Inside The Wall, Caleb VanSteenwyk [little bear else holmelund minarik TXT] 📗

The walls surrounding the city always amazed me. Measuring 100 meters, the steel fortress served as protection, security, and safety, but also kept us here. No one knew what was on the other side of the walls. Some said there was nothing on the other side, just a vast landscape with no sign of life. Others said horrible, horrible things rested outside. Those huge walls were easily the biggest structure in Koron.
I was determined to reach the top, and be the first Peasant in who knows how long to see over the wall. For all we know, Nobles could take tours over the wall and see over it whenever they want. In their district, anything they wanted could be there. Their guards patrolled the top, to no surprise. The Rebellion could get into their wonderful District if they got on top of those walls.
But I wanted to see over it. Ever since I was a kid, I looked up at those walls in amazement. I figured that they were the tops of the world, and from there you could look down on everything, see everything in existence. I would be free from poverty, hunger, and all my other troubles. Since then, it became an obsession of mine to see over the top. Today was the day I would see over those walls, and be on top of the world, the highest structure in the city. But I couldn’t stay long. Guards would be there quick. Those guards are at least twice as fast as any other man in the city, but I was sure I could get away. I have been climbing rooftops for years.
The plan I had developed was simple, actually. There was a chain-mail fence that used to surround a warehouse, but now it just sat there, as it was closed a long time ago. My brother and me would climb up that fence, and leap onto the rooftop. Since it was so close to the wall, alarms might sound, and we’d sprint from there. There was only one leap between buildings that we would have to complete. On the second rooftop, there was a cable supporting the wall. We could climb up this cable one at a time. I wasn’t sure if it was strong enough to support both of us. The cable would take us to the top of the wall- to momentary freedom.
From there, we would run to the next support cable and slide down to safety.
“Are you sure we should do this, Bryce?” My brother asked.
“Of course. It’s simple. We just have to climb the fence,” I pointed to everything as I talked. “Hop to the roof, and climb the support cable to the top of the wall. When the guards come, run to the next support cable, and slide down. We’ve climbed buildings a million times before.”
“What if the guards get to us?” John asked.
“We’ll be gone by then. Don’t be a wuss” I teased. “We’ve climbed rooftops all the time. It’s just the same thing.”
John smiled. “Well, I guess your right…” John waited a second, than yelled “Race you to the top!” And with that, he ran at the fence at full force. Laughing, I sprinted after him, and leaped up on the chain mail fence, climbing up like a rock wall. Like I expected, when John landed on the first roof, the alarm sounded. A small red flashing device popped out of the wall next to John, making a high pitched wailing sound.
“Keep going!” I encouraged. “We’ve got at least two minutes before those guards show up, and the fence was half the height! Just keep running.”
“Well I wasn’t planning on stopping.” John shouted back.
When I got on top of the first roof, John had reached a gap between buildings. Without hesitation, he jumped over to the next building. One leg got over, but the other was dangling over the edge, and he had a death grip on the shingles.
“Hang on!” I yelled, and cleared the gap easily with my longer legs. I gave him a hand, and pulled him up on the roof. He rolled over on to his back.
“You alright?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It was just a little close.” John replied.
“Well, this will sure give me a good head start!” I sneered, and ran up the slanted roof towards the support cable. At this point, I had forgot about seeing over the wall and was just teasing my brother, racing him to the top.
“Aw, come on!” John yelled cheerfully, and got up to sprint towards me. In the far background, I could hear the perfectly synchronized marching of the guards, and I picked up my pace.
Behind me, John did as well, and his expression turned to worry. It would not be good for either of us if the guards got to us. But I needed to see over that wall. When I reached the support cable, I leaped up onto it and climbed up, hand over hand, as fast as I could. When I was about halfway up, I looked down to see John waiting at the bottom of the support cable. Farther down, the guards were climbing up the fence. They were huge, each in full body armor. They climbed up the fence extremely fast, and I hurried up faster up the cable. When I reached the top, I looked down at John and told him to hurry up the cable.
