Death Thieves

by Julie Wright

  Dennis shrugged and nodded to some girl across the street. “Yeah, they wouldn’t. The old holidays aren’t recognized under regent law, but down here, we make our own laws . . . at least when the soldiers aren’t looking.” Dennis maneuvered his way across the street to the girl he’d nodded at. We all followed. I shivered as Dennis introduced us to his girlfriend, Natalie.

  “Sorry. The bay’s always cold at night, even in summer. I should’ve told you guys to bring jackets,” Dennis said.

  How would they know the difference between summer and winter when they lived in the shadows of the city above them? I looked up to see the buildings disappearing into the clouds that had rolled in for the night and shivered again. Which world would be considered the ideal? The one without the ground and the constant shifting of the platforms under your feet being swayed by the winds, or the one without the sky, without the sun? “No stars . . .” I whispered more to myself than to anyone else.

  Natalie smiled. “You can see stars if you go out on the ocean. Friends of mine run a star-tour boating service if you ever want to go. I mean, you know, we don’t go around advertisin’ or nothin’ like that. We know how to avoid coast patrols. So this is an offer for you three only. Don’t invite anyone else.”

  Natalie’s offer filled me with a degree of relief. So they didn’t have to always be in a world without a sky. A way for them to see the moon and stars existed.

  “So if it’s the Fourth of July, will there be fireworks?” Jen asked.

  Dennis laughed. “No fireworks. I guess we aren’t so tough, huh? We celebrate our holidays but keep the laws that get us ex-ed. Fireworks are for Disneyland and Regent Day only. But no one’s gunna ex us for singing the Star Spangled Banner if we want. It’s a free country.”

  He said that in the same way I used to say back in my own time when I was trying to explain to Aunt Theresa why I should be able to do the things I wanted. “It’s a free country!” I’d yell.

  “Not in my house,” she’d say back calmly. Aunt Theresa seldom yelled back.

  I wondered if Dennis believed it was a free country or if he was being sarcastic. His tone made it hard to tell. It’s not a free country in the regent’s house.

  The gritty dark levels were, in a way, hauntingly beautiful. The people didn’t frighten me. They didn’t act wild or crazy like I thought they might. They acted far more normal than the people living the “high” life above them. Their hair colors were just as wild, many of them sporting several colors weaved and striped over their heads. Their colors seemed to glow in the sick light of the lumes and more of them sported advertisements on their heads and hands. But though they seemed normal as they interacted with one another, they still remained reserved, even shocked, toward Jay, Jen, and me. They’d be laughing with their friends, see us, and duck their heads, hurry back into their buildings casting furtive glances our way until we had passed.

  They feared us. The povs feared us in the exact same way that the rich people did.

  I didn’t want to be feared.

  Natalie and Dennis led us into the place with the strobing lights. It was a dance club. The music seemed to have bite, the rhythm and beat unfamiliar and strange. Dennis led Natalie into the fray, and Jay took Jen and went to dance as well. I stood in the crowd of people, locked in my fear of being separated from my group.

  I took several deep breaths to calm myself and even considered buying myself a drink except without my IDR, I had no money. I edged over to the wall, where I could still keep an eye on Jay and Jen and set myself up for research.

  The way the door glowed as people neared it proved the use of the rings even down here. But with so many bodies moving in and out, the door constantly glowed, anyone not wearing a ring could leave or enter at their own discretion. It bothered me that no one seemed to notice this flaw in the regent’s ring law. But, then, a lot of things bothered me.

  After several songs, Jay and Jen came back to me, their faces bright from exertion and their smiles huge. “Come join us!” Jay called over the music.

  “I should’ve brought a date,” I said.

  “Eddie would’ve been glad to fill that job.” Jen laughed at my face souring at the mention of Eddie.

  “C’mon! Come have fun for a change!” Jay and Jen each grabbed my hands with the intent of pulling me back with them. As they pulled, the music abruptly stopped. Everyone froze where they stood, all laughter and chatter cutting off as sharply as the music. I turned to see what everyone else had turned to see. The door light glowed red—in spite of all the people standing by it with rings—the door glowed red.

