“Please, stop,” Teddy cut-in curtly. A cascade of emotion were starting to drown him once more and his frail state of mind just couldn’t handle it. He stood up. “I don’t want to talk about that right now—I can’t. Okay?”
“Okay,” Roger said with an understanding nod. “Just know, if you ever do…” His voice trailed off and he stared down into the fire in silence.
Teddy sat back down. He kept his head bowed and his hands extended towards the flames, fighting back tears.
A scruffy mixed-breed dog emerged from other side of the fire barrel and looked up at Teddy with soulful brown eyes. It sniffed at his feet and then cautiously wagged its bushy tail.
Teddy rubbed his face and looked down at the dog with surprise.
Roger chuckled. “Don’t mind Zoey,” he said as he reached down and scratched the dog’s back. “She’s friendly and more than a little spoiled.”
Zoey cocked her head to the side and looked up at Teddy with her ears perked up.
Teddy put a hand down in front of her nose.
Zoey gave his hand a lick.
For the first time today, Teddy had a real smile on his lips.
Zoey barked happily and wagged her tail in excitement.
“Looks like she made another friend to mooch scraps off of!” Roger said, laughing.
“She’s a sweet dog,” Teddy said as petted her. “How long have you had her?”
“Showed up about a month ago,” Roger recalled. “Skinny little thing at first… I felt bad for her and gave her some food. She’s been following me around since then and waits for me out here every morning.”
Teddy scratched behind her ears and she yipped happily. “The cops don’t mind?” he asked as he glanced towards the tower in the distance.
“It’s against the rules, but they don’t say anything. Lots of folks have pets around here… One of the cops, a gal named Walker, brings Zoey some meat out of the kitchen sometimes when she’s on patrol.”
“I guess they can’t all be bad, right?”
“Not all of them, but most. Real soldiers and real cops would never do the things these people do,” Roger said with sudden emphasis. “I figure most of them used to be mall guards or wannabes before the flu wiped out nearly everybody and then they got to fulfil their dreams… The real ones, the patriots, the ones who actually believed in helping folks like us, either deserted or died—at least that’s what I think.”
“I think so too.” Teddy went back to warming his hands. He was starting to be a little surprised at Roger’s introspective mind.
“My grand-pappy was in the army, so I know a thing or two about these things,” Roger continued.
Teddy thought it best not to elaborate on his own experiences with law enforcement. “Oh yeah?”
“You betcha,” Roger said proudly. “Those goons at the capital today? He would’ve shot the whole damn lot of them.”
Teddy offered a thin smile, but didn’t respond.
“Still, Parham is a special kind of prick,” Roger cautioned. “You’d be smart to stay off his radar.”
“I figure it’s too late for that,” Teddy said with a sigh. He ran a thumb over his busted nose.
“Yeah, I imagine so,” Roger said, chuckling. “After tomorrow, you won’t have to deal with him for two days.”
“Why is that?”
“It’ll be the weekend,” Roger answered with a smile, but his smile turned into a mocking smirk as he continued. “I guess our benevolent captors want us to fawn over the crumbs they give us.”
“Oh yes, they’re the best fascist leaders you could ask for,” Teddy said. “Public executions on Friday and then picnics in the park on Saturday.”
Roger laughed, but Teddy’s own joke soured his mood once more.
Zoey walked back towards Roger wagging her tail and then flopped down at his feet.
“Either way, it’s a nice little break. Maybe you can use the downtime to let that nose heal up,” Roger suggested as he patted Zoey.
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Teddy said as he raised his hands back towards the fire. “So tell me, what do you do with your free time around here?”
“Drink and gamble, mostly.” Roger reached behind his crate and pulled out an old milk jug and two plastic cups. He popped the cap off the jug and filled one of the cups with an off-color liquid. “Drink this,” he insisted. “After your day, nobody could use this more than you.”
“Hooch?” Teddy asked as he took the cup.
“Medicine,” Roger corrected. “At least that’s what my grand-pappy called it.”
Teddy smelled the strong ethanol content as he brought it to his lips—he paused and cocked a brow. “This Midwest moonshine concoction of yours won’t make me blind will it?”
“If it does, you’ll be too damn drunk to care!” Roger poured himself a cup and put the jug away. He raised his cup in the air in a toast and smiled. “Cheers!”
“Bottoms up,” Teddy said with a shrug. He quickly gulped the fiery liquid down.
Roger tilted his head back and did the same.
Both men lowered their cups and let out a loud belch.
Zoey looked up at them, barked, and then laid her head back down between her paws.
They couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s not half bad,” Teddy admitted with a hoarse voice. He winched and burped again.
“Thanks. I make it myself,” Roger beamed. “Want some more?”
“No,” Teddy answered quickly. He handed the cup back. “Thank you though.”
Roger took the cup and laughed. “So, aside from getting shitfaced with me, what else have you done this afternoon?”
Teddy leaned closer towards the fire. “I’ve been trying to find a friend.”
“A friend, huh? All the working girls hang out near dorm twenty, but they ain’t cheap and they ain’t clean,” Roger said with a grin. He poured himself another cup.
