by Y A Marks
I took his words “larger group” to mean Escerica.
He continued, “Some of us made those ties when we came into the prison. Some of us are just unlucky and well, we just picked a few people up to keep them from starving to death. We are just a mixed group of random people. Some circles are made up of people who already know each other, but most aren’t. There are others in that large group that aren’t even a part of the Nobodys but live in other circles. For now, that’s all you need to understand. Any more will just end up getting you back in the gray room. Got me?”
I stared into Jonas’s dark eyes. I sighed and tried to let the questions dissipate from my head. The last thing I wanted was to be tortured again with Clarisse at the helm.
Through his words, I understood that there were Escerica members in prison. They were scattered just like in the outside world. The most concentrated version of Escerica was the Nobodys’ Circle, but even among that group, there were people who had no knowledge of Escerica. In this way, Norwood could try to track what prisoner went where, but eventually it would become confusing as some prisoners went to one circle or another.
“I know this might seem an odd question because the Nobodys are, well, nobody, but how do the Nobodys keep being Nobodys?” My face twisted as I asked the question. I watched his expression do the same while he tried to discover what in the world I was saying.
“Um, well, I’m sure you understand the concept of hacking,” he began.
I opened my expression to let him know I was listening and trying to comprehend the information. His gaze rose and fell as he tried to put the answer to my odd question into words.
“Hacking works really well to make things what you want them to be. It only works in small doses, though. Unfortunately, we can’t save or fix everyone. A famous face like yours is beyond anyone’s help.”
I quieted after his answer. Escerica’s resident hacker, Josalyn, was keen at following, inventing, or recalling data. It wasn’t a stretch to think that at times she may actually change the data she found. If someone was suspected to be a part of Escerica, she probably added bits of data to their files to add doubt. She may have even added information to other people’s files who weren’t a part of the group. It would make everyone and no one a suspect. If the news media hadn’t seen my face, I probably would never have been identified.
Jonas went along a path adjacent to the outer wall. A few trees dotted the landscape, but for the most part, there was just open, flat land with high grass and large boulders here and there. After a mile hike, we arrived at a few dozen, square homes that were made only of stone. From a distance, the place appeared to be something right out of a history book. People carried sacks of food, stored items, and cleaned.
“Not what you thought maximum security prison would look like, huh?” Jonas asked.
“I was prepared for something a bit grislier.”
“Well, we have that too.” He paused, his stare letting me know there were more than enough horrible things to cope with. “We are setup in six circles. I’m sure there could be more, but power is in numbers. It’s hard to create a new circle when so many already exist. To survive you must join one, not just for protection, but also for simple things like food and water.”
He spun around toward me and began walking backward. He pointed at Circle One. “Food is dropped in once a week on Sundays. People are dropped in on Mondays, but today they made an exception for you since it’s Friday.”
He turned back around and gave me a hard stare. I had a feeling that he was thinking the same thing I was—that my four friends in Norwood’s office wanted to make sure I was in here for the Death Days. The event only came twice a year, once in late winter and once in the summer. If they wanted me dead, the best time was to act now. They may have thought I would have few to no friends because I didn’t yet belong to a circle.
Jonas continued. “We have to carry the food from Circle One to here. It all arrives in a big pile. Believe it or not, most of the time we don’t fight over food. At the beginning of the year, most of the leaders sit down and make an agreement to the amounts. There is trade and bargaining among the circles. Problems arise during the year when more people are added to a circle. On one hand, you have to get stronger people to protect the circle, but on the other hand, you have to feed them.”
“I’m guessing most of the women fight in the Death Days, but what about the children?”
“That’s the other issue. If you put men and women together sooner or later you get children, and children can’t fight. A woman who is pregnant or just delivered can’t fight either. And sometimes you even get skirmishes either within the circle or outside of it when someone thinks their woman has been… well, you know, night-tipping.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes people have been banished from a circle. In rare cases, mini wars have been started within two or three circles.”
I refocused my mind. “So, what about water?”
“Water is plentiful, but the problem is moving it. There are two streams that flow through the whole campus. At the end of the stream’s path, the water is collected, cleaned, and forced out again from the source. They don’t give us much to hold water, so every day we have to go gather it. This is one of the laws in here. You can’t collect more than two gallons of water per four people. If you are caught the penalties can be severe. I believe they do this to make sure that everyone has work to do every day. We have to cook, clean, repair our clothes, mend our homes, fight off the cold, etc. Basically we live in the stone age.”
“Then, how did you know about me?” I asked.
“Oh, with this.” He held up a PCD.
“I thought you said—”
“We have a few luxuries. Again, for two reasons, one if we didn’t have them we’d just find a way to get them, and it would compromise the prison. Second, by giving us a few luxury items they can threaten to take them away. Every circle is given ten PCDs with Internet access. We also have access to two monitors per circle, but they only play the news, cartoons, and family movies. We’ve been watching you all week. You’re trending.” He held up his PCD again and showed me a social media app for HeartLove. There were millions of followers for the Official Paeton Washington Page.
