by Melissa Faye
Was this it? Charlie and I waited in front of Alexis’s house for their signal. Breck was gathering some food and blankets from the newly created commissary. Vending cylinders hadn’t been figured out yet; income disparity still hurt the community. The commissary was constantly adjusting prices to try to make everything reasonably priced for all. Breck was tasked with buying enough to support the travelers and kids without the quantity alerting anyone.
Breck returned to us first. He had several bags stuffed with food and toiletries. We sat them down in front of Alexis’s steps and waited for their arrival.
Two things happened at once. We heard the truck approaching. The sound of the wheels on the grass and roads interrupted the peaceful quiet of the community at night. I looked around, squinting my eyes and wishing I was an owl. At the same time, I heard footsteps approaching from the opposite direction. Charlie grasped my arm tightly. It was Ann flanked by two security guards. Both armed. I stood up and planted myself between Ann and the others.
“You’re stealing from our community, Yami,” Ann said once we were within earshot. “I was alerted by Breck’s purchases, not to mention Javi’s late night visit to the armory. You may not leave here with our limited resources. If you choose to go, you do so on your own.”
“You know we can’t get anywhere without all of this stuff,” I said. Charlie nodded next to me. I held back his arm to keep him from approaching. Guns were becoming too common in our lives now, and the ones in the security guards’ arms glimmered under the street lamps. Meanwhile, the sound of the truck grew louder.
Charlie’s body was tightly wound, like a large spring about to be released. I couldn’t do anything else to calm him down, and a conflict was becoming more and more likely.
The truck screeched to a stop when Etta saw Ann and the guards. Alexis hopped out of the back.
“Let them go, Director,” she said, walking resolutely towards Ann and the guards. “It’s one truck and a few supplies. Breck can stay and help with research. But the others need to save those kids.”
“That’s not how this works, Alexis,” said Ann. “This is about much more than a few children. I’ll meet with the council to look over our budget and resource allocation. We could put something together for you within a month.”
“A month? Not soon enough!” Etta yelled. Her head stuck out the driver’s side window and her eyes looked wild with rage. “That’s my daughter, and I have to get her back!”
“No one needs to get hurt, Ann,” said Javi quietly. “Let them go. Breck will be here. Alexis and I will double down on research. We can do a few resource runs to replenish the supplies these people need. But Ann, these are children.”
“Do you think I haven’t thought about that?” Ann said. For the first time since we met, she was disheveled, and I could see how tightly she was holding onto her ideals. “I don’t want those kids to be torn away from their homes. Etta and Breck, I want you to get your daughter back. But there’s a bigger picture here.”
“Enough!” I yelled. “We’re leaving. You can step aside, Ann, or we’ll push through you.” I stood with my legs spread a foot apart and my hands on my hips. I was ready to jump into that truck and barrel through Ann and the security guards. I saw Charlie out of the corner of my eyes, ready to pounce.
“Get in the car,” I whispered. “I can hold them off.”
“I’ll get us guns,” he hissed. “You don’t need to do this by yourself.”
Without warning, the security guards attacked. Etta, Sven, and Alexis were in the truck, but Alexis leapt out to help. One security guard made for the truck and the other tried to grab both Charlie and myself. Etta revved the truck engine. The security guard reached into her window to grab a hold of her, but she swatted him back, pushing his hand away and clawing at any part of him within reach.
“Yami, we have to go!” Charlie shouted at me. He was headed for the truck and shoved the security guard to the ground. Ann didn’t move but watched with a dark, tired face. No weapons were pulled.
The guard by Charlie tried to tackle him, and when it didn’t work, he moved his hand hesitantly toward his gun. I jumped onto his back and he swayed on his feet, struggling to stay standing. Charlie punched him across the face, and the security guard crumbled to the ground. Etta had given up fighting off her guard and was just driving slowly out of his reach. Charlie reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. We ran a few steps towards the truck when I let go of Charlie’s hand and pushed him away. The guard near Etta was taking out his gun.
