Torch

by Tricia Copeland

  The group pitched in to clean up from the meal. We worked in silence, my head spinning with the events of the past twenty-four hours. For as much as I’d missed my friends, I felt no relief from their presence. Our common interests and memories, the bonds that built our relationships, disappeared in the wake of world chaos. I longed for the isolation Troy and I had created. Even with my frustration over Owen’s mishandling of vaccinations and the cure, we’d been safe in our cave.

  Troy’s eyes cut to the rabbit as he switched off the lights. Letting out a whistle, he got the group’s attention. “Anyone know how to hunt? We’re going to burn through rations quickly with a group this size.”

  Their wide-eyed stares answered his question. I swiped my quiver from the hook and strode towards the exit, lingering inside to wait for Troy. Scanning the dark desert, I noted how the dry branches ticked against each other, the call of the vulture above, the smell of the sand, and the feel of the cool dry air on my skin.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  I watched him approach. “Does anyone say that anymore?”

  “My mom always did.” He wrapped an arm around my waist.

  “It’s so archaic. They don’t even make coins anymore.”

  “Have you noticed I’m sort of an old-school, middle-of-the-road, stay-with-the-norm, do-what-I’m-told kind of guy.”

  Cutting my eyes to the interior of the space, I snuggled into him. “Do we trust them in there alone?”

  “I powered up the video surveillance system. I figure it’s a good use of our electricity right now.”

  I laced my fingers in Troy’s as we ventured out. “Anyway, didn’t you plan on going rogue? Think about going to passenger jet school and flying rich people around the world on their vacations? Look at us now. I don’t think this lifestyle is exactly within the bounds of normal behavior.”

  “It’s definitely retro, living off the land, building our own home, back to nature like the natives.” He chuckled.

  “The Europeans brought technology west. They were invaders, like us now.”

  “I talked big, but when it came down to it, I stayed on the straight and narrow. Came to Lovelock like I was told. Funny, I always figured Miles would’ve run at the first indication he’d get roped into something like this. You aren’t exactly the rebel type either. Or had you planned on using ballet to defect to Russia?”

  “Desperate times. But not Russia. Switzerland. I read they have the highest percentage of happy people.”

  “Unless they’re dying of an apocalyptic plague.”

  Stopping, I tugged on Troy’s hand. “I’m exhausted. I can’t talk about this tonight.”

  He kissed me. “Tomorrow then. Right now, we need rabbits. What do you think? At least six? That’s going to take some time.”

  Three hours later, we lugged ourselves and six hares to the kitchen, and strung them up. Checking that the others had fallen asleep, we sat on my bunk and watched the video feeds. Although freaked out about the living conditions, our guests spoke only of the mission they’d described to us.

  “We should still sleep in shifts.” Troy rubbed my back. “I’ll take the first one. Two or three hours?”

  “Two. I’ll set my alarm. You always let me sleep longer.” I stretched out beside him.

  Each getting two two-hour sleep shifts, we rose at dawn and started a breakfast of the rabbits and rice from our stores. We spent the day making sure they knew how to use all the weapons, could each drive the vehicles, and were trained on satellite technology and radio use. After sunset, we drove west towards the California coast. Troy and I took our Jeep, and the others stuffed in one of their transport trucks. It took six hours to reach the abandoned city of San Francisco where the towering skyscrapers offered multiple hiding spots.

  Troy and I switched off sleeping again as did Miles and Avia. She didn’t make eye contact with me, and I tried to ease her seeming discomfort by asking about everything that had happened since I left. When the sun nosed over the horizon, our group snaked through the city to a tall structure on the shore. As promised, a ship waited a thousand feet out. Picturing being on the open ocean, my stomach turned. Sweat beaded on my forehead.

  “You okay?” Troy jiggled my hand.

  “I don’t like boats.”

  “You’re the kid of a Navy Commander, and you don’t like boats?”

  “My mom almost drowned when her ship from China capsized. She lost her parents in that accident.”

