Текст книги "The Woodlands"

Автор книги: Lauren Nicolle Taylor

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

I was getting quite tired of waking up like this. Being rendered unconscious and coming to in a strange state or a strange room. I knew they must have caught us or at least me. Maybe Clara had got away. I hoped so. I was captured, I was sure of it. I had that same groggy feeling I always had after being jabbed in the arm by the White Coats.

I opened my eyes, fluttering them suspiciously, not really wanting to see the sickly glow of the ceiling of my underground room. But what greeted me was not the glowing fluorescent lights from the room Clara and I shared, but the night sky. A million twinkling stars, against a deep, dark black. I reached my hands out to touch it. Surely it was painted on. But my fingertips were only grasping at air.

“It’s real,” he said. That voice. Full of sadness. Kind and regretful. I hadn’t heard that voice in such a long time. I didn’t want to look. I must have been dreaming. It was not just unlikely, it was impossible that he could be here. I let myself dream a little longer and continued to stare at the sky. One side of me felt cold as ice. The other side, a little too warm. I looked to my left to see flames dancing in the half-light. I counted five other bodies lying by the fire. One tucked up in a sleeping bag, with an enormous mound of a stomach illuminated by the fire, masses of black, springy hair protruding from the head end of the bag. She had her back turned to me but it was Clara. Thank God she was all right. I swept my eyes in a circle above me, the sun was gone but I could still make out shapes of tall trees looming over the top of us. Pines.

My stomach grumbled. I was starving. I pulled myself to sitting.

“Are you hungry?” he said. That voice. I turned around, ready for the dream to disintegrate. His face was the same as it had always been. Still smiling, although he looked tired and perhaps a bit thinner. His hair was a little shorter, but it was him. I hadn’t imagined it.

He handed me a piece of bread and some dried meat without waiting for an answer. I had a million questions to ask him. But my stomach had other ideas. I grabbed the food and started devouring it. He waited patiently, hands collapsed casually over his knees, watching me polish the food off, licking my fingers. The leech kicked me and I moved uncomfortably, putting my hand to my stomach.

Joseph’s eyes showed concern as he moved towards me just slightly. Concern and something else indiscernible. The fire casting orange light on his beautiful face, lighting his hair up like a crown of gold. Sadness swamped me. I must have looked so different to him, a swollen, pitiful teenager. Most of the time, I tried to pretend it wasn’t there, but with someone from my past staring at me, it was hard to ignore.

I took a deep breath, the cool air stinging my lungs in a good way. The big question had to be asked. But I was scared of the answer. Joseph being here made no sense at all. I was never going to see him again and now he was sitting in front of me, looking worried, looking like he cared.

“What are you doing here?” I asked slowly. Wondering what possible answer he could give that would explain his presence here, my presence in the woods, the smoke, everything. What he said was beyond belief.

Casually, in his disarming manner, he said with a smile, “That’s my baby in there,” as he pointed to my stomach.

The bread stuck in my throat. I scrambled back, panicked, nearly putting my hands in the fire. “What?” I awkwardly heaved myself to my feet. “What are you talking about? That’s insane…but...that’s impossible.” I stumbled over my words, searching for one shred of sense in what Joseph had just said to me. Whatever happiness I felt at seeing him again was gone and replaced with suspicion. What did he want with me? Who were these other people? What new nightmare had I been dragged into?

I had roused the others with my yelling. Drowsy eyes stared at me across the fire. Clara was looking at me confused, still half asleep. Joseph was moving towards me, clearly worried, although I didn’t know if he was concerned for me or the thing inside me he thought was his. But he looked genuinely frightened, anguish showing on his face. Hands outstretched, flapping the air, he said, “Rosa, calm down, it’s ok, you’re safe now.”

I bent my knees, ready to run, “Don’t tell me to calm down, what you’re saying is ridiculous. What did you do to me? Are you one of them?” I heard my voice and it sounded crazy, like something had snapped inside my throat. I was shaking. I felt sick. I wanted to run, but I had nowhere to go. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man with a needle in his hand approaching me. “Get back!” I screamed. This was not happening again. He kept inching closer. “Get back!” I screamed again. My voice was swallowed up in the darkness, no echo—it disappeared in the cold air. The man moved closer still. Joseph blocked him with his arm.

