by Leyton, Bisi
“It is either on the island or nearby on one of her tracking routes,” Bach explained.
“How did the Terrans even get it?” Felip asked.
“They stole it. They must have,” Enric concluded.
“I do not know how they got it and right now I do not care. We need to get it back and send it home,” Bach stated.
Bach shook the memory of why they came here away. “Felip, focus on what we are here to do. Then, we will be gone.” He studied the map he had started to create. “All of us.”
“All? You still plan to renew your Terran?” Felip looked surprised. “That will help our plan along.”
Bach wasn’t sure it would be that simple, but he wasn’t about to discuss it with Felip or anyone else. “We will map out the town and then we can plan our search.”
“Ask her where she got it from. It is the fastest way.”
Bach couldn’t ask her. She was hurting and it was his fault. Even when she smiled, he sensed her pain at his words. “She will not tell me.”
“Then renew her and she will have to tell you. You were planning on doing it anyway.”
The door to Felip’s room opened and Garfield appeared, carrying a pile of clothes. The Terran boy scanned the room and then walked in uninvited. “Got you boys some fresh towels, courtesy of Hailey. And those hot girls were kind enough to send over some fresh clothes for you.”
Bach looked at the clothing. No one cared what they dressed like, but if they were going to be here for a while, a change of clothes wouldn’t be a bad idea. Rolling up the map, he moved and took the clothes from Garfield.
But the Terran boy remained in the room.
“Okay, this is interesting. Why is he here?” Felip commented in their dialect.
“What language is that? Is it Zulu or something? Are you guys like from South Africa?” the human chattered.
“No, we are not. Thank you for the clothes.” Bach tried to usher Garfield to the door, but he wouldn’t budge.
“Which room is mine?” Garfield asked.
“Interesting,” Felip quipped in the dialect. “He lives here now?”
“Use the room downstairs.” Bach inched the human boy back toward the door.
“Cool, I’ll grab a shower and we can hang out later.” As Garfield headed out, he stopped and turned to Felip. “Oh, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Felip nodded and Garfield left the room.
“Okay? Eminent, explain why this Terran is here?” Felip asked.
“I do not have to explain myself to you.”
“Not as your steward, but as your friend? You do.”
Bach was not going to admit it was because he was jealous. Because he was not, he could never envy a Terran. “He had nowhere to stay. I thought having him here would make Wisteria more open to talking to me. That would make finding the coral easier.”
His friend snapped his fingers. “Or you could just renew her. It would be the fastest way. You want to. I can see it.”
Bach scowled at him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Children,” Mrs. Reynolds, the year eleven English teacher cooed from behind her broken desk as she read a tattered romance novel. “You’re supposed to be reading.”
Wisteria could barely hear her teacher over the noise. Not that she minded or that it mattered. It was Mrs. Reynolds’s class and everyone loved her class because she couldn’t be less bothered about teaching. Since her husband was on the leadership council she was given the English teaching job because she thought it was an easy one. “Keep it down,” she pleaded.
Watching her classmates talking, making out, and smoking from her windowsill seat, Wisteria couldn’t believe she been back on the Isle of Smythe for over a week. Nothing had changed here and she was beginning to feel like she’d never left. Somehow, being on the outside was less stressful than dealing with these kids.
“Look at them, can’t they get a room?” Garfield, who sat next her, whispered, “I know he’s your brother.”
“So, then, don’t talk about him.”
In the doorway, David and Amanda were making out. Since her brother was a year below them, he’d only come to the year elevens to see Amanda.
Totally enamored with Amanda, Garfield watched in disgust. “I don’t see them working out.”
“Give it time, you’ll find someone. Maybe Hailey will look your way. I hear she and Steven had a fight.” She was happy to have a friend in her own class now, even if he was obsessed with the prettiest girl in school.
“Hailey’s far too distracted by Bach to even care,” he whispered back, still gaping at Amanda and David.
