Redeemer by Katie Clark

it hard to see. Hear. Think.
    “Got lost,” I finally choke out.
    “All the way out here?” he asks. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
    The other two guards chuckle and one says, “She just got fried. Give her a minute.”
    Fried?
    Somehow my mind goes back to my second day here, when Isabel told me to stay out of the tall grass. The third day, when a man got pushed into it. He screamed.
    No wonder.
    It must be the Greaters’ way of keeping the Lessers from going anywhere they don’t want them to go. How did I forget that?
    “You guys go on back,” the first one says. “I can handle her.”
    The others nod and head back to the guard tower.
    The first guard jerks me to my feet and practically drags me toward the mechanics shop. My legs won’t work properly but I manage to stay behind him without tripping too many times. He leads me directly to Randolph and shoves me forward. “You better give your people better advice. She’s lucky she didn’t get her head blown off.”
    Randolph scowls at me as the guard stomps away, but I don’t care about his scowl. I’m still too rattled by the electricity vibrating through my bones and the fact that the guard let me go. He must be on Randolph’s side—whichever side that is.
    “I told you to stay out of sight until dark.”
    “I tried.” An involuntary shudder races up my spine, and I grind my teeth as I work to calm myself. “I hid in the grass, but apparently it’s laced with electricity.”
    “You ain’t been here long, have you?” Randolph turns away from me, apparently not worried if someone sees me now. He continues working on whatever it was he was doing before I interrupted him.
    “Less than a week.”
    He shakes his head. “So eager to get out.”
    I’ve already told him why I want to leave. I don’t have to explain myself further. Besides, my throat burns and talking hurts it worse.
    “The others will be here at dark. We’ll discuss more then.” And with that he effectively dismisses me.
    I find an out-of-the-way seat and try to fold into the scenery until the few people left in the shop pack up and leave. After a while, Randolph moves to the huge roll-down door of the shop and pulls it until only a few feet remain open at the bottom.
    “You can come out now,” he says.
    I’m not sure I really want to, but I do as he says. He said there would be others, so I won’t be alone in my escape. As the minutes tick by, a question forms in my mind. I study Randolph, and when he glances my way I ask him. “Why do you stay and help others leave?”
    He shrugs. “What reason do I have to leave? They give me food and a place to sleep. They turn the other way when I let others out—as long as I keep their machines running, they don’t care. I’ve got a good life here.”
    His words make sense, but still they bother me. “But don’t you ever feel you could do more on the outside? Help the cause of those who want freedom for us all?”
    “Not my fight.”
    I don’t understand his attitude. It’s the same complacency Isabel and Jamie have. They don’t mind staying. They don’t want to join the fight.
    Then another thought hits me. “Why do you help others get out?”
    He shrugs. “Why not?”
    Shaking my head, I go back to my seat until the others arrive.
    The first man literally rolls under the front door.
    Randolph seems surprised. “You giving it another shot?”
    The man—who’s more like a boy—shrugs. “Third time’s a charm.”
    I balk. He’s tried to get out two times and failed?
    A few others trickle in, and Randolph moves to stand in front of us when one last body rolls under the door. She stands up and I gasp.
    “Isabel!”
    She frowns at me but hurries to sit at my side. “Hush, girl. Don’t draw any extra attention. That’s something you’re going to have to learn if you’re going to make a life on the outside.”
    I haven’t told her my story yet, and keeping quiet for the rest of my life isn’t on