  The people’s faces registered fear. Panic took over the frozen quiet. People pushed and shoved from all directions, working to remove themselves from the area closest to the doors. The vast room emptied as people escaped to other areas of the building.

  Jen looked at Jay. “Soldiers?”

  Jay was about to answer when sirens sounded, loud and unmistakable—soldiers.

  We’d all seen the vids. Soldiers raided gatherings with no mercy. We stood there, all three of us holding hands in a tight grip, none of us daring to move until I felt Dennis’s hand at my back shoving me toward the far end of the room. “Move! Move!” He herded us through the crowd and finally turned us into a doorway where several others were rushing through. “In there!” Dennis yelled as the front doors crashed open.

  Screams!

  They were the screams of suffering—of pain, fear. The soldiers had arrived. Dennis nearly ran me over in his urgency to make us move. We wound down stairs, into hallways, and down more stairs. Someone in front of us fell, but the press of people didn’t stop to help her up. I barely avoided stepping on her as we rushed past.

  Another hallway, toward a bookshelf that moved aside. The bookshelf hid a hole that looked like someone had used a jackhammer to create it. I ducked to go through, clipping my ear against the jagged brick edges. Blood trickled down my neck and into the collar of my shirt, but I pressed on, not daring to stop, not daring to look behind. We wound through several buildings, entering odd little doors that had been hidden by ragged sorts of odd furniture.

  The elaborate exit strategy staggered me. These people had tunneled through brick and mortar to create a way out, like mice.

  And then it occurred to me, we were no longer what Dennis had called topside. We were in the tunnels, where he said things weren’t safe. Not that things were safe where we’d been. Our group of escapees had thinned to a handful of people rapidly following along after Dennis and Natalie. The others had sifted off to different tunnels.

  “We should go up.” The panic in my voice was evident even to my own ears.

  “Can’t,” Natalie said.

  “They’ve locked down for at least three streets in all directions. We wouldn’t be able to smuggle you guys back to the top of the world without all of us getting ex-ed.” Dennis’s raspy explanation heightened my panic.

  “Told you it was dumb to hang with the regents’ pets.” Natalie’s whispered words were not likely meant for us to hear, but I caught them and felt pretty certain Jay had, too. I didn’t blame her. It was altogether possible we were the reason the soldiers showed up.

  We maneuvered through the tunnels for what seemed forever. Red lumes, green lumes, bright white leds. The varying light colors and strain to adjust to each one hurt my eyes and made my stomach sick. There were some tunnels with no light at all.

  Afraid to scrape against a low ceiling, I ducked my head, and kept my hands clenched at my sides. What if there were bugs, spiders, crawling things with poisonous bites and too many legs?

  My legs and back ached from walking hunched over, and then finally we were at stairs and climbing up—up and out of the earth. I wanted to weep with joy.

  When we reached the top, we all stumbled into a dark room.

  “We’re topside now, we’ll find an elevator to get you guys to the sky, right?” Dennis’s voice took some of the edge off my fear of the dark. A noise lik
e a large static charge filled the room as bright lights exploded into our eyes.

  I stared down the barrel of a gun aimed directly at my head as the soldier holding the gun smiled and said. “We knew the rats would come up for air eventually.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  A Taser shot out of one gun directly into Natalie’s chest. She crumpled to the floor with a scream as she writhed and wriggled in the electrical current. The soldier aiming his gun at me hesitated as his finger twitched to pull the trigger. “Hey—they’re New Youths!”

  Dennis took advantage of their hesitation at seeing New Youths in the dark levels and knocked the soldier’s gun to the side, then kicked the gun from the soldier’s hand altogether, freeing Natalie of the current arcing through her body. The second soldier jerked his gun up, but Jay followed Dennis’s example and kicked out at the gun. Jay’s kick fell short of its mark and he actually kicked the soldier’s arm.

