Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance

“Come here." Coal shifted closer to me and took his coat off, holding it out.

Beneath it he wore a khaki t-shirt that hugged his broad frame and I tried not to stare as he leaned over me to drape the coat around my shoulders. He paused for a moment and glanced at me, staying very close, then dropped his gaze and moved back to lean against the wall again.

“Thanks," I murmured, pulling the coat around me and breathing in its scent. He smelled like pine and fire and freedom. "Did Alicia get the device in place?"

"I can check it's working properly, though I don't see how we'd get back down there if it's not," he said as he pulled a receiver from his pocket and flicked the screen on. "It's downloading. This just streams what they're receiving back in Franklin. Hunter gave it to me so that we could be sure we'd done everything properly."

“Are those the lists they were after?" I breathed, leaning close to get a look as names ran down the screen, pausing every now and then so that it was possible to read a few before running on.

“It says these people are deceased,” Coal pointed out. The list went on and on. "I think it's just a list of all the residents of Harbour City who have ever died, there must be one for births too so they can keep a tally," he added.

“What does that number mean?" I pointed at the screen. There was a column that ran down next to the names, it was filled with numbers and another with dates.

“I think it's the age of the people when they died, and the date that they died on."

“But so many of them are so young, thirty, twenty seven, forty one, there are more under fifty than over seventy," I protested.

“Was there a plague or something?" Coal asked.

“Not that I remember. Is there anything about the cause of death?"

"There are letters at the end of each line, maybe they're codes for cause of death? Besides, these are all fairly old: they're from fifty years ago. Look, they aren't as young after that." He tilted the screen towards me so that we could both see it easily.

I studied the names as they scrolled up the page but quickly lost interest in the blurring data.

The glow from the receiver sent flickering shadows across Coal's face and I watched him as the blue-tinged light cast shadows under his eyes.

"Do I have something on my face?" he teased without looking up from the screen. "Or am I just so interesting that you can't take your eyes off of me?"

I dropped my gaze quickly and looked around at the cluttered shelves. I could feel my cheeks burning and bit my lip to try and stop them.

"Will they be much longer?" I asked, avoiding the look he shot me from the corner of his eyes and feeling even more aware of his arm pressed against mine.

“I'd say they'll still be a while yet," he hedged.

“Do you think Hunter will come looking for us if we don't make it back to the rendezvous point in time?" I asked.

“His orders are to leave us behind if we don't make it back," Coal replied but he didn't sound convinced.

“Do you think he will?"

“Maybe… if it was someone else. But I don't think he'd leave me and Liss behind."

"So... is Hunter like a father figure for you or something?"

Coal laughed. "More like something - he's only five years older than me. But I guess he's kinda like a brother. We met when I was eight and he caught me fighting with this kid twice my size."

“Why would you get into a fight like that?"

"He stole some food from Alicia."

"So you were protecting your sister?" I laughed at the thought of Alicia needing to be saved by anyone.

"Well, there were three of them, she was taking on the other two so I got the big one," he smirked. "Anyway, Hunter found us and saw that we were fighting a losing battle but fighting all the same. He said it was like looking at mini versions of himself and, after letting us get our asses kicked, decided to train us to fight properly."

"I can't imagine a mini version of Hunter," I laughed.

“No, he was only thirteen and he was still built like a brick house even then. Every year he just seems to get bigger and bigger. I figure eventually he won't be able to stand up under the weight of all those muscles though, so I can contain my jealousy."