Uprising

by Shelly Crane

  Hours passed. Silent, except for my whispering words, hours. Long, painful, hungry, thirsty, hot, gut wrenching hours. I had no idea what time it was, or how long I’d been barely humming when I ran out of the Beatles songs I knew. There had to be a reason for this. They wanted something from me or they wouldn’t have brought me here.

  Some of my hair had escaped the bun and was matted to my forehead and neck. My clothes were dirty and sweaty, it looked like they had dragged me through the dirt and I was missing a shoe. It was so hot. It wasn’t just hot, like naturally, it was blazing warm air as if they were pumping heat in the small room...on purpose. I’d thrown up but didn’t know where, I didn’t smell great, my breath was rancid. I could’ve drank five gallons of water and eaten who knows how many plates of lasagna.

  I decided to see if my theory was correct, if they were listening. I cleared my mind of everything but one thought.

  ‘What do you want with me.’

  I waited and repeated in my mind and waited and repeated. I stared an angry whole in the door. Willing someone to come through it. Nothing.

  I slipped into a pre-sleep state. I didn’t close my eyes but just zoned out. I was a little worried. You aren’t supposed to go to sleep after a concussion are you? But I had been asleep already. I kept my eyes open and focused on the lines between the white bricks of the walls.

  I moved on to 80’s rock ballads to hum mindlessly, then random annoying pop songs, then commercial jingles. I sang the Toys-R-Us jingle more the twenty times, thinking that would drive anyone insane and they would surely come stop me. But, no. I had to think of something else, something productive, but couldn’t risk them seeing it.

  The hours stretched even longer and soon, I became so exhausted than I couldn’t not fall asleep. It had to have been more than a day. Had to be. The last thing I remember was sliding down the wall to the hard floor. My rear and back numb, pulsing and aching from sitting so long. My head hurt so bad I didn’t think I could take it another second without screaming, then...sleep found me, unwanted as it was.

  I woke with another gasp, having no idea if it had been seconds or hours sine I’d fallen asleep. If felt like déjà vu. I blinked, the lights still on and bright. I dry heaved and tried to balance out the stars and blurs in my vision with actual sight.

  Then I realized, someone was in the room with me. I could hear his breathing. I rolled slowly over, trying desperately not to let the screams of agony from my head hurting and body cramping vocalize. I sat up to face the door to see a Lighter leaning his back on it. It was shut but he was just standing there, arms crossed, looking menacing and pensive.

  He pushed off the door and came to squat in front of me. He had on a big long black jacket and blacks pants. His boots were almost touching my feet he was so close. He watched me carefully with his black eyes and I couldn’t do much but stare back and wait.

  He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a bottle of water. He didn’t wait for me to take it or taunt me with it. He twisted off the cap and reached out, took my shaky hand in his ice cold one and put the water bottle in it. I put it to my lips, trying to savor it, save it, but no good. I was thirsting to death, literally, and without even meaning to, I guzzled the whole bottle in seconds.

  He almost smiled - smiled? - and pulled out another one. Setting it off to the side near me. Then he pulled a granola bar out and unwrapped it for me. He pushed it towards me and I took it. I bit into it and closed my eyes at the pain of my stomach growling. I swallowed with barely chewing and bit again.

  He sat the whole time right in front of me with fascination all over his face. Then he spoke as I took the last bite.

  “Better?” he asked, his voice soft.

  I swallowed hard and cleared my throat.

  “Yes.”

  He nodded and pulled another bar out for me, setting it beside the water bottle. I was tempted to grab that one too, as I was still hungry, but something told me that might be my only meal for later. Then he held his hand out for me. I tentatively put my hand under his and he dropped two white oblong pills into my palm.

  I should have been weary about the pills I guess but, if they wanted to hurt me, and they already had, I knew they could. They wouldn’t drug me, wouldn’t do it the easy way. I grabbed the water bottle and took one sip to swallow the pills, then saved the rest.

  My stomach was not happy with the sudden intake of food after being so empty and I felt like I wanted to be sick again, but I took deep breaths to stave it off.

  “How’s your head?” he asked quietly.

  “Hurts,” I answered just as softly.

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “You didn’t do it,” I said, clearly remembering the Lighter who had sucker punched me.

  He smiled and looked like he wanted to laugh at my joke.

  “The medicine should help.”

  “Thank you,” I said quietly and he nodded once.

  “Do you know why you’re here?” I shook my head. “You know what I am.” It was not a question but I nodded anyway. “How?”

  I silently rehearsed the Pledge of Allegiance in my mind instead of answering.

  He chuckled softly.

  “You know, because of you, I’ve gained an extensive knowledge of earthly American musical history.” Aha! So they were listening. Thank God I thought to sing instead of pining for a rescue from certain individuals. “You’re smart. That’s good. You’re gonna need to be.” He shifted and got closer to me, completely blocking the door’s view from me. “You’re gonna need to be strong and disciplined and patient if you want to make it out of this.”

  I looked at him blankly. I was very confused. He was strange. Unlike any Lighter I’d met before, which unfortunately had been a few.

  He whispered his words to me, like it was a secret.

