Read Online Redeemer by Katie Clark - Free Book Online

catch up with Isabel.
    “Watch out for the tall grass on either side of the road,” she says.
    She doesn’t need to remind me of that.
    But it’s not hard, as long as I stay on the clear path. We jog for long, silent minutes, and finally I stop her.
    “I need a break, Isabel. I’m thirsty.”
    She nods and pulls me into an alcove of trees, then retrieves a canister of water from her pack. “Here.”
    I take a long drink and try to steady my heavy breathing. “Don’t you think that was way too easy?”
    She shakes her head and shrugs. “They were preoccupied. There aren’t enough guards as it is.”
    But her explanation doesn’t sit well. If that’s truly all the guards Lesser 4 has, something is terribly wrong. There were more guards in the Middle Cities, and those don’t even house criminals.
    “How are we supposed to find Jesper now?”
    Isabel straightens and looks around, but it’s clear she’s been turned backwards in her direction, too. “We don’t have to meet Jesper. There are others.”
    “But how do we find them?”
    She grins and the serious Isabel is gone. This is the woman I met my first day in line. “I reckon we walk, sugar.”
    We make our way back to the road. “I doubt there’s any electro-grass this far out,” she says. “The tall grass will make a good hiding place if we have to dive.”
    Memories of a few months ago filtrate through my mind, memories of hiding in the grass with Guard Nev. The memories fight for space in my mind, sucking up the area like a tornado. Finally, I have to let out the memories.
    “I tested as Greater.”
    Isabel glances at me but doesn’t speak. I don’t let that discourage me. I’m ready to tell her my story, and I want to hear hers in return.
    “It started when my mom got sick.”
    Mom. My heart hurts just thinking her name.
    Isabel listens to my story without comment. I tell her about Mom’s illness, and how the Greaters refused to give her chemo. I tell her how it sent me on a journey to Jesus Christ as well as the rebellion. I tell her how it led me to Lesser City 4.
    We climb small hills and make sharp turns as I talk, and finally, as I’m finishing up and the sun rises, we find a rocky area and hide behind it.
    “I was born Greater,” Isabel says.
    Her words don’t surprise me, not since I heard the man in the church call her Greater.
    “Lived life and loved life,” she says. “But once I tested, and began my training, I had to travel outside the city. They took me out west and used me to develop new cities. I asked what the cities were for, but no one would give me an answer. Once the people moved in, and I saw how the Lessers were treated as slaves—not able to leave their compound, not even being told they were working for the Greaters—I protested. The other Greaters didn’t understand my protests, and they certainly didn’t like it. That’s when I was sent away.”
    So she had helped develop the cities in the west.
    “You were sent to Lesser 4 right away?”
    She smirks and shakes her head. “Not exactly. Lesser 4 hadn’t really been classified yet, but they stuck me there anyway. There were no walls around the city, just a bunch of us misfits. Once they had more of us, they decided they’d better lock us in. That’s when the wall was put up.”
    “That’s how you knew where each of the doors were.”
    She nods.
    “Has security always been so lax?”
    “No.” Her words are swift and sure. “That’s only been the last couple years.” Her gaze moves out to the open plains beyond the rocks. “Things are changing. It’s the only reason I decided to help you.”
    Her words sink in as I attempt to relax against the rocks. “How did you know I was even trying to make a difference?”
    She pauses way too long.
    Finally, she turns to me and stares me straight in the eye. “Your last name’s Norfolk, ain’t it sugar?”
    My heart stutters and then restarts in double speed, and my throat closes so suddenly I can