“Spit it out, Telan. I know we have a visitor already. That’s your business, though we didn’t engage in that sort of thing yet at your age—”
He put his hand up, stopping him, embarrassed. “It’s not like that, I swear…. The girl, Selena, we came here together. She wants to run, and it’s not her fault for why she wants to. She shouldn’t have to run for something that’s not her fault….” He knew he wasn’t making any kind of sense and he felt like an idiot for it, so he stopped, trying to think of a way of saying it without betraying her secret.
Riley got up from the bed he was lounging on and walked over, locked the door, took him gently by the shoulders, and pushed him into the only chair that didn’t have anything on it. “I know my room is messy, kid, so stop with the inspection and talk to me. It’s late, much later than I’m ordinarily awake at, so spill it.”
He nodded to him. “I’m sorry…. What I need to tell you isn’t mine to tell and I don’t know how to do it, so that nobody gets hurt.”
“It won’t leave this room, Telan. You have my word.”
His face was serious when he said it, and he believed him. Something about this man made him feel that he’d always keep his word, even one given to a kid he’d just met, so he did. He told him about how they ran from the orphanage and how she made him feel sad that first night without meaning to and what she told him then, and how that boy who likely isn’t a boy anymore is here, that she saw him, and she can’t stay here after that.
Riley didn’t say anything when he was talking, but he saw his face change, saw the anger in it. “Do you think you can get her to describe him or point him out to you?” he asked in a strange voice.
He didn’t know, but he hoped he could, so he told him that.
Riley just nodded. “Can you sleep on the floor for a few days? I’ve got plenty of blankets and pillows, but I don’t have any more beds,” he asked, looking at him apologetically.
He didn’t care where he slept, so he nodded.
Riley was up in one swift motion, going through the closet he didn’t even notice before, pulling out a pile of blankets and a pillow and handing it all to him. “Don’t let her leave, Telan. I’ll wake you up for breakfast. It’ll be all right, kid, I promise. I don’t want someone like that here, so in a way, you just did me a huge favor, all of us, I think,” and he turned away from him, his hands curling and uncurling, as if he were getting ready for a fight.
He left him, closing the door behind him as soundlessly as he could, and he hoped he did the right thing by her, hoped Riley would fix it so she could stay.
He walked into the small room she was in and spread a few blankets on the floor, dropped the pillow on them and stretched out, listening to the girl’s soft breathing as he tried to drift off. And he thought for the first time since they got here how much he missed this, the girl sleeping nearby, her face soft, hands under her cheek. She slept like a little kid, all curled up. He watched her for a long time, until his eyelids felt heavy, and finally, he let himself sleep.
8
The Murderer
Riley, June 17, 2244, Reston.
Riley heard the knock on his door and felt it had something to do with the girl he watched pace by the house, until Telan let her in. He knew who she was, heard from Max that she was all right, but it still made him uneasy to have her here at night. He was half angry at the kid for letting her in when he told him to come in. He never expected him to tell him what he finally told him about her, couldn’t imagine anyone doing that to a little kid, and she had to have been a little kid back then. He knew himself well enough to know that if he ran into whoever this person was by himself, he’d strangle him to death, and that would be the mildest thing he could think of doing to him. But he couldn’t do that here, not with all these people they were somehow in charge of. He had to talk to Max, and they’d have to convene the council, letting the majority decide what to do about this man.
He didn’t know what that would be. Nothing like this has ever happened here before. They would have to figure it out, but he knew for sure that there was no way that man could stay with them. Even if they didn’t end up killing him, he needed to be gone.
He recalled meeting this strange kid just yesterday morning, the day starting far too early for him. He had barely passed out when he heard Lancer calling for him from the other room. He cursed quietly to himself, washed up and went into the cleanest room in the house. It took him two days to clean it up, to scrub every surface over and over again, until Ella was satisfied that he wouldn’t kill his friend by being a slob.
Lancer stared at him without saying anything, a question in his eyes. He let him stare, annoyed at him for getting him up so early. “I know he said something to you, before he left. Whatever it was, you have to tell me, you know that, so please, just spill it,” Lancer asked in a tired voice, keeping his eyes on him.
“He said he hated your guts and never wanted to see you again,” he spat out without thinking, and regretted it immediately, Lancer looking as hurt as he’d ever seen him. He ran to him, hugging him, speaking softly now. ”You’re an idiot, Lancer. That man loves you. But no, he didn’t say anything. He just ran.” He cradled him, rocking him as if he were a child, feeling every shade of guilty for hurting him.
“You’re going to make me throw up,” Lancer finally said in a hoarse whisper, and he stopped rocking him and helped him sit up, watching his face.
“I hurt him yesterday. I said something to him that was the worst thing I could have ever said to him…. I was angry, really bloody angry. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he didn’t ever want to see me again, is what I’m saying.” Lancer shook his head, looked at him again, face full of fear. “You haven’t seen him since he left?”
Riley shook his head.
Lancer squeezed his eyes shut. “You need to go see him, Riley. Right now. Bring him here if you can, if he lets you. Please, go. He….” Lancer shook his head then just dropped it, swallowing like he was going to be sick.
