Falling Water: A dystopian climate change novel

by Isa Marks

  “That will increase our speed,” he said. “Cat, maybe you should push it. But don’t go too fast, we don’t want to attract attention.”

  It was still a long way to the safe zone at the other end of the ground level. They passed the Lab at the center. Cathy saw the guy in the white lab coat through the open doors. As if out of nowhere the doctor appeared in the doorway. He peered in their direction and fiddled with his glasses. Then he raised his hand to tell them to stop. Doc recognized the two from before, but most of all he recognized the guy in the wheelchair.

  “Where are you taking him?” He stepped in their direction and started following them. “Hey! Get back here, where are you taking my boy?” His voice became louder and people started to come towards the noise. “Guards, guards, they’re taking my test subject, stop them.”

  “Get ready to run, Cat,” Daryl said, while picking up the pace.

  They turned the first corner they could find, into a machine room filled with steaming boilers. The workers looked up, surprised to see the guy in the blue jogging suit in their workspace and kept their distance. Daryl had one hand on the baton. The steam hissed at them from both sides as they made it through the humid room. The other end had an opening to a larger tunnel, running west. They went left at the junction, towards the food and kitchen area. In the distance they saw guards running in their direction.

  “Left, left, left,” Murphy shouted from the wheelchair.

  Cathy took a sharp turn through the open door on her left. A musty earthy smell hung in the blue lit room. Workers in white aprons were bent over the rows of soil, carefully picking the produce with their white gloved hands. She pushed Murphy through the center row, knocking over one of the workers, who landed facedown on the floor and crawled beneath the metal growing tables. Murphy grabbed a hand full of mushrooms from the basket on the table.

  “Cathy, this way,” someone yelled from the door opening in front of them.

  “Cecilia? Thank God you are here, come with us, we’re getting out.”

  “I... I can’t,” she said. “You have to get off this level. I just heard Doc talk over the walkie to the guards, he wants Murphy back.”

  “You have to come with us,” Cathy begged. She looked over her shoulder to see where the noise came from. There was a crackling sound of uninterpretable speech, the sound of walkie talkies. The same group of guards that had come toward them now entered the Mushroom Farm.

  “Time to go,” Daryl said.

  “Come with us Cecilia,” she begged again.

  “I can’t . . . I . . . I actually think I am where I need to be. And I don’t want to leave Teagan.” She took a step back.

  “Hurry Cat, or they’ll catch up with us.” Daryl pushed Cathy from behind, forcing her to move forward. “I know a way up, through that supply room,” he pointed towards a door in the distance.

  She looked back at Cecilia, who was gesturing her to hurry. She couldn’t leave her, not again, could she?

  Daryl remembered the routes on the map, that supply room lead to a tunnel that went up directly to another supply room on the middle floor, placing them right in the middle of the Mall. It made sense, it was the fastest way to move fresh food from the kitchen to the food stalls. They barged through the door and into the tunnel. It was too steep for Cathy to push the wheelchair, making it necessary for Daryl to take over.

  Murphy took whatever he could get his hands on from the supply room on the middle level.

  “Stop grabbing things,” Daryl said, knocking the stuff out of Murphy’s hands with his camo cap.

  “What, I’m hungry.”

  “It’s slowing us down,” Daryl hissed and threw his cap in the corner.

  Murphy took a blanket from the shelf. Daryl shook his head and sighed.

  “Here you push him again,” he said to Cathy.

  “You’ll thank me later,” Murphy said while pulling the blanket over his blue jogging suit. “Oh and Cathy, take off that apron, we have to blend in.”

  She did as her brother asked without question. The voices in the tunnel behind them sounded closer, they had to keep moving.

  The door opened directly onto the busy streets of the Mall. The streets were filled with people, eating at the food stalls, hurrying to the next entertainment hall. There weren’t many guards here, and the ones that were did not seem to notice them yet.

  “Where do we go?” Cathy whispered to Daryl.

  “Back to the gray zone, we need to find the others and leave,” he said.

  “Do you think they are safe?”

  “I don’t think we are safe,” Murphy said pointing towards the group of guards heading straight for them. Behind them the other guards had followed, but they did not seem to have identified them yet.

  “Go right.” Murphy pointed to a little alley, which was almost empty. The wheelchair prevented them from moving quickly through all those people, this would help create some distance between them and the guards. They ran through the alley as fast as possible. At the end was a junction into another busy street. Cathy turned left, slowing her pace immediately. She stopped and turned around at the sight of a group of ten guards.

  “They know we’re here,” Daryl said, walking the other way now. They were walking at the same pace as the people around them, trying to blend in. Cathy still pushed the wheelchair, which came to a sudden halt. A man stood in the road in front of them, blocking their way. Behind him was a group of guards, their uniforms were a solid green, tight jackets and pleated pants, like the man in front of them, but with different rank stripes.

  “Well well well, what do we have here,” Adrien said pulling the plaid blanket away. “You thought I wouldn’t recognize a prisoner without his uniform?”

  “What? Was it the hair that gave it away?” Murphy snapped back, narrowing his eyes in anger.

