Dispersion

  “Even if it may seem like sinners can escape God’s wrath from time to time, He is indeed patient. The new members from the territories have brought with them joyous news. God has finally punished the sinners of the territories for their genetic manipulation and casting Him aside. The genetically mutated, or Planned as they call themselves, are all carriers of an illness that has broken out and sent them to eternal damnation. God is good.”

  “God is good,” everyone repeats back to him with more enthusiasm than last time.

  How is God good? Thousands of people have died. My friends and family have died. I don’t understand.

  “As you all know, there have been some creatures of sin that we suspected all along were coming from the ungodly territories, that have made their way to Veritas and took seven of our members’ lives. They are a direct result of the genetically mutated experiments. We must stay strong and not let the agents of Satan take us from His path for us.”

  Dominic and I exchange a look and he raises one brow. I’m not sure who Satan is, but I doubt he had anything to do with the infection. Yes, it was a result of the genetic planning. However, the genetic engineers did that, not this Satan they speak of in such a hostile tone.

  Silas wipes his brow of sweat. Leading a group of people this large must be hard work. “To warn us against the creatures of sin, God has sent us five unlikely people, who are all fortunate to be untainted by the genetic mutations. And as we must help save their souls, we must understand that He sent them as a tool to ensure we don’t stray from our path of light and become tempted into the darkness. They understand how to destroy these demons to prevent them from spreading their disgusting infection.”

  “Now, let us pray,” Silas says as everyone kneels and bows their heads.

  “Lord, thank You for giving us another opportunity to honor and serve You. Please continue to provide us the strength to resist the evil temptations and sin that fight to get through the doors every day. In Your name we pray. Amen.”

  “Amen,” the room echoes back to him.

  Silas does his eye contact motion again and everyone remains still, waiting for him to finish his ritual. Once he finishes scanning the room, he gives one final nod and walks across the stage to an exit.

  The trance is broken and the small chatter from earlier returns. That mindless energy doesn’t entirely dissipate but buries into the surface, waiting to come back out at the next meeting.

  The ball of tension in my stomach won’t disappear. I’m not sure why their worship worries me so much. Maybe it’s because Silas has exposed himself for having all the power that he does. Not only is he the political head of the compound, he’s their religious leader as well.

  While the territories didn’t openly engage in any religious practices, a separation still existed throughout the political sphere, and it acted as a check to ensure one group didn’t get too powerful. All the Territory Leaders were voted into office and reported to the President. Even her hands were tied if the Territory Leaders disagreed with her.

  At Veritas, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of separation. All of the power rests in the hands of one man: Silas. Whatever power anyone else has is smoke and mirrors. Even Jonah’s authority is allowed by Silas. From the control he had over the group here during his prayers and hymns, I can’t imagine anyone being able to question his authority.

  “What did we get ourselves into?” Dominic asks himself quietly enough that even though I’m inches away from him, I almost can’t hear him.

  Chapter Twelve

  I double-check the number on the paper with the plate next to the door. Yes, it’s supposed to be here. It’s very secluded. I look around nervously, expecting someone to be playing a joke on me.

  I’m either in the right place or I’m not. Standing here staring at the door isn’t going to help anything.

  I lightly knock on the door and wait. There’s no response. I knock again harder—still nothing.

  I let out a deep breath and open it. In the corner, a small figure is hunched over a box and wears the same blue pants that everyone wears with one of the obnoxiously bright yellow shirts I bypassed this morning. Without the door blocking it, I can hear the humming of an unfamiliar tune.

  “Hello?” I call out.

  The figure doesn’t react and continues humming.

  Jess used to hum whenever she was happy and content…whenever we were together. I can’t remember the last time she hummed to herself. The knife that’s been in my chest since Potentia twists again.

  Maybe this person can’t hear well. “Hello,” I call out again, this time louder.

  The figure jumps up and knocks her head on the shelf she was leaning under.

  “Dammit,” she cries out, holding her head in the spot she hit. With her other hand, she yanks out some cords from her ears and turns to face me.

  Her hazel eyes narrow at me in accusation before a giant smile, revealing slightly crooked teeth, breaks out, making her look much more approachable.

  “Are you the new person?” she asks, continuing to rub her head.

  “Yes. I’m Elliot.” I remain standing by the door, my arms awkwardly at my sides.

  She pushes her dark hair behind her ears and steps closer.

  “Nice to meet you, Eli. I’m Leah.”

  She smiles and holds out her hand, and I accept her nickname for me. Returning her handshake, I find it’s surprisingly firm. She can’t be more than an inch or two taller than Allison and is thin—smaller than even Allison.

  “Isaac told me right before worship this morning that you’d be coming along. I totally forgot about it. If I remembered, I wouldn’t have had my headphones in.” She gestures toward the wires that are in her left hand.

  “What are those? Were you calling someone?” I ask.

  She raises one of her thin eyebrows in confusion. “What? Was I calling someone?” she repeats back to herself. Without warning, she starts laughing.

  “Because they’re called ‘headphones,’ right? That’s why you asked that?”

