Dwellers of the New World Chapter Seven ( Pt 1 ) Through the Eyes of Dawson

As I followed the two guards, I had no idea of where they would be taking me. All my strength and confidence had vanished, gone with the knowledge that some how I'd let all those boys down.

The daylight hit my eyes blinding me, darkness being my only friend for the time I was in the chamber, how did these poor boys survive down in that stench and gloom, I will never know.

We left the tunnel and again the guards pushed the boulder back into place. My fate awaited me. I was curious to know who the master was, this scary individual who so many were afraid of and who seemed to be in control of everyone.

The open space seemed to be made up of moors that went on for miles, too much open space for me, having been used to enclosed buildings, but I have to admit to a feeling of freedom, and with a cold wind blowing a wish to run and run until I could run no more. But of course that was never going to happen, not with these two guards watching my every move. Behind us were cliffs and rocks, in the distance the ocean with huge frothy white waves, that blew in with the tide, it was a site to behold and one which I'll never forget, considering that on Obsidian we never get to see the ocean, I felt blessed to have had this experience.

I was still puzzled as to why Sam betrayed us, surely he wanted to escape as much as the next boy, but I realised he was very young and a bit naïve, or maybe he was cleverer than he made out. Also I wondered about Varden and what became of him, maybe he was hiding somewhere in the chamber.

The guard whose name was Josh seemed to be more in charge, where as Seth seemed more laid back. Josh was in front, while Seth walked behind, with my gun aimed at my back.

“Just in case your planning on escaping.” He'd informed me with his... I'm in charge attitude.

I would have turned and grabbed the gun, if there had only been one guard, but with two of them it would be stupid to try anything. Sam smiled as the guard pushed me on. Why did he hate me? It was as if I had treated him with disregard and ignored him, yet all I had shown him was kindness.

The long trek, took us through fog, which seemed to clear then appear again as quickly as it went. I have to say it certainly wasn't a place I would want to be on my own. Apart from bogs, the ground dipped into crevices, I had to watch where I was walking for fear of twisting my ankle. The guards seemed as if they had made this journey many times, knowing where to tread exactly, and where they were going, leading me and Sam on.

I was starting to feel hungry and longed to rest and eat, but when I mentioned a break, Josh told me to stop complaining and keep going, so I took a couple of food pills from my bag and swallowed them, feeling slightly better, but still tired.

In the distance I saw many people and wooden buildings that I remembered seeing on the visual screen, that we watched from Obsidian. I looked up to the skies, wondering if my people were watching me at this moment, maybe I thought, they might send a ship to save me, but I realised it was probably wishful thinking, especially considering the computer was down, I wondered what had happened, would Max or Marshall be able to fix whatever the problem was from Obsidian? And what of Addie and the rest of the crew, where were they, would anyone come looking for me? So many questions were running through my mind.

As I contemplated these thoughts, we approached a huge wooden barricade that towered high above. Heavy timber doors stood before us. Josh knocked at the door three times with his spear.

“Who is it?” cried a deep voice from the other side.

“Josh and Seth...with a man that the master will be very interested to meet.”

I looked at Sam, but he looked straight ahead smirking, not even glancing at me. Suddenly the door opened very slowly. It was a heavily built door, with thick wooden beams across the top – centre and bottom. It took six guards to pull the doors inwards, they watched as we entered, Seth giving me another nudge to move on.

Upon entering Josh left us, approaching another guard, who then looked at me unsure of what I was, it was very unnerving. I wanted to stare him out, to let him know I was not afraid, but in actual fact I was petrified, so I looked down at the ground feeling like a scared child. He was a huge muscular man, with a long thick beard, I noticed that a lot of the guards had this same look, some had thick bushy beards, where as some beards were long, but they were all big, strapping men who I would not like to mess with.

Josh returned telling me to get moving, still that dammed gun was at my back. We walked through a yard of some description. Woman were plucking chickens at a long wooden table, while others were busy chopping vegetables. There were men making furniture from cut down trees, they stopped what they were doing as we passed, their eyes watching my every move, I realised they'd probably never seen anyone dressed like me before, then I wondered if any of these people had been at the meeting, when we visited their earth many years ago.

I glanced down at my wrist, my radio control wasn't working here and there was no way of contacting Penny, what must she be thinking and would she be frantically worrying about me? There was no point in dwelling about, 'the what ifs,' because now I was on my own, having no idea of where I was to be taken.

Seth kept poking me with the gun, it was starting to annoy me. I turned around in anger and pushed the gun from his hand, it was such a quick reaction, that I even surprised myself. Immediately Josh and three other guards grabbed me, I tried to struggle, but they held my arms.

“Tie his hands,” shouted Josh to one of the guards.

I knew it was pointless to fight, there were now too many of them. Rope was tightly wound around my wrists, now I was helpless. We carried on walking the gun still at my back.

As we approached another timber building, Josh told me to wait, taking Sam with him. There were six openings on either side of the door, three at the top and three at the bottom, the openings had shutters, so I couldn't see in. There was smoke coming from a vent at the top of the roof. I realised these people had come a long way since last we were here.

The door opened and Josh appeared, but without Sam.

“The master will see you now, don't try any funny business, or you'll live to regret it.”

I started to walk towards the door, wondering what fate had in store for me.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Seven ( Pt 2 ) | ABCtales