The Ruins Book 4 Read online

  He might have a use for the gun, after all.

  Chapter 55: Kirby

  Kirby dipped her hands in the wash bucket, cleaning dirt away from her calloused hands as she looked around her squalid hovel. Since the meeting, she had worked with her head down, neither talking nor looking at anyone, hoping to avoid another dangerous encounter. A new, sharpened shank accompanied her wherever she went. She envisioned all the other Shadow People going about their business, anticipating what they were about to do. Every so often, she met the eyes of some stranger on the dirty paths, wondering if they were one of the people who would fight alongside her. A few she recognized from those moonlit moments on the stones in Ashville, when she'd passed out weapons.

  In whispered, passing conversations with Drew, she had learned that the hole in the wall was a few days from completion. In the night's darkest hours, a few of the Shadow People close to the eastern side of New City were loosening enough stones to create a passageway, covering up the hole before leaving each night. When the time came, they would leave it open. Kirby knew the risk of their actions. If someone found that passageway, a plan would turn to a punishment—not only for the involved slaves, but for all of New City. Who knew what the guards and The Gifted might do?

  Finished cleaning her hands, Kirby picked up a rag and wiped her face. She blinked through eyes tired from days of constant focus, and a mind exhausted from nights ruminating. Not for the first time, she realized she was alone.

  She'd seen little of Esmeralda in the past few days. It seemed as if she had been quiet, ever since Kirby had been caught in the city. Esmeralda kept her distance, perhaps afraid to break any rules. Or maybe she was afraid to get too close to someone who had gotten on the wrong side of the guards.

  Kirby didn't blame her.

  Looking around the small house, she saw a few dirtied pots and pans, crusted with the remnants of some cornmeal. It seemed as if Esmeralda had already eaten and gone back to work. Kirby hadn't even seen her going to the shops. She had always headed off before they could walk together.

  Perhaps she was visiting Fiona at Isabella's.

  Kirby stepped toward the doorway of the house and walked out in the bustling alley. Slaves scurried to and from their homes as they tried to make the most of their mid-day break.

  Kirby strode over to the laundry, checking a few hanging clothes to see if they were dry before returning inside to cook her lunch. Looking down the adjacent alley, she was surprised to find Esmeralda standing a handful of houses away. Fiona was in her arms. It looked as if she was hiding between a neighbor's hung sheets.

  "Esmeralda!" she called.

  Esmeralda's face paled as Kirby spotted her.

  Kirby looked over her shoulder, expecting a guard sneaking up on her. She saw no one except slaves. Forgetting the laundry, she walked toward Esmeralda.

  "Are you all right?" Kirby asked.

  "I'm fine," Esmeralda said quickly, coddling Fiona.

  Kirby noticed she didn't look all that dirty, for someone who had spent a morning working in a greasy shop.

  "I didn't see you at lunch."

  "I ate a little while before you got back," Esmeralda said.

  "Would you like to join me while I eat?"

  Esmeralda looked around again before agreeing. Kirby walked back toward the house, with Esmeralda trailing.

  "How is everything?" she asked Esmeralda.

  "Good," Esmeralda answered, keeping her eyes on Fiona.

  Kirby asked several more questions, receiving short answers. They fell into a strange silence as they returned to the house. Walking through the threshold, Kirby headed for the hearth to cook some lunch.

  Esmeralda sat on the bedroll, setting Fiona down and half-heartedly playing with her.

  "How has she been adjusting?" Kirby called over her shoulder, as she started some water boiling.

  "She's…fine." Esmeralda hesitated as she stopped playing.

  "Isabella has been doing well with her, while you are at work?"

  Esmeralda murmured something that sounded like agreement.

  Once the water boiled, Kirby started some cornmeal. "I am hoping the guards will release Bray soon."

  Kirby turned, finding tears rolling down Esmeralda's face.

  "What's wrong?" Kirby asked, abandoning the hearth.

  Esmeralda kept her gaze down, refusing to meet her eyes. "I saw the guards outside of Bray's cell this morning." Esmeralda wiped the tears from her face. "I saw them taunting him."

