What would you do if mere talks can't get you off that quagmire? This is not some labour dispute negotiation for better wages; it is for survival. If you can’t talk your way out, would you just surrender your soul? Can you swim? If not, you better fetch some life jackets as Lauren Kirk-Cohen is taking you towards the deep ends...

If they don’t stop soon, I think I may actually go mad. I glance to the others beside me, and I can see that the long deliberations are taking their toll on
them, too. I turn a blank face back to the negotiations, trying to think of a way out of this.

The guards stand all around us, swords and bows pointed towards our heads. I try to think of any possible chance, but I can’t see any.

“I’m Nicki,” I whisper to the guy next to me. I don’t want to die without anyone here knowing my name. I don’t know why it seems so important, but it is.

“Felix,” he mutters, not meeting my eyes. “Now sush, I’m trying to concentrate.”

 A quick look at the other captives tells me they’re not listening, all too engrossed on thoughts on our impending doom. I lean closer to Felix. “Do you mean you have a way out of here?”

“I mean this is a lot more than it seems,” he whispers, his eyes flicking over every aspect of the scene. He glances at me, seemingly torn about something. “If you want to live, when the time comes, follow me. Run like the wind. If you fall behind, you’ll be left behind.”

“What do you mean, ‘when the time comes’?”

“You’ll know,” he says absently, still analysing the square all around us.

I try talking to him again, but Felix seems to be off in some world of his own. I glance back at the negotiations. At least they didn’t decide to kill us, I suppose. When they finally agree on a price, we’ll be sold into slavery, but at least we will live. If we serve well, we can earn the right to be a part of the Renso society, to have the same rights as those born there.

The Rensos are not like the Andias. They have food and have no need to sneak into the ruling houses’ the orchards, as Andias do if we want to eat. Of course, that’s how we ended up here, prisoners, hoping to be slaves rather than executed. If the Andai ruling house can’t come to an agreement with the Renso representatives, we won’t live to see another sunrise.

I fidget, not sure what to hope for. Not many Andias know what the ruling houses to do any Renso they come across. When the representatives leave, they will already be infected; the gas would have been permeating the square since they came in.

The Trelens, the house currently in power, are very clever. The gas forms a disease that lies dormant in the system of any Renso it touches. If that Renso becomes a problem, the Trelens use their unique knowledge of how to activate the disease to end them. It won’t be long before they have control of the whole Renso population. By the time the Rensos realise what’s happening, it’ll be too late.

The thought strikes me that if the Rensos take us, I could warn them. I glance at the clock. It’s been an hour. In the next half an hour, the effects of the gas will become irreversible – at least, according to my father, before they arrested him for treason.

Felix suddenly turns to me, his bright green eyes meeting mine. “Now,” he whispers.

Then the world goes mad.

I am blown off my feet when an explosion shatters about half of the square. More explosions are going on somewhere, but I can’t see where. If you want to live, follow me. I leap up and just spot Felix running around the corner with a few of the other captives. Knowing my life depends on it, I sprint after them with everything I have.

The group, Felix in the lead, seems to know exactly where it’s going. I follow them, stumbling, still dazed from the explosions. We run through woods and over hills. It seems we will never stop. It seems I will collapse with exhaustion before we do.

Finally, we start to slow. Gasping for breath and clutching the stitch in my side, I stagger towards Felix. “What was that?” I ask.

“That was a recon mission,” he says.

“You’re Rensos,” I whisper.

“What would possess you to bring her?” one of the other Rensos demands.

“She would have died,” Felix says shortly. He glares at the speaker, who falls silent at once. Evidently, Felix is the leader here.

“You came to the orchards to get caught, to see the layout,” I say, trying to work it out in my head. “Why, though? What can you do to fight the Andias?” 

Felix smiles grimly at me, “We can bring a storm that none will ever forget. And that none of them will survive.”

# continues ...

For more of Lauren's writings, visit her at 

Lauren Kirk-Cohen's Blog