“Hello, Lakelanders,” Jack called and waved. “It’s Jack Conklin and a group of new friends.” The Lakelander Family grew as more figures emerged from the surrounding forest.
Suddenly, a woman gasped and pointed. “It’s the Seeders!” The others followed her gaze to Asher’s sword. “The Seeders…the Seeders…” The murmur rippled through the group.
A greying older man stepped forward, his hand outstretched. “Jack, so glad to see you here in person, in the wilds of the outskirts. It seems you’ve brought me a rather unusual group of new friends.” His eyes flicked nervously to Asher.
“Indeed,” Jack shook his hand. “Joseph Allen, I’d like you to meet…the Seeders.” Despite the group’s prior guess, Jack’s confirmation generated a near hysteria. Joseph Allen’s Family swarmed over them, giving hugs, shaking hands, asking questions and pinching each other in disbelief. Fi snuck a glance at Asher from within the hearty embrace of the woman who’d identified them in the first place. He caught her eye and winked and she pinched her lips to contain her laughter. This trip to Town Center was going to take longer than they’d thought.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, Jack shushed the gathering. “Sorry Joseph, and everyone, but we have to make it to Town Center by lunch, so we have to get going. Will you be coming tonight?”
Joseph shook his head. “A few of the younger ones may, if they can stay overnight.”
There were only a few teens and twentysomethings in Joseph’s Family, but all had longing in their eyes.
“Coming to what?” Fi asked Jack, intrigued.
“It’s a surprise.”
His grin was mischievous. Like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, Maggie would have said. Fi was about to press for details when she felt Asher grab her hand again. What was his deal? The thought flew through her mind and back out again as Jack explained.
“We’re having a celebration in your honor, Fi,” Jack said. Asher’s hand tightened. “In the Seeders’ honor, I mean, of course.”
Fi wriggled her fingers and shot Asher a pointed, quizzical look as she freed her hand. “That’s amazing of you, Jack. It sounds like fun.”
It really did. The Seeders had been all work and no play for the entire summer. A celebration would be a welcome break. Jack assured Joseph that his youngest Family members would be safe overnight in Town Center. Smiles broke out and one girl actually gave an excited clap. Celebrations were obviously as rare in Lakeland as they were everywhere else, Fi thought.
The small group set out, leaving Joseph Allen’s Family behind with waves and smiles. They traveled for a few minutes in contended silence, Asher floating at her side. Normally she loved his company, but this anxious hovering was kind of annoying. She was dying to ask him what was up, but that would have to wait until they had privacy. For now, she’d just have to ignore it. Besides, there was something else she’d wanted to ask the Lakelanders.
“Jack, have you had any interactions with another group? A religious group called the Truthers?”
“You mean the Bloodhands?” Sadik said.
“The…Bloodhands?” Fi stopped as her heart sank. Who the hell were the “Bloodhands?” She hoped to God that they meant the same group, because she couldn’t take another crazy gang.
“They leave red handprints when they burn things,” Sadik explained.
Fi exhaled, marginally relieved. “Yes, they call themselves ‘Truthers.’ They spread their message on the radio mostly, but they’ve been giving us, um…some trouble.” She waited, anxious to see their reaction. If Lakeland got along with the Truthers, the whole Seed could get kind of tricky.
“Well, we pretty much avoid them,” Sadik said. “They’ve never done anything to us really. In fact, we used to trade with them, at first. They seemed harmless enough.”
“But?” Fi pressed.
“But we started having problems with them badgering Lakelanders to convert. They wouldn’t just pass through, or even settle with us; instead they always insisted that we had to send people to someplace called ‘Camp Truth.’ I’d say that we mostly just got weirded out.” He was quiet for a moment. Then he added, “Plus there were the burnings. When we figured out that they were behind them, we stopped being friendly.”
“How did you figure out that they were burning things?” Fi asked, intrigued.
“Well, when our scouts would find piles of charred electronics or burned out electronics stores, they would always be marked by a symbol with a T in the center of the palm. And there would always be red handprints,” he said, and then stopped.
