WORLD 4: AWAKENING

None of us were interested in diversions by that point. Wes took us in the most direct route possible to Colony Four, not stopping for anything and going as fast as the transport could over the rough ground. Baylen kept a close eye on the map at all times and monitored exactly how far away we were. He became more anxious the closer we got.

“This is good enough — give me the communicator!” Baylen exclaimed, holding his hand over the seat at Wes. Finally, we were in range of Colony Four.

“I’ll do it,” said Wes. He pressed the top of the slim, silvery-gray box. “Commander Archauus.”

Next to me, Baylen was sitting on the seat’s edge, peering over at Wes and fidgeting with the smooth seat back.

“What’s taking them so long?” I asked.

Wes tried again. “Commander Archauus,” he said more loudly. Many moments went by and there was nothing. “Archauus!”

“Give it to me!” Baylen shrieked. Again, he held out his hand for the device. Wes thrust it into his anxious grip. Baylen flung back against his seat, turning the communicator over. “It’s got to be broken or something.”

“Can you tell?” I asked and leaned over to see.

“It’s lighting up as if it’s working, but there could still be something wrong,” he replied, his head shaking. He reached into his black supply bag for some tools and began carefully taking apart the device.

I gripped my seat in a tight clench as I watched him bent over his work. It was maddening, not being able to talk to my father when we were so close. After ten minutes of tinkering, he put it back together again.

“Did you find out what’s going on with it?” Wes called over his shoulder.

“I don’t know,” said Baylen. His voice was incredibly uneasy. “I didn’t see anything really obvious, but let’s try it one more time.”

Wes held out his hand again for the communicator. “Commander Archauus.” His voice was more worried than I’d ever heard it before. No answer. “Archauus!!!” With a loud groan, Wes slammed the communicator down onto the seat next to him.

“What does that mean?!” I cried. “Is something happening there? What if he’s dead?!”

“It doesn’t mean anything, necessarily,” Baylen assured me. He took my hand. “It’s possible that we were wrong and they just don’t work outside of the Colony camp like we thought.”

Right away I looked to Wes for reassurance. His eyes stayed fixed on the route in front of us, his chest heaving up and down. I could see the fear in him. It wasn’t a good sign.

My head leaned sideways against the transport window. I wanted to believe Baylen, to trust him and hold onto hope that there indeed was nothing wrong at Colony Four, but Oberon wouldn’t leave my mind: flashes of his menacing face, watching him kill Soren, visions of what kind of atrocities he must have committed during The Five Years of Secrecy, what he could possibly be doing to the people I loved right at that moment. Baylen pulled me from the window and over to him; he put his arm around my shoulders and held me tightly.

By the time we were just outside of the Colony, my soaking pants and hair were mostly dry. Wes slowed us and retracted the transport’s glass covering again.

“We can’t just drive up to the Colony,” I called forward to Wes. “What if something really is wrong?”

“I’m stopping us here,” he replied. “We’re about a ten-minute walk outside camp. We’ll go through the trees as quietly as possible and try to figure out if anything is going on.”

I gulped and climbed off the side. Baylen put a hand on my shoulder; I gave him a sharp nod to signal that I’d be okay. I had to be. There wasn’t an option at that point.

“Stay close to me, and remain absolutely silent,” ordered Wes.

We followed directly behind him, moving more slowly than I would have liked and making as little noise as possible. Eventually, Wes held up his hand and signaled for us to crouch down.

“Can you see camp?” I whispered.

He nodded. “Stay low,” he whispered back.

We did as he said, hunching close to the ground while making our last stretch of distance through the trees. Colony Four was in view. Nothing particularly bad seemed to be going on.

“Do you see anything, Dad?” asked Baylen.

“No, there’s just some people wandering around.”

But I realized something. “Hold on, where is everybody? There should be way more people out right now.”

“Maybe everyone is inside Food Shelter eating?” guessed Baylen.

My voice trembled. “No. Even during meal times there are people walking around everywhere.”

“She’s right,” said Wes. My heart sunk. I didn’t want to be right. “And there’s something else — I don’t recognize any of those red shirts.”