  "Bastards," Kirby grumbled. "Their treatment is nothing new."

  "I am sorry for what you had to do in the courtyard," Esmeralda said. "I am sorry they made you fight."

  "It is no matter," Kirby said, looking away as she battled some of the guilt that had plagued her since that day. Bray was alive. It was much better than another scenario.

  "It is my fault," Esmeralda said, clutching Fiona tight.

  Kirby looked up suddenly as the words surprised her. "What do you mean?"

  Esmeralda slowly lifted her eyes. "I told Ollie you snuck out with Bray. It is my fault you were caught with him."

  A realization slammed into Kirby as she stood suddenly, backing away from Esmeralda. She clenched her fists and looked to the doorway, as if another betrayal was coming. Perhaps guards were waiting outside for an incriminating statement. Only Esmeralda sat in the room, more tears filling her eyes. Sensing a change in the room, Fiona looked up from her mother's arms, a curious expression on her face.

  "Why would you do that?" Kirby demanded, unable to believe the depth of the betrayal.

  Esmeralda's tears grew worse, as she watched Kirby with a guilty expression. "I told him you snuck out with Bray so that I might buy more time with Fiona. I haven't been going to work, Kirby. That is why you haven't seen much of me. I've been hiding." Esmeralda looked as if she was waiting for the fist to strike her face. Holding up an apologetic hand, she said, "I did it for my own, selfish reasons. I'm sorry."

  Kirby's eyes blazed with anger as she recalled the strange conversations she and Esmeralda had in the past few days. She remembered the suddenness of their capture, when they'd been on the way to Ashville. It made sense now. The pain they'd endured that night—and the torment Bray still received—overtook any sympathy she felt for Esmeralda.

  "You did this to us," Kirby said, venom lacing her words.

  "I'm sorry." Esmeralda didn't argue, or excuse her actions. "I saw you sneaking out a few times, meeting him in the dark, in the flooded house. Like I told you, I notice things when I am home. I figured it was something I could use. When I watched you and Bray in the courtyard, I saw the result of my words. It was an awful, selfish thing."

  Kirby tried for more anger, as she looked into Esmeralda's despondent eyes, and at the child in her lap, but she couldn't find any. What could she do? Hit the woman? Unleash her anger, and lure in the guards?

  Perhaps Esmeralda knew that.

  Kirby had seen slaves give each other up for as little as a meal, in her homeland. They were products of their conditions. They lived on empty stomachs, fearing the repercussive beatings of the guards. They did whatever kept them fed, and their families protected.

  That didn't excuse Esmeralda's actions, but looking at Fiona, Kirby understood them.

  She didn't want to, but she understood them.

  Esmeralda clutched Fiona, blotting away more tears. She shook her head, as if she might erase the damage of what she'd done. Surprised at where her legs took her, Kirby crossed the room and sat on the bedroll next to Esmeralda.

  "What can I do to make it up to you?" Esmeralda asked her.

  "You can tell me what else you told Ollie," Kirby said.

  "I told him you were sneaking off," Esmeralda replied, "that is all I said."

  Kirby watched her, gauging the sincerity of that response. For all she knew, she might be dragged off before she lived another day. But it seemed as if Esmeralda told the truth.

  "I'm sorry," Esmeralda said. She had nothing
else to give.

  "I forgive you," Kirby said, and she did.

  Hopefully soon, Esmeralda's betrayal wouldn't matter. The Shadow People would tear down the system that trapped them in lives of betrayal, hunger, and pain.

  In a few days, the guards and The Gifted would pay.

  Chapter 56: Bray

  Warm sunlight stung Bray's eyes as he made his way across the courtyard, two guards at his side.

  "You stink," said one of the guards, holding his nose, as he laughed along with his comrade.

  The second guard prodded Bray as he walked through the bright light he wasn't used to seeing.

  A few children near the edges of the courtyard ceased their play, as they saw something more interesting than rocks to clap together, or sticks to toss. A few women peered around their hung laundry. Through doorways, Bray saw people breaking from their hearths to watch him. He let the guards lead him as they brought him toward the house he'd thought he'd never see again.