“Get away from her, don’t touch her!” he shouted forcefully.

I didn’t know what to do. A big part of me wanted to run to him. The other part of me wanted to hit him with a branch and run as fast as I could away from here. I didn’t feel like I could trust any of them.

“I told you not to tell her that way,” the man with the needle said. “She’s not the same girl you remember. She’s probably traumatized.” I looked to Joseph, that pain on his face again, an agonized, tortured look; I had seen him make that face once before. The man took steps towards me, still carrying the needle, trying to distract me as he approached. “You see, he’s been looking for you for a long time now…he...” he was still holding that needle. I took one step towards him and punched him in the face, as hard as I could. It hurt my hand. He over-balanced and fell backwards, nearly landing on top of one of the other people. The needle bounced into the fire.

Joseph laughed. “See. I told you she had attitude!” he said as he leaned over to pull the man up to his feet. I realized then that he was not a man. He was a boy, no older than Joseph. Tall and thin, with dark black, spiky hair and a smooth, high-boned face. I was still standing, fists up, ready to knock out the next person who came near me, feeling like a cornered animal.

“Whoa, Rosa, it’s me, can’t you at least let me explain?” he pleaded.

“Clara?” I looked to her for answers; she nodded, not saying a word. It was her way of saying, yes, let him talk. He held out his hand and I took it, eyeing him reproachfully. His eyes were hopeful. The moment our hands touched, memories jolted through me like electricity: His warm arms around me, hands touching as we lifted into the air, talking, smiling. Other memories appeared too, being deserted, having my heart broken. I dropped my hand.

“What can you possibly say that could explain any of this?” I gestured around me and back to my belly. I looked down to see I was back in my Class uniform, which now sat above my belly button, my cotton gown poking out from underneath the band like a curtain, hiding my disgraceful form. Someone dressed me. I was livid.

“Did someone dress me while I was asleep?” I asked, thinking, just give me an excuse and I’ll knock your lights out. My eyes were scanning the faces accusingly.

Joseph’s face flushed red. Then he grinned. “Ha! I would have offered, but someone beat me to it!”

I glared at all of them, hoping I could sear them in half with my vision. When no one confessed, I awkwardly tried to ease myself down onto a log. It was getting harder and harder to do even the simplest of things without the leech getting in the way. Joseph reached out to help me but I smacked his hand away. I felt like I needed a force field around me, no one touching me until I knew what they really wanted. Ungracefully, I levered my form to the ground and sat facing him.

Everyone was watching us. I noticed a familiar face in the group. Apella was there, and a man was sitting with her, his hand on her knee. She was leaning her head on his shoulder. Clara was leaning back on her elbows, looking as wistful as ever. Nothing ever seemed to get to her, at least, not the way it got to me. Then there was Joseph and his friend, who was nursing a cut on his left forearm courtesy of me knocking him over a rock. He didn’t seem too affected either. Joseph was the only one who looked concerned, no, more than concerned. He look genuinely in pain, his face flickered back and forth between relief and anguish.

“So…?” I challenged, “Tell me! Tell me the truth.”

“What do you remember?” he asked.

“I remember working at the Classes, doing well in my class. I remember....” I touched my hand to my face. “Getting in trouble. Then waking up in a room, drugged and pregnant. Oh, and I remember your letter,” I replied.

“Oh. I guess it was too much to hope that had been erased from your memory. I’m sorry, Rosa, I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted you to be happy and not hold onto something we could never have. I shouldn’t have done it, but by the time I had decided to tell you the truth, you had disappeared,” he confessed. I wanted it to be true, my whole being ached for it to be true, but there was so much unexplained.

“You know, he never gave up. I tried to tell him it was no use but he risked everything to find you,” the boy with the needle interrupted.

I glared at him.

“Deshi, will you shut up!” Joseph sounded frustrated, his voice strained. Maybe he was hanging by the same thin thread of sanity that I was clinging to.

Deshi shut his mouth and kept it that way.

