Sifters

by Shane Scollins

  Dia turned when someone banged on the bars. “Opening cell three-eight-zero.” The large guard started pushing the keypad lock on her cell. “Let’s go.”

  She stood and calmly allowed him to cuff her hands. He smelled like some sort of meat, bacon or something. He led her down to a room and sat her across from a slightly pudgy woman in a blue pantsuit. She was very pretty, had dark hair, brown eyes, and too much makeup.

  “I’m Lara Cortez, with the District Attorney’s office. Since you’re not a regulated citizen of New York City, you’re not entitled to representation. Do you understand?”

  Dia nodded. “I understand.”

  “I’m obliged to tell you this session may be recorded for accuracy. Just answer my questions to the best of your ability. If you need anything explained at any time, please ask. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you willingly acknowledging that you’ve perpetrated the crime of illegally entering into the United American City of New York?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you willingly acknowledging you’ve perpetrated the crime of simple assault on a resident of the United American City of New York?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you willingly acknowledging that you’ve perpetrated the crime of simple collateral destruction of property?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you aware the severity of your actions may carry a six month to one year incarceration in the federal annex prison?”

  “Yes.”

  The woman folded her hands and met Dia’s eyes. “You’ve never been tracked in the justice system, but the charges against you are serious. The one count of simple assault, one count of using a false identity to gain access to a secured area, won’t be waived. I can waive the collateral destruction of property because I don’t feel it’s warranted. The maximum legal sentence for your crimes is two years. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is your first offense. I’ve spoken with the judge and we’ve agreed on your sentence.”

  As the lawyer shuffled through some papers, Dia felt her stomach turn and twist.

  “Before I render the judge’s decision, is there something you’d like to say in your defense?”

  She could think of about a million things, but her father told her expressly that if this ever happened to just keep quiet. She wanted to keep quiet, she really wanted to. But she didn’t. “I have something to say.”

  The lawyer looked at her and placed her pencil down. “Go ahead.”

  “I’m sorry.” She lowered her head and looked at the cuffs on her hands.

  “Is that all?”

  Dia shrugged. “I know what you think I am. And I know what I am. I didn’t ask for this life. I didn’t want to hurt Kate, but I had to defend myself. I’m just sorry.” She looked up at the lawyer whose face softened somewhat.

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m twenty-one.”

  “So you were about twelve when the storms came.”

  Dia nodded.

  Lara leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “What’s it really like out there? Is it really like they say?”

  Dia sat up. “People in here wouldn’t make it ten minutes out there.” Dia looked at her and read something in her face. “You have someone out there.”

  Lara casually glanced to the door. “My family got split up. We won the provisional lottery and got two tickets. My father insisted my mother and I take it. He and my older brother, they’re out there somewhere.”

  “Where’d you live?”

  “Chicago, south side.”

  “I’ve heard there are several large organized neighborhoods there.”

  Lara squinted and the hard edge came back to her face. “What’s the overall level of organization out there?”

  “It’s fairly extensive. There are new towns popping up every day. There’re more people out there than you think. There’s a real effort to bring it all back.”

  “So it’s not all lawless, like it used to be?”

  Dia was surprised. “You really don’t know?”

  “No, we don’t get any real news on what’s really going on out there. Those of us with people out there, who care, we sometimes get together and talk. All we have are rumors and speculation mostly. Actually all we have is that documentary. It’s years old and they keep clinging to it. It’s all fear mongering. They put the fear of death into anyone who dares think of venturing out of the precious city.” She looked around nervously.

  Dia nodded slowly. “There’re a lot of good people out there. There are tons of small, organized encampments in between the larger towns. The nasty varieties stay mostly outside in the rural areas. They don’t want the organization and do whatever they can to maintain that thread of chaos that keeps them relevant. If there was wide power on the grid, it would be much more organized.”

  Lara suddenly bucked up, looking serious again. It was like she was torn inside over her position and her loyalty to the life she came from. Dia wondered if there were a lot of people like that.

  Lara began typing something into her tablet. Dia watched her face closely, trying to read it. After a few long moments she said, “Okay, I’ve recommended a suspended sentence, and the judge has agreed to my submission.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means no jail time. But you will be put on the next bus to the annex, and then shuttled out of the city limits. Unfortunately, if you’re caught inside again that will be a second strike and you’ll be judged accordingly. You will receive the maximum sentence from this infraction, as well as additional sentence for using a false identification to gain access. You’ll be looking at two to four years. Do you understand that?”

  Dia swallowed hard. “I do.”

  “That’s the law as it stands. You now have a criminal identity. You’ve been matched by facial recognition cameras and fingerprinted.” She slid a piece of paper over to Dia. “Sign this paper affirming and establishing your identity and saying you agree to the terms. I’ll send you back to holding and you should be out of here in a few hours.”

  Dia slumped into her chair.