  “But they only faked their deaths. So, happy ending?” He squeezed my fingers. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  Sliding my hand from his grip, I paced. “I don’t want to do this. No matter what happens today, we’ll be charged with treason, become enemies of the state. This makes us not only murderers but terrorists. There’s got to be another way. We could gather more support, get a group to lead a coup.”

  “They’re letting thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people die because they won’t share the cure. And why? Because they think Zhou will use the technology to create another virus?”

  I stopped in front of him. “What if he created this one? We don’t know whether he did or not. If they give the Earth Council the cure, who Zhou controls by the way, will it be distributed as it should? We can’t trust anyone.” Muscles twitching from the adrenaline coursing through my system, I shook out my limbs. “What about the World Health Organization or the Red Cross?”

  “They don’t have an army to protect anything.”

  “What if we become their army?” I pointed at the ship. “How large is that crew? Fifty? Plus, twelve of us. I’m guessing our fathers can recruit more.”

  “Still enemies of the state.” Troy’s eyebrows popped up.

  “But at least we’d be in control of something. We’re the leverage. They’d never risk your life.”

  “Let’s just stick with our fathers’ plan.”

  “Guys.” Miles held a phone out to me. “We have an update.”

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “Commander Walker, your dad, I mean.”

  With a glance at Troy, I took the device. Taking a deep breath, I put it to my ear.

  “Jema?” I recognized my dad’s voice.

  “Yes?”

  “Listen carefully. You must do exactly as I say. You’re in danger. They took Nave and your mom.”

  I froze. “What? Zhou took them? Where? How did he even get in to do that?”

  “No, not Zhou, Owen, or President Butler, or whatever he calls himself these days. The United North States took Nave into custody as a supposed national security measure, and your mother went with her.”

  Troy shook my arm. “Zhou took who?”

  Pushing the speaker button, I held the phone out. “Dad, I’m putting you on speaker. Troy and Miles are here.”

  “Good. This is going to be all over the radio in two seconds. Admiral Masterson declared our base a sovereign state. We are now Port Orford base under the control of Admiral Masterson as is the ship anchored off the coast from you. You have to act fast before the UNS has time to react.”

  Dad continued to outline changes to the original plan. My mind raced, and I forced myself to concentrate on his words. This is what he trained you for, funny enough Owen trained you for. You can do this, I repeated in my head.

  “Any questions?” My dad’s query drew me out of my mental pep talk.

  Troy took the phone from my hand. “Sir, no sir, we won’t let you down.”

  “I know you’ll do your best. Over and out.”

  “Over and out, sir.” Troy tapped the screen, ending the call. “Okay, let’s brief the others.”

  We rounded everyone up and relayed the new plan. With her dark coloring and tall stature, Night volunteered to be my double, and Avia started weaving Night’s hair into a braid to match mine. William offered to stand in for Troy and took his hat and jacket. Troy and I rehearsed our call to Owen while Avia and Miles worked on the communications piece. The rest of th
e team waited under cover of the palms for the transport sent by the frigate. As they secured the small dingy, Miles indicated we should make the call. I took a deep breath and dialed the number.

  Owen answered on the second ring. “President Elect Butler speaking.”

  “Owen, we need you to return Nave and my mom to Port Orford and release the technology for creating the vaccine and cure to the other countries.”

  “Jema? You’ve got a lot of guts calling like this. That’s a ludicrous demand. You know we can’t do that.”

  I wouldn’t be derailed. We knew how long it took to trace the call and when we’d be vulnerable to detection by their satellites. “You have one hour to deliver Nave, my mom, the formulas and one dose of each to the main gate at Port Orford. Otherwise, Troy and I are seeking asylum with the Earth Council.”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “No, Owen, the Earth Council sent a ship. They’re waiting for us now.” I discontinued the call as the timer read twenty-four seconds.

  “Good job.” Miles slapped my shoulder.

  Troy smiled. “She’s good under pressure.”