“Not that kind of friend,” Teddy dully responded.
“I was just kidding around, hoss,” Roger said. “Didn’t mean any offense.”
“None taken, don’t worry. It’s just been frustrating… I’ve walked this entire camp and I’ve found no sign of him.”
“What does this friend look like?”
“He’s a skinny white kid with purple hair. In his twenties, I think. His name is Ein.”
“Sounds like he’d be hard to miss in a crowd…”
“You’d think so, but nobody I’ve asked has spotted him. Have you?”
“Can’t say that I’ve met or seen an Ein—sorry.” Roger tilted his head back and emptied the cup with a single swallow.
“Didn’t think so…” Teddy stood up and warmed his hands by the fire one last time. “Thanks for the drink.”
Roger belched, wiped his chin with his forearm, and struggled to cap the bottle.
Teddy stuffed his hands in his pockets, turned, and headed back towards the dorm.
Roger gave a heavy sigh. “Hold up a second… I might be able to help.”
Teddy paused and looked over his shoulder.
“When’s the last time you saw your friend?” Roger asked.
“We were separated right after the train. He went into one stall and I went into another. That was the last time.”
Roger frowned and looked down. “I was afraid of that… That’s when it always happens…” He stopped and reached down to pat Zoey. “I wouldn’t waste too much time looking around out here.”
Teddy blinked, taken aback. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that he’s not out here in the dorms,” Roger explained with a solemn expression. “Knowing where he is won’t help you though because you’ll never be able to get to him.”
“Then where is he?” Teddy asked as he took a step towards Roger.
“He’s with the others up in the administration building.” Roger thumbed towards the five-story building on top of the hill near the edge of camp.
; “That doesn’t make sense,” Teddy said. “Why would they take him there?”
“I don’t know,” Roger admitted. “All I know is that the people who they take in there are never seen again.” He paused and looked down into his empty cup. “Regular people like us can’t go in there on our own. Maybe the red bands can go as they please, but not us.”
Irrational anger bubbled inside of Teddy. “Come on now! That’s horseshit!” he shouted. “Besides, how in the hell would you know that?”
“You’d be surprised what the cops will tell you in exchange for some booze,” Roger explained, voice slurred. “I’m sorry, I really am—but your friend is gone.”
“You’re drunk.”
“That doesn’t mean that I’m wrong.”
Teddy waved a dismissive hand at Roger, turned, and stormed towards the dormitory.
“Hey, wait!” Roger called out as he held the bottle up in the air and waved it goofily, but Teddy ignored him and kept walking. He nearly fell off of his crate and sent Zoey into a barking fit.
In the midst of all this, a shrill tone reverberated across the compound through the camp’s PA system. The people who were gathered around the fires and gaming tables groaned, stood up, and started saying their farewells as the final hands were dealt and cigarettes were snuffed out.
A voice announced over the PA: Nightly curfew starts in thirty minutes. All residents must return to their dormitories prior to commencement. Violators are subject to arrest and prosecution. Thank you for your cooperation.
As Teddy approached the dorm, his heart raced and he felt heat radiate off of his reddened face. His hands trembled in his pockets and he felt the thin veins along his neck protruding and pulsating.
At first, Teddy thought that he was angry at Roger for spewing such nonsense, but he started to realize that it was something else entirely—he was afraid that the man was right.
He had searched the entire damn camp, so where else could the kid be?
The building was the only place left aside from the distant expensive looking farmhouse that he had spotted a mile or so past the fence, and he doubted that they would allow the kid to room in some fancy farmhouse.
Teddy looked over his shoulder at the building on the hill. At first glance, it was nothing special—just as plain and ordinary as any other structure.
However, the longer that he stared at it, the more ominous it seemed to become.
Teddy looked away and continued towards his dorm, thinking. The prospects of a quick escape were dwindling and he felt himself become even more disillusioned.
Even worse, it felt like someone was picking away at his skull and tossing lit matches down his throat.
Teddy massaged his left temple with one hand and placed his other against the door’s sensor.
A green light above the sensor flashed as his RFID chip was recognized. A computerized voice announced: Sanders, Teddy—dorm twenty resident—access granted.
The door swung open and Teddy staggered inside.
The dormitory lights were dimmed and the air churning out of the suspended ventilation shafts was only slightly warmer than the wintry air outside. Just a handful of workers had come back and were wrapped in blankets on their bunks either sleeping or had their noses buried in books that were most likely stolen from the empty offices back at the capital.
Teddy wandered towards his bunk while delicately rubbing his crooked nose and stretching his back. Whatever hooch Roger had concocted was more potent than he had expected—his head swam and his vison was starting to become blurry.
Nobody seemed to pay him any attention as he staggered further into the room, but that suited him just fine.
He glanced towards one of the communal showers and saw Perry entering with a hygiene kit tucked under his arm.
Teddy was desperate for answers and he figured Perry would be the best one to provide some. He took off his jacket and threw it on his bunk, nearly falling over in the process. He turned, and hurried after him, stumbling.
Perry stood at one of the washbasins brushing his teeth and staring at himself in the mirror when Teddy walked in.
