The QuaranTeens, #1

by Keith B Darrell

  Destine spoke up. “Of course we’ll come back with you.” She gave Covid an admonishing look.

  “Yeah, sure,” Covid said reluctantly. They watched Robin and Archer fill their sacks with canned goods. Then, the Raiders led them outside. Covid and Destine’s eyes widened. “What are those things?”

  Granny squinted at him. “What’s wrong with you, boy? Ain’t you never seen a horse before? You hop on back with Archer. Your girlfriend can ride with Robin.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” Covid said.

  Robin grinned. “He can ride with me, Granny.”

  “He’ll ride with your brother. Don’t start getting’ no ideas. Well, what are you two waitin’ fer? Get up on them horses.”

  Archer reached down and offered Covid a hand up. Robin did the same for Destine. “Hold on tight,” Granny said, as each wrapped their arms around the riders’ waists. “Giddyap!” The three horses galloped off.

  Chapter Five

  > Coralie sat in an armchair in the corner of the social area reading a book. She had grown tired of staring at the four walls of her small quarters and she had felt the room — the size of a walk-in closet — becoming increasingly claustrophobic. Coralie thought by sitting at the far end of the designated social area she would be relieved of any obligation to actually be sociable. She pressed her nose into the book as Dax approached as if to drive home the point.

  “Hey, loser,” Dax said. “Whatcha reading?”

  Coralie slid the book below her nose, glancing up at Dax. “I have a name, you know.”

  Dax shrugged. “A dumb one at that. Whoever tagged you with it must have known what a loser you’d turn out to be.”

  Coralie sneered at her. “Go quarantine yourself.” She tossed the book at Dax and rushed from the social area. Dax picked up the book and took her place in the armchair.

  Keiana watched the exchange but said nothing. Her gaze fell on Lucian, who was continually scribbling on a notepad before ripping out each sheet, crumpling it into a ball, and tossing it to the floor. “You know we have a finite amount of paper.”

  The 13-year-old boy looked up. “We have reams and reams of it in one of the storerooms. Besides, I’m the only one who ever uses it.”

  “Working on another song?”

  Lucian nodded. “I can’t seem to get the lyrics right.”

  “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

  “Yes, it does. That’s the whole point. Why do you think everyone goes around singing my songs? It’s because the lyrics are meaningful. If I’m to create something of enduring value then it has to be perfect.”

  “That’s an awful large burden for a 13-year-old to carry,” Keiana said.

  “You don’t understand. I have more creativity and imagination than any of the others. That’s my special talent. It’s what makes me… Me. It sets me apart from anyone else and makes me important even though I’m one of the youngest. And because I’m so young, no one will take me seriously unless every song I compose is absolutely perfect.”

  Keiana pondered his words. “You may be right about that. Your songs do have the ability to move people. You’re able to make people see and feel things they might not otherwise. That is a very special talent… And a great responsibility.”

  “Responsibility? What do you mean?”

  Keiana gave him a knowing look, which was anything but to him. “Use as much paper as you wish.”

  Before he could reply, their conversation was interrupted by Tristan, who tossed a basketball to Lucian. “Dude! I’ve got the basketball hoop set up in the exercise room. Come on.”

  Lucian tossed it back. “Can’t. Busy right now. I’m working on a song.”

  Tristan frowned. “You’re always working on a song. That stuff can wait. I’m talking about having fun. You know, carpe diem — seize the day!”

  Lucian shook his head. “Some other time.” He returned to his scribbling.

  Tristan turned to Keiana. “I hate it when he gets like this.” He held up the basketball. “I don’t suppose you’d…” He paused. “Never mind.”

  A hush fell over the social area as Varian entered flanked by two of the older boys and followed by Blaine and Esme. Varian scanned their faces. “At least some of you are all in one place. It occurred to me I need to have a way to speak to everyone at once so I’ve decided everyone will meet here each morning before breakfast and again after dinner.”

  “Why do we need meetings twice a day?” Tristan asked.

  “If we don’t need a meeting then I’ll simply say no meeting today but it’s difficult to get everyone together and I’ll have a few announcements to make. For example, tomorrow morning I’ll be announcing the new schedule of chores.”

  “Why do we need a new schedule?” Dax asked.

  “I’ve had to reallocate some of chores. With my new duties as leader I won’t have time to do my chores so I’m dividing them among some of the younger kids. The same’s true for the chores of several of the older boys, including my new enforcers, Arlo and Nico.” He gestured to the two brawny, older boys on either side of him.

  Keiana frowned. “Enforcers?”

  “I had to give them a title,” Varian said. “They’ll be in charge of enforcing the new rules. We do want everything to run smoothly, don’t we?”

  “What new rules?” Dax asked.

  “You’ll find out when I announce them. In the meantime, spread the word about tonight’s meeting. Fifteen minutes after dinner. See you then.” Varian turned and left with his enforcers, Esme, and Blaine in tow.

  Tristan glanced at Keiana. “That was—”

  “Ominous?” she asked.

  “I was going to say weird but that works, too.”

  Dax frowned. “He can’t just dump his chores – and those of his buddies – onto the rest of us.”

