Savage Run (9 page)

It turns so quiet that I hear nothing but
the hum of plane engines.

“
Sit down at once or I
will…” Mai starts, but Nicholas places a hand on her
lap.

“
If you feel that
threatened by Joseph, then how can you expect to do well compared
to the other participants?” Nicholas asks.

Johnny gets a sour expression on his face.
“I’m not threatened; I’m sickened. And I’m just speaking what
everyone else is thinking.”

“
I wasn’t thinking that,
were you?” Nicholas asks me.

I can’t help smiling a little. “No.”

“
Me neither,” Arthor says
behind me, squeezing his face between Nicholas’s and my
seats.

Johnny huffs loudly and turns to Nicholas.
“Just because you and that bitch Mai don’t see what’s going on
doesn’t…”

He can’t finish his sentence before Mai
shoots to her feet, wrings Johnny’s arm behind his back so it makes
a cracking sound, and pins him to the floor with her foot on the
back of his neck.

“
Awww…” he
wails.

“
Rule number one,” Nicholas
says bending down toward Johnny. “Never, never, never upset
Mai.”

“
Say you’re sorry,” Mai
insists, pulling his arm back harder. “Say it.” Many participants
are out of their seats, their eyes glued to the scene.

“
Sorry…sorry,” Johnny’s
barely able to whimper.

Mai flings his arm to the ground, gets back
in her seat and proceeds to apply make-up like nothing just
happened.

Without a word, Johnny climbs to his feet,
walks down the aisle, and locks himself in the bathroom stall.

While everyone else starts to laugh and talk
amongst themselves, Nicholas leans over and whispers, “Once you get
out into the obstacle fields, stay away from him.”

“
He’s not allowed to hurt
me, is he?” I whisper back.

“
Out there, there will be
no telling whether you died from one of the obstacles or at the
hands of another. It’s survival of the fittest—and meanest—and
Johnny fits into both of those categories.”

Arthor pokes his head between our seats
again, his red, unruly hair clinging to the fabric. “I’ll help you,
Imp,” he whispers.

Although I don’t approve of his comment, it
immediately puts me at ease. “Seriously? You’re going to call me
names, too?” I turn toward him and produce a generous frown.

“
No, sorry. That was a bad
joke,” Arthor says, his eyebrows crinkling.

“
Good, because if you’re
not careful, I can come up with some pretty crazy nicknames for
you, too.”

“
Oh, really? Like what?” he
asks.

“
Farty Arty.” I
grin.

He grumbles at the unwelcome reminder of the
primary school nickname. “I see how it is. Tit for tat.”

“
Gotta stand up for
myself.” Peering out the window, I see Volkov Village. From what
I’ve read in the Daily Republic, the city will house the
participants in Savage Run and travel around to different
continents where the obstacle courses will be taking place. The
perfectly round oceanic city used to be gray, with oil stains
around the edges and on the docks, and made up of squat, iron
buildings. This city was the very one that brought General Volkov
and his Unifers to our country sixty-six years ago. A few years
later, after President Volkov Sr. had completely restructured our
society, it was turned into a cargo ship carrying crude oil, goods,
and Laborers to different parts of the world. When the rest of the
world rejected the notion of tiered societies shortly after, they
put pressure on President Volkov Sr. to conform. He flat out
refused and immediately made it illegal to trade or do business
with any other nation. President Volkov Sr. had structured Newland
to be one hundred percent self-sufficient, so it didn’t affect us.
And when President Volkov Jr. took over, he just continued on as
his father had done before him. However, the leaders of the other
nations were dependent on Newland’s supply of oil—the only known
oil left on the planet—and asked him to reconsider. He told them to
go to hell.

Now, the city is quite changed from what it
used to be, with skyscrapers in the middle and shiny metal
buildings gradually shrinking the closer they get to the outer
edge. In fact, it looks like an upside down spinning-top.

But there’s something I hadn’t expected to
see around the city on the water. Barges and tankers—ships that
carry crude oil—are leaving the docks. “Where are the ships
heading?” I look at Nicholas.

