No one moves.
“I said take it!” the Drone shouts. The people scramble to pick them up. “Good. Now, I want you all to get up. That’s right; get to your feet. You might have to duck a bit, but that’s okay. C’mon do it people. Now that everyone is up, turn around and face the wall. I don’t want anyone looking at each other. So please turn around. That’s right, turn around. Now that no one can see you, all you have to do is push that little button on the beacon and whisper into it. I’ll hear it. No one has to know the information came from you. Tell me what you know, and all of you will get the Immunity Card. But if no one says anything, then I guess, I’ll have to kill every single person here.”
A gust of wind blows through the cave, howling like a ghost. The tarps and blankets fly about, making a mess of everything.
“Brodie,” Abby whispers. “We’ve got to go.”
He shakes his head. “You go instead,” he says quietly. “You carry out the mission, I’m staying.”
“C’mon Brodie, There’s nothing you can do. Let’s get out of here before someone in there, talks.”
“I’m not leaving him.” He pulls out a pistol from inside his leather jacket, but Abby quickly comes over and tenderly puts her hand on the gun.
“Brodie, my dear,” she says. “The Drone can’t find out about this place, you know that, it’s too important to our cause. If you fight, you’ll give it away.”
“But I can’t let him die.”
“If something happens to Blake, we’ll look after the cave. That’s what he would want us to do.”
Brodie begrudgingly nods. He knows he can’t do anything. He gets to his feet and turns to the fake rock. “Good-bye Uncle Blake, good-bye.” Then Brodie quickly looks away and heads down the tunnel without saying anything more. Abby and I go with him, but Val who’s been standing quietly by, begins to weep. She looks at the fake rock too. “I’m sorry, Blake,” she utters. “I’m sorry, Merriam. This is all my fault.”
Abby comes up to her and gently pulls her away from the wall.
CHAPTER 42
We move quickly and quietly down the tunnel, trying not to make any noise. When we get back to the living room Candy is waiting for us. She paces back and forth while her husband still holds on to their daughter.
“Finally!” Candy feverishly cries out. “What took you so long?”
“You mind keeping your voice down.” Brodie says, grabbing his beat up old leather knapsack from off the floor. “The Drone might be able to hear you.”
“Why? What happened up there? Did it find the fake rock? Is it coming for us? Are they all dead? Oh God, they’re dead!”
We don’t answer her, it’s not like we’re intentionally trying to ignore her, but who the hell wants to explain what’s going on. Candy of course takes offense to our silence.
“Why isn’t anyone talking to me?” she screams. “Is the Drone coming or not? Tell me, tell me now!”
“Well if you keep yelling like that it might,” I respond vindictively.
Candy scowls, stomping her foot.
Brodie and Abby don’t acknowledge her temper tantrum; they’re too busy to notice. Abby grabs a knapsack from off the floor too, but her knapsack is hardly old or beat up, not like Brodie’s. Hers of course is quite fashionable. She shoves some extra food inside of it along with some extra clothes. She flings it over her shoulder, like it’s the latest accessory from Beijing. Brodie runs over to a steel cabinet and unlocks the door. Inside it is a whole arsenal of weapons. He grabs a few guns and as much ammo as he can carry. Abby comes over and takes two pistols for herself. She holsters them around her waist and pulls the bottom of her white sweater over the handles. She then reaches down for one more item: Dirk’s rifle. “Here,” she says, handing it to me. “You might need this.”
“Why? Why does he need that?” Candy protests. “Why are you giving him his gun back?
“Lady,” Abby says irritably. “Shut your mouth and learn to trust us.” And with that, Abby turns around and motions for us to follow her and Brodie down a completely different tunnel. Val and I obey with no reluctance, but Candy, being as inflexible as she is, doesn’t move. She stomps her foot a second time, but again, Brodie and Abby are too busy to notice. Eventually, she comes to her senses and decides to follow. She hurries down the tunnel, trying to catch up with her family in tow.
