In the After

by Demitria Lunetta

  “Agreed,” I said quickly. “Where is she?”

  “Two doors down the hall. She needed medical treatment too.”

  I stood, woozy. I held on to the bed for support until my head cleared. Eventually I was able to stand without fear of falling over. “Let’s go.”

  “Be calm,” Kay warned, motioning to the door, and I walked inside a room identical to mine. Amber was in bed, her eyes closed tight.

  My eyes narrowed. “I know you’re not sleeping,” I told her. She still pretended, but I heard her breath quicken. “You sound like a bullhorn when you sleep.”

  She opened one of her eyes, then the other. “Are you here to kill me?” she asked, annoyingly innocent.

  “I’m here to ask you why.” I stared into her eyes until she looked away. “How could you do that to me and Baby?” I demanded.

  “I didn’t expect your voice to be so sweet,” she told me. “You were so stubborn about not speaking with me . . . I always thought you’d have an irritating voice, high pitched, you know.”

  “I’m not here to discuss my voice,” I said between clenched teeth.

  She sniffed. “Oh, Amy, I didn’t want to do it. But how could I say no to Paul? They saw you and Baby one day. They wanted to know where you were staying. You’d survived so long on your own and you didn’t have a gang or bows or anything. They wanted to know how you did it. I thought about telling you the truth, staying with you and Baby, but I couldn’t leave my brother. After what happened, when that Florae almost got you the night I left . . . I didn’t think you’d want me around anyway. I had to go back to my brother, even though I hated the basement.”

  “What basement? I thought it was a bomb shelter. Did that not exist?” I growled.

  “It did. Paul and I lasted six months in there. He protected me until we made our way to the city, and then he found the group to hook up with. He found us a safe place to stay. He saved me. We lived in the basement of some bank building. The Floraes couldn’t get through the bars. . . .”

  “How do you know to call them Floraes?” I asked. Until I came here, they were nameless creatures. They were just Them.

  “That’s just what everyone calls them in the other city.”

  I glanced at Kay, who levelly met my gaze. “What other city?” I asked. “What is she talking about?”

  “Fort Black,” Amber told me. “It’s in Texas. That’s where Paul and I were before we headed east and found our gang. They have walls surrounding the whole area.”

  “How many people live there?” I asked. An entire other city.

  “I don’t know. A lot. It’s like the Wild West in there. That’s why Paul and I left, to take our chances somewhere else.”

  “And where’s your gang now?” I asked. “Why didn’t you stay at my house?”

  “They died there, all of them. We knew those copter things were picking up people so when I saw one, I ran at it.”

  I shook my head at her. She was lying. I couldn’t listen any longer. I had to leave or I would hurt her again. I turned to the door.

  “Wait. What about Baby?” she called. “Can I see her?”

  “I will never let you near Baby again,” I sneered.

  She grimaced. “I’ve seen that mark she has . . . the one on her neck.”

  “What?” I froze.

  “I’ve seen it on other children, in Fort Black.”

  “You are a liar.” I clenched my fists, and Kay grabbed my shoulder, pushing me toward the door. In the hall, I paced back and forth.

  “Let’s go to the Rumble Room,” Kay told me. “We can talk about things there.”

  “She needs to be watched,” I told Kay as we walked. “I don’t want her to be alone for an instant.”

  “Why?” Kay studied me.

  “Because she’ll make it her priority to fit in and find out how New Hope works. One day she’s going to disappear and when she comes back, it will be to destroy everything we have.”

  “Look, Amy, even though you hold a grudge against that girl, you have to realize that New Hope is not some unprotected house in the middle of a Florae-infested city.”

  “No, at least I had a fence.” New Hope was completely unprepared for the recent Florae attack and lied to cover it up. If the emitters weren’t faulty, they must have been sabotaged.

  I looked at Kay and wondered how much she knew, what she was keeping from me. My mother told me nothing, Rice only slightly more. Rice, who paid so much attention to Baby and noticed her scar right away. Did Amber tell the truth about other children with the same mark?

