"You think that matters? God said to be fruitful." Phineas glared. "You're refusing to obey the Lord. I don't know what would be kinder, the Dragons or the Wild Ones."
"Death or abuse." Jamison sounded amused. "Tough call."
"At least she's not our problem anymore." Phineas stopped at a large steel door. "Welcome to Hell, Ayla Ross. Bid farewell to the only Heaven you'll ever know."
The door opened, and he shoved me through. I expected them to close it behind me, but the men followed. I took a step and paused in shock. My feet were on carpet! It was soft and springy, almost silvery in the bright light. My mouth fell open and I looked around, but the men didn't give me time to gawk.
Dragging me by the hands, they headed away from the door and up a hill. The dirt crumbled under my feet, making me slip against it, but not much. For my entire life, I'd only walked on stone. This was softer, but not completely. Every few steps, something poked my bare soles, causing me to stagger, but my jailers didn't care. They just kept pulling, and I kept following.
At the top of the rise, we reached a large tree. I knew what it was because I'd read about them, but seeing one was completely different. It was huge. Buried high on the trunk was a hook. Phineas took the ring at the center of my chain. I watched in confusion as he stepped onto Jamison's cupped hands, lurched upwards, then secured my chain high above my head. The men looked at each other, nodded, and turned to leave.
I quickly looked up at the ring. "You're leaving me chained? How am I going to find someplace to hide?"
Jamison held out his hands. "Not my problem. You're the one who stabbed a man. This? It just makes it easier for the Dragons to find you. What? Did you honestly think assault would make your life easy? Doesn't work like that. This is called punishment, so enjoy your last night on Earth, you stupid girl."
"Hey! You can't just leave me like this!"
Neither man cared. Side-by-side, the pair continued walking back towards the heavy door where we'd come from. They didn't even bother replying.
Slowly, I looked back to my tether. The hook was large and square. The ring in the center of my manacles dangled over it, but it was much too high for me to reach. Also too high for me to lower my arms all the way, yet it wasn't locked in.
So I tugged, pulled, and even tried to flip my hands so the chain would flop over the hook. Nothing worked. The men just kept walking into the night until they were out of sight. I tried to climb higher on the tree but there were no places for my feet and the trunk was too wide to get my arms around. I hadn't merely been banished from the compound. I was effectively being executed, and right when I'd finally started to hope.
That was the first time I experienced true panic. I thought I'd known it before, but I'd been wrong. My mind turned off, my body turned on, and I struggled to flee, wearing myself out in my attempts to get free from the chain. I yelled, I thrashed, and eventually I even cried, but in the end, I was trapped.
My mind immediately went back to Callah and Meri. I'd seen Callah there, but Meri was still locked away. Hopefully, Callah would be able to tell her what had happened. Maybe the pair of them would even be allowed to talk again without my influence? Then again, I would never know.
I'd been banished. For my entire life, we'd been told that meant getting kicked out of the compound, but no one had mentioned this. Being chained up for predators to devour wasn't banishment. This was an execution!
At least dying was better than living the life they'd offered. Giving in, I slid down the tree until my rump hit the dirt. I could now see the world, so I should just enjoy it. Looking up, I found the stars, their tiny lights blurred by the moisture in my eyes and obscured by the leaves in the trees. Those were all in front of me. Behind me was the compound, and the area around it was clear, as if the hunters kept it like that intentionally.
Beneath me was dirt. Real, actual dirt, not the dust that settled underground. This was the kind which grew plants. Unfortunately, I couldn't run my fingers through it. The chains weren't long enough. If I relaxed, my hands hung at my shoulder level. If I was standing, I could've reached my hips, but no lower.
And around me, everything was blue. I knew it was night because of the stories in my books, but it was brighter than I'd expected - as bright as a well-lit room inside. The moon moved across the sky, its passage marked by which tree stood before it, but it never changed shape. I'd always wondered about that. The books talked about full moons and new ones, but the one above me was almost oval-shaped.