  I rubbed my hands down my pants. “The next sixty minutes are going to feel like an eternity.”

  “Owen’s dealing with a base that just declared themselves a sovereign nation, a country that has nuclear warheads aimed at us, and his only leverage is about to defect. He’ll cave.”

  “But he could blow the whole base up in two seconds.”

  “My dad knows what he’s doing. He didn’t get to be Admiral without years of training.”

  Waiting for word from Owen and Port Orford, we packed our gear and readied for the journey ahead. I paced the room and watched the frigate bobbing on the ocean.

  “The wind’s picking up.”

  Troy placed his hands on my shoulders. “The ship’s made to cross an ocean. It’ll be fine. The transport boat is fast. They’ll be fine too.”

  If Troy said fine one more time, I would explode. For as much as we’d faced before, this felt different. Ten of our classmates and a whole naval base with thousands of troops and their families put themselves in the crosshairs. I couldn’t even voice my concerns for fear saying them aloud might seal our fate. These people are fighting with you for what’s right.

  At the hour mark, my phone rang. I held it out to Troy.

  Taking it, he pressed the receive button. “Troy Masterson here.”

  I bit my lip and watched his face.

  Troy straightened his spine. “Yes, sir. I understand, sir. We’ll make you proud, sir.”

  Handing me the phone, Troy spun to face the others. “They aren’t giving in. We’ve got to move.”

  Hugging Night, I whispered in her ear. “Thank you.”

  “This isn’t just for you. It’s for everyone.” She squeezed me tight.

  “They’ll be okay.” Avia tugged on my arms, pulling me from Night’s embrace. “We have to go.”

  Running through the building, I watched out the windows as the team loaded the transport. A whirring sound rose overhead, and we stopped at the next opening. A jet swooshed by.

  “Is that your dad’s?” I squatted next to Troy.

  “It was a UNS jet. Hard to say.”

  Venturing out onto a covered portico, we studied the sky. Another jet swooped in, approaching the frigate. A burst of flames shot from one of the wings, and a missile flew past, landing in the water between the transport carrying our friends and the frigate.

  “What are they doing?” Miles yelled.

  Troy’s eyes scanned the sky. “It’s a warning shot.”

  “They’ve got to get off the water.” I slid a radio from my front pocket.

  A blast made me jump, and I looked up to see a missile soaring up from the frigate.

  “This isn’t good.” Troy backed to the building.

  “We’ve got to get you guys out of here.” Miles grabbed Troy’s arm.

  “He’s right.” Avia motioned me inside.

  We started to run as the sound of gunfire bounced off the concrete walls. A boom sounded overhead, and out over the water flames exploded from the frigate. Another jet approached from the north, a pop of light gleaming from its wing.

  The missile sped towards the transport boat, blowing it in half.

  “No!” I dropped to my knees.

  “Jema.” Troy’s arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me up. “We have to go.”

  “Where? Where can we go? There’s nowhere we’ll be safe.”

  “We’re going to be okay. They’ll think we’re dead.”

  My eyes cut to the water where smoke rose from the burning ships. “But all of our friends are dead.”

  “Put on your helmets. Zip your jackets. We’ve got to get away from here fast.” Troy’s voice hovered over me like a cloud.

  I stared at the black smoke billowing from the boats. A helmet appeared, and I slid it on my head. I crawled to Avia’s hunched form. Hands locked behind her neck, face to the concrete, she rocked on her knees.

  Rubbing my hand down her arm and squeezing her palm, I unhooked her helmet from her pack. “We’ve got to go.”

  “They bombed them. They killed them. They’re just kids, and they killed them.”

  “I know. But we’re still alive.” I fit the helmet on her head and buckled it under her chin.

  She shook her head.

  “I know. It’s horrible. But we have to stay alive for our families, for everyone else. You need to do this with me. We have to go.”

  Her blank stare held mine for a second. She pushed up on her knees, and Miles offered her his hand. She lunged into this chest. A void swept through my psyche. I wasn’t her person anymore.