  Chapter 17

  Bullets streaked over Tallon’s head as he crouched behind the concrete wall. He knew he was taking a risk coming here to Cortech, but he had no choice. He’d left something there that he needed, but he was in and out before the security team knew what hit them. Now he just had to get out of this pin-down.

  He waited patiently for them to reload, popped up, and opened fire over the concrete wall. His shots pinged off the steel drums of the alley and ricocheted off the red bricks of the surrounding buildings. The two men dressed in black jumpsuits dove for cover.

  It was just enough time to run across to the dangling steel ladder of the fire escape. He turned and fired two more shots to create some time and started climbing up as fast as possible.

  They opened fire on him again, but Tallon kept climbing and reached the top. He flung himself over the wall onto the roof as bullets took a chunk off the top of the concrete. He reached up and returned fire down to the street level then took off toward the door.

  Just a few steps before the door he stopped. He scrapped that idea and took off toward the other side of the roof. Another security guard burst through that door and gave chase after him. His hunch proved correct.

  Tallon raced toward the edge of the rooftop, and in two moves leaped onto the top of the concrete edge, and then leaped into the air, launching toward the adjacent rooftop.

  It was farther than he suspected, and he had to adjust mid-flight by raising his feet high and twisting into a forward flip. He rolled his shoulder into the surface and came up on his feet in full stride. He glanced back as he turned the corner to see the chaser was not even going to try that leap.

  Tallon ran to the rooftop door and started running down the stairs. He breezed the ten flights in a hurry and busted through the back door to the street. Then he took off in a sprint a
cross the busy intersection. He looked to his left, avoiding the oncoming cars with screeching tires and blaring horns. But he was undeterred and ran into the next side street.

  He circled around the building, past a smoldering dumpster fire, back to the other side, and came up behind the two men who had shot at him. They were shocked to see him. Both men scrambled to raise their guns, but they were too late. Tallon shot both of them in the chest. The two men groaned, but their vests saved their lives. They’d be in a great deal of pain for a few minutes, but they’d be fine. There was no need to kill them.

  Looking behind him to make sure no one was coming down the drive, he jumped into their blue Cortech sedan and sped off. He headed back up to Twenty-Second Street to where he’d parked his bike in the old homeless village, and he hoped Jocelyn left him what he needed.

  Speeding along with the flow of traffic, Tallon glanced up in the mirror, watching for any vehicles that were constantly following. He turned a few unnecessary blocks, doubling back along the one-way streets until he was sure no one had followed.

  Once to the elevated highway underground, he parked the sedan on the street and left the key inside. In this neighborhood, it wouldn’t last very long.

  Running up the street, he got to the expanse under the elevated roads above and saw his bike parked right where he’d left it. The two teens he’d paid to watch it would be happy to collect the other half of their cash.

  “Good job, fellas,” Tallon said as he eyed his ride.

  “You got da bills?” the taller teen in the old New York Yankees cap asked.

  “Did my friend show up and give you something?”

  “Sho’nuff, that hottie showed up. Dat’s some fine chewy-down honeycomb right der.”

  “Here’s your cash.” Tallon handed them the two hundred and fifty dollars. The kid smiled large, snatched the cash, and handed Tallon a small, red envelope. He saluted and walked off down toward the water, and his shorter, silent friend stepped in behind and followed.

  Tallon slid the contents out of the envelope and smiled. Jocelyn did it as usual. That girl never let him down. It was the passes he’d asked for, and the shuttle schedule from the lockup.

  Securing the envelope in his jacket next to the USB stick he’d stolen from Cortech, he started his bike and sped off. He didn’t want to attract a lot of attention, so he took the old Lincoln Tunnel. With any luck, the construction crews were not inside ripping apart the substructure as they had been for the past three years. But usually this time of year they didn’t work in there because of the heat.

  Tallon blazed through the dark tunnel in a few minutes and came out on the other side into the annex. It was easy getting out, but getting back in would be more tricky. He had the proper identification. That was not the problem. But Cortech facial recognition cameras would be looking for him. He didn’t want to leave a body count in his wake, but to save his sister, he would.

  * * *

  Tallon sat and watched the shuttle pull into the large parking area. An armed guard stepped off, and the passengers dispersed into the empty parking lot of the once thriving shopping mall. One man broke away from the pack and ran back toward the annex. The guard leveled his rifle and fired three shots into the man’s back.

  The others coming off the bus scattered into the parking area, some dove behind old abandoned cars. But the guard was not going to open fire on them. Once the shuttle pulled away, Tallon started his bike and rode over into the parking lot, coming up behind the girl.

  She started to run at first, but he turned off the engine and she glanced back. He flipped up his visor. “Dia.”

  She looked back and stopped in surprise. “You.” She moved closer. “What’re you doing out here?”

  He removed his helmet. “I need your help.”

  “How’d you know where I was?”

  “I have a lot of friends.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I was in jail.”

  “I know. I need your help.”

  “You need my help?” She laughed. “How’s that exactly?”

