Absolution

by Mark Campbell

  Perry cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

  Releasing the man’s wrist, Teddy looked around and took frantic shallow breaths as recognition slowly dawned on him.

  “Are you crazy or something?!” Perry asked as he rubbed his wrist. He got back onto his feet and stumbled backward, away from Teddy.

  “I’m sorry.” Embarrassed, Teddy cupped his face with his hands and rubbed his eyes, groaning. “I guess I’m a little jumpy.”

  “I can see that!” Frowning, Perry pointed at the marks on his wrist and motioned for Teddy to get up. “Come on, you jumpy motherfucker—you need to hurry up and shower before you miss breakfast.”

  Teddy stood, stretched, and popped his neck. “I don’t care about chow. I just want to find Ein.”

  “Ein? Who’s that?”

  “He’s the one I told you about last night. The one I came in with.”

  “Oh, yeah…” Perry rubbed his chin. “He’ll probably be in the dining hall. As soon as you’re done, we’ll head out and look for him.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Teddy put on his boots, buttoned his shirt, and started to shuffle toward the showers.

  A few others in the dorm were already dressed in heavy winter clothes and watched Teddy curiously as he brushed past them.

  The shower room reminded Teddy of something from his old high school athletic department: dingy white tiling covered the floor and walls, and a row of lime-encrusted showerheads hung from the ceiling. Plastic buckets, shards of bar-soap remnants, and mildewed piles of wet towels were scattered against the wall. A plastic sign affixed to the wall read, HEALTH NOTICE—SHOWER FACILITIES USE RECLAIMED WATER—NOT POTABLE— DO NOT DRINK.

  A cockroach crawled out from one of the floor drains and scurried past Teddy’s feet.

  Despite how badly he needed a shower, he figured he’d take his chances and go without one for another day. Besides, he was way too preoccupied to think about anything as mundane as personal hygiene.

  He turned away from the showers and stepped around the corner, where a long, steel washbasin was mounted beneath a dirty mirror. A row of faucets steadily dripped water into the basin, and a sign on the mirror read, HELP PREVENT THE SPREAD OF INFECTION—WASH HANDS AFTER USING THE TOILET.

  He approached the mirror and stared at his reflection. I look like shit. He noted his scraggily beard and greasy hair. Several days’ accumulation of dirt was caked in his pores, and his eyes had black bags hanging below them.

  It didn’t matter.

  With Jane gone, he certainly didn’t have anybody left to impress.

  He ran his index finger under the running tap and vigorously rubbed it over his teeth. He couldn’t tell what tasted worse: the tap water or the grime on his skin. He stuck his mouth under the tap, swished, and spat into the basin.

  Back outside, he noticed that everyone had left with the exception of Perry.

  “That was a fast shower,” Perry said.

  “Decided against it.”

  “Probably for the best, since you’re already running late.”

  “I figured,” Teddy said as he gestured around the empty dorm.

  “Sorry I didn’t wake you up sooner—I overslept myself.” Perry paused, frowning. “You really don’t want to be late and attract attention from Sergeant Parham. He’s an ex-military type and an asshole, if you ask me.”

  “Yeah—tell me about it.” Teddy looked around at the empty bunks. “Is he really capable of keeping an entire dorm spooked?”

  “Yeah,” Perry said, rubbing his neck. “He’s a petty man, and they tend to be the most dangerous. You’ll have to fall in line if you want to survive here.”

  “Survive? I don’t even want to be here. I sure as hell didn’t ask for the honor of being in some sleazeball detail.”

  “You either pissed off somebody, or you just have rotten luck. I haven’t figured out which one yet.”

  “It was that damned lieutenant from the train who put me here.” Teddy said. He frowned as he tried to recall the name. “Lieutenant Hawk or something.”

  “Hock,” Perry said. “At least now I know who you pissed off.”

  “Christ, Perry, I don’t know what I did to piss him off. Hell, I don’t even know what this detail does.”

