by Jordan Rivet
“Now you want to talk?”
“There’s no need for this.” Garrett was as calm as a mountain lake and just as icy.
“No need?” Blake scoffed. “Was there need when you killed two of my friends for questioning you? I reckon this is payback.” He gestured toward Chloe with the rifle, and a tiny gasp escaped her lips.
“That was a fair fight,” Garrett said. “You don’t want to do this, do you?”
Blake didn’t answer. Joanna tore her eyes from him to scan the tables, hoping someone would sneak around behind Blake and take him by surprise. But every chair was full. The whole village was frozen in tableau, the remnants of the harvest festival spread before them as if they were trapped in a painting. Only the parents moved, gently drawing their children closer, urging them to remain quiet.
Joanna cast about frantically for an idea. She just got her family back. She couldn’t sit here and let them be torn apart again. If only she had the rifles they’d taken from the mine!
“Tell us what you want,” Garrett said. “We can work this out.”
“Can we?” Blake laughed wildly. “You weren’t so quick to work things out when your own kin wasn’t in danger.”
“We’re all kin.” Garrett stood slowly, not making any sudden movements. “I care about every member of this community.”
“You don’t care about anyone.”
“You don’t mean that, Blake. Why don’t you put the gun down?”
As Garrett talked, keeping Blake’s attention on him, the others began to shift, inching their chairs back, preparing to jump up. Joanna followed their lead, praying no one would move until Chloe was in the clear. Her fingers closed around a butter knife beside her plate. Vincent’s handiwork, judging by the textured swirls on the hardwood handle.
“You just want to rule your little kingdom,” Blake spat at Garrett. “Well, you can kiss that idea goodbye.”
“What do you mean by that?” Garrett still didn’t move from the table, as if worried he’d spook Blake or draw his attention to the slow movements of the others. Marco had a heavy plate in his hands now, and Aaron’s meaty fists were clenched. Chloe remained still, staring down the barrel of the gun.
“You thought you had the program all figured out,” Blake said. “Well, they had other ideas, and now they’re coming. I warned you. Been warning you for years.”
“What program?” Garrett said. “Who’s coming?”
“BRP.” Blake looked around at the assembly, and everyone froze again. “The Oregon bunker is packed with weapons. They charged out of there looking for a fight.”
Nervous murmurs spread through the villagers. Blake’s expression bore little satisfaction despite the effect his announcement had.
“You don’t know what it was like,” he muttered. His hands were trembling on the rifle.
“What happened to the others who were with you?” Chloe said softly. “Rupert and Sam. The Sanchez family. Leanne.”
Blake blinked, turning his attention back to his hostage. Chloe stood motionless and calm, more like a statue than a bird now. Little Robbie tried to run to her, but Garrett caught him by the shoulders and pulled him back. He was watching his wife intently, perhaps waiting for some cue. Joanna took the opportunity to stand up from her chair and begin inching forward, using the other tables for cover.
“You tried to fight, didn’t you?” Chloe said. “But the others didn’t make it.”
Blake jerked his head in a rough nod.
“I’m so sorry,” Chloe said. “It must have been awful to lose your friends like that. But you’re back with us now, with your family. You don’t really want to hurt anyone, do you?”
“You’re not my family,” Blake growled. “That BRP bullshit died when the bunker collapsed. Everything has been wrong since then.”
“It’s not always as bad as you think,” Chloe said. “Joanna? Will you come here, please?”
Joanna stiffened as every eye turned to her. She had made it a dozen steps from her seat, the butter knife clutched in her hand. She slid it discreetly into her jacket pocket and approached Chloe and Blake, her attention on Blake’s trigger finger.
Blake’s face went white. “What is this?” He looked around wildly, as if afraid he’d gone mad. It seemed like he had, a little. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Not everything we thought went wrong actually did.” Chloe smiled. “Parts of the old bunker are still intact, including Joanna’s cryo tank.”
“I woke up right on schedule,” Joanna said.
Blake gaped at her. “You’re . . . you’re alive.”
