The Revolt

PART FOUR

--PART FOUR--

I turn on my cot, wincing as I roll onto a rock. I pull it out from under me and chuck it, praying it doesn't hit someone. I find Allie in my line of thought and suddenly I'm completely paralyzed with fear. Fear for me, fear for Allie, fear for Chase... I can't stop my mind from retunning Luke's death scene, with his face replaced by Allie's, Chase's, and finally mine. I want to get up and walk around, shake the feeling that I'm being watched, but I force myself to stay down. The light is on in the director's tent, and there are figures visible against the moon-lit night, walking along the sector lines. I can only pray that Chase is smart enough to stay in his sector, or at least stay away from mine.

I close my eyes and dig my sharp, dirty nails into the skin of my arm. I wince as the pain escalates, and eventually tear my hand away from my arm with a numb gasp. I look down at it and, seeing the black liquid start to swell, gather some dirt up from beside me to rub on the wound. The cut is not very deep; a few layers of the dead soil stops all the bleeding.

I sigh and wipe my dusty hands on my pants, watching as it forms into a cloud and threatens to suffocate me. I wave it away and roll over on my cot again, trying to think of unicorns and rainbows to banish the more terrifying thoughts.

The night gets colder as it lengthens, turning my breath into harsh wisps of heated fog. I shiver under the thin sheet that serves as my blanket, unable to close my eyes.

When the sun finally shows itself over the harsh flats of the exposed desert, I feel an excited knot forming in my stomach. We can get up now, start the day, and I don't have to be stuck with these horrifying thoughts.

When other digits start to rise, I sit up and stretch, faking a yawn. If I weren't so alert, I'd be exhausted.

I reach over and shake Allie; she gives a little squeak and opens her eyes wildly. I only shake my head at her.

The director's greeting to me when I check in is less than ordinary, no foul words or harsh humor aimed at me. He knows that I stayed tucked in bed all night.

When Allie comes to sit beside me to start cleaning the day's objects, she looks up at Chase's sector and whispers, "Did you see him?"

I shake my head, afraid to speak aloud.

"Why?"

I shrug.

She turns to me, fixing a worried expression on her face. She looks me up and down and then murmurs, "You okay?"

I nod, fixing the copper cup in front of me so the handle faces me.

"You seem a little off," she mutters. "Quiet."

I shrug, wishing she would just stop talking.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaims suddenly. "They didn't cut your tongue out, did they?"

I sigh, rolling my eyes. "No they didn't," I reply, sticking my tongue out at her. "See?"

She laughs lightly, uncomfortably. "Okay, okay, just checking."

Completely contrary to last night's weather, the temperature today sky-rockets, easily marking the hottest day I can remember. I can feel my skin burning as I work, an agonizing pain. The ground around me grows hot too, heat waves spreading in between the borders of our sector and Chase's.

"Geez," Allie mutters as she wipes sweat from her brow. "The sun's really out today."

I nod, picking my sticky shirt from my stomach to run it across my forehead.

I wince, disgusted, as drips of liquid fall from the fabric hanging off of my body. "God, I hate this."

"Yeah, me too," says Allie.