Theia had to think hard for an answer. It seemed her brain was suddenly incapable of basic functions. “Came here with my mom. Well, she’s not really– Never mind. I’m here with my mom. She works for F-Fallon Corwin. Assistant type-thing.” More silence befell them, but not for lack of things to talk about on Theia’s part. Since Sophie hadn’t, Theia asked, “How did you get away from Marcus?”
“Is that the guy’s name? ‘Marcus?’ Well, would love to tell you, but we’re packing up.”
“Right, right! I’m sorry. I’m so annoying. You can… Yeah. Bye.”
Theia hasted away, but didn’t get five steps before Sophie called out, “Hey!” Theia was happy to stop. “Sit by me on the trip over, and I’ll tell you.”
“Totally!” Theia promptly answered.
–––––––
She hadn’t said anything to Mercy about traveling with Sophie until the last minute, but Mercy allowed it since the company would remain together. Mercy first spoke with the driver, arranging that Theia was to go straight to her once they arrived.
Bound for farmlands north of Woodburn but south of Wilsonville, Theia hopped in the van Sophie took. Sophie sat in the very back, and Theia sat in the row ahead, beside strangers. She turned around to listen. Without needing to bring up the story again, Sophie already began:
“So, remember when we were all called to go help… you know, when they came in and had a list of everyone that was gonna go…?”
“Yeah, I remember,” said Theia.
“We went to a hotel and some kids in our group started getting all crazy, like Molly and Jayden. They were rushed in and gave everyone away. People started shooting at each other. That’s when I ran for it. That was easy, actually, because nobody was watching me anymore.”
Theia leaned over the seat more, excited to learn more. “Then what happened?”
“Well, I ran as hard as I could, in case they came after me. I kept hearing guns, so I kept thinking I was being followed. I was running in the direction I thought my brother was. It took a long time – like, hours – but, I found him. He was at our foster home, just like where we saw each other last. Our foster family was gone for some reason; never came back.”
“Foster home? I didn’t know you were adopted.”
“I’m not adopted. Not yet.”
“Oh, right. Well, I meant… You know what I meant. It’s not bad or anything. So, you have a brother? Older or younger?”
“Older.”
“Where’s he now?” asked Theia, genuinely interested in learning these things about Sophie.
“Up in Portland. I won’t wanna talk about it.”
‘Talk about it?’ Was I supposed to know that was a touchy subject…?
“Anyway…” continued Sophie. “Me and Jeremy waited for a long time. We were too scared to go outside, but we had to because we ran out of food really fast. I’m surprised he didn’t eat all of it before I got there. We were starving by the time the Army found us. They took us away, to the safe zone, and we got to eat and take showers and everything.”
“Who’s taking care of you now?”
“Kinda nobody, really. We’re in a place with other orphans behind a school. Or, what used to be a school.”
A familiar description. “H. B. Lee?” Theia excitedly asked.
“Yeah, I think that’s what it’s called.”
“Cool! I was just there! I probably almost saw you. If you live there, why are you out here? Aren’t you too young?”
“I’m thirteen. We’re supposed to work out here. I’m going to be in high school. Aren’t you too young?”
“I came with my mom. She works out here.”
Sophie shrugged. “Hm. Well, I don’t know why I came out here. Heard they want people to go help in Woodburn ‘cuz there was a battle there. We weren’t allowed to be out in the residential areas, like where the battle happened. We were just getting beds and food ready in the secure spots. You know, close to the place you found me, by the freeeway.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Theia was fascinated as ever, finding everything Sophie had to say interesting. Captured, escaped, an orphan before, has a brother, came down to Woodburn to help the aides… Wait, she thought. How did all this start for her? Theia needed to know more, so she asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get captured by Marcus? My dad always said not to pry, so I’m sorry if I’m being int-intrusive.”
“Big word for an eleven-year-old there. No, I don’t mind.” Sophie glanced out the window before starting to talk again. “Well, me and Germy were … what’s the word? Like, rushed?…”
“‘Ambushed?’”
“Yeah, ambushed. We were ambushed.”
“Who’s Germy? Is that what you call your brother?”
“Yeah, that’s his nickname. Anyway… We were ambushed when our foster family was going to move out of Tigard and go to downtown. We all heard it was safer there. Guess not. It turned out to be just as dangerous as anywhere else. Some people ambushed us and took me away. I thought they beat Jeremy to death, but I didn’t really see. I knew they didn’t take him, though.”
“Probably because he was too old. Marcus only used kids our age.”
“Yeah. I guess I just remember being taken away then thrown into a church. Good thing we both got out okay.”
“Yep,” said Theia. Wanting to change the subject to something more pleasant, she asked, “So, how come your brother didn’t come down here with you?” Oops, shouldn’t have said that. Touchy subject, touchy subject!
“It’s … personal,” Sophie predictably answered.
Again, Theia felt rude. She apologized, then leaned back in her seat, choosing to stop talking before she embarrassed herself further. After having conversed for a few minutes, it became increasingly plain that Sophie wasn’t interested in talking; she was only being polite.
