Dawnrunner

Chapter 22

Artificial light streams in between the white curtains of the hospital room, softly illuminating Rachel’s face. The nurses have cleaned her while she slept, and she looks beautiful despite the bruises that have begun to show. The oxygen mask on her face is gone, and she’s breathing on her own. Except for the fact that she hasn’t opened her eyes in two days, she’s sleeping normally.
My conversation with Michael is burning through my mind: 8 hours until the Dawnrunner leaves Rome. I slam my fist onto the bed, purposefully missing Rachel’s leg by inches. After all this, he’s sending us away again, sending us back to that prison. I feel tears welling up at the corners of my eyes, but I can’t life my hands to wipe them away.
“What’s wrong, Carli?” The voice is weak and rasping and when I hear it I feel like I’m having a stoke.
“Rachel!” I dive forward and try not to crush her as I hug her awkwardly in the bed. “You’re awake!”
She blinks repeatedly and starts examining her surroundings. “Where the hell are we? Last thing I remember we were in a field…”
I laugh a little then try to explain the mad rush by jeep, and then the surprise journey to Rome. Her eyes go wide at the mention of the city, and I wish I could let her enjoy the moment a little longer.
“There’s some bad news, Rache.” My voice is low, like a whisper, but it’s silent in this part of the hospital so she can hear every word. “They’re sending us back, to the Sanctuary. We leave in a few hours.”
Rachel says nothing for a long while. Like me, there are people waiting in that place she wants to see. Her fiancé, for one. The look on her face is the same one I wear whenever I think of my mum. But we’re not the same people who left, and like the new me, the new Rachel hasn’t decided if she can ever go back.
“What about you and… him,” she says finally. I still haven’t told her Michael’s real name, but I’m glad she doesn’t say Lazarus.
“He’s made his decision,” I say, more coldly than intended. Rachel watches my eyes for a few seconds, and then tilts her head onto the pillow.
“I’m really tired.” From her voice, I can tell that she means it. “Do you think I can sleep a bit before we leave?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be here.”
She reaches out her hand and meshes her fingers in between mine. “It’ll be ok, you’ll see.” She smiles weakly and it’s impossible not to smile back.

The city streets are freezing as the two of us stand outside the station. We are wearing thick coats, scarves and gloves as we huddle together and watch our breath turn into fog on the wind. A loud hum from inside is the only indication the Dawnrunner is nearly finished recharging.
I strain my eyes up and down the platform looking for a familiar face. There are dozens of soldiers, but they are all wearing the uniform of the militia from Rome, not the resistance. Lazarus and Tanya are nowhere to be seen.
“He’ll be here,” Rachel reassures me for the third time. “He won’t let you go without saying goodbye.” I wonder briefly how much she knows about my feelings for Michael. Then again, I barely understand how I feel about him myself. A tone sounds over the station speakers and all the soldiers begin filing aboard. A flash of gold hair catches my eyes before the tall lieutenant cuts off our path to the train.
Immediately I’m unnerved by the sympathetic look on Tanya’s face. “You two are in the front, with the rest of the passengers,” she says as she walks with us to the door of the 1st class cabins, where the rest of the survivors have gathered. I briefly catch sight of Christy as she climbs inside. Rachel steps ahead of me to board, and I feel the lieutenant’s hand on my arm.
“Lazarus asked me to give you this.” She’s holding an enveloped sealed with wax and the symbol of the resistance. Her eyes watch every move I make as I take it from her. “Do not open it, until the train begins to move.” She waits for me to acknowledge the warning with a nod then turns and disappears down the platform.

I step inside to find a strangely energised Rachel holding two large purple and pink bags.
“Look! Our backpacks! One of the soldiers found them in the cargo hold behind some grenades and recognised our names!”
She throws my pack onto the bed beside me then goes searching through her own, muttering something about the possibility of finding plastic explosives hidden inside. After a few minutes she realises I haven’t replied and looks over at me.
“Carli? Are you alright?” I don’t speak, just sit on my bed staring at the envelope and my name printed in neat handwriting on the front. I can hear her walking over for a closer look.
“Where did you get that?”
My throat is dry as I answer. “Tanya gave it to me as we were boarding. It’s from… him.”
Rachel stiffens visibly and swallows before speaking. “You don’t have to open it, if you don’t want to.”
I shake my head. “I want to open it…” I have to open it.
She sits down beside me and I break the seal in two. The same neat handwriting on the front continues onto a long note written on a single piece of paper.

Dearest Carliah,
You have become the light in a world where for so long there was only darkness. If not for the cruel circumstances that brought us together, out meeting, and in turn our lives could have been so different, filled with endless joy. Know now that it breaks my heart to see you leave, but I am given strength knowing that you will live, safe even as the walls begin to fall on this world.
I promised you once that you would be a hero of this terrible war. Even now, you and your companions are fighting, though you may not realise it. The same train that bares you home will be the vehicle from which the final assault is launched, once your safety is assured. If I survive, I will find you in the new world, and we will celebrate our victory together. If not, then this letter will be my farewell to you, and I will hold your memory with me until my final breath.
Yours eternal,
M~

I slam the letter onto the bed in front of me.
“He lied to me!" I scream. "He’s on board, right now, on this train! They’re going to attack the Sanctuary as soon as we’re arrive!” I rise to my feet before Rachel finishes reading and violently pull open the door.
She follows me into the hallway, confusion clear on her face.
“Carli! Where are you going?!” she cries behind me. “All the soldiers are in the back! Aren’t you going to find Lazarus?”
My eyes narrow on the door leading into the next compartment. Without turning around I yell my answer back over my shoulder.
“There’s something I have to do first…”

I’m standing in front of a crowd of about two dozen people. They are the non-military passengers who were captured at Istanbul and eventually rescued from Amsterdam. Some, like Christy, are Special Resources, sent outside the Sanctuary for god-only knows what reason. Others, like me and Rachel, paid to be here. They’re all staring at me with wide, deeply confused eyes. Next to me stands Rachel, looking even more perplexed. I feel her hair brush against me as she whispers in my ear.
“Carli, I really don’t understand what you’re doing…”
I clear my throat, interrupting her. “Everybody, listen to me! What we have been through these past weeks has been beyond anything we could have imagined when we left the safety of the island! We have all learned the awful truth: the Sanctuary is a prison, and we are the prisoners! Today, they are sending us back to that prison!”
A disconcerted murmur rises through the crowd. It falls silent as I start again.
“Our arrival is a ruse, a distraction. The resistance wants to use our ‘return’ as an opportunity, to pry open the gates for their attack. But I say, it is not enough that our lives are used this way. I say, it is time for our revenge!”
A few hesitant cries of support ripple out, anonymous in the sea of faces.
“It is time we took up our own arms. It is time we fought back!”
As the cheers grow louder, a fist or two breaks into the air. Rachel once more leans in close to my ear and I can hear the tension in her voice.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing.”