by Blou Bryant
Rocky was quieter than usual—and that was saying something. Wyatt left him alone and fell silent himself, ignoring the talk that filled the back of the bus. There were empty rows between him and the others, and he didn’t mind, taking the time to count passing lights, barns, stars, anything and everything. Numbers calmed him. The virus was acting within him, he could feel working its way through him, changing him. His arm ached badly from the gunshot and he used that to drive deeper into himself.
Two hours later, Rocky told Ahmed to get off the interstate. To their right was a small community, but they bypassed it and he had the gangster turn up a country road past farmland and into a conservation area. Another half hour, and they left civilization fully behind. A wide river on the left made occasional appearances and occasional homes lit the night in front of them and just as quickly disappeared behind.
Wyatt was roused from his reverie when the bus turned from gravel onto smooth paved asphalt. Fifteen minutes later, they slowed, and he stood, then bent down to see out the front. There were large concrete blocks in the road. Ahmed turned to Rocky, who waved them forward. “Keep going, slow though, keep it slow.”
To each side were large dark concrete bunkers, their inhabitants invisible behind floodlights that focused on the bus.
“Keep going. Slow.”
Ahmed wove between blocks and they approached a large steel gate.
“Stop here.”
“Duh,” replied the younger man.
Rocky got out when the bus stopped and two men stepped out from behind one of the lights, automatic weapons in hand and body armor covering them from head to toe. Wyatt followed him out but kept his distance. Words were whispered and Rocky slipped a small package into the taller man’s hand.
“Everyone out, tell them to keep their hands visible,” he said to Ahmed, who had joined Wyatt at the door to the bus.
The message was passed back and the group walked out. Two more men appeared from behind the light. Both had small tablets in hand. One approached Wyatt. “Are you law enforcement?”
Wyatt didn’t answer right away, and the man raised his gun.
“Answer him,” said Rocky. Louder, he yelled to the group, “Answer the questions quickly and honestly.”
“No,” answered Wyatt, not understanding, but not arguing.
“Are you private security?”
Sorta, he thought. The man wasn’t smiling, his eyes flittering between the tablet and Wyatt. There wasn’t any humor in those eyes. “No,” Wyatt said.
“Do you have any recording equipment on you?”
“No,” said Wyatt.
“Do you work for the owners of the bunker, or a company employed by them?”
“No,” said Wyatt, now even more intrigued. The man glanced at the tablet, nodded, and moved on to the next person, and asked them the same questions. This over with, Wyatt stepped forward to join Rocky. He had questions, but wasn’t going to ask them in front of the guards. Rocky glanced at him and nodded, understanding his confusion, and appreciating his discretion.
When everyone had been checked, they were returned to the bus. The taller guard approached Rocky and pointed at the bag. “What’s in there?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Two guards flanked him, and they raised their weapons. “That’s not how it works,” one said.
Rocky took a small card from his pocket and proffered it to the guard. “Nothing to worry about.”
The guard tapped the card against his own tablet and after a moment, smiled. “You’re cleared,” he said.
Chapter 19
Once past the concrete outposts, they were confronted by a landscape denuded of trees, that shimmered in the faint moonlight. No longer gathered in the back of the bus, the group packed into the front, watching the road warily.
The road was a wide two lanes, smooth as silk and completely empty. Teri sat next to Wyatt, and he took his cue from her and remained quiet. Their eyes had locked briefly when they returned to the bus, and she had given him a small nod. It’s all right, this is where we’re supposed to be, he imagined she was saying. Now she stared forward and ignored the murmurings around them.
As the bus and its wary cargo crested a hill, a long valley came into view, centered by what appeared to be a large mall, missing only the bright signs. Covered in solar cells it was surrounded by a parking lot. Beyond that were fields lit by spotlights, the building itself a squat three stories in height, and as wide as several soccer fields. The parking lot was half full, but no shoppers were in sight.