“Well, working forward from what you remember, I can tell you what I know.” He took a deep breath and launched into the story. “You know I was accepted into Medical, right?” I nodded. I remembered seeing him hanging around outside the medical building with his white coat on, talking to other Uppers. “Well, Deshi and I and a few other kids were pulled into a specialist group, dealing specifically with infertility. It was all very secretive and we were required to supply a DNA sample at the start of every morning as a security clearance.” I recalled the two men in white pushing their fingers into the goo when they were trying to release the security doors. “We were being allowed access to all sorts of information but were told our lives were over if we told anyone what was going on. Apella here was one of our teachers.” I looked over at her. She smiled shyly. She seemed too lacking in confidence to be a teacher or a doctor. I had always assumed she was just a lackey in our situation. The deceptions were unfolding, like a tightly crumpled letter, each crease revealing a new unknown, scrawled part I thought I had read but now, no longer understood.

Joseph spoke.

“Apella had developed a way to synthesize genetic material in order to artificially impregnate a woman. She was teaching us this process and getting us to synthesize our own DNA and other kids from the Classes. We were to collect samples from every male we could. Just a strand of hair was enough. Soon we had about three hundred samples. I wish I had known what they were planning, but I didn’t, I swear,” he said, clearly upset, clearly trying to purvey his own innocence.

“So you did this?” I aimed my accusation at Apella. “You’re responsible for what they did to me, to Clara?” I was disgusted with her. She was obviously brilliant but had no morals.

“You say it like I had a choice, Rosa,” she appealed.

“You always have a choice,” I said.

“Even if the choice is dying, or someone you love dying?” she said, looking to the man next to her.

“Yes.” I knew what I would do. I would never have done what she did.

“That’s what I love about you. You are nothing like anyone else in Pau, you do believe in a choice. You always do what you want and to hell with the consequences!” Joseph said. I was offended. I didn’t think that was true, but I would like to think that I would make the right choice, if I had to.

Apella looked devastated by my response. Clara shuffled over and patted her back. It made me sick that she would even touch her after what she had done to us. I felt like I had heard enough. But Joseph continued.

“Shortly after the samples were created, we were told that they had been destroyed, that someone had left the fridge door open and they had all expired. We were moved onto another program and we were told Apella had taken a leave of absence.”

“Pretty stupid to believe that,” I snapped.

“I know,” he admitted, “but I swear we thought it was all for practice. We never dreamed that they were going to use them for anything.”

I was starting to put it together myself, “And then I disappeared.” I felt cold. Worn down to a point, a speck. Was there ever any end to it?

“Yes.” He looked at the ground, tracing patterns in the dirt with a stick. “You disappeared; you stopped walking to the construction Class with your friends...” he stopped on that word, setting his mouth in a hard line, like it was difficult for him to say. “You weren’t exploring the Arboretum.” So he was watching me. “You were gone without a trace. Every day I snuck into the lab after hours and searched for any information that might lead me to you. Every day for about a month I would type your number in, or your name, but there was nothing.”

“It’s true!” Deshi chimed in. We both shot him a look.

“Then one day I typed in your number and all that came up was ‘matched’. That’s when Apella caught me. She found me sitting, staring at the computer. I had just about given up hope when she leaned over and typed in a password. There was your name Rosa Bianca matched Joseph Sulle. Apella explained it to me. Although I think she had to explain it about ten times. The Superiors had taken you and used my sample to create a baby. Our baby. She told me that they had taken her technology and were using it to begin a repopulation plan for the Woodlands. They would eliminate the need for families. They could control the genetic mix this way. So we were matched to create a particular genetic composition.” He sounded like a scientist, like one of them.

I yawned, stretching my arms. The leech kicked me and I jumped, instinctively touching my belly. Joseph looked at me longingly. “Did it…” he didn’t finish. “You’re tired. Maybe you should sleep and we can finish tomorrow.”

“No, keep going. I want to know how this fantastical story ends,” I said sarcastically.

He ignored me. “Apella asked for my help. She said she would help me find you, if I helped her and Alexei escape from their life also.” So that’s why she was helping us. To protect her love. My opinion of her lowered further.

“I’m sorry it took so long but we had to make sure the plan was perfect before we tried. There were so many things that could go wrong and we only had one shot at it. I’m sorry for…” he said, leaving it hanging.

This was a lot. It was too much. A wave of sadness for all that I had been through, for what I was yet to experience, crashed over me. What did I do now? The question was foolish and pressing. I was exhausted. All I said was, “So a computer chose us and now you’re here.” It was ridiculous, but then so was everything else. I laid my head down and cried, while the others stared into the fire, orange and yellow flames dancing in their eyes. For all my bravado and ‘attitude’, as Joseph put it, I was still a scared sixteen-year-old girl, pregnant and confused.

