21
Rowan sat by a stove and felt the heat from the furnace warming him. His clothes were almost dry. He looked around. There wasn’t much to Zordar’s camp. It was underground, the entrance hidden by a large boulder that had broken in two after Zordar had touched different parts of the rock face and then sealed itself after they had all passed through. The cavern was lit by a strange glowing crystal, the size of a person; it was lodged in a hole in the roof of the cavern and seemed to be feeding off the daylight, generating enough light to see the whole living area clearly. There was a stove with a long flue stretching up to the ceiling, a deep sink, a small table and rush matting across the floor with large scatter cushions to sit on, similar to those found in David’s fort. Rowan looked towards the door. On the right-hand side there was a small screen that lit up and showed whoever was walking along the adjacent riverbanks. Rowan had first noticed it when a waster had walked by; he had felt anxious for a moment but the waster had not noticed their hideaway and had walked on. Zordar had been chopping up meat and vegetables. He had thrown a large handful into a boiling pot of stock and had not noticed the waster walk past.
Rowan’s stomach was aching for food now and the smell of the stew boiling on the stove was intoxicating. His skin was beginning to glow and prickle. He moved away from the furnace as his skin felt like it was burning. He thought back to the last few days. He felt foolish for going off on his own and guilty that his friends had risked their lives to find him. Rowan looked over at Cornwall. Her green eyes looked bright and sparkled in the crystal light.
Cornwall noticed Rowan watching her and smiled at him. Rowan was confused. Her smile was friendly and caring. He wanted so much to relax and trust her but he also had the voice of doubt in the back of his mind, warning him to be wary. He was still not sure what she had done to him when they were at the fort. All he could remember seeing was her golden hair, like a halo in the moonlight, and those eyes weighing down his eyelids and his body being sapped of all its energy.
Rowan shivered, he had spent all his waking life in control of his destiny and now he sat in this cavern afraid and uncertain about his future and he felt cross with himself for being so pathetic. He looked back at the screen and saw movement.
‘There’s David,’ Rowan called out to Zordar. ‘He’s outside.’ Zordar looked up from stirring the stew. ‘He will come down here. It is almost dark; they will stay here tonight.’
Kayleb looked towards the screen. He could just see David and the others. They were on foot and there was no sign of the donkeys. Kayleb looked at David’s face as he entered the hideaway. He looked pale and tired.
Zordar helped David over to the stove and Rowan moved across so David could sit in his place. David sat down heavily on the cushion.
The other members of the group seemed happy to be in the cavern and were tired too but unharmed.
‘Are you all right, David?’ asked Zordar. ‘What happened? You look awful. Are you hurt?
‘No ... no, don’t worry yourself, I’m fine. We were attacked by wasters again. The donkeys would not hold still, so I wasn’t able to protect everyone. I told everyone to dismount and form a ring so I could create a shield. The wasters gave up on us and went after the donkeys. I should not have used the donkeys. I put everyone’s life in danger.
David looked towards Kayleb, Indigo and Cornwall with exasperation.
‘What were you all thinking of, trying to find Rowan by yourselves?’ David asked. ‘You meant well, but these are difficult times and sometimes you have to let others find their own way.’
David looked directly at Rowan. ‘Like a fish out of water, it will only be luck or your own determination that will let you swim again!’
Rowan looked darkly at David. He did not like being compared to a fish or being analysed by him in front of everyone.
Zordar broke the silence by handing David a bowl of stew and a piece of bread.
‘Eat, David. Get your strength back. I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you. The authorities have found the tunnel that we have been working on for so long. They have destroyed it. We will have to get to London another way.’
‘Can’t we find a boat and sail across at night? There’s a chance we’d get past the patrol boats in darkness,’ Kayleb suggested.
‘The signals from your heels will be read and will show up as being unauthorised on the patrol boat’s radar. They will find us very quickly.’
‘What if we were on a patrol boat?’ suggested Indigo. They must carry lots of lifers trying to escape from the Isle of Wight or the odd waster trying to get back into London. ‘What if we took over a patrol boat, somehow? The guards on the other boats will just think we are being transported back to the island or to the wilderness.’
‘We can’t turn back now,’ said David. ‘Indigo’s right. We will have to get on one of their boats and then overpower the patrolmen. After a rest tonight I will be able to do that. We will have to think of a way to get access to the boat. It is a shame about the tunnel; so many have worked so hard and long to create it. I know how it was discovered, I feel it in my soul. One of us here has let the authorities know about the tunnel. I do not know who but I feel there is a traitor amongst us who is able to guard their identity.’