  “Let’s say there aren’t many people in wheelchairs rolling around here,” Adrien laughed.

  He gestured to the men behind him, who started to clear the street. A circle of curious bystanders had formed at a safe distance. Daryl had his hand on the baton. He knew however these guys were not the standard guards. Their uniforms were higher quality, they had to be a special task force.

  He felt a slap on his wrist from behind, making him drop the baton. Followed by a kick to his knees, causing him to fall to the floor. He reached for the weapon and felt a hard blow to the head. The guard behind him handcuffed him with Daryl’s own cuffs, which had hung on his belt since they had left the prison. The last thing he saw was Cathy’s worrying eyes looking at him, as one of the other men handcuffed her.

  “Take them inside,” Adrien said, pointing to the office building in the middle of the Mall.

  CHAPTER 22

  THE SPEECH

  Daryl blinked and tried to look around the room. A pounding pain came from the back of his head. Raising his head seemed an impossible task. All he could see were the scuffs on his pants and the carpet covered in blood. They must have dragged me here, he thought, feeling the burning sensation in his legs.

  “Daryl,” a voice next to him whispered. “Are you awake?”

  He tried to answer, but what came out sounded more like a faint grunted “Hmmm.” He tilted his head to look to the side and saw Cathy tied to the chair beside him. Murphy was strapped to the wheelchair next to her, his hands rested cuffed in his lap. Well, at least we are still together, he thought, that’s something.

  “Are you okay? Talk to me?” Cathy tried to reach over to Daryl but she couldn’t get anywhere near him with her arms tied to the chair.

  “Yeah, don’t worry,” he mumbled despite his blurred vision and headache. He dropped his head again, he felt so tired.

  At the other side of the room a door opened and three figures stumbled in, almost tripping over their own legs. A guy, a girl and a child.

  “Faye . . . Jake . . .” Cathy said.

  Moon started crying when she saw her.

  “Tie them up with the others . . .” the
order came from the other side of the door, “. . . and make them shut the hell up.”

  “My God am I ever going to get rid of him,” Murphy sighed. Adrien’s presumptuous tone was one he could recognize among thousands.

  “Officer Wolf, if you would be so kind to accompany us and our guests,” another voice said.

  A strict “Yes Sir,” followed.

  The guard tied the others to the three empty chairs that were left, then he went and found a place in the corner of the room. There he stood like a statue, observing their every movement. A man entered the interrogation room, which looked more like an evacuated office without any desks, cabinets or windows. He looked nothing like a military leader as they had expected, if anything he looked like a bank manager with his suit and tie. Adrien followed him into the room at a respectful distance.

  “Well now,” the man said. “Welcome to the Bunker. I don’t believe we have been officially introduced. You don’t mind if I smoke, do you?” He lit up a cigarette without waiting for an answer.

  Daryl tried to look up, still not able to fully lift his head. He could not see the man’s face, but he knew what it looked like when he heard that voice. Once he saw his neatly polished black shoes he was certain. The same ones he remembered from the man at the south tunnel. The one in front of the house with Cecilia. The man who’s office he had searched. Oh he knew it, that same gray pleated pants, he was sure of it.

  “I know you come from the south, fleeing the rising water. I must say I am impressed you were able to make it out. You are true survivors, resourceful too. I have been told some of you have had a short experience here, in our society.” He looked at Faye, who tried to keep back her tears. “I want you to know that your future can be quite different, depending on the choice you make next.”

  “We always have use for strong survivors here,” he continued. “Take Officer Wolf for example.”

  Adrien straightened his back even more at the mention of his name.

  “We took him in when he was a small boy, small but brave. A survivor we found in the city. Now he has climbed the ranks, being one of our most praised members. He is part of the family, I would even go as far as considering him a son.” The man gave Adrien an aproving look and then focussed again on the group. “I would not be surprised if you’d have to call him commander soon.”

  Adrien’s let a broad grin slip out for a moment before returning to the rigid military look.

  “Now we have several futures for you to choose from. You could become a part of our society, like your dear Cecilia who now works as a secretary in our doctor’s office. After we interviewed her she turned out to be a perfect match, and very willing to become part of our society. So what I’m saying is that life is good here, and if you want there is a place for you. You will have the same freedom as any other local, enjoy the entertainment, the food. As long as you do your job without causing any trouble. You could even work your way up.

  “Yeah, that is totally my experience,” Murphy laughed. “You can sell it as nice as you want, but don’t expect us to believe any of it. You didn’t give us any choice last time. You just let that loser lock us up.” He looked at Adrien, who narrowed his eyes in anger.

  The man remined calm. “Ah yes, you’re Doc’s boy aren’t you? Oh we did give you a chance, just like all the others of your group. It was your own choice to resist. And we can’t have that in here. It will destroy everything we’ve worked so hard to build.”

  “Why should we listen to someone who killed our people,” Daryl growled.

  “What did you say?” the man said, stepping towards him.

  He lifted Daryl’s head, looking him straight in the eyes. He smiled when he recognized his face.

