Among These Bones

by Amanda Luzzader

I didn’t answer.

  Gary smiled his bitter smile, then continued. “The difference between Lotus and your pals running amok outside Zone boundaries is that Lotus will succeed because only the brightest and most highly skilled are invited to participate.”

  I fought to keep myself from responding, fought to keep my expression neutral, but Gary had certainly gotten my attention. What was he talking about?

  He sat on the couch again, but this time very close to me, so close that our legs were touching. He grabbed my hand.

  “Arie is very, very smart. You know that, don’t you?”

  Is?

  Not was.

  I felt the rage again, the rage that made me pull the trigger of a gun I’d pointed at a person. It was an animal savagery born from desperation and helplessness. It bloomed suddenly like some brutal flower in my heart. I felt as though I could pounce on Gary and begin to pull him apart like a plastic doll. This talk of a mysterious program and recruitment—it made a certain sense in the rational recesses of my mind. Some secret he’d kept from the wretched members of gen-pop—it was an answer to lots of questions I’d carried around for the last year. But at that moment, my mind had space for one thought, one word: is.

  It was a word that meant my doom.

  Gary stopped speaking and examined the sleeve of his coat. A thread had come loose from the buttonhole on the cuff. He frowned at it for a moment before pinching it between his fingers and plucking it sharply away. Then he stood again and cleared his throat.

  “You and your companions down in that filthy amusement park have committed treason, Alison. Unless I intervene, you’ll be shot. Summarily. No questions, no trial, nothing.”

  Gary blinked down at me, searching for any response, any sign I might give. I knew where this was going now, but I made no signal. The clocked ticked.

  “But because this is your first offense,” said Gary, “and because I personally know you to be a law-abiding member of our society, I’m going to make you a deal.”

  I swallowed hard. I couldn’t help it. I knew what he was about to say, and it was something I both longed and dreaded to hear.

  He chuckled. “Yeah. We know they’re down in that neighborhood. Down in some little lair. I’ve got almost a hundred armed men ready to storm the place. They’re ready to burn the entire area to the ground. But I know they’re clever, these friends of yours. If I send my men in, I just know your friends are going to make a lot of trouble. There’ll be casualties, and your friends could slip away, and that won’t look good on my record. Plus, I need to know what they know, what they’ve got planned, what they’ve already done. They’ve got to be questioned. I need this to be a clean incision, Alison.”

  I don’t know why I kept listening. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

  “You could help,” said Gary. “Tell me exactly where they are. I mean exactly. And if you do, the Agency will forgive you for your crimes.”

  I thought about it. Even though I knew I could never accept the offer, I thought about it. Gary was right—Ruby and the others were clever. They’d set up their operation and had reached the verge of freeing themselves from the Agency, all in one year. Of course they had secret passages, traps, and who could say what else. They were heavily armed and highly motivated. And they knew the park inside and out. They could make so much trouble. They could hold out for a week or maybe more. Or they could fade into the woods with their serum and take up the fight somewhere else, on their own terms, raiding and running and then fading into the woods again. Gary really did need me.

  “I won’t help you,” I said.

  Gary nodded. “I understand. And I actually admire your loyalty. It’s a quality I value highly. You know, loyalty is all I ever wanted from you and Arie. I always had your best interest in mind.”

  “I’m sorry. I can’t turn them in just to save myself.”

  “They’ll torture you before they execute you, Alison,” said Gary. “They’ll torture it out of you.”

  “You mean you’ll torture it out of me.”

  Gary inhaled abruptly. “Alison, I’m thinking only about—”

  “Yourself. You’re thinking of yourself. I don’t know what’s going on with your project or why you took Arie, but I see it now—it was you all along. That’s why you didn’t come to help when I told them your name. That’s why you were following Arie and me.”

  Gary shook his head.

  “And that’s why you poisoned Arie. It was the peanut butter, wasn’t it? You’re evil.”

