“A what?” Zavy asks confused.
“Right, I’m sorry. All of this technology is new to you. You would like to clean up I’m sure.” We all nod our heads in agreement.
“You can all follow me,” Kimberly says. Molly walks over to the other girls she was in the tunnel with to try to explain to them what we are doing. Zavy offers to help, but I tell her to let Molly do it. While Zavy may be able to get the message to them it will be received better if it comes from Molly.
I bring up the rear of the group, but when we pass Mio and Leo I overhear Leo say, “We’ve got a problem, Mio.”
“A problem?” I ask and stop. Leo and Mio look from each other to me and know that I’m not going to budge.
“Someone came through the tunnel yesterday. I’m not sure how he found it or how he knew to come here. We tied him up immediately and threw him in here. We don’t know what to do with him,” Leo says. He turns the knob and pushes the door open. My first thought is that Paylon sent Chadian into the tunnel to ambush us here. I draw my sword, ready to finish off what’s left of King Renon’s search group.
The light from the living room seeps into the dark cellar room. I follow Mio and Leo and take a step inside. My shadow grows with the light across the floor. Metal shelves line the walls filled with cardboard boxes of different items. I see him hunched over in the back of the room. He’s sitting on the floor with his head hanging. There’s a dirty cloth tied in his mouth and his feet and hands are bound together. He lifts his dirty face and shakes his matted hair, his green eyes meeting mine.
“Alexander,” I say, the air leaving my lungs. My sword clashes to the ground and I push through Mio and Leo and run to him. I throw my arms around his neck. I can’t contain the tears that start to roll down my cheeks. “You’re alive. I thought you were dead. Paylon said you were dead,” I say into his shoulder. I pull away from him and pull the cloth from his mouth.
“Hope you didn’t miss me too much,” he says in his broken voice and I can’t help but laugh, so relieved to hear his voice again. “Paylon found you guys?”
“Yes, but Cooper cut him. We’re sure he’s dead by now,” I say wiping the tears off my cheeks and I notice my hands are shaking uncontrollably.
“Did I seriously just lock up,” Leo starts.
Mio laughs and says, “You sure did.”
“Boy, why didn’t you tell me you were Alexander?” Leo asks, untying his feet and hands.
“Well, you didn’t give me the choice, now did you?” Alexander says as he gets to his feet.
“You should go catch up with the others. Go clean up before dinner.” Mio says, placing a hand on Alexander’s shoulder. We both turn to leave, but the adrenaline from seeing Alexander alive has faded and the heavy awkward air between us has settled again, but I don’t mind. As long as he is alive and with us, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
Part 3: The Journey
Chapter 21
Once Alexander and I catch up with the group Kimberly splits us up. She leads the girls further into the house and Cinder takes the boys down a short hall to our right. I’m reluctant to part with Alexander so soon, but I know I don’t have to be worried about his safety here. I’m lead down a long hallway in the back of the house with the other girls. I manage to catch up with Kimberly at the front of the group and we file into a room on the right side of the hallway. Once we have all been ushered into the large tiled room that has twenty or so stalls Kimberly starts to go over what all of these new appliances are and how we use them. Then, we are each assigned one of the stalls and told that dinner will be ready when we are finished. Kimberly collects all of our backpacks and says she will store them for us. Reluctantly, I let her take my sword. I know I won’t need it here, but I’ve grown attached to that weapon.
I walk into the stall I was assigned and see all the new technology that Kimberly had briefly explained. Something called a ‘toilet’ is sitting on one side, we would call it a waste bucket back in Garth, with a ‘sink’ across from it. It does slightly resemble the spigot I had at home. Above the sink is a mirror. I step in front of it and am shocked to see who is staring back at me.
The last time I saw my reflection was when I was just nine years old. Even that mirror doesn’t compare to the tall shine slate of reflective glass hanging in front of me. The only mirror we had in our house was a small round mirror that was built into the desk in my mother’s room. It had brown spots around its edges and a yellow reflective tint. In the mirror in front of me, I see a crystal clear reflection staring back. My skin is blotchy with red patches from being exposed to the excessive amount of sun. My skin isn’t used to that from being in prison for so long. My long brown hair is matted