  "Make sure you clean up, so you don't bring that stench to the fields with you," said the first guard. "I don't think your buddies will like it."

  Despite their words, the guards' taunts were half-hearted. Bray was a plaything they had expended.

  Stretching his sore, stiff limbs, he walked the last steps to his open doorway. He looked over at the guards, waiting for an order.

  "Make sure you're in the Shucking Room after lunch," a guard said.

  Bray nodded as he turned.

  An unexpected kick to his back sent him forward.

  Bray stumbled, catching himself before he fell through the threshold. And then the guards were gone. Teddy stood inside, waiting. He looked at Bray as if he were a ghost.

  Before Bray could say anything, Teddy crossed the room and embraced him.

  Bray bit back a swell of nostalgia he hadn't expected as they clapped each other on the back.

  "You made it out," Teddy said. He stepped back and appraised Bray, as if he might disappear, or the guards might pull him away.

  "I could use a washcloth," Bray said. "And a drink."

  "Of course. I hope water will do," Teddy said with a smile, as he fetched Bray a flask. "I'm surprised to see you out."

  "Apparently, I'm good enough for the Shucking Rooms. Another pair of hands to work."

  "I thought I wouldn't see you again," Teddy clarified, shaking his head. "I saw the fight from the back row. I wanted to help..." An emotion ran through his face that Bray wasn't used to seeing. "I couldn't…I'm sorry."

  "Don't be," Bray said. Voicing the question that he'd been waiting to ask for too many solitary days, he said, "Is Kirby alright?"

  "She's fine," Teddy said.

  Bray felt a surge of relief. Teddy looked past Bray and into the courtyard, as if he had more to say, and Bray was sure he did.

  Keeping his conversation quiet, Teddy said, "I have something for you. But not right now. Let me make you something to eat. You must be starved."

  Chapter 57: Kirby

  The sun was turning from yellow to amber as Kirby walked up one of the pathways with her water bucket in hand. She turned down a few alleys, passing a few groups of chatting slaves, when she spotted Bray in the distance. He walked with his head bowed, his arms to his sides. Looking around, she spotted no one suspicious nearby as she walked fast enough to overtake him.

  Bray looked over carefully. "Kirby," he said, his voice laced with an emotion she had missed.

  "How are you?" she asked.

  Putting his hand to his head, he said, "If that's how you try to help someone, I'll be sure to never make you angry."

  Kirby hid a tearful smile. "I didn't mean to…"

  "You kept me alive," Bray said. "I owe you."

  "You do not owe me anything," Kirby said, swallowing a tinge of emotion. Looking back and forth to ensure no one heard, she said, "We are almost ready."

  "Teddy told me," Bray said, keeping his voice low. "How long until the escape route is finished?"

  Kirby felt a pang of nervousness as she spoke the words aloud. "Three days. The people working on it have been taking shifts. They have to work very quietly, of course. A few times, the mutants startled them at night, forcing them to go slower than they would've liked. They have to cover it up afterward, as you know. Drew will pass the word the night before we are to act."

  "I'll be ready," Bray said.

  A feeling overcame Kirby. Standing in the amber sunlight, she recalled those last moments before she had left her homeland. She remembered the fear behind the resolve in her comrades' eyes, as they prepared for their last fight to freedom.

  But her feeling for Bray was stronger.

  "Be careful," she said to him.

  Bray reached over, gently touching her fingers for a split second, before breaking away, leaving only his familiar smell behind.

  Chapter 58: Kirby

  Kirby turned back and forth on her bedroll, looking from the ceiling to the dark sky out the open doorway. Long ago, the last, lingering conversations had quieted. The bonfires were doused, leaving a faint smell of smoke that reminded her of the wild. It would take more than a smell to convince her she wasn't living in this hellish place.

