The Warrior

by Rebecca Royce

  I closed the door behind me as I entered his office. I’d been inside of it a million times, but usually to talk about grades or to discuss the current status of my father’s mental health. Pictures of him and Tiffani lined his desk. They’d met about five seconds after he’d arrived at the Genesis habitat and been married maybe fifteen seconds later. One of the pictures showed Tiffani in a long black evening gown. I had no idea what occasion could warrant such a dress. We almost never had formal gatherings.

  I looked over at the couch I knew I was supposed to lay on as the door behind me reopened. Like they’d stepped out of the pictures I was looking at, Keith and Tiffani stood before me side-by-side in the doorframe. Their expressions were blank.

  I blinked and tried to figure out what to do. Tiffani covered her face with her hands and sobbed seconds before she grabbed me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

  She shook as she held me. God, what was going on? I wanted to pull out of her hug. I didn’t do well with physical contact. Dad and I didn’t touch often, and I certainly didn’t like being held when I didn’t understand why it was happening.

  Finally, I found my voice. “What’s going on?”

  Keith plowed into the room. “I left them answering questions on monster physiology. I don’t have much time.” He shut the door behind him. “I’m so sorry I had to do that to you.”

  Tiffani let me go and I stumbled backwards. “It’s okay.” I wiped at my face, ashamed to see some of the tears I’d held onto that must have let loose without my even knowing it. “I’m really bad at this. Tomorrow, I’ll be one of the dead numbers.”

  “No.” He shook his head as Tiffani started sobbing louder. “Hell, Tiff, knock it off. You’re terrifying Rachel.”

  She sniffed as she turned her back on us. “It’s the hormones, and I’d say you did a good enough job of that on your own.”

  Hormones? “Are you pregnant?” I asked the question and then realized maybe it was rude to have done so. She had mentioned it first, but then maybe she meant she had pre-menstrual syndrome or something.

  She laughed as she nodded. “I am. Don’t tell anyone yet, okay? I’m not ready to be banned from up above.”

  Pregnant women were given a pass—a permanent one if they wanted it to be—from fighting. It was too bad the only thing that scared me more than Vampires and Werewolves was sex. I wasn’t getting pregnant. No way, no how.

  “I won’t say a word.” What was going on here?

  “Listen,” Keith turned me around by my shoulders so I looked at him. “I’m so sorry that I did that to you. Do you know how fast you were? You almost got me. Tiff, she almost got me. It’s next to impossible and you did that. I really thought I was going to end up with a stake through the heart.”

  God, I was so confused. “You told me to…”

  “I know I did. I knew you would lose. You had to.”

  I swallowed. This was one of those adult conversations where they wanted me to understand what they were saying without really saying it. Tia and I sometimes had this kind of talk, but right now I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on. Keith had wanted me to fail. “Why?”

  “Because now twelve of your peers have just watched you get taken down, badly. Tia is going to speak to her father when she gets out of class in ten minutes, and she’s going to tell him how badly it went. He’s going to tell the board all about it. Maybe it will stop them from doing what they’re going to do.”

  “The board? They’re supposed to give me my first assignment in eleven hours.”

  Keith let go of me and rubbed his forehead, which looked to be covered in sweat. “I’m not doing a good job of explaining this.”

  “No,” Tiffani interjected, “you’re not.”

  She walked forward until she faced me. “You know what your father did? You really understand?”

  “He left his position. He refused to train any more Warriors after my mother was killed. He left everyone in a real lurch. They kicked him out of Warrior housing. I was a baby. He’s hardly worked since. They had to replace him, and after years of trying they couldn’t.” I looked at Keith. “That’s why the Icahns went and found you all the way in Scotland.”