“Do you know all of them on board?” I whispered.

“No, but I know enough of them who were assigned the job of guarding camp, and I can’t see any of them.”

Baylen sucked in a huge breath as he noticed something. He pointed sharply. “Everyone’s got an ABW, do you see? Even the other Levels. Why would normal people be carrying around weapons like that?”

My voice shook again. “That’s not good, is it?” Neither of them answered.

The snapping of twigs to our right commanded our attention immediately. I fell backward in surprise and Wes bolted up, ready to fight. Baylen had his dagger out and held it up in a strong grip, trying to come off as threatening.

“Whoa! It’s just me!” Gabring said quietly. Baylen exhaled an extremely loud and grateful breath and relaxed the dagger to his side.

I jumped up from the ground. “Gabring!” I cried in a hushed voice, throwing my arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

But he shook his head. “We aren’t safe, guys, not even close.”

“What do you mean?” Wes demanded and took a step closer.

Gabring motioned for us to follow him further back into the trees and out of camp’s visual range. He stopped us and turned his head in all directions to make sure we were alone. “When we got back, I stopped us further back in the forest to hide just like you guys did, in case anything was wrong. Brynn and Aymin were so terrified by what happened out there that they took off running into camp without me. I heard her scream, came running…” He grimaced. “When I got closer to the field I saw them being dragged away by two Protection Officers.”

“Protection Officers?” asked Baylen.

“Yeah, ones I didn’t recognize at all. I know my fellow officers, and they weren’t any of ours.”

“Then who are they?” I cried.

“That’s not all,” said Gabring. “There were others walking around from every different Level, all holding ABWs. I’m not sure how they got them.”

“They’ve got to be from Colony Three, they’re the only ones anywhere near us,” said Baylen.

Wes shook his head at the dirt. “That makes no sense. Kyrone would never order an attack on us.” He looked back to Gabring. “Has everyone from Colony Four gone back inside?”

Gabring hesitated to answer. “No. Last night they…they started killing people.”

“What?!” I gasped and clenched both hands over my mouth. Tears immediately welled up behind my eyes. Baylen threw his head back and groaned.

“Tell me exactly what’s happening,” Wes said in a firm voice.

“When I saw Brynn and Aymin being taken, I took to the trees,” explained Gabring. “I climbed one near the edge of the field and watched.” He paused and his gaze fell. “I saw it all and did nothing.”

“You couldn’t have done anything, man,” Baylen said sadly. He grabbed onto Gabring’s arm. “They would’ve taken you, too.”

“I don’t know why they’re killing us,” said Gabring. “Whoever those people are were gathering everyone they’d caught, lining them up and then…” He had to look down again. “Nothing can beat an Air Burst at close range.”

“Have you been able to reach my father?” I asked.

“No. It’s weird, I can’t get through to Colony Four at all.” Gabring gulped. “Something’s obviously very wrong here, guys. I’m not even sure what to do at this point.”

Wes took a deep breath. “Go around the other side of the Colony and see if you can observe anything new from there, then meet back here in an hour. Stay hidden and try as hard as you can to keep quiet and not attract attention.”

Gabring stood up tall. “Yes, sir,” he said quietly. He gave Baylen and me a brave nod and took off running.

“Let’s do the same thing and just watch,” I suggested. “See if maybe there’s anyone we recognize.”

“Keep low,” said Wes.

We crept back to our original spot and started our watch. A handful of people wandered camp but I couldn’t always make out their faces well enough to be able to tell if I knew them or not. The few that I was able to see more clearly were definitely strangers. But whether they were from Four or not, the fact that all different Levels were armed with an ABW was not a good sign.

“I wish I could get a look of their faces more clearly,” grumbled Baylen. He was just as frustrated as I was.

Wes’ head perked up. “Look, something’s happening,” he said.

Everyone wandering the area slowly began to disappear out of sight and into camp.

“Why are they leaving?” I asked, puzzled. “I still can’t recognize them.”

“I’m sure you’ll recognize me,” came a booming voice from behind us.