Wyatt peered across the fields at the concrete boxes set around the perimeter. This wasn’t a resort nor was it a lost shopping mall hidden in the forest, tucked against the Canadian border. The absence of windows pointed to builders not focused on creating a welcoming environment. As they closed in, more barricades appeared with barbed wire strung between them.
Four armed guards flanked a large steel door that quietly rolled to one side as if gliding on air. Despite the smooth movement, the steel was easily a foot thick, strong enough to withstand a large blast.
Rocky got up first. “This is our new home… for how long, I don’t know. There aren’t many rules here and the residents are… different, even by our standards. Don’t cause problems. We stick to ourselves.”
As he followed Rocky out of the bus, Wyatt gave him a brief touch on the arm. “Is it safe?”
“I don’t know,” Rocky replied before greeting the guards.
The group was led into the building. There were two further security checkpoints, each enclosed by large glass doors. At the first one, every person was led through individually, scanned from head to toe and patted down.
Emm had edged up next to Wyatt as they waited their turn for the second one. “Do you know anything?”
“Nothin….”
She grumbled but went through the second one without protest. Inside the glass enclosure, she put her hand on a tablet for a few seconds. The guard with her watched it and waved her through.
The guard motioned at Teri to go through and, to Wyatt’s surprise, she started crying and hugged him tight, her arms around his waist.
“Come on, kid, it’s easy,” the bulky guard—Ted, according to his nametag—said, and swung his gun around so it hung behind him, and away from her. His face reddened as she cried louder. He put a hand on her shoulder to calm her and it had the opposite effect, leading her to hug tighter to Wyatt.
Ted motioned the next person through and kneeled down so he was at Teri’s level. “What’s wrong, little girl? Are you scared?”
There was a pause in her shrieking and she stepped back, signing quickly.
Wyatt caught one word. “Brother?” he asked. She nodded.
“You’re her brother?” Ted asked Wyatt.
Teri nodded furiously.
“She’s mute?” he asked.
Wyatt nodded. Sorta.
Ted looked at her as if she’d been stricken with the plague. “Poor thing. Do you want your brother with you?”
Wyatt stayed silent. Teri nodded again.
When Emm cleared, Ted motioned for them to go ahead together into the booth, happy to have her stop crying. “Family pair,” he said.
Sometimes, Wyatt was happiest when he didn’t talk, and sometimes that was also when he was wisest. This apparently was one of those moments, as Teri took his hand and lead him into the booth. The guard—this one was ‘Sheri’—looked past him at empty space and held out a tablet. “Hand on the tablet for DNA scan.”
The crying fit was quickly forgotten and his chest tightened as if he wasn’t getting enough air. They couldn’t take a scan. It might not find the V32, but if it did…
Teri squeezed his hand, drawing his gaze down to her. The residue of tears still stained her cheeks, but her cloudy eyes twinkled, the blue flecks sparkling like the stars they’d left behind. Trust me.
Oxygen flooded into his lungs, freed from the momentary spasms caused by the threat of expo
sure, released by the touch of a young woman. He put his free hand on the tablet. A slight surge—no more than a tingle—of electricity, touched the other hand and flowed through him. The tablet beeped once, then twice.
Wyatt held his breath as the guard reviewed the results.
Bored, she motioned him to step aside—he’d passed. “Okay. Now the kid.”
Teri let his hand go and put hers on the tablet. Two beeps later, they were released to the other side of the security cage, their DNA passing muster.
Wyatt wasn’t sure what had exactly happened, a state that was becoming more and more common for him. He raised one eyebrow enough that Teri could see his confusion. He doubted that it was needed, she probably could sense it.
“Brother,” she signed. “Thanks for protecting me, big sugar,” using a nickname she’d inadvertently given him almost four years earlier. Somehow, she signed it with a bit of attitude.
“Teenagers,” he signed back, or at least he thought he did.
