The Islands at the End of the World

by Austin Aslan

  “Dad, this is insane. We can’t just break out of a military camp. What about our bags and—”

  “Tomorrow night, if they won’t allow us to walk out of here, you and I start looking.”

  “Dad …” I begin. He watches me closely, waiting. But I don’t really have anything to say.

  “We can do this.” He hugs me. “Eat your Spam. And drink as much as you can. You missed your doses. Today’s, too. Take them both, and take them from now on.”

  “Okay,” I say. “Oh, hey, Dad?”

  “Yeah, hon?”

  “Who won the round robin?”

  He shakes his head. “No one’s played soccer since the shooting.”

  * * *

  In the morning dozens of people are vomiting and complaining of fevers and diarrhea. Very few eat the mush at breakfast; we all fear contamination. I’m so hungry, though; I force down some pasty oats mixed with ground-up Spam. While I’m psyching myself up for each bite, I grow clammy, thinking about scurrying under the fence.

  I search for Aukina and find him standing guard near a part of the fence that’s about to be converted into another gate. A second large pen has been constructed, and a chain-link corridor will connect it with our camp. Aukina stands alone with a pile of fencing supplies and tools. The sight of his face perks me up, a little. So. Damn. Cham.

  “Aloha.”

  “Hey, Lei. Howzit? You feeling better?”

  “You know what happened to me?”

  “I think the four-star generals know what happened, the way your dad was … getting attention.”

  “You think it’s funny?”

  “No! Man, you’re always giving me the stink-eye.”

  I sigh. He’s not to blame. Cut him some slack. “It’s just ’cause I know you know all of this is BS.”

  I see Aukina’s knowing expression in his eyes above his mask.

  “We want to leave, but no one will let us.”

  “I know it’s bad, Lei. But be glad you’re here, ah? Have you heard about the factions forming?”

  “No. We don’t know anything.”

  “The corporate farms keep getting occupied by new militias, so we’re taking them over. That’s easy to deal with. But part of it’s about a free Hawai`i. The Sovereign Nationers see a chance to secede from the States. Hawaiians are ganging up. The haoles are ganging up. The Asians are sticking together. The Filipinos … You and your dad are better off staying out of it. Especially since—”

  “Ho. The Sovereign Nation folks?”

  Aukina shrugs. “They’re part of it, yeah. But it’s messier than that. It’s about `ohana, yeah?”

  We’re quiet for a moment. I hear the sound of gunfire somewhere across the bay again. The pops and cracks of distant bullets are just background now. Now it’s about territory? People splitting into racial gangs? At least it’s not just about Hawaiians and haoles. But … What group am I in?

  Stop. That way of thinking is the problem.

  “And there’s some weird religious stuff behind some of it, too. Creeps me out.”

  “Aukina …”

  “A few Christian ‘armies’ are drunk on hellfire.”

  “Aukina … People are dying in here. You’re shooting us. Everyone’s sick. The flights have stopped.”

  He just looks at me.

  “I want out. My dad and I need to get home. Can you help us get on a plane?”

  Aukina stiffens. “I have absolutely no sway over that kind of thing, Lei.”

  “Can you help us get out, at least? We’ll swim the bay. Once we’re back in Kailua, we’ll figure out what’s next.”

  He opens his mouth to protest but then falls silent, and finally says, “No, Leilani! I … No. What you’re asking is …”

  “Where’s your family, Aukina? Where’s your `ohana?”

  “My parents are here. Pearl City. My brother lives on base.”

  “My mom, my seven-year-old brother, and my grandpa are in Hilo, going through God knows what. We’re broken, Aukina. I don’t care about the turf wars. I don’t care about the blackout. We need to get home. We’ll swim if we have to. We need your help.”

  “Do you know how many people have died trying to get down the island chain? It’s unbelievable, Lei. The ocean is powerful. We’re saving lives. That includes you and your dad.” My hands go up to my face. I’m not going to cry. I won’t! I just want to hide. “This is …” I can’t find the words.

  “I know,” Aukina says.

  “I had that seizure on purpose.”

  “What? You faked it?”

