Resurrection

by Michael Clements

  Fallon shrugged. “Crickets, really. They’re so sparsely populated, I receive almost no news from that area. So, it’s either completely in ruins, or they’re doing fine.”

  Tyson nodded. “Hmm. No reason they would be lost. I would bet that they’re just fine.”

  “So, the coast then?” asked Fallon.

  “Yes. It has to be. If we remain on the coast, hostile forces will only attack us from a single direction. We can arrange defensive strategies with the more inland towns. Any threat would have to pass them first, and if it comes to that, we can aide them. We’ll have the numbers, and the experience. As for living there… Rainfall is abundant, and there’s more than enough space.”

  Nobody objected. Malachi asked, “Should we select a place at random, then?”

  Tyson shook his head. “No. I have a friend who lives near Cannon Beach. He knows that community. If one of them trusts us, they’ll all trust us.”

  Fallon made her ‘thinking hard’ face. She asked, “Isn’t that unrealistic? There are five thousand of us. Cannon Beach barely has more than one thousand.”

  “Looks like it’ll have to expand,” said Tyson. “Shouldn’t be too difficult in time.”

  Tyson called in his officers and went over the plan with them. There were some objections, but not overly. There seemed to be unanimous agreement about the plan. All that remained was the logistics of the evacuation itself. Five thousand people… What a daunting notion. Then, even greater fear lied in the rest of the city. Would it lie completely in ruins by a few weeks or months? At best, Tyson could only hope optimistically. He couldn’t save everyone, and he couldn’t fight forever, but saving a few was better than saving none.

  –––––––

  Finally, it was time to return home. By the time Tyson and Fallon stepped out of the building, Ethan was also there, sitting against the wall beside the doors. “Have somewhere to go?” asked Tyson.

  “No…, and yes, I suppose.”

  “You should go see your daughter. She misses you so much.”

  “What? You think I don’t miss her? It’s not that simple.”

  Tyson pitied Ethan. He turned to his wife and said, “Let’s invite him over. For a short visit.”

  She looked at him with worry, but eventually submitted to the idea.

  The Corwins’ house was directly across the street from Fallon’s base of operations. When they stepped up to the front door, Fallon unlocked it and entered first. All four of their children came running, thrilled to see who was standing behind her. Little Paige jumped into Tyson’s arms, bringing him a warm feeling he had long missed; and she started to cry bitterly. Over and over, she told her father how much she missed him. Tyson’s eyes swelled up as his other children embraced him as well. Adrian, who was equal to Tyson’s height, put an arm around and rested his head against his father’s.

  Fallon, too, started to cry. “See kids? I told you he’s okay,” she said wiping away a tear.

  Tyson turned around, looking Ethan straight in the eyes, smiling at him. Adrian turned and noticed Ethan as well. “Who’s that?” he asked.

  “This is Ethan. Who is: well, it’s far too complicated for me to want to explain right now.” As Ethan carefully stepped inside, Tyson added, “Let’s just say… He saved my life, and he didn’t have to.”

  All the offspring looked at Ethan, probably uncertain of what to say, except Adrian, who also stepped up to Ethan and gave him a fierce embrace. “Thanks for saving my dad,” he said sincerely.

  The family spent a few more minutes absorbing the patriarch’s miraculous return. Connor showed Tyson his progress on the robot, and Paige couldn’t stop talking about wanting to become a superhero to make all the fighting stop. Tyson had briefly forgotten his guest. When he turned around, he caught Ethan staring at the living room family portraits. “Hey kids… How about you let Dad talk to our guest for a while?” They all respectfully obeyed.

  Tyson and Fallon both led Ethan to their bedroom. Fallon sat on their bed while Tyson brought in a couple chairs for Ethan and himself. Once Tyson seated himself, he had intended to speak first, but Ethan beat him to it.

  “You’re family’s very close,” he commented.

  Tyson smiled. “Yes. I am very thankful for that. I saw you looking at our portraits for a long time.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

  “No, of course not. It did make me wonder, though, why you won’t go see your daughter. She’s not far away.”