Without thinking, I sprinted towards him and tackled him to the ground. He held the gun tightly in his hand, but I pushed it out of the way so it pointed into the air far from Etta and myself. Charlie was already in the truck and screamed my name. Javi and Alexis were out of the truck, holding back the other guard. Breck fell to the side, stumbling when Javi and Alexis’s guard broke out of their reach and tried to brush past him.
I wrestled with my guard, but he was far stronger than me and I needed to focus all of my attention on keeping that gun out of my face. While I pushed his arm downwards, he wrapped his legs around my torso until I could barely move. I gasped for breath as he leaned his full body weight onto me. Charlie yelled my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I turned and found Etta’s eyes. They were wide with terror. “Go!” I gasped, almost mouthing the words. “Get out of here!”
Breck rushed over to me and tried to pull the guard off. Etta drove slowly past us, picking up speed while Charlie and Sven screamed my name. I watched helplessly, pinned down by the large security guard, as Etta drove faster and faster; she turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
Tears blurred my vision and I realized my cheek was hot from scraping against the gravel. With Etta and the others gone, the guards backed off of me and ran after the truck. I lay on the ground, still trying to catch my breath. Breck helped me to my feet and we brushed ourselves off. I rested my hands on my knees, exhausted and confused. How had this happened? Charlie was gone. Etta and Sven were gone. I was left behind.
Alexis and Javi surrounded us. Alexis squeezed me tightly and helped me walk over to the curb where we sat together. Ann eyed us nervously from the center of the street. She hadn’t moved the whole time. I felt frozen in place. What now? What was Ann going to do with us? We kept saying Breck would stay and help, and Alexis and Javi had roles in the community. What about me? I had attacked a guard and disobeyed the Director’s orders. I was the guilty party.
Time stood still while we waited for the guards to return. There was no sense in moving, and I wasn’t sure I could. I looked at my ankle. It was swollen. I must have twisted it somehow; I vaguely remembered it turning a strange way while the guard was on top of me. Breck noticed my look of concern and came over to inspect my leg. I winced when he lifted it up and he carefully placed it back down. I was the doctor in our group, now that Charlie was gone, and Breck didn’t dare help for fear of doing the wrong thing. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t feel my ankle while my body tried to work through adrenaline and exhaustion. Alexis stayed right next to me, holding my hand, and Breck and Javi stood up on the lawn behind us. Ann watched us carefully until the guards returned.
It must have been ten minutes later when the two men rejoined our group. I had scrapes on my hands and Breck had a new gash on his leg. Alexis and Javi were dirty and disheveled, but had no real injuries. I was concerned about my ankle, but couldn’t think about it. I met Ann’s eyes, trying to plead for forgiveness through my teary vision.
The Director stared at us for a long time before she finally spoke.
“Your actions tonight were unacceptable,” she started. How easily a democratically elected Director slipped into the word patterns of our own corrupt Chancellor, I thought.
I realized Ann wasn’t the Chancellor a few seconds later. She looked us over with concern. She noticed my ankle and the scrapes on my arms. She looked at Alexis, who sat next to me in a protective stance, one hand on my knee and another
on the ground. She could stand up easily to protect me from whatever came next.
“I understand why your friends left,” Ann said. “I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest. I’m worried about those kids too. But you have to understand, my role is to protect our community, and what your friends did goes against our own goals.”
“Ann, I’m so –“ Alexis tried to speak but the words disappeared as she looked at Ann. The Director’s face was heavy and drawn. She was small and round, like Vonna, but her physique was just as intimidating as the very tall Chancellor we had left behind.
“I know, Alexis,” Ann said. “Yami, I can see you’ve injured your ankle. Can you treat that on your own, or will you need to visit the Med.”
My jaw opened wide as I looked between my ankle and Ann’s face, perplexed.
