Aura, p.7
Aura, page 7
In no time at all, I’m asleep amongst the dead leaves.
I wake with a start, my heart sinking when I remember where I am.
I have no idea how long I’ve been out.
Selena is asleep next to me, the knife resting on her lap.
It’s starting to rain, and I shiver in my damp clothes.
I hear something move nearby and I grab the knife, listening, barely daring to breathe.
There it is again.
I stand up and nudge Selena with my foot, trying to wake her.
“What is it?” Her voice is thick with sleep.
I put a finger to my lips, signaling for her to be quiet.
A branch snaps behind me and I swing around, brandishing the knife. Adrenalin courses through me as I stare into the darkness, ready for a Tek to come crashing through the foliage, all teeth and muscle and metal.
Instead, I’m blinded by a sudden bright light.
I squint, covering my eyes with the back of my hand.
“Drop the knife. Hands above your head,” says a male voice behind the flashlight shining in my face.
I close my eyes and do as I’m told. My head aches as I try to tune into the new thought frequencies in front of me. I come up blank and I panic, wondering if what I did at the border has broken me.
“Aura?” says a different male voice. The sound of my name brings me out of my trance. My eyes snap open, and the beam dips to the ground.
“Aura!”
I back up, black spots in my eyes, as someone rushes toward me.
“It’s me. It’s Reece!”
I can’t speak. Relief floods through me. Suddenly we’re safe. Suddenly we’re not alone.
“I can't believe it's you.” He holds me at arm’s length, studying me, as if his eyes are playing tricks on him. “You actually made it," he says. "Your Mum…?”
I shake my head.
He looks more rugged and world-weary than the boy I used to know, and when he wraps his arms around me, I can feel that he’s skin and bone – not the athletic boy I remember. But he’s still Reece. The best friend I ever had.
I don’t want to let him go.
“You’re lucky we found you,” he says into my hair. “We don't usually come out this far.”
“I take it you know each other?” the other man says, moving the beam of the flashlight to where Selena is sitting.
Reluctantly I let Reece pull away from me, and I get a look at the other guy, a man with wild gray hair who looks as if he's in his late fifties. He's carrying a metal trap.
“Tomas, this is my friend, Aura, and her sister, Selena,” Reece introduces us. “I can vouch for them.”
Tomas nods. “Are you girls okay?”
We must look a sight, our Assembly clothes torn, covered in sweat and mud.
The impact of everything that has happened in the last 24 hours comes crashing in.
My legs buckle.
Reece grabs my arm. “Hey, steady on there.”
“I’m surprised you made it across,” Tomas says. “The place was swarming with Cogs and cameras earlier.”
“The van we were in got there just as they were packing up.”
“The van?” Tomas asks. “Are there others with you?”
I shake my head. “We were with a group of people leaving from The Creek. They’re all dead.” I swallow. “We all had payment for the Cog on duty, but he started shooting anyway. We made it to the forest before he got to us.”
I can feel Selena’s eyes boring into the back of my head.
“And the Cog?” Tomas asks, scanning the forest. “What happened to him? Should we be expecting company?”
“He got caught in the crossfire.” The lie rolls off my tongue.
“He’s dead?” Reece asks.
“He’s dead.”
“You’re sure about that?” Tomas asks.
“I’m sure.”
I killed a Cog.
The thought settles in my head.
Tomas nods in approval. "Good riddance." He slings the empty trap over his shoulder and looks at Selena and me. "Come on," he says. "Let's get you girls back to camp."
Reece grins at me, and I feel like we’ve passed some kind of test.
We pick up our rucksacks and follow Tomas deeper into the forest. His flashlight casts long shadows in front of us.
“You were lucky you weren’t caught up in that explosion,” Tomas shouts back. “Lit up the whole sky.”
“We saw it from the van,” I say. “They blew up one of the warehouses so they could catch it on camera.”
