The Last Red

Chapter 21: The Peak

Heat.

I sense it the moment I step foot on the higher ground.

I catch many stares, many unfriendly ones. 

It's difficult to decide who to talk to. If anyone at all. 

"Lost, little swan?"

A huge young man approaches me with angry eyes.

I tuck hands into my pockets.

"You're a long way from home," he crosses his arms. "Who you lookin' for?"

I look around swiftly, hoping someone will jump to my rescue. "Patrick's guard," I say. 

He takes a second, then chuckles. But his eyes are dead. "You're funny, small girl."

It's pretty obvious now. No allies, no rule. Koben can win a hundred fights, but these people will never support him unless he's one of them.

"No one's ever found me funny," I say with a trembling voice, "Thanks, I guess."

"There's a first for everything."

I look at him observing me like a meal and stay as calm as ever. "What's it gonna be?"

He finally grips my wrist.

"Follow me," he commands.

I do not exactly obey, but still he drags me alongside towards the end of a narrow upper hallway on the left side.

I pray this doesn't end bad for me.

In this moment, I'm really glad Keet stayed at KTL. At least his life isn't hanging off of a thread like it would in here.

"Got you a present, Nile," he pushes me to the front and I find myself staggering on my feet surrounded by a villanous-looking group of men.

"Well, well," a bald buff man looks me up and down as he crushes some sort of a tin container, then throws it aside on the floor. That's Rooster! The one who fought us in the Wild.

"It's called a can," he says, seeing me curiously eye it, his lips pouting with pride and joy. "One of the last two left. Patrick was saving one for when Nicky dies and the other one..." he laughs, "well, it doesn't matter. The last one'll go when I take command of this s**t hole."

"Which you can, anytime you want."

"Look at you," he says with fake enthusiasm, "you catch on quick."

"What I mean is... Koben's not your enemy," I say. "As a matter of fact, he'll be glad to step down from the role."

A few of them laugh. 

"This isn't The Crown, dove. This is Game of Thrones. People don't just step down. They go down," Nile chuckles awfully, hitting the ground with his foot.

I frown, not understanding the references. "We're interested in becoming your friends, Nile," I insist. 

"Everyone's interested in it," his right hand looks at me, "until they aren't."

"He can s**t gold for all I care. You conspired with Nicky to kill our friend," Nile speaks, "and you're gonna pay."

"We did no such thing," I swallow hard. "In fact... Koben's the one who killed Nicky," the words come out before I can filter them

So what? There's no time for messing around. I'm negotiating for our lives here.

All five men around him look at me in surprise. 

But they're untrusting.

"Yeah? Many people are claiming that victory."

"Well, many people are liars," I state angrily.

The guy who dragged me here speaks. "You better not be lying," he licks his lower lip.

I swallow hard. "I'm not. We wanna ally with you."

They laugh. 

"Let me tell you a good night story, small girl," Nile stands up. He doesn't seem as short anymore. "Ten years ago I was sent here. But not because of any crimes I committed. I just couldn't pay the fee," he slowly unbuttons his shirt and uncovers his bare chest, a small nasty scar over his left peck. "Inside my heart, they shoved a chip and left me here to die. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't escape, there was no one to complain to! I was dying on the inside. It burnt me, the injustice," he hits his chest.

"Then one day, a rogue walks in here. Rogues...those lucky bastards who're free to roam the red sands," he looks at me, nodding. "Patrick."

Patrick was a rogue, too...

"I jumped over the fence one day and started running. I didn't care if I lived or died. But I didn't know the pain was so awful..." he shakes his head. "D'you know how it feels when someone slowly injects a deadly liquid inside you? Like the slowest brain freeze... all muscles contracting in pain... nerves twitching... you can barely endure the current pain, yet with every second it gets worse."

I swallow hard.

"Then something happened. You know what happened, little dove?"

I nod, trembling. "Patrick saved you."

"That's right," he nods proudly. "He jumped over that fence, this rogue. And he brought me back inside, in his hands."

I look down to the floor. This isn't going to end the way I'd hoped.

"After he did, he brought this idea to me. That he would...set me free," he runs a finger over his pectoral scar.

"You know how many people tried to take out their chips?"

"Very few?"

"Many," he purses his lips. "But they all bled out. Except for me," he puts his hands to his hips. "Me and Patrick were the only ones who could walk outside the fence and live. Patrol. Alarm others. All because of him," he's in my face now. 

"I became the Rooster. And your little boyfriend killed my other bird. So if you think for a second, I'd ever let you ally with me... Think again."

Suddenly, the entire block starts shaking and there's a terrible sound coming from the outside, like a drone landing on top of the building.

"Ooh," a guy behind Rooster rubs his hands. "Incomer," he pouts his lips, pleased.

Others are all looking towards the staircase, as if waiting for someone to descend.

And then someone does.

A man in his mid 30s, apparently pure Asian, is taken down by a glass lift that I haven't noticed until now.

He's immediately greeted with applause by many. 

Some run towards him and I wish so badly I could hear what they're talking about.

Nile lays a hand over my shoulders, then presses his lips against my ear: "You should run back down now, little dove. Upstairs's no place for a girl like you."

Even though it's disgusting by all standards, I can't help it feel like a warning.

I nod quickly, then rush towards the stairs.

I was wrong about this place.

As I approach the stair case, I slow down to hear people conversing with the newcomer.

"What'd they send you in for, mate?" one of them taps the new guy's shoulder.

"I killed Jeff Gales."

A woman gasps as two men cheer. "Yessss!"

"That mother fucker deserved it!"

"How'd you do it?"