All three of us gasped in unison. Oberon stood large and wretched with Leasor at his side, muscles rippling, his hair and black shirt streaked with mud from the river. Roscoe limped up from behind them, his knee still at a very odd angle. He winced in pain and leaned against a tree for support, a threatening look on his face. Baylen jumped up with his dagger out, ready to attack.

“Get back, Oberon!” he shouted. Roscoe snickered.

“Oh please, kid.” Oberon raised his Air Burst Weapon. The gash on his face from my laser scalpel burned angrily. “Put it down or I’ll kill you right here.”

Baylen narrowed his eyes defiantly. “So let me get this straight — I drop my weapon now so that I can die somewhere else instead of here?”

Oberon moved his weapon to point at me. “Fine, then. I’ll just drop your little girlfriend, right in front of your eyes.”

My jaw and shoulders tensed; I inched my way backward while Baylen looked back and forth from me to Oberon. His chest was racing up and down in fury. Finally, he threw his dagger to the ground.

“Happy now?”

“Oh, yes,” chuckled Oberon, “very much so.” He looked at Roscoe and jerked his head. “Get started.”

“Yes, sir.” Roscoe gave us a lingering, horrible look as he limped his way past us, off into the field.

Oberon turned to us again, sucking in a long, happy breath. “This is a great moment for me, you know. I’ve been looking forward to this for two long days.” He smiled, then looked over our shoulders. “They’ve been waiting even longer.”

He pointed toward the sound of two more pairs of footsteps coming up behind us. I spun around, hoping to find Gabring or just anyone else who could be on our side and save us, but all I saw was betrayal.

“Ebie?” I gasped. She took a spot next to Leasor, quiet and staring at the ground.

“And you, Trace?” said Baylen. “You turn into a coward and betray everyone?”

Trace sauntered around from behind and looked us over with amusement. “Ha!” he laughed. “If only you ignorant fools actually understood what cowardice truly means.” He took a refreshing breath and stopped next to Oberon. “Let’s just call it a career change.”

My hatred was growing by the second. And the vilest taste of it had begun as soon as I laid eyes on Ebie. She’d been a friend to me. My father cared about her deeply. Supposedly, she felt the same way…but it was all a lie. And Trace — he had been there watching over me from the very start, helping us get on board on A-Day and guarding Command Lev regularly. I couldn’t take it anymore; I lunged out at Trace and punched him square in the face.

“You traitor! My father trusted you!” I spat as he stumbled to regain his balance. Leasor grabbed my arms and held them behind my back while I fought against her.

“Angry about something, precious?” she whispered into my ear and giggled.

Trace wiped some blood from his nose. Without a word, he slammed the back of his hand into my face, splitting open the gash I’d received while in the river. Leasor pushed me to the prickly forest floor, still giggling.

“Leave her alone!” screamed Baylen. He lurched out to help me but Oberon sent his ABW slamming into his face before he could get there. Baylen fell to the ground, moaning in the dirt and holding his head. Leasor released me and I scrambled over to him, then lifted him to sitting; he put an arm around me and we gasped and blinked, trying to recover from the blows.

Oberon pointed at Wes. “See there, son,” he said, looking straight at Baylen. “Daddy doesn’t want to help, does he?”

Wes hadn’t spoken during the ordeal. His face had been hard, unreadable, and silent the entire time.

“Shut up!” shouted Baylen.

Oberon slowly walked up to Wes and put his face near his. He tried to read him. “Wow, you must love your son very much, Second Commander,” he said, waiting for a reaction. Wes didn’t even flinch. Oberon turned to Baylen again. “You see? You see how someone who’s supposed to care about you turns their back so easily? This is what will happen to every single Colony citizen if we don’t take control now!”

“What?” I whispered at the ranting. He made no sense. I turned to Baylen; his teeth were clenched in anger as he watched the madness play out.