“Yeah. And I want Chloe to stay alive too,” Joanna said. “Will you stop being stupid and put down the gun already?”
“Yeah, put the gun down!” came a small, fierce voice. Robbie suddenly slipped through his father’s hands and darted to his mother. He put one arm around her waist and shook his tiny fist. Gasps spread through the villagers, and Joanna sensed more people preparing to move behind her. She didn’t dare look at Garrett.
But Blake simply gazed back and forth between Robbie and Joanna, his face seeming to age in seconds. At last he sighed, accepting defeat in the face of the defiant child and the dead walking the earth.
“I wasn’t really gonna shoot anyone,” he mumbled. “Just wanted to have my say.”
He flipped the rifle around and handed it to Chloe. It was a wise move. If he’d given it to Garrett, he likely would have been shot on the spot. Sighs rippled through the crowd as the tension eased a bit.
Blake continued to gawp at Joanna. “You look so . . . so youthful,” he said at last.
“And you look like hell. What happened to you?”
Blake’s shoulders slumped, and he pulled at his bushy beard sheepishly. “It’s a long story.” He eyed the remnants of the harvest feast spread across the table. “Maybe if I could have a bite—”
“Don’t even think about sitting at my table after you threatened my family,” Garrett said roughly. He strode forward and pulled Chloe and Robbie behind him. He tried to take the rifle from his wife, but she kept her fingers curled around it and gave him a stubborn look. “Fine.” He folded his arms and faced Blake. “Say what you came to say.”
Blake’s beard quivered angrily. “Don’t go ordering me around now.”
Garrett and Blake stared each other down, neither willing to give another inch. Joanna gave an exasperated sigh.
“Will you two feel better if you have a quick fistfight or something? I’d like to hear what’s happening out there.”
Garrett shot her an irritated look, but Blake barked a laugh.
“I honestly can’t tell if you’re really here, or if I’m hallucinating from starvation.”
“I’m here,” Joanna said. “But I don’t remember you being such a moron. Is that the starvation too?”
“Joanna Murphy.” Blake shook his head and chuckled, the strain releasing from his shoulders. “I don’t remember you being so goddamn young.”
Joanna rolled her eyes.
“Don’t start on that,” Ruby called out. “She hates that.” She dragged a heavy chair across the ground toward the group, ripping up grass with every step. Vincent followed, bearing a plate piled high with food. The rest of the villagers watched with great interest as Ruby hauled the chair right into the middle of Blue Team Seven. “How about you sit right here, have some food, and tell us what you know,” she said to Blake. “Garrett can decide if you’re allowed to sit at the grownups’ table after that.”
A muscle tensed in Garrett’s jaw, but he nodded. “Fair enough.”
Blake collapsed more than sat in the chair. Vincent handed him the plate, and Blake shoveled a few bites into his mouth before beginning his tale.
“We did exactly as we planned,” he said around a mouthful of peas. “We found the nearest bunker and set up camp outside. We were gonna wait until they woke up and then waltz in to introduce ourselves as their new leaders. We figured they’d be grateful for our wisd
om and experience, and we’d get a crack at some of their gear.”
Blake paused, looking around at all the people who’d spent so many years eking out a life together. Some moved closer to hear his story, surrounding his lone chair in a wide ring.
“Turns out BRP wasn’t as optimistic about how we’d all get along in the future as we thought. You know the Green Team, the fifty early risers who were supposed to wake up first and make tea in the exit chamber or whatever? Well, the first thing they did at the Oregon bunker was pull out a bunch of firearms and start patrolling the surrounding area. Didn’t believe every community would follow the program equally. They established a secure perimeter before the rest of the population even woke up.”
“When was this?” Garrett asked.
“Three months ago.” Blake glanced at Joanna and shook his head incredulously. “Right on schedule. Anyway, we got cornered. I was the only one who managed to escape. I hid out for a bit, watching to see what else they’d do. Got my hands on a gun.” He nodded at the rifle in Chloe’s hands. “The early risers run that place like an infantry base in enemy territory. They started building a defensive wall right away, telling everyone the other bunkers were coming for their resources. The kids were a little confused at first, but they did what the BRP officials told them. Like we all did back in the day.”