Everyone looked at each other to see if he could see guilt in each other’s faces. Kayleb looked at Rowan and wondered if it was him that had blabbed when he was held by the wasters and then at everyone else, but they all looked shocked by David’s statement and gave nothing away.
Rowan looked around the cavern for a space to lay out his sleeping bag. Luckily Zordar had spare bedding, as Rowan had lost his to the wasters when they had captured him. Rowan saw a space on the floor on the far side of the cavern. He got up from his cushion and walked across the room. He felt self-conscious and knew that someone was watching him as he climbed into his sleeping bag. He slowly looked around the room and realised that it was Cornwall. He tried not to catch her eyes and turned over on his side to face the wall. Rowan wondered why she was staring at him and felt a little guilty that he wasn’t being friendlier. He turned over but Cornwall was now chatting to Prozac and he felt cross with him for stealing away her attention and then cross with himself for caring. Rowan turned over and shut his eyes to try and sleep.
Kayleb lay quietly in his sleeping bag. The morning had come all too quickly and the thought of what lay ahead that day made him uneasy. If someone in the group had managed to get word to the authorities about the tunnel then they would be sure to sabotage the boat plan. He would have to keep his wits about him.
Kayleb knew that, as a tasker, things were going to be hard but he had never imagined that he would have to risk his life in order to survive. He wondered what sort of person had come up with the idea to cast sixteen-years-olds into the wilderness to see if they could survive. It was obvious that it was someone who enjoyed watching other people suffer. This barbaric ritual had been invented hundreds of years ago. Surely civilisation had advanced enough to throw out such an insane practice; it was 3004 for goodness’ sake, not the Dark Ages!
Kayleb could taste fear in the air for the entire journey as they travelled to the French coast. They reached the sea without seeing another soul but the tension within the group was almost tangible. Kayleb had been eager to see the waves, the Isle of Wight and, beyond that, the coast of London, with its wind turbines sticking out like candles on a crazy-looking birthday cake.
Eventually, they reached the coast as the sun was setting. Kayleb could see the sea with the sky biting into the horizon, but not London. There was just a black land mass jutting out of the sea, dark and foreboding – the Isle of Wight did not look at all inviting.
‘It’s not quite how I remember the Isle of Wight,’ sighed Indigo.
‘I’m glad we’re not going there. It feels like something bad is happening on the island. You can feel the malice and wickedness oozing from it.’
‘It’s an evil place, Indigo, believe me. I spent long enough there,’ said Zordar. ‘It is rotten to the core. Staan now leads a large band of lifers and has become top dog. I am lucky to have escaped and been released from my treacherous ways. Staan is evil, pure evil, and shows no mercy; he has only survived this long because, like David, he can protect himself with a force field.’
‘Where did Staan come from?’ asked Rowan. ‘He’s not another alien like David, is he?’
‘Yes,’ said Zordar. ‘He just appeared on the island one night after a violent storm; everyone just presumed that he was just another lifer dumped there. I only found out when I met David that Staan was from Veenah. Veenah is not perfect. There is evil there too but that is inevitable; there is no perfect world. The murderers on the island that openly kill others usually end up being murdered themselves. Staan is different. He kills for a reason; he savours the taste of human flesh. Many have tried to wipe him out but it is impossible. It would take a miracle to finish him off. I have always wondered why anyone would want to follow such a man. It must be fear and brainwashing and some sort of self- defence mechanism. The Isle of Wight is overrun by cannibals. It is barbaric and vile. I am glad to be away from that place.’
‘Why were you sent there, Zordar?’ asked Indigo. ‘Was it because you killed Rebecca?’
Zordar’s eyes flashed angrily. ‘Did David tell you that? No, I wasn’t sent there for that!’
‘I’m sorry, Zordar. Don’t be angry,’ said Indigo. ‘David did not tell us with hatred; it was just in passing. He has forgiven you.’
Zordar stared out to sea and at the island he hated so much.
‘How can anyone forgive you for killing their daughter,’ he said sadly. ‘I was sent to the Isle of Wight for killing a man and believe me it wasn’t my intention to kill him. We fought and I hit him, just one blow was enough and he hit his head on a wall and died instantly. I could do nothing. The guilt will live with me forever. Life is a fragile thing, I appreciate that now.
‘Surviving on that island ripped at my soul and corrupted my very being. I turned into a depraved creature, as only the toughest survive over there. I worked my way up the hierarchy and eventually, I led a band of lifers. The power went to my head and I became drunk with it, abusive, corrupt. I laughed in the face of death.
