The Hill by Ali Bryan

Author:Ali Bryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dottir Press
Published: 2021-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Section 5.6 – Things must never go back to the way they were. Your survival, all of humanity, depends on it.

I GRAB HIS arm. “Your mother’s part of the Colony?”

He shakes his head. “No, she’s part of the village.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I don’t either. Her stamp—you can’t read it.”

An invisible trickle of water echoes through the walls.

“Ever seen burnt skin?”

I shrug. “A few times.” I recall an incident when a Small fell face-first into the fire and shudder. “If you can’t read it, how do you know what it says?”

“I didn’t—until I saw the back of your neck in the clearing. My mother just has a capital C and part of an O. The rest of it is scarred flesh. We’re not allowed to talk about it. She’s never cut her hair, but sometimes when she’s welding, she ties it back and there it is, the scar, concealing all of her secrets.”

I rub my forehead, exhausted, and step on my torch, killing what’s left of the burning ember. “We should go back.” I have nothing more to add, unable to process anything he’s saying. I think of Quinn’s analogy. I’m trying to swallow a whole deer, hooves, tail, and antlers. “We have a Mainlander.”

“Like a prisoner?”

“Kind of. He’s injured. He fell off the cliff.”

Roman passes me his flashlight, and we exit through the same tunnel I entered from. The journey back seems quicker now that I know where I’m going. We go directly to the other tunnel and stop at the man’s feet. Just behind him, Quinn, Blue, and Lennon are still asleep.

“Wren?” A morning whisper. I point the flashlight in Quinn’s direction. She sits up and stretches her arms over her head. Roman steps back into the shadows.

“It’s me.”

She yawns and stands up. “My tailbone,” she complains. Her eyes follow the beam of the flashlight to a spot on the ground. “What is that?” she asks. “Where did you get it?”

“A flashlight. Remember the one Nova found?”

“I know what a flashlight is.”

“It’s his.” I light Roman from the knees-up.

“What’s he doing here?” She charges, side-stepping around the body.

“He’s going to help us.”

“We don’t need his help.” The other girls, now awake but still on the ground, scramble to their feet. Their legs, inevitably stiff from sleeping on the rock floor, look awkward. They move like broken puppets.

“He’s one of them,” Blue accuses.

“He’s not.” I shake my head. “He’s an ally.”

“An ally?” Quinn scoffs. She looks at Roman but stays put. “Is that why he almost broke your arm?”

Blue stares at me, silent and stunned. “Is that true?”

“Listen,” I say, “he knows this place. Better than we do.”

Quinn rolls her eyes. “Yeah?”

“He knew about these tunnels.”

She takes a step back and bumps into the wall.

“He knows what happened to Harlow and he knows the Colony.” I step over the body in front of me. His eyelids flutter.

“Where’s Harlow?” Lennon asks.

“The Mainland. And you know how she got there?” I pause. “She took a helicopter.”

“I told you I saw a helicopter,” Blue throws her hands up indignantly.

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