“But why? What monsters would take CHILDREN?”
“Think about it. All those people that died after the plague? Those are the countries that haven’t recovered yet. Meaning they need workers. And we needed a way to clean up the mess Gray made of this whole thing.” Tears slid from his eyes.
Mom took deep, fast breaths. “What about the last category? The orange ones. Adopted? By whom?”
Bo got up and paced around the kitchen, still avoiding all our eyes.
“ANSWER ME!!!”
Bo grabbed a pan and threw it across the room, smashing it into a bunch of canisters that sat on the counter. The room exploded in a cloud of sugar and flour. “The new thing for rich foreigners now is to adopt from overseas. From America. They pay the government massive amounts of money and they get a glamorous American child. That’s how they got rid of the babies.”
Mom fell at Bo’s feet. I brushed my own cheek with my fingertips and realized tears were leaking from my own eyes too. I knew he didn’t mean his words to come out the way they did. I knew he was hurting too. Tears don’t lie. But how could he have seen any children, no matter if it was a big number or small number, being exported and not say anything? One of my favorite lines from one of Mom’s speeches went something like this: “The greatest villains are good people who see a problem and do nothing.” I guessed that made Bo the greatest villain of all.
I looked over at Cain and Jordyn, and they just stood there silently. Even Jordyn, who had brothers missing, had nothing to say. Mom wept. I could hardly understand what she was saying, except, “They’re gone! How do we help them now?”
On my way over to sit beside my mother, I accidentally stepped on some of the papers with children’s photos on them that had scattered across the floor. It seemed disrespectful to just leave them there, so I gently gathered them up into a pile. I almost missed her as I shoved one unruly paper down neatly in the middle of the pile. I whipped it back out just in time. A pretty girl with long dark hair stared back at me. A green dot sat in the corner of her sheet. “Olivia! Mom, it’s Olivia! They took her to Italy!”
Mom peeled herself off the floor and came toward me. She tore the paper from my hands, and the sobbing that had been coming in sputters now escaped her mouth in waves. “Oh my God, honey, I’m so sorry! I thought I was saving her. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
I smiled and hugged my mother. “Don’t be sorry, Mom. This is a good thing!”
Mom looked at me quizzically. “Why would this be a good thing? She’s across the world.”
I looked up at her, my arms still wrapped tightly around her waist. “Because now we know where she is…now we can find her.” I glanced at Cain. “Maybe not today, but now we can find her.”
Mom squeezed me tighter.
I looked over at Jordyn. She smiled at me, but her eyes quickly gazed toward the floor. I wished she had been as lucky as me. “We’ll find them, Jordyn. I promise. If I got lucky, you can get lucky too. You’ll see.”
Cain wrapped Jordyn in his arms and gave me a wink over her shoulder. He mouthed the words, “Thank you.” Maybe she thought I was just trying to make her feel better, but I truly believed I was right. I think Cain did too.
When we returned to the truck, Mom and Bo sat on the tailgate and stared up at the stars. Bo tried to put his arms around her, but she scooted away. I was surprised she even wanted to sit next to him. I didn’t even look at him. They were supposed to be partners, a team that got one of the most significant bills in history signed into existence. They were supposed to share everything. Maybe for Bo that stopped after President Gray signed his name.
Jordyn slept soundly. Despite saving me from a near-rape and finding out her brothers could be long out of the country, she slept as if she didn’t have a care in the world. If only all of us could have done the same.
Cain inspected the truck to make sure that it was ready for the rough road ahead. I just sat and rested my back against a tree, digging my toe into the soft ground around me. All we heard for quite a while was the soft scraping of my shoe against the rough dirt.
Mom was silent from the moment we left the school. Bo had to carry her like a newborn out to the truck. Her face was swollen from tears, and Bo had completely lost his ability to coax her into feeling better. He just sat next to her and waited for her to speak. She never looked at him.
