“Come on, man. Wake up.”
On the fourth try – one more and he would quit – Reed rolled over. His hair, matted to the side of his face. His face, caved beneath the cheekbones.
“It’s Danny Boy,” Danny said. “Drink this, man. It’ll make you feel better.”
The tea was still warm. Reed tried to lift his head.
Danny reached under the pillow and picked his head up. Reed’s hands were somewhere under the blankets. Danny lifted the cup to his lips. Reed was on the edge of convulsions. He winced and tried to pull away. Danny wouldn’t let him, pouring the astringent water into his parted lips. It spilled down his chin but he swallowed – against his will – until it was all gone.
He dropped back down, breathing heavy. His eyes closed.
Danny could’ve stopped this from happening to Reed if he just called for help. It was his fault they were still on the island. His fault they might never leave. Reed could be in a proper hospital with medicine and doctors, not sunk into a sweaty mattress. He’d die on the next round.
If he makes it that long.
He sat there a while longer. Reed slept.
“Hey, come on.” Zin stuck his head in the room. “Let’s go already.”
Danny left. He looked back. There was no more quivering.
Danny followed the path out to the tabletop cliff for more leaves, then remained there until the end of the day. He snuck into the cafeteria late at night and stocked up on food, eating in his room. He was back out to the tabletop cliff before the sun was up, watching the water catch fire beneath the sun’s burning rise.
He returned with more tea. Reed didn’t shake as much. He lifted his head on his own, drank more than he spilled. The room still smelled like a corpse. Reed still looked like one.
It was the third day he brought tea that Reed was sitting up.
“Get me out of here.”
______
Zin and Danny walked across the Yard. Reed was between them, a hand on each shoulder. His shirt fluttered like a sheet thrown over bones. His skin was something like the yellow of old parchment.
People stopped what they were doing to watch.
“Mind your own business,” Danny shouted. That only made it worse.
It was a relief to reach the beach. Reed was exhausted. He sat back, the sun on his face.
“Give me some time,” he said.
So they did. When they came back to get him, he was still in the same spot. They walked back to the dormitory. He draped his arms over them, dragging his feet. They carried him to his room. The window was open. The stink still lingered. They carried him over to Danny’s room so he didn’t have to sleep in the smell. It had sunk into his clothes.
Mr. Jones was inside. “Where have you been, Danny Boy?”
“Helping Reed.” They dropped him on the bed. Zin picked his legs up, put them on the bed.
“This is not appropriate. Mr. Smith will want him in his own room.”
“The bed is ruined. He needs some rest before they kill him.”
Danny arranged the pillow so Reed’s head wasn’t at an odd angle. Zin pulled the sheet over him. Mr. Jones watched them close the curtain.
“I’ll be in Zin’s room,” Danny called.
Mr. Jones followed them out, stopped them from closing Zin’s door. “Danny Boy, I don’t like what’s going on.”
“Yeah, neither do I.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Mr. Jones said.
“You go first.” Danny held onto to the doorknob, waiting. Mr. Jones had the sense that someone much older than a thirteen year old boy was looking back. “I’ll see you when the next round starts,” Danny said.
The door closed.
______
Mr. Jones suppressed the urge to pound on the door. The insolence. The disrespect.
He tried to have compassion for these boys’ plight. They were confused and distressed. They needed space to process everything. But something was going on and he didn’t like it. He felt the need to slap Danny, knock some sense into him. But he didn’t want to upset the program. Any more stress and it would only slow things down. Besides, there were signs Danny was wearing down. Soon, he’d come close to graduating.
He just had to be patient.
Reed was different.
Perhaps he needed to consult with Mr. Smith. He’d been here longer than Mr. Jones. He’d know what to expect from Danny. Besides, he should know what they were doing with Reed.
51
MR. JONES LIVED ON THE west wing. His penthouse was an apartment with enough square footage for a family of four. Even so, he only lived in a small portion of it to cut down on cleaning and cooking.
He walked down the empty hallway, rounding the corner in the foyer onto the veranda. The chairs were still arranged in a half-circle from their meeting with the Director. There would be another soon, he believed.
Mr. Smith paddled on top a floating board in the swimming pool. Mr. Jones went to the end of the pool. Mr. Smith grabbed the ledge and looked up.
“I would like a word,” Mr. Jones said. “I don’t trust what’s going on. The Director, the boys… they have things on their mind.”
“You believe they’re planning an escape?”
Mr. Jones shook his head. “I think we should cancel the next round and call another meeting. Maybe the boys need to be reset.”
“Everything is back on track. They have Sid ready to graduate. Besides, I don’t have time to start over, Mr. Jones. The clock is ticking for this old man. It’s now or never.”
Cancer is an impatient foe.
“Have you seen Reed?” Mr. Jones said. “You might live longer than him.”
“He’s young, Mr. Jones.” He floated on his back, spitting water. “His body can recover once he gives it up. There’s nothing I can do about this body.”
He drew a long breath and went underwater. He frog-kicked to the steps and pulled himself out. Mr. Jones handed him the towel. Mr. Smith dried off and collapsed into a lounge chair.
