The Future Was Now

by J. R. Harber

  Eve glared at him for a moment, then went on. “He trusted you. Do you know how to access his back door? Can you get into the system? I have his computer, the one he kept everything on.”

  “No,” Saul said and sighed. “I’m sorry, Evie.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she said—it sounded like an automatic response, ingrained from years of habit, and Asa hid a smile.

  “Eve,” Saul said with emphasis. “Daniel never showed me how to get into the system.”

  “Could you try?” There was a note of pleading in her voice.

  “Maybe I could figure it out, sure, but …” He grasped for words. “You want me to change your records in the State system? Make it look like none of this ever happened?”

  “Yes,” Asa put in quickly.

  “Right. So, the problem is, the Network is live. It’s constantly monitoring itself for anomalies, break-ins, that kind of thing. If I try to get in there and change something, not knowing what I’m doing, three things will happen: I’ll be spotted almost instantly, my access will be cut off, and whatever I was doing will be scrutinized. If I wanted to break in and shut down Horizon’s drone system for a minute, I might be able to do that. But I would never be able to access it again, because whatever crack I found my way through would be found and sealed. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes,” Asa said, though he had understood only about half of it.

  Eve hugged the bag of Daniel’s things to her chest. “Why could Daniel get in, then?” she asked.

  “Because he had whatever pathway his grandfather built in when he created the Network, and I don’t know where it is. It’s like a secret passage in a house. If you know where it is, you can get straight from one room to another without anyone knowing you’re there. Me, I don’t know where it is. I’d have to start by breaking through the walls with a hammer. People notice that kind of thing. Just by looking for it, I would give myself away.”

  Eve sighed and rubbed her eyes. “So, we have to get to David in Sanctuary after all,” she said wearily.

  Saul frowned. “Why do you have to go back at all? Now that you know we’re out here, why not stay? I know it’s a different life, but it’s a good one, and Eve … I don’t want to lose you again.”

  Eve pulled a little coil of red-coated wire from the bag and began twisting it back and forth but did not answer.

  “I have to go back,” Asa said firmly. “I can’t stay out here, cut off from my whole family—from the whole world.” He glanced at Eve, who was fixated on the wire, lacing it through her fingers, then undoing it, over and over. “Can you help us get to Sanctuary?” he asked.

  Saul leaned back, looking up at the bunk above his head as if the answer might be written there. “I can,” he said at last. “The river isn’t far from here—a few hours’ drive, and we have solar cars, so you won’t get stranded in the middle of the desert.”

  “The electric car was all we could get,” Asa said defensively.

  “Well, it’s going to make a very nice scrap vehicle for parts,” Saul said. Asa was about to protest but thought better of it. “The problem is the river,” Saul said. “Are you really going to cross a whole river full of water? It’s not some little stream in the countryside, it’s massive, and it’s fast-moving. You can’t just paddle across. You could fall in or get exposed.”

  He glanced at Eve, who was still toying with the wire, though now she was staring into space as if the men beside her were not there.

  “Is there a way across?” Asa asked, letting his voice grow steely.

  He had spent the day bewildered by their new surroundings, but now someone was trying to convince him not to do what he wanted to do. Asa was used to that, but he was also accustomed to eventually getting his way.

  “It’s not safe,” Saul repeated. “This is crazy—I can’t send my baby sister off to get her brain eaten by the Bug.”

  “What do you know?” Eve snapped, and Saul jumped. She set the bag aside and stood up, crossing her arms. “I’m not a little girl. You don’t know anything about me. My parents died, then my brother died too. I had to get tough.” Saul stared at her. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but instead she smoothed her hair, brushing it back, and sat down beside Asa. “Is there a bridge?” she asked calmly. “Or a boat?”

  Saul looked from her to Asa and back again. “There’s a boat.” He paused. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to the old boathouse at the river’s edge. You can go from there.”

  “Thank you,” Asa said fervently. Eve simply nodded.

