Chapter 27

It was the uneven jerk and lunges of the cell wagon that woke Emeric from his state of unconsciousness. He blinked his foggy eyes a couple of times to clear his vision. It took him a few minutes to remember where he was and what had happened.

He glanced down at his torso, which had been bleeding from multiple wounds before he had lost consciousness. However, now his torso was bandaged and the bleeding had stopped.

A frown crossed Emeric's brow as his eyes traveled to the surrounding woods. He couldn't place where they were nor how long they had been on the journey.

"Finally back from your beauty sleep?" Nedes asked from his left. Emeric rolled his eyes and didn't reply. He wasn't in the mood for a conversation that would most likely escalate to a full on fight within a few seconds.

"You know, Calvert is quite pleased with the fact that we killed all of the Eliminators at Lachand...So perhaps he won't punish you too severely after that stunt of yours."

Emeric grit his teeth, "What are you doing?" He asked irritably. Nedes shot him a deranged smirk, "It's called having a conversation."

Emeric felt ready to strangle the other Domer, "First you try beating me to death, now you act all buddy buddy. It just doesn't make sense to me."

Nedes merely shrugged, "Guess that shows you how bored I am."

"How long have we been on the road?" Emeric questioned, changing the subject. Nedes scoffed, "A day and a half. You're lucky you slept through it all."

'Half way.' Emeric concluded mentally. 'Just great.' He thought gloomily. He was going to have to spend all that time in Nedes's company.

A welcome silence passed between them for a long while as the wagon jerked onwards.

They traveled until night fell before they came to a halt. Emeric and Nedes weren't allowed to get out of the wagon and had to remain in their cramped positions while the other occupants of the journey settled down comfortably next to the road.

Nedes was the first to break the dark silence. "So tell me, Rat Boy, If you got the opportunity, would you try and escape?" Nedes asked in a mocking tone of voice.

Emeric used all his will power to restrain himself from lashing out at the bully. He knew that Nedes was trying to gauge a reaction from him, and by showing that the nickname had gotten to him would only encourage Nedes to continue.

"No." Emeric replied bluntly after he reined in his fury. Nedes raised an eye brow, "And why not, don't tell me you actually enjoy it in there?"

Emeric shot him a glare which seemed to say, 'As if...'

"Alright, why not? Are you just to cowardice?" Nedes pried further.

"I would if I could, but I just can't." Emeric replied after a few seconds of considering whether he should simply ignore the other boy or hit him...Neither options had seemed very logical. Nedes gave him a curious look, "What's stopping you, these bars?" Nedes asked, gesturing towards the cage's bars.

Emeric shook his head, he felt unsettled to be having a casual conversation with the bully. He remembered the pain of the beating all too clearly...

"Because, if I escape, Kedo will still be in the Dome and I don't want to find out what Calvert will do to him once I'm gone." Emeric explained after a while, to his own dismay.

Nedes arched a brow, "That Rogue kid?"

Emeric nodded his head. "Yeah..."

Nedes simply nodded acknowledgement and then lowered his gaze to his lap. Emeric relished the moments of silence that passed, but soon he started feel the nagging prompt to do something. With a reluctant sigh he asked, "So, how did you end up in the Dome?"

Nedes looked slightly surprised by the fact that Emeric had started the conversation on his own accord. With a sigh, Nedes spoke, "I killed someone." He stated as if there was nothing to it.

Emeric was shocked beyond words and couldn't think of a reply. In his silence, Nedes continued.

"I always wanted to join the Elite, but I'm not from a noble family, so that's pretty much out of the question. I went for the second best. I started working for the city's guard, however, since my dad walked out on me and my mum when I was still a toddler, it has always just been the two of us. She worked hard to put food on the table, but once I got a job, I worked even harder, I took over that responsibility. As a result I ended up being out the whole day."

Nedes lowered his gaze to his lap as dark memories came to his mind. "One night I..." he paused, a haunted glint reaching his eyes. "One night I came home particularly late. A man had broken into our house and he had hurt my mom...He would have killed her if I had arrived a minute later...So I killed him. I did it to protect her because who knew, he might have just return the next day to do it all again."

Emeric felt unexpected sympathy towards the bully. He remembered the day the Elites had taken his mother...If he could, he would also have killed them.

"It was just my luck, the man was of high status." Nedes continued, "I didn't even get a trial. They sent me straight to the Dome. I don't know if my mother is even alive or not." The last sentence was no more than a soft whisper.

"I'm sorry." Emeric said softly, surprising himself.

Nedes nodded appreciatively, but kept his gaze down. "Well, I told you my sob story, so now I might as well hear yours." Nedes suggested blatantly.

Emeric gave him a sidelong look, but he had nothing better to do. "You know the history of how we got here, so I'm not going to bore both of us with it."

"It was always just me, my mother and father. We lived in the forest away from civilization, for obvious reasons. But the Elites found us." Emeric got the same haunted look in his eyes as he recalled the memory one time too many.

"My father had been away on a hunting trip so it was just my mother and I. She hid me in the roof when she saw them, the Elites, but she hadn't had enough time to hide herself...They killed right in front of me. I was five years old at the time."

Nedes winced, he too had unexpectedly been hit with a hard blow of sympathy.

"My father had been devastated when he returned. As a result he trained me so that if I was ever caught in a situation like that again that I would be able to defend myself."

Emeric scoffed, "Even that wasn't enough, because sooner or later, the Elites found us again and they captured both me and my father. They sent me to the Dome once we reached Deepdale, but my father..."

Emeric was suddenly unable to continue as he remembered the last time they had met gazes. All the emotions that had been shared between the two of them.

"He was executed the next day." Emeric bluntly ended off and didn't say anything more. Nedes, reading the situation correctly remained silent and refrained from making any unwanted comment. For the first time he saw the Rogue sitting next to him for what he was. A human being suffering just as much as everyone else in the Domes.

"Did you ever try to escape, before you reached the city?" Nedes questioned cautiously. Emeric nodded slowly, "We did, but obviously, it was without success."

Nedes was watching him curiously, so he added, "The Elite leader had nearly broken my ankle when we were captured, I could hardly walk, so escaping would be pretty much useless. Once it was better, we tried, but there we too many Elites for my Dad and I to take on."

"Do you think he could have escaped before his..." Nedes trailed off, not sure how to word his thoughts, "Before they, you know." Nedes said and drew a finger across his neck.

Emeric felt a frown cross his brow as Nedes made the gesture.

"I don't know. It's practically impossible." Emeric concluded in a tone of voice that declared that the conversation had reached its end.

They didn't speak further, but Emeric's mind was reeling, 'What if he did get away.' He wondered. A sudden hope hit him. Just maybe Rayhan might have made it. However, like Emeric had said, it was very unlikely...