by C. L. Stone
Several youngsters playing soccer nearby caught Evie's attention. She enjoyed watching their expressions at doing something as simple as playing a game. Her life was too serious. The mild stones that a normal teenager experienced were denied to her a long time ago. She never got the chance to go to public school, sneak out to parties, or go on a first date. She didn’t even have any close friends growing up until Max arrived at the camp a few years ago.
Dominick used her distraction to his advantage. He moved in closer until he stood right in front of her. His hand caressing her cheek brought her attention back to him. The look in his eyes made her nervous.
Leaning over her, he whispered, "Come out with me tonight. We can have dinner together. I want to spend some time with you, Doll. I never see you anymore unless it’s in training class."
"Dominick," Evie sighed, "I'm sorry, but I can't. I’ve got to study tonight. My only focus right now is finishing my degree."
"Bullshit, Evie. You use college as an excuse every time I ask you out." Dominick reached up, grasping her chin with his hand. "I want you to be mine. How many times do I have to say it? Why do you keep running from me?"
Evie jerked her chin out of his grasp and moved back a step. She needed to put some space between them. She didn’t trust him to not try something.
“Dominick, I’m sorry, but the answer is no. I don’t want to date you. I don’t want to date anyone right now.”
Dominick laughed darkly. “Like I would ever allow you to date anyone else but me. You’re mine, Doll. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we can move forward.”
Evie scoffed. “You don’t get to decide who I date, Dom.”
“We will see about that. Now run along. I have to go see your father.”
The dismissive tone in Dom’s words was easy to recognize. It irked Evie, but she compressed her natural reaction to say something smart back. But one thing was clear, she would need to continue to make sure she kept her distance from him.
The rest of the day, Evie worked around camp, helping out where she could. She assisted the families who were gathering berries in the forest, picking basket after basket and heaving them to the food storage shed. She helped the Meyers family out by babysitting for a few hours while they ran some errands in town. It worked out perfectly, because Evie was able to lie down with the children during their nap time and rest her weary body. The pain pills wore off, and she left the rest in the cabinet.
By the time she made it to the mess hall to join the others for dinner, she could barely move without hurting. She’d overdone it today. Instead of staying home and recovering, she’d been forced out of the house and put to work. But, she couldn’t complain. There were no sympathetic ears in the camp. She did what was expected of her. She didn’t want to call attention to herself or her activities. She may be able to take small stands against some of her father’s less popular policies, but no one could doubt her devotion to the resistance’s cause.
Taking a seat at her father’s left, Evie waited with her head down until all the others were seated. The meal was buffet style for everyone except for her father’s table. The kitchen staff served those that sat at his table. Conversations took place around, her but no one addressed her directly. They never did. She was largely ignored until someone needed something from her.
The wait staff deposited a bowl of hot soup in front of her. It smelled delicious. Evie’s stomach growled greedily as she inhaled the aroma. She hadn’t eaten all day. Just a few berries when she helped gather them. She picked up her spoon and waited impatiently for the others to begin. Once her father took his first bite, she dove in with a vengeance.
A plate filled with meat and vegetables followed closely after. Evie inhaled that before she could identify what it was. Some type of roast maybe. By the time she was finished, she could barely hold her eyes open. Exhaustion set in. Her father, for once, must have been paying attention.
“You look like a walking zombie. You are excused. Go home and get some rest. Tomorrow will be just as busy.”
“Yes, father. Thank you.”
Evie leaned heavily on the table to lift herself up from her seated position. Her muscles, stiff from sitting too long, protested as she walked out of the mess hall but grateful to be heading home for once.
3
TOWN OF HOLDEN
The next day started out just like the previous one. Sore from the CT, Evie hobbled her way down the stairs only to find her father waiting to order her out of the cabin, without breakfast again. Today, she didn’t need to find chores to do. Every member of the camp was assigned jobs when they first joined, or for the younger members, when they reached the age of thirteen.
The men and women over eighteen who survived and graduated from training became soldiers. The resistance was a militia with ranked soldiers from privates to captains, her father retaining the highest rank. Of course, her father reported to someone higher up in the resistance, but Evie did not know who that was or what rank they held. Soldiers choose from three primary teams to join: Reconnaissance, Strategy Planning, and Operational Control. The aptitude of each soldier was tested during training. Placement onto teams occurred based solely upon those scores and the feedback from the instructors.
Non-graduate camp members or those still going through training received assignments for different responsibilities. They range from something as simple as babysitting or running errands as parents trained or worked to harder jobs such as camp cooks, hunters, laundry techs, or teachers who home schooled all the children of the camp. Most jobs were on a rotational basis, but some, like Evie, had permanent assignments as well.
Three times a week, Evie made her way into town to pick up the mail from the camp’s post office box. The job forced Evie to venture down a rocky and root filled path. Even though the town of Holden resided less than two miles away, the walk took her an hour each way to navigate the treacherous terrain. Every step Evie attempted was done carefully, otherwise she would be liable to trip on the exposed tree roots, skinning her knees and palms at best, breaking a bone at the worst. Pulling a wagon made from hard plastic behind her hindered her trek as she meandered through her gauntlet. She needed it to transport the mail back to camp. Even with three pick-ups per week, mailed overflowed the sides compounding the danger of the return trip.