  A cry of pain accompanied the crack of a breaking bone. Dennis made quick work of silencing that cry and making certain the other soldier didn’t get his gun back. I turned my head away not wanting to see if he’d knocked them out or killed them altogether.

  Jen and I each took ahold of Natalie’s hands and helped her to her feet. “Can you walk?” Jen asked, looking worried.

  Natalie nodded, her pale face sickly. Dennis edged Jen aside so Natalie could use him as a crutch, and we hurried to put distance between us and the crime scene.

  Dennis led us across the street, into another building, through it, and out the back door. We passed through several buildings that way, weaving a path back to the elevators Dennis’s IDR allowed him to use—the ones we’d come down on. Natalie’s steps were still shaky, but she kept up. Dennis looked pointedly at Jay. “I need to get her home before I can take you to the sky levels.”

  Jay nodded. “Absolutely. I completely agree.”

  Dennis took a deep breath as though it pained him to make these kinds of choices between people. “Stay here, behind the counter over there. The service elevator will take you home, but you have to wait till I get back so I can make the elevator work. Don’t come out for any noise, right? Don’t get curious; just stay down. Curiosity kills in the dark levels.”

  We all nodded and watched a moment before Dennis gently took Natalie’s arm and led her out of the building. He looked back at the door. “Don’t just stand there! Get down!”

  We scrambled to the remnants of the counter and tucked ourselves into tight little balls, where we were hidden from the view of anyone who might enter the room.

  Tears slid down Jen’s face. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

  “I’m sure she will. The effects of the Taser are short-lived. She’s likely more scared right now than anything.”

  It took several moments before I found my voice. “Do you think those soldiers are dead?”

  Jay’s look was one of resigned rationale. “We’d better hope so, or we will be.”

  I wrapped my arms around my knees and buried my face in my arms to hide the horror such news gave me. People died because of my curiosity. Winter would not be proud of me. Tag would not be proud of me. Were those guys his friends? Would he mourn them when they didn’t return to the barracks?

  Stupid!

  “Do you think he’ll really come back for us?” Jen asked.

  “Of course.” But Jay couldn’t promise that. He’d played poker and eaten onion rings with this guy. What did he really know about Dennis?

  My legs had cramped, and my butt had gone numb from the cold floor when Dennis showed up again. “Let’s go.”

  Those were the only words he said as we moved up the elevators to the sky levels. When we stepped out of the elevator, Dennis’s chalky face was drawn in a tight frown. “I like you, Jay. I’m glad to know you New Youths aren’t all purse-puppies for the regents. But I won’t take you down there again. It’s nothing personal, right? I just gotta watch out for my own.”

  Jay nodded his understanding. “I’m sorry we caused trouble for you. And so you know, we’re friends. You ever need anything—just let me know. I hope Natalie’s okay.”

  Dennis nodded and hit the button for the elevator.

  Going down. The happy elevator said. It sounded like a warning.

  The doors closed on Dennis, and we followed Jay back into the dining hall.

  By the time we retrieved our rings, exhaustion had taken over the adrenaline rush, depression over whether or not those soldiers had died on the street because of us replaced fear. I had played a part in making the world worse. Forgive me, Wineve. Forgive me, Tag.

  ***

  In spite of my trip through the dark levels, Tag had been right. At three months, I’d resigned myself to the life I’d settled into. And not just resigned but in many ways genuinely liked my life. As Tag had predicted, I made friends and excelled in school in a way I never had back in my own time. At three months, I didn’t ask Tag to take me back. I’d even forgotten we’d made that deal until at four months Tag left a note in our book at the library.

  08-10-2113

  I told you. You argued, but when don’t you argue? I told you that you would make friends and be a queen and not want to go home. It’s been four months, Sunny. Four months and you didn’t even ask. Yes, I’m gloating.