  “I’ll explain it over breakfast,” Perry said. “Are you ready? We don’t have all morning.”

  “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  “Hold on,” Perry said as he walked over towards Teddy’s bed. “I got you something.”

  Perry grabbed a khaki jacket off of Teddy’s bed and held it in the air.

  “I grabbed you one out of my stash. You’ll need it,” Perry said as he tossed the jacket towards him. “I hope it fits… I had to guess your size. I’ll have some hygiene items and more clothes on your bed tonight so you can take a proper shower.”

  “Thanks,” Teddy said as he caught the jacket and zipped it up. “It actually fits pretty well.”

  “Good—I guess I’m getting pretty good at guessing,” he said as he adjusted his red armband over his sleeve. “The dorm locks disengage when curfew is over, so you don’t need to use your chip to get in and out during the daytime.”

  Perry pushed the door open.

  An icy breeze whistled in through the doorway and morning sunlight inundated the dim quarters.

  Perry zipped up his jacket and covered the top of his head with an orange knit cap. He held the door open and looked at Teddy.

  “You coming?” Perry asked.

  Teddy slowly stepped outside.

  The sidewalk between the dorms was full of bundled-up people who shuffled past one another, eyes on the ground. Others sat huddled up in crude makeshift shelters in alleyways and stared out at the crowd, taking shelter from the wind.

  Two officers decked in full riot gear and helmets with gas masks jostled their way through the crowd with their batons.

  Teddy noticed right away just how outnumbered the officers were.

  People glared at the officers angrily as they passed and some spat on the ground at their heels as they walked away. A few muttered obscenities at their backs.

  The officers didn’t seem to pay the people any attention and hurriedly pushed their way through the crowd.

  Teddy kept his back against the doorframe and watched as the people on the sidewalk passed.

  The bustling sidewalks were an entirely different scene from what he witnessed the night before. Children were laughing and running between people’s legs while their haggard mothers yelled and chased after them. A group of teenagers sat around a small barrel fire strumming a country song on an old beaten-up guitar while a couple of young giggling girls sat cross-legged in front of them. Groups of men and women engaged in conversation as they walked while some couples strolled down the footpath holding hands as if on a leisurely morning stroll.

  Perry stood next to Teddy and gestured out at the crowd.

  “See? It’s really not so bad here,” Perry insisted.

  A few passing in the crowd gave Perry the same type of dirty look that they gave the officers, but he pretended not to notice.

  “Where is this place located anyway?” Teddy asked, curious.

  “Kansas,” Perry said, chuckling. “We’re about fifty or so miles west of Wichita.”

  Teddy stood bewildered by the news.

  He couldn’t believe that they had taken him all the way from Arizona to Kansas.

  “Is it always this crowded?” Teddy asked as he stared into the sea of faces.

  “It’s getting worse,” Perry admitted.

  “Finding Ein is going be tougher than I expected…”

  A man brushed past Teddy and bumped hard into his chest with his elbow.

  Teddy stumbled back and caught himself against the wall.

  The man hurried away without even attempting an apology.

  “Hey, asshole! Watch where you’re going!” Teddy shouted at the man. He balled his fist and started to step forward, but Perry put a hand on his shoulder t
o stop him.

  People nearby stopped mid-conversation and hurried past Teddy while the teens playing the guitar stopped and looked over at him expectantly.

  “Don’t start a fight outside!” Perry warned. “It’s not worth it.”

  “Why not?” Teddy growled as he pointed towards the officers who had their backs turned. “The cops don’t seem too worried about much of anything.”

  “The ones on the ground aren’t the ones you have to worry about,” Perry explained. He pointed up at the massive concrete watchtower that stood in the center of the camp. “If you start a scene and one of them up in the control center sees you, they’ll send a team to scoop you up faster than you’d expect.”

  Teddy looked up at the tower’s mirrored windows and scowled. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “That prick wasn’t worth it anyway.”

  Disappointed, the teens went back to playing their music while the rest of the passing crowd resumed their loud conversations.

