Madelyn's Mistake

by Ike Hamill

  Madelyn lifted her feet from the floor and propped them up on the other stool. She laughed at herself and kept eating.

  # # # # #

  With a full belly, Madelyn’s eyes wouldn’t stay open. She headed for the bedroom as the men concluded their search. They passed in the living room.

  “All clear?” Madelyn asked.

  Elijah nodded. “She’s not in there. I take it you didn’t see her?”

  “I would have said.”

  Madelyn kissed Elijah’s cheek and then yawned. “Wake me up next year,” she said.

  She paused with her hand on the doorknob. Someone came fast down the stairs. They all turned to see Harper.

  “What?” the young woman asked.

  “Malty’s gone,” Jacob said.

  Madelyn waved and then finally pushed through the doorway to the bedroom. She hated to dirty the sheets, but she had no energy left to get cleaned up before she collapsed. In a compromise that she considered nearly heroic given her exhaustion, she decided to sleep on top of the covers in her clothes. They would only have one blanket to wash.

  # # # # #

  “Where did she go?” Harper asked.

  Jacob raised his hands palms up. “No idea. She was here, then she was gone.”

  Harper frowned. “Did you tell Elijah about the videos?”

  “Not yet,” Jacob said. He gave Elijah a quick description of what they had seen. During the story, Elijah sat down and tried to imagine what they were talking about. He asked a dozen questions before Harper snapped her fingers.

  “We can show you one thing,” Harper said. “We took a snap of the insect machine.”

  She jumped up and headed for the counter.

  “Insect?” Elijah asked.

  “The thing that the men were carrying. We were calling it the insect because it had those legs and weird angles. It looked almost like a giant grasshopper.”

  “More like a spider,” Harper said. “Where did you put the stick, Jacob?”

  “I didn’t touch it,” Jacob said. He stood and moved over to where Harper was searching the counter. “It was right here.” Realization dawned across his face. “Oh, come on. She must have taken it before she disappeared.”

  “Great,” Harper said. “So now we have nothing but our memories to go on? We need to find that doll.”

  “I hate to say it,” Jacob said, “but she must have snuck up the stairs really quietly. The first place I searched was the living room. I guess she slipped out the front door when I was busy doing that.”

  # # # # #

  Madelyn drifted off to sleep within seconds of lying down. Compared to napping in the forest, a bed was an indescribable luxury. She exhaled slowly as he her dirty face sunk into the pillow. She wanted to remember that feeling of pure comfort—it was too easy to take for granted.

  Madelyn’s breath deepened. She sank lower into the mattress. It was swallowing her with its warm embrace. She smiled and imagined that she was rocking back and forth with every breath. She saw herself lounging on a swing in a sunny childhood playground, drifting through a warm afternoon.

  She turned her head at the sound of a clinking chain. Another little girl took the swing next to her.

  “I’ve seen you before,” Madelyn said. “What’s your name?”

  “My name is Malta, but everyone calls me Malty,” the girl said. She smiled at Madelyn, but didn’t show her teeth. It seemed like a sad smile. Madelyn couldn’t imagine why any little girl would be so sad on such a perfect summer day.

  “I’m Madelyn. Some people call me Mac because of my initials. I’m Madelyn Ava Clarke, see? Mac.”

  Malty smiled her sad smile again.

  “What’s wrong, Malty?”

  “This place is going to go away, and it’s the only place where I still have friends.”

  Madelyn glanced around the playground. She knew it from her childhood—at least she thought she did. The school was a couple of blocks over. Nobody went there anymore. There was a decent patch of woods next to the soccer field. A lot of kids played soccer during the day while their parents were at work. Sometimes the mean kids hung out in the woods so it was best to stay out in the open where people could see if you needed help.

  But, then again, it wasn’t really the playground from when she was a kid. There should have been a highway behind the building with the water fountain and the bathrooms. Instead, she saw sand dunes. That didn’t make any sense at all.

