by D. F. Noble
“Because you're the strongest, Jake,” Randy said.
Jake shook his head. All he wanted to do was save these kids. Lead them? Lead them to what? “No, I'm not,” Jake said. “Dean could take me hand to hand, he's stronger.”
Dean shrugged and said nothing.
“Not just physical strength,” Alex argued. “There's more to it than that.”
“It's because you'll do the right thing, Jake,” Steffi said. “The kids are already looking to you for the answers. If it wasn't for you, none of us would even be here.”
Jake felt as if a weight was being placed on him. He suddenly wanted to make for the ladder and hightail it out of here. He'd never led anything before. If it weren't for Dean and Alex, he'd be a loner, just hanging out at his tree house and keeping to himself.
Jake's eyes darted to each of theirs. He read their faces. They weren't playing around, they weren't joking (well, maybe Dean was…he had a big shit-eating grin on his face watching Jake sweat.”
“Guys,” Jake said, “I don't know about this. I don't even know the first thing about-”
Alex cut him off. “Dude, you're already doing it.”
“Yeah,” Steffi agreed, “you're a natural. It's pretty obvious that you have to be the one.”
“And,” Randy said, “you're not a bully. That means a lot.”
Jake shook his head. “No. Let Dean do it. He's already dressed like a...like a..fucking soldier and shit.”
Dean nodded, said, “Hey man, I'll fight with you, and I'll fight for you. Don't put that shit on me.”
“Just hear us out,” Alex said. “We'll help you, okay? We'll…We'll be like a tribe. Since we're so small, we don't need some big complex government. We break it down easy. We have a council, and we have a chief. We figure out who's good at what, and we appoint them to take charge of that.”
“Like Indians?” Randy asked, his eyes perking up.
“Exactly,” Alex went on. There was excitement in his voice; the more he figured it out and went over the idea, the faster he began to talk. “Like, for example, Jake will be Chief, because he can fight, but he also knows when to be kind and when to be a hard ass. He's reserved and doesn't go crazy under pressure. The kids already look up to you, Jake, because of today, and I bet you, in their minds, and on the social political level, you have already become the alpha male.”
“Alpha male,” Dean said, “like a wolf pack. I can dig that.”
Alex nodded and went on. “And Dean, he's just fucking big and mean and crazy and can fight like a beast. He and Jake will work together, like War-Chiefs. You guys get to teach the rest of us how to fight. Dean can be our Master at Arms or something, you know? Like we need to think of names, make it sound official.”
Steffi sat up and squinted. Jake could see there was something working in her mind, and then she rose her finger. “I get it. I get it. Alex, you'll be the Wise Man, like the advisor to the king, or wait...not king.. Chief. And what about me and Randy?”
Dean grinned and said, “Who said you guys get to do anything?”
There was an odd, awkward glance as Randy and Steffi caught Dean's eyes. Neither of them knew him very well, and his sense of humor unsettled them. Alex gave a small laugh, and said, “He's fucking with you. Dean's a fucker, don't worry about him.”
“Yeah,” Dean smiled, “I'm really just a big ol' puppy-wuppy. Don't be scared.”
“So,” Alex asked, ignoring Dean, “what are you guys good at?”
Randy piped up immediately. “I can fight, and I know all kinds of stuff. I know how to farm, and I can fix cars and tractors. I can hunt and trap and fish. I know the land, I mean... my dad, he taught me a lot. I was gonna inherit the farm and...”
When Randy mentioned his dad, they could see his face sink a bit. Alex laid a hand on his shoulder and told him, “Then you're going to be a key figure if we want to survive long-term. We need to find a good name for your…your office, or…”
“We could call him The Druid?” Steffi said. “You know, like in the old days, druids knew magic of the land and all that stuff.”
“I don't know,” Randy said. “That sounds kinda gay.”
“We'll think of something, don't worry,” Alex said, and laughed. He turned to Steffi. “And what about you? Got any skills we can use?”