  Sheepishly, I nod. Her laughter continues to bounce across the room.

  “No, I wasn’t calling anyone. I was listening to music.”

  I keep looking at her without comprehension.

  “Do you not have these back at the territories?”

  I shake my head. Her eyes light up with excitement.

  “I thought you were supposed to have all sorts of amazing technology. Here, listen to this,” she says.

  Leah holds the wires out to me. I lean my head down and she places them across my head.

  Through it, a heavy melody plays with an electric beat. I smile at the sound even though I’ve never heard this song before.

  “We have these back in the territories. They’re wireless and we call them ear speakers,” I say and lean away from the music.

  “Ear speakers?” she asks and laughs again. “That sounds ridiculous.”

  I laugh with her. “It makes more sense than calling them headphones.”

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.” Leah sits down on one of the boxes and crosses her ankles.

  I gesture toward the entire room. It’s filled with boxes of various sizes with tall shelving hiding how big the room is.

  I clasp my hands together. “Should we get started? What am I supposed to be doing?”

  She shakes her head. “It’s straightforward. We sort through the boxes that they bring to us and put them in the right places. It’s super simple.” She rolls her eyes.

  “Where do they all come from?”

  Leah shrugs. “They do food processing in another department.”

  I look around the room in wonder. For only 200 people, it’s quite the operation to get everyone fed. The boxes seem limitless.

  “Now, let’s talk for a bit,” she continues. “They won’t send anyone to check on us since we’re so far out.”

  “But shouldn’t we get the work done?”

  Another wide grin cover
s her face. “There’s always going to be more work that needs to be done. It’s never ending. That’s not what life is about.”

  I sit down on the box across from her. It buckles in slightly but remains standing. “What’s it for then?”

  Leah’s left eyebrow briefly flicks upward. “Living.” She looks around the windowless room with all the shelves and boxes piled up everywhere. “Which we can’t do in here.”

  It does seem gloomy in here. The artificial light is no real substitute for the light that used to pour into my grandparents’ kitchen in the cabin. Nothing can beat that.

  I frown. My family is buried at that cabin. I’m not sure if I’ll ever make it back there. Everything at Veritas is so unfamiliar and foreign. Despite the uncertainty of life there, I miss it.

  Misinterpreting my expression, she brings me back to the present with her chipper voice. “It’s not that bad. I mean, we’re pretty isolated out here, so like I said, no one checks up on us most of the time and we’re able to do whatever we want.”

  “They won’t figure out if we’re not productive and working hard?”

  She chuckles again. “Eli, I don’t think anyone in this assignment has ever worked hard. They’ve nothing to compare us to. Trust me.”

  Her glint of rebellion is refreshing after this morning’s religious exposure. Does everyone put on an act during those meetings or is she an outlier? Maybe I shouldn’t have been as worried after the worship if everyone doesn’t believe as Silas does.

  “Uhhh, can I help you there, buddy?” she asks, drawing attention to the fact that I was staring at her.

  I cough and break eye contact. “Sorry, I was thinking about something else.”

  “Now I know that you’re absentminded and spacey. Great. They always send the best people out here.” She winks to let me know she’s joking. “Why did you request this assignment by the way?”

  I’m surprised when I tell her the truth. “My mother worked in food distribution back in Potentia. I always hoped that one day I’d be able to join her.”

  “So you’re a mamma’s boy then. Where is she?”

  I hesitate. Should I tell her she’s under a mound of dirt with my grandparents who killed her? That might be a bit much.

  “She’s dead,” I whisper back instead. It’s still painful to say out loud.

  Leah’s smile instantly disappears, making her look like she did when I first walked in. “I’m so sorry. Sometimes I speak without thinking it through. I have a terrible filter. I should’ve guessed that from Silas’s sermon this morning.”

  I’m not sure why I keep talking. Maybe it’s to have someone listen. “My grandmother was infected and killed my mother right in front of me.” My voice lowers even more. “We made eye contact as she died.”

  I drop my head and stare at my hands in my lap. When she died, Jess was there with me. Even though we had just met, she still managed to be the strength I needed to go forward.

  Through all of the loss, Jess was always there. We gave each other support. It may have started with her giving me the strength, but our relationship eventually evolved so we could support one another. We were a team.

  Leah tentatively moves toward me and squeezes my shoulder. I look up at her, wishing she were someone else, to find her looking down at me with an expression full of pity.

  I shake my head to get rid of the emotion. I don’t want her to feel like I need her to comfort me right now. I don’t need her sympathy.

  “Anyway, that’s that,” I say, no longer wanting to open up. Instead I stand up from the box and look around for inspiration on how to change the subject.

  Luckily, she accepts my transition. She angles her head up as she scans my body.

  “How tall are you, Eli?”

  “Around five foot ten,” I say. “Why?”

  “You look tall standing right there.”

  She’s awfully close to me. I take a step back and my foot hits a box. She eyes the motion and takes a step back herself to put some distance between us.

  “I don’t think anyone has ever told me I looked tall before. It must be because you’re so short. What are you, five one?”