“Think our early risers would have done the same if they’d survived?” Ruby said.
“I reckon so.” Blake popped one of Vincent’s dumplings into his mouth. “We came out the wrong end of the bunker, still believing all that peaceful future stuff. We spent eighteen years thinking planting a farm was the biggest BRP priority. We’ve been living our merry lives like we’d end up trading with friendly neighboring towns. Well, now the bunkers are waking up all over the country and settling in like they expect a war.”
“Do you know for sure that any other bunkers are like this?” Garrett asked. “Maybe Oregon went rogue.”
“I checked out the Northern California bunker,” Blake said. “That’s why it took so long to get back. It was the same thing. Defensive preparations and early risers with a big stack of weapons.”
“Did you try to explain who you were?” Joanna asked. “They might have let you and your friends leave peacefully if they knew you weren’t a threat.”
“They shot ’em on sight.” Blake’s voice faltered, and he paused to shovel more food into his mouth before pressing on. “We don’t want to tangle with those BRP guys. The rest are just scared kids. Maybe they’d get on with the farming and realize no one wants to fight anyone else if they were on their own like we were. But with the BRP folk planning who knows what, I figured I’d be better off with people I know.”
Garrett snorted. “You picked a funny way to say you want to come home.”
“I was angry and half starved,” Blake said. “Didn’t know if you folks would turn on me before I got a word out.” He looked sideways at Chloe. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m more interested in these BRP officials,” Chloe said. “You say they woke up expecting trouble, and they had a secret stash of guns?”
“That’s right.”
“But why?”
“They must have got wind of trouble before they went under. Remember how frantic things were, with officials abandoning the program and Colonel Waters giving their cryosleep berths to his soldiers? Things went sour between the military and civilian leaders of some bunkers. Everyone was scared stiff, and there was enough corruption around to fill a canyon. The colonel expected the worst when everyone woke up. I reckon there’s a weapon stash buried in the rubble of our bunker too.” Blake glanced up at Joanna. “Or maybe it’s not buried anymore.”
The others looked at her too, suddenly curious.
“What?” she said, surprised at the sudden attention.
“You had rifles in your camp,” Marco said.
“That’s right!” called a man farther back in the crowd. “Do you know where the weapons are?”
“The rifles were on the surface, in one of the mine buildings,” Joanna said. “I don’t know about any secret stash of weapons. I didn’t see anything like that in storage.”
“Are you sure?” Marco studied her with narrowed eyes. “You were closer to the front of the bunker than any of us.”
“Yes, you were in the 100s, weren’t you?” Priya said. “This is the first we’ve heard of all this, but BRP obviously had people in the know.”
Sure, turn on the new girl. Joanna put her hands on her hips, her fingers hovering close to the knife in her pocket. “I learned the same stuff about BRP as the rest of you. I wasn’t in the early-riser group.”
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
“Why should we believe you?” someone called.
“We barely know you!”
“Don’t be stupid,” Ruby began.
“Enough,” Garrett cut in. “Joanna didn’t know about BRP’s secret plans. But I did.”
Dead silence swept through the assembly.
Blake gave a low whistle. “And there it is.”
“You what?” Chloe whispered.
“I found out there was trouble before we went into cryosleep,” Garrett said. “The heads of the bunkers stopped trusting the others to follow the program in the end. Theresa Simmons told me Colonel Waters had broken protocol and snuck an arsenal into the bunker. Word got out that a few bunkers had stockpiled weapons, and pretty soon everyone was doing it so they could protect their resources.”
“Why did Theresa tell you?” Vincent asked.
“She didn’t want everyone to be too surprised if things were a little . . . tense in the future. She worried the bunkers would all wake up expecting a fight.”
“But you’ve kept it a secret all these years,” Ruby said.
