by Ike Hamill
“Cleo doesn’t care about power,” Isaac said. “She cares about people. She has dedicated her entire life to this community. She wouldn’t be worried about a few people agitating for impeachment.”
“You’re wrong,” Brook said.
Isaac sat back on the bench and then stretched out on his back. He put his arms under his head to prop it up.
“Have you studied energy, Brook?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve spent my whole life studying science. You know that.”
“I mean energy. Do you know what it was like before?”
“Before what?”
“Back when people were just dumb animals.”
“What are you talking about?” Brook asked.
Isaac closed his eyes as he spoke. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. “People used to live on the edge of survival, like the rest of the animals. We hunted and gathered food every day. We starved over the winter and tried to stock up stores of fat in the summer. We were like a pack of wolves.”
“And now we hide from Hunters. What’s your point?” she asked.
“Yes, we hide, but if we wanted to, we could have ten kids each and we would never run out of food for them.”
“We would run out of vegetables. There’s only so much we can grow,” she said.
“Only because people are so finicky about where they get their food from,” he said. “If you wanted to, you could synthesize all the nutrients you ever wanted and live to a ripe old age.”
“Assuming you didn’t get dissolved by a Hunter.”
“We’ve figured that out, haven’t we? We have the rotating bonfires and the safe harbor. From what we saw today, there’s a chance that we could just run that machine in the back of the red vehicle and we would be perfectly safe. Hook up a synthesizer and that machine from the vehicle to a Q-battery, and you could live the rest of your life in perfect safety, right?”
“What kind of life is that?” she asked.
“Exactly,” Isaac said. “The only thing holding us back from complete success is the drive to strive. People don’t feel like they’re living unless they find a way to suffer. Did you know that people used to jump out of airplanes?”
“I’ve heard tons of stories like that. I’ve seen some videos. You can’t judge people based on what a few of them do. They had a lot more people back then. Of course there were some weirdos.”
“I would wager that they had a much higher percentage of weirdos than we do now,” Isaac said. “Because they needed to find something to struggle against. Take away all the natural threats and people will invent something to struggle against.”
“What does that have to do with us being locked up in a cell? Are you saying that we invented this cell to give ourselves something to struggle against?”
“In a way, didn’t we?” he asked. “A month ago, weren’t you perfectly safe?”
“No!” she said. “I was working day and night to find a way to finally snuff out the Hunters because I was sick of seeing people I knew and loved get taken randomly. I was sick of hiding myself each night, making sure that I didn’t throw off enough heat to have them run me down.”
“That’s the struggle,” he said. “You know that everyone is going to die eventually, but you still struggle to try to prevent it.”
“It’s normal to try to survive. You know what happened to the last woman who was locked up in here, right?”
Isaac waved her off. “That won’t happen to us.”
“Don’t you realize the punishment for sedition? Scarlett called for impeachment at a public meeting—that’s perfectly legal. But if Cleo manages to prove that there was a conspiracy against her either before or after the meeting, that’s sedition and it calls for capital punishment.”
Isaac finally appeared nervous. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“Neither did I,” Brook said.
Chapter 18
{Tracking}
AMELIA LOOKED AROUND AT the darkening sky. It was time to settle down for the night. They couldn’t see anything and it could be dangerous to be out. Scarlett was beyond reason. She was on a mission.
“We haven’t seen any sign of them in hours,” Amelia whispered.
Scarlett was hunched over, studying the ground.
“Go home if you want to go home,” Scarlett said.
“I’m not going to leave you out here alone.”
“Then shut up.”
Scarlett paced forward.
“All I’m saying is that you could be walking right past tracks and you would never know.”
Scarlett looked up. Even in the low light, Amelia could plainly see the anger and frustration on Scarlett’s face.
“If I had tried harder to keep up with Wyatt, he wouldn’t be dead right now,” Scarlett said.
Amelia nodded. It was no use disagreeing with her. She had already tried to talk Scarlett out of feeling blame for her brother’s death, and it only made Scarlett more angry.
“I’m not suggesting that we stop searching, I’m only saying that we’re not doing a good job of it because it’s getting too dark,” Amelia said.
Scarlett thought about that for a second and then straightened up. She stretched her shoulders and her neck and then turned her face towards the sky. Scarlett bellowed out her pain and anger towards the first twinkling stars. Amelia folded her arms and shivered. The sound was primal and disturbing.
When Scarlett finished her yell, the world was silent. Slowly, the sounds of crickets and birds faded back in around them. Scarlett lowered herself to the rocks and put her head down on her knees.
Amelia settled next to her.
“Maybe we don’t need to track them,” Amelia said. Scarlett didn’t look up. “You found that footprint after the turn, which means that they followed the riverbed instead of heading south. I don’t think they’re trying to get away from Fairbanks. I think they were returning to it.”
“Why would they come this far south?”
Amelia shrugged and looked up at the deep blue sky. She tried to picture Ryan, moving with perfect stealth along the rocks. She pictured his clothes still bloody from the atrocities that he had committed against Wyatt. Niren had been acting strange the last time she saw him, but she couldn’t imagine that he had been a part of the murder. She had known Niren forever, and worked closely with him for more than a year. He was kind, gentle, and sweet.
