by Valerie Puri
“Victor deviated from the original plan years ago. You were instrumental in making that possible for him. No one would dare touch him so long as you were around to protect him and obey his every command.”
“You make me sound like a docile. I’m capable of doing more than one thing.” Sash snarled through gritted teeth.
“Evidently so, but Victor didn’t think that. He only saw what your physical strength could do for him. He overlooked your most valuable asset: your mind.”
Victor had asked for his input on important matters before… hadn’t he? The more Sash thought about it, the less he thought it was true. Did Victor really only use him like a docile?
“Aside from Victor, we all saw your value. When you weren’t around, I made sure the others in the Order knew of your unwavering loyalty and dedication to our cause. Without you, Victor wouldn’t have amounted to anything. You were what made it all possible for him.”
The corner of Sash’s mouth curved upward in a half-smile. It felt good to be recognized for his work.
“But, Sash, understand that what you made possible is what may lead to our downfall.”
His smile fell. “What do you mean?”
“Victor became a liability. If Marlene hadn’t made his actions known, causing the people of the Commune to depose him, we would have silently removed him. It’s a shame it all had to happen so publicly.”
Isaac shook his head as if remorseful.
“It all started when Victor had James Townsend processed. That one act threw everything we worked so hard for into jeopardy. After that, he became careless. Too many people were disappearing and too quickly. Eventually, people would become suspicious. And they did, as you well know.”
“What of it?” Sash asked. Where is he going with all of this?
“You never questioned a single order Victor gave. He had you remove so many citizens of the Commune, even some school children became aware something was wrong,” Isaac sighed. “I’m sorry Victor took advantage of you like that. He exploited you and your skills. Now he’s gone, and the Order needs you more than ever. I assure you of this: we will never take advantage of you like Victor did. You are a brother of the Order, it’s time you were treated like one.”
There were so many times where Victor barked commands at Sash. He did things no one else would, all in the name of loyalty to his mentor. He kidnapped, tortured, and killed. All for what? So Victor could advance his own agenda? They were supposed to achieve great things together. They were supposed to execute the plan that nearly took two decades to prepare for.
Sash thought back to the night when he attacked Isaac. It had been at Victor’s request. He looked at his hands. The same hands he reddened with the blood of his brother of the Order.
“You never betrayed the Order. Victor told me himself, only after I attacked you. He staged the night he was late, knowing you would take charge. He used me to remove you. You weren’t trying to overpower him like he claimed. You were trying to see the plan through,” Sash sank down to the floor. “What have I done?”
“What you thought was right,” Isaac knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Now work with me to take back the Commune, my brother. Together, we can succeed where Victor failed.”
Ten
Travis
“What?” Jack Caraway, Travis’s father roared.
He paced the tiny kitchen, his voice filling the cramped space.
Travis left out the part about Belle and Jennie being kidnapped. He and Belle agreed it would be best to not mention it to his father. He was sure his father might put his fist through the wall if he found out.
“You and Jennie disappear for days on end, and now you tell me she left the Commune with some strange boy?” Jack pointed an accusing finger at Travis, who shrank in his chair. “What in the hell is she thinking? What are you thinking? There’s no such thing as a stranger. We are the only people left in the world. And what about the lemerons in the forest? Have you forgotten what happened to your mother? How could you let Jennie leave? What if something happens to her?”
“I will never forget what happened to mother. For four years, I’ve relived how she was killed every night in my nightmares.” Travis shuddered.
He should have known better than to let Jennie go with Ethan. He should have done more to stop her. His father was right; it was too dangerous out there.
“If anything happens to her, so help me,” Jack raised his hands in the air, his frustration apparent.
“Mr. Caraway,” Belle cut in. “Everything Jennie has done, and is still doing, is all to save the Commune.”
“Save the Commune?” His father scoffed. “It doesn’t need saving. Victor’s done for, and the wall will stand for hundreds of years. The lemerons are no threat to us. We’re safe here.”
Belle exchanged a doubtful look with Travis. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said.
“You’re the expert now?” Jack asked. “Playing with solar panels doesn’t make you a mason.”
Belle’s nose flared.
This was not going well. Travis bit his tongue, afraid anything he said right now would make this argument even worse.
“And being a blacksmith doesn’t qualify you either,” she retorted.
His father squared his shoulders and took a step towards Belle. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“You kids think you have it all figured out, don’t you? I’ve seen more things than you can imagine. You have no idea about what really happens in this place.”
Belle folded her arms defiantly. “Oh, you mean like disappearances being covered up as lemeron attacks so the Order can create more dociles? Or do you mean being kidnapped and tortured for information by a secret organization?”
His father opened his mouth to speak but faltered. “What do you mean kidnapped and tortured?”
“Just because Victor was exposed doesn’t mean the threat is gone. Sash is still out there and he’s dangerous. If it weren’t for Travis and Ethan, you would never have seen either of us again. They rescued us from Sash.”
