The Forsaken

anyone except the Monk. They only survive because there are so many of them. I’m guessing that when a drone dies in battle, or is taken by the feelers, more flood in to replace him.
    I still don’t know why they come to the Monk, why they’re drawn to him like children to the Pied Piper. I suppose they’re seeking meaning and structure, like Gadya said. But anything the Monk has to offer is just an illusion.
    There’s still no sign of David. Maybe he’s at another camp, or maybe he fled and lit off on his own. I guess part of me was hoping he’d turn up and help us, but I guess we didn’t treat him too well when he came to our village. Maybe he’s somewhere watching all of this.
    In the morning light, Gadya stretches. “I wish we didn’t need these maniacs,” she mutters. “I wish we had more time to figure out a way through the barrier on our own.”
    Sinxen brushes dirt off his elbows. “Well, we don’t. So stay cool and don’t piss anyone off.”
    Soon a crowd of thirty or more drones comes to get us, some carrying mysterious crates and others carrying weapons. They’re dirty and grubby, stinking of alcohol. Some wear metal masks, presumably to scare us. “This way, heathens,” a haggard drone sneers. Black circles ring his sunken eyes.
    The drones surround us, weapons in their hands, although I don’t sense any immediate danger. And if I’m wrong, there are still weapons in our hands too, left over from the night before.
    We’re guided down a mud path toward the barrier. I can tell it’s well-traveled because of all the footprints. I wonder whether this is the place that David was talking about. The place where the drones cross over into the gray zone. If it is, then at least one good thing came from getting captured by the Monk, because now I’m closer to where I need to be.
    When we reach the barrier, it looks exactly like it did before, like a wall of clear jelly. The drones stop moving, and I see that we’re not the first to arrive. The Monk and his bearers are already there, resting under a tree. The bearers hoist the Monk up and move toward us as soon as they see us.
    “Greetings, friends,” the Monk says. There’s no mistaking his mocking tone. He knows we’re not his friends, and never will be.
    Gadya pulls back her hair. “Enough games. Tell us how to get through this damn wall.”
    The Monk pauses and gazes at us, licking the wooden lips of his mask. “I thought you would have already figured it out by now.”
    “Enlighten us,” Markus snaps.
    The Monk blinks. “This wall is made of synthetic filaments. The substance was developed by the UNA military years ago, as a potential weapon of mass destruction.” He pauses. “Yet they found it was most effective at containing harmful contaminants, like petroleum spills. And also, at containing people. The UNA built this barrier to keep everyone out of the gray zone.”
    “How could you even know this stuff?” Sinxen asks.
    “Who cares!” Gadya yells. “We just need to get through it.”
    The Monk raises one thin arm and points at the wall. His men move him forward. “Watch and learn.”
    Some of his drones bend down, opening up the crates they’ve been carrying. I see now that the crates are loaded with fireworks. Massive ones, like miniature rockets on rusty spring-loaded launchers. The drones start taking them out and setting them up.
    I have no clue where so many fireworks could come from. As far as I know, the UNA doesn’t drop any provisions onto the wheel, except perhaps for their chemicals. The Monk’s people must have found a gigantic stash of fireworks, perhaps left over from the days before the wheel was a prison island.
    “Are you serious? Fireworks?” Rika mutters.
    “They contain barium and antimony sulfide. . . . Those heavy metals, plus the heat generated by their powder, break down the synthetic filaments.”
    So this is why the Monk’s people are so obsessed with fireworks, I think. They’ve been using them to get through the barrier and into the gray zone. And if they’re so casual about using them in their attacks on us as well, they must have a nearly inexhaustible supply.
    The fireworks explain why there were always so many drones inside the gray zone, just like Liam said. For all I know, maybe they destroyed the tunnel themselves, knowing that we didn’t have another way to get in.
    “The fireworks stick inside the barrier and begin to burn,” the Monk continues. “They melt the