“I think you should go to the Med,” Breck said gently. “Just in case.” He looked at Ann. “Is anyone available to help us this late at night?”
“I’ll ask one of the doctors to meet you there,” she said. “Augusta won’t mind. She should be able to treat you if you broke or sprained your ankle, Yami.”
“What about the rest of us?” Javi asked. His voice wobbled. “Ann, I’m sorry it had to come to this. We know this wasn’t what you wanted. And we know you just want what’s best.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” I said. I felt wobbly from the shock, and still couldn’t quite grasp how I ended up here while Etta, Charlie, and Sven were gone. “I should go after them.”
Ann ignored me. “I’d like you to stay in contact with your friends,” she said. “I can’t provide more resources at this time, and I will need to talk with the council. I don’t want any more injuries at Gentle Acres. We’re struggling as is. We’re only going to survive if we work together.” She knelt down in front of me. “Yami, can you help us while you stay here? I...I need you to promise not to leave. Not yet. Let me work with the council. They won’t be happy, but I will argue your case.”
I nodded. Breck and Alexis helped me to my feet. “Can you walk?” Breck whispered. I nodded. Pain had started to register in my ankle and I couldn’t exactly walk, but I could hop along with his help.
“Go to the Med,” Ann commanded. “Stay with Alexis and Javi for now. I expect us to get along better starting right now. Can you do that?” I nodded. Ann’s gentle tone left me with a rock in my stomach. It was my own disappoint in myself for not trying harder to work with her rather than fighting her.
“Come on,” Alexis said quietly. She put her arm under my shoulder and helped me walk towards the Med. I turned to look back at Ann. Her shoulders slumped. She spoke with Javi for a few moments while Breck and Alexis helped me walk. It took a long time to get to the Med, but Augusta was waiting for us when we arrived. Time to move forward, I thought. Time to get along with someone for once.
I WOULD HAVE BEEN OUT of commission for a week if it weren’t for the crutches and a storage cart Ann had graciously provided. My ankle was only sprained, but between the sprain, scrapes, and emotional toll of watching my friends and boyfriend slip away without me, I felt useless. Breck and Alexis promised to bring me with them to the F-Lab the next day to keep me occupied. I assured Ann that I’d start working at the Med as soon as my ankle healed.
I messaged Vonna the night of the escape. She was worried for all of us, but mostly just curious about what the others were up to.
“How do they know where to go?” she asked.
“Alexis and Javi have a good idea where the school is.”
“What if they don’t find it though?”
“They’ll find it,” I wrote. Vonna’s messages were strange lately, like she doubted what I said until I satiated her curiosity with more details. “They don’t know the exact location but I think it’s here.” I sent her a map.
“How long will it take them to get there?” Vonna asked.
“Enough with that. How are you?”
“I’m at a camp over here.” She sent me a similar map. She was in a region I’d never been to. It wasn’t clear how she’d arrived at a camp so far from Young Woods. But at least now, after waiting so long, I knew where she was.
“Are they treating you well?”
“Yes! Don’t worry about me.”
That was the way our conversations always ended. Vonna wouldn’t tell me much about the camp; she was too annoyed when I expressed concern. I supposed it was fair. I spent a long time telling her to stay out of our business with Etta’s pregnancy and our escape until I finally let her play a crucial role in our plan. Without her, the Chancellor would have caught us within a few hours of our escape. And she had paid a big price being banished from her home.
Our conversations were exhausting. I slept on Alexis’s pull out couch the next night and missed having Charlie next to me. I went back and forth with him. Sometimes he was a pain, but mostly he was that good kind of annoying where he teased me and called me out when I was reverting back to my old secretive, mean ways. I worried what I would become without him. After my last message with Vonna, I stared up at the ceiling for a while before I fell asleep, wondering where Charlie and the others could be.
Chapter 12 – Charlie
I wouldn’t stop yelling at Etta to turn around as we drove out of Gentle Acres. This wasn’t the plan. We needed Yami’s help. I suspected she would be the best gunslinger we had; it was just the sort of thing she would pick up easily, embarrassing us all.