“Ryan is a strategist,” Amelia said. “Everything he does has a plan behind it. If he’s approaching the town from a particular direction, there’s a reason for it.”
“Come on,” Scarlett said. She stood up and began to walk across the rocks.
“Where are you going? It’s too dark to track.”
“We’re not going to track.” Scarlett said. “We’re going back to Fairbanks. You’re right—if they came this way, then they’re probably headed to town. Let’s find out why.”
Chapter 19
{Approach}
“STOP,” HARPER SAID. “AROUND this bend, there are three houses that could have spotters. I don’t know the schedule. It’s pretty random.”
“So how do we get him back?”
“One of the winter greenhouses is a block over. They’ll have a cart there that we can borrow. We’ll cart him back to his house.”
“Yeah, okay,” Jacob said. “I’ll leave the engine idling while we get the cart.”
“No. This thing stands out even in the dark. Let’s take Wyatt’s remains with us and leave this vehicle behind. It’s safer.”
“Okay,” Jacob said. He shut down the vehicle. They sat in silence for a second. Jacob opened his door a few inches and listened to the wind. He glanced over at Harper and she gave him a nod. They got out.
This time, Harper took the shoulders. They slid Wyatt’s body from the rear seat and stopped to adjust their grips.
Harper looked up at the sky.
“What is it?” Jacob asked.
Low clouds, like gray smoke
, were sweeping in from the north. They were backlit by the rising moon. The light gave the sky a slight glow.
“Probably a bat,” she said. “I saw something fly by.”
Something caught Jacob’s eye. When he turned his head to see it, the shape had disappeared.
“You want to switch sides?” Jacob asked. Wyatt’s feet were light. It felt like he was barely carrying any of the load.
“I’m fine,” she said.
They started walking. Jacob shuffled backwards. Harper directed him as to which path to take. When Jacob stopped again, Harper ran into the body. Her pants came in contact with the sticky stump that used to be Wyatt’s neck.
“Hey!” she said. “Don’t stop like that.”
Harper looked at Jacob. He was looking up.
“Are those your bats?” he asked. She looked up too. “Because those are not bats.”
Harper saw one of the darting black shapes and was about to disagree. It could have very well been a bat the way it streaked and veered in front of the low clouds. It didn’t seem like there were many insects around, but maybe the bat had scooped up a moth or something.
She opened her mouth to say so and then closed it again. One of the black shapes emerged from behind a tree, hovered perfectly in the air for a second, and then shot off at a right angle to its original path.
“Has to be a hummingbird or something to move like that,” Jacob said. “Bat’s don’t hover.”
“A hummingbird at night?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Jacob said.
They stood there for another second without talking.
“I think we should get out of here,” Jacob said.
“We can’t just leave Wyatt’s body,” Harper said. “Scarlett was really upset earlier when she ran off, but I know she would want her brother’s remains to be treated with respect.”
“Where’s the nearest building? Let’s get him under cover and then we can come back for him when it’s light out.”
“Yeah,” Harper said. “Keep going.”
She guided Jacob down a path that led to a small house. Through the open door, they could see that the roof had collapsed long ago. A little farther down the path, they found a stone church. Jacob put his shoulder to the door and with a loud crack, it gave way. The ceiling inside was steep and mostly intact. They picked up Wyatt again and shuffled him inside.
They set Wyatt down on a long bench that sat under a row of eye-level coat hooks.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jacob said.
A little light from the glowing clouds came in through the windows, but the shadows were deep black. Harper shuffled inside, testing each foot before she put her weight on it. She moved to the nearest window and pressed her face to the glass so she could see out into the night.
“Let’s find another door out, in case we were being followed,” Harper said.
“By what?” Jacob asked as he moved up behind her.
She didn’t get a chance to answer. From back towards the door where they had come in, they heard a creak and a scrape. Harper put her hand on Jacob’s shoulder and pressed him towards the rear of the building.
The next sound from the front was a thump.
Jacob’s knee hit a chair and it toppled, clattering to the wood floor.
“Go!” Harper whispered.
Jacob moved fast. They shuffled through the patches of diffused moonlight from the windows and through the black shadows that might harbor anything. Jacob found another door at the back. It didn’t have an exit sign, and it wasn’t an exterior door, but it was something. He turned the handle and pushed. After a few scraping inches, the door stopped moving.
Harper moved next to him and the two of them pushed together.
Meanwhile, they heard another grinding scrape from the front of the building. It was nearly masked by the sound of whatever was blocking the door they were trying to open. Jacob leaned into the work, trying to get good footing to support his effort.
Harper’s head spun. When she sucked in a startled breath, Jacob turned too.
They both saw him as he pulled his way into the patch of moonlight. He was dragging himself across the floor with one hand. The hand advanced, the fingers found purchase in the wood grain, and he pulled his headless body.
“Impossible,” Jacob whispered.
