New World

Elena kept her head low to the ground, with her footsteps as light as she could make them. Her movements were slow and calculated. She knew exactly what she was doing, as she had done it a thousand times before.

The moon was high in the sky, reaching far past the tops of the trees, and it was a signal that it was her time. She had survived an entire day trapped inside of the colony walls and the moment had finally arrived that she could be free again. She could go out into the dinosaur ridden jungle, surrounded with danger, and finally be alone. It was only for a few hours, until the guards did another shift change, but it was better than nothing.

With her back pressed against the Horan’s home, she kept her eye on the guard tower, where a man sat, looking out at the jungle before him. His eyes weren’t on the colony, as he had no reason to watch the people. He was on the lookout for any large dinosaurs, both to keep the colony alert and to get Colonel Morris’s soldiers ready in case it was a pack large enough to warrant an actual attack.

Just because the man wasn’t watching her didn’t mean Elena was safe, though. She still had to be on the lookout for the random guards and watch the one on top of the tower to make sure he didn’t turn just as she was leaving through the fence’s hole.

When his back was turned, as he switched positions with the other guard coming to relieve him, she jumped from behind the Horan’s home, kicking off from the dirt so she could run towards the hole as quickly as she could.

“Where are you going, Ms. Morris?”

His voice rang through her body like one of the colony’s many sirens, and she stopped dead in her tracks, nearly causing her to fall forward. She felt the blood rush from her body, and she was sure her face was as white as the moonlight she stood in. With her breath caught in her throat, she turned slowly towards him, her eyes meeting his dark ones.

He stood in his camouflage uniform, with a gun at his side he had almost no reason to carry. His boots were the cleanest she’d ever seen, even though she knew he had spent the day out on the Jeep and should have been caked in mud. He took pride in himself though, just like he did his job, and he was one of the most pristine soldiers her father had, and also his favorite. He was no older than she was, but somehow his position in the colony was so much different from hers.

“Liam,” Elena said, her voice drawing out his name.

“Does your father know you’re out here?”

He knew the answer to that question. She knew it. He knew it. And he knew that she knew that he knew it. It was almost a joke the way he said, and he didn’t even give her the chance to entertain him with a well thought out lie.

“I’ll walk you back to your place.”

Elena sighed, her mind playing out the scene that would unfold in just a few hours. Liam would tell her father that she’d been out at night, possibly tell him that she was behind the pub, and he’d put guards on her room to make sure she didn’t leave at night. He’d chain her to the table and never let her leave the house. The only thing she’d be able to do is count down the days until the past met the present.

“I know where it is,” she said, pulling her arm away as he attempted to take it in his hand. “I can find my way home just fine.”

She skipped away, walking as fast as she could to put as much distance between them as possible. By morning, he would be the bane of her existence and she could just hear his soldier like voice ratting her out to her father.

He sighed. “Elena, wait.”

She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to keep going and never look back, but her feet stopped her. She didn’t turn to him, only stood in place, waiting for him to catch up.

Instead of moving next to her like she expected, so he could guide her safely back to her home, he stood in front of her. His dark eyes met hers from beneath his military haircut and his teeth tugged at his bottom lip.

He let out another deep sigh, this one longer than the first, before rubbing his brow with his fingers.

“Promise me you won’t do this anymore,” he said. “Promise me you’ll stop doing whatever this is and I won’t tell your father. Make that promise and we’ll never speak of this again.”

Her eyes were locked on his, taking in the deep brown that looked so similar to the dirt outside the fence. She shook her head quickly, not giving it much thought.

“I can’t do that, Liam.”

“Elena, please.”

“I can’t”

“Dammit, Elena!” he shouted, dropping his hands to his sides, his gun slapping against his leg. “You know I can’t just let this go. I have to say something.”

“I know.”

“Lie to me, then,” he groaned, shaking his head at her. “Lie to me so I don’t have to lie to him.”

She let out a sigh, as she stared into his aching eyes. He had so much loyalty to her father, and she knew that trumped everything else. He told her father everything. He was her father’s right hand man. She knew how much lying to him would kill Liam, and she couldn’t have him telling her father what she’d one.

“I promise that I’ll never go to the pub again.”

He sighed. “Can you sneak back in without him seeing?”

She nodded.

“Then go home and don’t let me see you out her until morning.”

Elena turned away from him, not giving either of them the chance to say goodnight. Dirt pushed up beneath her feet and she shook her head as she walked. He was far too loyal for his own good. He was a stick in the mud, just like her father, and was too focused on working to ever loosen up.

She wondered if he had always been that way or if it was a change that the colony or her father had made in him. He was good at his job – she had to give him that – but that was all he was.