Once the full group was cleared, they were through a large double steel door. A pear-shaped woman wearing a bright skirt, a deranged grin, bare feet and a bare chest, approached with a clipboard. “Welcome to Palna. My name is Rainbow.” She waited, unmoving. The group stared at her and she stared back, her expression not changing.
Teri moved a foot forward and signed, “Hi.”
Rainbow’s grin turned down. She turned to the group, her eyes displaying confusion. “I don’t sign,” she said, appearing stricken.
Wyatt joined his ‘sister’ and put out his hand, “She said hi, he replied. He almost fell backward as Rainbow lurched forward for a hug.
“Handshakes are a sign of the patriarchy,” she said and pulled him in close. He awkwardly returned the hug, well aware of his hand on her bare back and her bare chest against him. “She’s one of Mother Nature’s special ones?”
Pulling himself out of the hug, Wyatt took two steps back as Teri clasped his hand. “She’s my sister,” he said, stupidly.
“Special. We love all differences in Palna.”
“Thank you?”
“No, thank you!” Rainbow had recovered from her inability to read sign language. “Security says you have booked a suite of rooms together?” she said, sounding disappointed.
“Yes?” Wyatt said and turned to get help from Rocky. The big man gave a small wave… keep going, you’re doing fine.
“We can stay wherever we want, so if you wish to separate yourself, we don’t judge,” she said, sounding very much like she was judging him. “I’ll give you the tour and let you meet some of your new brothers and sisters.” With this, she took his hand and led them down a long white hall. Wyatt turned his head back for help and received nothing but smiles from Emm and the others.
Rainbow bubbled on about the broad—diverse—mix of people who lived in Palna and activities that the Dogs could undertake. The wing they moved through appeared to be reserved for storage and general activities. In one side room, Wyatt saw stacks of crates, and in another, towers of toilet paper. Loud noise to one side pointed to a laundry staffed by workers dressed in uniformly crisp white uniforms.
“What is this place?”
“You don’t know what Palna is? How’d you get here, rinky-dink?”
Rinky-dink? “A friend made arrangements.”
“It’s paradise.”
Well, that answered that.
“A refuge,” she continued as they passed what resembled a kitchen but smelled like a dump. “From the evil of the capitalist world.” She let go of his hand and before he could give a sigh of relief, she took him by the arm. Her right breast flopped against him as she bounced down the hall next to him. “And we’re blessed to have you.”
Unsure how to respond, Wyatt kept walking. There was a small cough from behind him that sounded as if it masked a laugh. He made a mental note to—somehow—make Teri pay for enjoying this.
“We,” said Rainbow, “come from across the world and have made this the one true democracy. We live in peace and share in everything.” She squeezed his arm at the last word.
And how do you pay for it? Who built it, who’s in charge, who does the work? Wyatt had ten… a hundred questions, but kept quiet and kept walking, leaning as far away from the flopping breast as possible without offending her. Teri gave him a gentle nudge with her shoulder and glanced up with a lopsided grin.
After what seemed a half mile, they came out into a wide-open chamber centered by a fountain. People milled about and sat in small groups. Some dressed like Rainbow, hippies born too late, while others were dressed in sleek post-modern black and heads of hair that’d make a Hollywood stylist proud.
They took an escalator to the second floor where a glass enclosure looked down over the hall. Teri gave a tug towards the right, a wide blue hall, causing Wyatt to look at her and then over her. “What?” he asked.
She tugged again, her eyes expressive, but not in a way that told him anything more than that she wanted to go in that direction.
“Who built this place?” asked Wyatt as they continued through.
“It was built by some rich people, not like you, but prepper types, if you know what I mean, who were getting ready for the apocalypse.”
“And they rent it out?”
“No.”
Wyatt tried—gently—to get more information out of her, but she wasn’t interested in talking about the history of the building. The amenities, however, were something she was more than willing to discuss. There were forty-four suites of rooms in total, and the Dogs had taken three in a wing of their own.