  “I don’t feel ready,” said Ethan. “It’s not that I’m nervous… I just don’t think it’s good for me to be around her. Trouble follows me everywhere I go, to put it very lightly.”

  Tyson crossed his legs, holding his kneecap. “You referring to your affiliation with the mob?” Ethan nodded. “Is that a life you intend to return to?”

  “Not at all.”

  “What do you fear, then? It’s done.”

  Ethan shook his head. “It’s never done. It’s a life you fall back into no matter how many times you try to leave. When it’s … your family … you know, being the very thing you’re trying to avoid… It’s impossible. You can’t. Not forever.”

  Fallon interjected. “But Theia will always be your daughter. You have to choose one or the other.”

  Ethan stared at Tyson intently. “Which would you choose? Your troops, or your family?”

  “Men and women of the armed forces are my family, Ethan.”

  “Your children, then. Ten comrades’ lives, or Paige’s life?” Tyson was utterly silent. He refused to even contemplate the question. It didn’t matter, because Ethan said, “Exactly. You’d rather not even think about it. On one hand you have people you’ve known your entire life – your blood, your caretakers, your … closest friends – and on the other hand, you have your child. It’s not such a no-brainer when the choice is put in your hands. Either way, you’re ending the lives of someone you have loved for years.” There was regret in Ethan’s eyes. It came over him suddenly. “I deserve to burn in hell for what I’m about to do. For this alone…”

  Tyson folded his hands, then patiently asked, “Where can we find her?”

  Ethan breathed in deep…

  THEIA

  “Theia…”

  Blood spurt from Ben’s face, coating the walls in both directions. Chase stood and turned to face her, with satisfaction and excitement in his eyes. When the other boys started tearing her clothes, she threw them off, then tackled Chase to the floor. She took his brass knuckles and proceeded to punch his head – from his forehead to jaw – crushing everything there was to crush, and she aimed for his throat so he couldn’t breathe. Then a knife appeared in her hand, and she stabbed into the hole that was once his face. Bits of brain, copious amounts of blood, and fragments of bone spilled onto the floor. The remaining portion of Chase’s head broke off from his spine.

  “Theia!”

  Spencer stood in her path, challenging her to make a move. She made no hesitation. With a single kick to his gut, Spencer was already on the floor. She climbed on him, rolling him onto his belly, then took him by his hair and pummeled his face into the floor repeatedly. Spencer flailed, but nothing helped him. Theia screamed every profanity in her vocabulary. When Spencer stopped struggling, she stood up, targeting every other bully who had stood in her way. All the kids were pounding on the sanctuary doors, terrified. Theia grabbed the biggest kid in the crowd and threw him backward, where there was space…

  “Wake up, Theia!”

  She opened her eyes, finding herself on one of many beds, in the presence of Mercy and a man dressed in a nice suit. Surrounding them were other kids and adults speaking to them as well. She didn’t blink; not until her brain figured out where she was. “What just happened?”

  “You passed out. You were kicking and screaming in your sleep,” said Mercy. “Saying a lot of nasty things, too.”

  Theia relaxed some. “I … thought I was somewhere else.”

&nbs
p; The man, who was closer, seated on a chair said, “You were dreaming violent dreams, weren’t you? You were … hurting people.”

  She nodded. “They were like things that happened. I keep seeing them, like they keep happening.”

  “Reliving memories?” rhetorically asked the man. Theia nodded again. “You had an outburst at school. Do you remember that?”

  It took a second, but she answered, “No… What happened? Oh no! Did I do something?” She felt great shame upon remembering that.

  Mercy took a step forward. “You attacked two kids. Broke a boy’s nose and gave him a black eye. And the girl, you broke her knee and also broke her nose.” Theia remembered none of it, but accepted what she was told. Mercy gestured toward the man beside her. “These people will take care of you, Theia. We feel you need to be here for a while.”