  Three more days…

  Esmeralda quietly snored from her bedroll, getting the few bits of sleep she managed before Fiona roused her for a feeding. Kirby turned, trying to forget her trepidations and the pain of her lumps so she could get comfortable, even though she doubted she'd succeed. Far in the distance, a yowling mutant reminded her of The Shadow People, creeping through the night and finishing the last few bits of the passage, before they committed to a plan that would lead either to salvation or to their deaths.

  Forcing her eyes shut, she tried to envision the outcome of their plan.

  Before she knew it, she was asleep.

  All at once, she was back on that dock in her homeland, running alongside hundreds of sweaty, nervous men and women, as they made for the ships that would lead to their freedom. Kirby looked over her shoulder, glimpsing the silhouette of a city that had provided only torment. The people around her were mere shadows in the moonlight, their breath heaving, their faces indiscernible. Every so often, she recognized one of the people with whom she had shared a cell, a meal, or a conversation. Too many of those discussions had been about this moment.

  And now it was here.

  Kirby's legs felt as if they might collapse underneath the weight of her nervousness as she forged ahead, reaching the deck of the ship and hissing instructions to the others. The people around her moved with practiced, nervous hands, using their experience in the wars to aid in their freedom. All around her on the docks, she heard the quiet movements of a few hundred others, taking control of similar ships. Any moment, Kirby expected a stream of torches and a litany of shouts to expose them.

  "Hurry!" someone next to her exclaimed, as she worked on a rope.

  Kirby loosened a knot.

  She pulled.

  Shouts drew her attention to the docks, where the silhouettes of more people appeared. Not people.

  Mutants.

  A dream became a nightmare, as more and more mutants appeared, thundering up the dock, snarling and bringing their stench. Kirby panicked as she pulled on the rope on which she worked, only to find another knot, and another. She felt her way along the rope in the moonlight, frantically trying to get the kinks loose, as the mutants closed in. On the boats next to hers, she heard the thud of several mutants getting onto the decks. The screams of her comrades echoed into the night, as the twisted men found hot flesh and tore.

  "Come on!" another voice yelled next to Kirby.

  Drew's voice wavered in the dark next to her. She heard his fruitless cries as he pulled on the rope on which he worked, only to run into a similar obstacle.

  A thudding footstep landed too close.

  A shrill cry of terror pierced the air.

  "Kirby! Look out!"

  Kirby spun, abandoning the rope to find mutants everywhere, clawing, bitin
g, and tackling her comrades. Her friends fought and kicked, but more and more fell, landing on the deck and screaming their death throes, or falling off the side of the boat and splashing into the water.

  Kirby spun to find Drew battling a handful of mutants, screaming her name.

  She tried to help, but a demon knocked her backward and away.

  With a cry, she watched Drew fall next to her, succumbing to hungry mouths and digging fingers. Kirby pushed aside the lunging mutant and punched another, knocking it back. But more surrounded her. Too many. Somewhere above her, she heard her comrades bellowing in agony, or falling silent and succumbing to the monsters' tearing teeth.

  Kirby shot upright, awake.

  She looked around the small hovel she shared with Esmeralda, gasping for breath.

  She reached for her shank, as if the mutants might be everywhere and closing, but she was alone, except for Esmeralda and Fiona.

  A nightmare. That's all it was.

  Wiping the sweat from her brow, she calmed her breathing and left her bad dream behind.

  A nightmare.

  Three more days…

  Chapter 59: William

  William sat on the edge of his unmade bed as he waited for the morning sun to rise. His belly felt as empty as the trays he had been handing back to the guards.

  He steeled his heart. Months of searching in the woods, looking for Kirby's golden palace, had culminated in this. It was time to break free. What would happen on the other side, he didn't know.

  Looking out the window at the sky, dark for a little longer, he recalled that first night he'd spent in the wild, after leaving Brighton. The stars had never felt as bright, nor the moon as full, as when he looked up at them from that first, tall building. He'd stood next to his mother, high above any place either of them had ever been. The wild had called to him in a way he had never known when he was a young boy in Brighton, with the only things he knew from stories, or the few glimpses he got through the front gate, when the soldiers returned from war. He'd known in his heart he was never going back.

  It seemed as if William's life had stemmed from that moment.