The New Heroes: The Chasm by Michael Carroll

Author:Michael Carroll [Carroll, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-06-28T06:00:00+00:00

At dawn on the morning of their escape, Alia and Nathan had been hiding in the branches of a giant oak tree, looking toward the compound, when they saw two of the overseers’ trucks roaring out through the gates. One headed north, the other south, and they stopped about every thirty meters to drop off a slave.

Alia had said, “It’s a man-hunt. They’re going to comb the area until they find us.”

All they could do was sit and watch, until, hours later, one of the workers passed directly under the tree—and looked up.

The woman immediately lowered her head again and said, “They’re going to kill you when they find you. That guard you hit? He’s dead.”

Nathan clapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh no!”

“It wasn’t you. Viv had him shot because he fell asleep on duty.”

Alia whispered down, “You should run—now! They can’t catch all of you!”

“Yeah, they can.” The woman briefly glanced up again. “I won’t tell them I saw you. But you need to get out of here, find someone who can help us.” The woman moved away, pretending to check the ground for clues.

The search went on for a lot longer than Alia had expected. She’d figured that the overseers would give up and recall the search-party after a few hours, but night fell and the slaves were given flashlights.

At some point before dawn the same woman passed underneath their tree again and said, “They’re calling it off, finally. Go north, and move fast.”

The sun was nudging the horizon when they finally climbed down from the tree.

Hungry, exhausted from lack of sleep, and muscles aching from sitting in the same positions for over a day, they began to move in what Alia hoped was a northerly direction.

They found a small house an hour later. It had been picked clean by looters but the water in its taps was cool, clean and the most delicious thing Alia had ever tasted.

“We should rest here,” Nathan said as he sat on the kitchen counter and watched Alia splash water on her face.

There was nothing to dry herself with, so Alia used her sleeves to wipe her face. “No, they’ll know about this place so they’ll search here. We have to keep moving. Besides, we have to find something to eat!”

That afternoon, when Alia guessed they were about twelve miles from the compound, they found a man lying face-down on the side of an overgrown road. His black uniform was damp, but clean, suggesting that he hadn’t been there long. As Alia cautiously approached him she felt something hard underfoot, and stepped back to see a large assault rifle. On the shoulder of his jacket was a symbol they didn’t recognize—a blue eye inside a golden sun. The man had a pistol in his holster with a full clip of ammunition, and a backpack still strapped to one arm.

“You think he’s dead?” Nathan whispered as he very slowly approached the man.

“Definitely. Look at the way his body’s twisted.”

Nathan found a long stick and used it to gently poke the man’s arm.

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