“
Thanks to Savage Run, the
hosting countries will have their share of oil for an entire
year.”

“
Why did he create the
Savage Run, exactly?

Mai interrupts and points. “Volkov Park,
named after…I’ll give you one guess.”

I wonder if her intrusion was intentional.
Do they think I’m asking too many questions? I look at a bare steel
area at the edge of the city. In the center of the park, there’s a
statue of a man holding his right arm out in front of him. The
statue must be gigantic, since I can see it all the way from
here.

The aircraft flies past the city and does a
U-turn, after which it descends rapidly and lands on the water.
After the plane touches down, it glides for a while before arriving
at the front of a dock. The captain turns off the seatbelt sign. I
take a deep breath and try to ignore the butterflies attacking my
stomach.

Part 2

Survival

Chapter 7

The moment we step off the aircraft, I climb
into one of four oversized transporters, making sure I don’t get
into the same one as Johnny. It’s a quick drive to the gated
facility we are to spend the night. A long row of Unifers stands at
attention outside the walls, gripping their firearms, and they all
carry the same hateful expression, like everyone around them is an
enemy, a suspect to ward off.

We drive in through shiny steel gates with a
“V” on one gate and a “V” on the other. Am I just entering another
prison? Another world in which President Volkov can control me?
What will really happen if I survive this program? Ruth said that
trusting him is like digging your grave with three sticks of
dynamite. What did she really mean by that?

Passing through the middle of two long rows
of Unifers, I see a huge banner above:

Those who trade in
essential freedom for fleeting security deserve neither freedom nor
security. Welcome, Savages!

We drive by a few office buildings, and a
cafeteria. My stomach rumbles—I haven’t eaten since this morning
and I feel weak. Will they be providing us with food? The
transporter stops in front of a huge roundabout. The place is
already crawling with participants and their representatives.
Busses zoom past us, their exteriors plastered with red, yellow and
white saber-toothed tiger heads. Being here feels all wrong because
Gemma should have been here with me. The plan was that we make it
together. Now who will I have at the end of all this? Who will be
there if I succeed? Gemma’s mother is still alive, unless Master
Douglas has gotten to her. My chest tightens. A Laborer can never
be safe. Never. Even if she’s alive and I do make it, then she’ll
want nothing to do with me when she discovers that I killed her
Gemma. She’ll be able to read in my eyes that I made the choice to
run. To abandon her. And if she can’t, then I won’t be able to stop
myself from telling her. I rub my hands over my eyes to make it
look like I’m trying to force the sleepiness out of them—not stop
the tears that are threatening to come. I can’t start to cry now.
They’d all have yet another reason to think I’m a weakling and a
Laborer who should never be a Master. Who doesn’t deserve to be a
Master. Quick, focus on something else. Anything!

When I open my eyes, I see that I’m alone in
the transporter. This helps me to redirect my thoughts. I climb out
of the vehicle, counting the steps on my way out to keep my mind
off of Gemma.

Once outside, we stand in a
group and wait for Mai and Nicholas to exit their transporter. To
keep my mind busy, I scan Volkov Village and really let each detail
catch my eye. But what catches my eye isn’t inside the village,
it’s right outside of it. Right outside the fence is a large, blue
and green glass structure with a bar, a band, and a dance floor
inside. I’ve biked by dance clubs in Culmination many times, my
eyes lingering on couples entwined as one. I’ve often wondered what
if feels like to be
in
love
, as the Masters call it. Just once, I
would like to feel that magic, as they call it. Once before I die.
I always knew that it was never for me. Laborers are required to
accept the mate their Master chooses for them.