His father’s mustache twitched. Red boiled up his neck into his face.
He rounded on Travis. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
Travis gripped the arms of his chair. Now Belle had really done it. The secret was out. He would be in so much trouble and his father would never let him out of his sight again.
Swallowing the frog in his throat, he mustered the courage to speak up.
Belle cut in before he could answer. He exhaled in relief, slouching back in his chair.
“What’s the point? What’s done is done. Without Victor ordering Sash around, we can take him down.”
His father shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. With no one directing him, that bald-headed freak is more dangerous than ever.”
Travis scrunched his face and his stomach lurched. “How would you know something like that?”
“You stepped into the middle of a silent war that’s been going on for decades. You may not have realized it, but you’ve felt the effects.”
His father sat down at the table across from him. Travis’s face paled. It felt like his heart was being crushed. He glanced over at Belle, leaning against the kitchen sink.
“That teacher, Mrs. Townsend?” Jack continued. “She was too ambitious. We warned her not to be so direct, but she wouldn’t listen. Her need to expose the Order blinded her. She thought it would help her get her husband back, but she was wrong.” He slammed his fist on the table. “And now, because of her carelessness, you got pulled into this mess.”
Belle uncrossed her arms and stepped forward, her curls bouncing with the sudden movement. “Whose side are you on?”
Dang. I knew Belle was fiery, but she’s taking fearless to a whole new level.
His father set his jaw, studying Belle.
Finally, he answered. “There are some of us in the Commune who refuse to stand by while we are purged. I will not fall victim to
Victor’s lot. I will not let my children fall into their hands. If you’re as smart as you think you are, you won’t get involved. Walk away while you still can.”
“It’s too late for that. I’ve already been kidnapped, tortured, and added to the list of future dociles. Tell me how I can walk away from that and be safe.”
Jack shifted in his chair.
“Father,” Travis mustered his courage to speak. He had to know for certain. “Are you with the Order?”
His father grimaced.
“Have I given you reason to think so?”
Travis rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants. “You’re not answering the question. I need to hear you say it. Are you with the Order?”
“No. I align with another group entirely. It’s not safe for me, or you, if I talk about it.”
Travis felt the color return to his face. The fist gripping his heart relaxed.
“Then we know who you’re with,” Belle nodded approvingly. “The Truth Seekers.”
“Belle, what are you doing?” Travis hissed. “What if my father isn’t with them? We shouldn’t be running around blabbing about the Truth Seekers.”
Belle pursed her lips, unconcerned.
“He said he’s not with the Order,” she shrugged.
He didn’t know who he could trust. There were two Truth Seekers that he knew of, Uncle Albert and Marlene. Marlene was gone, so that left Albert.
“Father, I want to believe you, but why are you being so secretive?”
Jack raised an eyebrow in response.
Travis stood from his chair, the force smacking it into the wall. He gripped his hair and paced the tiny kitchen
“I don’t know what to think anymore. Too much has happened in the last few days. Victor had Sash kidnap Mrs. Townsend. Then he got Belle and my sister who were tortured. There are still people alive outside of the Commune.” He tugged at his hair, wanting to rip it out in frustration. “And to top it all off, a bunch of lemerons are piling up at the wall just waiting to get inside and kill us all. How is this even normal?”
The cracked walls of the kitchen were closing in around him. The cramped space was suffocating.
“I need to get out of here. I need fresh air and some answers.”
He opened the back door leading outside. Before slamming it shut behind him, he shouted, “this is the worst birthday ever!”
Eleven
Belle
“Travis, wait up,” Belle jogged after him outside.
He was shorter than her, but he was quick. It was probably from all the practice he got rushing to school. Travis was always running late, so he always ended up running.
He halted and turned around, his face red as a strawberry.
“Why’d you have to tell my father about you and Jennie being kidnapped? We agreed not to tell him.”
“Look, Travis, I lost my cool, okay? In the moment, it was the only way I could think to make him understand how much we’ve been through. None of us are safe as long as the Order’s still in power. You know that. I know that. Hell, even Ethan knows that, and he’s not even from here.”
“Because of you, I’m doubting my father. I wish he wasn’t so secretive about this.” He lowered his voice. “And then you had to mention the Truth Seekers to him. What if he really is with the Order? What then? We aren’t safe anywhere in this place.” Travis turned his back on her. “I wish you never said anything to him.”
Belle’s stomach plummeted.
“You have a point…. We don’t know who we can turn to. But do you really think your father is working with Sash?”
She laughed at the possibility.
Travis’s face grew redder as his nostrils flared. “I don’t see what’s funny about that. You made us walk right into this mess because you ‘lost your cool.’ Your attitude could get us killed!”
My parents always said my temper would get me into trouble.
They were right. To her, everything in the world was binary, Just like the circuit boards at the solar farm. On and off, black and white, right and wrong. She lost her temper more than once at the solar farm.