“Nothing’s impossible,” Harper said. “Push.”
The adrenaline surge gave them both even more energy to push. Something snapped. The door slipped open enough for them to squeeze through. Harper went first, climbing over the furniture that was piled against the door. When her trailing foot had disappeared through the gap, Jacob took one last look back.
Wyatt’s hand rose and his palm pointed towards Jacob, almost like he was waving to him. Jacob squinted in the darkness. There was a black spot in the middle of Wyatt’s palm. Jacob wondered if somehow that black spot was an eye—that Wyatt was pointing his palm so he could track Jacob. The thought was paralyzing.
When the hand landed on Jacob’s shoulder, he nearly screamed.
“Come on,” Harper whispered. She pulled at his shirt.
That was enough to break Jacob’s stasis. He climbed through the gap and tumbled down the other side. Harper helped him to his feet and the two ran through the back room. Harper skirted around a desk, catching a glimpse of it at the last second. Jacob wasn’t so lucky. His hip caught the corner and spun him around.
He could see the doorway they had squeezed through. He saw the thing climbing through that same gap. It was impossible—at the speed Wyatt had been moving, he should have never gotten that far. But, as Harper had pointed out, nothing was impossible. Jacob turned and ran to catch up with her.
Panicked, she was tugging on the handle of the back door. Jacob reached up and turned the deadbolt. With her next pull, the door flew open and Harper nearly fell. The two of them ran out into the night.
Harper took the lead and ran down a path. After the gloomy interior of the church, it was bright enough to easily navigate outside. He didn’t ask where she was going. Jacob trusted Harper to take them in the right direction.
After slowing down to a fast jog, Jacob finally realized where they were. They had come in the back way to the neighborhood where some of Harper’s friends lived. There were a few good houses where they could have taken refuge.
Jacob finally grabbed Harper’s arm and forced her to slow down.
“Where are we going? Should we go to the old lab that Brook and Amelia were talking about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, panting. She doubled over and propped her hands on her knees. “I don’t know if it’s safe.”
“We can’t go home,” Jacob said. “They’ll be looking for us there.”
“I think you’re right,” she said.
“That they’ll be looking for us?”
“No. I mean yes, but no. I think you’re right that The Wisdom is here. I think we just saw it.”
Chapter 20
{Moving}
“IT’S DARK OUT,” ELIJAH said. “It’s time for us to go. We can’t stay down here any longer.”
“Where is down here?” she asked.
He pulled her arm over his shoulders and lifted up. It was no use trying to resist—he had already pulled her from the table.
Madelyn tried to straighten her legs. For a moment, she forgot to picture herself over the phantom Madelyn’s shoulder. Instead of flexing her legs, she straightened her arms. It only took a fraction of second to correct, but she was embarrassed by the way Elijah reacted.
“Whoops!” he said softly. “Just a little mishap there. You ready?”
Her reply was angry. “Answer me, damn you. Where did you take me?”
She couldn’t tell anything from the flickering, dancing images that passed for vision.
“We’re in the basement of the shopping center. After I cut you down, I couldn’t risk moving you very far.”
“Cut me down?” she asked. Madelyn struggled t
o make sense of that phrase.
“I said, ‘brought you down,’” he said.
She wanted to argue, but needed to focus on her balance. The water wasn’t helping. Learning how to move her legs was hard enough. Figuring it out against the resistance of the standing water was nearly impossible.
“Step up,” he said.
She looked down and saw the flickering gray line. In her diminished vision, her foot was just a jumble of blurry white shapes. It touched the gray line and she understood that they were climbing to a solid floor. As hard as it was to walk, she figured it would take even longer to adjust to the way her eyes worked now. They were nearly useless.
Elijah led her down a short hall and then up a flight of stairs. Madelyn didn’t dare look up to see how long their climb was going to be. It was hard enough to take each step. The thought of a whole flight was exhausting.
Eventually, Elijah had to slip into a soft chant to keep her moving.
“Just take one more. One more, and then I promise it will be over soon.”
As soon as she pushed herself up, he began his promises again.
She saw the last flickering line of a step. They only had four or five more torturous stairs to climb. Madelyn felt like refusing. If she refused to move, he might take pity and carry her. Elijah seemed to guess that she was at the end of her ability.
“Drink this,” he said. He pushed a bottle into her hand. With a little coaxing, she managed to get it to her lips. Madelyn sipped the sugary liquid. It burned down her throat and made her stand taller. The energy pulsed.
They climbed.
At the top of the stairs, Elijah left Madelyn holding onto the wall for support. He crossed the landing to a set of steel doors. She saw his shadowy outline press on the bar and exert pressure on the door. It squeaked and clicked before it began to swing out.
Madelyn reached up to cover her eyes as light flooded in from the gap between the doors. She held her breath as her eyes took in all the new details that she could see in the bright light. Everything before had been just the contrast of edges. She had been navigating from hints and suggestions of light. With all the light from outside, the place was alive with detail. She could even see the water evaporating from Elijah’s wet footprints.