Standing here so close to the rest of the
participants, it’s glaringly obvious how much smaller I am than
them. The shortest guy besides Arthor stands a whole head taller
and must have at least seventy-five pounds on me. And it’s not just
that. They have this aura of confidence—fearlessness—that a Laborer
never would have. Advisors are taught that they’re important,
almost as important as the Masters, and it’s drilled into them from
the time they’re born. They’re not the scum of the earth like
Laborers, but free individuals who can own businesses and create
the lives they desire. Just the way their eyes don’t lower to the
floor when spoken to, and that alone sets them miles apart from us.
And they know it. Many Advisors I have come in contact with are
worse than the Masters—more arrogant, proud. I have a theory about
it. I think deep down inside their souls they know they’re not
completely free, and it eats away at them. They fight hard to keep
up the façade, proving to the world how much they matter. Well, at
least I’m fast, and I have developed pretty good endurance riding
around the mountains and hillsides of Culmination all these years.
At least I have that.

When Mai comes out, her eyebrows are
gathered low over her eyes, and as she walks by me, she glances at
me, like I’m her archenemy. “They’re coming for you,” she whispers
in a voice so low that I’m sure no one else could hear.

My stomach feels as if I
just swallowed a gallon of poison. Coming for me? Who? Wait, does
she know I’m a girl? Did
she
tell them, whomever it is that’s coming? I look
around to see if they’re here—the Unifers. It has to be Unifers,
I’m sure of it. But before I have time to locate my pursuers a
Savage Run bus pulls up in front of us.

“
This is our bus,” Nicholas
says.

I quickly elbow my way to the front of the
line so I can get on first. Not that I think it will matter much
having someone after me. I’m sure they’ll find me no matter where I
am.

“
Easy there,” the guy with
the shaved head and eagle tattoo on the back of his neck says.
“What’s the hurry?” He laughs a little. “So you’re
Joseph?”

I don’t want to talk to someone at the
moment, but since I’m stuck here in front of the closed door, I
answer. “Yes. Hi. You?” I glance over my shoulder and around the
front of the bus to see if anyone’s coming. My mouth is so dry that
my tongue sticks to the roof of it.

“
Danny. Pleased to meet
you.” He holds out a hand.

I bang on the door a couple of times, and
when it opens, I get on at once. I run to the back and sit down,
slumping in my seat and leaning against the window, looking out.
From the corner of my eye I see others get on the bus and find
their seats.

“
May I sit
here?”

I look up and am relieved when I see Arthor.
“Sure.” I start to chew on my nails.

“
Nervous?” he asks. The bus
starts to drive off.

I lower my fingers from my teeth and look
down at the floor. I’m not going to tell him someone’s after me.
“Bad habit—I know.” It’s one of the reasons my father makes me wash
my hands so often. Scrub the impurity from them.

“
It’s okay.” He looks out
the window. “We’re all afraid. Some of us just hide it better than
others. Some of us pick on unsuspecting imps.” He nudges
me.

His comment almost makes me smile.
“Johnny?”

“
Yeah.” We curve around the
compound to the back, passing Unifers marching in perfect
synchronized rhythms. None of them appear to be after
me.

A little more relaxed, but still gawking out
the window, I ask, “So, why are you here?”

His brows furrow. “It would make my parents
proud of me and give them something to look forward to.”

“
So they supported you in
coming?”

He hesitates. “They don’t really
support…much about me. Well, my mother does, but not my
father.”

I remember how his mother had waited for him
outside the fence when he was registering, how despairing her eyes
were and how white her knuckles were, clutching the fence.

“
But hey, it’s boring
talking about me. Why are
you
here?” His eyes widen.

I glance around nervously. “Maybe not right
here…”

He nods.

Shortly after the bus stops in front of a
blue and green Nissen hut—Unifer housing composed of sheets of
metal bent into half a cylinder. They’re identical to the ones I’ve
seen in newspaper articles about Unifer training camps with a
garage door for the entrance and tiny barred windows on the sides.
I didn’t think housing could get any uglier than our trailers back
home, but I have to say that these take the cake.

Before stepping off the bus, I thoroughly
inspect the area. A huge Culmination flag waves in front of the
structures, and the gold and red bee mascot looks fierce against
the black background. There’s still no sign of anyone who looks
like they might be after me. Was Mai just messing with me? She
doesn’t seem to be concerned at all, but then again, maybe she was
the one who ratted me out. But how did she know? Nicholas.