  “We’ve increased security measures since the Incident,” Kay said as we reached the Rumble Room. She scanned her key card with a glance over her shoulder and opened the door for me. “A teenage girl is not going to bring down New Hope.”

  I walked through the door, wanting to believe her. She was so confident. But I knew better. Amber was trouble.

  “She wasn’t lying about the city in Texas,” Gareth told me later as we huddled together on a bench in the locker room. He pulled me aside at practice after seeing how upset I was and I told him everything that had happened. “The Guardians know about it, but we were told to keep it a secret. I went there with my crew to see it with my own eyes.”

  “Everyone in New Hope thinks we’re the only ones left,” I said. I stood and began to pace, nervous energy coursing through my veins.

  “Listen, Amy, it’s better that way. Fort Black is a cesspool. There’s no law or order. The strong prey on the weak.” I watched him massage his left knee. It was giving him trouble lately but he didn’t want anyone to know.

  “And what is it here? People are lied to. People are given a reality that isn’t real.”

  “Ignorance is bliss,” Gareth said. “I’d rather not know myself. Believe me, it’s much better here.”

  “Amber mentioned something”—I knelt to meet Gareth’s eyes, choosing my words carefully—“about children in Fort Black being marked. . . .”

  “What, like branded?”

  “Maybe. Something about the back of their necks.”

  He looked at me blankly. “I didn’t see anything like that.” He shook his head. “Amber probably lied. She doesn’t want you to go check it out so she’s made up a story about children being mistreated so you’ll stay here with Baby. If her brother died, she might see you as family in some crazy-cakes, delusional way.”

  “I know Amber was lying about her brother being dead.” I continued to pace. “I see the way she talks about him, you know? If she’s capable of love, she loves him. When she said he was dead, she said it like she was telling me the time.”

  “So you think we need to watch her?” Even Gareth sounded doubtful. “Did you tell Kay?”

  “Kay said we had twenty Guardians and too much to do.”

  “You think that her gang can hurt us?” He raised his eyebrows.

  “Look what two malfunctioning emitters did to us,” I said. “Sometimes ignorance isn’t bliss. Sometimes it’s just dangerous.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have the manpower. I have to agree with Kay.”

  I sighed, giving up. I would keep an eye on her by myself if I had to.

  “I have to tell you something,” my mother said. “I know you’ve decided to become a Guardian.” She didn’t sound angry, more resigned. She stared down at the coffee table, deep in thought. She looked tired, with more wrinkles than I remembered.

  “I think it’s what’s best for me,” I told her.

  “I agree,” she said, to my surprise.

  “You do?”

  She looked at me wistfully. “I’m concerned, of course, but I think you’ll be an excellent Guardian. You’ve always been a quick thinker and you’ve gained certain skills living with the Floraes. . . . I think this is the best way for you to help New Hope.” She reached over to hug me.

  “And there’s something else we need to discuss.” She hugged me closer. “When you class out, Adam is going to ne
ed his room back.”

  “Of course,” I said. “Baby will move in with me.”

  “Baby can’t live with you, not if you are going to be a Guardian,” she told me quietly.

  “What?” I pulled away from her. “Why not?”

  “Guardians can’t petition for parental rights. Their jobs are too dangerous. They don’t keep a regular schedule.”

  “Neither do you,” I said. “How much time do you spend with Adam? How much time did you spend with me when I was little?” I meant for it to hurt her and I could tell by her pinched face that it did.

  “I’m just telling you the rules,” my mother said.

  “You help make the rules.” I took a deep breath. “Can’t you just move into a bigger apartment, so Baby can stay with you?” I asked. “Adam already thinks of her as a sister.”

  “I think it would be best for Baby to move to the dorm,” my mother said.

  “The dorm? You just don’t want to be responsible for her,” I accused.

  “I love Baby,” she told me. “But I have to help run New Hope and work on my research. I cannot be responsible for a six-year-old mute.”