‘There is always a traitor lurking in the shadows somewhere, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike. I remember one afternoon very well, when my reign as a supreme leader collapsed. I was in a top room of my tower block listening to gunshots bouncing of the crystal buildings. It was hot and my armoured suit felt tight but I dare not remove it. I was sweating. I had been taking drugs and my vision was blurred. There was another man in my room. I vaguely remembered seeing him somewhere before but wasn’t sure where. He was wearing a simple gown. He had no armour or weapons and did not look like a lifer. He had long brown hair and a beard and was cowering under the table for some reason and he seemed to be afraid of me. I remember feeling outraged that he was trying to hide from me and dragged him to the window. I stood behind him with a gun and forced him to stand on the window ledge and then opened the shutters. A bullet flew into the room, narrowly missing him. I felt empowered again. I had this man’s life in my hands, and I knew if I held him there long enough then he would be shot. The man begged to be let down. The sound of gunshot whistled in our ears and finally he took a shot to the shoulder. He screamed and cried to be let down but I did not release him. Finally, rather than being killed by a bullet, he turned and grabbed my gun out of my hands, hurled himself out of the window and fell to his death. I had killed again and in my narcotic state felt euphoric and powerful. I am disgusted with myself and will always be sorry for killing an innocent man. He was my friend.
‘I remember looking down on his broken body with disdain, closely followed by fear as I saw another band of rival lifers being led into my building by a member of my group. I was trapped and could do nothing. I had no gun and was in no condition to fight. They broke into my room and captured me. I couldn’t escape.
‘I was taken to a black cliff and placed on the edge in front of a firing squad. I looked down at the sea far below. White froth crashed onto the black rock relentlessly, calling me to join them. My head was clearer now and my senses had returned. I watched the squad raise their guns and as their fingers twitched on the triggers waiting for the command to shoot I jumped back over the cliff as far away from it as I could, so I wouldn’t hit the rocks below. The guns fired but they had missed me. I plunged into the sea. The force almost broke my body but I was determined not to die. I pulled off my armour and watched it float to the surface before me and eventually I reached the surface too, gasping for air. I could hear them shooting at me but I was too far away for anyone to get a decent shot ...’
‘I can’t believe what you’re telling us,’ said Cornwall in shock.
‘You have told us terrible things, yet you have kind eyes. I don’t believe you!’
‘It is all true but I am a different man now. As I came up from the sea, it was almost as if the waves were washing away my past. I left my armour and my bad tortured soul behind. I swam and let the Channel currents take me wherever they wanted and was finally washed up on this very beach we are sitting on now. It is almost as if I had been reborn.
I joined a group of wasters and eventually met David on a hunt one day. He took me in and showed me that there was another way to live. I did not mean to kill Rebecca. She taunted me and played games with my mind; she wasn’t a good person but David will never admit that. I was helping David defend his fort. It was being attacked by an unusually advanced group of wasters. David’s people were out of the compound gathering berries when they were ambushed by hundreds of wasters. They had weapons that were very sophisticated for wasters. They had created metal balls surrounded by metal blades, which they threw along the ground, so that they sliced into our legs and in some cases decapitated our legs completely. Many of us lay there bleeding and we would have been overpowered had I not seen a gun lying in the grass. No one has a gun in the wilderness, yet here was a gun waiting to be used.
‘I looked at the gun and knew I would be able to save David’s people. I lifted the gun up and got ready to fire it at the angry mob about to descend on us when Rebecca’s face appeared in front of me. But I had already pulled the trigger and fired the bullet; it passed right through her and then into a leg of a waster riding a yakphant. The other yakphants were alarmed and tore off away from the fort; the wasters too ran for their lives. Rebecca lay at my feet dying; the game she was playing had ended badly. It was an accident. She was taunting me for some reason; it was almost as if she wanted me to kill her and had left the gun there for me. I see her face in my dreams now, just as it was when I pulled the trigger.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Kayleb. ‘David said he brought Rebecca back to life again. I thought that she was still alive,’ he continued, anxiously looking at Cornwall.
‘It is not that simple,’ sighed Zordar tearfully. ‘Rebecca, like David, is not human. He did revive her but Rebecca is now able to live only on Veenah. David can heal only those that want to be healed. Rebecca did not want to live on Earth. Rebecca will only be able to live on Veenah until their planet dies. I would lay my life on the line for David. I owe him so much; he has helped me when others would not.’
David joined them. ‘I know, Zordar,’ said David soothingly. ‘You must not upset yourself. I can always go back and see her right up until the end. I have grandchildren too, so I will always see part of my daughter in them.’
Rowan couldn’t help but stare and was embarrassed for him. He had never seen a grown man cry and yet, as humble and sorry as Zordar seemed to be, Rowan knew that he could never forgive a man that had callously taken other men’s lives.