A cautious fellow, thought Gabriele, but also a pain in the ass.
Dawn was beginning to show on the horizon.
The fear seemed to thicken as it rose from the crowd. One could almost smell it. They were all returning towards the gate, each carrying heaps of fruit, each jockeying to be the first in line. Gabriele was lending a hand, helping carry Klaus’ basket, which was packed to the brim with fruit. He’d left the sack he’d had with him back in the orchard. It wasn’t as though it had contained anything of value.
Eventually the black mass of the wall came into view. Fifty meters high. Perhaps it would have been visible through the trees at night, but it had blended too well into the darkness for Gabriele to notice.
Chains held up the gate’s iron-plated door. The entrance was three meters high, another three wide. It gave way to a cave-like passageway that had a curved ceiling. Two soldiers were stationed at each flank, checking names to papers in their hands, letting the people through one by one. The gatekeepers looked considerably young. They were in their mid-teens, possibly even in their early teens.
Those who had already arrived formed a line that all but clung to the wall in the half-dark. No doubt they were trying to get as close to “the inside world” and as far from “the outside world” where the Titans roamed as they could. The behavior was pointless, but Gabriele didn’t fail to understand the sentiment behind it.
He joined the line with Klaus.
The wall next to them, built from old stone, was heavily marked. Gabriele knew that a huge number of Titans had swarmed in around it half a year ago. The scarring could have resulted from the Titans’ nails or from stray shells during a bombardment. Then again, it was possibly natural delapidation over the course of time.
A middle-aged couple stood ahead of them, while a couple of youths, probably brothers, waited behind. The others from Klaus’ team were farther back. The short and slippery woman went, it seemed, by the name of Nikki. She and Klaus appeared to be in charge of the rest of their company.
At Klaus’ bidding, Gabriele put down their basket, then wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
“You sure they won’t notice?”
“Calm down.”
“I am calm, but still.”
They hadn’t had any runaways that night, so Gabriele would take the name of someone who had passed through the gate before him. Since the name was common, the chances of being suspected were low, he’d been assured.
“The runaways you’ve had so far…” Gabriele started.
“Too loud.”
“Sorry.” Gabriele moved closer to Klaus and lowered his voice. “But really, the runaways. What happens to them?”
“I’d like to ask you the same. I’ve been in here the whole time, half a year.” Klaus indicated the wall with his eyes.
“Right. Fair enough.”
“You didn’t see any? Outside.” Klaus was asking if anyone who might be a runaway had crossed paths with Gabriele as he’d drifted in the exterior.
He shrugged. “Now and then I caught sight of people like me. Just running from one place to the next, like they had nowhere to go, it looked like. Can’t really say if they were runaways or not.”
“Right.” Klaus bent down and took hold of the basket. The line was moving again. He murmured, “I suppose most of them are dead. Eaten by Titans.”
“Probably.”
“You’re a rare example. It’s not normal for someone to last half a year.”
“I was just lucky.”
“Yeah. I can see that.”
Gabriele was already growing accustomed to Klaus’ sarcasm and antagonism. They moved forwards carried by the flow of people. Their turn came faster than expected.
Klaus went ahead and spoke to the soldiers first. He gruffly gave an unfamiliar name. Gabriele was confused for a moment but realized soon enough─Klaus, himself, had been out on a false identity. He’d given Gabriele his real name so readily, assuming “Klaus” was his real name, because he’d decided it was safe to do so.
“Proceed.”
The soldier jerked his chin towards the passageway. Klaus carried the basket for three steps, then came to a stop.
Gabriele was next to stand between the soldiers. He gave them the name Klaus had prepped him with. He was surprised at how easily it rolled off his tongue.
He’d always been a good liar.
One of the soldiers glanced at his papers then ran a finger down the list of names. He looked back up and fixed Gabriele with a weary gaze.
Gabriele felt a rush of dread. He wondered if the soldier was about to ask who he really was. But the soldier remained silent, only tutting, and dropped his eyes back to his papers.
“Hurry up then,” he said, terse, pointing beyond the gate with his chin.
Someone with the same name would have already gone through, but the soldier had apparently decided this was a mistake in the ledger. With their focus on detecting runaways, they had failed to consider the possibility of someone like Gabriele trying to gain access from outside. It was hardly surprising; Quinta hadn’t received a single visitor in the last half-year.
Feeling oddly let down, Gabriele exchanged a look with Klaus, then began to walk forwards.
The wall being close to ten meters thick at the base, it took a while to clear it. The ground was covered in stone and, with watch fires burning at regular intervals, it was considerably easier going than the outside.
Past the corridor, a broad thoroughfare led away in a straight line. Enormous brick buildings hugged the side of the wall. They looked like warehouses. Small crowds of people were gathered outside the entrances of each one.
“They used to belong to merchant associations, but the Garrison controls them now,” Klaus, having picked up on Gabriele’s interest, told him.
Taking directions from more soldiers, they carried the fruit they’d gathered into one of the warehouses. This doorway, too, was flanked with watch fires. The other buildings, probably residential, remained submerged in the penumbra. It seemed Quinta was yet to wake.
Some people broke away from the crowd and ran up to and embraced this or that basket bearer. They had to be family of the residents who had been out on the Night Harvest. Urged by the soldiers, the latter came away from their loved ones for the time being, carrying the fruit they’d gathered into the warehouse.
Gabriele and Klaus followed from behind. They climbed a low staircase and entered the building.
The ceiling was impressively high. The place was, it seemed, being used solely for storing fruit and vegetables. Gabriele’s nose prickled at the smell of the raw produce. The wooden boxes and baskets were stowed directly on the floor. There were tall shelves to either side, but these were mainly empty. They didn’t look like they’d be filled soon.
It was at least true, then, that the food situation was bad.
More soldiers had been posted by the walls inside, watchful so nobody attempted to make off with any of the food. They carried rifles with wooden stocks.
Ignoring them, Gabriele left the building with Klaus. He took a deep breath of Quinta. The air in the orchard was probably fresher, but somehow it felt more invigorating here. Perhaps it was the sense of security, the knowledge that he was protected by the wall.
“This way.”
Klaus started off down the mostly empty thoroughfare.
“We’re not waiting?”
Gabriele couldn’t see Nikki and the others. He’d been sure the rest were coming along behind them, but it looked as though he’d been wrong.
Klaus didn’t even look back. “We can’t look conspicuous. We’re going back separately.”
“Where are we going?”
There was a pause.
“Our hangout,” Klaus chose his words and answered.
It had to be their safe house, or something like it.