He moved closer and I let him. He gently put his hand on my head and stroked my hair until I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up feeling uncomfortable and cold. My back was sore and I was all twisted. Noises I had never heard before punctured the morning, birdcalls, fire crackling, and wind through the massive trees that surrounded us. I had imagined these sounds before, fantasized about how it would feel to be out in the forest, but hearing the real thing was a strange experience.

I turned to the sky, realizing that I was still sitting next to him. He had fallen asleep sitting up, his hand still in my hair. I lifted my head and his hand fell with a thud, startling him awake.

“Morning,” he said croakily, stretching his neck. He locked eyes with me and I saw it. That look. Somewhere in the back of my memory I heard, ‘like you’re the only girl in the world’. I looked away.

Everyone else was up. Clara, Alexei, and Apella were huddled together, examining a flimsy piece of colored paper. On the side that I could see was printed ‘Travel the Great Trans-Siberian Railway’. There was a picture of what looked like an antique train on the front, with the phrases, ‘trip of a lifetime’, and ‘family friendly’ written in yellow bubbles.

“What are you looking at?” I asked. Curiosity was getting the better of me, even though I really didn’t want to talk to Apella.

“This is the map we are going to follow,” Apella said.

“So this is your plan?” I said, hoping to God it wasn’t.

Apella patted Alexei’s arm lightly and turned to me. “Alexei used to work in the archives. He found a map in a folder marked ‘Pass Times’. When he noticed the railroad led all the way to Mongolia he, well we—” she gazed at him adoringly, “thought this would be the perfect plan.”

“And then what?” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

She avoided my eyes, looking to the side of my face. “When we find it, if we can make it to the mountains, we might find a safe place to hide over winter.”

I laughed bitterly. It sounded ludicrous. No, suicidal.

Sensing my not-very-well-hidden skepticism, Alexei added, “We can find the railway tracks and then we can follow them. Since we can’t use the reader’s GPS for risk of being tracked, it is the best way forward.” It was the first time he had spoken and it didn’t help my impression of him. His voice was wobbly like he wasn’t used to speaking. He sounded unsure and defensive.

What could I say? I was their captive at this point so I went for an attack. “Yeah, well, if you two don’t stop gazing at each other like that, you’re all going to remember what I had for dinner last night,” I spat at them. They were disgusting. I was truly fighting to keep my stomach calm. Apella blushed lightly and Alexei looked at me like I was some breed of female he had never encountered before. What was the word for him? Genteel.

Joseph chuckled. “Well, let’s get some breakfast into you.”

Deshi walked over and sat next to me. I shifted away from him a little. He just shrugged. He was holding a grey box. He opened a drawer, tapped a small pill from a jar he pulled from his pocket into the tray, and dripped some water into it from his flask. He replaced the tray and waited. A light on the top of the box turned from red to green. He pulled out the tray to reveal grey mush filled to the brim.

“Breakfast is served!” he said with a wink.

“What the hell is that?” I asked, staring at the gelatinous glob wobbling in front of me.

“I made it,” Deshi said proudly, shaking the tray under my nose. “It’s a self-sufficient, rehydration…” he twisted his lips to the side, thinking, “thing-a-ma-jig.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Thing-a-ma-jig?”

Deshi smiled unsurely. “The title’s a work in process. You probably recognise the grey substance from your milkshakes in the facility. It’s a high-protein, highly nutritious, synthetically manufactured food. It tastes like licking a glue stick but it will keep us alive.”

I shrugged. It was tasteless, but I ate it. It settled my stomach at least.

When I had finished, I was ready to fire my questions. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and said, “So the plan is to find this track and follow it, for god knows how long, and then what? Freeze to death on the edge of a mountainside?” We had been warned at school about the dangers of the outside—the harsh terrain and the bitterly cold winters.

“It’s not as stupid as it sounds, Rosa. They will be expecting us to follow the rivers or the animal tracks. This way, we may have a chance of avoiding capture.” Of course, I had forgotten that people would be looking for us, especially Apella, since she was so important to the project.