So what? Fi felt impatience flare in her chest. How would they have connected the handprints and burnings with the Truthers without radios? Sadik seemed to have clammed up, so Fi turned to Trill. “What? What’s the big deal?”
“It’s not a big deal,” Trill said. “It’s just a creepy deal. When we looked closer at the handprints, we saw that they all had a ‘T’ in the middle, just like their symbol. And our residents eventually noticed that the Bloodhands, uh…Truthers…they all had the same crazy scar.” Trill held up her palm and mimed something with her finger. Fi frowned in confusion. “A ‘T’,” Trill said. “These freaks all carve a ‘T’ into their hands.”
They do…what? The hair on the back of Fi’s neck stood up.
Sean gave a low whistle. “That’s pretty sick.”
“That’s why we called them the Bloodhands,” Sadik said. “It was definitely too strange for us. So, what kind of trouble have you had with them?”
Fi took a deep breath. “What kind haven’t we had? They burn and destroy technology, which obviously we disagree with. But they mostly spread their message on the radio, and their leader, Dr. Carter Lawson, has targeted Eden and the Seeders specifically.”
“What?” Jack stopped, his face shocked. “What do you mean, ‘targeted’ you?”
“We don’t really know except that he told his followers to try to stop us, to stop the Seeding.”
“But why?” Jack’s voice grew plaintive. “Why on Earth would anyone want to stop your mission?”
“Well, for those who believe in him, it’s because they believe that science got us into this mess and that now it should be rejected. They believe that the seeds we are giving out are dangerous, and that we are all ‘Liars,’ which seems to be his blanket term for anyone who disagrees with him.”
“But what do you mean ‘for those who believe in him’?” Jack pressed.
Fi exchanged a glance with Sean, who nodded. She was all the way in this story now. She might as well tell them everything. “It turns out that we found out something about this guy, the leader of the Truthers. He knows that he’s spreading lies, but he doesn’t care, because he just wants us dead.”
“But…but, what?”
Fi felt Jack’s despair and confusion twist in her own chest. It was exactly how she’d felt when they first learned that Lawson was out for revenge. “Because he was cut from the group of people who were going to be saved inside a colony.” She ignored the sounds of disgust from the Lakelanders. “I know it’s probably hard to think about this because you didn’t know until yesterday that anyone had been given a safe haven from this Famine. But this guy was, at one time, and then his spot was taken away. We think he found out about it, and now he wants is revenge. And he doesn’t care how he gets it.”
“Wow,” Jack mulled this over. “I guess we’re glad that we don’t really associate with them then…seeing as we really want the seeds and radios.”
“Yes, but it also means that once you go ‘live’ on the radios, the Truthers will become aware of you. That is why I had to tell you, to warn you. They actually destroyed the settlements of two small families that we Seeded last summer. They stole their radios and burned their homes and crops.”
“Thank you for the warning, but we’re already very serious about our security,” Sadik said.
“Yes,” Trill agreed. “You will definitely be safe while you are in Lakeland.”
Som
ething about the way she raised her chin gave Fi confidence. If Trill and Sadik believed they were safe, then maybe they actually were. Unexpected tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away as quickly as she could, wiping her face with her arm. God, her emotions had completely turned on her lately! It would be nice to go longer than an hour without being yanked around by rolling waves of fear or sadness. Of course, some of it was the pregnancy, she knew. But some of it was the sharp shard of fear that had lodged in her chest since the attack.
“So, Fi, you owe me a story,” Jack said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Yes,” she replied, brightening. She was grateful for the change of subject. It wasn’t her favorite, the story of how she’d become a Leader at fourteen, but a deal was a deal. “I would never have become a Leader if it weren’t for my father,” she began.
As she launched into her story, she felt the tension over the Truthers melt from her shoulders. It was nice to relax a little and let Trill and Sadik worry about everyone’s safety. For now, she was safe. The baby was safe. Lakeland was safe. She was free. Free to just spend a few hours strolling by a glittering lake, beneath rustling birches and pines, the warm breeze singing of days of innocence.
