Page 4

EBEN

Sounds of shouting and loud footfall echoed outside my door in the hallway. Confused by the lack of sunlight, half asleep and groggy, I got out of bed. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the moonlight spilling in from the window. My bunkmate’s bed was empty, the candle usually on the dresser, missing. Running a hand over my head, I stared out the window as men in militia uniforms moved in an organized chaos. They filled wagons with weapons and ammunition lockers, while a couple of guards I recognized from my unit lifted boxes of rations into another wagon.

“What the fuck?”

I grabbed a shirt from the dresser and pulled it on before shoving my bare feet into boots.

I opened the door to find the hallway in disorder. Half-dressed guards, like me, standing with candles and sleep lines on their faces as officers ordered them to move.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.” A short man with gray hair and green fatigues clapped his hands. His face was severe and angry as he shouted at the unmoving men.

“What’s going on?” One of the guards dared to ask.

“There isn’t time for stupid fucking questions. Pack what you can. Take only what you need,” he ordered.

“Pack?” I asked, realizing too late I’d spoken out loud.

“We’re evacuating! Do I need to spell it out for you jack-offs? Move !” he yelled.

Evacuating.

I stood still, my mind racing around in circles until it snagged on him . On Cale. On our kiss. On my promise.

Oh God.

“Cale.”

I didn’t think, didn’t take a moment to plan. I grabbed the gate keys, a few spare candles from the drawer of my dresser, and matches. I moved through a sea of fearful faces and uncertainty, keeping my eyes down. The stairs were packed with men, some with large bags, others, like me, still in sleep shirts and sweats. Once outside, the night air chilled me to the bone. There was movement everywhere, even the stables were surrounded by Freedom militia with torches. Shit . They guarded the horses as the rest of the encampment prepared to flee. If Cale and I wanted to escape, we needed horses and rations, and…

“Eben?” a Dusk Guard held up his hand as I approached Elysium. “Didn’t you hear? The front fell. The NEA is headed this way. We’re all leaving.”

Elysium was hardly lit. Only a few torches burned in the early morning darkness. I glanced at the prison gate, worried I’d never make it inside, terrified I had no reason to.

I swallowed, trying to come up with a plausible lie. “I was sent… I need to…”

Damn it.

He furrowed his brows, his eyes assessing my disheveled clothes, my untied boots.

“Lux sent me.” The lie sounded hollow to my own ears.

“Lux left an hour ago,” he said.

“I know.” I lowered my voice and grit my jaw. “I’m to dispatch a few of the prisoners left in the east sector.”

He laughed, the sick sound of it slithering under my skin. “Want any help?”

I forced a smile. “I think I can handle it.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Can’t leave my post anyway, not until they give us the ‘all clear.’”

“Where are the other Dusk Guards?” I asked.

“Treban is on the north tower. It’s just us. Most of the prisoners were shot after we heard the news, a few left with Silas and Lux claiming they wanted to fight. I’d bet my last box of matches they’ll be dead by sunrise. Traitors.” He spat onto the gravel. “Too bad you weren’t working, missed out on some target practice.”

My heart pounded as it fell into my stomach.

Shot.

Murdered.

“I better get inside,” I managed to say. “Get it over with.”

He smirked. “Get it over with… like you won’t enjoy it.”

“Traitors,” I repeated his sentiment, robotic, numb from the inside out.

“Fuck yeah.”

I nodded and moved toward the gate, my mouth thick with bitterness and terror.

Once inside, I lit a candle and left the front gate open, but as I made my way down the dark hall, it shut with a resounding and final rattle. I passed a few guards who were too busy carrying boxes of rations to care about me. The smell of gunpowder and blood hovered over me. Each cell I passed, one, two, three, the scent of death swelled.

“No, no, no…” I muttered and started to jog.

The lack of guards in the east sector frightened me.

The place was empty.

Abandoned.

A tomb.

“Cale.” Fear grabbed at my throat as I ran down the hall to his cell. “ Cale ,” I yelled, the panic cracking my voice into two.

“I’m here,” he called out, and I nearly fell to my knees in relief.

Cale’s eyes were wide, his lip split. A bruise colored the arch of his cheekbone in purple and blue. The skin on his knuckles was raw as he gripped the bars. “Eben,” he said my name like a prayer.

“What happened?” I asked, breathless as I reached through the bars to run the tips of my fingers along his jaw.

“I got lucky,” he said and coughed when he tried to laugh. “The guard sent to shoot me ran out of bullets. He hit me with the gun instead. I blacked out.”

“Jesus Christ.” I held his chin and slowly moved his head to the right and then the left. “You could have a concussion.”

“I’ll live.” Cale held my gaze. “You came for me.”

“I said I would.”

His Adam’s apple jumped. “What’s the plan?”

“There’s militia everywhere, loading wagons with supplies. The stables are manned… Cale, I…” He was here. Alive. In front of me. I hadn’t failed him. We had a chance. “First things first… getting you out of here.” I dropped my hand from the heat of his skin. “I’ll be right back. The keys to the cells are in the office.”

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

The office was locked, but I had the key. I put the candle in the sconce by the door and grabbed my keys from my pocket. My fingers trembled and I dropped the keys twice before I finally opened the damn door. The office was a mess, papers strewn on the desk and floor, and I slipped on a file folder in front of the combination safe. Catching my breath, I turned the lock with shaking fingers.

30-56-19

The lock didn’t budge.

“Come on…”

30-56-19

Nothing.

“Fuck…” I shook my hands by my sides and sucked in a ragged breath. “Thirty… fifty-six… nineteen,” I spoke the numbers out loud, taking my time, and the lock finally clicked.

