Famine

by R A Doty

  It took everything she had to control her emotions when she spotted the peaches in heavy syrup. When she was a child, every Sunday after dinner she and her parents would each enjoy a small bowl of canned peaches topped with whipped cream. Her favorite part was bringing the bowl to her mouth and drinking the remainder of the syrup. She dropped to the countertop, sobbing in her hands. The thought of never seeing her parents again was too much to handle. She suddenly felt so alone without them.

  Calla and April rushed to her.

  “Are you okay?” Calla asked, caressing Betty’s back.

  “What’s wrong?” April added. “Are you injured?”

  Betty stood, her hand wiping her eyes, a forced smile masking the memory. “I’m fine. I was just remembering something I have to let go.” She stood aside of the cabinet and raised her hand at its contents. “Anybody hungry?”

  “Is that food?” April asked, eyeing all of the cans.

  “I can’t believe it,” Calla said.

  The commotion caught Cain’s attention, so he walked over to the cabinet, staring at its contents. How is this possible? Somebody should have found this by now, although it was out of the immediate vicinity of the church. Was it really that easy to keep people out? Just put a sign up that says KEEP OUT? He grabbed a can of the hash, the thought of its taste already forcing his mouth to water.

  Betty took the can from him, and he stared at her the way a child would when its mother takes away a piece of candy before dinner. “Cain decided on the hash,” Betty said, and grabbed two more cans. “Why don’t you guys sit down and I’ll prepare breakfast.”

  Eating a plate-full of cold hash was more than any of them could have possibly hoped for as they scraped their forks against the plates, trying to pierce every bit of the food.

  “Maybe we should stay here a while,” Betty said, “at least until the remainder of the food is gone. What do you think, Cain?”

  After eating the last forkful of food on his plate, Cain considered Betty’s idea. They would probably be safe as long as they stayed in the building, undetected. They could keep all of the drapes closed and make as little sound as possible. It might just work. He nodded.

  “When we leave here,” Betty continued, “I know another place we should try to locate.” Everyone turned to her, curious as to what place she had in mind. “I overheard David talking to that man he caught a while back, the one that had the estate we tried to help him regain control of.”

  Cain thought, The Steinberg estate. He’d never forget the name. If that man had never showed up, perhaps Janette would still be here.

  Betty continued, “I think I remember where he said it was located. Maybe we could find it and stay there if they’d let us.”

  That didn’t seem like a good idea to Cain. After all, the church had lost the battle and Janette never returned. They must be heavily armed with a lot of manpower. There’s no way they would take on outsiders who have nothing to offer. But if they did? It would be a sanctuary. All the food they’d want and a fence to keep out the rest of the world. The girls would be safe. Maybe it was worth a try. He remembered what his father used to say: the answer is no if you don’t ask. Like when he wanted to join the National Guard, but the vision in his right eye was less than perfect. The thought was humorous. He wondered what they would say, now.

  “What do you think?” Betty asked, looking directly at Cain.

  He nodded.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  COLTON North led Elana Thorpe and her son, Steven, to a place he knew they’d be safe. That is, as safe as one could be nowadays. Dan McAllister followed from behind. Elana hurried her pace to walk side-by-side with Colton. She wanted to ask him a question that she knew he had the answer to, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer. Would knowing matter anymore? Or would it torment her for the rest of her life? Tear her apart from the inside-out. Make her want to die. She took a deep breath, her eyes still puffy and red from saying good bye to her only daughter forever. She had to ask.

  “I know you’ve been there, Cole, to the place they took Jessie.” She faced Colton. “What’s it called?”

  “Ancada,” Colton said, nodding his head slightly. Just saying the name triggered a sense of doom. What the hell has it become since he left?

  “Ancada,” Elana repeated. She smiled through a frown, tears beginning to well in her eyes. It didn’t sound so bad. Maybe it was as nice as the man in the chopper had said. Maybe Jessie would like it there, get an education, wear nice clothes, eat decent food. Maybe. A tear trickled down her face. But why then did Colton try so hard to stop the helicopter from leaving? Stop them! But it was too late. With each second, her daughter was being pulled farther away from her and there was nothing she could do at that point. But would she have stopped it if she could? Cole’s response to the question she was about to ask would determine that.

  “I need you to be honest, Cole. I need to know the truth.” Elana grabbed Colton’s wrist, stopping him. Steven and Dan stopped as well. Everything seemed to stop. For a brief moment, there wasn’t one sound on the entire earth until Elana’s voice broke the silence. “Will Jessie be all right? Will she have the life they promised me she would have?”

  Colton was a man that never felt the need to sugarcoat anything. He truly believed that honesty was indeed the best policy. Was it ever really necessary to be anything but forthright? Could the truth really hurt a person that much? Wouldn’t they heal from the truth eventually and be stronger for it in the long run? He could have come up with a thousand more reasons why he should tell Elana the truth, the answer she was looking for, but he knew there was no way she would be able to handle it. He would be handing her a death sentence. How could he possibly tell her that her little girl was probably taken to Ancada to be slaughtered like livestock when she reached a suitable age? Who would be able to tell any mother that? He looked her dead in the eyes and told the easiest lie he had ever told in his life. A lie he truly felt good about. He held her hands in his.

