The Grove (Ravens #1)

xx. silent anarchy

The City of the Forgotten had tread too deep into waters they could not handle. Waters they could not justify. Monday morning, the details were shared between only two tyrannical souls, but by the afternoon, three times the original number had learned the truth. And these six were not pleased with what they had discovered. Now it was Wednesday, and it was time to start a riot, it was time that they turned to anarchy.

But silent anarchy. Peaceful anarchy. Donovan Mayler was more than fully aware of that juxtaposition, and he was the one who advocated for a more quiet approach. The last time the city turned to anarchy, they dug themselves into their current predicament. Besides, he cared little about the fate of the city. It was not his home, nothing here belonged to him. He lived in a shabby hut underneath his friend's name—his own name stood for nothing. Nothing but a reminder of the person he once was. He knew since his first glance at Paricida that this city had turned its back on its own people. He felt no attachment to these streets anymore; he felt no reason to protect them. And the forest in danger? Why, he knew no one in those woods. It would be a shame for them to fall underneath Harper's rule, but he'd feel no guilt.

"Fifty miles due southeast, " Cameron Dawson said, entering the room, "That's where you'll have to go. Fifty-two, to be exact."

"Fifty-two miles in a random direction?" Marley gaped, "We're never going to find it. She might not even be there, and it could be occupied. There's five of us going, that's nothing."

"It's our best bet," Cameron sighed, "Kamai's been off the grid for two weeks now. She would have gotten there by now."

"She's been off the grid because your contact was killed, dumbass," Marley rolled her eyes, "Or he realized that whatever you were offering him wasn't good enough. We have no reason to believe she left that forest."

Jacob sighed, "It doesn't matter. If she's in the Grove, we have no way to find her. That thing's massive, and that's where Harper's going to invade."

"So we leave and hope that we can magically find her old summer camp, risk our lives in the process, just to find out she's not there and we can't come back here? Sounds like a suicide mission," Marley groaned.

"If we're still here when Harper invades the forest, then we're committing suicide by staying. There's what? A hundred people here? The Grove has a least three times that many," Jacob said.

"They aren't centralized, they don't have the communication to unite against us."

"That's what Harper's counting on. She's also counting on nurses like you to save people's lives on a daily basis," Donovan muttered, "So far, her streak's been pretty bad, no offense."

"None taken. I don't know shit about medicine," Marley admitted. Although her job was technically in a medical field, she was completely clueless towards anything in that subject. She was a nurse because it got her access to painkillers, and painkillers provided enough cash for their little group to survive. "So, you're saying that they'd somehow come together against us?"

"Precisely," Jacob nodded, "They speak the same language. They all want their autonomy. We're trying to take that away, they'll share a common enemy. Plus Kamai might be there, in which case they know everything about this city. None of us stand a chance."

"And this isn't a place we want to fight for," Natalia muttered, speaking her first words in this conversation, "So we need to get out regardless. It's just a matter of if we trek to this camp or not." The rest of the room nodded in agreement, although this was the plan they'd decided on the previous day.

"How much time do we have?" Jacob asked, turning to Cameron. He was their plug into the city's secret political agenda. He had now become a traitor to his own family, but it was only in efforts to save his friends. Besides, they took him back in now, after he turned his back on them, but his cousins had been lying to him for months now.

"The plans will be released tomorrow evening. Harper will call for a volunteer army, and then they'll invade in two weeks. The second week of October, I think," Cameron revealed. This was new, only decided on the previous evening.

"What happens if not enough people volunteer?" Natalia asked, "She's obviously crazy. I would never risk my life for her."

"Not everyone lives in the parasites' neighborhood," Donovan sighed, "She has support from people that don't know her personally."

"It'll probably be a three day journey," Cameron said, turning his attention back to his friends' plan, "It's only fifty miles away, but there are hills, and no roads anymore. I can get you guys an old map, but everything's different now, you know? You're going to get lost."

"Then we'll get lost," Jacob sighed, "We don't exactly have any other options."

Soon, the plan was set. In two days, Jacob, Donovan, Marley, and Natalia would leave the City of the Forgotten forever in hopes to discover Camp Peregrin, the lost haven where Kamai Wells once spent her summers. Before finding the city, when Kamai ran from the plague, Peregrin was the first place she went. After living there alone for about a week, she realized that there was nobody else coming, and that if she wanted to survive, she'd have to find someone else. She couldn't live on her own. And so she stumbled upon the City of the Forgotten, and she fell into the ragtag group of friends that would so quickly become iconic, and just as quickly fall apart.

Cameron and Rachel would stay behind. They had stolen two walkie talkies that were strong enough to cover a fifty-five mile radius. The camp fell right into that limit. Cameron had to stay to send them information, as well as make their exodus seem less suspicious. If he were to vanish, then wouldn't Harper realize he knew more than he was supposed to? No, Cameron must be their spy on the inside.

And then there was Rachel. Her name held title to the little shack where they had spent so many sleepless nights and tired days. As far as Harper knew, Jacob and Donovan had no associations with Rachel Greenesfelt. Every time they checked in to Paricida, they claimed that they were visiting the residency of Marley Dennis. As a nurse, Marley technically had a home, but it was nothing more than a tiny room with nothing but a bare lightbulb in the ceiling. Still, if Jacob and Donny disappeared alongside Marley, there would be nothing there to question. Rachel would be able to pull her strings from the inside.

They realized that the moment Harper told the city of her plans to dominate the nearby forest, there would be opposition. Some people would realize that what they planned to do was wrong, and they would look for a way out. Kamai's old summer camp used to hold three hundred kids, she'd mentioned once. If it was uninhabited, it could be theirs, and it could become a refuge for the parasites. Rachel would be operating the underground system, alerting the Riot of who would be arriving soon, providing safe passage to those who needed it. This was how they would fight for their city, because their city was only made up of the people who searched for humanity. The borders of this town meant nothing; but the borders of Peregrin could.

It was silent anarchy, and Donovan Mayler called it beautiful.