“Ray, can you hear me?” I see D’nea adjust the knob on her scout box. “You know,” she says to me, “Ronnie’s ability to create almost anything out of nothing but junk parts is amazing, but the fact that he can’t get our scout boxes to stay on the same channel for more than three clicks drives me crazy.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” Ronnie’s voice pops up in our ears.
“We can all hear you, D’nea,” James adds, clearly annoyed.
We are currently hiding behind the adjacent storage outpost, which Ray says holds spare parts for the many vehicles Shyla uses in her military. After a cycle of scouting this outpost, Ray and D’nea say they have mapped out the shift changes the military workers follow down to the click.
“In two clicks, we will have our opportunity.” Ray almost sounds like a different person. His words are clearly and decisively spoken. I look up because James and Ray are on top of the storage outpost we are hiding behind. “We have the next group of soldiers making their way from the factory right now.”
“Make the call, Ray, and I will sneak in the back and anchor my nullifier on the truck. Give me two clicks and then get in here and open the door, Brilynn.” You can hear Ronnie fumbling with his nullifier through his scout box.
“Do me a favor, Ronnie. Take a deep breath and focus for me. I know you can do this. I have complete faith in you,” D’nea says in a sweet, commanding voice. We all hear Ronnie take a deep breath and then the fumbling stops. “Team, we know what we have to do today, and we also know what we are risking if we fail. We have been planning this for nearly two and a half cycles, and when Ray says go, we move, no questions asked. We are leaving this abysmal town today.”
“Go! Go!” Ray’s voice comes screeching through the earpiece, causing me to cringe a little. I see Ronnie sprinting across the road with his hand inside his jacket, reaching for his lock pick. He disappears behind the storage outpost, leaving us blind to what he is doing.
“Now we wait,” D’nea orders. “James and Ray, get down here. We move out in two clicks.” She then looks directly at me with a fierceness in her eyes that seems all too natural to her and says, “You’re up. Time to use your talents to get those doors open.”
With a mere thought, my hand forms a long blade that is bent a few degrees at the end to help me gain some leverage when I try to pry the doors open.
The two-click head start we give Ronnie seems to drag on into eternity, but then out of nowhere, D’nea shouts, “Go!” D’nea, Ray, James, and I all take off running for the front door. I get there last, but the other three make room for me as D’nea turns to say, “We have to be quick about this. The other soldiers will be here in four clicks.”
I can feel my body shake a little, and I am not sure if it’s a direct cause of the fear of being caught by the soldiers or the fear that I may not be able to complete my part of the plan. But I push whichever emotion is causing me to doubt myself out of my head and jam the metal blade into the opening of the door. “I can do this,” I tell myself as I push the blade into the opening, and on the third prying motion, the door swings open. I told Ronnie we wouldn’t need his other lock pick to open the door.
“Get inside,” James says, holding the door open.
We file in and D’nea yells, “Ronnie! Location?!”
“Over here!” A hand shoots out from behind a grey truck with a covered back about halfway down the storage room. “Get the door open and I will have the nullifier ready.”
“Brilynn, do it,” D’nea says from the front of the group.
“Coming, D’nea.” I sprint past the group and slide to a stop right in front of the door to the truck Ronnie is working under. I jam the blade right into the slight gap created by the front door and begin to pull as hard as I can to pry the door open. I pull and pull, but the door will not budge. I begin to feel sweat forming on my brow as fear creeps up my spine. What if I am not strong enough to overcome the magnetic force holding the door shut?
I shake the doubt away, sending the sweat on my forehead flying off me. I know I am strong enough to do this. I have punched steel doors completely off their hinges, but the longer this takes me, the more I start to believe I may not be able to come through for my new friends.
I keep pulling, but nothing happens. And just when I am about to give up, I hear, “Here, let me help you!” Ray comes charging up and slams his shoulder into the side of the blade, and with his weight and my strength, we send the door flying open. “We got it, D’nea!” A sense of relief runs through me as the blade returns to being my normal hand.
“I will drive. The rest of you get in the back.” James, who is wearing the stolen armor lined with Shyla’s signature green, jumps into the driver’s seat and hits the button that starts up the engine. “Ronnie, we need to go, now!”
Ronnie pulls himself out from under the truck, saying, “We are clear to go. My nullifier is up and running.”
“Enough talking, Ronnie, get inside already.” I see James shut the door, and then I climb into the back of the truck with the rest of the team.
“That was the easy part,” D’nea says with no hint of fear.
“Easy?” I say, trying to catch my breath again. “Why is that the easy part?” The truck begins to move and, with no windows for us to see out of, we are blinded to what is outside, and it only adds to the suspense of this part of the operation.
“Simple. We now have to get to the bridge unnoticed, cross the bridge without drawing attention to ourselves, and then find somewhere to hide the truck until night so we can make a run for it without an airship following us.” I am not sure how she can stay so emotionless during all of this, but I guess that is why she is the leader.