  To me, Scotland sounded like such a magical place. I knew that human beings were underground there the same way they were here. It probably looked exactly the same. I was told one habitat looked pretty much exactly like any other. But I couldn’t help think of it as rolling green hills and mystical towns that disappeared only to reappear once every century…

  “That’s not exactly it.” Tiffani bit her nail. It was such strange thing to see her do. She was always so perfectly put together. “Your mother was killed when the Vampires broke through the Upper Peninsula and forced their way down into Genesis. I was nineteen at the time, and I was up above. It took the Warriors, including your Mom, who I loved by the way, hours to push them back up again. Those of us up there, where your Dad was leading us, had no idea what was happening down here. By the time we got to your Mom, she was dead, but we managed to save you.”

  “I didn’t realize you were there.”

  She exhaled loudly. “I was there. When your Dad came down and found out your Mom was dead, he went crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. He tried to climb into the incinerator and grab her body…”

  Keith interrupted. “She doesn’t need to hear about that. Needless to say, I can understand how a man might lose his mind over the death of the woman he loved.”

  Funny thing was, I could almost see it in my mind’s eye. My Dad, young and strong before the booze made him heavy and slow, trying to get into the tube where they put bodies to turn them to ash. It was amazing Keith loved Tiffani like that. If I lived long enough, maybe someone would love me that way. Maybe.

  “Keith’s right. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to think about your Mom’s body burning. I’m sorry.”

  People often spoke of my dead mother like she was someone I knew, whose burned up body would make me feel sad. I didn’t know her any better than I know what the sun feels like on my skin or what a cool winter breeze would do to my face. But if I said this to them, they would think I was cold and unfeeling, so I looked down at my feet like I’d been affected.

  “Go on.”

  “Your Dad went back to work right away. Too soon, but no one wanted to tell one of the Warrior leaders how they should grieve. Tia’s mom started taking care of you. For a while, it seemed to work. Then—boom—he’s up above with a group of Ones and Twos when he suddenly decides he can’t do it anymore. He drops his stake and like a zombie walks back to Genesis, leaving them all alone and unprotected.”

  I had never heard this part of the story. I swallowed before I spoke, because my throat felt clogged. “What happened to the Warriors he left?”

  Tiffani didn’t speak. She turned her back again and sobbed. I almost didn’t need them to say the words. Almost. “Tell me.”

  Keith spoke. “They all died. Every last one of them died. Including the only daughter of Dr. Isaac Icahn.”

  I gasped and covered my mouth. Isaac Icahn. The man who had foreseen the coming of the monsters. Who had designed the habitats. Who had saved us all when humanity fell. Who invented the Warrior program and who still led us at eighty years old today. Isaac Icahn and his sons ruled humanity from the hidden hallway of Genesis, where they dictated policy to all humans hidden underground all over the world. We all owed our lives to Isaac Icahn.

  “He’s been waiting, Rachel, to take away your father’s daughter—you—ever since. Tiffani heard the sons talking last night. They’re going to send you on a mission by yourself. You’ll have no protection. They’re sending you to die.”

  I closed my eyes and sobbed. As I fell to my knees, I wasn’t even ashamed of the tears or the way my shoulders shook. I’d always known it. I’d always suspected I would have to pay. But to hear Keith say it, that was something else entirely.

  Tiffani knelt down beside me, holding me as I lo
st it. This time the hug was okay.

  Chapter Three

  I held my breath and counted to twelve. I heard somewhere it helped you calm down. Keith forced a glass of iced tea into my shaking hand. So much for a bit of unless information. I took a sip, trying not to spill the liquid onto the floor.

  Wow, he’d put real sugar in it! Real sugar was a treat. We didn’t get it very often. We live in the northern hemisphere of what had been called the United States of America. I’m told, in my geographic history class, they never produced sugar in this climate. Trade is limited to safety conditions, mainly smuggling the stuff past the Werewolves.

  If the Warriors couldn’t find any or plant or crop right above us to bring down, then we didn’t get it. It all had to be imported. I really didn’t care how it worked.

  I liked how the sugar tasted.

  Keith paced around the room. “I’m not going to give you up to them, Rachel.”

  I glanced up at him from where I sat on the ground. He looked like a giant. A tall, comforting, going-to-save-my-life-giant. “I spoke to Patrick Lyons. He’s on the Council too.”