Wisteria tried to laugh at Garfield’s statement, but she was boiling inside.
“Mrs. Reynolds, aren’t we going to learn something today?” Garfield shouted out in frustration while looking toward Amanda and David.
Many students groaned and a couple threw pens and paper at him and Wisteria.
“Not getting any action from your girlfriend, Garfunkel?” Gareth heckled, tossing a book at them.
It almost hit her, but she ducked and it hit the window.
Suddenly, the class became subdued as Coles and the stubby Corporal Kyle Blair appeared at the rear door of the class.
“Major Coles.” Mrs. Reynolds quickly rose to her feet and put away the novel. “Good morning. Okay, class, we need to open up act two, scene three, of Macbeth.”
“Mr. Hubbard, pick that up and apologize to the lady,” Major Coles commanded Gareth. “Amanda Weiss sit down. David, get lost.”
Without a word, David vanished and Amanda rushed to her seat.
“Sorry, Ria,” Gareth muttered.
“What’s the deal with him?” Garfield whispered to Wisteria.
“Shh,” Wisteria responded.
“Why’s everyone afraid of him? He looks like a clown.”
“New boy, Garfield Simon.” The senior officer focused squarely on him. “Come here.”
“No way,” Garfield protested. “You’re not my teacher and you can’t tell me what to do.”
Wisteria gaped at him. “Shut up and just go.”
“Get over here now,” Coles repeated himself.
The boy shrugged, as though he could care less.
“Major, he doesn’t know how things are.” She got up. “He won’t speak again.” Garfield had no idea what he was getting into. No one crossed the soldiers on the island.
“Stay out of this, Wisteria,” the man said. “Mrs. Reynolds? I’d expect more control over your class.”
“Major, they’re just still a little excited that Wisteria’s back,” the teacher explained. “Also, Garfield is still adjusting to the way things work here.”
“Is that true? You’re still adjusting, Mr. Simon?” Corporal Blair sneered.
“Whatever, I’m not some stupid kid. You can’t talk to me any way you want to.” Garfield rolled his eyes. “I lived on the outside of Never-Never-Land and there’s nothing you can do that can scare me.”
“Man, shut up,” Steven pleaded.
“Mr. Hindle, you’ve something to add?” The Major now turned to Steven.
“No,” Steven replied energetically. “Mrs. Reynolds, did you say act two, scene three?” He tried to sound innocent.
“Yes, I did. Okay children, act two, scene three,” Mrs. Reynolds repeated.
“Mr. Simon, because you’re new, I will let this slide today.” Coles stared at Garfield for a moment. “Have you seen Mr. Cheung?” He seemed to be asking the teacher, though his eyes remained on Garfield.
“Idiot,” Garfield snickered.
“Oh!” Wisteria hit him in the ribs.
Garfield scowled at her, but before he could speak, Coles had him by the neck, slamming him up against a wall.
“Major Coles,” Mrs. Reynolds protested lightly. “He’s just a child.”
“No, he’s a man. Right? Because he’s been outside. So, I’ll treat him like a man. Right, son? You want me to treat you the way I trea
t the men on this island?”
Garfield tried to answer, but he couldn’t speak because Coles was holding him too tightly around his neck.
“Major, he can’t breathe!” Rushing to grab the man, Wisteria was intercepted by Corporal Blair who knocked her to the ground.
“Corporal!” Coles barked, and then turned his anger on the fallen girl. “Wisteria, just go and sit down.”
She hurried to her feet again and charged at the soldier.
Steven grabbed her and she tumbled onto his lap. “You don’t want to get into that,” he uttered in her ear.
“Smart man, Hindle,” the Corporal teased. “Simon, you need to learn to be a lot more like him and less of a loser.”
“So, you still think you’re a man?” Coles asked Garfield. “When the biters break through that wall, what are you going to do?”
She tried to break free from Steven’s grip. “Let go of me, Steven!”