Kindred Spirits
------------Fi------------
When they finally arrived, Town Center lived up to its name. It featured a very large cleared area, about twice the size of a football field, and it was bustling with people hurrying in different directions with buckets, bowls, and tools in hand. A large shed constructed from a mixture of wood and plastic dominated one end of the clearing, while a few large homes with wraparound porches lined the other. In the center stood a large water pump. Several women worked the pump, filling plastic buckets and laughing.
“This is obviously Town Center,” Jack said. “We took over this little vacation spot and made it our own. The water pump is a blessing, because we aren’t right on the shoreline here. The shed is our main storage facility, and the homes serve as our meeting hall, courtroom, and medical center. So, anyway, welcome!” He laughed. “Now, it’s time for us to have a light lunch, but don’t eat too much. We’re going to eat well tonight. We’ve had everyone out hunting and gathering like mad ever since you arrived.”
Fi’s mouth watered at the thought. She couldn’t wait.
After lunch, Trill approached, wearing a bow in a sling. She pointed to the bow strapped to Fi’s pack. “You any good with that?”
“Why?” Fi asked through her wad of jerky.
“I was thinking of a girls’ day out.” Fi and Sara both burst out laughing at Trill’s fake singsong voice. It didn’t suit the sphinx-like woman at all.
“Ooooh, are we going for mani-pedis, or to the mall?” Fi pretended to clap her hands and Sara shoved her. Fi shoved Sara back, and Trill rolled her eyes.
“Something like that,” she muttered. “C’mon, girls. Bring your weapons and a little rations. When I saw your bow, I signed us up for the hunt.” She nodded to the guys. “We’ll see you guys in a few hours.”
Asher and Sean would be joining Jack for a long tour of the region so that they could select the station site or sites. Sean pointed out that they could set up more than one here, due to Lakeland’s size. The boys’ heads were bowed in conversation. Fi wiggled her fingers goodbye as she and Sara followed Trill out of Town Center.
“We have a practice range by our training area,” Trill explained. “As I mentioned before, I’m in charge of training all new recruits for our security and hunting teams. Sadik actually runs the teams, but I have to give the ‘ok’ that a recruit is ready to go out.”
They left the trail and emerged into a section of pine forest, the trunks marching in orderly rows. For lumber, Fi noted. All lumber forests looked like oversized farms. It always gave her the feeling of having shrunk like Alice, like she was just an ant in a giant’s garden. A section of the smaller trees had been felled, creating a hundred yard straightaway.
“There,” Trill pointed. Crude white rings of paint adorned trees at twenty, fifty, and a hundred yards. “I thought we’d have some friendly target practice first. You know, get to know each other better.”
Fi and Sara exchanged a glance. Something about Trill was inherently intimidating, even when she was trying to be friendly. Fi sensed that this was a test, but she knew that whatever test Trill threw at them, they would pass. “Sounds fun.”
Though they didn’t want to waste ammo, Trill talked Fi into showing off her .22. Well, it was really Sara’s fault. Sara kept going on and on about what a good a shot Fi was, not only with the bow, but also with her gun. Fi knew that Sara just wanted her to show off for Trill, but it still made her uncomfortable.
“All right, Fi,” Trill took the bait. “Let’s see it.” She pointed to the target tree at fifty yards. “Your .22, my bow, her daggers. Whoever’s closest gets to steal dessert tonight.”
Fi’s lips curled at the bet. It was almost unfair. “Deal.”
Sara smirked as she pulled her right dagger from its sheath. Fi went first, on the premise that the bullet might destroy the arrows or dagger. She squeezed her finger slowly and the gun obeyed, the shot ringing out in the still air. A flock of crows took off, cawing in exasperation. She lowered her weapon with satisfaction. Though they wouldn’t know the final outcome until they checked, she knew it was an excellent shot.
“Very impressive, Fi,” Trill considered her performance. “The way you squeezed until it fired itself...and with so little response to the recoil. Very good.”
“Thanks,” Fi began, when Trill suddenly drew her bow and her arrow flew. It soared in a clean arc and lodged in the dead center of the target. Jesus! Fi sucked in her breath. From the corner of her eye she saw Sara’s mouth drop open. Though they’d expected Trill to be as “talented” as she’d assessed them to be, it was still something to see.