I turn and see him mimicking a g*n to his head.

I rush down and immediately run to our cell on the right.

Koben's inside, still lying on the bed, reading Nicky's handwritten book.

I don't waste time.

"Listen to me," I say panting, "I know I said we should stay for a few days, but I was wrong. This place is not what we thought it was."

"What did we think it was?" he asks, confused.

I take a deep breath in. "This place is a prison for criminals."

He frowns. "I- can't say I'm surprised. Everyone here's just... nuts."

I nod. "I guess it's for the worst of the worst. I mean, how didn't we see it sooner? There's no guards here. Nobody cares what happens to them as long as they're contained inside. It's a life sentence. These people ain't got nothing to lose," I shake my head in fear. "We need to leave. Now."

He finally casts away his book and stands up. He walks towards the cell bars and leans on it, his arms sticking out. "I wonder where they're sending them in from."

"Everywhere," I shrug. "There's so many different races in here. It can't be just from one block."

He narrows his eyes. "I wonder..." and then he goes out of the cell.

I fear this might not be a good idea...

"Where're you going?" I hiss, catching up to him.

"That guy's a pure," he points a finger towards a black male in the hall, seated at a round table, playing cards with his mates. 

I nod. "Yes, he is."

"Let's join them for a game," he smirks.

My heart races as we walk towards the group, now on a mission. This man could be the key to my ethnicity mystery.

Koben clears his throat before speaking. "There room for two more?"

The five men raise their heads towards us. The African laughs. "Beat it."

"That's no way to treat your fellow compatriot," Koben says. 

The man gets up in an instant. "The f**k you talking about?" he pushes his chest, but Koben stays cool. "I ain't no rogue, boy."

Koben seriously needs to work on his social skills. I take a mental note to teach him some manners once we're out of here.

"Sorry to interrupt," I step in now saving the situation from escalating. "What he meant was... we're originally from the East, too."

He frowns, l*****g his upper lip slowly. Then he cracks up. "Asia? Australia? I ain't from no East! Pretty guy like me," he jokes to his mates.

I feel shortness of breath. He's not from the East... "H- have you ever been there?"

"I've never been anywhere, sugar. And now, they made sure I never will."

"Where are you from?" I insist.

"Where the f**k do you think?" he comes into my face. "Same as everyone else in here, dove. The Earth."

He's being evasive. 

Another man stands up, challenging Koben to a fight. "Look at you, pretty boy. You wanna lose your title already?"

"Let's just go," I pull him.

"No need," Koben nods respectfully now. "We'll leave you to it now."

"What was that all about?" I cringe as we walk back.

"Doesn't matter," he shakes his head. "But we're leaving."

I agree. "We need guns. Rooster could follow us out. He's now the only one who can step outside the fence."

Koben frowns. I forgot to share the information. 

"He took his chip out," I lift a shoulder. "And Patrick was a rogue. Like us."

Koben shakes his head. "I don't think he'll follow us. With me gone, he can assume leadership. Going after me would be risking his life."

That does make sense. He seemed pretty into becoming the new Alpha.

We enter our cell and I collect all the stuff I have. "I still have a knife," I say. "You should get yourself a weapon, too." 

He shakes his head. "They'll never let me get a g*n. We should walk out to the yard separately. Not to attract attention."

"Don't you think we should wait for the Sun to set?"

"Too risky to wait here. We can be killed at any second." 

I notice he took the book with him.

"Besides," he continues. "We don't know if they'll guard our cell tonight."

"You're right," I put my textile bag over my shoulders. "The yard should be pretty empty in a few minutes. It's mealtime."

He nods. "I'll jump out at the north corner where the fence touches the building, you take the south and then we'll meet behind the building."

We walk out the cell and casually stroll toward the yard area, most people going in the opposite direction to get their nutrition pills. I still don't get how some of them have such bad teeth. Who knows what they ate before being sent here?

Just as we're about to reach the door, Rooster cuts our way, coming in.

"Well, well," he comes into Koben's face. "Who do we have here?"

I take a defensive stance.

"Where were you two going? It's mealtime. You need to eat, Mr Koben," he says ironically. "You never know when your last meal's gonna be," he pushes him as he walks by.

I swallow hard. "That went well," I whisper. "We're good."

I limp out, with him behind me and we exchange glances before splitting ways. 

The yard has only two people left. And I recognize one of it.

The bald girl.

"Leaving so soon?" she says playfully as I walk past her.

"Just catching some air," I lie.

But she follows after me.

"I ain't no snitch," she says. "But I'll need a favor from you."

I clench my jaw. "Another one?"

She grips my wrist and I turn.

She looks at me with no humor attached.

I nod. "What d'you want?"

"I heard you wanna go behind the Wall," she says.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Look, I don't care about your business," she lifts her arms. "But I have someone there." 

She breaks eye contact and reaches for something in her b*a. 

A photo.

It's a very old photograph of two girls with matching outfits hugging in the meadow.

"If you do make it, I want you to give this to my sister. Valerie. You'll recognize her," she says with tears in her eyes. "She looks just like me. Well, with beautiful long hair and no tats."

"Twins?" I ask in shock. "I've never met a twin before."

She lifts a shoulder. "Yeah, they don't get made anymore. I'm older than I look. Penelope," she taps her chest.

I frown. "Made?"

"Hey, where're you goin'?" I hear someone yell.

Then I see Koben jumping over the fence.

Shit.

"You gotta go," Penelope says. "Don't forget about me, Red."

I nod, then swallow hard before jumping over the fence.

And now it's jog time all over again.

Suck it, Kayla.