Silence shrouded Holden as Evie entered its borders. It was still early, just past nine in the morning. Getting to the post office located on the far end of town required her to pass a small row of businesses. A thrift store, bakery and coffee shop, bookstore, variety store, and a small diner comprised the center of town. The nearest school, where all the township’s children attended, was an hour’s ride by bus. Outside of the town’s hub about a block over, a small church, a laundromat, and a tiny grocery store which sat next to the dilapidated building the local sheriff used as an office rounded out the small town. A perfect size and location according to her father. His camp with all the cabins, mess hall, and barracks was three times larger than the entire town.
Evie's stomach rumbled, reminding her of having skipped breakfast. She had some money in her pocket, saved from her online job as a tutor. She didn't make much, but it was enough to allow her to splurge on a few items. Making a quick decision, she parked her wagon safely out of the way so people walking on the sidewalk wouldn’t run into it and entered the diner. Only a handful of customers filled the place, the majority of the booths empty. Eloise, the waitress who worked most mornings, stood by the counter, chatting with a local customer seated on a bar stool.
Evie’s adventures outside the camp provided little in the way of comparisons, but the interior of the diner reminded her of the typical, hometown diners from her books. A long counter with bar seating highlighted the back wall while a row of booths lined the picture windows. Picking a booth towards the back, Evie sat down and read the menu. The sparse selections still granted variety from her normal meals, and what they did serve was excellent, much better than the food pr
epared at the camp.
The cabin she and her father shared had a modern kitchen, complete with all the appliances needed to cook a good meal, but what they lacked were the groceries needed to fix those meals. Her father only purchased items for breakfast, believing lunch and dinner should be eaten in a communal setting.
"Hey, Shug. What can I get you?" Eloise's plump figure stood in front of Evie’s table. Eloise was older, maybe in her late thirties, but her eyes were always friendly, not hardened like most in the camp. Evie liked her immediately when they first met a few years ago. She didn't take any grief from her customers, especially the young males looking for a quick hookup. Evie admired her tenacity. She wasn't afraid of anyone, though she distrusted Evie's father.
"The two egg special, scrambled with cheese. Bacon instead of sausage, please. Oh, and a cup of coffee." Evie closed her menu, placing it back behind the napkin holder and smiled up at Eloise. The older woman frowned, her eyes taking in the bruise on Evie's face. Eloise pressed her lips together tightly but didn't say anything. Instead, she smiled a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's pretty slow. Jimmy should have this up in just a few minutes."
Evie liked coming into town because no one ever questioned anything. They kept their own council. She could breathe here. She needed to be so careful around the camp; her every activity reported back to her father. But, the town’s folk turned a blind eye, allowing Evie the most freedom she’d ever known.
Having relaxed in the booth until well after ten, Evie finally bid Eloise goodbye and ambled her way out of the diner with a full belly. Eloise offered her a coffee to go, already doctored with cream and sugar, and Evie graciously accepted it. Coffee proved to be her one weakness. She couldn’t function without at least one cup.
Evie wasn’t in any rush, so she left her wagon parked where it was and drifted down the walkway towards Marv's Bookends, the local bookstore. Evie wasn't sure where the name came from, but a grumpy old man by the name of Hubert Boxster owned the shop. His large in store and online operation specialized in rare and out of print books, but he maintained a few shelves dedicated to current fiction as well as comic books.
Having stocked up on the newest releases, Evie’s mission ignored the books and steered her towards the comics. She was here for the monthly edition of Antipathy. It was an anti-Surmata comic book illustrated by a high-ranking family member of the resistance. Each month it depicted imagined battles between the resistance and the Surmata warriors. With each new battle, the resistance gained more ground, defeating the enemy one geographical area at a time. It showed the resistance freeing the locals from the enemy, pledging to fight their demon foes without Surmata interference. The human army protected its own.
The comic was a favorite among all the camps around the globe. Evie ensures she was in town the week it was released, wanting to be one of the first to get a copy. If for some reason she was unable, Mr. Boxster put a copy aside for her. They were in high demand and sold out relatively quickly.
The bell jingled as Evie cleared the doorway. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the dim interior, and she resisted the urge to sneeze from the particles of dust floating around. Shipment day caused even more debris in the air than normal. Mr. Boxster unloaded box after box of new books and comics. His part-time assistant worked on shipment day as well. With Mr. Boxster’s advanced age, he couldn't carry much, so when he was here, Samuel did the heavy lifting for him.
"Shut that door! Can't you see you're letting the bugs in?" Mr. Boxster's voice was muffled. He must be behind one of the bookshelves or in back in the store room.
“Hi, Mr. Boxster. I am just going to grab a few things, and then I will help you unpack until Samuel gets here.”
“Fine, whatever! Just shut…” The door snickered shut with a small sigh before Mr. B finished his cantankerous comment, “that damn door.”
