Wally

by Rowan Massey

  London led me over to where Doc was helping at the station. The Citizen General and the other important types seemed to have left. Doc didn’t see us yet. I watched him talking to a kid who was reading some kind of flier and having his head cleaned up by the same woman who used to act mad at me for touching corpses. She looked much less depressed than usual.

  Doc had split my home in half, and then offered me a new one. Maybe that made me lucky in a way, but I only wished for my old life back, just like I’d been doing ever since he’d hired me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Three Days Later

  “Everyone at the factory is doing a perfect job,” Doc was telling me while he scarfed down a quick breakfast of toast and coffee. “They surprise and impress me at every turn. I’m sure they can easily handle Upsilon and the fielders both. They’ll probably be excited about it.”

  He was heading out to the factory for the day and had told me I should go too, but I wasn’t ready to leave Emporium again. Instead, I’d be doing lab work and making a big, heavy delivery of pills to the clinic. Doc had given me a bike with a big box in back of it so I could get around town without having to carry things on my shoulders. When I’d told him I might not live with him after all because I needed to be there for Fiona, he’d arranged for one of his security men to be her bodyguard every night. Me and Fiona both thought that was weird, but it worked, so we didn’t argue. Doc had also given her a phone; a fancy one like mine.

  “So,” I said, “when will you be back?”

  “In time to drive you home from the field tonight.”

  He slurped down the last of his coffee and left the table with half a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth. He grabbed his briefcase, and I followed him to the hatch and went downstairs behind him.

  “Are you sure all of the soldiers are gone?” I asked. I’d been worried that a battle would break out if they didn’t leave. Doc had told me they were shipping out during the night.

  “Every single one,” he said. “London and Avi too. I told you this.”

  “I know…” I was just worried about Spitz. More and more guys were joining Dread until you couldn’t turn a corner without seeing at least two of them. Some were girls. A lot were young. It made me wonder if they were finding people from out of town. In any case, they were getting ready for something big.

  Doc said goodbye through a mouthful of toast as he went out the door. I waved to him just before he got in his car. He smiled and waved back, then I closed the door and locked it.

  It was still early morning, and I had a lot of work to do. Doc had given me keys to everything in the entire house, so I locked the hatch, and made my way down to the basement. It wasn’t time to take care of the mice yet, but I checked on all of them anyway. Next was putting information about Doc’s patients onto the computers in his lab. Some things were on paper, and I shredded that when I’d entered the information, but most of it was on a hard drive that I had to plug into a specific PC and make sure all the data was copied over into the right place. It took me a long time because I was nervous about doing it wrong. Doc was always trusting me with things I barely knew how to do, then getting upset if I fucked up, so I wanted to avoid the fucking up part as much as possible.

  He’d also given all his suppliers my phone number, and I started getting calls. Some people wanted something from Doc, and I had to tell them he wasn’t doing anything but his two main projects anymore, others wanted to know why he wasn’t ordering from them anymore, and I had to explain the same thing. I always made sure to hang up first, which was always satisfying, just like slamming the door of the SUV.

  My main job for the day was taking the weaning fielders Doc had made the day before and turning them into pills. They needed to be at the clinic before evening, and they had to be made with the pill press machine one at a time. There were three different kinds, each less strong than the next. Doc had promised to buy a new machine that could make ten at a time, but my day would be hours of pill making until then. He wanted me to make huge batches that would last a week. There were almost a hundred kids signed up at the clinic, and stragglers coming in every day. It was fucking depressing, but somehow, I still didn’t mind helping out. They had the right to their own choices.

  By the end of the day, I could see the machine working when I closed my eyes. I said goodnight to the mice, put the boxes of pills into plastic bags, and hauled them out to my bike, which was blue, my favorite color. I planned on painting white stars on it eventually.

  I pedaled fast down the block, afraid that Jace would be pissed if I was late, even though I’d never really seen him pissed about anything. It wasn’t until I reached the corner that I noticed the streets were empty, just like after a battle. It was enough to make me slow to a stop and look around. Some shops had closed signs out, others didn’t. No cars came by, and I hadn’t seen a soul. It sent a chill through to my gut. Taking my phone out, I called Fiona. After six rings, I was gripping the handlebar tight with my other hand, squeezing it like I wanted to kill it.

  “Wally? Where are you right now?” Fiona sounded stressed out for sure.

  “What’s going on? I just came outside and everybody is off the streets.”

  “I don’t know!” She sounded like she’d been crying. “We’ve got to find Spitz and keep him out of this battle. I don’t care if we have to hold him down!”

  “Shit. What battle? Where are you headed?” If she went alone I’d strangle her. We didn’t even have guns, just knives.

  “The main gate at the border. That’s where it is,” she said. “I just left my dad’s. We can just keep texting each other our locations and meet up at some point before we get there.”

  “Okay. I’m coming.” Out of habit from talking to suppliers all day, I hung up on her, then swore to myself, but I couldn’t worry about rudeness.

  “Wally!”

  Someone was calling my name around the corner. It was Eric, and he was running towards me.

  “Get back to the house. I’m taking the pills in a car,” he said, talking to me like he was giving orders.