Sara’s turn was next. It took every ounce of her strength to hurl that distance, but Sara wasn’t one to pass up a challenge. A flash of sunlight caught their eye as Sara’s dagger flexed, having found its mark. She whooped and it was Trill’s turn to suck in her breath.
“Again,” she breathed, “impressive.”
Sara lowered her eyes, suddenly embarrassed. “To be honest, Trill, I’m only good with the daggers. I’m not very good with the bow, at least, not yet. I’m still learning.”
“Really? Usually a markswoman is, well, a markswoman.” Trill waved at Fi to make her point. “I thought you’d be as good with the bow as you are with your daggers.”
Sara looked pained. When she didn’t respond, Trill grew impatient and turned to Fi. “What’s her problem?”
“She doesn’t hate the deer enough to hunt them,” Fi explained
Trill’s eyes widened. “Wow, Sara. You must really hate trees.”
Fi bit her tongue to keep from laughing at Sara’s obvious discomfort.
“What about you?” Trill turned her fierce eyes back to Fi. “I really brought you here to see your bow skills. We are going hunting, you know.”
Sara started to open her mouth, but Fi shook her head as she strapped on her release and grabbed her bow. Without a word, Fi raised an eyebrow at Trill and nocked the arrow. She took her aim, feeling the familiar tug in her shoulders as the bowstring trembled with tension. She narrowed her eyes and let the arrow fly. A strangling sound left Trill’s throat as Fi’s arrow found its mark…in one of the trees at a hundred yards.
Fi lowered her bow. Even Sara looked shocked, and Fi felt herself struggling to hide her satisfaction. “Sara, would you like to tell us who won?”
She made the suggestion since Trill seemed to have gone temporarily mute. Sara trotted off to recover her dagger and the arrows from their respective targets. Fi decided it was her turn to ask questions. “So how is it having Jack as your Leader, Trill?”
Though her tone was innocent, Fi knew that Trill wasn’t stupid. It was a test. What Jack’s followers thought of him was important to her. Trill stared at Sara as she wo
und through the tree stumps to collect Fi’s arrow.
“It’s good,” she said. “It’s like he told you, he’s willing to do it. We all discuss the decisions, but he’s the one that makes them in the end.” Fi frowned at this and Trill bristled. “What? Are you surprised that I follow him just because I’m older? Do you think I should lead?” She shook her head. “I’m too old.”
It was Fi’s turn to bristle. That couldn’t possibly be true. Sure, Trill had grey hair, but her unlined skin and strong muscles spoke of vitality. “Too old?” she scoffed. “You can’t be more than forty-five, Trill.”
“Wow, girl you’re waaaaaay off. I wish I was forty-five, but I’m not. I’m sixty-two.”
“Sixty-two?” Disbelief turned Fi’s voice to a whisper. “Um…I…um,” she stammered.
Trill laughed and shook her head. “Don’t worry, I definitely take it as a compliment. Besides, if it makes you feel any better; you look like you’re twelve to me.” She paused. “Except for the baby, of course.”
Fi gasped and her eyes widened into saucers. She turned and saw that Sara was still too distant to hear them before responding. “How did you know?”
“Your shirt lifted on that last shot,” Trill chuckled. “Saw your stretchy waistband.” Fi reddened as she tugged at her shirt. Trill’s face twisted in amusement. “And…if you don’t want people to know, you need to tell your man to stop putting his hands on your belly every time he touches you. You too…” she nodded at Fi’s hand, which had settled unconsciously on her belly.
Fi’s gaze flitted anxiously toward the returning Sara. “But Sean and Sara haven’t guessed,” she insisted.
Trill waved her hand dismissively. “They’re babies. They wouldn’t see the signs. Would you have noticed if it was Sara?”
Of course, she thought. Of course a more experienced woman would see. But not Sara or herself…not yet. Now she would see it in Sara, she realized. The hundred bathroom breaks in the middle of the night, the keen sense of smell, the rosiness and swelling, the shifting emotions. But before? No way. Fi shook her head.
Seeds of War Page 27