He leaped up without question, and climbed quickly but awkwardly up the cable, as if he wasn’t quite sure how to do it. The guards were sprinting up the roof, and made the leap across the gap with a couple yards to spare. This was a jump further than any human could’ve done, yet they each did it with ease. Each of them, I could now see, was carrying heavy weaponry. Some seemed to be carrying machine-guns, some shotguns, and lost of other assorted weaponry.
Hurry, John, hurry! I thought. “John, meet me over at the next support cable!” I screamed, and ran. I knew we needed to get out of here as soon as possible. The guards arrived a lot faster than I anticipated. When I finished sprinting on top of the wall, I slid down the support cable, onto a building overlooking the muddy river that was our only source of water.
When I looked over the river towards John, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The guards had caught up to John, and were taking him down the cable. I knew where they were taking him. They would turn him into a guard and force him to fight in their ranks. With pain, I realized that I lost my brother and didn’t even look over the wall. I should’ve stayed and fought, I thought. But then I’d be captured or dead, too.

I arrived at my house after an hour or two of just thinking of everything on the rooftops. It was a very small unit, even for a Peasant. But the only one living with me was John. When our parents died, I had to take care of John. At the time, I was 14 and John was six. I’d been looking after him for six years- and now he’s gone.
Most likely, I’d never see him again. There are thousands of guards patrolling not just our District, but theirs, the dividing wall, and everywhere else in the city. And the city was just too big.
The house, if you could call it that, had shabby wooden walls, a bare-earth floor, and a shingled roof with holes everywhere. It was run-down, old, and probably had a few pests. Inside was one room, with two old mattresses as the only furniture. I afforded this, plus food and everything else, by stealing. My dad died before he could teach me how to fish, which was what he did. So, it was the only way I could get any money.
Off my mattress, I grabbed some money that wasn’t mine, and went for a drink. I knew the owner of a nearby bar pretty well, and I’ve been going there for about a year.
When I walked in, I was greeted heartedly by Baron, the bar owner. “Bryce! Come in and have a seat!” He motioned to a stool up next to a wooden bar, and got me a drink. I handed him the money. He looked at me funny.
“Whose money is this your using today?” Baron asked, knowing how a get my cash.
“Don’t know.” I replied bleakly.
“Getting sloppy with this?” Baron asked.
“Maybe a little.” I answered him, before he seemed to pick up that I wasn’t in a good mood.
“What happened today? You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I climbed the wall with John.”
“Did you get the top?” Baron asked.
“I did. John was behind me and got captured by the guards.”
Baron stopped what he was doing and looked at me. “I’m truly sorry. You have to know there was nothing you could do. The Nobles wouldn’t just let John go because he was young. They’d tell the guards to take him away.”
“I had my knife with me. I could’ve at least fought back against the guards, but I ran across the wall, and told him to meet me on the next building. I should’ve stopped and looked after him. Or at the least let him climb first. There are so many things I could’ve done, but I chose the most cowardly option possible.”
“Look, if John didn’t get taken away, you would. And if you would’ve stayed and fought, you know you would’ve lost the fight. The guard’s don’t make mistakes. They’re human, but their programmed not to make any mistakes- you would’ve lost the fight right away. You would’ve been killed or captured.”
“It’s better that way. I can’t deal with the fact that I’m the one who lost John.” I took a long gulp.
Baron had no response for a long time. “Did you see over the top?”
“No. I didn’t even accomplish what I was planning to. I lost my brother, and the climbing was a failure.” I took another deep gulp of stale drink, and hoped that if I drank enough I would forget tonight – or even die.
“Look. I have one thing that might get your mind off things. There is the option of getting back, joining the Rebellion.” Baron suggested.
I looked at him with a cold disgust. “No.”
“Why not?” Baron asked.
“You know why not! I can’t look at a rebel in the eye without thinking that their fights are what killed my parents. I’m not joining. That’s a mistake my parents made, but now I know better.”
“That was six years ago! The fight is still alive, so what does that tell