Sunset Rising

“She knows, Jack,” I said.

“And you brought her here anyway?”

“She can turn us in whether she knows where we’re living or not.”

“She’s right,” Dawn said. “A lot of people have figured out who you are. But no one is going to turn you in. Su

“You’re saying the minute I’m not with her…”

“No one down here likes a bourge, and you’re high up on the food chain. I mean, you were pretty close to becoming president yourself, weren’t you?” She said it like it was a bad thing. “But if she says you’re okay, then we’ll let you stay down here. And it didn’t hurt that you helped that kid today in the mines either. No one’s ever taken on the guards before. Well, at least not six at once.”

“So, you’re not going to turn me in?”

“Isn’t that what I’ve been saying? Now let me have a look at those gorgeous blue eyes of yours. Don’t get to see those too often in the Pit!” But Jack didn’t offer his eyes up for inspection.

“Jack, it can’t hurt. Just let her have a look,” I said. I was rewarded with an angry glare, but he finally submitted.

Dawn held open one of his eyelids and flashed the light at it a few times. She repeated the process with his other eye. “When you stood up earlier, were you dizzy or just off balance?”

“Dizzy.”

“Any ringing in your ears?”

“No.”

“Bad taste in your mouth?”

“No.”

“Can you touch your right index finger to your nose?” she asked. He did it. “Can you touch your left index finger to your nose?” He did but made it obvious he felt like an idiot.

Dawn took a pin out of her bag and began to prick down his left arm. Jack kept jerking his arm away from her, and she seemed satisfied with his reaction. Then she tried his right arm. She began to take his pulse. “Is your vision okay?”

“It is now.”

“But it was blurry earlier?”

“I had a little trouble focusing.”

“His heart rate is okay,” she said. “With dizziness and blurred vision he might have a mild concussion, but I don’t think it’s anything too serious. He’s got all the feeling in his arms.” She pulled out a bag of ice and handed it to me. “Put this over the bump on his head, and keep it there as long as he can stand it. The cold will bring the swelling down. I don’t want him going to sleep right away, but if he makes it through the next few hours without any vomiting or delirium of any kind then let him sleep. He vomits or acts crazy, you come get me.”

Dawn wrote down her apartment number on the sixth level. Then she remembered the containers of food she brought for us and put them on the table.

“Thank you,” I said awkwardly. “Thank you for everything—for the advice and for keeping our secret.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to her. I felt vulnerable with this stranger who knew our identities. All I could do was hope she was trustworthy. I walked her to the door and watched her leave.

I threw my hat on the table and took off my heavy vest once she was gone. I filled two glasses with water and then decided to use some of our water ration for washing. Jack wouldn’t be able to get to the bath tonight, and I knew how much he liked to be clean. I filled a basin with water and quickly washed myself. When I went back into the bedroom, Jack was already asleep.

“Wake up,” I said, coming to sit on the bed. I laid the bag of ice on the back of his head.

“That’s cold! I’m tired and my head is pounding. I just want to sleep.”

“I brought you some water and a towel. I’ll give you a few minutes to wash up then I’ll come back and sit with you.”

I went back out into the living room until he called out that he was done. When I returned to the bedroom, he was lying face down on the bed with his shirt off and already asleep.

“You heard her,” I said loudly. “You have to stay awake for a few hours.” I pushed him farther onto the bed to make room for myself, put one of the pillows against the wall, and leaned back on it. Jack propped himself up on his elbows and gave me an inquisitive look.

“What? If I’m going to be here keeping you awake, I’m going to be comfortable.” I held the glass out to him. “Water?”

He drained the glass and passed it back. I opened one of the containers of food and took a bite. “It’s still warm. Do you want some?”

He wrinkled his nose at the smell. “Is it still grey?”

“Yes it is.”

“Maybe later.” He laid his head back down, and I put the ice on it.

“So you didn’t tell me there was a kid involved today. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as you tell me how you got that bruise on the side of your head,” he said without looking up at me.

I touched my head and realized there was a tender spot just above my eye. Madi must have been wearing a ring. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with Jack. He beat up six guards in order to help a kid, and I just stood by and watched Crystal get hit. Knowing that I was the reason Madi had struck her didn’t help my guilt or humiliation.

“My supervisor is a bit of a hot head.” I hoped to leave it at that.

“Then keep your head down at your job, and don’t do anything to provoke her.”

“Supervisors like her don’t need to be provoked. She was born mean. Now it’s your turn. What happened?”

“A guard started pushing a twelve-year-old kid around because he wasn’t doing something right, and I told him to back off. Another guard came over and started pushing me around. That’s when I lost my temper. I mean, what the hell is a twelve-year-old kid doing working in the mines? He should be in school.”

“Down here, you’re an adult at twelve and have to find a job. Freeloaders aren’t tolerated. Those are the rules you bourge force on us. We have no choice.”

“I understand why the witch doctor lumped me in with them, but I would hope by now you would know better.”

I knew that Jack had a good heart, but he was still a bourge. He was used to being in charge. He hated our food and missed having hot showers every day. Although I admired him for wanting to help us in the Pit, it didn’t make him one of us. But I would never say any of this to him. I could only imagine what it must be like to be hunted by your own people and barely tolerated by mine.

“So tell me what it was like growing up as Jack Ke

“I just want to go to sleep, Su

“Put your head in my lap.”

He hesitated a moment, then laid his head in my lap. I held the ice against his bump and used my other hand to run through his hair, gently massaging his scalp and the back of his neck. My mother had always done this for me whenever I had a headache.

“That feels nice,” he said. He wrapped an arm around the top of my legs and snuggled his head into me. I thought that felt nice, too.

“Now tell me your life story—and don’t back out of it. You have to stay awake so you might as well entertain me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about your parents, school, friends, girlfriends… anything.”

“I don’t really have parents. My mother gave birth to two pawns in her little game of chess with the Holts. My brother and I didn’t grow up as sons. We grew up as Liberty soldiers.”

“You have a brother?” I asked, surprised. I thought I knew that, but it still sounded foreign to me. In the Pit, no one had siblings.

“Yeah. His name is Ted. He’s a couple of years younger than me—about your age. He’s in his last year at the military academy. That is, if Holt doesn’t have him locked up with my parents.”

I felt a flush of guilt at that. Jack must have been going through his own personal hell, yet he was in the Pit helping me through mine. “I’m sorry about your family.”

“They’re fine for now. Until I’m tried by the tribunal and found guilty of treason, they can’t accuse anyone of being a sympathizer. The Families would never put up with that.”