We walk the rest of the way in silence, listening out for every snap of a branch underfoot, making sure we’re not being followed.
Finally, we see a light up ahead; it shines like a beacon into the darkness of the night.
“Here we are,” Reece says, looking back at me. “Welcome to our camp.”
Chapter 10
The trees thin out, and the forest opens up to reveal a huge clearing filled with tents of all shapes and sizes packed tightly together. There must be hundreds of them.
A roaring fire blazes ahead of us, illuminating the camp around it. I count sixteen men and women sitting around the fire, warming their hands and talking low. I spot Reece’s older brother, Clark, and his mum, Mags. They get up when they see us.
“Look who we found!” Reece shouts.
Mags looks stunned. “Aura? Selena – is that you?” she asks, looking us up and down.
“Hi, Mags.” Tears well up in my eyes. Mags used to come over and look after us when we lost Dad, when Mum was in a bad place grieving over him.
She rushes to us and hugs us both. I can feel her bones through her baggy clothing. Like Reece, she’s wasting away.
“Let me look at you.” She pushes my hair away from my forehead and kisses me, then does the same with Selena. “I’m glad I waited up for our huntsmen now!”
“Give them some space, Mum,” Clark laughs.
“We’ve come back empty-handed, Maggie,” Tomas says, throwing the trap down on the ground.
Mags waves the bad news away. “There’s stew in the pot,” she says. “And you’re not empty-handed. Let’s get these girls something to eat and drink.”
She leads us over to the fire. The welcome from the people gathered around it is lukewarm. I can hear them muttering as we approach.
“More mouths to feed…”
“Who are they?”
“Are we just supposed to trust them?”
“Everybody, meet Aura and Selena,” Reece says, talking over them. “Friends from the Old City.”
A few people mumble acknowledgment. Others just stare. I can't say I blame them. It seems we may be just another strain on their resources.
“I’ll introduce you properly in the morning,” Reece winks.
“Grab yourselves a seat,” Mags says, nodding at a pair of rickety deck chairs.
We take off our rucksacks and sit down in front of the fire.
There's a large pot warming over the flames. The steam rises into the night air as Mags gives it a stir. She fills two small bowls and hands one to me and one to Selena.
The stew is thin and watery, but it’s food. The warmth of the fire feels good on my skin. It’s a relief to have finally stopped moving, even if my head is still pounding.
“How’d the two of you get across the border?”
I look at the speaker, a man seated opposite us, next to Clark. He is smiling at us, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “You must be quite a duo –”
“Here comes trouble,” Clark interrupts his neighbor before I can respond. He’s looking over my shoulder.
“Oh great, more mouths to feed,” says a voice behind me.
Clark stands up and I turn in my seat to see a tall, thin man with a crew cut moving toward us, staggering as if he’s drunk.
“That’s enough, Brown,” warns Clark.
The conversational atmosphere around the campfire changes. I stiffen, on guard again.
Out of habit, I try to tune in to the man’s thoughts, but just like in the woods, I come up blank. It’s as if someone has put their hands over my ears or covered my eyes.
“Go and sleep it off, Brown,” Tomas says, coming between Clark and Brown. “These girls have been through enough –”
“We’re starving as it is, and we’ve got a baby due any day,” he slurs. “We talked about this.”
“No, you gave us your opinion,” Clark says. “That doesn’t mean everybody agreed with you.”
“We should be helping our own first, you hear me?” he spits. “I can’t remember the last time I had a full stomach!”
I bristle, feeling my cheeks color.
“Shut it, Brown; you’ve had too much to drink,” warns Tomas.
“We're at capacity. That's all I'm saying. I'm right, aren't I?” Brown looks at the faces around the fire. Too many people are nodding their agreement.
“I said, that’s enough,” Tomas steps towards Brown.
“Okay, old man, keep your pants on, I’m going.” He staggers away without looking back.