“Wisteria, calm down.” Steven held her waist tightly.
How could she? Garfield came to the Isle of Smythe because of her, so she was responsible for him.
“Garfield, I said speak up,” Coles taunted again. “So everyone can hear you.”
“Yes, sir,” Garfield rasped.
“Steven!” She struggled to break free.
“I can’t hear you,” the Major remarked. “Hindle, let the girl go.”
“Ah!” she cried out.
* * * * *
It took Bach a few minutes to figure out what was going on in Wisteria’s classroom. Initially, he thought it might be a strange human custom or a learning technique. When he was a child, he was often sent on bloody excursions. These lessons by the humans were quite mild compared to his upbringing.
But the fear in Wisteria’s eyes convinced him there was a problem. “You have heard enough.” Bach peeled the man’s hands from Garfield’s neck.
Once free, Garfield wriggled away.
The older man staggered back. He glared at Bach in surprise, and then he looked angry. Another man tried to grab Bach’s shoulder, but he easily tossed him to the ground.
“You’ve just made a big mistake, stranger.” The man lunged at Bach.
Catching the man’s fist in his left hand, Bach clenched down hard as the man tried to pull free. “No, the mistake was touching my friend,” he whispered while squeezing tightly onto his hand.
“You’re a little rat. You can’t tell me what to do!” The soldier pulled again, but he couldn’t break free.
“Just do not touch him ever again.” Bach let go, sending the man staggering back and crashing to the ground.
A couple of the children snickered.
Embarrassed, the soldier scowled at Bach and Garfield. “Wisteria, get off Hindle’s lap. I need to talk to you… now!”
Turning around, Bach saw Wisteria sitting on top of this boy, whose hands were all over her. Reluctantly, she pried herself from her human seat and glided to the door.
Clenching his fists, he watched her leave. They hadn’t seen each other since they had spoken in front of the library. Actually, since he apologized and she stormed off. This wasn’t how he’d envisioned seeing her again.
“Hi,” Hailey mouthed at him as he left the room. In the hallway he saw Wisteria talking to the red faced soldier. The older man was inspecting Wisteria’s head, but she flinched when he tried to touch it.
“Major Coles, I’m fine,” she was saying.
She had called him Major Coles.
“What are you looking at?” Coles snapped at Bach.
“Nothing.”
“Then what are you doing here?” Coles asked. “You’re only with us a short while, so you’re not required to be in school.”
“I am here to learn.” Bach frowned and headed up the stairs to the year twelve class on the top floor.
* * * * *
Later that evening, Bach strode through the street toward his apartment. Having mentally mapped the east side of the island, he needed to sketch it out for Felip. He kicked himself for reacting the way he did to Coles. Drawing attention to himself would only make finding the obsidian coral harder.
That might mean they would have to stay here longer. Living with humans always ended in problems for the Family.
As he went, he spotted a cute girl standing outside his front gate. At first he thought it was Wisteria. She was not and it wasn’t a girl either, but a woman. An older, taller and slimmer version of his Wisteria. “Who—?” he started.
“Who the hell are you?” The woman demanded, saying what he was thinking.
“You are Wisteria’s mother. Mrs. Kuti.”
“I know who I am. I asked who you are.” Leaning against the gate, she had a rifle hanging at her side.
“I am Bach.”
“What are you doing on this island…Bach?” She appeared upset about something.
“Like everyone else, seeking refuge and the protection of the island.”
“I heard what you did to Major Coles in school today. So I know you don’t really need our protection.” The woman examined him carefully from head to toe. “I’m curious how an eighteen year old boy could cause that much damage to a professional soldier. Or how he could live in the penthouse of a country infested with the infected and thieves.”
“We were careful and lucky.”
“Most people surviving out there are killers, man-eaters or biters. Not lucky.”
“Lucky, careful, and well-armed. But I do not have to answer to you. You are not an official or a soldier. You are just a Terran woman.”
