The Forsaken

eye, but he’s looking down, seemingly afraid of Markus and Sinxen.
    The rock is a sign. A trace of my parents’ existence. Proof that they survived deportation from the UNA and made some kind of life here, at least for a while. I will head in the direction of the arrow, no matter where it leads—even if I have to break away from the group for good.
    I gaze around at my companions. Everyone looks so somber in the cold gray light, exhausted and bedraggled.
    “We’ve got a long hike ahead of us,” Markus finally says. “Better get started before something bad happens.”
    The Monk chuckles. “Time has no meaning in the gray zone.” He chuckles creepily again, like he knows something we don’t. He doesn’t seem threatened at all by the fact that we outnumber him. What’s going on here exactly?
    I stand up, joining the others. “Time still has meaning to me.”
    Markus pulls David to his feet.
    Rika stays slumped on the grass. “I need longer to rest.”
    “Rika, you’re one of the nicest people I know,” Gadya says, “and the best cook around here for sure. But you’re also a wimp. No offense. We have to move. ”
    Rika looks up at Gadya. A tear runs down her cheek. “I don’t think I can.”
    “We’re not leaving you, so you don’t have a choice,” I tell her, thinking about that arrow carved on the rock. “Maybe we’ll find some fruit along the way, despite the cold. Or a hoofer. We can make a meal.”
    “There’s nothing edible in this zone,” the Monk says flatly.
    We turn to him.
    “Nothing at all. No food. Only frozen water. This isn’t a zone that sustains life.”
    “Are you serious?” Sinxen asks, stamping his feet for warmth as he scowls. He’s so different now from the frolicking, teasing boy I first met. “Why didn’t you tell us that? We could have brought more food and water with us.”
    David steps away from Markus. He opens his coat to reveal two large flasks of water. “Now who isn’t prepared?” he asks.
    Markus looks disgusted. Spits on the icy ground in David’s direction. “Figures.”
    “I’ll share it with you,” David replies. He holds out a flask to Markus. “See?”
    Markus doesn’t take it. “It’s probably poisoned.”
    For some reason, this strikes the Monk as humorous, and he chuckles, like he’s enjoying a private joke.
    Gadya steps menacingly toward him. “Stop playing games with us.” His drone stands up to protect him. “I can take you!” she snaps, undaunted. “Bring it on!”
    The Monk stops chuckling. “I thought you knew about this zone already,” he says. “It’s true we must start moving. Soon they will know that we’re here.”
    “‘They’?” I ask.
    “The ones who run things. The ones who really control this island.”
    I wonder if that’s where the arrow leads, to the city, and the aircrafts we’re already seeking. To the people in control of this terrible place.
    All of us are standing now except for Rika. Finally even she pushes herself up, because we haven’t given her much choice.
    The drone hoists the Monk onto his back. The Monk wraps his arms around the drone’s neck, like he’s strangling him, but the drone doesn’t seem to care. I see that underneath the drone’s robes is a backpacklike apparatus, with loops of twine sticking through slits in the cloth. The drone reaches around and positions the Monk’s limbs in the apparatus, like a pack animal shouldering its own load. I shudder against the cold air, my teeth chattering.
    “We head northeast,” Markus says.
    The same direction my father’s arrow pointed.
    Now that Liam and Veidman are gone, Markus is the only one left who knows the route, as far as I know. I guess at this point, he should write it down for us, in case he gets killed or taken, but he doesn’t volunteer to do that. Instead he just points. “This way.”
    We gather our belongings, preparing for the hike. I pull my scarf up higher and my cap down lower, wishing I had warmer clothes.
    “How far?” Sinxen asks Markus.
    “Roughly six miles.”
    “Yeah, and then we all live happily ever after,” Gadya mutters.
    “Not all of us,” Markus replies, eyeing the Monk and David. I suspect Markus has got a nasty plan in store for them, and the Monk probably has one in store for us, too. But for now there is a tense, fragile peace.
    “Let’s start walking,” I say loudly, before friction can erupt into outright confrontation. I wish I could go back to the Shawcross rock once more