  Keiana shrugged. “You did elect him leader. I’m more interested in hearing about these new rules Varian intends to introduce tonight.” Keiana pondered what Varian might be planning.

  Fiona knocked on the doorframe of Nessa’s quarters. Her door was open and Nessa looked up. “May I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Fiona noticed the younger girl had an array of crayons scattered across her bed and was drawing with one. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m making Welcome Home posters for Corona, Kai, Covid, and Destine. I’m going to color them and then we can hang them in the social area when they return.”

  Fiona gulped. “That’s sweet, hun, and very thoughtful of you but you realize they might not be coming back?”

  “Of course they’ll be back. That’s why Covid and Destine went out after them.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Fiona said, treading carefully so as not to shatter the rosy optimism conjured from Nessa’s naïveté. “But there’s always the possibility something could happen to them. You know it’s extremely dangerous to be outside the bunker.”

  Nessa smiled. “They’ll be fine. Things are going to be good again. You’ll see.”

  Varian led Esme into his quarters. He turned to his pair of enforcers. “Go. I’ll summon you if I need you.” The two large boys turned and left. “See how they obey unhesitatingly? I’ve bought their loyalty for the price of a few promises.”

  Esme reclined in his bed. “Now come and purchase mine.”

  “In good time. I must prepare for tonight’s meeting.” He turned to close the door and saw Blaine still standing in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”

  “When you dismissed the enforcers, I didn’t think you meant for me to go, too. I could help you prepare.”

  Varian heard the neediness and enthusiasm in Blaine’s voice. He knew an unfilled need represented an opportunity. “You don’t like them, do you?”

  “Who?”

  “My new enforcers.”

  Chagrined, Blaine turned away. “They… They haven’t always treated me well. They’re bullies. Arlo and Nico think just because they’re older and bigger than me they can p
ick on me.” He looked down. “Once they even pushed my face into the latrine.”

  Varian arched an eyebrow. “Have they picked on you recently?”

  Blaine shook his head.

  “I’ll have a word with them to make sure they know you serve me and as such they must do whatever you say. Would you like that?”

  A wide grin appeared slowly on Blaine’s face as he realized what Varian was offering. “I can boss Arlo and Nico around and they have to follow my orders?”

  “If they wish to remain enforcers. They’re lucky to have been chosen for what will soon become a coveted position.”

  “You don’t mind that they’re bullies?”

  “On the contrary, I find that a positive attribute — as long as they’re my bullies. And since they’re mine, you needn’t fear them.” Varian contemplated. “Would you like them to address you as sir?”

  Blaine grinned. “That’d be awesome!”

  “There is one important job you could do for me,” Varian said.

  “Anything!” Blaine exclaimed. “Is it really important?”

  “Absolutely essential,” Varian said as if reeling in a fish. “I want you to mingle with the others. Listen to what your friends say and become friends with everyone else. People will say things about me to each other that they wouldn’t say to my face. Your job will be to listen and report back to me what they truly think and say.”

  Blaine cocked his head. “You want me to rat out my friends?”

  “I want you to help me, your friend, keep everyone safe. I expect there'll be some who plot against me and I need a heads-up. You’d be helping me and therefore our entire society. It’s a very important role I’m asking you to play.” He paused, for dramatic effect. “Of course, if you think it’s too much responsibility or you’d rather not be involved…”

  “No, no. I definitely want to be involved. Let me help. Just tell me what to do. I’ll do anything you want.”

  Varian smiled. “For now, just keep your ears to the ground. Now get to work. Esme and I have things to.. discuss.”

  Blaine nodded enthusiastically and dashed off. Varian locked the door behind him.

  “Paranoid much?” Esme asked.

  “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Or soon will be. I’m bringing a new order to the bunker. Change means there’ll be winners and losers, and losers tend to be resentful. Blaine will be an excellent bloodhound to ferret out any discontent that could rise to the level of a threat.”

  “You handled him masterfully.” She slipped off her clothes. “Now do the same to me.”

  The social area had emptied as most prepared for dinner. Only a few stragglers remained, including Dax and Lucian, the latter still hard at work. Dax picked up one of the discarded balls of paper wadded up on the floor and unfurled it. She shook her head reading it. “You’re never going to find a word to rhyme with orange.”

  Lucian glanced up with an annoyed look. “Go away.”

  Dax shrugged and walked off, re-crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it at Lucian.

  Corbin caught up to her. “I don’t know why you’d waste your time talking to him.”

  “Get lost, Corbin.”

  “Friendly as ever, huh Dax? I think it’s your warmth and compassion that draws me to you. What is it about me that you like?”

  Dax stared him in the eyes. “Absolutely nothing. You’re a slimy maggot.”

  “That’s what I like most about you: your honesty. Most people hide what they really feel and only say what they think others want to hear, But not you, Dax. No, you don’t care what anyone thinks of you; you say whatever’s on your mind regardless of whom you offend. Yet even so, you’re not completely transparent. There’s a part of you I don’t understand.” He perused her features with a cold, calculating stare.

  “What do you want, Corbin?”

  Corbin shrugged. “Who says I want anything?”