  “Do you have friends here?” Malty asked.

  Madelyn looked around. There were no kids playing on the jungle gym. The kids chasing a ball around on the field almost looked familiar, but she couldn’t put a name to any particular face.

  “I don’t know,” Mac said. “I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was a kid. Why does this place have to go away? They aren’t going to build something, are they?” Her father was always saying that nobody built anything in Detroit anymore. Its heart was dead, and they were all just scavengers, picking over the rotting flesh. Madelyn hadn’t thought about that in years. It was a strange thing to stay to little kids, but hadn’t he said it all the time? Why would he raise children in a place that he could only describe as rotting flesh with no heart?

  “You know,” Malty said. She was looking at Madelyn as if she had heard everything that Madelyn thought.

  “I don’t. Tell me.”

  “This place is the bridge between people. It’s the collective. When the number of people drop enough, it will go away. That’s what they want, you know. They want to start over so that they can have everything under control.”

  “Who?”

  Malty gave her a sad smile. “All three.”

  Madelyn didn’t know exactly what Malty was talking about, but it seemed pretty important. She tried to stand up from the swing. Her legs were the wrong size. They hit the ground long before she thought they would and she fell backwards into the coarse sand. Madelyn laughed at herself and looked up at the sky where the gulls spun their slow circles on the rising air.

  Malty flopped down next to her. She laughed too.

  “You’re fun, Mac,” Malty said.

  “And you’re confusing. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Malty said. “There’s nothing that anyone can do. They’re so smart, and they have forever to make it all happen just like they want. They got rid of most of the people, just to clear some room, and then they’ve been manipulating everyone who is left to finish dismantling all the stuff built up here.” She raised her arms, indicating the playground around them.

  Madelyn pushed up to her shoulders to see. Things had shifted. The sand dunes were concrete barricades. The woods looked more like a tropical jungle than Detroit trees. There was only one explanation for a world this malleable. Madelyn began to realize that she was dreaming.

  Another little girl ran up. “Come on, Malty, we’re going to play that game,” the girl said.

  Malty looked up at the girl and then back to Madelyn. “This is my friend, Millie. We’re together forever.”

  Madelyn looked back up at Millie.

  “Hi, Millie,” Madelyn said. She was going to tell her how nice it was to meet her, but the words died before they could leave her mouth. Millie’s face wasn’t quite solid. Madelyn realized that she could see right through parts of it. Inside Millie’s skin was simple blackness.

  Malty stood up and brushed coarse sand from her outfit. The clothes were way too dirty for that. Malty was never going to brush away the mold, mildew, and water stains.

  Madelyn opened her mouth to tell Malty that she needed to get her clothes washed, but another thought popped out instead. “I know where I’ve seen you before. You’re that doll that Elijah picked up.”

  Malty gave her a sad smile and turned to Millie. “I have one thing I have to do before we can go.”

  Malty put out her hand to help Madelyn up.

  When she put her hand in Malty’s, Madelyn instantly regretted it
. The doll pulled her into a close embrace and wound her stringy arms around Madelyn’s neck. She squeezed tighter and tighter as Madelyn struggled to break free. The grip was too tight. She couldn’t even get her fingers between her flesh and Malty’s plastic arms.

  “I’m sorry,” Malty said. “But you’re the trigger. You’re the one who brings it all down. I have to stop you now before you can do it.”

  Madelyn wanted to tell the doll that she was wrong. She wanted to scream for help from the kids on the soccer field. This is why they played out in the open—so none of the mean kids could catch them. All that would come out was a wheeze.

  # # # # #

  “I asked around about this David character,” Harper said. “Nobody is really talking about him, which is pretty amazing.”

  “Why’s that?” Jacob asked.

  “We just don’t get a lot of outsiders anymore,” Harper said. “When someone new rolls into town, they’re pretty much celebrities or scoundrels right away. You remember when you showed up? Did you eat alone once that whole first month?”

