Chapter Three

 

 

Lake stumbled on a stone, but caught herself. She would not let them drag her. She’d walk, head high, even if that was the last thing she’d do. She’d done a death march before, nothing new here.

Of course here, her march was much less dignified. They had tied her up behind a horse and for miles she stared at the less attractive end and tried to avoid the grass ploppings as best she could.

Her bound wrists in front of her were nothing she couldn’t handle. It was the leather leash around her neck that frightened her. The slip knot hung loose when there was slack in the rope, but if she lagged behind, or fell…

She swallowed. She wouldn’t lag. Wouldn’t fall. She’d stay alive. She’d been through worse, this was nothing. Besides, they wanted her alive. Who else would fabricate their precious microbiotics if not for her? Her knowledge was what had killed her parents before, but it was that same knowledge that would keep her alive now.

She recognized the road they were taking. They were heading to Portal City, the seat of the Elders’ power and the place where the portal to Dark Planet was. Ironically, Dark Planet was where she had tried to escape to when she’d first been married to Hudson. At the time, Dark Planet was controlled by the Rebels and there had been much excitement over the Rebellion finally getting enough of a foothold to make the New Republic a reality. But the tides of power changed quickly in this desert land and no sooner had she started supplying the Rebels with the microbiotics than the Elders waged an all-out battle on the soldiers on Dark Planet and wrestled control back from the Rebellion.

The problem was that most of the male children were trained as soldiers, and their loyalty to the Elders ran deep. As they became adults, the most ruthless and cold-blooded ones flourished under Elder law, and that’s how battles were won. The strongest always ended up on top.

The thought of children had her throat tightening which had nothing to do with the strap of leather around her neck. Her thoughts immediately went to her unborn child still safely concealed by the flatness of her stomach. She remembered the joy on Hudson’s face when she’d told him about their child. She remembered how she’d used the excuse of her pregnancy to fall into the bad habit of sleeping in during the mornings, and how Hudson had fallen into the bad habit of letting her.

Sometimes, he would wake her with breakfast in bed—toast with fruit, weak tea, and milk, always milk. He’d said it would help make the baby strong. He’d said a lot of things in the few months they’d been married. He had told her he loved her. Had called her his Little Dove.

Had they survived? Were Hudson and Vonn still alive?

Lake closed her eyes for a brief moment then quickly opened them, preferring to see the harsh realities of the real world than think about the last of her family hiding away under flames that burned everything to black.

Two men rode up beside her, dark hoods thrown off, faces still young and unlined by the years.

One turned and spat on her. “Rebel whore.”

The other laughed.

“Do Rebel whores scream like regular whores when they get poked from behind?”

She turned a haughty look his way. “If you are asking if I’ll scream like every other woman who gets a look at your non-existent pecker, then yes.”

The bark of laughter from his friend didn’t help her any.

She anticipated the kick from the boot and stepped back, but the leash prevented her from moving enough and his boot still caught her lip. Warmth tickled her chin, but she refused to wipe the blood away. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

“I’m watching you, whore. At camp tonight, know that I’ll be coming for you.”

She swallowed. She wasn’t afraid of some angry boy still high from his first battle. She knew she was too valuable to be abused, but she hadn’t realized that they were taking her to the training camps inside Portal City or as some called them, the “killing fields”. The camps were where young boys were trained as soldiers and sent to Dark Planet to fight off the aliens that had invaded and caused the Global War—the war that had devastated earth and killed off billions of people. She had no idea what the world was like before the invasion, but she’d heard that society had been different. Safer, more women, more children.

Security in the training camps was tight. Had to be to keep the boys from escaping. She’d never even been past the barbed wire fences that surrounded the tents herself, but heard the methods that were used to turn the boys into hardened warriors were harsh. That was why she had become a Rebel in the first place. She had wanted to spare Vonn the life of a soldier. She had wanted to fight the system that would turn a kindhearted boy into a cold, killing machine. But within the last six months, the Rebellion had all but died off. Sure, there were still pockets of the Resistance left. Still believers in a prophesy about a leader who would bring about the New Republic. But that’s all it was—talk.

She no longer trusted in men, in politics, in prophesies. She trusted in Hudson.

Trust me, Lake. I will get you back.

Lake didn’t trust easily, never had, and with Hudson it hadn’t been any different. It had taken a long time, even after The Marking, the tattooing of his name on her back, for him to win her over. But when Hudson had tattooed her name over his heart, something in her took root. A hardy kernel of a seed drilled down deep into her heart—hope. How hope had taken root in a soul as barren and as arid as hers, she’d never know. But it had.

Don’t give up. Don’t give up on us.

Isn’t that what Hudson had said? How, after everything he’d done for her, could she doubt him already?

Just then Lake rounded the bend of the mountain path and looked down into the valley of Portal City below. Even in the distance, she could make out the training camps with their barbed-wire and tower lookouts. She could see the guard stations, and knew without a doubt that armed men were posted inside each one.

Her heart sank.

There was no way Hudson could come for her. No way one man could steal into the camp and leave with a woman by his side. Not with both their lives intact.

Lake stumbled, not caring that the leash snapped tight around her throat. She’d been alone before. Made it through prison on her own. But she’d never been this desperate, pregnant with Hudson’s baby, and the only Rebel sheep among dozens of Elder wolves.