Suddenly Mom leaped off the tailgate and went over to Cain, who was bent over one of the truck tires. She tapped him on the shoulder. “I need you to do something for me.”
Cain rose to his feet. “What is it?”
Mom took a deep breath. “I need you to teach Riley what you do. That thing. The thing that we haven’t ever talked about this whole time.”
Cain looked at her. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know what to call it. That thing you do. It’s an instinct. Like you just know what people will do before they do it. You just know how to defend yourself. You don’t even have to think about it, you just…you do it. Please.”
Bo went over to them and gently grabbed my mom, trying to pull her away from Cain. She wouldn’t budge, so he just said what he had to say, giving up his desire for privacy and letting Cain hear every word. “Claire, this is your daughter. Why would you want this? I know you’re upset, but this guy…he…he KILLS people, Claire. Has a cross tattooed on his body, but that’s a joke… He kills people without a second though. What are you thinking?”
Cain scoffed. “You think God is against killing people? Really? Read the Bible for fuck’s sake. God kills people all the time. That’s not the part that matters. It’s your reason for doing it that matters. It’s the part of yourself that you’re willing to give up for someone else that matters. There’s only one person here who isn’t practicing what they preach, and it’s not me.” He tossed his toolbox into the back of the truck, shaking his head at Bo all the while. The toolbox landed with a loud thud, bouncing slightly on its way down.
Mom pulled away from Bo’s grasp and grabbed his hand in hers. She had never been one to stay mad for very long, probably learned that dealing with Dad. “I know. Believe me, I don’t like it either. I wanted her to stay innocent for as long as possible. I wanted her to have the childhood that I had. But tonight made me see that we can’t afford to think like that anymore. The world you and I grew up in is dead and gone. It was gone long before I came up with that stupid bill. She needs to be able to protect herself. And if she needs to know that, I want her to learn it from him. I trust him. Anyone else would teach her just enough to get herself killed. Don’t you see? It’s second nature for him. I want it to be that way for her too.”
Bo sighed and pulled his hand from her grasp. “Okay. You’re right. I don’t like the idea at all, but you’re right. To think what would have happened if…” He looked at me. “The most important thing is keeping you safe, no matter how we do it.”
Cain agreed to Mom’s request. “First thing tomorrow.”
I didn’t know what to expect, but my stomach fluttered. Cain would teach me how to fight. And survive.
Mom even managed a smile.
CHAPTER NINE
Harlow visited me in my sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, he was on top of me again. I tried to writhe my way out from under him, but he was too strong. He stilled my arms and all I could do was shut my eyes. A sharp pain stabbed me between my legs.
I sat up straight in the back of the truck. I reached under myself and pulled up something round and metal, relieved to realize the pain I felt was just me rolling on top of a bolt that had somehow ended up in the bed of the truck, right where I had been sleeping. Cold sweat dripped into my eyes and the hot air stung. I carefully popped open the back window of the truck and climbed out.
I landed with a thud on the hard ground below. The night was still pitch black, and I could tell that the sun wasn’t coming up anytime soon. Maybe I had gotten a couple hours’ sleep at best.
Cain sat leaning against the same tree
I had been sitting up against earlier. He stared at his hand, twisting one of his knives against the tip of his finger, but not pressing down enough for it to bleed.
“Hi. Can’t sleep either?”
He smiled. “Guess not.”
I sat down on the ground next to him and just watched him play with his knife. The blade seemed to twinkle ever so slightly in the only light we had, a thin beam coming from the moon.
Cain turned and looked right at me—through me is more like it. “You okay?”
I looked away. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess…” I stared at the ground. “I saw him again. While I was sleeping. He…”
Cain reached out and grabbed my hand. My cheeks burned. “I was going to wait ‘til tomorrow, to give you some time to sleep. But obviously that doesn’t seem to be happening. As long as we stay within hearing distance of the truck, do you want to start learning a little early?”
I nodded.