Teddy stood next to him and put a hand on the counter to maintain his balance.
Perry leaned over the basin, spat, and rinsed his mouth in the running tap. He stood back up and looked over at Teddy. “How was your first day?” he asked as he rinsed off his toothbrush. “You don’t look so hot.”
“I don’t feel so hot.”
“Then go lay down and sleep it off,” Perry said. “I’m not going to tell anybody that you’re drunk, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Not until I ask you something.”
Perry looked at him. “Ask.”
“What goes on in that building?” Teddy asked in a slightly slurred voice.
“Which on?”
“The tall one at the front.”
Perry’s expression fell flat and he turned to look at himself in the mirror once more. “I already told you… It’s an administrative building with a health clinic inside.”
“Yeah, I know what you said,” Teddy replied, aggravated. “I want to know what goes on in the administrative side.”
Perry carefully put his toothbrush away inside his kit and pulled out his dental floss. “How would I know? I’m not allowed in there.”
Teddy leaned closer and narrowed his eyes. “I think you’re lying to me…”
“And I think you’re drunk.” Perry took some floss out of the dispenser and opened his mouth.
Teddy slapped the floss out of Perry’s hands, grabbed him by his collar, and spun him around. He pinned him up against the basin and stared into his eyes. “Listen, stop playing games! I want to know what goes on in there! They don’t need five fucking floors to house a bunch of paper-pushers stapling forms together, in order to manage this pathetic camp!”
Perry broke Teddy’s grip and shoved him hard in the chest.
Teddy, surprised by the old man’s strength, stumbled backwards and landed against the wall. Disoriented from the alcohol, he struggled to get back up.
“I already told you that I don’t know what goes on up there!” Perry exclaimed. “If I knew something, I’d tell you, okay? Sure, I heard rumors, but that’s all they are!”
“What rumors have you heard?” Teddy asked exasperatedly, nearly pleading in his rapidly deteriorating state. He finally managed to get back up on his feet.
“I’m not in the business of repeating dangerous rumors,” Perry snapped in an irritated tone.
Teddy stared at him, perplexed. “Dangerous?” He held his hands out at his side and stumbled sideways. “How are rumors dangerous?”
“Fools that get caught talking that conspiracy jive end up on the hangman’s noose.”
“Why?” Teddy asked with his back against the wall to keep himself stable. “What are they afraid of?”
“Rabblerousing,” Perry quickly answered. “Rumors stir discord and get people riled up—just like you are riled up right now.”
Teddy, head swimming, kept quiet.
Perry turned towards him and gave him a disappointed scowl. “If I knew where your friend was, wouldn’t I’d tell you?”
“Would you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well…” Teddy’s voice trailed off and he gestured towards his red armband.
“Fuck you!” Perry spat. He turned his back towards Teddy and started packing up his hygiene kit. “If you want to go and spread nonsense then don’t look for pity when they come to take you away.”
Perry tucked the hygiene kit under the crook of his arm, walked to the exit, and stopped just at the doorway. “You’re drunk, so I’m giving you a pass for what you pulled off tonight… However, if you lay a hand on me again it won’t be the cops that you have to worry about. You feel me?”
Teddy stood in stunned silence—he had underestimated the old man.
“Life isn’t perfect in here, but you have a second chance,” Perry continued
. “The people running the place aren’t perfect, but they’re playing the best hand they can with the cards they were dealt. Why don’t you try cutting them—and yourself—some slack?”
Perry left the room without another word.
Teddy, woozy, leaned against the wall and tried to regain his composure. After several minutes he staggered out into the dorm.
Perry had already disappeared to his bunk across the room from Teddy’s.
A wobbly Roger entered along with a handful of others before the curfew commenced.
Teddy lurched across the room towards his bunk as he tried to think through his mental fog.
Despite Perry’s assurances, what he had witnessed during his first day told him that the administration didn’t give two shits about the civilians.
Maybe Perry could lie to himself, but Teddy refused to do so.
He was almost certain that they had Ein locked away in the grey building, but the problem was that he hadn’t the slightest clue about how to get inside.
Teddy plopped down on his bunk and cupped his face in his hands, closing his eyes.
The room felt like it was spinning.
Before he dealt with anything, he knew that he’d have to rest his eyes for a moment.
“Just rest ‘em a little while,” Teddy slurred quietly to himself. He rolled over on his back with his arms over his head and his eyes closed.
In a few moments he was fast asleep—snoring loudly.
CHAPTER 9
NOVEMBER 26th
7:05 AM
Orange sunlight filtered through thick, low clouds as a biting breeze whistled across the camp. A thin layer of ice covered the dormitory rooftops and coated the tents and stalls that had been set up in the alleyways. It was much colder than the day before and many had opted to go inside instead of occupying the makeshift shops and gambling tables. The bazaars—clusters of haphazardly strung tents that occupied some of the alleys—were mostly vacant.
Teddy walked along the footpath with his hands stuffed inside his pockets and a woolen muffler wrapped around his throat that covered his mouth. He wasn’t used to the cold and he was cognizant of the fact that winter’s true savagery was yet to arrive.
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