Steffi bit her lip for a moment. “Ummm,” she said, “I can sew, and I know CPR and stuff? Like first-aid. My mom was a nurse, so I know a little about that. I'm good with animals, and...well, I wanted to be a vet, or a nurse. I haven't made up my mind yet.”
“Do you think you could give people stitches?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” Steffi said, and made a face. “Probably...”
Dean laughed out of nowhere. “I know! We can make her The Witch Doctor!”
Jake shook his head. This was too much. He was so worn out that he thought for a moment he might be dreaming. He spoke up and said, “Guys, seriously, this is crazy. You're sitting here planning shit like…like we're the Lost Boys from Peter Pan and we don't even know what's going on. We don't know if this…if this is worldwide, or if this is…you know, just happening right here. What if this just happened here in town? What if we go to the next town and everything is fine, and no one even knows this happened? You know, maybe it's a freak accident or something-”
Alex held his hand up. “You're right,” he said. “We don't know. But don't you think we would've seen the police or the army or something coming here by now if it was just a freak accident?”
“How would they know?” Jake said, and gritted his teeth. “The phones don't work, and it's not like our parents are gonna call 'em and tell 'em.”
They drooped their heads for a moment. The silence was brutal, depressing, and Jake felt like he had just taken the wind out of their sails. He was scared and didn't want to admit it. Scared of being a leader, of the responsibility, scared that the world was forever fucked. He took a deep breath. “Okay, sorry,” Jake said. “You guys are probably right. We do need to…have order, or whatever… mostly to keep people from freaking out. Tomorrow we'll talk to everyone, see what happens. They might just tell us to fuck off if we start throwing rules at them. We need to get more supplies, more food. We'll send out a couple groups, one with Randy and his pick, and the other one with Dean and Alex. And me…I'll get on the bike and head over to the next town. I'll see…”
Jake paused for a moment and looked out into the embers burning in the center of town. He turned back to them and said, “I'll see if it's the same there.”
They nodded, glanced at each other. Then slowly they began to smile.
Dean grinned at Jake and said, “Spoken like a true leader.”
***
“Okay, everybody,” Jake heard Dean say, “listen up. We got some news, and you guys need to hear it. You see anybody sleeping, wake their asses up.”
The sun was low, but the water tower was already beginning to warm up. By midday they'd all be baking up here if they stayed. But that wasn't part of the plan; there was work to do. The kids began to rumble their way around to where Jake, Dean, Alex, Randy and Steffi stood. There was a nervous tension in the air, diluted by the occasional yawn and somebody complaining about being hungry or thirsty or needing to pee. It took a few minutes, but soon a crowd of twenty kids had packed themselves together.
“What's going on?”
“Are the crazy people coming?”
Dean stepped behind Jake and whispered to him. “It's all yours, fearless leader,” he said.
Jake shook his head. Apparently, Dean was going to joke even if the sky was raining hellfire and brimstone. Jake raised his hand and motioned them to be quiet. To his amazement, the group did just that. They shut up and waited for him to talk.
“After last night,” Jake said, paused and looked over them, “it's apparent we need some rules around here. I want you to listen to me carefully, because there are two choices.” Jake paused again, waiting for someone to speak up, for someone to bring
chaos to the whole ordeal, but a second passed and he continued. “First choice,” he said, “we either work together, like a team, or more than likely…we are all going to die. If you wanna do whatever you want, if you don't wanna help the team, that's where the second choice comes in.”
Jake paused again, waiting, wishing secretly that maybe this wouldn't work, that they'd all disperse in the wind and he could just worry about himself and his friends. But no, they stayed silent and listened. “The second choice,” he continued, “if you think you're better off on your own, then fine. No one is going to stop you from leaving. But if you're not part of us, then you're not staying here. I won't risk people's lives so somebody can be a baby and throw a goddamned fit. You saw what happened last night. One person risked every one of us. I won't have that.”
Alex stepped up beside Jake then and laid a hand on Jake's shoulder. “We aren't telling you what you have to do, we're asking for your help. If we join together, our chances to live…yeah, are way better than doing this alone. There's five of us, right now, with a plan. We want you to join us.”