  I sniffed. “Yes, Tia’s father is an important man.”

  And the type of father who picked his small children up in the air and threw them until they shrieked with delight. He’d always had a kind word for me and taken the time to make sure I was okay. But he wasn’t my father.

  No.

  My father had tried to rip my mother out of an incinerator and screwed up so badly that now I was going to get killed thanks to his negligence. Wow, I really wanted to whack my father hard with something. Usually I had mixed emotions when it came to my Dad, but right now, it was clear. My stomach was in knots, and I’d clenched my fists. I was furious.

  “He and two other Council members, John Cohen and Raj Moore,” Keith named members who were extraordinary Warriors. “They’re going to vote on your side.”

  I stood up, feeling foolish to the point of mortification for sitting on the ground. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that they will push to have you go up with the other Ones and Twos, just like you should be, just like any other normal Warrior teen would.”

  I thought about what he said. It felt good to think Patrick and the others were on my side. It was amazing how fast my perspective had changed. This morning I would have done anything not to have to go Upwards at all and now, boy-oh-boy, the best-case scenario was being sent above with the other Ones and Twos. It was as if life had layers. One second something seemed like the worst possible thing in the world and then—boom—something else happened that was even worse and that first thing that had seemed awful was so much more appealing.

  I took two steps away from Keith and Tiffani, who had been quiet for so long I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  The room felt so small now, and I wanted to escape it even though I knew I’d have nowhere to go. There was never anywhere to go. If I didn’t die above, I would live and die within the walls of Genesis habitat like a rat in a cage.

  I couldn’t continue like this. It wasn’t productive. Keith was trying to help me make plans. I needed to be involved in them. This was my life.

  I had to figure out what I already knew. “There are three Icahns on the Council. Dr. Icahn—Isaac—and his two sons, Liam and Noah.” I tried to digest what he said. “His daughter must have been much younger than they are.” I glanced up at Keith. “They’re like your age or older, right?”

  Tiffani laughed from where she sat on the floor. “Yes, Keith, they’re your age. Ancient.”

  My cheeks heated up. I had done it. I found a way to say something that amused the adults in the room without meaning to. Their laughter wasn’t because I’d tried to be amusing, but because they were laughing at me.

  Keith stared at the door. “I have to go back to class.” He nodded at me. “Go to sleep.”

  After he walked through the door, I glared at Tiffani, who still giggled on the floor. “He expects me to sleep?”

  Tiffani’s face got serious and she sighed. “Yes, eventually.” She stood up. “The Council is seven members. We have three, they have three. There is one member left—Mia Sandry. She’s an unknown factor. As far as Patrick can tell, she is not beholden to Icahn, but neither is she necessarily loyal to Patrick. She’s always the unknown vote. We’re hoping Keith’s display from the morning in class will be enough to make her think sending you up on your own would be a disaster.”

  “Mia Sandry.” I said her name aloud, hoping the taste of the words on my tongue would give me some kind of clarity.

  How was it possible my entire future depended on a person I had never even seen? Mia Sandry. Most of us knew the former Warriors, well the ones who lived to reach the full-fledged level. Dying before that earned you a trip to forgotten-ness. I wasn’t ashamed to admit to myself that slipping away into the nothingness of Warriors who died in their first two years frightened me as much as anything else. Would it mean I hadn’t accomplished anything worth talking about? Ever?

  The ones who lived were famous. I didn’t want their job but I’d prefer it to dying. How was it that I didn’t know anything about Mia Sandry?

  “Why is she so unfamiliar to me?”

  Tiffani shrugged. “Do teenagers spend a lot of time thinking about the Council?”