“He went to see Telan after he left here. He’s not dead or anything, if that’s what you were thinking. I heard you yesterday, you know? I had Drake check on him. And take that damn gun. He was passed out asleep when he left him, and that’s after they talked.” Riley wrinkled his nose, only half-kidding, smiled at his friend. “You should probably get cleaned up.” He pulled him up and took him to the bathroom, helping him wash up. “Do you want to shower yet? I’ll help you, if you want me to. I don’t mind. Truly,” he asked softly.
Lancer’s face turned red. “No, Riley. There is only so much humiliation I can take. But you can run me a bath and I promise not to drown myself in it.”
He filled up the bath and left him in the steaming room, telling him to just call out if he needed help, and went about making a small breakfast for him. Nothing but some strawberries from their garden and a plain toast. He knew he wouldn’t touch anything else yet. Lancer looked clean-shaven and he smelled of soap when he joined him at the table, staring at his food as if it were poisoned, but swallowing the entire mug of coffee in under a minute.
“I know you’re still feeling sick, I get it, but you have to eat. I’m tired of fighting you on it, and, in case you didn’t notice, you woke me up far too early for me to be in a good enough mood to deal with it. Just bloody eat,” he snapped at him and went into his room, feeling entirely out of sorts.
He must have slept for a little while, quiet voices waking him up. He recognized Max’s, and he guessed the other one was Telan’s. He ran his hands through his hair, reminding himself again to ask someone to cut it, and walked out to them. Max was sitting at the kitchen table talking to a dark-skinned, dark-haired kid with striking gray eyes; Lancer’s eyes. The boy looked much too young for his fifteen years, slender-limbed, small somehow. Not at all like he imagined him.
The boy stood when he saw him, looking at him, all eyes, and stuck his hand out. “I am Telan. I know you know that already. I didn’t know what else to s
ay,” he said quietly.
He shook his hand, hard, the kid surprising him by holding his own, small as he was. “Riley. I’m sure Max here has told you all sorts of things about me already, lies mostly, I would imagine. It’s nice to meet you, kid, and long overdue. Your father is in the spare bedroom, asleep, and he’ll likely make it harder on you than it needs to be, but that’s just how he is. We love the son of a bitch, but it takes a bit of getting used to. In all seriousness, he is a good man. A great man, maybe. Don’t let him push you away, kid,” he said softly, Max looking at him with a smirk on his face, Telan just nodded, and then told him that he understood and that he was ready.
He peeked into the room before letting the kid in. Lancer seemed asleep, so he told the boy to take the chair and wait if he wanted to. He hoped Lancer wouldn’t hurt this boy. He liked the kid, liked everything about him.
“How was he, Riley? When he got up?” Max asked when he got back to the table.
He told him, all of it, feeling himself blush at his thoughtlessness. Max just nodded softly, not saying a word.
“Why the hell would you give him a gun? What were you thinking? You know how he’s been ever since…. We had to strap him to his bed for days on end, so he didn’t do anything stupid, and you hand him a bloody gun,” he spat at him, feeling angry at the man, angry at everybody lately.
“It wasn’t for him,” Max said very quietly, not looking at him.
“I know, Max. I heard you, couldn’t help it, given how loud you were…. What if he pointed that damn thing at his own head? Did you even consider that?”
Max shook his head. “No, Riley. I didn’t think he’d do that now that he’s not in danger anymore.”
Riley cursed under his breath, glared at him. “Tell me at least the bullet was a blank.”
Max didn’t say anything, and he knew that this man truly meant to let Lancer kill him if he wanted to.
He tried to get him to go into Lancer’s room after that, to make it right with him, but Max just shook his head and told him he needed to leave him alone about it, and he’d see Lancer if or when he was good and ready to.
He remembered all of it as he walked to Max’s place, hoping the man was at home. He was, looking at him, surprise written all over his face as he swung the door open. Riley walked in, stumbling over something in the small hallway. Max bent down and threw what looked like a metal box into the corner of the small room that served as a kitchen. Riley hadn’t been here in a long time, and the place looked smaller somehow, cramped. He sat on the wooden bench at the table, Max asking if he wanted anything. He didn’t. He just needed to get this out.
Max listened silently as he told him about last night, the girl coming over to his house, and what Telan told him. He rushed through it, feeling uncomfortable. Max stood and turned away from him when he was done with it, and then told him softly that he knew some of it already, and the kids know that. Told him, too, that from everything he gathered, the kids very much liked each other, and it would be the worst thing they could do to them for her to have to leave.
He faced him again, hands in fists at his sides. “I know what you’re thinking and why you came here, but we can’t. We can’t put her through that. I trust her. It’s not the sort of thing she’d make up, and if she says that she saw him here, she did. But putting her through the hearing … I can’t let you do that, Riley. I’ll deal with him, if you want me to, and keep you out of it, but we’re not making any of this public. It’ll hurt her worse than anything to do that,” Max said.
He felt bad for the girl, too, awful even, but they couldn’t do this, not like that. They all swore that they wouldn’t turn this place into what they had lived through all their lives. At the very least, the girl had the right to make that choice for herself. He didn’t say any of it to Max, though. Could tell It wouldn’t make any difference, so he dipped his head and left him.