He rose to his feet and put his knife back in his jeans, then reached out both hands to help me up. I gladly took them. “Start walking.”
I looked at him, confused, but obeyed. We marched through the woods in the darkness. The butterflies returned and flew around in my stomach, probably wondering along with me if a bear or something equally as hungry would be upset that we disturbed his slumber and eat us alive just to teach us a lesson. The trees were as thick as the body of a horse and I couldn’t see the tops of them through the blackness. Layers of moss and leaves surrounded their massive trunks, leaving very little space between them, as though I were standing in the middle of a green box. I flashed back to The Box I knew in my old life, the one that stood in front of our school. “I can’t see, Cain. Where are we going? How am I supposed to learn to use a knife out here?”
His feet crunched in the grass, matching my own footsteps. “Riley, the first thing I want you to learn is to be aware of your surroundings. Knives won’t do you any good until you know how to pay attention.”
“Pay attention to what?”
“Everything.”
The only sound I could hear was our footsteps in the silence.
“If you are aware of your surroundings, you are in a better position to defend yourself.”
Suddenly the crunching stopped. I whirled around and found no one behind me. I squinted in the night, trying to find a trace of him. Nothing. He had vanished into the green.
“Cain! Cain, you’re scaring me! Please come back!” My heart sped up, and the cold sweat from my nightmare returned with a vengeance.
“Close your eyes and listen. Pay attention to the vibrations under your feet. You won’t always be able to see where you are. If you can find someone in the dark, you can find someone in the light.” Silence again. “Close your eyes.”
I already couldn’t see, but somehow the idea of closing my eyes made me queasy. “Cain, please. I’m not ready. I changed my mind. Take me back to the truck!”
“Do it.”
My heart pounded against my ribs, but I took a deep breath and shut my eyes. At first, I heard nothing and felt even less. Then the noises came. Whispers of branches moving, the hissing of air leaving a mouth. I took another deep breath. I listened again. “You’re there! Behind that tree!” I pointed in the guilty tree’s direction, sure of my success until I felt a finger poke me hard between my shoulder blades. I turned around to see Cain smiling at me, shaking his head.
“Not so fast. But close. Try again.”
I huffed, but I turned around. When I turned back, he was gone again. The panic of solitude returned. I wondered how I could have possibly enjoyed hide and seek when I was little. Although being alone in the pitch black night after almost being raped was a little different than frolicking around our living room.
This time, I held my breath for as long as I could, listening, waiting for some clue to where he was…hunting. I pointed again. “There!” I gritted my teeth in frustration when I felt another poke between my shoulders.
“Almost, but almost isn’t good enough. Keep trying.”
Our exercise went on into the night. The sun started to show itself by the time I found Cain. He had tried to trick me by climbing up a tree a few yards from where I was. He grinned as he climbed down from the highest branches, slowly making his way down to me.
“Well done.” He shook my hand. “Really well done.”
We walked slowly back to the truck, exhausted from a night’s work. I took the time to relish in my victory. “So, how long does it usually take people to find you?”
He stared at me. “Never. You’re the first.”
I stopped. “You mean you’ve never tried to teach people before?”
“No, I mean you’re the first. No one has gotten it right before. Not once.” His eyes seemed to twinkle as he started walking toward the truck again.
I grabbed him by the back of his shirt. “Not even Jordyn, your girlfriend?”
Master of subtly, Riley. Nicely done. I’d been dying to know, and I guess it just burst out of my mouth on its own, a question aching to be asked.
Cain laughed. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
I had to suck my cheeks together to keep from grinning.
“Where’d that come from?”
Ugh…
My face felt hot again. “Nowhere, just curious.”
Great recovery.
Cain must have just taken mercy on me and let it go, because I knew he must have seen the brightness in my cheeks.
“Now, this stays between us, okay?”
I nodded and tried to contain my smile.