I didn’t want Jonas to think I was the girl who yelled in the courtroom. A nervous wave splashed against the back of my head. “That person you saw on TV wasn’t me. I mean at first it was, but not afterward.”
He shrugged. “Of course. When the government can’t control what they want the people to know, they simply make something up. I’m not sure what they use, holograms, 3D graphics programs, who knows? But the average idiot at home doesn’t care about the details. They trust the lies given to them. I think it’s still up in the air whether or not we actually landed on the moon.”
“Why help me when you know it’s all bull?” I asked.
“It’s not all bull. There are brilliant moments in the middle of the mess. Besides, your little stunt from before lets me know that whatever you got in that head can definitely be of use.”
He skipped a few steps ahead as though he was half his age. It was amazing how much energy this guy had. He had about as much energy as Josalyn, Sun Hi, and Rylan. After a few more paces, he pointed to a building near the outer rim of the tiny township.
“That’ll be your place out there. No one will bother you.”
I thought I may be heading to my new home to at least look around, but as soon as I turned toward it, Jonas took a few steps back and tugged me. “This way,” he said.
“I’m not going to my house?”
“Why? You’ve got the rest of your life to live in there.”
A prick of worry cut at my heart. It was so final.
He paused and glanced at me. “If you make it past the weekend, that is.” His expression and tone lightened. “Right now, we’re headed to our little ‘headquarters.’” He made quotation marks with his fingers. “There’s no point in tucking you in if you don�
��t survive. Now is there?”
The worry spread, but I exhaled it away. I had to agree with Jonas about the weekend. The Death Days were my unfortunate problem, one that I was grossly unprepared for. Even with my new malice, there was only so much I could do on my own. If I ever wanted a day alone with Clarisse or someone she loved, I’d need to survive the upcoming Death Days.
He gestured with an outstretched hand toward the entrance to a building near the center. The windows were boarded up. Two prisoners stood guard outside.
We walked into the building, which was packed with people. The little house had barely enough space for five people, let alone the fifteen that had to be pressed inside. A heavy musk lingered in the air which made me wonder if prisoners received deodorant.
The room went quiet as everyone’s eyes rotated toward me and Jonas.
“Got your girl,” Jonas said.
“Excellent,” a middle-aged man said. He was slightly shorter than Jonas, with deeply tanned skin and thick, dark hair that he had tightened behind his back. My best guess was that he was Indian or originally from the Middle East. He didn’t have an accent, though. He spoke with the same, slightly-broken southern twang that we all had.
After a second for me and Jonas to get settled, the man continued. “We’ll take the planned twelve of twelve and place six of them here.”
I glanced down. On the floor was some kind of wooden box filled with sand and dirt. The man had created a map of the complex. He pointed to an area outside of the Nobody Township where the six groups of the twelve of twelve, whatever that meant, would be stationed.
“The other six will move far enough toward the other five townships to handicap their forces. Our goal is to keep them away from us. We don’t care where they go or who they kill. If they step into the south, we will defend ourselves.”
“Will twelve be enough?” someone asked.
“I don’t know. We’ve done well in the past by acting smart.”
“Couldn’t we just abandon? Setup somewhere else and double back to take on any intruders?” another person asked.
“Sure, but where will we go? The rules don’t allow us to build anywhere but our designated area. If we abandon, who is to say that the other circles won’t simply steal our supplies. We may get food once a week, but what about pots, pans, and matches to start fires? The winter is ending, but we still have a month of cold nights. Do you think the guards will be nice enough to throw us some matches, or would it be easier to allow us to freeze to death?”
I survived on the streets because I always tried to have a plan. It was nice to know that the people inside prison had them as well.
The man glanced around. “Anything else?”
A few murmurs came from the crowd, but soon they all shook their heads.
“Okay then. We’ll meet again after dinner tonight. But go and make preparations.”
The crowd dispersed. Jonas tapped my arm to let me know not to leave. Once everyone was gone, the man picked up a flickering oil lamp from the floor and carried it over to a side table next to a futon.
Once everyone was gone, I could easily make out the house. There were only three rooms: a small living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The only exit was at the far end of the main room. I guessed the main room served as both living room and bedroom. On the other side of the living room was the kitchen with a half-refrigerator. There was a partitioned wall that separated the living room from the kitchen. At the top of wall was an open window. On the other side of the kitchen was the bathroom.
“Is it over?” a woman asked, entering the newly emptied house.
“Yes,” the man told her.
The woman smiled at him, then at Jonas. She continued to Jonas and gave him a hug. “I wish you’d come by when we weren’t in the middle of a war.”
“I’ll try to come around next week then. If I’m still alive, that is,” Jonas said.
The man sat down. The woman walked over to him, picking up a saucer of cheese from one of the tables. She had golden-brown skin almost like the man, with long strands of hair bound together in what looked like a scarf. She wore a jumpsuit like everyone else, except her top was the size of a man’s. As she turned, I easily saw a huge belly protruding from underneath the shirt.