  Panic…

  “WHAT? No! You can’t do this!” She ran for Mercy. “Please don’t! Please, Mercy, please!”

  “I’ll come visit you every single day, Theia. I promise.”

  Tears streamed down her eyes. “What will… W-when… How long will I be here, Mom?”

  “Until the nightmares stop, Theia. Until the outbursts stop.”

  “It was only once! I’m not crazy. I won’t hurt anyone ever again!”

  Mercy knelt down, keeping her hands on Theia’s shoulders. “Okay, honey. If that’s true, then you’ll be out of here in no time.” She smiled.

  Theia knew when she was in a losing battle, and this moment was exactly that. All the power she had was simply behaving herself. Maybe they’re just making me force myself to act better, she thought.

  Sometime later, Mercy finished arranging things with the adults in charge, hugged Theia, and then departed. Just like that, Theia was alone once again, despite being surrounded by kids her age and almost equally as many adults. She remained on her mattress. After a moment to examine her surroundings, she learned that she was at a church again. The memories from her previous experience began to show themselves again. She stood and approached the nearest adult.

  “Excuse me,” she said, tugging on the woman’s shirt. “I need to walk around.”

  “But we’re just about to start breakfast. Everyone leaves together.”

  Breakfast? she thought. How long was I passed out? “Okay, but I can I just walk around?”

  The woman paused. “Um… Hold on one sec.” She went to a man across the room, then returned with him accompanying. “Hi honey, what’s your name?” she asked, bending down to Theia’s level and using that condescending tone like she was speaking to a newborn. Theia stated her name, then the woman replied, “Okay, Mr. Tull’s going to walk with you. Is that okay?”

  Suspicious sounding, but Theia accepted. She left the room with the stranger, right into the sanctuary, which fortunately had little no resemblance to the sanctuary at Marcus Solomon’s lair. She figured her sleeping quarters were a Sunday School room or something.

  The man, Mr. Tull, immediately started asking her questions before they even reached one of the pews, which was also where other children were being interrogated. “So, do you remember anything about what you did at school?”

  Theia told him everything she recalled, which was the entire event. She ended by saying, “I’m not crazy. I just … remember bad things.”

  “Like what?” asked Mr. Tull as they seated themselves in a pew.

  “I hurt this kid that was trying to hurt me. He told his gang to hold me down… I beat him up really bad. I don’t know if I killed him or not. I ran away and I never came back.”

  He froze, stunned. “Killed him? What did you do?”

  “He had these brass knuckles. I don’t know, I was so angry. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “You know, Theia, this last year, a lot of people have done terrible things. Americans turned on each other like never before. We forgot what it means to be united. But what’s done is done. All we can do now is be there for each other and try to coexist.”

  Anger swelled up inside her. “I’m not talking about the country! I’m talking about what I did!”

  Thinking for a while, the man eventually asked her, “What do you think you did? Because when I look at you, I don’t see a killer.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Well, then, you should believe that he’s still alive somewhere out there. He tried to hurt you, and you were defending yourself.” He looked out at the other kids being counseled in that sanctuary. “A lot of the kids we work with here… They’ve done terrible things too. Carter over there, he bit a man’s ear off when he was caught stealing that man’s food. Jeremy across the aisle there, he killed his own father. The troops found him in downtown shortly after reclaiming it. And then there’s Pete, who’s not here in the sanctuary with us, but what he did is quite disturbing. He –”

  “Wait, did you say ‘Jeremy’? What does he have a sister?”

  Mr. Tull shook his head and shrugged. “…I don’t know that.”

  “Can I ask him?”

  “Well, Theia, he’s one of our more difficult kids. We really shouldn’t–”

  She stood, scooted out from between the pews and walked down the aisle. When she could see Jeremy’s face straight-on, her eyes widened. On cue of impulse, she ran into the aisle directly in front of him. “Hey, are you Sophie’s sister?”

  Jeremy looked at her with confusion, which indicated to her that she was gravely mistaken. Yet, he responded saying, “Yeah! She’s alive?”