  “Take them,” I said. “I need to meet a friend.”

  “No, you’re not going anywhere. Get back to the house.” He moved to stand in front of my bike, ready to stop me however he could.

  I got off the bike, put down the kickstand, and started unloading the pills, letting them drop to the sidewalk.

  “What the fuck are you doing, kid? Don’t make trouble.”

  I got back on the bike and gritted my teeth, ready to ram at him if I had to.

  “Fuck you,” I said. “If you want to help, come with me with your gun, otherwise take the pills and leave me alone.”

  He looked at the pills, then back at me. He’d definitely never liked me. With a huff, he moved out of my way and picked up the boxes. I pushed off and sped away as fast as I could, afraid he had buddies who would be out to stop me too, but nobody chased me. He’d probably just gotten himself fired by letting me go. Doc would be furious.

  I rode as hard as I could, but now and then, I had to slow down and text Fiona. We worked out that we were headed for the same street corner. From there, we’d keep going, but also start texting and calling both Spitz and Nando until one of them answered. I had no idea how we’d stop Spitz. Maybe I’d put a knife to his throat. Maybe I’d stab him in the leg, put him in the cart, and force him to come to Doc’s clinic.

  When I saw Fiona waiting impatiently at the crossroads we’d chosen, we only gave each other matching looks and kept going, side by side. The streets belonged to only us, and we went straight down the middle.

  The gunfire was heard long before we reached it. That was expected, even the machine guns, but there were also explosions that sounded like maybe they were grenades, not that I had experience with those sounds. Fiona’s eyes were wide and staring. She’d never seen anything like what she was about to see.

  My phone was ringing in my pocket, and I struggled to get it out and look a
t it without slowing down. It was Doc. I ignored it, but turned to Fiona and told her it was time to start trying to get a hold of Spitz or Nando. I really didn’t want to talk to Nando and didn’t trust what he might say, but it would be better than nothing if Spitz didn’t answer.

  But we were lucky. Spitz answered Fiona’s text right away. She stopped her cart, I ditched my bike where it was, and we bent over her phone together.

  Fiona: Tell me exactly where you are. I’m already near the border ready to get you. Me and Wally are coming in if you don’t leave the fight.

  Spitz: ten block and citizens r both here. Killing ordinary people who dont hav guns. You have to leve. Pleas leve.

  Fiona: If you meet us at the corner of Border Road and the blvd you can make us leave after that.

  Spitz: Dont fuckin do this to me

  Fiona: meet us

  “Tell him we love him,” I put in.

  Fiona: We love you.

  He didn’t answer for a minute, so we decided to go with the assumption that he would show. I picked up my bike and we kept going as fast as our exhausted legs could take us, more and more smoke blowing into our faces until we were coughing from it. We were both sweating and wheezing. My back and armpits were drenched.

  The intersection was only a couple blocks from the full-on action, and although it was mostly empty of people, it was full of noise. Down the street, we could make out one or two people running back and forth now and then.

  “I wonder if they blew up the gate,” I said, wishing I could go closer, but afraid to.

  Fiona said nothing, only stared down the street we expected Spitz to come from. When her phone chimed, she read the text out loud to me.

  “Come down to the next street.” She looked up at me with fear and surprise.

  “He wants us to go closer? I guess we have to,” I said, but we both stayed still on our bikes and stared into the distance for a moment before we set out. For all we knew, we were about to be killed.

  We went more slowly and moved to the sidewalk where we could stay close to the walls. When we got a few doors down from the street he’d told us to meet him at, we left our bikes and walked along the buildings, ducking into doorways when we saw Dreads or Blocks running around, all of them armed with big guns and loaded down with bullets and supplies like real soldiers. I didn’t see any Citizens, but didn’t doubt that they were there.

  Realizing we couldn’t just stand out in the open and wait, we ducked between two parked cars and crouched on the asphalt, our knives in our hands. A Ten Block boy hurried by and clearly saw us, but ignored us. Maybe what Spitz had said about ordinary people being killed wasn’t true, but we were already taking big risks in any case.

  Boots stepped in front of my face, another pair just behind them, and I looked up to see Nando holding his gun, his eyes all warrior and nothing else. Spitz was behind him, his face stunned but otherwise unemotional when he looked at us.

  “Get the fuck up and follow me,” Nando ordered.

  We stood but still kept ourselves ducked down. So did Spitz, who kept up the rear, but Nando walked in the lead as if nothing could touch him.

  I jumped and Fiona screamed when Nando casually shot the big window of a clothing shop, then climbed inside onto the display. We all quickly followed him. I immediately felt relief in my chest that we weren’t outside anymore. Nando took us to the back of the shop where the register was and turned to talk to us, but first, he gestured at Spitz, who wordlessly went and stood behind him.

  “Okay,” Nando said, lowering his gun to point at each of us in turn, swaying it slowly back and forth between us. “You both purposely got in the way of this battle, which we’re already losing, by the way, so tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.”

  Fiona’s shaking hand made its way around my side from behind, and she moved behind me until she was using me as a shield. I heard her sobs in my ear. I hadn’t expected to see Nando. I couldn’t believe he’d left the fight.