  Dax sneered. “The only reason you talk to anyone is because you want something from them.”

  “Maybe I simply want to be friends.”

  Dax laughed. “You don’t know the meaning of the word. You’d first have to have feelings and emotions. You may fool the others but not me. The only thing you’re interested in is yourself.”

  Corbin smiled. “As I said, that’s what I like about you. That, and the fact you’re smart. Oh, I don’t mean book smart like Destine or Keiana. You’re savvy. It’s almost like a special gene that gives survivors like us the edge. You sense it too, don’t you?”

  “Sense what?”

  “Change. There’s uncertainty in the air. Life’s about to shift dramatically and I need to calculate how to turn these events to my advantage. We view the world through the same lens; if not friends, we should at least be allies.”

  “Alliances requires trust – a quality not inspired by a liar and petty thief.”

  “Then call it a detente – an alliance built on mutual necessity rather than trust. We studied those in history class, remember?”

  “The Americans and the Soviets – two rival Cold War superpowers that cooperated on the first joint space mission.”

  “You were always a good student. We may not be friends but we each possess skills the others don’t that will help us survive whatever changes are coming our way. It only makes sense that we cooperate.”

  Dax frowned. “We’ll see.” She turned and headed off to dinner.

  The after-dinner crowd filled the social area. Varian, staring out at the sea of faces, looked pleased to see a standing room audience. “I hope you all enjoyed your dinner. As you know, food is one of our most important resources in the bunker. Fortunately, the bunker was well-stocked with vacuum-sealed cans of food and our hydroponic garden has been extremely productive even using artificial lighting. But I’ve examined our reserves and I see that we’re consuming them at a rapid rate so we’ll have to invoke some form of rationing to make our food last.”

  “We never had rationing before,” Dax said.

  “True,” Varian said, “and that was negligent of our previous leader. His mismanagement has placed us in this dire situation. He was so concerned with the present that he neglected to prepare for the future. Fortunately for all of you, I take my leadership responsibilities extremely seriously. After all, I did promise to keep you safe.”

  “What sort of rationing are you talking about?” Fiona asked.

  “That will be up to each individual,” Varian replied. “Everyone will be issued a certain number of credits each day that they can spend on food or other commodities.”

  “What are credits?” Nessa asked.

  “In this case, we’ll be using casino chips. We found a box of them in one of the storage bins. I’ve moved it to a secure location, of course. The chips are in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, and fifty. Eventually, you’ll be able to use your credits to buy all sorts of goods and services.”

  Keiana cocked her head. “You’re establishing an economy – like those we studied in our classes.”

  “All societies that we’ve read about have had some form of economy. We should’ve established this in the bunker years ago. Of course, we were only children then. Now that we’ve matured we must take steps to build a proper society. Don’t you agree, Keiana?”

  Everything Varian said made sense yet Keiana felt uncomfortable. Nonetheless, she was forced to agree, thereby publicly validating his actions. “It does make sense,” she replied reluctantly.

  “I’m glad you agree. Here’s how it’ll work: everyday, each thirteen-year-old will receive one credit; the fourteen-year-olds two credits; the fifteen-year-olds three credits; the sixteen-year-olds four credits; the seventeen-year-olds five credits; the eighteen-year-olds six credits; and the nineteen-year-olds seven credits.”

  “That’s not fair!” Nessa exclaimed. “Everyone should get the same amount.”

  “Why Nessa,” Varian replied gesturing to his two enforcers. “Look at Nico a
nd Arlo. Surely you realize big husky nineteen-year-old boys eat far more food than delicate little girls like yourself. Obviously those who are bigger and older require more food.”

  “That’s true but it’s still not fair,” Nessa said.

  “She’s right,” Fiona said.

  Esme stepped forward. “Varian’s looking out for our welfare and all you can do is attack him. There’s nothing to stop you or any of the older kids from sharing your credits with the younger ones or using your credit allowance to buy food for them.”

  “Yeah,” Blaine said. “At least Varian’s come up with plan to keep us from starving to death when the food runs out. You should be praising Leader Varian instead of criticizing him.”

  Fiona nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. After all, we did elect you to make difficult decisions and that must not be easy.”

  “Leader Varian?” Keiana asked.

  “Blaine suggested the person in charge of running the bunker have a title and I agreed. A position as important as that should have a title after all, shouldn’t it?”

  Again, Keiana felt uncomfortable but couldn’t dispute his logic.

  “Now then, if you’ll all line up, Blaine will distribute your first day’s credits.” It wasn’t possible to form a straight line within the crowded social area but the teenagers arranged themselves in an orderly fashion. Varian smiled. It had been a good day.

  Chapter Six

  Kai opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the light. Not quite daylight, as he and Corona had become used to recently, but more like the artificial light of the bunker. The thought of Corona made him try to bolt up but he discovered he couldn’t move. He felt cold metal press against his wrists and ankles as he attempted to sit up and he realized he was securely shackled to a table. “Corona!” he called out.

  “Don’t shout,” Corona called back to him. “I’m right behind you. Are you bound to a table, too?”

  “Yeah. Where are we?”