“They’ll find us, especially while we’re with her,” I pointed to Apella accusingly. If I could smack her, I would. I paused on that thought. I could… She had put us all in danger with this crazy plan. Apella held out her wrist in front of the fire. She was scarred, new flesh growing around the edges of her tattoo.

“What have you done?” Although, I knew the answer to my question. They all had the same scratchy scars on their wrists, except for Joseph. I grabbed the scanner that Deshi had been playing with and held it over Apella’s wrist. “Ana Keffi,” the reader stated. I wondered if there was any level this woman wouldn’t stoop to. I glared at her and stood gracelessly. I wanted to leave. I picked a direction and started walking.

I could hear him following me as he noisily stomped through the forest. It was slippery, mossy grey rocks covering the ground. The trees out here were thin birches; their long white trunks spattered with grey were so close together they made me feel like I was behind bars. A natural prison. I was squinting up at the sun, trying to work out which way to go, when I lost my balance and fell. He grabbed my arm before I hit the ground, pulling me up roughly.

“You know you’re walking right back to where we just got you from?” Joseph said.

“Maybe I would be better off,” I said, knowing full well that was a lie.

“Don’t be so foolish, Rosa. You know…” he didn’t get to finish. I made him regret every word. I turned around and pushed him hard. I wanted him to fall, but the trees were so thick he just bounced off one, rubbing his back. He didn’t look surprised.

“You think I’m foolish? What the hell do you think you’re doing? What exactly do you think is going to happen to us? We’re going to die out here,” I screamed, pulling at my hair. I was beside myself. There was no scenario I could think of where we could come out of this ok or even alive.

“Take me back,” I said as I pushed him again.

“No.”

“Take me back!”

“I won’t take you back, so stop asking,” he said with a shrug.

He let me yell, rant, and rave, smacking into trees, throwing my arms around until I had nothing left in me. I sat down panting and he sat next to me wearing that infuriating, bemused expression.

“What?” I said crankily.

“Nothing,” he put his arms up in surrender. “It’s just…you’re beautiful.”

I rolled my eyes. “Even like this?” I pointed to my ball of a stomach.

“Even more so,” he said, looking at the ground. “Look, I know this is a lot, and I know you probably have a ton of questions, so ask me anything and I will tell you the truth.”

I’m sure I should have had loads of questions but only two came to mind: Rash and my father. I needed to know if Rash and the boys were safe. I couldn’t bear the idea that my behavior had translated into them being hurt. I hoped they were smart enough to distance themselves from their association with me.

“Is Rash alive?” I asked, shutting my eyes tightly as if that could shut out any bad news.

“If that’s the kid you were always sitting with, then yes, he’s alive.” He sounded disappointed. “You really care about him, huh?”

“Of course, Rash, Henri, all of the boys, they were my family.” I missed them so much. It hurt just to talk about them. Smells of sawdust mixed with blood permeated my senses.

“They’re all fine, sadder and quieter than before, but they’re ok.”

I didn’t really understand his attitude. He seemed upset that I had asked this question. Hurt. I was so relieved that they had survived, that I hadn’t brought down some awful punishment on them. I smiled thinking about the last time I had spoken to Rash, how we hugged and he had joked about not liking me ‘that way’, that he preferred his girls with a bit of meat on them. A soft laugh escaped my lips. I wondered what he would think if he saw me now. Probably make some joke about me laying off the gruel. Those short months seemed like a dream to me now. I wished he were here with me.

“I’m sorry that you were taken away from them,” he said.

“Don’t apologize… That,” I emphasized, “was not your fault.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” He was searching my eyes, so troubled. I touched my hand to my jaw, remembering the devastating slam of that hammer, the way it split and shattered my delicate face. There was no scar, but I touched my tongue to the inside of my mouth, placing it in the hole where three of my teeth used to be. I shook my head. I couldn’t talk to him about that. I was ashamed. I didn’t want to admit to how badly I had wanted that life, and how fantastically I had destroyed it.

“Anything else, then?” Joseph raised one eyebrow. His face was so close to mine. I wanted something, but recalling those feelings was hard. They were just out of reach, buried under a thin layer of grit and rubble.

“What did my father ask you to do?” This question genuinely surprised him. He took my hand in his. I recoiled. Not ready. He smiled.

“You remember that your father was my teacher, right?”