I exhaled and grabbed the large ring of keys. Each one was marked with the corresponding cell number. I found Cale pacing when I got back.

“Did you—”

I held up the keys and he smiled. It was small and weary, but it evened my pulse. My hands stopped shaking long enough to place the candle in the holder and unlock the door to his cell.

CALE

The heavy metal creaked as the door swung open. The air shifted around me, pushing me toward Eben. It told me I was free. It told me to run.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, and reached for my hand.

The warmth of his skin was almost too much wrapped around my fingers. His hold too tight as we ran down the hall. Out of breath, I tugged on his arm, and we stopped.

“We can’t just run out of here, can we?” I asked.

“No… we can’t.” He let go of my hand and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a set of keys and nodded his chin. “Come on, I’m hoping some of the guards left some clothes in the locker room. If we can make it out of Elysium, I think we should be able to get back to the encampment for supplies.”

“That sounds like suicide.”

“Heading into the forest without the proper supplies is suicide. The front fell, Cale. My hope is to find the closest NEA settlement, and surrender. Maybe they’ll take us on, or maybe kill us on the spot. But I’m willing to risk it. If we stay here, we die. We have to keep moving.”

“And what about the other prisoners?” I asked, knowing that they were all probably dead.

I’d heard the gunshots. The screams. Each loud pop closer and closer, calling out to me, shouting to me, “You’re next.”

“Most are dead… some left to fight. Let’s get these uniforms, and we can see if there are any survivors on our way out.”

“Okay.”

Guilt weighed on me as I followed behind him. My hope dwindled as we passed several quiet cells. There was no one left to save.

“This way,” he whispered and lowered the candle he carried. “If anyone is inside…”

“I know,” I said. “It’s over.”

He nodded and gripped my hand in his again before he opened the door. The room was black and silent as we stepped in. The orange glow of the candle, the only light. Eben sighed and his shoulders relaxed. He put the candle into a small sconce on the wall.

He pointed toward a row of lockers. “Let’s split up, find what you can and put it on.”

Reluctant, I hesitated but let go of his hand.

“I’ll feel better once we’re outside.”

Eben grazed his knuckles over the bruise on my face, his eyes on mine. “It’s going to be okay.” He pressed a quick, chaste kiss to my sore lips, and I wanted to believe him. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

There was no way he could keep that promise, the cracks and fissures inside my heart knew that, but there was this small part of me, these tiny points of light Elysium hadn’t stolen, that brightened under his words.

“I believe you.”

He nodded. “Hurry.”

We moved through the room as quietly as possible. I found a few uniforms, all of which were slightly too big. Settling on the smallest of the three, I stripped out of my worn pants and shirt. The cold air spread over my skin in a blanket of goosebumps. I pulled on the guard pants first, the rough fabric itchy against my skin. I took the belt off of one of the bigger pairs of pants and looped it around my waist until the pants stayed put. The shirt was hopeless, but once it was buttoned up and hidden under the guard jacket, I figured I’d pass at a quick glance. I was grateful for the boots and heavy wool socks; they would keep me warm once we’d made it to the forest.

“If we make it,” I mumbled.

I found a row of sinks and washed the blood and dirt off my hands and face. The cold, clean water a comfort I couldn’t allow myself to get lost in.

“Your hair,” Eben said, and I jumped. “It’s a dead giveaway.”

I turned and found him in full uniform, smiling. “I’m pretty sure all of this is a dead giveaway.” I waved my hand down my body. “Nothing fits. I should have eaten more.”

He handed me a hat. “Yes, you should have.”

I slipped on the hat and tucked some of the longer strands of my bangs under the rim. “Better?”

Eben didn’t answer, taking my hand in his, he led us to the locker room door. He turned to look at me as he grabbed the candle from the sconce, his dark eyes serious and commanding. “Don’t speak. If we get stopped, I’ll answer the questions. And… God…” He tucked another piece of my hair under the rim of my hat, his throat working as he shook his head. His eyes filled with so much fear it took my breath away. “Just keep your eyes down. Okay?” The confidence in his tone cracked on the last word.

“I’m scared too.” I reached up and held his face, my hands trembling.

He covered my hands with his and kissed my forehead. “Follow me.”

The anxiety and fear festering inside of me tried to seize each beat of my heart as we stepped into the hall.

“It’s empty,” he exhaled. “Thank God.”

I did as Eben had told me. I kept my eyes down. I wanted to keep moving, to get the fuck out of here. I didn’t dare look into the cells as we passed. There were no survivors. Every door left in our wake, instead of hope came more panic. The closer we got to freedom, the tighter the noose around my neck cinched.

“There were guards in this next corridor on my way in. They were taking boxes of rations toward the front gates. Just follow my lead… all right?”

Shivering, my bones quaked. “Yeah…”

We turned the corner, and the first sounds of life hit me like a brick. My feet stopped moving without my permission as voices carried down the hall.

“Cale?” Eben pulled on my hand. “We have to—”

“You two,” a voice commanded. “Grab some boxes. The last wagons leave in an hour. Stop standing around.”

Eben dropped my hand like it had burned him. “Yes, Officer.”

“What are we going to do?” I whispered.

“Trust me… just grab a box,” he said.

I picked up the smallest one I could find, unsure of my arms after months of starving myself.

“Take those to the wagons by the north tower,” the officer said and rested his hand on the gun strapped to his hip. “And hurry the fuck up.”

My fingers gripped the box with all the strength I had, my eyes on Eben’s back as we moved toward the front gate.

Toward freedom.