  “I need you to help me save my sister’s life.”

  Dia’s face turned more serious. “What happened?”

  “She’s going to die, unless you help me.” The sun ducked behind some clouds. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Dia turned her palms up. “What can I do?”

  “I need you to help me find a man. A Sifter.”

  Dia moved her hands to her hips. “Oh, and you think I know every Sifter? I don’t know anyone.” She turned to walk away.

  “I think you might know this man. And if you help me save Chloe, I can help you save your brother.”

  She stopped with her back to him. “How do you know about my brother?”

  “I know a lot of things. I know why you came into the city. And I can help you. But first, you need to help me.”

  Dia turned to face him. “Why should I trust you?”

  “You have no reason not to.”

  “I don’t trust anyone.”

  Tallon turned and unhooked the spare helmet and tossed it at Dia. “You can trust me.” He read her face. “And I think you might want to save Chloe too.”

  She caught the helmet and turned it in her hands, looking at the artwork. “If I do help you, I want assurances you’ll help me.”

  “I can only give you one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A promise.”

  Dia met his eyes and then nodded slowly. “That’s all I need.”

  Chapter 18

  Dia had never been on the back of a motorcycle. But it was definitely not boring. Especially the way this guy rode. At one point on the virtually deserted highway, she glanced up at the speedometer and swore it said one hundred and sixty miles per hour.

  Now as they slowed down on the twisty surface streets near the lake, she hoped that Bobby Bensonhurst was still in his usual spot. If anyone could point her in the direction of this Rotus fellow Tallon was looking for, Bobby could.

  The sunlight illuminated the boarded up shacks that used to be bungalow homes not long ago. This was a once teeming part of New Jersey. They were well outside the annex, in a town called Hopatcong. This was one of the more populated and organized post-annex towns still going. Everyone out in the ruins in this area who wanted to be part of a community came to Hopatcong. It had plenty of natural wells, a large lake, and many good vantage points that could be easily protected from the huge Prepper colonies out in Mine Hill and Lenape Valley. There were thousands of occupied dwellings here. Many people who lived in these homes after the crash of society stayed right here, and many more moved into unoccupied houses.

  “Up that hill.” Dia pointed and he cracked the throttle open a bit. They shot up the short but steep hill and crested to the view of an open field. Past that, they quickly came to the old high school, which was a bustling black market.

  They parked the bike among the throng of people.

  “What is this place?” Tallon placed his helmet on the bike.

  “This is where you come when you need things, goods and services, whatever.”

  They made their way past rows of tables lined with various supplies. Bottled water, canned foods and medical supplies, packaged food, and even some toys. It was all here, in mostly random arrangement. Several stray cats and dogs mingled in and out of the people.

  Dia pointed. “When the weather is nice, these fields are filled up with people and goods. When it’s crappy they go inside the school, and there’s another school down the hill there.”

  They made their way up a small hill to a field of grass where a man dressed in a white tank top and black shorts stood on a riser and overlooked the crowd. People would come up to him, and he would point them in some direction.

  Dia walked up to the man, and his smirk went to a full tooth smile.

  He jumped down off the box and walked up to her with his arms wide. “Dia-Dia-Dia, how you bea-bea-bea?”

  “H
ey, Bobby.” She embraced him.

  “You look so good, girly,” Bobby said, adjusting his tight white tank top.

  “Still running the circus, I see.” Dia nodded to the crowd.

  “Well, these Neanderthals would be lost without me. Lucky for them I only crack skulls when really necessary and not for fun.” Bobby smiled broadly at Tallon. “And who is this surly looking uber-lunk with you?”

  “This is Tallon.”

  Bobby held his hand out to Tallon. “It’s a pleasure. Any friend of Dia’s is a friend of mine. You don’t look like you’re from around here.”

  Tallon shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

  “So Dia-bea, what brings you out to our carnival of souls?”

  “Bobby,” Dia said, “I’m looking for someone. He goes by the name Rotus.”

  Bobby twisted his lips and looked to the sky. Tapping his fingers to his chin, he said, “Rotus, oh yeah, I know Rotus. He’s that super geek who fixes everything. Nice fellow, but he’s not around these parts anymore. And he also gave me explicit instructions to tell no one where he’s been or where he’s going. But of course I can tell you what I know.”

  “Where’d he go?” Dia asked.

  “Well, last I heard he was heading east. He’d been going around to the more organized communities, building his power generators and moving on. He’s a crafty fellow on a mission. He wants to bring power to as many towns as he can.”

  Tallon stepped forward. “Power generators? What kind of power generator?”

  Bobby shrugged. “Damned if I know how that stuff works. But Rotus is a certified genius. The guy was supposedly some sort of scientist for the government. He builds solar power amplifiers out of scraps. We have three of them in this town, thanks to him. They power over one thousand homes and facilities, including the only hospital I’d go to this side of the annex. He says he’s going to come back this way and build more when we get some supplies.”