Rebellion

4 - Escape

I run down to the kitchen with my backpack. I have packed all the necessary things. In my backpack, there is a cleaner bottle to clean the dirty water, a sleeping bag, my tracking device, a rope, my jacket, pocketknife, a lighter and last but not least my ‘Everything you need to know about Zilchball’ book I got for my tenth birthday from my father. I feel like I am forgetting something though.

I go to the cupboard where I put the bottle with the cure and stick it in the bottom of the bag. Rufus comes in.

“Hey,” I say quietly.

“Hi,” he replies. I’ve never seen him this sad before.

I check the big, white clock on the wall. It says 23:15.

“We need to be ready in half an hour to meet Aarin and Blaze at the sports center,” I explain. “Do you have everything?”

He looks down. Then he goes to the shelf in the hall and comes back with a golden compass.

“I want to take this,” he says without looking up from the compass.

“Of course,” I say. “It was meant for you, I was about to offer you to take it along.”

I walk towards him.

“You know it’s been in our family for more than four generations,” I say as I comb my fingers through his messy, brown hair.

He nods. He closes the compass and puts it in his pocket. I also have something from our family. I reach under my shirt and take out the necklace that is hiding behind it. It is white and round with a beautiful diamond in the middle. It used to be mum’s. Dad gave it to me on my 13th birthday because he thought I was mature enough since I was turning into a teenager. I take it wherever I go to give me good luck. Every time I have the necklace on I feel that she is watching over me.

I turn the necklace around. The initials are S.C., her name, Saturn Crimson. Dad gave it to her on their first anniversary. And he had engraved her initials in the back. Apparently that’s what they did in the olden days because they didn’t even have technology. Can you imagine life without technology?

I stick the necklace back into my shirt and look at Rufus. He has sat down by the table and he is blankly staring at his fingers.

“I’m taking Neeko along,” I say. “He could be of some use to use later on.”

He nods. “That’s probably a good idea,” he says. “I don’t think Comaria can handle a hyperactive dog like Neeko.”

“Have you said goodbye to Comaria yet?” I ask.

It takes him a while before he shakes his head.

“Me neither,” I say. “We should go do it. We have to leave soon.”

He takes a deep breath and then slowly stands up and walks out of the kitchen. I follow him down the big hall and to a door on the right, Comaria’s bedroom door.

Rufus knocks on the door. We hear a shuffle inside and the door opens. Comaria is standing in the doorway. Her eyes are red and puffy. She has been crying.

“Hi,” I say quietly. “Listen, we have to go now so we just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for being such a good nanny to us.”

She stares into my eyes and grabs my hand.

“Of course,” she says. “Anything for you my children.”

She looks at Rufus now. She smiles slightly and then hugs him tightly. He hugs back. Rufus doesn’t really remember mum that much so Comaria has been the closest thing he has had to having one.

Comaria lets go of him and then turns to me. She looks into my eyes before hugging me. Her head goes on my chest and I put my head on hers.

“Be safe,” she says after she has let me go. “I’ll wait for you.”

“We will,” I reply. I smile and then we turn around back to the hall.

Once we’re at the sports center, Aarin and Blaze are already there. They are both holding identical brown backpacks. Aarin smiles when she sees Neeko. She’s always been very fond of him.

Everything is dark and I can only make out the outlines from the lamplights. I can see a little bit of fog. The pollution is creeping in again.

“Did you bring any food?” I ask Aarin.

“Yes,” she replies as she rummages through her backpack. “I brought a primus, canned soup, crackers and dry fruit.”

“What about a lighter?” I ask.

“Yep,” she says and smiles slightly. “I’ve got that too. I also brought the essentials, a sleeping bag and a cleaner bottle.”

“And I brought my tracking device and workpod,” Blaze interjects. “If one of us gets lost it’s good to know where they are.”

“But then technically they’re not lost,” I say, smiling a bit. “So are we ready to go?”

Blaze and Aarin nod.

“Rufus?” I turn to my little brother.

I can’t imagine what he’s going through, losing his role model. He nods.

“How on earth are we going to get passed the guards though?” Aarin asks.

“Well it’s pretty dark,” I start. “So I think we can climb over the fence without anyone noticing.”

“What happens if someone does see us?” Blaze asks.

I think for a moment. What would happen? I can only think of one thing.

“We run,” I hesitate.

After twenty minutes of walking along side the roads we finally meet the protection field. The protection field is to protect people from the outside and protecting people of going out. Romania is one of the only countries that haven’t wilted from the pollution and it’s only one country. It is sort of a refugee camp except it’s a whole country.

We slow down to a halt before we get any closer.

“So how are we going to do this?” Blaze asks.

I look around. I look up at the watchtower. I don’t see anyone inside; then again I don’t see anything inside the watchtower. It’s black and dark.

“I don’t see anyone around,” I say. “I think we can just go through the gate. No one is around to see us.”

“Okay,” Aarin says.

We start walking towards the main gate out of Romania.

As we walk towards the big, metal gate, I feel like something is wrong.

“G-guys,” Aarin suddenly whispers. “I don’t think we’re alone.”

“What do you mean?” I ask as I turn around to look at her. Her arm is pointing towards the watchtower. I look up. I see something. I see something dark moving around inside.

It takes me a while before I realize that the dark moving thing is a figure. A person is watching us through the watchtower.