  “No,” Jacob said. “Someone always offered to take me in.”

  “Exactly,” Harper said. “Everyone wants to meet the new person. The guy on guard said that Dave had exactly one visitor that first night. Caleb showed up just before dark and then put up the flag to indicate that nobody else was to contact Dave.”

  “There’s a flag?” Jacob asked.

  “Yeah, there’s a little flag they put up on the tree outside the safe house when someone is to be quarantined. It lets the guard know to warn away other visitors. I put one up on your aunt when she showed up. She was a little too violent that first night.”

  Jacob smiled. Elijah laughed.

  “Anyway, Caleb put up the flag and then informed the guard to make a note—David would be staying extra time. That’s nearly everything that anyone knows. Scarlett and Wyatt said that Caleb asked them to escort David out of town, but apparently they only got the story through Logan, so they don’t know exactly what Caleb said to them.”

  “Logan didn’t really mention it. I bet he said something to Madelyn. Something made her want to follow David into the woods,” Elijah said.

  “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Caleb himself,” Harper said. “He’s my next stop, I suppose. He can be pretty tight-lipped about what he’s working on. All of Ryan’s people are a little odd, if you ask me.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” Jacob said. “I helped him with his brainstorming. He didn’t give me many answers yesterday, but he didn’t have much of a chance. As soon as he found out that Madelyn was my aunt, the conversation ended pretty…”

  “Shhh!” Elijah said. He put his hand on Jacob’s arm. He turned his head, cocking his ear towards the bedroom door. Elijah bolted across the living room. Harper and Jacob followed.

  He ripped open the door and flipped on the light.

  Madelyn was sitting up on the bed. The doll was hanging from Madelyn’s back—its plastic arm was wrapped around Madelyn’s throat.

  Elijah and Jacob rushed forward.

  Jacob grabbed the doll by the head while Elijah tried to get his fingers under Malty’s grip.

  “How is she so strong?” Jacob grunted through clenched teeth.

  Madelyn’s eyes were wide with panic, but they were already starting to gloss over from lack of oxygen. Her arms had given up—they hung limp at her sides.

  “Smash it,” Elijah said. “Tear its head off.”

  “That won’t do any good,” Harper said. She pushed Jacob’s hand away from Malty’s neck. She tore open the panel with her fingernails and flung it. “The motor controls are independent units. Smashing the head won’t do any good. We have to disconnect them from their power relays.”

  She pushed aside the ribbon cables and popped off the harnesses. She hadn’t been paying close attention earlier—she had hooked them up by their color codes without knowing which were for arms and legs. She pulled them all. Of course it was only part of the problem.

  “I think I saw voltage-controlled wires inside there. That’s where her strength comes from. They will still hold even after I release the power, but you’ll be able to stretch them,” Harper said.

  She was right.

  Malty’s head sagged immediately, but Elijah still had to wrestle the arms apart. He groaned as he pulled at them. As soon as they released, Jacob pulled the doll free from his aunt and threw it to the ground. He landed on it with both knees and ripped its head off in anger.

  Elijah and Harper lowered Madelyn to the bed. It took a second for Madelyn’s throat to open up again, and then she sucked in a pained breath. Her color returned quickly. Her eyes remained in a state of frightened shock.

  “You’re okay. You’re okay,” Elijah said. He looked up at Harper. “There’s a first aid kit under the sink. Can you grab it?”

  Harper nodded and ran from the room.

  Madelyn shook away the hands that were holding her down. She pushed herself back until she was leaning against the wall. Her breathing came easier until she began to cough.

  “She was in my dream,” Madelyn said. Her voice was so hoarse that they could barely understand her. “That stupid troll was in my dream.”

  “I don’t understand how she got in here,” Elijah said.

  “She never left,” Jacob said. “We missed this.”