Randy spoke up, “We want Jake to be our leader. You know what he did, you know he fought for us. You know he rode into town and fought for his friends, too. If you know him from school, you know he isn't a bully, he doesn't pick on people.”
The kids were looking at them, dumbfounded. Most of them still had to be in shock, and Jake wondered if this was a big waste of time. This felt stupid, felt like they were pretending to be politicians or something. He didn't like it. It felt fake.
“Listen,” Steffi said then, calm and cool. “I know something horrible happened yesterday. We all lost people. This—whatever is happening—is so crazy... it's like a nightmare. But I promise you, if you help us survive, we will help you. We…we lost our families yesterday. Lost our moms, our dads, our brothers, our sisters. We have one chance to make it out of this, and that's by sticking together. We have to be a family now.”
There came a murmuring in the crowd, whispers amongst them. Then Bobbie, his long blonde hair tied back in a pony tail, asked, “What do we have to do?”
Dean replied, “For you guys that are ready, we have work to do. We need to get supplies. We'll split into two teams today, one led by me and Alex, the other by Randy. For the kids that are too young, we're gonna need some of you to stay back and watch over them. We're gonna train you to fight, how to shoot and use a gun. We're gonna have to fight…Jake is gonna take a look over in the next town, see if the grownups are crazy there, too. Gonna try to find us some answers, or some help.”
More murmurs, kids talking to their friends—or people that were once only acquaintances, but now bound together in horror and blood. Bobbie spoke up again. “I'm ready,” he said. “I'm with you.”
As he started worming his way through the kids towards them, Greg called out, “Hell, I'm with you, too!”
“Me too,” Joe said.
“I'm with you,” Cat said, her red hair tangled up in knots from a terrible night's sleep.
“I'm with you.”
“We're with you.”
“Me too.”
“And me.”
One by one their voices called out. A wave of emotion rolled over Jake. They were looking at him, all of their eyes pouring into him, all of their fear, their worry, it bit into his being. He didn't want it. All of these people looking to him to lead them, to risk their lives at his call. It was almost too much. Jake felt a hand on his shoulder, then another. He turned and saw that Dean and Alex had their hands on him. Then more joined them. Randy and Steffi, and more and more, all of them linking hands, grasping each other's shoulders, forming a huddle, a web.
Jake looked up then and a saw a flock of geese flying in formation. It made sense. Any pack had a leader. It was hard, and it scared him to death, but he felt something rising up in him. There was power here, a sense he had never really felt. He belonged to something. For once in his life, he thought he knew what it was like to have a family.
“We do this,” Jake said, and for a moment his voice wavered with emotion.
“We do this,” they repeated to him in unison.
And then it rose up in him, like a volcano blowing its top. Jake sucked air into his lungs, felt as if he could swallow the sky. “WE DO THIS!” Jake's voice boomed, and the kids echoed back the words like a chant.
“WE FIGHT!...(WE FIGHT!)”
“WE LIVE!...(WE LIVE!)”
“WE DO THIS!... (WE DO THIS!)”
Chapter 13
A Wise Old Owl
The Elder pauses and watches his audience. As he spoke the last words, that chant, the children began to echo him. It brought chills up his spine, and for a moment he lapsed back to that day on the tower, when the bonds were first formed. Their young voices remind him, take him back, and for a moment he's there, a child again.
A minute or so passes, and the fervor begins to cool when the children see he is no longer speaking. The mantra dies down and they focus on him. He smiles back, pride in his face and shimmering eyes.
“That is all for tonight, little birds,” he says, and begins to stand.
“Aaaaaawww,” comes the group sigh.
Sparrow Sun, a boy on his twelfth year, speaks up. “Can we hear about the Tribe War? Please!? What about Chris?”
The Elder shakes his head. “It's a late hour, Sparrow. We will continue another night.” The Elder's bones creak as he stands and stretches, and again the children moan. “You all have your trials to think about, I suggest you get your rest. Now off, all of you.”