  I hated when adults did that. They asked you questions like you were supposed to be able to speak for the entire teenage population. Do teenagers like fish? Do teenagers like old Western movies? We were all people, like they were, with our own interests. I clasped my hands together tightly. Sheesh. But I wasn’t going to say anything to Tiffani because A, she was being really nice and B, she was trying to save my life. Also she’d been my teacher and even though she now wanted to fit into ‘friend’ category, it was still a little odd. I might have liked to have been her friend under other circumstances, but right now I needed adults to be adults so they could help save me.

  I smiled. “I don’t.”

  I’d never given the Council a moment of thought except to wonder what assignment they’d give me, and I had never envisioned this scenario. I set down my iced tea on Keith’s desk, feeling like if I drank any more I might float all the way up to the surface. Wow, I really loved sugar.

  “Let’s just say, sweetheart, sometimes people get into positions of power because they do nothing to offend anyone.”

  I tried to digest this information. Tia’s father was on the Council because he was the best, very possibly the greatest Warrior who ever lived. The Icahns were on the Council because they saved us all and we all owed our salvation to them. The other two Warriors—Raj and John—were legends in their own right. Mia was on the Council because she wasn’t one?

  “That doesn’t make sense.”

  She nodded as she walked to me. “I know. Trust me, I get your confusion. This is adult politicking that you shouldn’t even have to worry about. Most young Warriors don’t have to think about this. Their destiny is clear. They go up with the Ones and Twos. It’s standard. On a day like today, you shouldn’t be burdened with this nonsense.”

  Tiffani held out her hand and in her palm was a pill. I looked up to meet her eyes. “Is that a sleeping pill?”

  “It is.”

  “I meant it when I told Keith I don’t want to be groggy.”

  She took my hand and put the pull in it. “We’ll give you a shot of stimulant to wake you up if you need it. This is a low dose. Some of the Warriors take one every day.”

  They did? “Why?”

  All humor fled from Tiffani’s expression as a dark, faraway look crossed her gaze. “Sometimes it’s hard to sleep.” She shook her head. “Come on, take this and when you wake up, it’ll be time to go face the Council.”

  Did she want me to have nightmares? I put the pill in my hand and Tiffani handed me the glass of iced tea I’d set down. I swallowed the pill.

  “How long does it take to work?”

  She took my arm as she walked me to the couch. I
lay down, feeling the soft comfort of the couch beneath my body. Rolling onto my side, I looked up at Tiffani. She was so nice. Really, I hadn’t thought of her much since I’d left her class as more than Keith’s perfect wife, but she was working her tail off to help save me.

  “Tiffani, you’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

  Even as I said the words, I couldn’t believe I’d said them. What did I know about mothering? I never had one. Well, that wasn’t true. I’d had mine for one week and I’d watched Tia’s mother bring up six children. Carol Lyons was a wonderful parent, and maybe my mom would have been, too.

  “I don’t know about that.” She sat down on the edge of the couch. “What do I know about parenting? All I’ve done is fight monsters or trained small children to do so.”

  “You’re kind and patient.”

  She laughed. “Sometimes.”

  My lids felt heavy as I blinked. “The pill is working.”

  She patted my arm, sighing. “That’s good. You know, I’ve read, that once upon a time, before the world ended, girls used to have parties on their sixteenth birthday. They were called Sweet Sixteen Parties. It’s hard for me to imagine there was a time when girls could still be called sweet by the time they were sixteen.”

  I tried to listen to what Tiffani was saying—I really did—because it was fascinating to me, but the room was getting darker and my eyelids weighed a ton.

  Usually, I don’t remember my dreams. Not a minute of them. Tia told me once it was because I wasn’t an artist. According to Tia, artists always remembered their vivid dreams. Apparently, she was an artist. Chad had rolled his eyes and bonked her on the head before going to another room to sit.

  This dream, however, I knew I would remember even as I was having it. I’d never before known I was asleep while I was. It might have had something to do with the pill they’d given me.

  In my dream, I looked down at a lake. The sun shone above my head, and although I couldn’t feel its heat, I was aware of its brightness. Behind me, Tiffani put her hand on my shoulder. I was grateful for her presence. Enormously happy she was there. There was something wrong with my reflection.