The Cipher

Chapter three

We packed what little we owned, marked the Society’s coordinates on a map, and calibrated an old compass that we had uncovered from the fire’s wreckage. We prepared and consumed an enormous meal to ensure that we wouldn’t starve. We put on our warm winter coats made from various animal skins, along with our boots. We armed ourselves with knives and guns, making us a terrifying duo. Once finished, we began to leave. I was the first to walk out the door, although Cyrus was but steps behind me.

  “Wait.” I heard his voice from behind me.

  I turned around. “Did you forget something?”

  He shook his head, and gravely pointed to a lumpy blanket in the middle of our floor.

  Axel.

  We never had the heart, or the decency to bury him, or at least move him. So instead, we covered him with a blanket.

  “We should bury him. Say some words.” Cyrus provided.

  I nodded, setting all of my supplies into the snow, before cracking my knuckles. “Let’s get down to it.”

  Cyrus and I dug a hole that was maybe three feet in depth and six feet in length. Together, we carried Axel’s lifeless body to the hole keeping the blanket wrapped over his face and body.

  Once we hoisted him down, we dusted our hands off on our pants. After a few moments of silence, I spoke up. “Do you want to speak first?”

  Cyrus shrugged his shoulders, but seemed to comply by stepping forward towards Axels grave, looking down at him.

  “Axel, we hardly knew you, but we know you were a good person with a good heart. You were a rebel for all the right reasons, and we respect that so, so much. You have perhaps molded my life in more ways than you can imagine. You loved what you did. I could tell by the way you introduced yourself, the way you said your name, I could tell that you were proud of it. Proud to be an Infractor, and that is something I truly respect.”

  When Cyrus looked up from the grave to me, he nodded, giving me the hint that it was my turn to speak.

  “Like Cyrus said, I didn’t know you. Not in the slightest sense. But to sacrifice normalcy, to sacrifice safety, and to sacrifice a portion of your life to rebel, I suppose that is extremely selfless. You did what you did for the betterment of The Land and its unknowing people. I hardly knew you, and I could see that. But most of all, you and I, we both knew the pain of finding out that we wasted a majority of our lives living a lie. To drift from the bland world you knew, and then experience love, and all these other crazy, vivid emotions like remorse, and pain, and loathing; it is overwhelming, I know. Even painful, but you and I, we both felt it, and we both lived through it. And that is how I know you were strong, Axel. You made me realize that you have to withhold that strength until your last breaths. Thank you for that lesson, Axel.”

  Cyrus said nothing, and him and I scooped the dirt back into the grave, covering him up. Once we finished, we snapped a few branches off of some trees, and created a cross that we put at the head of his grave.

  “I suppose that is all, then.” Cyrus said with finality.

  We followed the compass and I watched as the log cabin faded behind us with its lopsided roof and walls and its uneven windows. Along with the cabin, the five crosses faded, as well. The crosses may have faded from my vision, but never would they fade from my memory.

  Aurora.

  Jensen.

  Kian.

  Toby.

  Axel.

  Once again, they were a constant reminder of what I was fighting for.