  “Spitz,” I said, choking on my own voice, “what are you doing? Just come with us.”

  He blinked at me, swallowed hard, and adjusted his grip on his gun, which he hugged to his chest, but he said nothing.

  “He doesn’t want to leave, you fucking morons,” Nando said. “Give me your phones.”

  “Spitz,” I tried again, wanting to tell him something, anything, everything, but Nando stopped me.

  “Phones!” he shouted. He lowered the gun and stepped forward until the end of it almost touched my stomach. A sickening feeling pooled through me until I thought I might piss myself. I was looking into the eyes of a guy I’d made love to every day for weeks, but all I was seeing now was a killer. A killer who was ready to murder me and Fiona.

  We got our phones out and tried to hand them to him, but he told us to throw them on the floor. We did. Just before I dropped mine, I saw that Doc had texted me again, but I didn’t see the message.

  “Now get out,” Nando said, waving his gun in the direction of the broken window. “Enough of this shit. We have fighting to do!”

  “Spitz, I love you, baby,” Fiona said, crying. “Just come back.”

  Nando’s gun swung upward and he shot twice into the ceiling, making all of us scream, even Spitz.

  “Next bullets goes in somebody’s head,” he warned, and he grinned as if he liked the thought of it.

  I grabbed Fiona’s hand and dragged her back out into the street, scrambling over the broken glass of the window. She was crying so hard that she could probably barely see, much less navigate, so I pulled her to the cart, put her in the back, and got on the bike in front. My own bike would have to be left behind.

  Before I left, I looked towards Spitz one last time. He was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at us, Nando standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder.

  My best friend. My family. My brother.

  Spitz’s face finally showed some emotion, and he lifted a hand in goodbye, the sadness in his eyes so deep that I started to cry.

  “Spitz,” I begged him, not knowing if he could hear me over the noise. “Spitz, please.”

  But he turned on wobbling legs and followed Nando back towards the action.

  ◆◆◆

  I barely remembered where Fiona’s dad lived, so I decided to take her home with me. We were met by the security men, who didn’t look happy, but I held Fiona close to me and ignored any looks they gave us while we stumbled into the house and collapsed in the downstairs living room. Fiona was still crying as if she would never stop.

  “We can dance early in the back garden,” I kept telling her. “We’ll dance soon. We’re gonna dance.” Maybe I needed to tell myself as much as her.

  Doc was being notified that I was back, after crying half the way home, I’d worked myself up until I was electric. I was so terrified that Spitz would die that my skin was on fire, and I only barely sensed Fiona’s body beside me. I was aware that I was staring and not answering anybody who talked to me, just like Spitz had done after his first battle. Not sure I wanted to feel normal again, or even to feel happy, I only stared.

  It was Fiona who was given a razor and two pills by one of Doc’s security men. She put one in my hand, and I took it automatically. I couldn’t chew it. I just let it sit there in my mouth, dissolving and spreading bitterness.

  The crawls did what they always did, shooting agony and insanity through my face and scalp, but I ignored it. A few grunts came out of my throat, but it wasn’t because I cared. Someone practically carried me outside. I couldn’t stand up, so I was lowered into the weeds. I sat there with violent snakes thrashing around under the skin on the top of my head. Fiona sliced my scalp a few times, but I almost didn’t want her to.

  Birds. I knew there were a lot of different kinds of birds, but I’d never seen them all flying together before, and I’d never been one of them. There were brightly colored parrots, chocolaty-brown sparrows, tiny gray finches, and white doves. I looked around at my wings and saw that I w
as blue and white. I was a blue jay. There were insects flying around with us too, but we didn’t eat them. Fireflies, dragonflies, butterflies and moths. The stars were above us, and that was all we cared about. Birds can always see the stars, night or day, rain or shine. We headed straight for them, and left the world behind.

  I crashed into a wall, weeds beneath my feet. Steadying myself against it, I wondered for a split second why my legs were so weak that I could barely move anymore. But, oh yeah, the bike ride. Spitz. I looked around and saw Fiona still dancing, so I let myself slide along the wall to the ground. Even sitting there, I was too weak to stay upright, so I laid in the dirt and weeds where I knew bugs would crawl on me, and watched Fiona’s feet.

  Someone stepped in my way, and I moved my head to keep watching Fiona, because even though she was weak too, her steps were sliding along the ground in such a carefree way. It was nice.

  Doc’s hand rubbed my back. “Let me put you to bed, son,” he said. He was unhappy. I could tell without looking at him. There was no real reason to move, so I stayed where I was. When he couldn’t pull me up, he sat beside my head and watched Fiona with me instead.

  “I’m starving,” I mumbled, expecting him to find me something to eat, but he was still.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said quietly.

  “We went to see Spitz, but Nando made us leave.” I could have told him more, but I was weak.

  His hand touched my hair, and he petted me like a dog for a moment, then stopped, and I wished he would keep doing it.

  “Let me take you inside for a nap,” he said. “Will you take a sleeping pill for me?”

  I didn’t know why he would want me to, and I didn’t want to leave Fiona. “What about her?” I asked.

  “She can have the other bedroom upstairs. I already got it ready.”