  “Yes, I knew something was wrong when I saw you in that tunnel. No guard leaves the dorms without proper boots or jacket. And never ever would one decline a free cigarette,” he laughed.

  “I did not kill your people, but I did save mine,” the man said as he walked back to where he stood before. “Your people were killed by the water. That dam broke and your people were simply unprepared. If anyone failed you it were your leaders, for leaving you without a proper escape. I understand how easy it is to blame someone else for the situation you are in, but one day you will have to start to see your problems for what they really are. You should realize that doing nothing also has consequences. So take some responsibility for what happened.”

  Responsibility? Like taking responsibility for blowing up the dam in the first place? Daryl frowned. This man had a twisted sense of justice.

  “I know most of you are to young to remember, but you must have heard the stories from your parents and grandparents,” the man continued. “About how life used to be in the cities, before the heatwaves and the floods. Before the collapse of the government and the riots, before it all went to . . . Well you get what I mean. The way things used to be. That’s exactly what I am building here. The Bunker is a safe place for all of us. A place where we can get a taste of how life used to be, how it’s supposed to be. We are building back what we lost, and we are building back better.”

  “Why then?” Faye asked, she was tearing up just thinking about all the people that she had left behind. “Why then would you do something like blow up our dam?

  The man sighed. “It’s simple math, really,” he said with a serious face. “We have weighed our options. Whenever CO2 levels go up and reach another threshold, we will have to eliminate a polluting source. Now we could have waited for the dam to collapse by itself. It would only have been a matter of months. But by blowing it sooner we now have a better chance to survive longer. It buys us time, to find a way to save this world. You wouldn’t have survived anyway. So you must understand it was our best option, to save our people here in the Bunker.”

  “Well we did survive, now didn’t we.” Murphy scoffed.

  “Yes, some of you did,” the man said. “And we are willing to give strong survivors like you a chance to join us. As long as you can play by our rules. But trust has to be earned. So what I can offer you is this. Join our community, accept your place and do what’s expected of you. Or we place you in the Field, with the rest of the people that do not follow the rules. Mess it up there, well then there’s the Sea Farm, or prison. Your choice.”

  “How about you just let us go,” Daryl said. “Maybe that’s best for all of us.”

  “I can’t take that risk,” the man answered. “Would you risk that if you had to protect your people?”

  “Well, we ain’t staying here and we ain’t eating your drugged food.” Daryl protested.

  “Drugged?” the man smiled.

  He walked to Murphy and crouched down to his level. “Doc must have explained to you what he’s working on, right?”

  “How he’s going to save the world, you mean? By drugging people?” Murphy said

  “How he’s trying to enhance people’s moods, and making life in the Bunker more comfortable for everyone,” the man replied.

  “Well he might want to refine that cocktail of his,” Murphy said. He hadn’t felt this dark in days, and the withdrawal symptoms did not make him a pleasant person to be around either.

  The man got up and walked back to his place in front of the group. “I get that you are angry, because of your friends and family. But I want you to think about the future of the human race. Waiting until the end of days arrive, like you lot did, is not the answer. You must be bright enough to see that now. In order to change things for the better we need to do things different than before, we need to experiment and find better ways.”

  “Yeah, I’m not so sure about the experimenting part,” Murphy added, immediately regretting it as Adrien tried to step forward.

  The man however gestured him to stand back.

  “I will give you time to think about what you want your future to look like. You have twenty-four hours to make your decision.”

  He left the room and motioned Adrien to follow him, who displeasedly did a
s he was told, leaving them alone with the guard in the corner.

  CHAPTER 23

  WHO WANTS PIE?

  The guard in the corner was replaced for another in the same camouflage pattern outfit, making him stand out from the white wall behind him. Only one ceiling tile glowed bright from the dropped down ceiling, it illuminated the six of them like a spotlight on center stage. The square of light formed a visual boundary on the carpet just beyond their feet, like a prison cell.

  “The guards seem to change every two hours,” Daryl said. “A new one should be coming any minute now.”

  “How do you know?” Jake asked, but before he got an answer the door flung open.

  “Well hello friends,” Adrien said.

  Will we ever be relieved of this guy? Murphy thought.

  “It’s dinnertime, and what better way than to spend it with my best buddies,” he teased. He ordered the new guard that had accompanied him to put a table and chair in the room and bring in the food.

  “Good, now leave us.” Both guards saluted and did as they were told. Adrien locked the door behind him.

  “Now, are you hungry?” he said while he walked around them, holding a plate of pie. The smell of warm apples filled the room. He dipped his finger in the whipped cream, teasingly holding it out in front of the little girl’s mouth.

  “Leave her alone!” Cathy yelled.

  “Oh, you want it all for yourself?” He took a piece of pie from the plate and pushed it into her face. He got very close to her face and stuck out his tongue, slowly licking the pie from her cheek before returning to the table.

  Cathy shook her head with a furious look in her eyes. She wiped the apple and whipped cream from her face with the tips of her fingers. She was only just able to reach it with her arms tied to the chair.

  “Leave her alone you dickass,” Murphy shouted.

  “Well well well, big brother standing up for his little sister.”