  “Guys.” Troy grabbed my hand. “Now. Planes. I hear them coming back.”

  Miles’s eyes swept the ceiling. “I don’t—”

  Then I heard it, the low whirr of engines. We started running with me hand in hand with Troy and Miles holding Avia, pulling her along. The blazing sun poured through the glassless window openings, forming a pattern of light and dark, light and dark. Sweat poured from my brow, and I focused on my footsteps and friends beside me. We stopped at the outside wall of the building, listening for the planes. Troy dropped my hand, and I scooted to Avia.

  “We’re going to be okay. We must get away from the coast. They won’t find us. They’ll think we died with the others.”

  “If they find us, they’ll kill us too, because we’re witnesses, witnesses to what they did.” Her stare hardened. “This is not okay. That was not okay. They can’t get away with this.”

  I shoved out visions of our friends’ bodies floating in the ocean. “We’ll figure it out. Right now, let’s just focus on getting away from here.”

  The aircraft buzzed over, and we waited till the sound died down. A road separated us and the next building, and we shot across the space one at a time. We maneuvered east through that building and ducked across an alley and into the next before we heard the planes again. Making our way through abandoned shops and homes, we dodged the prying eyes of the planes and satellites in route to the abandoned business district. There, skyscrapers were packed into the blocks, as if a jungle with a canopy of trees, shading us from eyes above.

  In the heart of the city, where no light reached, we crept down into the basement level of a once grand hotel. Old workout machines stood quiet in the first room, and a large pool sat empty in the next. Then, we found the kitchen with a large walk-in refrigerator encased in metal and insulation. Miles and Troy shoved a shelf in front of the door, propping it open.

  “Oh, that doesn’t look like some place people go to die at all.” Breathing hard, Avia doubled over, resting her hands on her thighs.

  Troy set his pack inside the incubator. “If they’re using infrared to look for heat signatures, this is the safest place to be.”

  Piling our gear inside, we wound through the rest of the level, noting exits. Then we took stock of our food and water supply. We had two days
of meals, three if we pared down to two a day, and a day’s worth of water. Troy speculated they would search for twelve hours, twenty-four max. After the planes left, we could make our way back to the vehicles.

  I slumped down on the concrete floor. Heart still racing, I took a deep breath. The sun would set soon. Would they use drones or, worse yet, send in troops to scour the city? Troy offered me a meal, and I waved it off. Beside me, Avia shook her head as Miles held out a food pouch.

  “Okay, so we hide out till it’s clear, and then what?” Miles paced with his food, talking between bites.

  “How can you even eat or think about anything?” Avia screamed. “They killed our friends, we’re toast.”

  She started to rock, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, hugging her to me. Her body quivered, and I increased the pressure, trying to calm her. Minutes passed and the shaking stopped. As we hadn’t slept in eighteen hours, Troy suggested we rest in three-hour shifts. I laid Avia’s sleeping bag atop mine, making a bed for her. Miles fit an extra blanket over her and lay down on her other side. I hoped they could sleep. It would help at least with the physical exhaustion. I prayed they could survive the emotional trauma we’d just inflicted upon them.

  Taking a seat beside Troy, I rested my head on the metal wall. Tears formed in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I’d killed before, experienced the horror and guilt of taking a life to save my own. But this—swiping my face, I jumped to my feet.

  “We have to go back to the beach. With all the planes flying around, it must mean they were saving people from the water.”

  Troy grabbed my shoulders before I could bolt from our hideout. “We saw the hit. They couldn’t have survived. There wasn’t any time.”

  I shook my head. “They could have seen it coming, just like we did, and jumped into the water. They’re probably being tortured by Owen’s men right now. We have to go out there, surrender, or they’ll be tortured forever.”

  “Even if they did jump from the transport, they’d have been injured by flying debris. The fire, the boat sinking—it’s almost impossible that anyone survived that attack.”