Rolling her eyes, Evie walked a few feet into the shop, breathing in the fragrant smell of age and wisdom. History was housed within these walls. Knowledge permeated the air, leaving a musky scent overlaid with dust. She moved further into the room heading for the comic section first. The newest edition of Antipathy was centered on a round table next to the far wall. The cover depicted dozens of human resistance fighters with guns raised. Their enemies cowered, almost defeated. Several Surmata warriors were shrouded in shadow, crouched in fear for their lives. Evie's gut clenched tightly seeing the strong warriors portrayed this way. She knew the images were fake, hand drawn by the illustrator, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth.
When the idea of the comic was first pitched to the highest ranking members of the resistance, they immediately realized the potential. They would be able to reach out to an untapped market, making it a perfect opportunity to attract new members to their cause. Excited about this new project, the leaders insisted on moving up the time table and offered to front the publication costs.
On the surface, the casual observer would believe the comic was only a propaganda tool for the resistance. But if someone were to take a closer look, they would notice a small symbol etched onto the cover. It was a picture of a rubber duck with a sprig of thyme in its mouth. This symbol appeared on each and every cover of Antipathy. It was a sign of the anti-resistance, created by Surmata sympathizers.
In normal society, the dove with an olive leaf symbolized unity. But members of the anti-resistance, were just like Evie. Stuck in the resistance through no choice of their own, not believing in the garbage the resistance fed the mainstream.
A new movement was created a couple of years ago. A movement secret from everyone but a few, known as The Unification Society; the unity symbol was altered just enough so that any member who wasn’t part of the anti-society would miss its significance.
With each new released edition, the monthly publications hid intricate code in the illustrations, an alphanumeric series placed randomly through the pages. This series of code allowed for access to the Unification website. The password was only good for one month, until the next issue of the comic became available. This secret website contained true accounts of what happened outside of camp life. It detailed skirmishes with the Surmata. It reported what truly happened, not the altered version the leaders shared with the camp members.
Evie was a long-standing member. At fourteen, she helped develop the security algorithms that prevented the site from being hacked. She didn’t need the password to gain access—she built in a backdoor—but she didn’t want to use that unless it became necessary.
Evie picked up her copy and made her way to the back storeroom. She liked to help out Mr. Boxster whenever she had time. He was old and frail but refused to hire more help. He didn’t believe anyone could be trusted to run the small shop in his absence.
“What can I help unpack?” Evie asked as she cleared the doorway.
Mr. Boxster was hunched over a large box that easily reached Evie’s waist. His glasses were perched precariously on the tip of his nose. The skin around his grey eyes scrunched up trying to read something on a clipboard he held.
“Did you hear about the mess in Covington?” he mumbled, not looking up from whatever had caught his attention.
Covington was a larger town about an hour’s drive from Holden. Evie had never been able to visit, but she knew others from camp made regular jaunts. “No, what mess?”
Mr. Boxster squinted at her before placing a finger on the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses back into place. “The Surmata made an appearance. Cleaned out a demon’s nest. I heard your father was pissed since it was so close to his camp. He must be taking crap from his superiors over it.”
Evie didn’t say anything, merely shrugged. Mr. Boxster loved to talk about the resistance and the Surmata, but she never offered any additional information. She couldn’t take the chance that he was loyal to her father and would report any words spoken back to him. So Evie just played dumb, knowing nothing of any situation.
Doing this helped quite a bit actually. Mr
. Boxster was a fountain of information, and he shared everything he heard with Evie on a regular basis. Some of the things he was able to unearth were not even printed on the Unification website. Evie usually shared it in a blog post so that it could be investigated and validated as fact.
“My father has been in a bad mood. But no more than usual,” Evie offered. She wanted to find out more details so she grabbed the nearest box and ripped the tape holding the ends together. She allowed silence to fall in the room knowing Mr. Boxster would continue. He wouldn’t be able to resist.
He cleared his throat and began, “Yep. Seems like the Surmata arrived on scene and cleaned the nest out before soldiers could even make an appearance. Heard it was a nasty fight though. One of the largest nests to be discovered. Right in the middle of town in an old abandoned warehouse. My youngest daughter lives in Covington. She had a front row seat to all the action. Called me as soon as it was over and told me about it. She said she even got a close up look at a Surmata warrior.”
Excitement zapped along Evie’s skin. She’d never actually seen a member of the Surmata race, well except for a half- blood. But he didn’t count.
“Did she say what he looked like? It was a he, wasn’t it? I’ve heard about male warriors fighting demons more than females, but I guess it could have been a woman.”
Mr. Boxster didn’t say anything at first. Evie was on the balls of her feet, bouncing up and down in excitement. “Well, Mr. Boxster, did she?”
“Well, Evie. She didn’t say much. Only that he was a handsome devil, and he’d winked at her when he noticed her watching from her living room window.”
“That sounds so exciting. I can’t wait to see a Surmata up close. I’ve heard they were ferocious looking.”
“I am surprised your father hasn’t insisted you accompany him on missions. Then you would be able to see them first hand.”