  “I’ve been assigned to your door for now. I know you won’t believe me, but I’m blocking you right now, meaning- no one can read your thoughts but me. When I’m in this room with you, I’ll do that, but when I’m not, don’t trust anyone or anything. Keep your mind blank. Use your songs, whatever it takes.”

  I felt my brow furrow and he sighed softly.

  “You’ll have to stay here, I can’t just walk out with you, not right now. We’ll have to wait for the right time. You’ll have to tough it out for a while. I know it’s not fun and they will be in later to interrogate you. And that... definitely won’t be fun. But I’ll help any way I can. Be strong.”

  He got up to leave, my mouth wide open in confusion and wondering. He’s tricking me. Trying to get me to let my guard down around him.

  He turned back around to look at me.

  “I’m not. Like I said, I knew you wouldn’t believe me. But at this point, it doesn’t matter. I can’t change anything. You’re here and most humans don’t leave this place.”

  “Where am I?” I croaked out.

  “You’re at an enforcement containment facility for rebels. This cell is an interrogation room. The last room most humans see before...”

  He didn’t need to finish. I knew exactly what he was going to say. Before they die.

  “Why are you telling me this? Trying to scare me into confessing something?”

  “I won’t have to scare you,” he said sadly. “You’ll be scared plenty enough without my help. But...I’m working on something, just tough it out until then.” He turned to go but stopped at the door and turned one last time and gave me a sad smile. “By the way, my name is Daniel.”

  Useless Measures

  Chapter 39 - Merrick

  I practically blurred to keep up with Margo as she ran down the hall. All the way down, passed all the new rooms, passed the new bathroom. All the way down to where the rooms end and the new construction begins.

  I couldn’t help but wonder what kinda problem there could be way down here. Then she stopped and turned around. She just stood there, looking at me. I stared at her expectantly.

  “Margo. You said the
re was a problem, didn’t you?”

  “No Merrick. I didn’t.”

  “No you-” She was right. I assumed. “You told me to come, to hurry. What is it?”

  “Just wait.”

  “For what?”

  “Just wait.”

  I sighed and looked around. I watched her for any sign of something. She just continued to stand there.

  “Ok, Margo, I’m sorry but I don’t like Sherry being up there alone. I’m gonna head back up if there isn’t anything you need.”

  “Just wait!” she yelled and grabbed my arm to stop me.

  “For what?”

  “Something’s going to happen.”

  “What do you mean?” I said as chills ran up my arms.

  “Just wait for it. We must wait.”

  I tried to pull my arm but she tightened her grip and I didn’t want to hurt her.

  “Let go, Margo.”

  “Almost time.” She looked all around at the walls and ceiling. Her eyes were glazed over. “Just wait. Almost. See, I had to be careful. Sherry can tell if I lie. She can tell, so I had to watch my words. Be careful, they told me. Don’t look at the ones who’d been marked, they’ll know, they said. Make sure you do this, they said. Don’t mess up.”

  I jolted and felt my heart skip. I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. I knew that look. I pulled her shirt up and there it was. She didn’t even try to stop me.

  NO! No. Not Margo.

  The shiny red circular patch was right over her ribs on the right side and she was under the compulsion. Oh no. With the patch, they can see through the person’s eyes, anytime they want. They had seen everything. The bunker, us, the store. Who knows how long she’s had it. Must not have been too long or they would have been here already to storm us, right?

  “Margo, what did they tell you to do.”

  “They said to get one that was important and small. Fragile and easy. One that the rest of us would come after if she was taken. One that would draw us out of hiding. One that we would try to rescue.”

  Sherry. No!

  I took off running. I blurred all the way up to the commons room, up the stairs to the store and saw it was empty.

  Sherry! Answer me!

  I ran outside. It was dark now and I didn’t see any lights anywhere. I ran into the street and looked both ways. Nothing. I blurred back into the store and searched every closet, every room, every cabinet.

  Sherry!

  It was useless. They used Margo to lure Sherry there and she lured me away so they could take her. Oh God no. They took her. It was hard to breath. No! No stopping. We gotta move quick if we’re gonna get her back.

  I blurred back downstairs, straight to Margo. She was still leaning on the wall down the hall where I left her.

  “When did they put this on you?”

  I pulled up her shirt again and pointed to the patch but didn’t touch it.

  “This morning. They wouldn’t take me. I’m not important they said. I’m old they said. They didn’t want me.”

  “Margo,” I chose my words carefully. “They can’t make you take the patch.”

  “No. No. They said they’d make me a Lighter if I didn’t put it on. They said I’d be one of them and turn against you. They said she’d be safe it I took it.”

  “Who’d be safe? Sherry?”

  “Celeste.”

  Of course. They saw Celeste in her mind and used it against her. I didn’t bother to contradict her that females can’t be Lighters and they were lying to her. It didn’t matter anymore. This was all about to get very ugly.

  “Do they know about us? Why didn’t they attack us?”

  “They don’t know. I only thought of Celeste. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t think of you down here. I was smart. Was good. Only Celeste. They put patches on everyone along this highway. They are looking for us. They want us all to look for them. Be their eyes. They are looking for us.”

  So they are just spreading out. The store wasn’t pinpointed.