  She straightens her shoulders and stands taller. “I’m actually five foot two, thank you.”

  I raise my eyebrow.

  “Okay, with shoes on. Which I’m wearing right now so technically I’m not lying,” she says again, her mischievous smirk back.

  I bark a quick laugh. “You asked me why I wanted to work back here, but you didn’t tell me yourself. Why are you here if you think it’s gloomy?”

  She bites her lips and sticks her face out like she’s trying to get away with something.

  “I have a big mouth sometimes and it gets me in trouble. I figured being isolated would be better for me.” She sticks her tongue out. “Plus, one of my friends used to work down here and he said that you could get away with eating some extra food before it’s logged to go to the Mess Hall. Speaking of which…”

  Leah runs back to the original box she was looking through when I walked into the room and digs back through it.

  “Aha!” she exclaims as she comes back out holding two wrappers. “I thought that’s what I saw.”

  She sits back down and tosses me something. I catch it automatically and eye it curiously. I’ve never seen packaging like this before. We wouldn’t use plastic to cover our food. Everything was always delivered in reusable metal meal packets.

  She tears her pack and takes a big bite. “Go ahead and eat it. No one will notice they’re missing two bars of chocolate.” Her teeth are temporarily stained dark from her bite.

  My eyes widen in excitement as I open mine. We would only get candy on special occasions. It wasn’t deemed a nutritional part of a diet.

  I moan when I take a bite of chocolate. It’s delicious. No wonder some of the people here are a bit…fuller than those at the territories.

  “This is amazing.” I sit back down on one of the boxes opposite her.

  “Like I said, there are some benefits to working here,” she says and laughs at my expression. “You know, I’ve never spoken with anyone from the territories before…”

  I chuckle at the enthusiasm in her tone. “What do you want to know?”

  “How are things going so far? It’s quite an adjustment, right?”

  “That’s putting it lightly,” I admit.

  “How old are you, Eli?”

  “I’ll be twenty-three in a couple of weeks.”

  “Oh, I have an older man with me then.” She rubs her hands together as if she’s planning something. “I’m nineteen,” she tells me even though I don’t ask.

  “Cool.” I’m not sure what else to say.

  “The two women you came here with—there’s the one with the baby and the tall, curly-haired one—are you with either of them?”

  Even though I wish I could say something else, I reply honestly. “No.”

  I take another bite of my chocolate. It doesn’t taste as good as it did on my last bite.

  “Oh…” she trails off and takes another bite. “Is it true about the creatures of sin, as Silas said earlier?”

  Reluctantly, I concede. “In a way. Something went wrong in the genetic engineering, and it created an infection that turned people into mindless creatures. We’ve been calling them the Letum.”

  Her eyes widen, though I can’t tell if it’s because of fear or excitement. “What are they like?”

  I let out a breath of air. It feels like bad luck to talk about them here. “Like I said, they’re mindless. They aren’t people anymore.”

  “I assumed Silas was exaggerating again…” she tapers off.

  “They’re extremely dangerous. They’ve killed almost everyone from the territories.”

  She looks past me, deep in thought. I take another bite of my chocolate, trying to ignore the image of my grandmother ripping into my mother’s throat, spraying her blood across the walls as she died.

  “Honestly, I figu
red it was another one of his embellishments to scare us into following his lead.”

  My chewing stills as I carefully ask, “What do you mean?”

  Leah shrugs again and keeps staring off into the distance. “His sermon was even gloomier than normal.” She takes another bite of her chocolate. “He does that whenever there’s some change throughout the compound.” She gasps. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Please don’t repeat it.”

  Already understanding what she means about lacking a filter, I say, “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

  This suggests that he’s using religion as a tool for power instead of truly believing in it, like he said. Leah’s so young and full of rebellious spirit. Is she misinterpreting this?

  Her voice brings me back to the present. “Well, do you like it here so far?”

  I smirk at her change of topic. “It’s nice to be somewhere safe, but things are different here from what I’m used to.”

  “Like what?”

  She looks away in what seems like an attempt to appear less interested, though it’s not working. Her curiosity about the territories is similar to how Carly idolized us.

  You always want what you don’t have.

  “For one thing, Potentia—the territory where I’m from—doesn’t have a foundation in any religion. This morning’s church service was the first one I’ve ever been to.”

  I gauge her reaction to my words. I don’t want to say too much and get myself in trouble. Luckily, she seems safe enough and gapes at my response.

  “That’s what they told us. Honestly, I thought that was a rumor they started to demonize you. Wow. I can’t believe you’ve never been to church before in your life.”

  She looks at me with a new appreciation, then laughs loudly. Even though she’s laughing at me, it doesn’t appear to be mean-spirited, so I don’t take offense.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask with a tentative smile of my own.

  “You didn’t even burst into flames when you walked through the church’s doors. Man, what a disappointment!”

  My mouth opens in shock. “Was that supposed to happen?”

  She shrugs and wipes her tears with her left hand. “It’s something they always said: if a nonbeliever tried to walk through His sanctuary, they would burst into flame once they passed through the doors. You don’t believe in God though, do you?”