  Saul stood. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said and walked out, closing the door behind him.

  Asa turned to Eve, but she had already curled up on the bunk, facing away from him. Oh well, he thought and got up to turn off the light. He felt his way back through the dark to the bunk next to Eve’s, aided by the faint glow of a small night-light on the far side of the room. He was settling himself on the bed when she muttered something only half-audible.

  “What?” Asa whispered, and she turned to face him.

  “I said there’s room here.” Her eyes glinted softly in the shadows. She gave Asa a tentative smile. “I’m so tired,” she whispered, “and I don’t want to sleep alone.”

  “You don’t have to,” Asa said quickly.

  He grabbed the pillow from the second bunk, then carefully got onto the narrow bed beside her. She took his arm and pulled it around her waist, holding his hand against her chest as he wrapped himself around her smaller body. He brushed his lips against the back of her neck, and she sighed contentedly, resting beside him as if he could protect her from the world.

  You will never have to sleep alone, he vowed to her silently. She stirred, her body swaying against his, and he wondered, with a sharp longing, if he would ever be able to sleep again.

  In the morning, a teenage girl came to wake them. She shouted, “Breakfast!” and pounded on the door before flinging it open, and Asa hastily stood up, disoriented. The girl stared at him for a moment, then repeated, “Breakfast.”

  “Thanks,” he said awkwardly.

  Eve sat up. “Can you show us how to get there?” she asked, and the girl nodded.

  “I’ll wait outside,” she said after a moment’s thought and closed the door behind her.

  Saul was already in the dining room when they were led in, and Cyrus, Lilith, and Simon joined the group when Asa and Eve sat down. They ate quickly.

  “I’m going to have Cyrus and Lilith take you to the boathouse,” Saul said briskly. “From there, you’re on your own. You’ll have to cross the river, get into Sanctuary, find David, get back out, and cross the river again.” He looked as if he was about to say more, but Eve stopped him.

  “We already know what you think, Saul. We’re still going,” she said firmly.

  Simon had a small gadget on the table beside his plate and had been neglecting his breakfast as he tinkered with it. Now he made a small, satisfied sound and held it out to Saul, who inspected it briefly, then nodded. Simon gave the thing to Eve, who pressed a button experimentally.

  She’s probably seen it before, Asa thought, slightly envious for the first time of her apparent ease with this strange society.

  “Once you’re ready to leave, you can radio us,” Saul went on. “Someone will come back with a car to get you, but don’t use the radio before you reach this side of the river again. The State monitors the radio waves, and there’s a chance they’ll pick up the signal and find you before we can.” Eve nodded soberly, and Saul stood. “There’s one more thing you should take,” he said.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Cyrus said, and Saul held up a hand.

  “We talked about this. I’m not sending her out there unarmed.”

  “She doesn’t know how to use it,” Cyrus argued. “She could hurt herself, or one of us.”

  “What are you talking about?” Eve asked sharply, and they looked at her as if they had forgotten she was there.

  “A
gun,” Lilith said. “Saul wants to give you one, and I agree. You don’t know what you’re going to face out there. Something like this.”

  She took two strange metal objects from her belt and laid them heavily on the table. Asa glanced around the dining room. Earlier he had noticed people wearing what he had assumed to be cumbersome belt decorations of some kind, but he had not considered whether they had a purpose. Now he looked around and saw, appallingly, that almost every person there was wearing a weapon. He looked at Saul; Eve’s brother wore two, almost identical to the ones Lilith had just set on the table.

  “We’re not taking weapons,” Asa said, not attempting to hide his disgust.

  “It would be for your protection,” Saul said.

  “No,” Eve said. “No. I know things out here are … different. But no.” She watched Lilith’s weapons, inert on the table, as if they might suddenly spring to life.

  “Eve, you don’t even know what they do,” Saul said.

  “Saul! I said no.”

  Lilith slowly took her weapons off the table and reattached them to her belt. “I think it’s a mistake,” she said mildly.