“Terran huh, interesting word.” She frowned. “I’m a mother too, and I saw you talking with Wisteria the other day. What’s the deal with you and her?”
“Yes, she saved my life once—”
“You know what? I don’t care. You don’t ever talk to her again.”
“What?” Now he knew where Wisteria got her temper. “Why?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you, either.”
“Do not worry.” He scoffed bitterly.” I have no interest in your daughter. Once Felip is ready to travel, we will be gone.”
“If you’re not gone soon, I’ll make sure everyone is asking questions about you until they find something and throw you off the island. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll get rid of you myself.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“A threat?” The woman bit her lip in a way that made him think of Wisteria. “My friend, I haven’t begun to threaten you. When it is a threat, you won’t have to ask. Just stay the hell away from my daughter.”
“I already told you: Wisteria is of no concern to me.”
“Then we have no problem.” She started to leave. “And do me one favor? Tell your friend Garfield never to try what he did with Coles or any of the other soldiers again. If he does, I will finish what Coles started.”
“Coles is insane.”
“Yes, probably.” The woman chuckled. “But I don’t need Wisteria coming to Garfield’s rescue the next time he decides to take on one of the crazier soldiers.”
“Why do you not tell Garfield yourself?”
“Because if he’s half as irritating as I heard, I’ll shoot him in the first five minutes of meeting him.” Mrs. Kuti strolled down the road, stopping to talk with a neighbor for a moment as if everything was normal. When she finally walked off, she waved at Bach, but he just stood watching her with his arms folded.
After she was gone, he looked up and down the street, unsure of where to go. Not feeling like going to his apartment, he knew where he wanted to go. But seeing Wisteria wasn’t why he was here. With her mother’s particular interest in him, seeing her might make keeping a low profile harder. After heading to the town square and then wandering circles for almost an hour, he ended up standing opposite a dark brown metal gate.
Strangle weeds were growing over the gate and up the side of the house. The scent of the noxious plants was starting to make him dizzy, so he moved across the road.
> “Hi.” Hailey waved as she trotted down the road. She was alone instead of being with an entire group of girls. “What are you doing out here? You don’t live on this side of the island.”
“How do you know where I live?”
“Smythe is tiny. Everyone knows where you guys live.”
Mrs. Kuti’s surprise visit confirmed Hailey’s statement.
“If you’re lost, I can show you the way back,” she offered.
“I know my way back.” He walked away, but Hailey strolled beside him. Increasing his pace, she sped up to match him. While he wanted to run away, the notion of fleeing from such a simple Terran was humiliating.
“You know, everyone’s going on about what you did to Coles today. He so deserved it. We all know that, but the army runs this town. Even my father has to do what they want, and he’s works at town hall. He’s the head of the leadership council, but what Coles wants—he always gets.” She looped her arm around his.
Removing her arm, he noticed Wisteria’s mother watching him from the window directly above the brown gate.
Waving at Mrs. Kuti, Hailey’s arm tightened around his. Hopefully, this would show Mrs. Kuti he had no interest in her daughter.
“She’s so weird,” Hailey commented, while looking at Mrs. Kuti. “We heard they used to be part of a cult or something.” Giggling, she started talking about her life on the Isle of Smythe and her life before the outbreak.
Most of what she said was lost on Bach, partially because he didn’t relate to humans, but mainly because he wasn’t listening. Once Mrs. Kuti was out of sight, he pulled away from Hailey.
“So, are you coming?” Hailey asked loudly.
Unaware of what she wanted, he gave the best answer he could. “No, I am not.”
“Okay, it’s not really a party, just a bunch of us hanging out. We’re actually going to have steak. Not the dried rubbish, but fresh meat,” she implored. “You should come.”For fresh meat, he could not resist. “I will be there.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The following evening, Bach and Garfield arrived at Hailey’s house on Lavender Hill. The front of the house which had a huge lawn was now a massive vegetable garden with several cages where chickens were kept.