Oberon backed up and turned in a circle, almost like he was preaching a sermon. “Sometimes we have to be selfish to survive. Sometimes those who will build up a promising future have to make selfish sacrifices, don’t you see?” He crouched low and stared right at Baylen and I. There was dried blood caked over the entire right side of his cut-up face, sticking into his blonde eyebrow. His voice was deep and oddly calm. “I had a family once, did you know that? Two beautiful girls. A wife, too. Do you know what happened to them?” His eyes narrowed. “They were left behind. The day before they were scheduled to join me on board, our pathetic Commander decided to leave early. He got scared about the rumors of a public mob forming, and like a true coward, took off like it was nothing. Left so many officers or their families behind. My beautiful girls drowned in the huge wave that consumed our part of the world. I watched them die from above.” He cocked his head. “Have you ever had to witness the gruesome death of people you love?”

I moved my eyes up to Wes. He wasn’t the kind of person to stand back and watch his son’s beating, and would never in a million years just give up. There had to be a plan; there was always a plan with Wes. But he continued to stare ahead, a blank expression on his face.

Oberon stood with a sigh and looked straight at Baylen. “You’ll learn from this, boy, I promise.”

In one fluid movement, Oberon slid his dagger from its sheath and stabbed it directly into Wes’ abdomen. Wes rounded his eyes in shock and made a choking sound while Baylen and I screamed. Oberon left the blade embedded in him and rejoined his group. Wes bent over, clutching the warming shirt’s fabric at his stomach.

“NO!!!” Baylen cried desperately. He lunged out on his knees and caught Wes just as he crumbled to the ground. Blood seeped out from the wound and stained the dagger’s white handle.

I was in such a huge amount of shock that I hadn’t even been able to speak at first. I crawled over to the men on the ground and took hold of Wes’ hand. The dagger’s handle moved up and down with his labored breathing. My anger I’d felt earlier was nothing; it blew into an absolute fury instantly.

“I’ll kill you!!!” I roared at Oberon’s towering figure. He just smiled in amusement.

Baylen began to sob. He stroked Wes’ face. “Dad…”

“Take them to the others,” Oberon commanded Trace.

Trace ripped Baylen unwillingly from his father and led the way. Baylen wasn’t about to cooperate; he fought against every demand, dragging his feet, trying to get back to Wes. Trace had to resort to punching to get him to even somewhat cooperate. Oberon pushed past them and yanked the dagger out of Wes like it was no big deal; he shook off the blood and wiped the blade on his shirt.

“Come on now, sweetie,” Leasor said as she grabbed me. I elbowed her hard in the stomach and slapped her in the face. Quickly, Oberon’s dagger was at my throat.

“I’m not supposed to kill you,” he whispered in my ear, “but I’m definitely willing to hurt you. And I’ll do it with the same dagger that killed your old friend over there.” He pushed the cold tip harder against my skin. “Don’t touch one of my people again.”

Long, loud breaths seethed rapidly in and out through my nose. It was all I could to control myself from beating Oberon senseless. I let him push me into Leasor’s grip again. She bent my arms behind my back, digging her nails into my skin so hard she almost drew blood. Her revenge for my assault.

I turned my head as far around as I could while we walked away, trying to keep my eyes on Wes. I begged him silently to get up, to just be pretending. But he didn’t move. Baylen was twisting his head around with the same desperation on his face, sobbing and fighting against Trace.

Finally, Wes’ body fell out of sight. We left him to die alone in the dirt, like an animal.

Our march continued into camp. Baylen slowly went limp; he stared at his feet, allowing Trace to push him forward like the life had been drained from him completely. I could only imagine how terrible it must have felt to witness his father’s murder; I desperately wanted to rush over and comfort him.

Oberon was on a communicator and walked away with Ebie in tow. She finally dared to look up at me as they left; my eyes bored into her with as much disgust as I could get myself to display.

After passing several of the shelters, we rounded the corner near Science and into the other end of the field. The moment I took in the scene, my feet stopped dead in their tracks. I cried out desperately, sick with shock.

Rows of bodies were lined up in the grass. A whole rainbow of colored shirts, sprawled out, dead and left to rot. Among the bodies, I spotted two of them dressed in light blue.

“No!” I whispered in anguish. Trace motioned toward the gruesome view.

“These are they who have died for the greater good,” he said and pushed Baylen forward even harder.

“The greater good?!” shouted Baylen. He’d finally come back to reality. “You’re insane!”