  “She’ll be fine, Elana. They have everything she’ll ever need there.”

  Elana smiled, tears now streaming down both cheeks. “Why did you try to stop them? You warned us about that place, but you never told us why. What’s wrong with it?”

  “I just didn’t agree with what they were doing. They were embarking on a new science that would alter the DNA of human beings so we would never fall victim to disease or illness or biological defects.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” Steven asked.

  “Some might see it that way, but I didn’t. I think mankind has to be molded by nature. To grow stronger naturally. Through evolution. Anything else would be like playing God.”

  Colton continued walking and everyone followed. How noble it would have been to truly believe what he said. But he didn’t. Nothing could be more exciting than to rid mankind of disease. To prolong life, maybe for eternity. To create a species of super humans that would be far more intelligent and superior than any generation that had ever walked the earth. And Ancada did it. But not for the reasons he had wanted. They did it to kid themselves that they had created a new species of livestock that could be harvested and eaten at will. It was their naïve answer to the food shortage.

  “The boy that went with Jessie. Josh,” Colton said. “I know why you agreed to let Jessie go with them, but why did Josh go? Did they promise him the same things?”

  “They didn’t have to,” Elana said. “Josh volunteered to look after Jessie. You know him?”

  “He’s the reason Dan and I came back. His parents told me their son was missing, and when they described him I remembered passing him and the man that killed–”

  “It’s okay, Cole,” Elana said. “Samuel’s gone and nothing can change that. He was a good husband and he did his best to take care of us. If it weren’t for Josh none of us would probably be alive.” The thought of Samuel made Elana realize they were heading right back in the direction they came when they first met Colton a
nd he was leading her, Samuel, Stevie, and Jessie to their new cottage. They had had such high hopes of a better life. She felt numb, like none of it ever happened. She stared down at the ground as she walked, discreetly shaking her head in dismay.

  Is that all life is, one broken dream after another, each chipping away at hope until there’s nothing left and you look forward to dying? Elana finally reached that point. Nothing was worth the effort it took to survive anymore. There was still Stevie, but she knew he would be better off without her and he’d have a better chance of surviving if he only had to look out for himself. She raised her head and peered out at the ocean. If she were alone she would veer to the right and let the colossal expanse of the sea swallow her and her existence away. Just another spec of sand that nobody would ever remember one hundred years from now. If she were alone. But she knew Stevie and Colton wouldn’t allow that. She would have to wait.

  “I’m sorry, Cole,” she said, “I know you said where you were taking us, but I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “With everything that’s happened, that’s understandable, Elana. You and Steve don’t have enough time left to re-stock your supplies before winter, so Dan and I are bringing you to the Steinberg estate. It’s Josh’s house, his parents are the ones that sent us out to find him.”

  “And because of me, you have to tell them their son isn’t coming home.”

  “It isn’t your fault, Elana. You just wanted what was best for the children. And besides, Josh volunteered, remember?”

  “He only did that because he knew how nervous I was that Jessie would be all alone. He’s such a selfless boy.”

  “I know Josh pretty good,” Dan said from behind. He hustled to walk with Colton and Elana. “Trust me, he’ll take care of your daughter.”

  Elana nodded. “Thank you for that.”

  JOSH Steinberg stood at the edge of the concrete, the chain-link fence preventing him from reaching a world he was once so very much a part of. That and, of course, the ocean surrounding Ancada. His arms were stretched high over his head with his fingers gripping the holes in the wire. If one didn’t see his feet touching the ground, it looked as though he was hanging from the fence like a gecko or a tree frog clinging to the side of a building. His new life wasn’t exactly what he had envisioned when he agreed to live on the island in the ocean—the mysterious island shimmering far in the distance. He imagined trying out new gadgets that the rest of the world had never seen and living in an amazing house that was completely automated and did anything you asked it to do, like make you whatever you wanted to eat, and wearing the coolest clothes that made you look like an astronaut or something. He glanced at his white jumpsuit, the baggy sleeves falling halfway down his outstretched arms, far from something an astronaut would wear. His stomach growled. It has to be almost feeding time by now. He glanced behind him to see if any of the others were running to their pens to get their afternoon rations, but they were all in their usual spots in the yard. Even Jessie was in the spot she liked best—hidden inside the hollowed concrete cube, away from the others. At least she was in the yard and not hiding in her pen.