  I looked at my mother, too angry to respond. I pushed back my chair and stalked off into the bedroom. Baby was asleep, oblivious that her fate had just been decided in the other room. I didn’t know how she’d cope without me by her side. What’s worse is that I didn’t know how I could survive without her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I wake to my door opening. Someone slips silently into my room. I freeze, my breath catching.

  “Honey. It’s me,” a smallish man with silver hair whispers and steps forward. Gareth. I exhale with relief.

  “Is it time to go?” I ask hopefully.

  “Not just yet, but I brought you these.” He hands me a small orange envelope the size of my hand. “Keep it somewhere safe,” he whispers.

  I take the package. Inside are a few dozen pills.

  “Take one a day,” Gareth instructs. “They counteract the meds they’re giving you here.”

  “The cameras.” My joy turns to fear.

  “I’ve disabled them for a few minutes. Put the envelope under your mattress. Take the pills when you’re in bed, under the covers.”

  I nod and he winks at me. “It won’t be long.”

  “I’m scared,” I admit.

  “We’re doing what we can for now.” He stands and pauses by the door. “Stay sharp, Amy.”

  I take a pill and tuck the rest under my mattress.

  • • •

  In the following weeks, I ran. I ran and I trained and I took care of Baby and Adam. I didn’t bother to go to class anymore. No one cared. I avoided my mother and Rice. It was easier than being with them and wondering what they knew.

  I ran to the boundaries of New Hope and sometimes beyond. The sonic emitters were checked daily after the Incident. But still, no one knew why they failed that night, or at least that’s what they said.

  I was at an emitter, beyond the farm. I’d never run that far south before and I was eager to explore. The ground was grassy there, though there were plenty of trees, and I wondered if the forest was a transplant, a way to hide the compound. It was probably all done Before, when New Hope was a university funded by Hutsen-Prime. If it was a top secret research facility, they would have wanted to keep it shielded from curious eyes.

  I stopped at the sonic emitter to stretch, and I heard faint voices. My first impulse was to leave, not wanting to be around people. But then I recognized one of them and crept closer, careful to remain quiet and unseen behind a tree.

  “But I like it here. You don’t understand what they—”

  “We stick to the plan, Amber,” a male voice interrupts her. “We’ve already made the decision.”

  “But this place is different from what we’re used to. It’s organized; the people are good. They don’t have to hurt each other to get ahead. They’re all working together.”

  “Because they have what everyone else wants. Safety and supplies. They take all that’s left out there. Is there anything they don’t have a surplus of?”

  I peeked out to watch them. The man was tall and pale with shadowy black hair. He looked like Amber and I knew that this must be her brother, Paul.

  “We could leave the gang. You can live here too. We can tell them everything, break away, get on their good side.”

  “Oh, come on, you can’t be serious. I wouldn’t want to live here with these brainwashed idiots. It’s worse than a cult, Amber. Besides, what would we say? ‘Sorry we trashed your precious anti-Florae devices. Sorry all those people died. . . . We’d like to join your comfy little society now.’ I’m sure they’d welcome us with open arms,” he spat.

  “We could leave out that part,” Amber pleaded.

  “Enough.” Paul shook his head. “You’ll get in line or I’ll tell the rest of the gang you turned on us.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Amber said, horrified.

  “I may not have a choice,” his voice softened. “Not if you decide to ruin everything.”

  I backed a few steps away, blending into the woods. As much as I wanted to run away, I didn’t. Amber couldn’t be allowed to disappear again, it was too dangerous for all of us. I moved back through the trees, their leaves catching at my clothing as I forced myself to make noise.

  “Hello?” I called, stepping into the clearing. “Is someone there?” I made a hell of a racket before emerging. Even so, Paul barely hid in time and I pretended not to see him.

  “Amber! I thought I was the only one who ran this far out here,” I said loudly.

  “Oh,” Amber’s face was frozen in shock. She looked down at her sandals and sundress, unsure. “Yeah, I was out for a run.”