“I thought the nullifier was going to allow us to use the truck without being followed?” I ask.
“My nullifier only blocks them from picking up the radiation of our truck, but if they see us leaving, they can just follow us and blow us up from their warship,” Ronnie says, fumbling through the pockets in his jacket.
The truck begins to pick up speed as James makes his way toward the bridge. “We noticed while scouting the bridge,” Ray says, “that Shyla has two warships patrolling the outside of the city at all times. We need to find somewhere to hide until nightfall. When the day warships swap out with the night warships, we will have our opportunity to make a break for it and finally get away from this city.” Ray is beginning to bob up and down from excitement, or it could be from the many bumps we are hitting while James quickly drives through the decaying city.
We all let the noise of the busy streets and the sounds of the engine fill the back of the truck while the clicks slowly pass by. I figured Ray would be nervously talking nonstop, but it seems when it is time for work, he knows how to hold himself in check. Ronnie has not stopped tinkering with his junk since he got in the back of the truck. D’nea only sits and calmly stares directly in front of her.
After nearly sixty clicks and only a few words spoken by anyone, we feel the truck begin to slow down. I look up and see D’nea calmly staring in the direction of the cab. We all follow her lead and wait for the signal that we have reached the bridge.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of James pounding on the back wall of the cab means it is time. “No one says anything,” D’nea sternly orders, causing all of us to freeze.
The truck finally comes to a stop, and we can hear muffled voices from outside. It is impossible to make out exactly what is being exchanged between James and the soldiers guarding the bridge, but we know that two knocks on the cab wall mean we need to prepare to run.
Our team is ready for anything. I have already covered my hand in metal in case we need to fight our way out of here, and both Ronnie and D’nea have their Protectors out and aimed at the back door.
Suddenly the voices stop, and Ray rises to his feet. He takes a step toward the door to the back cab, but D’nea reaches out to block his path. She only shakes her head no once and Ray freezes. Relief spreads through us when we feel the truck begin to move again. I see D’nea’s shoulders drop, and Ray falls into his seat again.
“We did it,” D’nea whispers. “We made it out of the city.”
“I honestly didn’t think this day would ever come.” Ronnie puts his head back and lets it rest against the wall of the truck.
“I always knew we could do this. I never doubted your plan, D’nea.” Ray is starting to tear up a little as he says, “That city tried to kill me, but I wouldn’t let it. I told you guys that I was never going to stop until we broke out of here. Those streets were not going to be where I died.”
I can feel the sense of relief running through each of them as they process this victory in their own ways. Ray is crying from joy, while Ronnie just sits there with a big smile on his face as he tightly grips the broken device in his hands, and D’nea, well D’nea is the leader, which means she is still thinking of what must be done next. I can tell by how hard she is concentrating. All she can see are the ways this can still go wrong.
“We need to find somewhere to hide the truck until the night sky can hide us as we make a run for it. Who has any ideas?” D’nea looks around at each one of us, but no one has anything to offer.
“When was the last time any of you were outside of the city of Shyla?” I ask.
“When our families were taken from us. Ray was the only one to be taken with his parents, but the rest of us were brought to the bridge, where we were forced to watch our parents taken to their deaths,” Ronnie says, lowering his head to look at the floor.
“I didn’t mean to bring up those painful memories, but seeing as none of you know what is near here, we might have to just keep driving until we find something.” I see a look of concern come over D’nea’s face. “I am sure we will find something, though. I have no doubts.” I try to say that with as much enthusiasm and light-hearted hope as my boyish voice can make, but it does nothing to alleviate the solemn mood that has taken over the back of the truck.
We try to collectively come up with a solution to this seemingly indomitable problem of finding somewhere to hide, but the best solution we come up with is Ray suggesting we should cover the truck in dirt so that it blends into the ground around it.
“We have been at this for nearly ninety clicks,” Ronnie stands up and begins to pace up and down the small aisle between the two benches that run along the sides, “We need to do something now or we are going to be caught.”
“Would you sit down, Ronnie? Your nervous pacing is only making this worse for all of us.” D’nea reaches out to grab Ronnie’s arm, but he pulls away as he makes his way toward the front of the truck.
“Guys, this is all going to be all right. I know I am new here, but we have a solid plan. We can figure this out if we just…” Suddenly the truck comes to a halt. “What just happened?”
“They found us!” Ray shouts. “They got us trapped and we are going to be thrown into the metal just like our parents!”
The door to the back of the truck swings open, and I quickly step in front of everyone, forming a large shield that extends from one bench to the other. I keep a small slit at eye level so I can see who is coming for us.
“No need for any of that guys. It’s just me.” James has a very perplexed look on his face. “What did you think was happening?”
I retract the shield, and Ray uses the bench to climb around me, saying, “We thought we were being captured. Ronnie was sure Shyla had found us.”