After a minute, Sophie said, “But since you’re cool, I guess I’ll tell you.” She leaned forward as Theia turned again. “So, even though he’s older than me, they don’t let him leave the orphanage, because he has behavior problems. He doesn’t listen to adults and he doesn’t get along with people his age. I don’t know what’s wrong. It’s probably like stress or something from the war. He has really violent outbursts a lot.”
“Did something happen to him?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know. He got beat up pretty bad when I was captured. Besides that, I have no idea. He started being like that after I came back to the house.”
“Hmm. Well, I hope he gets better soon.”
“Me too. He doesn’t talk to me anymore. Blames me for random things I didn’t even do …, acts like everything that’s wrong with him is my fault. I keep asking him what I did, and he either doesn’t say anything, or he says ‘you know.’ I just don’t get it.”
“Give it some time. I’m sure he’ll get better,” kindly said Theia, smiling.
The girls talked for a while longer about their experiences both since the war, and before. Theia didn’t feel ready to divulge certain information about her family, so she tried to keep Sophie talking about herself as much as possible. Once the group arrived at their destination, the driver of their van started giving everyone instructions on where to proceed and what the rules were. Theia still felt uneasy about being there; she wasn’t much of a fan of dirty things. Getting messy wasn’t intolerable, though. Regardless, she was happy to be involved in another task to take care of people. This time around, it was helping feed people throughout the Portland area.
Theia, of course, got out before Sophie, but she waited for her new friend. Everyone was being assigned jobs. Sophie was assigned to feeding the pigs and cleaning in and around their pin, while Theia was instructed to help out with whatever Mercy was doing. Without consulting the instructor, she ran to Mercy.
“Hey Mom, can I work with my friend?” she half-begged.
Mercy pondered a moment. “Who’s your friend?”
“Her name’s Sophie. She�
��s going to take care of the pigs.”
Mercy nodded. “Okay, but find me at lunch time.”
“Okay!” Theia embraced Mercy tight, then bolted off to meet Sophie before she disappeared.
They and several other kids gathered around an instructor, who stood in front of all the pig pens. For Theia, the instructions were simple. What they amounted to was: clean all pig excrement, bury it in the far-side yard, then feed the pigs the slop already prepared for them. Easy work for high schoolers. Theia did feel out of place being obviously the youngest. Fortunately, Sophie wasn’t much older, so she thought they ought to stick together. When the instructor finished speaking, everyone ran to a pen as if excited. Theia followed Sophie to the pen she selected at her leisure.
“Hey, I was wondering,” Theia asked, picking up a shovel leaning against the cage. “How old are you?”
Expressing confusion, Sophie said, “Thirteen. I already told you.”
Just trying to find something to talk about… Theia thought. She had to avoid sounding repetitive or stupid. “Guess how old I am,” she said. It was the best she could come up with.
“I don’t know. Twelve?”
“How’d you know?”
Sophie scoffed. “It’s obvious. But, that’s okay, because we’re both the youngest. Everyone’s like fifteen or sixteen here. I’ve been working with them for a while, so I know. I think the oldest kid here is like nineteen. Besides, what’s it matter? We can still do just as good as them.”
“Better!” said Theia, implying something.
Sophie seemed to understand.
The girls sprinted to the buckets and shovels, laughing. They scooped every last bit of feces they saw like trying to achieve a record, then after it was full, they each took a side of the bucket handle and carried it to the yard to bury it. After finishing their own pen, they started running into others’ pens and virtually completed their jobs for them. Finally, once all was cleaned – contextually clean – the girls dropped off container after container of slop. However much time passed, they were winded, but smiled at each other.
“Yeah, we’re awesome,” said Theia.
The instructor gathered everyone around again. “Good job everyone. Especially you two. What are your names?”
Theia excitedly answered for both. “Theia and Sophie.”
“Theia?” the man asked, holding a hand to his ear.
Now she was reluctant. “Yeah. I know it’s a weird name.”
The instructor had nothing to say to that. He simply thanked them all again, then told everyone where to go for lunch.
As everyone else ran toward the lunch room, Theia recalled her condition for being out there with Sophie. “I have to go back to my mom,” she told her new friend, who acknowledged. “See you later, I hope. But hey, tonight, you wanna stay with me and my mom in the house? Unless you wanna sleep in a tent with all the other teenagers or something.”
Sophie paused with a heavy sigh, scratching her face. “Look, Theia… Today was fun and all, but truth is, I’m not a very social person. I’m not looking to make friends right now.” Theia’s heart sank and blood rushed to every part of her head. “No offense. I just… I’d rather be alone.”
Theia stared blankly, speechless. Sophie tried to say more reassuring words, but Theia ignored them, and she continued to stand frozen until Sophie walked away.
That stung. It stung deep.
Another thing to try to forget. There’s always something wrong. Nothing can be right anymore. I can’t even make friends now…
Assuming she would find Mercy where most of the adults were doing boring stuff, Theia headed there. First, it required passing through the pens again. As she scanned around for exactly which path to take, she spotted one pen that stood out. As always, a pig was inside, but this one was alone, and lying flat on its side. None of the others were; they were happily eating, or picking fights because of eating. This pig was motionless.