  “No. It was real. I triggered it. And it showed that nobody gives a rat’s ass about us.”

  “You want out that bad?”

  “Are you honestly surprised?”

  Aukina shifts his weight around. Silence settles between us. He hesitates, and then fishes through one of his breast pockets. His hand emerges with a small tin canister, like an Altoids box, but plain and dull. “Here. Take this. Quick. For your dad, too.” He hands me the tin, urging me with his eyes: Hurry! Hide it.

  “What is it?” I whisper as I fit it into my shorts’ pocket.

  “Iodide tablets.”

  “What’re they for?” I know that most salt is iodized because it’s such an important vitamin, or something, but I’ve never heard of tablets.

  Aukina grimaces. “Don’t ask. We’re all taking them. You should, too.”

  I look him in the eyes. “I don’t understand how your good intentions went so bad.”

  “Someone thought this camp would be a good idea. Someone else who doesn’t care was put in charge of making it happen.

  “But now problems everywhere are bigger. These camps are so low on the list, Lei, that—” He stops himself and readjusts the rifle strapped around his shoulder. He takes a few steps toward the pile of construction materials, picks something up, and then continues talking in a hushed tone.

  “Lei, I want to tell you a secret. But don’t repeat it. I’m trusting you.”

  I look him in the eye.

  “So, our carriers and subs operate on nuclear fuel, right?”

  I didn’t know that, but I nod.

  “There’s a few in the … neighborhood. They’re not acting right, though. There doesn’t seem to be any danger, but who knows? Anyway, on top of that, we’re out of gas. Unnecessary flights have stopped. We need what’s left for something big. Our orders are to … I’d take you and your dad with us if I could. But I can do the next best thing, I guess.”

  “What?” I whisper. I’ve forgotten to inhale.

  “I like you a lot, Lei. You’re strong and you’re … eye-catching. You’re way older than your age. Hawai`i’s going to need people like you. I really hope you’ll be okay. I hate goodbyes, but this is it, okay? Don’t come find me again.”

  “I don’t understand.…”

  He tosses something at my feet. “Your shoe’s untied.” He turns away, stiffening to attention.

  I look down. A foot-long bolt cutter is lodged in the mud at my feet, its red handles blaring in the sunlight. I kneel and pretend to tie my shoe. Without looking around, I snag the tool and, grimacing, slip it under my shirt and into the band at the bottom of my bra. My heart is pounding. I feel like a fugitive.

  I catch Aukina’s eye for a second. I want to say thank you, but his eyes shoo me away as if his gaze were a kick in my rear. I rise and walk away, hunched over, trying with all my might not to hurry or look suspicious.

  Our ticket to ride.

  I fasten the top two buttons of my blouse and roll my shoulders forward, praying that the handles aren’t obvious.

  CHAPTER 16

  Thirty-two pills left. Past midnight on Tuesday morning. Very dark. The Orchid is slightly fainter tonight through the thickening haze. Still, it casts soft shadows from its shimmering perch in the sky. Dad’s group petition took several days to organize, and it was a spectacular flop. With the blurry stars twinkling heartlessly above, we’re finally ready to take matte
rs into our own hands.

  Crouched low, my knees in the mud, I slowly buckle my backpack, grimacing as its quiet click seems to shoot through the silent camp. Dad hefts his pack on his back, adjusting its weight, and nods to me. My heart thrumming in my chest, I abandon our cot.

  We circle the perimeter of the canopy. The mud squishes beneath my boots.

  We’ve accounted for the five guards patrolling inside the soccer field. It doesn’t look like they wear night-vision goggles, but we’re not taking any chances. One thing about a field of people is that when everyone spreads out to sleep, it’s easy to drop down and blend in—even with packs on our backs. That’s what we’re betting on, anyway.

  We know there are guards stationed outside the fence, as well, but we don’t know where or how many. At least there are no watchtowers, unless you count the bleachers beyond the track. I remind myself: we’re trying to break out of a soccer field, not a high-security prison.

  I drop and lie still, alerted by the muddy squish of an approaching guard.