“I tried to teach her. I really did. But let’s just say Jordyn’s gifts lie in hitting her target. Every. Single. Time. As you may have noticed, subtlety is not her strong suit.”
I followed Cain back to the truck, grinning behind him the whole way. Even though his back was turned, I was sure he knew.
Just before we got within hearing distance of the truck, he turned toward me again. “Your next lesson will happen when you least expect it. Just be ready.”
I opened my mouth to ask what he was talking about, but he had already turned back toward our path and I could hear the others in the distance.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted a surprise from Cain. Trying to find him in the dark was surprise enough. If that was the first lesson, I hesitated to imagine what the second lesson would be.
Mom, Bo, and Jordyn were just emerging from the truck when we returned. “Where’d you guys run off to?” Mom asked.
I thought it best not to tell her that I’d been up all night learning how to see in the dark. “Oh, I just thought I heard something, so Cain came with me to check it out. Squirrel. Just a squirrel.”
Mom looked at me like she was about to ask more questions but let it go.
Cain told everyone since he had been on watch all night, we would have what everyone else thought would be my first defense lesson after we got to the next stop. After we each had a smorgasbord of apples, granola bars, and a can of cold beans between the five of us, Jordyn hopped into the driver’s seat and we were on our way. I tried to forget the feeling of cold, slimy beans in my mouth as Cain threw himself down in the bed of the truck, taking his usual sleeping position on his back with his eyes staring straight at the ceiling.
I snuggled against my mom on the other side of the truck, my eyes heavy with sleep. “Mom, what’s the place that we’re going like? At the end I mean? After we leave America?”
Mom twirled my hair between her fingers. “I’ve never been there, sweetheart. Maybe ask Bo?”
Bo smiled. “Don’t worry, Riley. I’ve heard all about it. It’s an awesome place where refugees like us can start over. A man named Dominic runs it. Everyone pulls their own weight and gets assigned a job when they arrive. Some people clean, some people farm. Children go to school. The locals leave it alone because they’re happy with anything that sticks it to the U.S. government. It’s clean and green, just beautiful. We’ll be happy, I swear.”
I sighed. A though
t that had been floating around in my head refused to stay buried any longer. My skin tingled as I gathered the strength to bring it to the surface. “Yeah, but maybe it’s not real. I mean really, where did you hear about it? From the same guys who haven’t told my mom the truth this whole time? They didn’t tell her about the kids being sent away. Maybe this isn’t real. What if we get there and it’s just a bunch of sand?” As soon as the words slipped through my lips, I wished they hadn’t. However right I might have been, Mom and Bo’s faces made me want to learn to keep my mouth shut. The color drained from their faces.
I was relieved when Cain spoke up, apparently not sleeping yet like I thought, and saved me from my own words. “Don’t worry, Riley. I’ve been there several times. It’s as real as you and me. Dominic and his crew make it as much like our country as they can. Only without search lines before class.” He sat up long enough to wink at me. “Oh, and you can play outside.”
I mouthed a quick “thank you” and watched as he rolled back into his position.
Even though Cain had lightened the mood, my words still left a hollow feeling in my stomach, and I desperately wanted to leave the subject of the compound far behind us. I thought back to our lesson. I didn’t want to let our secret out, but I did have a question, something more specific. “So, Cain, how did you figure out you had your…talent?” In my head I came up with all sorts of elaborate answers. Maybe he got cornered in an alley one day and had to battle his way out. Maybe the Taskforce was going to snatch a brother or sister away from him like they did Jordyn and he had to act fast. Or maybe he was a military assassin, back when the government was worth fighting for.
All my stories were wrong.
In response to my question, Cain grinned. “Bobby Bellamy.”
“Huh?”
“When I was eight years old, Bobby Bellamy tiptoed up behind me with a water balloon on the playground, ready to douse me in the face with it. I grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it in a circle without ever turning around. I just knew he was there. A change in the breeze or something. Nearly broke his arm.”
The Extraction List Page 11