“I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go!” little Amy shouts, thrashing about. Charlie, seeming at his wits end, tosses the little one over his shoulder and runs as fast as his chubby legs can go. He runs so fast he passes me. “I wanna stay, I want the Drone!” the little girl continues to rant and rave. Her tiny little fists pound on her father’s back relentlessly. She might be small, but that constant beating has got to hurt. Charlie moans, losing his grip of his daughter. The little girl slides down her dad’s back and falls to the ground.
I scoop up the little brat and carry her myself. Candy goes berserk. “Put her down, put her down!” she screeches. I didn’t think it possible, but this crazy lady is even crazier than before. She has now become an absolute lunatic. “I knew you’d take her, I just knew it! You couldn’t resist! Stop him, stop him, he’s Youth Patrol!” I try my best to ignore the bitch and focus on the job at hand, but I can’t. She’s making it unbearable. “Let her go! Let her go!” Candy continues to rail.
And when things can’t get any worse, the tunnel gets narrower. It’s almost impossible to walk through it. It would be hard enough to travel through this thing under normal circumstances, but with me holding onto my rifle, Candy’s constant screaming and this little terror, fidgeting in my arms, I don’t think I can make it. I stumble, I lose my balance, and Amy slips through my hands. “Drone! Drone!” the little girl cries out. “Come and save me!” She starts to run back the other way, but I kick out my foot and trip her. She falls to the ground. Candy runs to her daughter, but I get to the brat first.
“Let me go!” the little horror yells. “I want the Drone!”
She punches me, and claws at my face. She’s out of control. As she attempts to tear into me, she inadvertently bumps her head against the rock ceiling. It surprises her; she looks at me totally confused. There’s silence for a second and then … the bawling begins. She howls and cries like a baby. It’s actually kind of funny.
“Mommy, mommy!” she wails, reaching out to her, but I still don’t let go.
“Oh honey. Did the evil man hurt you?”
I can’t help but smile. I try to convince myself I had nothing to do with that little bump on her head. But then again, maybe I did lift her up a tiny bit. Oh well. At least she stopped squirming.
We continue to run down the tunnel, I keep expecting the Drone to come up from behind us, but it never does. Maybe it’s lost in the labyrinth of tunnels, or maybe Blake and the others really did stay silent? I could have sworn one of them would have talked. But maybe they didn’t, but if no one talked, that would mean one thing; Jeremin killed them all.
We finally come to the end of the tunnel; there’s nowhere to go. A huge boulder blocks our path. I’m about to take my rifle and blow it away, but Brodie stops me. He walks up to it and easily pushes the large object aside. I should have known it’d be fake rock. Day light shines though the cave opening. It feels good to feel the sun and breath in the fresh air. We’ve made it to the other side of the mountain and there’s no Drone in sight. I let go of Amy and she runs straight to her mom. Candy holds her tenderly and strokes her tangled hair.
“Oh my poor little dear, I’m so sorry. Let me look at your head.”
Amy snuggles in close and seems to find comfort in her mother’s arms, but then the little girl sits upright. She pushes her mom away. “What are you doing to me?” the little girl shouts as she goes back to looking demon possessed.
“Oh God, stop that. Stop that, Amy!” Candy sobs. “What is wrong with you? I’m your mother!”
“I hate mommy, I hate daddy,” she chants. Her eyes dart back and forth, looking for a
way to escape. But she’s surrounded; she’s going nowhere. Frustration sets in. She starts to moan and groan. Her voice is low and monotone; it soon grows louder and creepier. She sounds like a wounded animal. But then we hear something outside. It’s even louder than Amy. What could that be?
We walk out onto the ledge overlooking the valley. Even Amy comes out to investigate. And down below we see what’s making the noise. It’s a giant logging machine. It glides through the forest effortlessly, cutting down trees and stripping off branches. It lifts up the dead logs and throws them inside large shuttle pods lined up near a loading dock. The process only takes seconds and is repeated over and over again. More and more trees are destroyed before my eyes. I’m in shock, I’m in awe; I want to cry out in protest. I thought this kind of thing ended years ago. I can’t hold it in anymore. “Stop it! I shout out in disgust. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s a logging camp, stupid.” Broide replies with a snarky attitude.”