Trace rushed around to stand in front of Baylen, taking hold of his shoulders with a psychotic kind of conviction. “They will be the example to those still on board the Colony of the importance of obedience! If they choose cooperation, they will be provided with a much brighter future than what our government and Commanders could ever hope to provide.”

Baylen looked on in helpless despair. He shook his head. “You’re insane,” he said again.

“Let’s go!” Leasor said happily. She continued pushing me all the way up to Science Shelter’s back wall. It was then that I took in a new horror: Roscoe held an ABW and had forced two people to their knees, hands behind their head, the wall behind them spattered red with blood and pieces of skull. One was in a dirty white shirt, and the other wore light blue. It was Ceres.

“Ceres!” I cried. Leasor pushed me to my knees right beside him. He was filthy and stained with blood. “What have they done to you?”

“Shut up!” Trace bellowed at me. “Put your hands behind your head!”

I cursed loudly at him as my response. Leasor grabbed my arms and forced them up while Trace took Baylen’s. “If you boys think you can handle this stuff without me,” she said. “I’m going back over to Tech.”

Trace nodded at her as she pranced away. He turned to Roscoe. “Do it.”

Roscoe poised himself only ten feet in front of the Command Lev Officer and raised his ABW. He fired. Blood hit the wall behind her as her head exploded apart. She fell lifeless to the ground. I screamed in terror; it was the second murder I’d witnessed in only five minutes. Next was Ceres.

“Oh, Ceres…” I whispered, my face covered in devastation. He looked back at me with tears rolling down his cheek as the blast came. He fell to the ground.

I was next.

Everything began to play out in slow motion. My breathing became slow and hollow in my ears; Roscoe’s boots crunched through the grass extra loudly as he limped over to execute me; Baylen swore in a furious rage, struggling against Trace as he fought to get free and help.

Wisps of tangled hair fell over my eyes as I looked over to Baylen for the last time. Trace held his arms firmly behind Baylen’s head with a look of pleasure etched into his smug face. Baylen seemed like he might explode from the desperation inside of him.

“Mayla, no!” he called out, on the verge of hyperventilation.

My ability to speak was gone. “I love you,” I mouthed to him as tears streamed down my cheeks. Instantly, I regretted waiting until then to tell him. Closing my eyes, I bravely waited out my death.

“Hey!” Oberon roared as he walked over to us. Time sped back up to normal suddenly and my eyes flew open. He slapped Roscoe across the head and shoved him hard. “What did I tell you people? I said this one’s important — Arison needs her!” He grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me up hard onto my feet.

My face turned quickly from Oberon to Baylen. “Him!” I pointed excitedly. “He’s the Second Commander’s son. He’s important, too!”

“Second Commander is dead, isn’t he?” Oberon said without any kind of remorse whatsoever. “We don’t care about his son anymore.” He kept a tight handful of my warming shirt and began to drag me away.

“Wait! No, we can use him! You can use him, still!” I shouted and fought back. Oberon was so massive that he didn’t even flinch as I hit him.

“Trace, you come with me!” ordered Oberon. “Roscoe, finish here and then clean up.”

I fought against him more desperately than I’d ever fought in my life. Bending my face down to his massive hand attached to me, I bit into it hard. He growled and grabbed me by the hair, then smiled at the blood seeping out of the mark I’d left.

“You’re a Commander’s daughter, I can tell,” he chuckled. “Not gonna deny you’ve got a fighting spirit.” He shook his hand out and looked over my shoulder. “Take her arms, Trace!”

My screams began again. Cries of frustration and deep loathing. Cries of sadness for all the people I loved who were dying at the hands of such disgusting traitors. Trace ripped my arms behind my back and held tight just like Leasor had done earlier, while Oberon pulled me along by the shirt again. My cries slowed into desperate sobbing; there was nothing I could do.

Turning my head over to Science Shelter, we rounded the corner and Baylen went out of view. I waited for a miracle, for him to escape and come running, calling my name.

But instead, I heard the familiar sound of an ABW and a sickening thud as a body hit the ground. The last thing I saw before we turned the next corner was Baylen’s lifeless hand sticking out from behind the wall.