by Shay Savage
“Wait a minute!” I sit partway up and look down at Aerin. “You think my dad had my mom killed? She was his wife. He loved her. Why would he do that?”
“You are his son, and he did it to you.” Aerin runs her hand over my arm. “Was he president when your mother died?”
“Not yet. He was campaigning.”
“And would your mother helping the Naughts help or hurt his election chances?”
“No.” I shake my head violently. “That’s not possible.”
“It is possible.” Aerin tightens her grip on my arm. “Talen, you know it’s not only possible; it’s likely. He got rid of you because you were getting in the way. It sounds to me like your mother was getting in the way first. It worked once, so why wouldn’t he try it again?”
Chapter 22
By the time the sky lightens with daybreak, I’ve barely slept. Aerin’s words from the night before rushed through my head every time I closed my eyes. I still can’t stop thinking about it.
Is it possible? Could my father have done the same thing to my mother as he did to me when I got in his way? I try to remember a time when they argued about it, but they didn’t have such discussions in front of me. I only remember them speaking in low voices from my father’s study, but I never heard the words.
I don’t want to think that my father could do that to his own wife. I don’t want to think about it at all, but I can’t seem to help myself. If he was willing to eliminate me, he may very well have done the same to her.
I never thought much about my mother. As a child, it was just too painful. Dad removed all the pictures of her from the house because it was just too difficult to have the constant reminders of her, or at least that’s what I had thought. Shortly after my mother’s death, my father hired a string of nannies that never lasted more than a month or two. For the most part, I learned to take care of myself.
Aerin picks up her pack and slings it over her shoulder.
“About ready?” she asks.
“Yeah.” We start to walk down toward the river where most of the Plastictown survivors are gathered.
“All we need now is a direction,” Aerin says, nodding at Milo.
Milo beckons us.
“I need you to follow my lead,” I say quickly. “I think Milo will be on board with it anyway, but if he’s not, I need you to back me up.”
“I can do that,” Aerin says, narrowing her eyes. “What is your lead?”
“We’re going back to the complex,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to kill every last one of them, my father included.”
Aerin’s eye widen, but we reach Milo before she can respond.
“What do you think is the best option?” Milo asks. “Are you going to raid the complex or Hilltop?”
“I wish I knew of another Thaves community to the north,” I reply. “That would be our best bet. Both the complex and Hilltop are likely to be on high alert. If we get caught, it won’t do anyone any good.”
“It’s been four days since we left the complex,” Aerin says. She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “By now, their new visitors, including your father, are arriving.”
“So, you think we should hit Hilltop?” I scowl at her, trying to understand why she seems to be advocating the antithesis of what I said.
“Quite the opposite.” Aerin looks to Milo. “They’re going to be distracted. They aren’t going to be looking for us.”
“That does make some sense,” Milo says. “If they’re busy with the arrival of the president, they won’t be actively looking for intruders.”
“It’s decided then,” I say with a smile. “Let’s go see what we can find at the complex.”
Ava and Layshell, along with the other survivors, wish us well. Keller is the only one who says nothing, preferring to toss stones into the river instead. As we start to head off, Luther stops us.
“This is for you,” he says, handing me a pair of long, thick tree branches with a tarp strung between them.
“What’s that?” Aerin asks.
“It’s a travois,” Luther says quietly. “So you can carry the supplies back.”
“Good thinking, Luther.” I place a hand on his shoulder and hand the travois to Aerin. “This will help us bring a lot more back.”
Luther turns around and goes back to the fire without another word.
“He’s a little strange,” Aerin says quietly.
“He’s a good guy,” I reply. “He’s just a bit quirky.”
We head around the bend in the river and into the trees.
“There is some flaw in your logic,” I say as we get out of earshot.
“What logic?”
“About them not looking for intruders.”
“I don’t think they will be. They would have determined we left by now, and they’re too arrogant to think we’d come back.”
“Except that they know one of the intruders is the president’s son.”
“That works in our favor.”
“How so?”
“As they already demonstrated, they aren’t going to kill you.”
“They also demonstrated that they will kill you,” I say. “They’ll also use you against me.”
Aerin shrugs.
“If you are trying to make me feel better about all of this, it’s not working.”
“You are the one who said we should hit the complex,” Aerin says, reminding me. “I would have advocated for it anyway, but you said it first.”
“That doesn’t mean I actually like the idea.”
“I thought you were a man on a mission.”
“I am.” I lean forward to quicken my pace. “If I find any sign of him, I’m going to kill my father.”
“Why the change of heart?”
“I thought a lot about what you said, and I think you were right. I think he did kill my mother. It all makes sense now.”
“I don’t know that for sure,” Aerin says quietly. “It’s just an educated guess.”
“A good guess.”
“How are you going to kill him?” she asks.
“I have a plan.”
“Talen, I know you’re angry, but I’m not sure you’re going to be able to stab your own father to death.”
“I’m not sure I could either,” I reply. “That’s not what I was thinking of.”
“Well?” Aerin presses when I don’t elaborate.
“Poison,” I say simply.
“Where are you going to get poison?”
“I already have it.” I pat the vials on my belt.
“What is that?” she asks.
“Sodium cyanide.”
“Why in the world do you have vials of sodium cyanide with you?”
“Just in case I needed it.”
“To kill someone?”
“No. Well, yeah, I guess. It was for me.”
“Talen!” Aerin grabs my arm and makes me stop. “Why would you even say that?”
I sigh and look at my feet for a moment, trying to find the right words.