  Gary paused. He looked at the floor and took some deep breaths. “As I was saying. You’re loyal to your friends,” he said, stammering a bit. “I can understand that. But I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Arie isn’t dead. Are you loyal to him? Tell me where your little team is and I will take you to him tonight.”

  And there it was.

  I should have been happy. I would have given almost anything to see Arie again. And I actually trusted Gary’s offer—I believed that he would let me see Arie if I cooperated. But as Gary stood over me there in my living room, I resigned myself to never seeing Arie again.

  “Okay, Gary,” I said. “I accept.”

  CHAPTER 25

  They handcuffed me and wedged me between two armed goons in the back seat of a black Crown Victoria. My neighbors watched from their windows. A few came out onto their porches. The same people who’d come out of their houses to watch me drive around in the jacked-up Tacoma now watched with the same slack-jawed amazement as a detachment of goons stuffed me into a very different automobile to take me away forever.

  Gary sat in the front passenger seat and another goon did the driving. We set out for Thrill Harbor with two troop carriers following.

  Arie was alive. Of course he was. I was his mother, and I’d known all along. So, why did I feel such relief and happiness? Why did I need Gary to confirm what I already knew?

  Maybe it was like our memory loss—somewhere in my heart I’d known I had a son, but someone from the Agency had to remind me of that. It had already been real in my heart, but it had to be made real in my mind. Likewise, my heart knew Arie was alive, but I needed Gary to say the word “is” so that my mind knew it, too.

  And when I knew with both my heart and mind, I realized there was only one path for me to follow. Yes, I could see Arie again if I wanted to—all I had to do was betray the only friends I had in the entire world. All I had to do to get what I wanted was sell out five considerate and selfless human beings to be summarily executed.

  We drove along the streets and the highway, edging and swerving past the derelict cars. I saw the Ferris wheel looming in the distance. That is where I’d meet my end. I’d consigned myself to my fate, but that didn’t keep my stomach from churning like a washing machine.

  “I feel sick,” I said.

  Gary pressed a button and the rear windows opened an inch or so.

  Cool air flooded into the car.

  “How’s that?” said Gary with surprising sincerity. “Better?”

  It wasn’t better.

  Gary explained his plan to the goon who was driving. “Bill, you’ll take the two squads from the APCs and follow us into the amusement park. Twelve men should be enough if we’ve got a lock on their location. We’ll have the others in reserve in case things go south.”

  The driver nodded.

  Gary swiveled in his seat to face me and the two goons who flanked me in the back seat.

  “Oberman, Manwaring,” he said. “I want you two with me and the prisoner at all times. Don’t let her out of your sight. If she tries to run, shoot her.”

  The goons nodded, but I had no plans to run anywhere.

  “No offense, Alison,” said Gary. “I just need this to go smoothly.”

  “It’s fine,” I replied.

  “We’ll go in dark and quiet,” said Gary to the goons. “As soon as the prisoner gives us the location, Oberman and Manwaring will escort me and the prisoner back here until the op is comple
te.

  Bill and the two goons grunted their acknowledgment.

  “Alison, I’m a man of my word—that’s when I’ll take you to Arie.”

  I nodded.

  We drove on.

  As we got closer to the amusement park, a strange sense of calm and contentment welled up inside me. With me out of the equation, I knew Ruby and her team would continue their work and continue fighting. Serum or no serum, memories or no memories, they would find a way. And Arie? Gary was right about him. He was very, very smart. Smarter than me, I’d come to learn, and certainly much smarter than Gary. I didn’t know where he was or if they’d taken his memories or if he was a prisoner somewhere, but I knew he’d continue his work, too—in whatever form that might take.

  When I accepted Gary’s amnesty bargain, I’d offered to tell him exactly where Ruby’s team was holed up. I told him I’d draw him a detailed map.

  But he said, “No, no, Alison. You’re not getting off that easily. You’re taking us there. In person. Once we have them in custody, you’ll see Arie.”

  I knew Gary would want me to be there, not just to ensure I didn’t trick him somehow, but also to parade me in front of Ruby and the others like a Judas.