Theia ran up to it, just to make sure it was asleep. What she discovered disturbed her: it had wheezy breathing and paid no attention to its food. “You’re sick?”
First and highest priority was still locating Mercy, who would be able to find out what to do. Theia ran harder toward the other buildings. Knowing she can’t go inside any of them, she asked an adult standing guard at an entrance, “Excuse me, have you seen Fallon or someone named Mercy?”
“Yes, both. Which one do you need?”
“Um… Mercy.”
“She’s right over there in the house.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Across more field, past more patrolmen walking the grass and guards at the front door, she frantically ran into the living room where Mercy was seated with Fallon and several others.
Despite having interrupted what appeared to be an important meeting, after a few seconds of silence, Mercy rose, stepped toward her then asked, “What is it, honey?”
“There’s a sick pig. I think it’s dying.”
Mercy sighed. “Theia, I thought something was wrong with you. You had me worried.”
Confusion came over her. “You’re not worried about the pig?”
Mercy walked with Theia further from the dining room. “It’s an animal, Theia. We’re raising them for food. Now, how did your first job go?”
“It’s still a living creature. We can’t just let it die. They’re just leaving it there to die!” Her voice was well above a whisper now.
Mercy had to bring her outside. “Honey, they put down the sick animals. Pigs, cows, chickens. Nobody’s gonna leave it there to die alone. Someone, probably soon, will be there to take care of it. We don’t know what might be wrong with it, so it might not be safe to have around anymore.”
“I can’t believe you! You don’t mean ‘take care of it,’ you mean kill it then forget about it.”
Mercy got on her knees and looked Theia in the eyes. “What’s wrong? What’s bothering you?”
“THIS! I can’t believe they’re just going to kill it.”
“No, this isn’t like you. Tell me what’s wrong, Theia.”
“I won’t let them!” she screamed as she ran away, headed for the pens again. Of course, she received strange looks by those she passed, but it didn’t matter.
She climbed over the fencing, joining the animal in its space, then cautiously stepped toward it. The pig didn’t seem to notice her presence. Her feelings hadn’t calmed, but time felt slowed, and she was able to remember: Mercy said the animal could be sick with something deadly to humans. Considering that, Theia kept her distance, but she did stare for a while. A long while.
Without warning, a pair of hands tried to stand her up. It was Mercy. Theia resisted until they were outside the pen. “Stop! Leave me alone!” she screamed.
Mercy held her close. “I can’t let you touch the animal if it has something that could hurt you. Okay? Please tell me what’s wrong…”
Theia pushed her. She leaned against the wooden frame in complete silence.
“Well, come find me when you want to talk.”
For at least half an hour, Theia remained by the pig, staring particularly at its belly, expecting to see its breathing go from slow to still. She wanted to give it as much company as possible down to its final seconds of life. Life still remained in it by the time two men arrived with rifles…
While they loaded it onto a cart, Theia cried. She followed ten steps behind as they brought it far away, to what looked like the end of the dozen-acre property, where no one else could witness. The men had insisted she not be present, but she insisted that she should be. She helped dig the grave. Only one of the men shot, when it was time. They rolled it into the ground and proceeded to fill the hole. Without any words, they left, but Theia remained behind.
Her crying became heavier. So many emotions, too many things to try to forget. Theia didn’t consciously know why she felt the way she did.
“‘We’re all sick,’” she repeated.
LILITH
&nb
sp; MAY 1, 2013
Two in the morning, in a silent house. Lilith had ordered the on-duty clansmen to return to their homes – or bedrooms – save for the brother. In exactly an hour-and-a-half, they would attend a meeting with the other families, so it was time to prepare.
“The basement?” asked Ethan as Lilith led him through the kitchen where the door was found, unlocking it.
“Of course. It’s my personal space.” She led him down the steps forbidden to all others.
“I know,” replied Ethan, coughing twice. “That’s why I’m asking.”
“I just want some alone time, little brother. I come here every day. Helps me think.”
The room was mostly an open space, except for a moveable closet next to the door, a wooden dummy, and a mat at the far end. The floor was flat, bare concrete. As Lilith stepped up to the dummy, Ethan walked to the opposite wall and sat. “Still dance?” he asked.
Lilith smiled. “Of course.” She began to practice movements, blocks, and strikes on the post. After only a minute, she stopped. “I keep my body in shape and my mind in order when I’m down here. You would know that if you had ever visited.”
“Sorry. Was a little busy raising a child.”
Lilith removed her pants, down to athletic shorts and bra, starting to stretch. “Still, you could have stopped by more often.” A couple minutes of silence later, she finished stretching then ordered, “Put on something nice. Don’t forget, you’re coming.”
“What’s wrong with jeans and a t-shirt?” He leaned his head back. Even after several days of eating and gaining a few pounds, he looked miserable as ever.
“We dress formal in public. Family tradition.”
“A tradition you break regularly.”
“Boss does what she wants, and boss is ordering you to put something better on.” She shot Ethan a piercing stare. When he finally rose, dragging himself to the closet, she started practicing balancing stances. “I wonder how different things would be if you became boss. Some of us think you’d have done just as well as Mom.”
Resurrection Page 13