One of her coworkers habitually used the wrong wire. Sure, it worked, but only for a little while. The gauge was too small and couldn’t handle the electricity load for long. It would fry a capacitor, and then they would have to redo the entire thing. She hated fixing other people’s lazy mistakes, and she made it known.
Carelessness was just another way of muddying the waters. Her coworkers called her a perfectionist. They meant it as a slight, but she wore it like a badge of honor.
“Your father insulted me.” She crossed her arms. “He basically called me a naive little child. I know more of the darkness in this place than he could imagine. Letting him know it seemed like the right thing to do in the moment.”
“And how did it help us?”
“Well,” Belle said.
“It didn’t.” Travis cut her off. “Find another way to help out, because whatever you think you’re doing isn’t working.”
Her mind drifted back to the barn loft. She stashed the bin full of incriminating files she stole there. They were Alex Richardson’s files detailing the deaths and so-called successes of his subjects.
He vanished a few years ago, and no one had seen him since. Belle had, though. He now went by the name Goggles and worked day and night creating more dociles. He wanted to turn her into a docile.
“I can’t just wait for them to take me again and turn me into some gray skinned, bald-headed, yellow-eyed monster.”
Belle shuddered just thinking about it. Her teacher Mrs. Townsend was undergoing that very process. Goggles was turning her into a docile.
She escaped a nightmare. If Travis hadn’t come with Ethan, both she and Jennie would be the next mindless shells working behind the blue glass in the kitchens. Mr. Caraway had to know. It was the right thing to do. Wasn’t it?
“I’m sorry, but I had to tell your father what happened to us.”
Travis shook his head. “Maybe, but that wasn’t the way to do it. I don’t know. I just need to figure some stuff out.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “Do you know who we can trust?”
“There are very few people I can trust right now. And two of them left the Commune.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Only two? You can’t trust Marlene?”
“The fact that out of the three people we know who left, Marlene is the one you single out as untrustworthy says a lot about her. I trust Jennie, Ethan, and you. Who else is there?”
“Uncle Albert,” Travis walked away from her. “And that’s who I’m going to see.”
“He’ll have some answers. I’ll come with you.”
“No, you won’t.”
The force behind Travis’s command caught her off guard.
“You’ve already caused enough trouble in my house. I need to do this alone.”
Travis disappeared between two houses.
“Great,” Belle groaned. Before Jennie left, she made Belle swear to two things: look after Travis and protect the balance of the Commune. She already failed at the first one. The way things were going, it wasn’t looking good for the second either.
Twelve
Sash
Sash had a new purpose. Never again would he be used to fulfill someone else’s agenda. From that point on, he would only serve the Order. The true Order. Not the distorted illusion Victor had fed him for years.
“You must remain hidden for some time while we re-group,” Isaac instructed. “Too many undesirables know who you are and your affiliation with Victor. Give it a couple weeks. Everyone will forget, and you’ll be like a new person to them.”
“The undesirables are ignorant,” Sash scoffed. “People fear me when I pass by. They’ll never forget me.”
He puffed out his chest, proud of the status he had achieved.
“You give them too much credit, Sash. With the gathering lemerons distracting them, they will forget Victor and what you’ve done
in his name within a fortnight,” Isaac stroked his chin.
Sash recalled how he was allowed in Victor’s dwelling in the Sanctuary tower, but he was never treated as an equal and rarely allowed to sit. He was worth more than just being a pawn in Victor’s game of chess.
Now the board was cleared, and a new game was set. This time, Isaac would win with Sash at his side.
“What do you need me to do? What’s my next move?”
“I need you to stay down here with Goggles. Repair the damage done by those who escaped,” Isaac gestured to the chaotic state of the room.
Medical carts were upended, canisters, and vials of liquid lay smashed on the ground. It was a ghastly state for the space Goggles always kept so pristine.
Sash nodded. “I’ll do it. What else?”
“I need you to protect him. The escapees know about this place. They may come back with others, looking to expose our innermost workings to the rest of the Commune. Until now, it’s been only words and Victor’s foolish outburst,” Isaac crossed his arms. “No solid evidence of our plan has surfaced. Yet. I need you to make sure it stays that way.”
A sneer spread across Sash’s face. Anyone who dared enter through the massive door with the rusty lock would face his wrath. He pictured the curly-haired girl slipping inside. She would pay for injecting him with that needle. He would enjoy strapping her down and submitting her to countless tortures. She would beg for death. He would never give it to her. No. She would live on as his brainless servant.
Sash would enjoy the way her skin sagged off her bones as the transformation took over. He’d seen it enough times to know when the final spark of intelligence was suppressed, leaving nothing left of his victim but a docile. Another mindless creature to do the jobs no one else wanted.
His sneer widened to a grin. Oh, how she would pay for attacking him. And the rest of her band, too. The other girl and the two boys. He wished they would come pay him a visit in Goggles’s lab.