  I not only knew he’d take me personally to the park, I’d counted on it. It was the only way my plan would even work.

  “You’ll want to kill all your lights now,” I said as we approached the turnoff to the Thrill Harbor parking lot complex. “They’re probably asleep by now, but with all the excitement lately they’ll be standing a watch. One of them is probably out walking a patrol, too. If they even think someone’s coming for them, they’ll vanish.”

  Bill turned to Gary.

  “Do it,” said Gary.

  Bill turned off the Crown Vic’s headlights, then radioed the troop carriers and told them to do the same.

  Gary turned his head and gave me a commendatory nod.

  Soon the big Crown Vic with its troop carrier escorts rolled up to the vast and empty Thrill Harbor parking lots. We parked on the outer edge of the lot, farthest from the park entrance. We were perhaps a mile from the haunted house and the soldiers moved like cats in the darkness—if Ruby and the others were keeping watch, they’d have to look or listen very carefully to detect us.

  From each of the troop carriers came six black-uniformed men. They were armed with new-looking submachine guns, and they wore armor and helmets with visors. The twelve of them gathered in a rough formation around Bill.

  One of my goon escorts—I never did figure out which was Oberman and which was Manwaring—pulled me from the car and made me sit on the pavement. They stood over me with their submachine guns, trigger fingers ready. I looked up and saw the Ferris wheel, the same one Arie and I had spotted while searching the neighborhoods that day, the one that I had dreamt about.

  “Bill,” said Gary. “You heard what she said. They might have guards and they may be patrolling. I want your three best men to recon the park. No sounds. Quick and quiet. We’re looking for any sign of activity. Don’t engage unless fired on. Have them report ASAP.”

  Bill chose three of his Agency soldiers and sent them out.

  Gary breathed in deeply and then leaned against the Crown Vic not too far from where I was seated on the ground. He seemed very content, almost relaxed.

  “You’ve made the right decision, Alison,” he said. “It’s better this way.”

  “Yeah,” I answered. “You’re right.”

  “You know,” he said, “I didn’t think you’d come around this easily.”

  It was dark and I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I knew he was smiling. I could hear it in his voice.

  He said, “I thought things were going to have to get really ugly. With you. With Arie. Guess I was wrong.”

  I shrugged. “People can change.”

  We stayed in the parking lot for almost an hour. I sat on the pavement with my cuffed hands in my lap. The cold stars shone down. Then Bill got a report on his radio. He spoke in low tones, nodding.

  “No patrols,” he told Gary. “No sign of anything.”

  “Outstanding,” Gary replied. “Get them back here.”

  Bill radioed the recon team.

  “You know,” said Gary, raising his voice a little. “If this thing goes as smoothly as I think it’s going to, you’re all getting steak and eggs on me for breakfast—and a three-day pass.”

  A murmur of appreciation rippled through the troops.

  When the recon team returned, Gary said, “Okay, we’re moving out. First squad, you’ll be in the lead. Bill, Oberman, and Manwaring, you’re with me with the prisoner in the middle. Second squad, bring up the rear.”

  The soldiers spread out and shuffled into a loose tactical formation.

  Gary approached me and my goon escort. “You two,” he said, pointing to Oberman and Manwaring, “remember what I said about her.” He motioned to me.

  “Don’t worry, chief,” one of them said. “She ain’t going nowhere.”

  True.

  “Let’s move out,” said Gary.

  And so we stalked into the park. The lead soldiers darted from cover to cover, waving Gary and Bill along as each new passage was cleared and secure. They were well-trained—even I could tell. There were fifteen of them and I barely heard any footsteps and they shuffled along with their weapons ready. They used hand signals and half the time I couldn’t even see them in their black uniforms and armor.