  A baby screams beneath the next tent, providing us cover to scurry forward several yards. I resist the urge to dash; no room for error. We must take our time weaving through the dense masses. We have all night, and our target position along the fence—the southeasternmost end nearest the bay—is only sixty yards away.

  A flashlight scans in our vicinity, and we drop like possums again. Did a guard see us? I wait, breathless and motionless. Dad goes limp and relaxes his breathing somewhere behind me.

  The light draws nearer, sweeping the ground in broad strokes. Someone is looking for us. I shift my position slightly, to be sure my pack will appear to be lying flat. An older Hawaiian man is lying next to me, no more than an arm’s length away. In the dim light, it looks like he’s staring right at me.

  I smile sheepishly and give him a small wave with my fingers. Please don’t do anything, I urge him with my thoughts.

  The flashlight draws nearer still. As its beam searches our area, the old man’s face is bathed in a flickering glow. I recognize him as the guy we talked to in line the first day. Wasn’t he going to Maui, then Lāna`i? He should be long gone. His eyes are wide open. His mouth is slightly agape. Stop staring at me; they’re going to notice! In a sudden, cold sweat, I realize that he’s not looking at me. He’s not looking at anything.

  He’s dead.

  No breath comes and goes across his stiffened lips. His eyes are vacant, his expression frozen upon a dirt-streaked face. His gray hair is tousled and bristles gently in response to the eddies of the wind.

  The flashlight continues its greedy search. A cockroach casually emerges from the V in the old man’s button-down shirt, and I stifle a gasp. It crawls up onto his cheek, and then darts into his hair and out of view.

  “Shhh!” Dad whispers from behind me. I bite my lip and close my eyes.

  The light switches off. We wait. Eventually, the footsteps drift away. We raise our heads, gather our bearings, and continue toward the fence. I can’t help glancing back at the dead man in the mud. He will never reach his son’s farm. Above him, his wife sleeps peacefully on her cot.

  I blink back tears.

  Dad and I reach the edge of the field. The fence is only twenty feet away, across the hard-packed dirt track. It’s so dark, with nothing but faint starlight and a menacing green glow to guide our sight. Still, the gap ahead feels awfully exposed.

  “Ready, Lei?” Dad’s breathing is short and fast.

  I nod. “We have to be quick.”

  “Once we go, we’re committed.”

  We wait for several minutes, listening, watching the shadows for signs of movement. Another baby cries somewhere far behind us.

  “Now,” Dad whispers.

  We slink across the track, hunched over as low as possible without getting to our knees, and crouch at the base of the fence. Dad pulls the bolt cutter from the loose sleeve of his jacket and sets its jaws against the lowest link. He’s trembling.

  The tall fence will take at least a minute to cut through. But I picked this route during my scouting so that we’d have an easier out.

  “Dad.” I tug him away. “Over here.”

  Five feet to the right, the fence ends at a pole. The links are hastily lassoed onto the pole with five wire clips. I point to the clips and he smiles. “Excellent.”

  He snaps the five loops and the entire fence curls back like wallpaper. We squeeze through the gap without removing our packs, ducking beneath the intact Slinky of barbed wire, and we’re free.

  We cross a road and creep over to the side of the nearest building, the warehouse where our bags were stored. It’s so dark that we have to go slowly to stay surefooted. I still feel exposed. Anyone with night-vision goggles could look from any direction and see us brazenly darting away from the camp. This must be what rats feel like as they scurry across a field.

  An old Humvee in the near distance turns onto the road we just crossed. We duck behind a bus parked parallel to the warehouse.

  Behind the bus hides a door to the warehouse. I try to open it. Locked tight. Our bags are in there somewhere—with all our food.

  I look up and study the open windows that run along the wall, about eighteen feet off the ground. All of the wooden shutters, hinged from the top, are open, tied to a sprinkler system suspended beneath the high awning. Without air-conditioning it must be the only way to ventilate the building.

  My mind races. We have to find our bags. I can get up there. I can get in and out. We have the time. It’s either get food now or fight for it later.

  “Dad, wait,” I whisper, pulling him back as he marches onward.

  “What?”

  I don’t tell him what I’m planning. He’ll say no. “Just give me a second, okay?”