I finally lost my voice and lay against the window in the passenger seat. Sven navigated from the back. We had a long drive ahead of us, and I planned on spending most of it annoyed at everyone for letting Yami get left behind. I worried what was happening to her. I couldn’t get a read on Ann. Was she furious? Was she cruel and conniving, like the Chancellor? Or was there a softer side of her? I sometimes thought I noticed it; she could be quiet and gentle like one of our school teachers. I almost wanted her to be my boss, or my mentor. Except that she might have arrested Yami and thrown her....who knows where. Did independent rebel communities have jails?
I couldn’t sleep. Normally the repetitive sound of the tires and the boring, unchanging landscape in the dark would have rocked me to sleep. But I couldn’t stop imagining Yami. Was she sleeping? Did she miss me as much as I missed her right that moment? Our fight in the community only fed the rage in my gut that rose to my throat and left an acidic taste in my mouth. Sven and Etta ignored me. I suspected Sven was too focused to talk about feelings, and Etta was avoiding the topic altogether. She was probably as upset as I was about Yami.
I took over driving a few hours later once I realized sleep wasn’t coming. We had a general idea of where the school was, but it was many hours away still and even with our map, we’d have to do some searching. Without getting caught. Sven fell asleep in the backseat and I took the opportunity to check in on Etta.
“Do you think we’ll find the kids?” I asked. I realized immediately what a stupid question it was. What else could Etta be thinking about besides seeing Hope again?
“We have to,” she said. Her body was tense. She stood at attention in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead at the road. “We have to find them, and we have to get Hope. We have to get them all. I can’t stand thinking about all those other parents out there whose kids were stolen. Or the kids who don’t remember their parents. What if that happens to Hope?”
“It won’t,” I said. “We’ll find her. Of course we’ll find her. I shouldn’t have even asked.”
We stared ahead for a while.
“Do you think Yami’s going to be ok?” Etta asked meekly. Her voice quivered, and I understood how she felt. I couldn’t respond right away; there was a lump in my throat.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I know we’re doing the right thing, and I know we had to leave to do this. But I didn’t realize how useless I would feel without Yami here.”
We watched as we passed by a small forest. It was the largest one I had seen in our travels so far. I frowned.
Where were all the trees? Where did communities find lumber? Young Woods didn’t produce any. And what did Gentle Acres do without access to raw materials like wood?
“I hate that she’s gone,” said Etta. I gulped uncomfortably. The way Etta said it; it was like Yami was lost forever. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” She looked at me but I stared straight ahead. “She’ll be ok, Charlie. I love her too, you know.”
Love? I had never told Yami I loved her. I hadn’t considered it. But right now, I felt hollowed out not knowing where she was and wishing she was here. Maybe that meant I did love her.
“She must be okay,” I said. I furrowed my brow. I wasn’t sure if I believed it entirely. “She’s tough. And she’ll fight back if anyone comes after her.”
“I think Ann is a much better leader than the Chancellor,” said Etta. “I think she isn’t as tough as she tries to seem. I imagine she used to be more like Omer. Like she really cares about the community members. She stood in our way, but it wasn’t because she doesn’t care about these kids. It’s because she believes so strongly in the community’s goals.”
“She might not even agree with the community’s goal,” I thought aloud. The idea had occurred to me when we first drove away. Ann tried to stop us, but when the guards attacked, she stood still. Like she didn’t agree with what she had to do. “If it’s really a democracy, the people have a say. And the council must be more transparent with their intentions. Everyone there is so excited to be part of this work, even if they’re still angry about the details. I think the goal reflects what they want.”
“Me too,” said Etta. She leaned her elbow against the edge of the truck’s window and yawned. “I think it’ll really be ok back there.”
“Take a nap,” I said. “I’ll drive. You sleep.”