The man pulled a tiny triangle of cheese from a saucer and put it in his mouth. With a bright expression, the woman sat next to him on the futon.
“Jonas,” the man started, waving us over. “And the famous Paeton Washington. I almost feel honored by your presence.”
I walked over and stood a few feet away from him. His tone bothered me a bit, especially after everything that had happened so far today. I was expecting another fan. “Almost?”
“Well, technically I am a bit excited,” he said. “After all, I’ve been watching your exploits since day one. But I think there is a saying, ‘there’s no honor among thieves.’”
“Or among rebels.”
“Touché. I would say that statement is true as well, at least in some regard.”
I don’t warm up to people quickly, if at all. My last few days had sent a whirlwind of possible friends and foes my way. The old part of me wanted to like the new guy because at least he was thinking—planning. My new persona, however, wanted to knock his teeth out.
“Who are you? Are you the leader?” I asked.
“Why? Are you a government spy?”
“I don’t know you.”
“And I don’t know you.”
The woman cleared her throat and gave the man a sideways glance, scolding him for his replies.
He sighed. “Okay, okay. We can play games all day, but that won’t help either of us. My name is Raj. This is my wife Asha and our soon to be.” He put his hand on Asha’s stomach. She covered it with her own before he relaxed back against the futon and ate another piece of cheese. I watched his mild aggression fade, which allowed mine to dissolve as well.
“And as to your second question, no I’m not the leader. He is.” Raj nodded toward Jonas.
Jonas twitched his eyes, and I swore they seemed to dance. There was that prince thing all over again, just like with Rylan, except Jonas was old enough to be my dad. My insides twirled with the information as confusion flooded me. If he was the leader, why didn’t he just tell me like, five minutes ago?
“Oh, don’t look so surprised Paeton. I’m not a bad guy,” Jonas said. He lifted a fold-up chair from the wall and moved it closer to the futon and sat down.
“I didn’t say you were a bad guy. I haven’t said anything.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the far wall. My mind was still trying to piece all of this together. Unlike with Norwood and Dalton, there were no real politics at play here. It was much more difficult for me to understand everyone’s motivations.
“Raj is our chief strategist if you can have such a thing in here. He has kept our little group thriving for the last five years. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably already be dead—”
“Several times,” Raj added.
“Yes, several times—horrible, horrible deaths, too.”
“And we may be dead as well if it weren’t for Jonas,” Asha added.
“Why thank you, Asha, so nice of you to say.” Jonas grinned.
There was such a familiarity about Jonas. His demeanor was so content, despite his surroundings. Behind the smile, however, just like at Circle One, there was a fierceness to him that the other circles immediately responded to. The other circles weren’t necessarily afraid of him but were certainly cautious.
His personality threw me off. I didn’t know what to make of him. The others were probably worried about the Death Days, so I figured that would be a good way to add to the conversation. “How, um, do the other circles generally act during the Death Days?”
Jonas leaned forward and put his elbows on his thighs. “It all depends on what’s at stake. I’ve had times where it was an all-out brawl. Other times it’s been calm. A peaceful year is generally preceded by a lot of pri
soners being released and/or dying of sickness or natural causes. But this year, wouldn’t you know it, we are at max capacity. No one has been released and at least twenty babies have been born.”
“About that: Why are the kids here and not in Juvie?”
“Paeton, children are priceless.” Asha’s face lit up, but her eyes were sad.
Raj’s expression darkened as he glanced at his wife. He forced a smile and then turned toward me. “The man who has a child will do anything to protect it. The government will use the child to control the parent. If a prisoner doesn’t follow the rules, the kids are taken away.”
I thought back to Clarisse’s questions. Who did I love? She must have wanted this kind of control over me, and why not? Jonas said I was becoming popular, “trending” he had said. Why wouldn’t Clarisse, Norwood, or Dalton want to tap into that power?
I focused on Raj. “So, they take them away from the parents—to Juvie?”
“Sometimes… Sometimes much worse.”
My heart paused. I understood full well what the government was capable of doing. I saved Mari and Miko from death a few days ago, only to find out they died just the same. I would have done almost anything to keep them alive. It made sense for prisoners to want to keep their children in prison. They could be used for leverage.
Jonas exhaled. “We’ve seen it all. Things I wish I had never seen. Prison is just dangerous and no one is protected.”
“You have any kids?” I asked Jonas.
He relaxed in the chair, rolling his shoulders. Jonas exchanged glances with Raj who grinned. They were enjoying an inside joke at my expense. All of this was way too familiar. It brought to mind when I first came to the Escerica compound and met AJ and Josalyn.
Jonas narrowed his eyes. “You amaze me Paeton. On the one hand, you’re brilliant enough to bring down a security drone and survive. Yet, you’re not sharp enough to figure out that you’ve been crushing on my son?”
My face itched a little, but I didn’t blush. I had my suspicions as soon as I met Jonas. He walked and talked like Rylan, but he didn’t look exactly like him. Rylan had Jonas’s eye shape, hairline, and jaw, but the gray-eyes made Rylan his own being.