“Don't listen to him. You two are family, as far as I'm concerned,” says Mags, handing me a mug of tea. “And so is he. His baby will want for nothing; we'll all make sure of that.”
“He raises a good point, though,” says the man sitting opposite. “We don’t have the resources to support more people in this camp. That’s a simple truth. It would have been a strain even if that last raid had gone well.”
“James – ” Reece says.
The man – James – holds up his hands defensively. “Maybe it’s time to talk about the bunker Helen found.”
“Talking about me again?” says a new female voice.
I jump, splashing my tea down my front as a pile of rabbits – five of them tied together by their hind legs – lands in front of me.
Tomas whistles and there’s a smattering of applause. “Helen, you’re a bloody lifesaver,” he says, inspecting her catch.
I look around to see a tall, dark-haired girl standing behind me, holding a bow. “Thankfully, not all of us are terrible at trapping,” she smiles, looking at Reece.
“If only you’d been a few minutes earlier,” Tomas says. “I could’ve shoved one of them down Brown’s throat.”
“Aura, Selena – this is Helen,” Reece says.
“Hi,” she says, looking me over.
“Aura and I have been friends since we were kids,” Reece says. “She finally made it out.”
She nods. “Good for you.”
She gives Reece a peck on the cheek. “I’m going to get cleaned up,” she says. “Tomas, you can take care of the rabbits?”
Once Helen is out of earshot, James resumes the earlier conversation. “Five rabbits won’t get us very far. I say we call a camp meeting tomorrow to discuss a way forward. Brown might lack charm and decency, but he’s saying what a lot of us are thinking.”
“Fine, we’ll talk, but you know my concerns about that bunker,” Tomas says. “We don’t know what we might be walking into.”
“I hear you,” James says, rising. “But we’ve got to try something different to supply the camp. We can’t keep on the way we’ve been going.”
“I think I’ll take myself off to bed too,” Mags says with a sigh. She sounds tired of the conversation. “I’ll see you all in the morning. Get some rest,” she says, squeezing my shoulder.
“’Night, Mags.” I watch her go.
“Where do we sleep?” Selena yawns.
“You two can have my tent tonight,” Reece says. “Come on. I'll show you.”
“I’ll finish my tea first,” I say, wanting to spend some more time out in the open air.
Reece takes Selena to his tent, and Tomas goes to prep the rabbits for the next day. Most of the others around the fire drift off to bed.
Even after the hellish day we’ve had, I can’t help enjoying the sound of the breeze in the trees. The crackle of the fire. The quiet conversation of the others in their tents.
“You okay?” Reece sits down beside me.
I breathe in the clean air, feeling safe for the first time since Dad’s arrest. “I will be.”
“I can't believe you're here.”
“Me either,” I say.
“What happened to your mum?” he asks. “I didn't want to ask when Selena was here.”
“There was a raid. Earlier tonight.”
In my mind, I see the Cog grabbing Mum’s hair, ready to smash her head down on the table. The memory lasts a split second before it’s gone.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“She wouldn't leave with us. She thought they'd just come after us all if she did."
“They would have.”
Even as he says it, I know it’s true. But I should have tried harder. Convinced her to come.
“And your Dad?”
“He’s still alive. As far as we know.” I swallow what’s left of my drink.
Reece puts a hand on my knee. “How’s it been since we left?”
I think back. The fifteen months we’ve been apart seem like a lifetime.
“There’s surveillance on public transport now, and the Cogs are on every street corner," I tell him. “Oh, and the Old City is going to be demolished. They don't seem to care about how many people still live there.”
Reece raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like you got out at the right time.”
He throws another log onto the fire. The flames swell as he pokes it.
I change the subject. I’d rather be with Mum and Dad again. “Things here don’t seem great.”
“We were doing okay until a few months ago,” he says. “There was a food warehouse near the border that we could get in and out of. We’d hit it on Assembly night between patrols, but the last two raids have been disastrous.”
“Why?”