“Do you ever feel guilty?” Mr. Jones asked. “What we’re doing to them.”
Mr. Smith draped the towel over his neck. “They had their chance at life, Mr. Jones. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. And so is a perfectly good body.”
He put on sunglasses and laid his head back. Mr. Jones watched him. He was lightly snoring within a minute.
Mr. Jones left him.
He’s right. They had their chance.
52
Danny went out to the tabletop cliff with a bag of food.
He wouldn’t return to the dormitory. He had enough food to sustain him until the next round started. Reed had enough leaves, too. He could make all the tea he needed. Danny just wanted to be alone. He needed to think. He needed a plan. One that would make it their last round, ever.
There were rumors that Foreverland was getting smaller. It still worked, but they couldn’t get out to the water or fly as high into the sky without running into the Nowhere. Lucinda had something to do with it. Danny knew it. And the Director did, too.
There was only one way to stop him. Only one way to be sure. They couldn’t wait for someone to save them.
Danny knew what he had to do.
The trees rustled behind him.
Danny was sitting on the tabletop, legs crossed, practicing his breathing when Zin emerged from the forest.
“It’s almost time,” Zin said.
Danny unfolded his legs. “Where’s Reed?”
“He’s on the beach.”
They started back down the path. Danny looked back at the view.
It would be the last time he would see it.
______
Reed was sitting on the sand dune.
He wanted to get up, walk the beach. His body began to ache again. He reached into his waistband and pulled out a long leaf. He stopped bothering with tea. He chewed the leaf, instead, spitting out the coarse fibers and swallowing back the acrid flavors that stuck in the
back of his throat.
The healing compounds surged into his blood. His muscles let go. Nerves relaxed. A mellow cloud drifted through him and he tingled with pleasurable numbness. The ocean seemed to surge through him, each wave pulsing in his groin. He sat there, smiling.
Life is beautiful.
He wanted to try the water, feel it on his ankles. One more time. He might be flying high, but he was lucid enough to know this could be the last time he’d ever get a chance. They would come for him, take him to the Haystack again.
He wouldn’t be leaving it.
He rolled onto his hands and knees. He would straighten his legs first then try to throw himself upright. He started with the right leg—
“It won’t work.”
She was there, to his left.
Her hair glowing fire.
Reed blinked, shook his head. But she was still there, her butt planted in the sand. Her hair fluttering.
“You can’t do it, Reed,” Lucinda said. “You don’t have the strength. You don’t have much of anything. It’s just about over.”
He collapsed back to the ground. A pile of mashed leaves was between his legs. How many did I eat?
“I think it’s time you went inside the needle,” she said. “You’ve waited long enough.”
He closed his eyes and covered his ears. His heart thumped inside his head.
But she was still there.
“I’m serious.” Her eyes were big and green. “There’s nothing to lose now. May as well come to me, Reed.”
“I thought…” he started. No. He wasn’t going to talk to her. She wasn’t sitting there. He was alone on the beach. She was in his dreams. She was in Foreverland. She couldn’t be sitting there next to him. He wasn’t going to acknowledge it.
“I agree.” Another Lucinda said on the other side of him. There were two of them. “You should come inside, Reed. You’re not leaving the Haystack. You may as well come to Foreverland.”
“But…” He dropped his head into his hands. No. No, no, no…
“I know about the dreams,” the first Lucinda said. “I know we told you to stay here, but now that’s over. The end is here, baby. I think it’s time you come inside.”
“No.” He clamped his hands over his ears, eyes tightly closed. “This isn’t happening.”
“We’ve waited long enough.” He could still hear her.
“I’m not going.” He shook his head. “I’m going—”
She touched his arm.
He fell back, pushing away from her—
“Reed.” Danny stood over him, his hand out. “You all right?”
He looked around. The Lucindas were gone. Danny and Zin were there. That was it.
“I think…” he said. “Yeah, I’m all right.”
He relaxed, melting into the warm fuzzy euphoria of the leaf juice.
He wanted another.
______
Danny and Zin heard him talking.
They thought he’d fallen asleep sitting up, but he was shaking his head. He jumped back like he’d seen a ghost. Green flecks stuck to his chin. Half-chewed leaves were scattered at his feet. Good.
They helped him stand. “Can we walk to the water?” Reed asked.
His legs were sticks. They stopped just where the foam skidded over the firm, black sand, splashing over his bare feet. He smiled a strange smile, a dreamy one. Closing his eyes.
“I’m going to miss this,” he said.
“Not me,” Danny said.
“I’m with Danny,” Zin added.
Reed hummed to himself, wiggling his toes into the sand. Danny and Zin let their shoes become soaked, propping Reed up as he began to slouch.
“She wants me to go inside the needle,” he said, slurring. “After all this, she said I should come inside.”
“You can’t,” Danny said. “That’s what the Director wants you to do.”
“You said she was alone.”
That was before I knew she was a memory.
“Reed,” Danny started, “I was wrong. She’s not…”
He stopped. It was better not to tell him.
“Listen, I’m taking the island down. I’m going inside the needle first and stopping everything. The Director has to be stopped. I’ll bring down the power and ignite all the trackers. It’s all coming to a stop, we’re going to hijack the island. It’ll all be over. Foreverland is going to disappear and everyone has to be out of it when I do it.”