  “What else did they say? Why take Sherry, then?”

  “They are taking more people. To torture them for information and then put them out as bait for a rescue. That’s how they think they’ll find us. You’ll rescue her. They’ll find you. Poor Sherry. Tortured.”

  “Enough, Margo! Enough!” I barked.

  I couldn’t listen to her say another word about Sherry and the things I have no doubt they’ll do to her. Were we not prepared to do just that and more to the Lighter we captured when they took the kids?

  I took off my button up shirt and tied it around her eyes, leaving me with a white undershirt.

  Jeff! Max! Ryan! Kay!

  I called them all in my mind, pulling Margo behind me we swiftly made our way down the hall. I banged on doors the whole way. I heard people come out of their rooms behind me.

  “Commons room. Now!”

  Get everyone in the commons room. Now!

  We got there. I was so mad I was shaking. Furious. I felt like I could literally kill someone. This was worse than the caves. There’d be no hideout for Sherry this time.

  It wasn’t Margo’s fault, I knew that. And now, she was going to die for being naive. Once the patch was removed, she’d die and there wasn’t anything we could do to stop that.

  We assembled. It looked like a lot of people but no way to remember everyone to tell if we were all here or not. I was gonna start without waiting any longer but Jeff interrupted.

  “What’s up, Merrick?”

  What did Margo do?

  “Mom? What’s the matter?” Celeste asked.

  I ignored her, for now.

  “Everyone, lift your shirts.” They all just looked at me like I was insane. I was too mad to hold my anger in. “Now!” I bellowed.

  They did reluctantly. And I searched, I saw Jeff searching too, knowing what I was looking for.

  “We’ll need to search everyone further, just to make sure.”

  “Why are you looking for patches on us? Why would one of us have one?” Cain asked.

  I lifted Margo’s shirt in answer and heard the gasps, a scream I knew was attached to Celeste, the cries of outrage. Most everyone knew you had to accept it. It couldn’t be forced on you. Celeste ran forward and started to remove the shirt I had tied around Margo’s eyes.

  Kay got to her before I could grab her.

  “No, Celeste. We can’t, honey. You know that. She’ll see. Which means they’ll see. She’s not herself right now.”

  I knew from the look on Celeste’s face she knew what that meant. She’d been there when we had to deal with Bobby. When he attacked us and then when the patch was removed. She knew her mother was going to die.

  She cringed back up against Kay and buried her face in her neck as Kay wrapped her arms around her. She looked at me and shook her head in anger and resentment at what would have to be done. There was no easy way to do this.

  And they didn’t even know about Sherry yet.

  “Max? You take Margo to a room somewhere. We’ll have to...deal with that later.” I took a deep painful breath. “They took Sherry,” I blurted out and felt a hot sear of pain through my chest at speaking the words out loud. I laid a hand on the wall to steady myself.

  I can’t even recount or recall the explosion of emotion and words and movements that happened after that. I do remember the pressure and fuzz of so many Keepers probing my brain at once to get the full story.

  “Oh no,” I heard Jeff mutter beside me as he saw what I knew, Marissa pressing him for details quietly.

  Danny came bounding through the line and stood beside me, taking Celeste from Kay. Being torn between comforting his girl and rescuing his sister. He petted her head and I was proud, for just a second, I let myself be proud, let the rage go and saw him. He was doing what needed to be done. He couldn’t just let Celeste stand there broken and he couldn’t forget Sherry needed us.

  He was fierce. He looked at me, in the eye. I knew what he was doing. He was wai
ting on instruction. Plans to go and get his sister. In his mind, there was nothing else to think about.

  “Wait, wait!” Piper yelled. “Now, they set this trap. And don’t even look at me, Merrick. I saw it all in your mind. They took her on purpose, knowing you’d all run after her life a bunch of naïve idiots. You can not go after her and risk everyone else.”

  “Oh, this is just your dream come true isn’t it, Piper!” Celeste yelled, pulling her face up from Danny’s shoulder to look at her. “Sherry out of the picture. Everyone knows you hate her!”

  “I do, but that has nothing to do with it. They told Margo it was a trap for us. It would be dumb to just go after her.”

  “True,” Jeff said and looked at me. “But since when do we do the smart thing. I’m with you, brother, all the way. Say the word.”

  Everyone seemed to be torn. This was Sherry we were talking about. We had to get her back but it was a trap. What were we gonna do?

  “Uh, Merrick?” Cain spoke up and detangled himself gently from Lillian, who was clearly stricken, he stepped forward. “I know a way.” He glanced over at Billings. “Billings? I still got that job offer?”

  Billings looked puzzled. Then brightened and nodded his head.

  “It could work. They hire people everyday, on the spot. That Lighter, Daniel, killed all the Lighters who saw me help you so I shouldn’t be compromised. I could go with you, be your mentor. We could start in the morning.”

  “Wait. What are you talking about?” Danny asked.

  “They’d take her to an enforcement facility. Containment building. There’s a big one in Effingham. I’d bet my last paycheck they took her there. And, hello, I’m an enforcer. Guess who can get in. And guess who gets a nice bonus for bringing in a new recruit.”