  “Yes, yes she is!”

  The woman sitting next to Jeremy asked, “Excuse me, who’s your counselor? What’s your name?”

  Theia ignored the woman because that attitude was rude and unnecessary. “I met her!” she said excitedly. “I met her in Woodburn when we–”

  “Little girl, what is your name?” nagged the woman again.

  “It’s THEIA, okay?”

  Mr. Tull came to them. “Theia, we should leave people alone.”

  “Can’t I talk to Jeremy? I know his sister. She told me about him.”

  Jeremy straightened up. “What did she tell you?” He seemed anxious.

  Before Theia could answer, Mr. Tull said, “Okay, if you guys want to talk, then you can later, but not right now. Okay? Can we agree on that?” The two agreed. Then, he concluded the meeting saying, “Okay, breakfast will be soon.”

  When breakfast began, Theia stood in line like she was supposed to, got a decent meal of pancakes and fruit, and went to the sanctuary to seat herself in a pew like everyone else, but mere moments after that, she remembered the ordeal as virtually identical to her experience with Marcus Solomon. Instead of a line, she remembered a crowd, pushing each other out of the way. Instead of decent food, she remembered thick oatmeal, day after day. Theia consciously realized her mind confused current reality with the past, but it wasn’t enough to sort out which was which, as if both were happening simultaneously. She sat in one of the back pews, where the fewest people could potentially see or watch her, and ate her breakfast in solitude.

  The day brightened some when a familiar older kid sat in the pew in front of her. “Hey,” he said. “So, you know Sophie…”

  She nodded. “Yep.” Some awkward silence came between them. Fearing Jeremy would walk away because of sheer boredom, she desperately brainstormed something to say. Her mind repeatedly brought her back to the horrible events Sophie described when the two were living in the basement with their father, and that couldn’t be mentioned.

  “So, how old are ya?”

  “Eleven. I’ll be twelve soon. How old are you?”

  “Sixteen.” More awkward silence followed. “So, how’d you meet my sister?”

  Theia swallowed, thinking deeply. “Technically, I met her after I was kidnapped by Marcus Solomon.” She waited a moment. “Have you heard of him?”

  “No…”

  “…Really?” She quickly remembered the details she needed. “Well, the gang that captured Sophie… That was Marcus. He capture
d me too.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She escaped. It was a long time before I did… I didn’t think I’d see her again, but I did. I saw her in Woodburn.”

  “Woodburn? Weird. So, what was she doing down there?”

  “Well, my mom works for the government. Er, the army. Well, I guess both.” When Jeremy rolled his eyes, she focused more. “My mom went to Woodburn to help Fallon check on the food coming into Portland. Wait… No. I think she went there because they caught one of the Reformist leaders, and while she was there, she helped check on the food. We brought some back, too. Well, I came with her, and that’s when I met Sophie again.”

  Jeremy nervously fidgeted. “You … said she talked about me? What did she say?”

  Theia felt it paramount not to speak of personal stories with someone she just met. “She said … you guys don’t really get along…” Since that answer didn’t sound convincing even to her, she asked, “So, tell me about your family. Bet you guys were pretty normal before, huh?”

  Jeremy nodded, sitting up in the pew while placing his food on the floor. “We were a big family. There was seven of us.”

  “Seven? Wow. She didn’t tell me how many brothers and sisters she… You said was. You mean, you’re not all alive anymore?”

  His face began to twitch. “Sophie tell you she had a twin?” Theia shook her head. “Her name was Faith. We were all in downtown. All seven of us. Paul and Charlie made us go. They thought if we left our little sisters behind, they would be in more danger than staying at home. We were using the basement of a building as our base, but one night, we were all sleeping, and they bombed us. The whole roof came down on us.” Theia became nervous merely imagining that situation. “I thought the whole building came down. No, it was just the floor above us. Next thing I know, I can’t move and can’t breathe. They pulled me out… They pulled all of us out… Faith didn’t make it, though. Paul didn’t make it, either.”