nights so it was bound to draw attention to Mum. ‘Why did you come?’ I ask.

Her face falls. ‘I didn’t realise how infrequently enforcers leave their quarters after lessons are over. I just wanted to see how you were getting on. I know it was silly. And anyway, you were . . . busy.’

I remember the look of disappointment on her face when she saw me cheering Kay on, but I don’t think we have time for me to try to explain that now. ‘What did you say to Rice about being at a fight?’

‘I told him that I was interested to observe the students in their leisure time. He said that wasn’t the way we do things here. In fact, what he said was, “We’re not here to be interested. We’re here to enforce.” Ever since, I’ve had the feeling that he’s checking up on where I am and what I’m doing. I think he’s asked my roommate to watch me. She even follows me to the bathroom sometimes.’

‘Do you think it was safe to come tonight?’