He runs a hand through his hair as if he’s not sure he should tell me. “Last month, Clark was heading up the raid. One of the guys who was with him was caught. Ripped apart by Teks.” He swallows. “Clark only just managed to get away.”
I don't know what to say. I'd imagined Reece in some idyllic Never-Never-Land, away from The Society rules and dangers. Not starving and unsure how to survive.
“It messed Clark up pretty bad. He feels responsible…” Reece pauses. “That's why I was out with Tomas tonight, to hit the warehouse again, but when we saw all the Cogs and the film crew, we didn't hang around. We left to check the traps instead.” He shakes his head and half-smiles.
“What do you know about this bunker that James is talking about?” I ask.
He sighs. “There are too many of us and not enough food to go around, so lately we’ve had to go further into the forest to find game.
“A few weeks ago, Helen was hunting in a new spot and she saw a girl she’d never seen before. Helen followed her and saw her go through a hidden door into what we’re guessing is some kind of underground bunker. A lot of people have talked about a raid there ever since.”
“Tomas didn’t seem too keen on the idea,” I say.
“We don’t know who she is or how many people may be with her. Tomas is worried about losing anybody else after Clark’s raid. But like James said, we can’t keep doing what we’re doing.”
“Well, if you need volunteers to raid a bunker, I'm in,” I tell him. “I want to pull my weight.”
Reece nods. “Let’s see what tomorrow brings.” He sounds older than his years. He nudges a log with the toe of his boot and sparks dance above the flames.
“Helen seems nice, by the way,” I say.
“Yeah,” he smiles. “You’ll like her. I like her.”
"How long have you two been together?"
"About five months,” he says.
"How long has she been here?"
"Five months,” he smiles, and I laugh.
I'm surprised. I've never seen Reece interested in a girl before. Mum and Mags always thought him and me would end up together, but the idea makes me cringe. He’s always been like a brother to me.
I stifle a yawn. “I think I’d better get some sleep.”
He gets up and holds out a hand for me. “I’ll give you the grand tour tomorrow.”
He leads me to his tent, and I quietly unzip the tarpaulin and crawl in, trying not to wake Selena. The inside smells faintly of muddy boots and sweat, but I don’t care. The thought of resting my pounding head on a pillow for a few hours is blissful.
I unroll my sleeping bag and lay it down next to Selena. I shimmy inside without changing my clothes and snuggle into her for warmth. Selena stirs, but she doesn’t wake up.
Chapter 11
I wake to the sound of a man's laughter. For a moment I don't remember where I am. Then the memories of the previous day come crashing in: the raid on the house, the shooting, the Cog all over me, my… power.
I have power.
And Reece found us.
We’re in the camp. We’re safe.
Selena has already left the tent. Her sleeping bag is neatly folded up next to me.
I wish she’d told me where she was going before just disappearing.
I climb out of my sleeping bag. My skin feels clammy and dirty. At some point today, I need to have a good wash.
I pull a sweater on over my ruined Assembly dress, run my fingers through my tangled hair, and open the tent flap onto a chilly morning.
I quickly scan the sea of canvas in front of me and relax a little when I catch a glimpse of a smiling Selena, arm-in-arm with Mags, walking away from our tent further into the camp.
As I make my way toward the group sharing a meager breakfast by the re-lit campfire, the conversation quiets. Among those gathered, I spot Brown, and a heavily pregnant woman who I presume is his partner. The two of them glare at me. Brown isn't any friendlier when he's sober.
I leave them and move on in search of Reece.
I find him putting up a tent. “For you and Selena,” he explains. “Did you sleep okay?”
“I did, thanks,” I say, distracted as once again, I try to tune into the thoughts of the people around me, only to find nothing there.
I used to hate the constant buzz of other peoples’ thoughts in my head, but now I feel as if I’m missing a vital part of myself and how I navigate the world. Whatever happened to me at the border – that surge of energy and power – has taken it away.