Then something pinched my arm. I tried to slap at it, but couldn't reach. Looking down, I saw a dark thing, probably an insect. I had two options: blow at it, or get up to swat it. I went with the first, too tired to try hard. If the Dragons were just going to eat me, why should I bother to struggle?
Sometime after that, I fell asleep. The sound of voices woke me. My head jerked up and my eyes scanned the darkness, but there was nothing there. Not even the sound that had pulled me from sleep. Instead, I heard chirps and buzzes from various creatures. It seemed the Earth was not a quiet place.
Closing my eyes, I tried to doze again. I hadn't eaten dinner. My stomach was complaining, but it was easy to ignore. Besides, the lack of a meal only made me more tired. Giving in, I slumped into my chains again, almost longing for the final end to put me out of this misery.
Pale purple light woke me, and my entire body itched. My arms were covered in small welts, so I must've been a feast for the insects. Miserable, I pushed myself to my feet, feeling blood rush painfully into my fingers.
Following the chain up, I saw the hook again. The shape of it was so big. There had to be some way to get the loop off it. So, after rubbing the sleep crust from my eyes, I decided to try.
Walking forward didn't work. Flipping my hands just made the ring slide across the horizontal part. Using the chain as a brace, I did my best to pull myself higher, but I simply wasn't strong enough. Not without places to push with my feet.
So I flipped the chain again, watching how it moved. Then I flipped it harder. The ring finally rocked close to the hook, giving me the smallest hint of hope. Turning so my back was against the tree again, I tried that way.
Then I tried again, and again, and again. Slowly, the world was starting to get brighter, but I had no reason to give up. Maybe Callah was right and this was my calling? If so, then what sort of savior would I be if I lay down and waited for the Dragons to eat me?
So I tried yet again. My arms were growing tired, but I ignored it. The manacles were starting to chafe my wrists. I didn't care. The only way I had to get myself free was to work the ring off the hook, and nothing else had done it.
"I am not," I breathed, "going to give up!" And I flipped it again.
The metal slid up, hanging right at the tip. My heart hung, and I lunged forward, praying I'd be fast enough to make this work. The hook and the ring hung for a moment, and then the angle of my pull slipped the chain up that last bit.
And over.
The length of chain came tumbling down, crashing down into the dirt at my feet - and something moved in the trees.
I sucked in a breath and tried to look. My eyes scanned the shadows, but I couldn't see anything - yet I knew something had been there. Freezing in place, I waited. The last thing I wanted was to call attention to myself. Minutes ticked past, my eyes darting from shadow to shadow. Eventually, the animal grew brave and went on with what it was about, hopping out from the bushes to pick at the blades of grass under the trees.
I couldn't help but smile. It had to be a rabbit! Long ears and a bouncing gait? There was nothing else I knew of that moved like that. Although, it was much larger than I'd expected.
While I watched it graze - or did they browse? - the sun broke free of the horizon, sending brilliant colors into the sky. With a smile, I looked up, taking it all in. Pink, orange, yellow, and gold, it was all there, just like I'd read about. Floating in the air as if gravity had no effect were large clouds which reflected the colors back.
It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The colors were so bright and vivid. The air was crisp and clear. I turned, trying to experience it all, and the chain dragged at my feet.
This was Earth. This was the world men had ruined for us, but it looked like it had recovered. My lips were spread so wide it made my cheeks hurt, but the sky was getting very bright. Squinting helped, but only so much. At least I finally got to see the leaves on the trees. They really were green. And the rest of the world was magnificent! The kind of beauty that would've fit right into my mother's stories.
Suddenly, the rabbit bolted.
FourteenAyla
Isnapped my head around, looking across the undergrowth with my lashes pushed close together. Nothing seemed to be there - at least not that I could see in the glare of the growing light - but all around me, everything had gone silent except the rustling of the leaves above. My heart beat faster, my body telling me something was wrong, but my eyes found nothing! Everything looked perfectly quiet.
The only reason I finally saw it was because the creature let itself be seen. Lifting up from the long grass before me, it stood there and waited. I sucked in a shocked breath, trying to force my eyes to focus through the brightness.