  He turned back to the fence and rested his forehead on the wire. As he gazed out across the ocean at the mainland, he wondered how powerful a wish could be. If you wanted something so bad, and wished really hard, would it eventually come true? Or was it just coincidence that he was on the great island of Ancada after wishing for it to happen so many times. How many times had he stared out across the ocean, wishing he was where he was right now? And now, more than anything, he wished he was back on the mainland. It’s only been three days, three full days (and one half-day of getting settled in once they arrived), but he already regretted the decision to come here. He hadn’t seen any part of the city itself, except the inside of this building where they keep him, Jessie, and the others that arrived with them. It was so exciting stepping off the helicopter and onto the island. Where would we live and what would we get to eat? What do the cars look like? Do they have spaceships? Can I train to be an astronaut?

  His smile never faded as he and the others were guided along the sidewalk. With his head tilted back, he looked toward the top of the concrete wall, and then to the left and the right. It seemed to go on forever, as far as the eye could see. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen, aside from the giant helicopter that brought him here. His heart pumped the excitement through his entire body and he shivered, remembering the moment. And then when they entered the building where he had to squint because it was so bright, the excitement still coursed inside him. It looked like a medical facility. They’ll probably have to give us some shots or something to make sure we’re not sick before they let us into the city, he had thought.

  He stared at the bruise on the inside of his elbow. The muscle was still sore. He didn’t think there would be that many shots. Poor Jessie. She cried for the remainder of the first day until exhaustion silenced her. His first thought that something wasn’t right was when they had to strip out of their clothes and were sprayed with the icy water. After that, they were brought to what, he thought, was a temporary holding cell until their permanent rooms were ready. The permanent rooms never came. After the first two days, Josh realized this was probably all he would see of the island-city in the middle of the ocean.

  When he heard the others running to their pens he knew it was feeding time. His fingers released their grip on the fence and his arms slowly lowered to his sides. As he stared out across the ocean, he wished one more time, really hard, that he was back on the mainland. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. It couldn’t have been.

  MOST of the children captured from the mainland had run to their pens to grab the tray they knew would be sliding through the feed door at any moment. But there was one small-framed five-year-old girl that remained inside the large concrete cube in the middle of the common yard area. She sat with her legs crossed and her hands folded onto her lap. Her head faced the concrete floor with her scraggly brown hair hanging in front of her face, which was expressionless. No smiles, no frowns. Nothing. Lifeless. Josh walked over to the cube and knelt down to meet her on her level. She slowly turned her head and looked at him.

  Josh smiled, as if it would somehow change Jessie’s demeanor. As if anything could change the fact that she no longer had a mother, a father, or a big brother, although she now thought of Josh as her brother. “It’s time to eat, Jess. You have to go to your pen.” Josh hated the word, pen, but it was better than calling the place they were assigned to sleep a cell. He couldn’t think of himself as a prisoner, although deep inside he knew that was exactly what he and Jessie now were. The one thing he didn’t know was, why. Why weren’t they allowed into the city with the others? Why did they have to stay in a cage like an animal? No immediate answers came to mind. The only thing he knew for sure was that it was his responsibility to take care of Jessie, as he had promised her mother he would. “You know they don’t like it if you don’t eat.” Josh reached out his hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your pen.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “If you don’t eat, you’ll get weak. And if you get weak, you’ll get sick.”

  “I don’t want to eat. I want to go home. I want to see Mommy and Stevie. Can’t we go back home, Josh? I don’t like it here. The people are mean.”

  “We can go back home, someday. But not right now. But if you don’t eat, you might get sick, and if you get sick they might not ever let you go back home.” Josh extended his hand again. “Now come on, Jess, let’s eat.”

  Jessie took Josh’s hand, and he helped her out of the cube and to her feet. When she reached her pen, she walked up to the feed door and stared at the tray. She grabbed one of the green biscuits and started nibbling on it. A small piece of fish soon followed, washed down immediately by a drink of water.

  “Try to eat it all,” Josh said, heading toward the door. “We’ll meet back in the yard when we finish eating.” He went back to his pen to get his tray o
f kelp, seaweed biscuits, and fish, none of which appealed to him either. He didn’t blame Jessie for not wanting to eat it.

  Part Two: April

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  A week had passed, and life became as close to stable as one could possibly ask. Daily routines were established and each evening everyone would convene in the living room, or parlor, as Calla liked to call it, to find ways to entertain themselves without the automatic, mind-numbing effect of a television or electricity to distract them from real life. They were living as the original residents had lived when the building was first constructed more than three hundred years ago.

  After using an entire can of some generic odor remover he found under the kitchen sink on the cushions, and wrapping it in a blanket from one of the beds, Cain sat in the chair the dead guy sat in, or, was sitting in, before he buried him in the back yard. He figured if the man was smart enough to keep intruders out of his house with all that food in the cabinets, then he at least deserved a decent burial. So that’s what he did. He buried him under a big maple that took up most of the back yard. He would have made a wooden cross with the guy’s name on it, but he didn’t know it. Sure, he could have checked the house for an envelope or a utility bill in his name, but could he ever really be sure? Maybe the guy himself was an intruder.