  “I think all of this is a mistake,” Cyrus said, giving Asa and Eve a dark stare.

  “Maybe,” Asa said. “But it’s what we’re going to do.”

  “Time to go,” Saul said, picking up one of Eve’s bags as he stood.

  They followed him out of the dining room and up the many sets of stairs to the enormous room at ground level, Lilith and Cyrus taking up the rear like guards—which, Asa realized, they actually were.

  Asa shielded his eyes as they emerged into the sunlight, blinking as his vision adjusted. He looked at Eve, who smiled at him.

  “Nice to be outside again,” she whispered, and he nodded.

  “Asa Isaac Rosewood! Eve Layla Ashland!” someone shouted from a dozen feet away.

  Asa looked around wildly and spotted the stalker who had arrested him in Horizon emerge from behind one of the cars parked beside the building. He strode toward them almost mechanically.

  “By the authority of the State, you will be questioned, judged, and sentenced—”

  Cyrus lunged at the stalker, then was thrown back by an invisible force. He collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain, and as the stalker kept walking, Asa saw the stunner in his hand.

  “Asa Isaac Rosewood,” the stalker repeated. “Eve Layla Ashland. By the authority of the State—”

  A bang went off, like a small explosion, and Asa grabbed Eve instinctively, pulling her toward him. The stalker jerked his head back as something whizzed by him unimaginably fast, then embedded into the concrete wall of the building with a resounding crack.

  The stalker stared at the wall, where a hole had appeared, and raised a hand to his ear. His fingers came away bloody. He looked around slowly. Saul and Lilith had leapt into protective stances on either side of Eve and Asa, and behind him were several of the guards. They were brandishing the small metal weapons they all carried on their belts, but no one used them. Instead, they began to gather from all sides in a trained formation, moving to capture their prey. Just as they closed in on him, the stalker jumped between two of the guards with lightning speed, then took off at a run. He clipped against Cyrus without slowing as Lilith and the other guards discharged their weapons.

  “He’s got my gun!” Cyrus shouted, scrambling to his feet.

  He reached for his other weapon and took off chasing the stalker. Two of the guards followed. Asa gripped Eve’s hand, his heart pounding; the stalker was faster than anyone he had ever witnessed, and he had seemed to vanish almost instantly, disappearing into the vast expanse of a desert that offered nowhere to hide.

  Minutes passed, then Cyrus and the others reappeared, exhausted. “I don’t know how, but he got away,” Cyrus said grimly as he tried to catch his breath.

  Lilith turned on Eve with a fiery glare. “This is all your fault,” she hissed. “You’ve brought the State down on us. You both have to get the fuck out of here!”

  “Back off her. We didn’t do this on purpose!” Asa yelled.

  “It’s not their fault,” Saul said curtly. “Asa, get in the car. I can’t send my people with you now. Leave it by the river.”

  Asa nodded and opened the passenger side door as Eve went to the driver’s side.

  “Eve,” Saul said, grasping her arm. “Don’t do this. Stay with me. Don’t risk your life to go with him.”

  “I’m not going for him!” Eve wrested her arm free, then took her brother’s hand. “I’m going for me. I have to know what happened to Daniel—why he was the way he was. What could have made him despair so much that he would take his own life. I thought it was me who failed him, but now you say he was always like that, and I … I want to know why. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with him, but I loved him. He loved me—he loved us. He was a good man. I know his grandfather has answers, and I need to hear them.”

  Saul sighed. He started to say something, then just shook his head.

  “Can’t you come with us?” Eve asked.

  “No,” he said sadly.

  “Okay, then.” She opened the car door.

  “Eve. I’ll see you again,” Saul said with sudden confidence. “Believe and it will be so.”

  She nodded. “You will,” she whispered and hugged him fiercely. Asa got into the car, and a moment later she joined him, slamming the door behind her as she wiped her eyes.

  “Are you ready?” Asa asked, and she smiled at him, her eyes still red.