  The bedspread had been disturbed and Jacob lifted the fabric of the box-spring. It had been torn at the base to form a Malty-sized hole. The doll had squeezed her pliable body into the frame.

  “I don’t care where she was hiding,” Madelyn said. She started coughing again. When she got control of herself, she said, “She was in my dream.”

  “She’s not going to do that again,” Jacob said. He lifted the doll’s head.

  “Your dream probably just adapted to the sensation of being attacked,” Elijah said.

  Madelyn shook her head. “It was too long.”

  “A dream can happen in a fraction of a second,” Elijah said.

  Harper returned and handed the first aid kit to Elijah. He wiped the dust from the top before he opened it on the bedspread.

  Harper went to Jacob and waved for him to move. She flipped over the doll and began to dismantle the rest of the doll’s control wiring.

  “Hey!” Harper said. She turned to Jacob and held up the storage stick. “This was tucked behind one of her panels. She must have stolen it from the counter.”

  Jacob nodded.

  Over at the bed, Madelyn tried to push away Elijah’s care.

  “I don’t need it,” she said. She tried to mask her cough in the crook of her elbow.

  “Your throat was crushed,” Elijah said. “It’s a quick fix now or days of pain. Come on.”

  “Take it,” Harper said. “That kit looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. The wrap will probably go bad before he uses it.”

  “Fine,” Madelyn said. She finally put her hands down and let Elijah tend to her throat. It was already darkening into a bruise. The wrap began to diminish the swelling right away.

  “You feel better?” Elijah asked.

  “Yes,” Madelyn said. Her voice already sounded more clear.

  “Good. Tell us about this dream.”

  Chapter 17

  {Moving}

  CALEB KNOCKED WITH HIS left hand. Even that felt strange.

  “Come,” Ryan said.

  Caleb kept his right hand in his pocket and pushed through the door. The office was dim. Only one light on the desk showed him his commander, leaning back in his chair. The man’s glasses were on the desk. Caleb glanced at the dark display screens on the walls and guessed that they had all been lit a second before.

  “Have a seat,” Ryan said. “What happened to your arm?”

  Caleb suppressed a smile. He should have known that there was no way to fool Ryan.

  “Accident at the lab. It has been treated,” Caleb said.

  Ryan pulled himself up to the desk and rested his elbow
s. Caleb could almost sense the man’s deduction. Ryan knew that Caleb wouldn’t be there to present a status report. They both knew the importance of silence on the status.

  “You need something you can’t procure for yourself,” Ryan said. It wasn’t a question.

  Caleb nodded. “I need a lab in the safe harbor and a window of time with no observers to move there.”

  Ryan nodded.

  “Two to three in the morning. Tonight. There’s a secured area in the basement of Building Three. The building sits on the edge of the safe harbor. It’s marked as a Q-battery breach hazard, so you won’t have any visitors. It has power and plumbing.”

  Caleb was silenced by shock. He had prepared a short list of things they would need. It seemed that Ryan had anticipated it all.

  “What else?” Ryan asked.

  “I suppose that’s everything,” Caleb said. Ryan studied him as he sat there. His brain was still trying to catch up. If Ryan had predicted that Caleb’s team would make a breakthrough and need to move to the safe harbor, what else had he prepared for? Did Ryan have a contingency for Caleb’s failure? Or was Caleb the contingency? Caleb struggled to figure out what this all meant.

  “Do you have something else you need to talk to me about?” Ryan asked.

  “No, I suppose not,” Caleb said. He started to push to his feet and his right hand brushed hard against the inside of his jacket pocket. As far as he knew, he did a decent job of hiding the pain from his face.

  Caleb put his left hand on the doorknob before he stopped and turned.

  “We’re going to succeed, sir,” Caleb said. He broke one of Ryan’s rules—nobody was ever supposed to call him “sir,” but in this case, it seemed appropriate. “If you’re planning another effort to contain the Hunters, you’ll only be hampering our efforts.”