“I know what it is, I’m not an idiot. I want to know why it’s here. Logging is illegal. That machine is killing the environment!”
“Maybe you should go back and report it to the Drone,” Brodie answers sarcastically. I begin to fume at his arrogance. Doesn’t he care about the ecosystem? “Hey Carlos!” he calls out to the man, operating the logging machine. “We’ll be down in a few!”
“You know that man?” I ask completely repulsed.
“Yeah, I know him, his name is Carlos. He’s going to get us out of here.”
“What? Him?” I say. “How can you associate with someone like that, someone who cuts down trees for a living?”
Brodie looks at me contemptuously. “You killed people for a living, how can I associate with someone like you?”
“That’s not what I meant. That guy doesn’t need to cut down trees anymore; there are 3D replicators now. Wood is obsolete.”
“Maybe it is here in the U.S., but not everywhere else in the world. Uncle Sam makes a lot of money exporting wood, and who better to keep a secret like that, than prisoners of war.”
“Prisoners of war? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying this logging camp is government run. This whole place is a POW work camp.”
“What?” I say. “The American Government knows that trees are getting cut down?”
“Of course they do.”
“Hypocrites!” I cry out. “What a bunch of hypocrites!”
“Is that what you’re mad at?” Brodie looks at me befuddled. “Of all the things to be mad at, and you choose this?”
“How can I not choose this?”
“What about all those people we left back in the cave?” Brodie inquires. “They’re probably dead, you know. They’re dead not because of climate change, they’re dead because they were trying to protect you, Evan Sparks. That’s what you should be mad at!”
I’m about to say something but I stop myself. I realize I’m angrier about the destruction of trees than I am about the murder of humans. I can’t believe I felt that way.
Val comes over and touches my shoulder, she seems know just how conflicted I am. She then walks up to Brodie. “You don’t think Blake and the others made it, do you?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” he answers regretfully, “I just don’t know.”
“Um excuse me,” Candy chimes in. “Can you get back to rescuing us?”
Brodie smiles at the lady. “She’s finally talking some sense, halleluiah!”
We all have a laugh. It’s nice to have a little bit of levity amongst us, but it doesn’t last too long, at least not for me. The feeling of sadness grips me. The thought of Blake and Merriam, and the rest of the people not making it out, really starts to affect me. They could all be dead, and it’s all because of Val and me.
“Get back in the cave!” Abby shouts. “There’s a Drone.” She points up to the sky, and flying far off in the horizon, we see it. We crawl back inside, hoping it didn’t see us. Brodie moves the rock back into place, but leaves a gap just wide enough for us to peer through. The Drone circles around and lands near the logging camp.
Then little Amy begins to sing. “I hate mommy, I hate daddy.”
“Oh God,” Abby grumbles. “Doesn’t she ever shut up?”
Charlie covers her mouth.
CHAPTER 43
Looking through the small gap, we can see the man, who Brodie waved to, nervously waiting for the Drone to approach him. He’s a large man, very muscular, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit. He wants to run, but there’s no place to hide. Then, the Drone’s eye pops out from the top of the cylinder and projects a hologram image of Val and myself into the center of the camp. It’s pretty clear what the Drone wants.
“I don’t like how this is going, Brodie,” Abby says, keeping her voice low. “Maybe we should wait inside the tunnel a day or two until the Drones have moved on?”
“We’re not waiting,” Brodie answers abruptly. “The other Drone could have found the fake rock by now, it could be walking around in the tunnels for all we know. We gotta get out of here today, and Carlos is our only way out.”
“He’s not the only way, Brodie, and you know that.”
“It’s not up for debate, Abby. We’re doing it my way.”