He ran all the way home, panting when he got there. He had not run in too long now and he felt it, his side hurting worse than anything.
Telan and Selena were in the kitchen, their soft voices sounding comfortable together, no tension in them. He had Telan point out the man who did it earlier today. He was hard to miss, sporting almost red hair and a few freckles on his thin face, which didn’t make any kind of sense with his dark skin. He looked young, eighteen maybe, if that. Trevor Garner, his name was, Ella’s staff told him. Came over with a bunch of little Zoriner kids a few months ago, and they took them all in.
Telan watched him intently as he walked over to them.
“Unless whatever you are making is going to burn, you need to come in here, both of you. There is something I’ve got to talk to you about.” He stood at the end of the table, so he could see both of them, no matter where they chose to sit.
The kids walked over without a word and settled on the bench next to each other.
“Whenever someone here does something awful, we convene a special council that decides on a suitable course of action. We’ve only had to do that a few times, but that’s likely because there are so few of us here and most everybody knows everybody…. Anyway, it’s the only way we can all live here and not have people fighting or killing each other. I am one of the few people on the council, the others being Max and Lancer, and the few people who aren’t here now. I’m telling you this because I think we need to handle what happened to Selena in this way, our way….” He stopped and looked at the girl. Her head was down, but he could see the tension in her, in the way her shoulders were— stiff, unmoving.
Telan stared at him with contempt, hatred maybe. He knew the girl would likely be angry at him, angry at Telan for telling him, too, but he didn’t expect this timid kid to be staring at him like that.
He took a few steps toward them, but before he made it all the way, they were both up, facing each other, and he watched, stunned, as the girl slapped Telan across the face, not saying a word to him. The kid stood still, not moving away from her or stopping her, and she kept at it, hitting him with her open palm….
“Please, stop hitting my son,” Lancer’s strained voice caught all of them off guard. The man was leaning on the wall by the door, holding on to it, by the looks of it.
The girl turned away from all of them and ran for the door, but Lancer took a quick step over and blocked her.
Telan stood where she left him, keeping his head down. “Let her go,” the kid said to his father, not looking at him, his voice shaky. “I did something I shouldn’t have done. She needs to do what she needs to do for her, now. Please, let her go. I didn’t mean for this, Selena, I’m sorry,” he said, turned away from all of them and went into the room Riley set him up in without another word.
Lancer kept his eyes on the girl, not moving from the door, and she stared back at him. Riley hoped Lancer would be better at handling this than he just proved to be, so he watched, not making a sound.
“I don’t know what this is about, Selena, don’t know what happened other than someone had done something to you and that person is here now. I don’t need to know either. But I do know that you are far too young to be on your own and make it out of it okay. I’d like you to tell me what would make it all right for you to stay.”
The girl shook her head, not saying anything.
“All right…. I was supposed to be dead at some point this year, this month maybe, and that kid in there, the kid you slapped, bought me a whole lot more time. I don’t mind spending some of it guarding this door. I am a very patient man. I’ll outlast you, kid.” Lancer leaned his head on the door, crossed his arms over his chest in a gesture of utmost indifference and closed his eyes.
Riley could tell by the way his body was that he was tired and that he likely wouldn't be able to stand there like this for too much longer, no matter what he said to the girl. He walked over to her and took her by the shoulders, turning her to face him.
She didn’t fight him, but she wouldn’t look at him either.
The kid was hurting, and she
seemed ashamed for some reason, ashamed of what happened to her, he guessed. He didn’t even consider that. Stupid of him not to. That’s why Max was so adamant about not doing it his way. He screwed up. He just hoped he could fix it now. “There won’t be a council. It was wrong of me to suggest it. Max fought me on it, too. I am sorry to put you through this, but you don’t have to run. The man who did this to you … he won’t be here when you wake up tomorrow. I give you my word. I used to be a lot better at keeping it, it seems,” he said softly, let go of her, and dipped his head, embarrassed.
He had to let her be now, had to show her that he trusted her enough not to run. He walked over to Lancer and put his arm around him, the man sagging against him, and took him back to his room. He could hear the girl’s soft sobs behind him as he walked, and he hoped she’d still be here when he came back.
She was, sitting by herself at the table, staring at her hands. She seemed to be waiting for him. He sat down across from her, the girl looking up at him, her face still marked by a few tears.
“I know he was just trying to help, Riley. I shouldn’t have hit him…. He spent his whole life being hit by people. I wasn’t thinking. I am not angry at you, it’s just… I don’t know how to be okay with it, with people knowing. Telan is afraid to touch me or even look at me. Max too. I can see the sadness on him every time he does. I can’t change what happened to me, but I can’t be reminded of it all the time either. That’s why I wanted to run when I saw him, only it’s not just him anymore. It’s Max and Telan and now you. It’s like I’m always going to be broken to you somehow.” She lowered her head, eyes trained on the table, as if afraid to look at him.
Alliance: The Complete Series (A Dystopian YA Box Set Books 1-5): Dystopian Sci Fi Thriller Page 62