“You were the one screaming back here, Ray,” Ronnie says as he pushes Ray.
“Enough!” D’nea shouts. When Ronnie and Ray quiet down, D’nea looks to James, asking, “Why did you stop?”
“I found a hiding place. I thought that was the plan?” James bluntly says.
We all exit the truck, and as we look up, we see that James has done it. “This is perfect,” I say to James.
The team stands in the shadow of a very tall rock formation that resembles a bridge. There are two massive legs that protrude from the ground and a very wide flat portion that connects the two legs.
“Unless an airship is specifically looking for us, they will never notice us under this thing,” Ronnie says.
It starts with a simple smile, but then D’nea allows all of that pent-up joy she had been suppressing to come gushing out. She jumps into Ronnie’s arms, shouting, “We did it! We are finally free of Shyla!” She gives Ronnie a big kiss and then rushes over to Ray and begins spinning around with him, saying, “This is what freedom feels like, isn’t it? No more curfew, no more soldiers threatening to kill us at every turn, and no more dictator controlling our every move and thought.” D’nea and Ray fall to the ground, where they begin laughing uncontrollably.
James comes to my side, saying in his typical annoyed tone, “This is the reason I have to fight the urge to leave this team every day.”
I gently jab my elbow into his side, saying, “You wouldn’t leave this family for anything.” I make my way over to Ray and D’nea who are now sitting on the ground.
“I don’t know how to thank for what you did, Brilynn. We could never have done this without you,” D’nea says.
“Please, it was my pleasure. Besides, my dad always said the people of a city, state, or town are the soul of it, and if they are not taken care of, the owner of that factory needs to be forced to leave. I couldn’t possibly have let you guys stay in that soul-crushing city any longer. It was my pleasure to help liberate you.”
“Now it’s our turn to return the favor,” James says.
“You really don’t have to do this,” I say as James and Ronnie come to join us. “I appreciate the offer, but what I have to do is only going to put all of you in more danger, and it wouldn’t be right of me to expect all of you to just throw yourself into another deadly situation after you just got out of one.”
Ray turns to D’nea, asking, “How do we get to the state of Oscar?”
“Did you hear me? I said you don’t have to do this.” I wave my hands to get their attention.
As if I am not even here, D’nea ignores me by saying, “Well, his state takes up nearly 30 percent of the northern region of our world, which means getting to his state alone will take almost fifteen days, and then once we get to the state, now I’m speculating, but I believe the total area we will need cover would take us another five days to reach the factory.”
Ronnie sits down next to D’nea, adding, “Driving is clearly not the solution, which means…”
I clap my hands in a desperate attempt to get the team to listen to me. “Guys, there is no reason for you to come with me. I really appreciate this, but I will do this alone. I don’t need all of you to risk your lives for me.”
“Then we need to get an airship.” James does not sit, but he does come stand next to us.
“You say that as if it will be an easy task for us to accomplish,” Ronnie fires back at James.
“Did we not just escape the city of Shyla? A city that was supposed to be impossible to leave?”
“Ronnie, James, this is nice and all, but you really don’t even need to argue over this. None of you are…”
“Are you still talking, Brilynn?” James breaks from his intense stare down with Ronnie and looks me directly in the eyes. “This is happening, so stop trying to persuade us to let you do it alone.”
“Yeah,” Ray says, “you are now an honorary member of our prestigious team. Welcome to the family, Brilynn.” Ray stares are me with the sweetest smile on his face.
All the talking stops for a click, and I feel tears begin to form. I don’t think I can truly express the feeling of loneliness I have been burdened with since I found my parents and sister encased in metal, so the only response I can seem to offer up to the team is, “Thank you.” I never thought I could miss being a part of a family this much.
“Now that we are past that,” the tonal shift in D’nea’s voice is evident as she says, “James is right, Ronnie.” She is back to taking control, telling us what is going to happen next. “We need an airship. It’s the only way we can get to the state of Oscar and find him without spending nearly a month trying to get there and navigate his state.”
“So what, we just find one and steal it?” Ronnie stands up and begins pacing, saying, “This plan is absurd, guys. Do any of you even know where we can find an airship? Because the only location I am aware of is inside where we just spent a few cycles trying to break out of and I really don’t want to try to break back into that nightmare of a city.”
“I know where we can find one,” I say, kicking some dirt.
“None of us have ever been out of the city to explore. There is no way we could… what did you just say, Brilynn?”
Ronnie freezes in his tracks when my words hit his ears. “Yeah. My dad and I came out this way seven rotations ago to purchase an airship from a vendor. They had all sizes, types, and even a few military-style airships. If I remember,” I look off the west, “it should only be about two hundred clicks that way.”
The whole group looks off into that direction, and Ronnie jumps back in, saying, “Okay, so we know where to find one, but how do we get one?”
“I have an idea.” We all turn to see that Ray has a large, sly smile on his face. “This is going to sound crazy, but I promise, it will work.”