“But we can’t trust Carlos,” Abby says, peeking through the small gap.” Look at him. The Drone’s telling him everything. He knows what Youth Patrol is looking for now. Once Carlos sees Val and Evan, he’s going to turn us in.”
“He won’t,” Brodie stresses. “Carlos is on our side.”
“Don’t be stupid. You know the Drone offered him his freedom if he cooperates.”
“He’s not going to betray us.”
“Let me call, Krog,” Abby insists. “Let me at least find out if he can help?”
“We’re not calling, Krog.” Brodie whispers loudly, dangerously close to blowing our cover.
“Krog? Val mumbles to herself. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”
“He’s nobody,” snaps Brodie. “He doesn’t exist.”
The jets of the Drone fire up. We look through the gap and see the metal monster blast off into the sky, leaving the prisoner, watching it disappear over the mountain.
Brodie turns to Abby. “I’ll talk to Carlos, okay? I’ll feel him out, make sure he’s cool.” Brodie gets up to leave, but Abby grabs him by the arm.
“You’re going to get us all killed.”
He pulls away angrily, blowing her off. He pushes the fake rock aside and climbs through the opening and out onto the ledge. He stands up and looks at the sky. “The Drone’s gone, you guys. It’s totally safe.”
None of us feel as comfortable about the situation as he does, so none of us move. “You guys suck.” he says bitterly. He then jumps down a few feet from off the ledge and onto the steep slope of the mountain. He slides on the loose gravel until he gets to more solid ground. Once his feet are secured, he takes off running. As we watch him go, we inch our way to the mouth of the cave. We see him approaching the man by the loading dock near the logging shuttle pods that are parked along the makeshift gravel road that winds and twists down the mountain. The two men converse for a while, but it seems Brodie is doing most of the talking. Finally Brodie looks up at us and waves his arms around. He wants us to come down. But again, we don’t move, except for Val. She leaps to her feet and climbs though the opening. She looks back at me, waiting to see if I’ll come. When I don’t, she looks away disheartened and disappointed. She jumps down from off the ledge and follows the path Brodie took. I don’t know what’s gotten into her, it’s like she doesn’t care if she lives or dies. I know it’s safe here in this cave, and I shouldn’t go after her, but what the hell. What’s life without Val? I grab my rifle, climb through the opening and follow her down.
The rest of our group reluctantly emerges from the cave and make their way down the mountain. Charlie trails behind, dragging his daughter along. We hurry through the logging camp; it’s empty, there are a
few tents here and there, but no one is around. The other prisoners must be off somewhere else, cutting down other parts of the forest.
“Over here guys!” Brodie calls out to us. “This is Carlos. He’s agreed to assist us. He’s a good man and he sympathizes with our cause.”
The man isn’t impressed with Brodie’s flattery. He doesn’t want us around; anyone could see that. He lifts his large hand and points to a shuttle pod, “It’s that one,” he growls, his South American accent is thick and his voice gruff. “Get in before I change my mind.”
“Well, you heard the man, let’s go.” Brodie says enthusiastically, acting like we have nothing to fear.
“I’m sorry,” I butt in. “You want us to do what?”
Brodie smiles unconvincingly. “Just climb in the pod, that’s all.”
“That’s all?” I pause. “Are you sure?”
“There’s nothing to worry about, trust me. All we’re doing is getting smuggled out with the logs. Soon as we get inside, Carlos will shut the door, start it up and we’ll be on our way. Once we get to the highway, the shuttle will look like any other typical pod transferring goods. We’ll be home free.”
Val doesn’t give it a second thought, she goes straight for the pod, but of course, the rest of us are wary. We walk past the prisoner cautiously. His large frame is quite intimidating; his hands alone could easily crush our skulls, but Abby, feeling bold or stupid, takes a moment to stop and talk to the man. “Thank you, Carlos,” she says. “Thank you for doing this.” She hugs him and kisses him on the cheek; he blushes.
Youth Patrol Page 24