Reed nodded. A moment of clarity. “You’re right.”
“You won’t suffer anymore.” Danny tucked a handful of leaves into his waist. “Eat these, man. Zin and I will go inside the needle and be out before they can do anything to you.”
“Are you sending for help?”
“If I can send for help, I will.”
Reed wasn’t going to recover no matter. Danny would send for help, but it wouldn’t get to the island in time to save him.
The Haystack bell sounded.
Reed began chewing another leaf. Danny thought about telling him the truth about Lucinda. She was real Reed. And she loved you.
But she’s gone.
53
THE DIRECTOR OPENED THE CAGE. The birds squawked. They were rarely let out. On occasion, he would reach in and let one perch on his arm. If he set it down, he’d leash its foot to a stand. This time, he carried them both to an open window. He set them on the ledge and walked away. They turned around, watched him pull the floral shirt off and drop it on the floor.
He scratched at the curly brown and gray hairs on his chest, stepped out of his flip-flops, then his shorts. Naked, he went to the bar.
A Bloody Mary for the road.
It felt so good to be free of clothes. It would feel even better when he was free of the skin.
Today was the day he transformed. Today was the day he shed his flesh and soared to higher planes. It had been thirty years in the making, and now it was here. He swirled the tomato juice into half a glass of vodka. It would be the last time he would need a drink. From that day forward, euphoria would be on tap.
“Director,” the intercom called. “We’re ready down here.”
“Very well, continue. I’ll be down after the round is complete.”
He lied. They could get started, but they’d never finish.
His plans were carefully laid out. He wouldn’t need them anymore. Wouldn’t need anyone.
The Haystack bell rang.
The Director finished his drink while the group walked toward their final round. He waited until a trio of boys crossed the Yard – one propped in the middle of the other two. Once they entered the path leading to the Haystack, he placed the drink on a table and slid onto the chair. The material stuck to his skin but was soft and warm. The rollers whirred beneath his buttocks. He sunk into the cushions.
The needle was greased and ready.
It entered his brain.
Here I come, world. Ready or not.
54
Reed’s head bobbled.
Danny and Zin walked sideways to get down the narrow path. Reed was throwing a lazy step for every two steps they were taking. They were almost carrying him by the time they reached the Haystack.
Mr. Smith was standing at the entrance. Reed’s lips were tinted green. He wouldn’t feel a thing. Danny wanted to give the sadistic old bastard the finger, standing there with his hands behind his back, waiting patiently for Reed.
Danny and Zin began turning to walk Reed through the door. “Stop there, boys.”
“He can’t walk.” Danny cleared his throat, tried to take the venom out of his tone. “Mr. Smith, he can’t walk on his own. He’s messed up, as you know.”
“You won’t be going inside.” Mr. Smith didn’t hide the smirk.
“What are you talking about?” Danny said. “The Director told me we were all going to do this round, you can ask him.”
“I don’t need to, son. He changed his mind. You and Zin will be sitting out this round.”
&nb
sp; The other boys were going to their cells. Reed’s chin was touching his chest.
“I don’t believe you,” Danny said.
“I don’t care.” Mr. Smith put his hand in his pocket. “You can ask the Director, but right now you’re going to let go of Reed. If you don’t, I’ll drop you on the ground. You’re familiar with that feeling, aren’t you, son?”
Smile.
Danny pulled Reed back. The old bastard would have to zap him, if that’s what he wanted. He wasn’t giving him up. Zin got between him and Mr. Smith, like that would stop the tracker. The old man smiled bigger. He was going to enjoy this.
“Danny Boy.” Mr. Jones came out of the Haystack. “It’s true, son. The Director gave us new orders to postpone your round until this one is over. It’s only temporary, my boy. I promise.”
He reached out, but Danny jerked away.
Mr. Smith took a step forward, reached deeper in his pocket. Mr. Jones put up his hand to stop him. He looked sad. Remorseful. Pleading with Danny to stop the foolishness. Mr. Smith would drop him if he didn’t.
Danny took Reed’s arm off his shoulders. Mr. Smith ducked under it and took Reed’s weight. He needed Mr. Jones to help with the other side. Together, they walked into the Haystack.
Reed’s feet were dragging.
Just before the door closed, Mr. Clark could be heard announcing from inside. “Clothes on, gentlemen. The Director has granted you reprieve.”
______
“Something’s not right.” Danny paced outside the door. “None of it makes sense. No suffering, clothes on. Something’s not right, Zin.”
He looked at the closed door.
“He knows.”
“Who?” Zin said.
“The Director. He knows I was going to blow up the island. He locked us out and now something big is going down. I got a bad feeling, Zin. I got a bad feeling Reed isn’t going to hold out. He’s going inside the needle.”
Zin took a knee at the door, inspected the lock. He could pick it. They could go get Reed as soon as the Investors were gone. But that would only delay the inevitable. And make it worse. The Director would toss them over the cliff for sure.
The Annihilation of Foreverland (A Science Fiction Thriller) Page 20