“Soon after I escaped the capital, I broke into a lab in one of the nearby communities. I found it, and I thought it would be a good idea to have some on hand just in case I was ever captured. No matter what, I was never going to go back to prison again.”
“I understand,” Aerin says with a sigh. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”
We start moving again.
“We need to figure out our exact steps,” Aerin says. “I don’t want to leave any room for error. Once we get into the northern shaft, we need to know exactly what we plan to do, including contingency plans if we run into any more guards.”
“Do you think they tracked us to that shaft?”
“I don’t think they could have,” Aerin replies. “That said, I’m not swearing to anything, but I do think the north shaft is the best way. The only other option is to go to the southern shaft, but we’d have to clear out all the rocks that blocked the entranc
e. The north shaft is closer, and we should be able to get in and out without being noticed.”
“Are you sure you can find the shaft again?” I remember running from our campsite when I saw the fire but not a lot about the surrounding area.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Aerin points to the southwest. “It shouldn’t take us more than half the day to reach it. Spend a couple hours resting, and then go inside, grab what we need, and hightail it right back out again.”
“Sounds easy enough.” I stare at the ground in front of me and contemplate.
“You aren’t sure about it though.” Aerin looks at me sideways.
“I’m not sure I can just go there and do nothing.”
“What happened to taking care of everyone first?”
“I guess I don’t have all the answers.”
Aerin stops suddenly and turns to me.
“Talen, I’m behind whatever you decide to do, but I need to know what the plan is. I can’t go in there with a snatch-and-grab attitude only to have you decide to blow the place up with your father inside it.”
“Do you think we could?”
“Could what?”
“Blow it up.”
Aerin looks right into my eyes.
“Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m trying to decide if you’re serious or not,” Aerin replies.
“I am serious.”
“You want to try to blow up the whole complex?” Aerin looks away as she starts moving again.
“Could we?”
“Maybe.”
“With what explosives?” I ask.
“Use the geothermal generator.”
“You think you can rig it to explode?”
“That’s the easy part,” she says. “We just need to shut down the cooling tower. If we do that, it will blow itself up.”
“How would we even get out in time?”
“Run.” Aerin shrugs.
“Really?”
“Run fast?” She glances at me. “I’m not sure you’re going to get a better answer out of me.”
“That isn’t much of a plan.”
“It’s a ridiculous idea,” she says. “What did you expect?”
“Something more helpful.”
“I’m willing to look at it,” Aerin says after a few minutes. “If I can find a better route back to the north shaft from the generator room, then it might be possible.”
We reach the northern shaft while we still have daylight. We rest, eat, and hydrate before heading inside, moving quickly and quietly down the hallway that leads back to the main corridor.
Though we both explored the maze of hallways while searching for the power source, Aerin seems much more comfortable navigating, so I follow her lead. We make it easily to the main corridor near the room that leads to the other shaft and then head toward the living quarters without running into anyone.
As we get a little closer, we see light in the distance and slow our pace. Aerin switches off the flashlight, and we continue forward in the dark. Soon, we hear voices.
“…should be all set for the president.”
“When is he arriving?”
“He might be here now.”
Close to the corridor that leads to the living quarters are two men, but they quickly move out of earshot, traveling away from the living area. Lights are on in the corridor, but when Aerin peeks around the corner, she indicates that no one is there.
“We should hurry,” she says softly as we get to the room.
All the furniture has been rearranged, and a large desk has been added to the room. Aerin immediately heads for the pantry and begins handing me boxes and cans to shove into my pack. When mine is full, we fill hers, too, and then quickly return to the shaft entrance to unload the items from the pack onto the travois.
“Let’s get some more,” Aerin says. “No telling when they’ll be bringing your dad to his new residence.”
We make another run without encountering anyone.
“We can manage one more trip,” Aerin says. “With Luther’s travois, we’ll be able to carry more.”
“Are you sure we can risk it? I feel like we’ve been kinda lucky, and I’m not sure I want to push that.”
“We have to go past there to get to the generator anyway,” Aerin says. “You still want to blow this place?”
I nod.
“Then grabbing more supplies makes sense.”
“Let’s do it.”
As we grab more supplies, including candles and batteries, we hear the voices returning. Aerin rushes to the door, then quickly backs away. She places her finger over her lips and then points toward the bathroom. We jump inside and quickly close the door.
“I don’t know why, but he’s the president, so do what he says.”
“It’s not a matter of will; it’s a matter of not having all this shit he says he needs. We’re not at the capital, and I can’t run to the store for what he wants.”
It’s the same two men from earlier. I can hear the shuffling around in the room, and I think they might be moving the desk, but I can’t be sure. I hope they don’t open the pantry and notice that it’s half empty.
“That should do it for now,” one man says. “He’ll have to wait on everything else.”
“We better get back.”
I crack the bathroom door when they leave, making sure the coast is clear. No one is in sight, and the desk has been moved to the other side of the room.
We grab a few more essentials, hoist our packs onto our backs, and run them to the end of the corridor.
“We can leave them here,” Aerin says, “and grab them on our way out.”
“What if we end up going in a different direction?”
“Then I guess we won’t have them,” she says. “Either that or we double back.”
“Will we have time?”
“I don’t know, Talen. I’ve never blown up a geothermal generator before. Honestly, I don’t really want to risk the time to come back for anything if we don’t come this way.”
“All right.” I think about all the important items we could be leaving behind, but there isn’t much I can do about it. I lay my pack down near hers, and we head for the panel in the floor that leads to the generator.