  “I better be,” she said and started the car. In the rearview mirror, Asa saw Saul and his people watching their departure resolutely. Eve glanced back once, then sped up as they drove toward the river and Sanctuary.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  GABRIEL WAITED, CONCEALED BEHIND AN outcropping of rock, until the last voices and sounds of movement had faded. He carefully pulled the balled-up cloth of his shirt away from the wound for a moment to check it. The blood was still flowing freely, but as far as he could tell, all that was damaged was his earlobe. He looked down at his chest, already pink from the blazing sun overhead.

  It seemed brighter out here in the Waste, as if the air were thinner and the atmosphere less protective—though that must have been because there were no buildings or trees to give the respite of shade. This rock was the best he’d found so far.

  There’ll be an emergency kit in the car—and hopefully an extra shirt.

  Gabriel took steady breaths. He was beginning to feel light-headed, but he had not lost enough blood for that to be the reason; he was only feeling the aftereffects of adrenaline.

  Wait fifteen minutes. If they don’t come back, get to the car. One, two, three …

  He began to count the seconds, tracking the time as they had all been trained to do when they learned to count. Thirty years on, he could do it in the back of his mind, scarcely paying attention. He sometimes thought he was always counting, even when he didn’t mean to, tracking the moments as his life ticked by, just in case someday someone showed up to demand an accounting.

  As he tracked the seconds in the back of his mind, he turned the rest of his attention to the strange weapon he had snatched from the man who had attacked him. It was an L shape, about eight inches in length, with a little loop and tab at the bend.

  That’s the trigger mechanism, he thought, envisioning his attacker’s movements in the split second before the projectile had struck him.

  He ran his hands over the smooth metal, then picked the thing up carefully and held it the way the outlaws had, keeping his finger outside the trigger loop.

  The thing that hit me—it went an inch into a concrete wall. It was meant to hit me. The thought sent a cold sensation down his spine, but he brushed thoughts of his own mortality aside, more interested in the meaning of what he had witnessed.

  So that is the brutality of the Waste. Men and women with weapons that will rip a human being apart, dispatching them without even a question.
>
  Ten minutes left; he noted his internal clock.

  Something nagged at him: the insight was incomplete. He closed his eyes and pictured the scene again.

  They came out of the building with the wasters. I shouted their names. That man approached, and I knocked him down with my stunner. The weapons were not their first choice—no one fired on me until I had harmed one of theirs. They were organized—they had rules of some kind. Discipline.

  Seven minutes.

  They came out of that enormous building—it’s big enough to house a whole community. There were men and women. They were all well-fed, healthy looking. Not desperate, not scrabbling to survive. They defended that place like it was their home.

  Five minutes.

  Gabriel leaned back, letting the sun beat down on his face. Wasters are scattered, indiscriminately violent—almost inhuman, he thought, recalling the common wisdom everyone knew. That’s the problem with something everyone knows—no one ever bothers to find out if it’s true.

  One minute.

  Gabriel opened his eyes, hefting the weapon in his hands again. He itched to try it, just once, but the sound it made had been deafening, like fireworks at close range. It would bring the wasters running to him.

  Time’s up.

  He leaned on the rock for support to stand but found that he was steady on his feet; the blood loss was not as bad as it looked. Gabriel glanced around cautiously, then hurried across the sand to the place where he had left the solar car he had taken from the Rosewood garage. He threw open the trunk and found the first aid kit; there was a large tube of wound glue.

  Dropping his bloody shirt into the bed of the trunk, he took the tube, along with a spool of gauze and a small bottle of disinfectant, around to the side mirror. He stared at himself for a second in shock. The left side of his face and neck were drenched in blood, and it was still coming, making rivers on his bare chest and trickling down his spine now that he had removed the cloth from it.

  It’s just because it’s a head wound. Head wounds always bleed.

  Gabriel put the first aid supplies on the roof of the car. He opened the disinfectant, clenched his teeth, and poured it over his ear.