“The information didn’t matter anymore,” Garrett said. “The weapons were lost when the bunker collapsed.” He hesitated for a split second. “It’s possible they were responsible for the cave-in eighteen years ago. A small earthquake could have caused the explosives to go off.”
“I remember now,” Ruby said. “You didn’t want us to dig too far into the rubble or try to rig any explosives of our own. You kept saying the cave would come down on our heads.”
“It might have,” Garrett said. “I couldn’t risk losing any more people. If there’s one thing we learned at BRP, it’s that we have to save who we can and accept when we can’t do anything for the rest.”
“But you let us carry on according to our BRP training, knowing the other bunkers might be hostile, Chief,” Aaron said, frowning at Garrett.
“And you discouraged people from returning to the bunker,” Ruby said. “We haven’t been there much in the past decade. We could have used those weapons.”
“That’s exactly what I didn’t want.” Garrett looked around at the people gathered on the village green. “We were better off building our settlement than preparing for a fight that shouldn’t even happen. I wanted us to be a neutral hub when the other bunkers woke up—and had time to calm down,” Garrett said. “I knew they’d be wary and possibly violent, which is why I tried so hard to stop you from running off and provoking them.” He shot a withering look at Blake, who continued to chomp away at his dinner, before turning back to the villagers. “What we’ve built here is strong. It’ll show everyone that BRP’s original ideal of a peaceful future was right.”
“That’s all well and good,” Vincent said, speaking clearly and quietly, “but let’s make sure we all have this straight. Garrett didn’t want people to dig into the bunker.” He turned his sightless eyes on Joanna. “And we would have found Joanna if we dug into the bunker.”
A sudden hush descended. Joanna felt as if she’d been smacked in the face with a baseball bat.
“That’s correct.” Garrett’s voice was packed with so much regret it hurt to listen. “It’s my fault we didn’t find her.”
The uncomfortable silence spread, becoming a wave, swallowing Joanna whole.
>
They hadn’t tried hard enough. She’d sensed it from the beginning but couldn’t find a way to voice the feeling of betrayal. They should have kept digging through the rubble in the mineshaft until they found her—and all the others who might still have been alive then. But they hadn’t. And it wasn’t because they were afraid of another cave-in. They—no, Garrett was afraid his people would find the weapons and usher in the violent future he dreaded. So he had told them to stop looking.
“Excuse me,” she said.
Garrett reached a hand toward her, wedding ring glinting. “Jo—”
“I feel kind of sick,” Joanna said. “I think I’ll go to bed early.” She looked over her shoulder at Garrett. “Don’t wake me.”
He froze as if he’d been trapped in cryo gel, and Joanna fled.
Chapter Thirty-Two
No one bothered Joanna in her cabin that night. She knew there would be more questions for Blake, more talk about how to protect themselves if the other bunker cohorts tried to harm them. Joanna didn’t need to participate in those discussions. It wasn’t up to her what happened. It had never been up to her.
But it had been up to Garrett. Garrett hadn’t done everything he could to find her. Garrett had left her behind. She repeated it to herself, trying to follow the Ruby method of ripping off a Band-Aid all in one go. It didn’t help. She tossed and turned all night, grappling with the blunt force trauma of betrayal.
The morning brought sounds of the others getting ready for their expedition to her bunker. They sought more than farming supplies and their old lockers now. As tempting as it was to stay in bed all day, Joanna got dressed and prepared to join the others when they left the village. She’d agreed to show them around the storage tunnels, and she didn’t want to miss out if they really did discover Colonel Waters’s hidden arsenal. Besides, she’d been taught to stay busy, to keep moving forward. She needed that mantra now more than ever.
No one spoke to Joanna when she joined them at the village boundary—mostly because she warned them off with her best death glare. The salvage party included Garrett, Ruby, Blake, and a dozen other men and women who would assist with the physical labor. Chloe and Vincent would stay behind to begin formulating defensive plans for the village. Everyone was a little jumpy now that the other cohorts were awake and potentially hostile. Blake’s return had hopefully given them enough time to prepare before they came into contact with any outsiders, though.