  He watches, dumbstruck, as I remove my bag and scale the side of the bus, searching out hand- and footholds among the partially open windows and specialized armor plates.

  “Leilani. Stop!”

  “I’ll be right back.” On top, I pause, resting. The climb shouldn’t have been that tiring, but my shaky weakness only reinforces what I need to do.

  Okay, hurry up.

  There’s just enough light from the Emerald Orchid for me to see my target. From atop the bus, I leap for the sprinkler bar. A piece of cake after throwing myself from the hotel lanai. My hands grasp the bar and hold tight. I let my body swing, dissipating the energy of my jump. I heft my hands on the bar, catching a tighter grip, and a bolt somewhere yanks loose. I grunt but don’t lose concentration.

  “Lei!” Dad shout-whispers. “Dammit! Get down here.”

  “Aren’t you hungry?” I call down in a low voice.

  I start a controlled swing and catch my foot on the lip of the open window. Ignoring Dad’s panicky pleas, I walk my hands up the wooden shutter and finally put all my weight on the windowsill. Now I can rest for a second.

  “Dad. Quiet.”

  He grunts. I turn and inspect the interior of the warehouse. It’s very dark inside. The ground seems awfully far away. But there’s no activity in there—and I can smell food, like in a musty convenience store. It smells like a dragon’s lair stuffed with endless treasure.

  “Does your cell still have any charge?” I whisper.

  Dad nods.

  “Toss it up.”

  He complies. I almost feel guilty for bossing him around, but … whatevah. I catch his phone and turn it on. The old thing still runs. “Wait at the door.” I stuff the phone in my pocket, and then I slip inside the warehouse.

  “Hurry, Lei. Someone’s going to see the hole in the fence.”

  Good point. I patiently dangle from the tips of my fingers, taking a deep breath. My feet are only going to be about twelve or thirteen feet off the ground.

  You can do this.

  I let go of the sill and slide, kind of controlled, down the inside of the wall. Luckily, I land on a box with a muffled thud.

  I pull out the cell phone and shine its light. I’m sitting on a
suitcase. Surrounded by luggage. Our bags are in here somewhere.

  But the warehouse is chock-full of baggage. Piles of it. I’ll never find our duffels. I begin to rifle through the nearest bags, looking for food that I can quickly haul away.

  The suitcases are all empty. Other bags are empty.

  They’ve taken the food out. We were never going to get our stuff back.

  I creep forward, amazed at the limp bags stacked in high piles. Each has a numbered tag, just like the one that Lance Corporal Billings handed us when we arrived.

  All lies.

  Shelves materialize with the help of Dad’s phone. Crackers. Jars of peanut butter. Boxes of cookies. Powdered-drink packets. Fruit leathers and dried fruit. Granola bars—maybe the ones we bought at Costco. Every bit of nonperishable food that anyone brought with them is here. I follow the shelves toward the front of the warehouse. The food becomes higher in protein as I advance. Bags of jerky. Waxed cheese. Salami sticks. Mixed nuts. Canned food. Towers of Spam and Vienna sausages.

  I race back to the luggage, snag two large suitcases with rollers, and run back to the shelves, dumping in lots of fruit and granola bars, preserved meats, canned goods, cheeses, shrink-wrapped bags of jerky …

  My hand stops on the shelf closest to the front of the warehouse. Hundreds of boxes line these shelves. The labels say: POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI).

  The medicine the soldiers are secretly taking. I swipe dozens of boxes. I don’t know why Aukina gave me his, but I know a lucky strike when I see one.

  The suitcases fill quickly. Go back for a third suitcase? A fourth? Dad and I can each drag two. My thoughts spring back to the camp. That dead old man. His frail-looking wife, who’s going to wake up in the morning alone. Hungry keikis asking around for food, nursing mothers with screaming babies, fights in the food line and at the water coolers. I see myself returning to camp, a superheroine hoisting bags of food, shouting the truth.

  A grinding screech echoes through the warehouse, and light floods the aisles. I freeze.

  A large garage door is rising at the front of the building. The headlights of at least two rumbling trucks pour in. I bolt with my suitcases and crouch behind a pile of luggage.