  Yourit

  I didn’t know what Tag did with his notes but felt pretty sure he destroyed them. Paper was difficult to come by due to the digital way of life, so often we resorted to using scraps of packaging. I destroyed all of his notes. Alison liked to borrow my clothes and play in my stuff, not in any snoopy way, but in a chummy, we-should-share-everything way. I hid the photos Tag had given me of Winter and me inside the lapdesk itself and screwed the back plating back on. My sun quilt stayed hidden in the layers of all my other blankets, and I demanded to be allowed to do my own laundry. Kathleen had merely grunted at me and let me have my way. I was a New Youth. I always had my way.

  08-13-2113

  Who’s a queen? Where’s my tiara? I’ve never seen any crowns on my head. J & J are getting married tomorrow. They’re moving out of the dorms and into a house of their own. I hate feeling left behind. I will really miss them.

  Sunny

  “I can’t believe this is really happening!” Jennifer stood in front of a full-length mirror, her white dress shimmering in the sunlight coming through the window next to her. She looked beautiful.

  I stopped fidgeting with the skirt of my burgundy bridesmaid’s dress long enough to say, “What I can’t believe is that it took you guys so long.”

  So long. We never would have called it so long back in my home time. The New Youths pairing off and marrying quickly was incentivized by the regents. They were showered with gifts. And though they treated us like an elite society, everyone knew that any sexual relations outside of marriages condoned by the regents would get them in huge trouble. Biological needs encouraged early marriage. We were brought to the future to make babies. They wanted us doing our jobs as soon as possible. I believed that the schooling they put us through was only to give us an environment that felt comfortable to allow us opportunities to flirt and form relationships.

  I’d done enough research on crazy testing-day procedures. I understood the horrors parents persevered to keep the species alive and felt guilty that I did nothing to help in the way the regents expected. It just felt unfair for me to find a mate, get married, and make children I could raise to adulthood when the rest of the population couldn’t. I wanted something different. I wanted to cure the disease entirely. If I could do that, the future really would be a better place.

  Jennifer turned to the side, still admiring herself in the mirror, her taffeta skirt swishing with the movement. “Can I ask a personal question?” She pointed to her back where a few of the pearl buttons had been left undone so we could keep her necklace from catching in the lace while we put it on.

  I frowned, and finished doing up the final buttons. The flowers in my hair made me feel as tho
ugh someone had hosed me down in rose scented perfume. “No.”

  Jennifer laughed, making it harder to get the final button fastened. “I’m asking anyway. Why aren’t you dating anyone? You’ve been asked out by a million different guys—”

  “Nope. Not true. There are only seventy-three eligible young men in our group. And not even half of them have asked me out. You are grossly exaggerating.”

  “You know what I mean. Surely one of them . . .”

  “I’m not interested in any of them.”

  “Like you just said, there aren’t that many to choose from to begin with. You don’t have time and Internet dating services on your side.”

  I laughed. “If things get too bad, I can always use Eddie as my fallback.” Eddie remained persistent in his pursuit, and I remained persistent in my deflection of his advances. Thinking of Eddie made me tired.

  “I just don’t want you to be lonely.”

  “I’m not lonely.” I adjusted her veil on her head so it sat a little straighter and used a bobby pin to keep it in place.

  “How can you not be lonely? All you do is read and research and take classes.”

  How could I explain how the research filled me with purpose, that the classes gave me hope I could really do something to make a difference. How could I explain those little scraps of paper that kept me company as the days turned into months? How could I explain how just seeing the words, Morning, Sunny, filled my every need for companionship?

  I used Jen’s shoulders to face her back toward the mirror. “Don’t worry about me. Today’s your day.” I smiled at her, feeling how strange and irrevocably right that Jennifer and Jay were saved from their deaths to be brought together in this future here.

  I picked up my flowers from the table near the door to her dressing room. “It’s time.”

  She took a deep breath, picked up her own flowers, and followed me out.

  “I don’t know if I can do this alone. I wish my mom and dad were here,” she whispered as we arrived at the door leading to the gardens where the ceremony would be held.