I nodded. He hooked me with those eyes and I had to stretch my anger, remind myself that I wasn’t sure about him yet. But God it was hard.

He shook his head slightly, too long a silence between us. “Your father and I were close. He was…different to the other teachers. He helped me prep for the Classes with extra tutoring.” I closed my eyes and just listened to his voice. The deep rumble of it, the way it felt in my chest. I could enjoy it because he couldn’t see what it was doing to me. “When word had come that your mother was pregnant, Lenos was concerned for you.” I shrugged, news always traveled fast in Pau. “Especially after what Paulo had done to his brother all those years ago.”

I opened my eyes, “What are you talking about?” Now I was surprised.

“I thought you knew. Everyone knows.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Well, I guess that makes me the only clueless idiot in Pau who didn’t know,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air and letting them flop back down in my lap. I was regretting my question.

Joseph rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” I rolled my eyes. His trepidation around me was as irritating as his amusement at my anger.

“Just tell me what I apparently should already know.”

He gave me a look like, ‘are you sure?’ I just sat in silence until he continued.

“Well, about ten years ago, Paulo’s brother had a child and kept it a secret. Lenos said even Paulo didn’t know about it at the start. But as the child grew, it became harder and harder to keep the secret. At that point he appealed to Paulo for help. Your stepfather called the police straight away and… Well, you can guess what happened to them.”

The truth was crystalizing like a mirage made real. The heartless couple. The way Paulo had cruelly forced me to watch as the police had mutilated the couples’ bodies. I felt deep sadness for my mother. Why on earth had she chosen such a man? Then that too was explained. My father did not leave us—Mother left him. She couldn’t cope with his constant troublemaking, his resistance to authority, and his attitudes towards the Superiors. She threatened to turn him in if he did not leave the two of us alone. So I guess she chose Paulo, because he was the opposite of my father in every way.

“Are you all right?” Joseph asked. I was staring through the trees. Thinking about my father, how I had always wondered why he left, and why he had never contacted me. It was a small comfort to know that maybe he had wanted to, but he couldn’t because of my mother. A very small comfort.

Clara emerged from the clustered trees, barely fitting between the trunks as she made her way towards us. She took my hand and pulled me up.

“We need to move,” she said, puffing hard but with that beautiful smile on her face. Framed by the light shining through the trunks, she was an angel. “Alexei says we only have a day’s head start and we need to make the most of it.” She flashed a grin at Joseph, which he returned in full. I could tell they would get along very well. “You must be Joseph,” she said and curtsied. She nearly fell over but he caught her. “You’re strong,” she giggled as he helped her stand.

“So are you,” he laughed. “You managed to move this lump over here,” he said as he pointed in my direction. I scowled at him. Laughing, smiling was hard. Deshi called Joseph and he left us behind as he bounded towards the campfire.

Clara linked arms with me and kissed me on the cheek. “So that’s Joseph,” she said, playfully elbowing me in the side as we walked. “Finally I get to meet him.”

“What do you mean, ‘finally’?” I couldn’t remember ever mentioning his name before.

Joseph slowed his pace at the mention of his name.

“After all those nights of you talking about him or to him in your sleep, it’s nice to finally see him in the flesh.”

I blushed. He was pretending not to listen, but I could see him smirking as he walked towards the others.

We reached the fire and there was a clatter of activity. There was barely time to think. Alexei threw a pack at me, and a green-grey coat. I pulled them on.

“I’m glad you decided to stay,” he said, out of breath.

“I didn’t say I would stay,” I announced.

“Well, you have two choices,” Joseph said, trying to force my hand, “follow us or go back to the facility.”

“Those are not the only choices. I will come with you, but I’m not going to follow you. If you want me to stay, then you have to include me in your planning. I will have a say and so will Clara.”

Joseph sighed, he knew me. He knew I wasn’t going to go along with everything they had already decided. If anything, I was always good at throwing a spanner in the works. We had all stopped moving. Alexei broke the silence.

“Very well, good, we will fill you in as we walk.” His voice had an academic edge to it. It didn’t help that he had thinning hair and spectacles. He looked like he spent all his time indoors reading books. I had my doubts that he would be the right person to lead this ridiculous group of travelers.

“Where are we going?” I asked him.

“Into the Wilderness.”