There come sighs and grumblings, but they begin to stand and stretch as well. Another Elder, a black woman, opens a hatch in the floor, and the children begin to make their way down. What was once an old water tower has now been reinforced with wood and stone and steel. Its outer layer reveals nothing of its past, for now it has become something out of a fairy tale, a castle of old. A layer of floors and stairs wind down it now. Extra rooms built upon the early structure. It took almost two generations and many errors, but now the thing was strong, stronger than when it was born. Strong like their people.
Their mecca, their temple...
Their fortress.
Their fort.
The Elder watches till the last of them go. The other Elder, the dark woman, flashes a smile at him. “You coming down?”
He shakes his head. “Not for a bit. I'd like to step out on the balcony and think for awhile.”
She nods and disappears into the floor hatch. The Elder listens to her footsteps echo back for a moment, and turns to another door that leads outside. With a creak it opens, and the night is revealed to him. A cool wind and the full moon greet the Elder, and the sky is brilliant with stars. Below, the rings and outer rings of tree houses that circle the tower flicker with light through canopies of trees, and the Elder grins and thinks...
We built this...
Children built this city...
He leans against the balcony and takes in the sights, relishing them. Then a lonely thought seeps into his heart. The Elder wishes Red Crow and Blood Wolf were here, old men like him, enjoying this vision...
A flutter of wings catches his attention, and a moment later, a black bird lands on the balcony not far off to his right. The bird tilts its head comically at him and caws once, then twice in short bursts.
One of the Elder's eyebrows perks up. Something odd about this bird, he thinks...
The bird hops closer and caws again.
A strange feeling tugs at the Elder's heart. Could it be? No...
But... stranger things have happened.
“I see you,” the Elder says. “Old friend, I see you.”
***
“He's awake!”
Red Crow opened his eyes slowly. Daylight crept through the roof of the tree house. His tree house. Snow Fox—Steffi—was at the door, yelling out. He instantly yearned for her touch. He was confused and his body felt stiff like wood. With some strain, he began to sit up.
>
“How…” his voice croaked and he cleared his throat. “How long have I been out?”
She hurried back to the bed and wrapped her arms around him tight enough that he could feel the air evacuating. Her voice trembled in his ear, part sadness and worry and excitement.
“Almost a week!” she said. “Oh god, we thought we lost you, Jake. They thought you were going to die, but I knew…I knew you wouldn't…”
Snow Fox began to cry openly then, and he held her as tight as he could. “Steffi, it's okay. It's okay… I… I just… what happened?”
From the door, two figures emerged: Blood Wolf and Owl, both of them with mixed emotions on their faces. As their eyes came upon him, smiles broke out.
“I dragged your ass back here,” Blood Wolf said. “You're a lot heavier than you look, asshole.”
Red Crow beamed his own smile at them. “I was…I was having the weirdest dream. I dreamt…that Alex was old as shit and was telling our story to a bunch of kids…and the water tower looked like a castle and…”
Owl—Alex—sat beside him. “Tell us later, okay? We need to get some food and water in you. You've been straight catatonic, man. Scared the shit out of us. So glad you're back.”
Red Crow rubbed his eyes. “I remember…the pyramid…and a voice…and…and I fell out…It was like I fell out of the world, and I was gone so long. I can't even say, it was like forever. And then…then I was traveling through space…and stars…and I saw…it sounds ate up, I know, but I saw a campfire in space…and I got closer…and you were there, Alex, but you were old and…”
“Later, man,” Blood Wolf said, “take it easy. Your throat is dry as shit, you'll throw your damn voice out.”
Red Crow laughed then. He felt mad, insane. What the hell was that all about? That damn pyramid. That voice. I see you.
“I think I saw the future,” Red Crow said, “and the past… God, feels like I'm going crazy-”
Red Crow shot back up again, this time fear in his eyes. “The video! Alex, did you see it!? The pyramid!?”