“Each suite had four bedrooms in addition to multiple bathrooms, two kitchens and four living areas,” she said. The twenty-one escapees would be more comfortable than they’d been in years. At the end of a long green hallway, they arrived at their suites.
The first was tastefully done in beige and bronze, with black and dark red wood furniture and limited decoration. Two windows that turned out to be televisions displayed a field and forests at night, dark trees rising virtually against the moonlight. Rainbow noticed him admiring their quality.
“You can choose multiple settings, including city, desert and ocean. This is the most popular. It’s set to match the time of day here.”
Wyatt nodded. “It’s following the natural cycle, so I assume it’ll be daybreak on them soon?”
“It’s beautiful. I wake up early every day to meditate to the sun rising over the ocean. It’s just like the real thing.”
“No real windows, for security sake, I assume?”
“I don’t know?” hummed Rainbow, staring at a deer that wandered out of the virtual forest.
“And this prevents the depression that results from the isolation.”
I could have used one of these in some of the basements I’ve lived in over the past three years.
“We were born in the womb of Mother Nature,” said Rainbow, somewhat randomly and moved on to the third bedroom. It had a similar feature on one wall, and an electric or propane fireplace on another, flanking a king size bed that was covered in thick white comforters. All the beds were king size, only the color of the pillows and sheets varied.
The third suite was much the same, just with more gold than bronze and more white than beige. Everything, from the burnished fixtures, to the exquisitely reproduced artwork, appeared top notch, and expensive as hell. “Can you imagine how much this cost?” he whispered to Rocky as the tour wound down.
“You’re a billionaire, what’s a few million?” was the chuckled reply. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
The tour finished and Rainbow gathered the group together in the great room of the second suite and explained the mechanics of living in Palna.
They could get food from the stores and cook for themselves—only the best food that money could buy, she claimed—or join others in one of the four communal eating areas. Clothing and toiletries—and anything they needed—were available in the stores. There were eight of these scatt
ered through the Palna. There were broad smiles all around at this news; there had been no time to pack, and many were still dressed in their pajamas.
“A toothbrush, how much is a toothbrush and paste?” asked Emm.
“Free. Everything is free. You’ve left capitalism and greed behind,” said Rainbow with a broad smile.
Sure, as long as you’ve paid a million or five in advance, it’s all free.
“Free shopping?” said Ari.
“Awesome!” replied Ira.
“Can we go now?” asked Ari, desperately looking to Wyatt for permission.
Glancing at the array of tired faces, he agreed. “Sure, pick me up some clothing, a toothbrush, and floss. Rocky, stay with me?”
“Got it,” said Ari.
“Wait,” Wyatt said. “The clothes, nothing tight. Make it all extra-large except the pants. And underwear, boxers, not briefs.”
“Yes, boss,” the twins chimed, and with this, Rainbow led the group of shoppers out of the suite and down the hall.
Alone now, Rocky picked up the bag that Patterson had given him and walked to their room. Once they were alone, he said, “You take naturally to this leading thing. Well done.”
Wyatt grunted. “Well, you could have….”
Rocky interrupted him. “Let’s have some silent time, it’s been a busy day.” When the door behind them closed, he put the large bag down on the counter and rooted around in it. “There we go,” he said as he pulled out a thin pen. He clicked it twice and a red light lit up on the tip. He moved this left and right, and it glowed brighter, then dimmed, then brightened again as he pointed it down a hall.
Wyatt watched with interest as Rocky let the pen lead him through the suite. In the kitchen, it led him to a coffeemaker, which he quickly disassembled, finding and then crushing a small dime-shaped object that was under the lid. Moving through the various rooms, he found four more of the same little disks. Without a word, he destroyed each. When the pen no longer glowed red, he put the pen back in the bag.
“One of Patterson’s toys?”
“Good for finding bugs. He sent along a care package with a few things we can use,” replied Rocky.
