Page 67 of The Cult

His bare shoulders relaxed, but his hand remained on my face. “What kind of plan are you talking about?”

Tobias had opened up to me, I should be able to do the same. I owed him the truth.

***

Almost a Year Ago

My legs were wobbly, muscle exhaustion clinging to my every step. Hushed whispers among the other guys who’d completed their training minutes before I did greeted me when I entered our bunkroom. They were clustered in a circle, while one guy stood in front of them, watching the entrance. Everyone was half-naked; some wore underwear, while others had towels wrapped around their waists. It wasn’t uncommon that I finished last because I was the youngest of the group. At eighteen, I was still adjusting to my new life away from my mom and Maddy. Out here, all we ever did was work out. Their voices died down as soon as they caught sight of my limping ass. They exchanged meaningful glances. Are they weirded out now that they know I’m gay? They assured me they didn’t care when I told them a couple of nights ago. “What’s up, guys?” I nodded in their direction.

Five, who I used to call Joshua and the one we all looked up to, stood. He stepped forward to meet me halfway. “I’m glad you’re back.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and ushered me to join the huddle. “So … Nine,” he began. “Can we trust you?”

I met his eyes before panning to the rest of the faces pinned on mine. “Yes.”

“Whose side are you on? Theirs or ours?” Five’s baritone voice was low but intense.

I straightened my posture, despite my weariness. What was up with all these questions? “I’ve always been on your side.” I thought they knew that.

My answer seemed to satisfy the group as cautious nods were exchanged between them. Five stepped forward, joining the guys who were now all standing. He stood in front of them, his expression unreadable. “We’ve been planning our escape,” he said.

“What!” I exclaimed, the weight of his words sinking in. “When?”

“Shhh.” Five pressed his index finger against his lips. “Keep it down. No one can know. Not even your family. We can’t trust anyone but us.” He motioned to the room we all shared.

I nodded. “Got it.” Flickers of hope sprung to life within me. Could we really break free from this place? That would be the greatest day. “How’re we gonna do it? What about our family out there?”

“They’re part of the bigger plan,” Five said.

“What do you mean ‘bigger plan?’” I asked, dreading the prospect of leaving my mom and sister alone in the compound. Maddy was too young to be taking care of our ill mother.

“Listen, Nine. We can’t take everyone out all at once. We have to do this in stages. The plan is for us to go first, then come back for our families.”

“When do we come back?”

“As soon as possible. We have people outside waiting for that day.”

“I dunno about leaving them here alone. What if they go after them?” I asked the group. Surely I wasn’t the only one who thought about that possibility.

“Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. We will have people and a couple of guards to watch over them,” Five explained. His sympathetic smile conveyed his sincerity.

“There are guards on our side?”

“Yes, a few. Some who were recruited to join Orcus’s security a few years ago.”

I absorbed every detail as Five outlined the plan. My pulse raced with a mixture of excitement and fear, the prospect of freedom tantalizingly close yet cloaked with uncertainty. What Five said made sense—we couldn’t bring everyone with us, but we must make tough decisions for a chance to reclaim our lives and freedom.

“I’m in,” I said. “When?”

“Not until we get the green light outside.”

“And how do we do that?”

“With this,” someone from the back said. The crowd parted and a guy walked toward me. He showed me an old cell phone that was held together with black duct tape. “This is our lifeline.”

Five tapped the phone-holding guy’s shoulder, and he went back and placed the phone in a small square hole in the floor by prying off one of the tiles. “We’ve mapped the entire compound and found weak points in their security.”

I’d heard about the Restricted Zone and how no one who made it there ever came back. There were rumors that it was the center of Orcus’s operations, but no one had been able to validate that story. Whatever was over there had to be bad news. This was The Creed, after all. The only constant about this cult was the secrets they kept. “What are we gonna do to get over there?”

“That’s the part of the plan we’re still working on. The selection will take place in a few months, and we’re hoping one of us can find a way to scout the area and come back. The final piece of the puzzle.”

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