Kassy Tayler - Remnants of Tomorrow

The last thing I would ever want to do is be responsible for any of my friends’ being hurt. I have enough lives on my conscience without being responsible for any more. I crumble against Levi as I realize what I almost did.

He wraps his arms around me and runs his hand over my hair as he whispers in my ear. “It’s okay,” he says. “It’s all part of their plan, and you didn’t fall for it. That’s why they brought you to see me. To see what more they could learn.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” I say quietly against his chest.

“I don’t know. But just knowing you are safe is enough for me at the moment.” Levi kisses the top of my head. Such a comforting kiss. Such a contrast to the wild and passionate one we shared after the battle. “Do you remember the rainbow?”

I look at him in confusion.

“The morning I shot the stag. It was over the water.”

“The beautiful colors,” I say. “So that’s what that is.”

“How sad, that you never knew what a rainbow is until now,” Levi says.

“I will never forget it.” How could I forget it? It was the morning after the Quest arrived and Levi came upon me in the forest. I was crying with relief because I realized that I had not killed a rover who was trying to steal one of our goats. Since that day, I’ve killed many times to stay alive. That morning Levi made me realize that when you kill and do not feel remorse, your soul is in jeopardy. That, sometimes, killing is necessary to survive, especially in the world outside the dome. The facts of that statement were made very real to me, when we came upon a beautiful scene of a family of deer in the forest next to a stream. Mist filled the air, and as the sun came through the canopy of trees a rainbow formed. I had never seen one before, but now I realize what it is from reading the story of Noah in the Bible. It was God’s promise that he would never again destroy the world by water. A beautiful thing that I should have been in awe of, but the beauty of it was overshadowed by the death of a stag at Levi’s hand. A necessity, to feed the lot of us. I had not thought of the rainbow again until now.

“A rainbow is like a promise,” Levi says against my hair. “There’s supposed to be a treasure at the end of it. I knew that day that you were the treasure.”

Such sweet words made all the more sweet because of the circumstances. Yet I still cannot tell him that I choose him over Pace because I do not know which of them I truly love. All I can do is press against him and offer him some reassurance that we will come through this. That we will survive. I know in my heart this moment will not last long. Seeing Levi and knowing he is alive might help get me through another day. But it doesn’t solve any of our problems. Still, I relish the feel of him, the warmth of his body, the beat of his heart, and the way his hand drags over and over through my hair until we hear the rattle of the key in the lock and the heavy creak of the cell door.

“Let’s go,” Findley says.

I don’t want to go. I want to stay with Levi. But my protest at leaving would only make things worse for him, so I reluctantly let go. Levi stands up, straight and tall, facing Findley, who smirks. Levi grins at him. Findley gently takes my arm and herds me through the door where the guard is waiting to slam it behind me. I wince at the sound and at the thought that Levi is once more all alone in the dark and cold cell.

“Your friend is a tough young man,” Findley says as we start up the staircase. “Too bad it will probably get him killed.”

I stop and turn to look at Findley. I am amazed that he is being so open with me. His words also strike terror in my heart. “What do you mean by that?”

Findley shrugs. “He doesn’t serve a purpose, and you know how your father feels about those who do not serve the good of the dome.”

I put my hand to my stomach, sick at the implication of his words. Does Findley enjoy torturing me like this? Is it part of my father’s plan to see how scared for my friends I will become? I would do anything to keep them safe. I’ve lost too many to be casual with their lives. Each one is precious to me. Which makes them a weakness that my father will surely use against me.

“You can’t be serious,” I say. “You can’t mean that. You don’t know about him. You don’t know the things he knows, how he can help us.”

There are voices on the stairs above us. “Quiet,” Findley barks. He puts his hand on my arm and guides me to the wall side of the staircase. I hear the murmur of voices as they come closer and then a high titter that could only be from a woman. They are on the landing above us, and Findley makes me stop on the landing below as they turn to come toward us.

It’s Ellen. Her smile quickly disappears. She stops for a moment and stares at me in disgust before gathering her skirts a bit closer and taking the next step. Behind her is Jilly, and I open my mouth, only to clamp it firmly shut. Her green eyes flare in recognition but something in them warns me. They dart to whoever is behind her, just now coming around the bend of the landing. I will not betray her, so I keep my face passive and free from emotion, but that all crumbles in the next moment as I hear a voice, gentle and true, seconds before he turns the corner.

Pace.

Pace.

Findley’s hand clamps down on my shoulder, keeping me in place, keeping me from running up the stairs and throwing myself into Pace’s arms. His beautiful blue eyes widen when he sees me, and he pauses at the top of the staircase. Jilly lays her hand on his arm, intimately, holding Pace just as surely as Findley holds me.

Ellen walks by with her head turned away and her skirts gathered to her as if I just climbed up from the sewers. She does not pause, nor does she give any indication that she knows me or even sees me, which is fine as far as I am concerned. What I do not understand is how she knows Pace and Jilly and why the three of them sounded so chummy as they came downstairs.

Why is Jilly here, and why are they together? Jilly wears a very pretty green dress with a matching jacket that makes her red hair seem brighter and eyes even more striking, yet I plainly see the stress behind them. She seems tired, but she smiles politely at me as she walks by with one hand on the stair rail and the other holding her skirts.

Pace.

I search his eyes, looking for answers to the barrage of questions that fill my mind. To my surprise, Findley’s hand on my shoulder relaxes. Ellen is well past us, and Jilly rounds the landing and continues down.

Pace. Am I breathing? Does my heart still beat? I could not swear to either as time for me has stopped, yet Pace moves onward. Slowly. Steadily, with his eyes on mine, yet he does not smile as he usually does when he sees me. Findley takes his hand from my shoulder and steps away to the lower staircase. To go down? Or to stop anyone that chooses at this moment to come up?

Pace looks well. Healthy. No bruises or cuts mar his face, not even the remnants of the battle he fought before we came inside. He has not been beaten or tortured for answers like Levi. He does not seem to be imprisoned like me. If anything, he is more handsome than I have ever seen him, with his dark brown hair neatly trimmed and his muscular body once more in the uniform of a cadet. No, I think as I see the gold bands on his sleeve, a full enforcer. He even wears a medal pinned over his heart.

How can this be? He was a wanted criminal when we left the dome. Even though he was not guilty of the crime, there was still a price on his head, a reward bigger than anything ever offered before. So how could he be back in uniform and promoted when he was only a cadet a month ago?