  I didn’t actually know if any of Ruby’s team was at the haunted house or even anywhere near. When last I’d spoken to Chase, I told them I was going to return to the ready room after I’d found the book I thought to be the key to Arie’s coded notes. If they were leaving or going out on another mission, they would almost certainly have tried to get word to me, but Gary had been waiting for me when I got home. For all I knew, the team could be sound asleep in their bunks in the haunted house, or they could be miles away.

  My plan would work either way.

  Gary asked me for directions to the team hideout as we skulked through the amusement park. I told him exactly where to go, and Bill relayed the directions to the lead squad. We proceeded down the midway and past the Ferris wheel.

  There were some nervous moments at the mouth of the tunnel, as the troops immediately realized it would be a perfect place for an ambush or trap.

  Bill and Gary consulted at length as the troops crouched and knelt with their gun barrels pointed toward the tunnel.

  “Let her go first,” said Gary, pointing at me.

  I walked through their ranks and into the tunnel, fifteen automatic weapons pointed at my back. When I made it to dim light at the far side of the tunnel, the soldiers followed me through and re-assembled in their formation.

  Soon we stood at the front entrance to the haunted house. Everyone crouched in the darkness, weapons trained on the darkened building.

  “Ah, the old hide-in-the-haunted-house trick, eh?” Gary whispered to me. “Very nice.”

  “That’s their base,” I said softly. “You have to go through the ride. It’s a tunnel that winds around, but it’s the only way in. It’s like a maze in there and it’s pitch-black. But there’s sleeping quarters and a workroom inside. That’s where they’ll be.”

  “I don’t like this,” Bill whispered. “More tunnels?”

  “Gary,” I cut in. “I did my part. Your big tough goons can do the rest. Take me to Arie.”

  “No,” said Gary. “Not yet. Alison, you’re going in first.”

  “What? Why? What if there’s shooting? I’ve done my part. We didn’t say anything about me being your shield. Take me to Arie.”

  “You’re a traitor,” said Gary, his voice low. “I don’t have to hold up my end of this deal. You’re going to lead these men inside, or you won’t see your son and you’ll be executed for treason. What’s it going to be?”

  I said nothing. For all Gary’s supposed power and troops, I found it almost disappointing that he was so easy to t
rick.

  “That’s what I thought,” said Gary. “Now get over there.”

  I went to the front opening of the ride, where there was a gauntlet of turnstiles for the guests to pass through. The cars had all been removed, but there was a large archway where the ride began.

  Interestingly, I’d never been through the front entrance. I’d always come through the back. I wouldn’t have been able to find my way from the front entrance to the ready room or anywhere else.

  But that didn’t matter.

  “First squad, follow her in,” said Bill. “Second squad, cover the entrance.”

  Six of the men lined up in a sort of wedge behind me, ready to follow. Bill and Gary knelt a few yards behind me. The other six took up positions nearby, ready to fire on anyone who came out.

  And so it was my time.

  I stepped toward the turnstile. At the other rides, the turnstiles were locked. But I knew this one would not be locked. I knew that even with my cuffed hands I could push right through it.

  Suddenly, I didn’t feel ready. I wanted more time. A natural impulse given the situation, I suppose. But Arie was alive, and although I was sure his path would not be easy, I knew he would take care of himself. And for Ruby’s team this was merely a courtesy for them—if they even needed it at all. Ruby’s team? I didn’t worry about them in the least.

  I pushed the turnstile forward and it clunked once. I had promised myself I wouldn’t hesitate or look back, but I couldn’t help it. I looked back at Gary. It was nearly dawn again, and in the gathering light I could just make out his expression—satisfied, self-possessed, on the cusp of getting his way. I didn’t know what kind of silly promotion or privileges he thought he was buying with his petty little attack on Ruby’s team, but Gary knew, and you could tell by the look on his face that he could almost taste it.

  When he saw me glance his way, however, his expression all at once changed. My true plan must have dawned on him. I’d accepted his offer of betrayal, but it wasn’t Ruby I meant to betray.

  “No,” shouted Gary. “Stop her!”

  I pushed the turnstile forward. It rolled forward again with a clunk.