  “You can’t go around starting trouble,” Perry warned. “This isn’t that kind of place.”

  “Thanks, dad,” Teddy said.

  Perry frowned.

  Attention, a soft female voice announced over the camp’s PA system. The dining facility will close in fifteen minutes.

  “Come on, we have to hurry,” Perry said as he started walking ahead. “I’ll give you the lay of the land as we walk.”

  Teddy funneled through the crowd and followed Perry with his hands in his jacket pockets.

  “These buildings we’re passing are all other dorms. We’re not supposed to go inside. Got it?”

  “Uh-huh,” Teddy muttered disinterestedly as he stared at the passing faces.

  “Oh! Then there’s the nightly curfew rule I need to tell you about. It’s pretty simple, but—”

  “Uh-huh…” Teddy repeated.

  Perry walked in front of Teddy and didn’t stop talking as he pointed out different buildings and waved towards different sections of the camp.

  Teddy tuned him out and didn’t hear a word of what the man said—he couldn’t pay attention since his mind was preoccupied with finding Ein. He studied the faces around him carefully. Very few made eye contact and nobody bothered to exchange the usual bullshit pleasantries.

  Makeshift street stalls had been set up in the alleyways between some of the dorms and along the footpath running in front. Shopkeepers shouted and haggled with customers as they bartered over old clothes, weathered books, and raggedy shoes. Old men gathered a small crowd of onlookers as they sat on crates and smoked stale cigarettes while playing checkers and backgammon. A couple of elderly women were beating rugs strung up on a clothesline with sticks, while little children chased around mangy dogs.

  It surprised Teddy just how much of a community was starting to spring up.

  Of all the different people he passed, he didn’t see anybody who even resembled Ein with his purple hair and youthful face.

  Perry stopped walking and turned towards Teddy with his arms across his chest. “Are you even listening to me?”

  Teddy froze as soon as he looked over and saw the frustration in Perry’s face.

  “No, not really,” Teddy admitted.

  “This is important!” Perry protested. “This is your orientation!”

  “No offense, but I really don’t care,” Teddy said, holding his hands up. “All I’m interested in is finding Ein and getting out of here the first chance I get. You can come with us if you want—I don’t care either way.”

  Perry chuckled, shook his head, and kept walking.

  “Something funny?” Teddy asked as he followed after him. “I was planning on—”

  He was interrupted when a laughing young boy zoomed around his legs while a little girl angrily chased after him.

  Teddy stumbled and almost tripped.

  “I know exactly what you’re planning. Do you think you’re the first one?” Perry asked without turning around. “Don’t you think that that others have tried walking off of their work detail as soon as they got on the other side of the fence?”

  “Why does any of that matter?”

  “I can show you better than I can tell you.” Perry grabbed Teddy by the wrist and led him down the sidewalk as fast as he could, pushing his way through the bustling crowd.

  Teddy was barely able to keep up. His wrist started aching from how hard it was being squeezed. He tried to pull his arm free, but he couldn’t break the man’s grip—Perry was deceivingly strong.

  Perry led him around the corner of one of the barracks and into a massive concrete courtyard.

  A gathered crowd of crows started and took flight. They cawed loudly as they retreated for higher ground.

  Unlike the footpaths, the courtyard was chillingly empty and silent.

  Perry let go of his arm and pointed ahead.

  “Look!” Perry shouted.

  Teddy’s angry expression fell flat and his jaw hung open as his gaze focused on the structure in the middle of the courtyard.

  Countless corpses with burlap sacks covering their heads dangled from wooden gallows high above a platform in the middle of the courtyard. The bodies were in various stages of decomposition and had been badly mutilated by the hungry wildlife. Crows with dried blood caked on their beaks sat on top of the gallows with their feathers ruffled and stared down at Teddy with beady black eyes.

  “Jesus Christ…” Teddy muttered with disgust as he took a step towards the platform.

  Placards hung around each corpse’s neck and Teddy studied each one in abject horror.