  “Well, I’m glad we ran into each other, pardon the pun.” I forced a laugh. “Listen, Amber, I’ve been meaning to have breakfast with you, to welcome you to New Hope.” I made my voice sweet and hoped Paul would be convinced and think that all citizens of New Hope were trusting and gullible.

  Amber stared at me, then glanced to where Paul was barely concealed. She was debating whether or not to bolt. I moved forward and grabbed her hand.

  “Come on,” I said, pulling her back toward New Hope, away from Paul. “I think there are pancakes this morning.”

  I led her by the hand until we were nearly to the farm. I listened carefully, making sure that Paul hadn’t followed us, but I waited until we got back to the buildings to really talk.

  “Amy, it’s not what you think,” she pleaded.

  “Was that Paul?” I asked. She looked away. “You said he died.” I didn’t bother to hide my disgust.

  “I lied,” she said, looking up with tears in her eyes. Crocodile tears.

  “I heard your conversation,” I told her. “I know you’re responsible for the Florae breach. I also know you and your brother have something else planned.”

  “It’s all Bear’s idea,” she blubbered. “He’s in charge. I didn’t want to be their spy, but they made me. I told them we should just live here like normal people, but no one ever listens to me. Not even Paul.”

  “Look, Amber, I think you’ve let bad people influence you in order to survive. But you’re here now and you can do more than just get by. You can live.”

  She swallowed, wiped her nose on her arm. “I do like it here.” She looked up at me, hopeful. “If I tell you everything, can I stay?” she asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” I assured her.

  “And Paul?” she asked. “I don’t care about the rest of them, but I want Paul to live here too.”

  “I’ll talk to the director about it, but Amber”—I made sure she understood—“you have to tell the truth. You have one chance to get this right. If I find out you’ve lied, I’ll take you out beyond the barrier and tie you to a tree. Then I’ll set off a car alarm just out of your reach.”

  She considered, trying to decide if I was bluffing or not. The thought of making anyone Florae bai
t was abhorrent, but I could make an exception for Amber.

  “Okay,” she finally said.

  “The first attack was meant to cause panic, make the people here doubt the system.” I explained what Amber had told me as precisely as I could. She’d already been apprehended and taken by the Guardians to a secure location.

  “Terrorists,” Marcus muttered. The meeting room was occupied by several Guardians as well as Rice, my mother, and Dr. Reynolds. There were also a bunch of people I didn’t know. The ones in lab coats were probably researchers who worked with my mother and helped make decisions. The remaining handful were more imposing, and even silent they maintained a commanding presence. Ex-military personnel, I guessed.

  “Amber said that they estimated only a few people would die, not hundreds. When they found out how much damage they did, they realized how unprepared we are for an attack of any kind. They’re planning another sonic emitter outage tonight. They want to push the Floraes toward us, then show up and save the day. Thanks to Amber, they know who the key players are here. They plan to take you all out, leaving New Hope without any leadership or direction. Since they will have saved New Hope and have a lot of firepower, they assume that they can fill the power void.”

  “They want to destroy everything we’ve worked for,” Dr. Reynolds said, his doughy face grim.

  “How many are there?” Gareth asked.

  “Amber said forty-two men, eighteen women, and two Class Four children.” The categorization slipped automatically from my mouth. “And they have a lot of firepower. Guns when they want to make noise and bows when they don’t.”

  “Which emitters are they going to hit?” Kay asked.

  “All of them.” I paused. “Just like last time,” I stressed, letting them come to the realization that I knew the true details of the earlier attack. I knew that the story about only two emitters failing was a lie.

  “They will enter to our south and split up, working their way around us to disable the emitters. A main force will stay put, just south of the farm. That’s where I found Amber today. They plan to push the Floraes in from there. Unfortunately I don’t know if they’ll change their attack strategy now that Amber didn’t leave New Hope to meet up with them. I heard her express her unease with their plan to her brother. If he tells the rest of his gang, they may assume she’s turned on them.”