  Sedition

  Murder

  Terrorism

  Rape

  Larceny

  Teddy noticed that a few disarmed FEMA officers were even strung up with the same word written on their signs: mutineer. He stepped closer and didn’t notice the red line painted around the perimeter of the platform.

  Two officers bundled up in peacoats and black wool balaclavas stood to the side of the platform carrying rifles. They stared at Teddy as he encroached closer towards the red line.

  Perry walked up behind Teddy and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Careful… If you cross that red line, it gives them an excuse to put you up there with the others.”

  Teddy stopped walking and stared up at the stiff corpses as they dangled in the chilly breeze.

  “There are so many,” he muttered quietly.

  “If it is a scare tactic, it is an effective one,” Perry said. “Every day you pass this main courtyard and you see new people strung up every time. Fear keeps order and order keeps the peace… All of that talk you were spouting off about running away will only lead you here. They’ll call you a terrorist or claim you committed an act of sedition, but at the end of the day it would end the same way for you.”

  Teddy looked up in silence at the bodies, studying each one.

  “Then there are the ones slain outside the walls,” Perry continued. “In a sense, they’re the lucky ones. They end up eating a bullet and never get turned into a public spectacle.” He forced a weak smile and his tone lifted. “But, if you keep your head down and mind your own business, you can have a nice life here—just like me.”

  Teddy said nothing as he carefully searched the dead.

  “Do you see your friend?” Perry asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Teddy said. “It’s hard to tell with their heads covered like that, but I don’t think he’s up there.”

  “Good.”

  “Both of you move along!” one of the officers ordered.

  “Come on,” Perry said as he placed a hand on Teddy’s back and led him away. “Let’s look in the dining hall.”

  Teddy walked with Perry towards a long gymnasium-sized building situated on the other side of the courtyard. Government propaganda posters were pasted on the building’s walls. One of the posters showed a smiling man in a FEMA police uniform holding a child in his arms with the caption: Here to help you. The poster was vandalized with a black sharpie and had �
�don’t believe their lies’ scribbled sloppily across it.

  Two civilians wearing red armbands peeled away at the poster while an armed officer supervised.

  “What’s up with that?” Teddy asked as he stared at the poster.

  “That’s just the work of opportunistic thugs pretending to be freedom fighters,” Perry explained disgustedly. “Aside from little art projects, they’re not much of a headache in the camp, but they cause real trouble in the city.”

  “They seem to be making some type of impression, whoever they are,” Teddy said.

  “Their leaders have silver tongues. Chain-link fences can’t stop charismatic whispering I guess.” Perry shrugged. “The fact is that we’re doing well in here while folks out there suffer just to survive.”

  Teddy looked over his shoulder at the gallows in the distance. “If you call this living well, then more power to you.”

  Perry didn’t respond.

  People funneled into the dining facility’s double-doors while a small group of officers stood watch nearby. A middle-aged man and his wife exited the dining hall and approached Teddy and Perry.

  The middle-aged man glared at Perry’s red armband with disgust. “Fucking collaborator!” He leaned forward, retched up a wad of yellow phlegm, and spat it on Perry’s chest.

  Perry froze and looked down as it ran down the front of his jacket.

  “Charley! Don’t!” the woman said as she grabbed the middle-aged man by his shoulders and pushed him away from Perry. She looked over her shoulder at the officers near the entrance with concern. “Let’s go before he calls his friends.”

  “He’ll burn with the rest of them!” the man said ominously as the woman led him away. “Just wait and see…”

  The couple quickly disappeared into the crowd while Perry stood motionless with Teddy.

  “You’re just going to let him disrespect you like that?” Teddy asked.

  Perry took an old handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the phlegm away as best as he could. “People are frustrated.” He tucked the handkerchief away. “I’m a target because of my armband. If someone did that to a cop, they’d get beaten—or worse. If they do it to one of us, nothing happens if the cops don’t see.”

  “I don’t understand the significance of the armband,” Teddy said.