One Thousand Tears_a dystopian mermaid tale

by Pauline Creeden

  With a sigh, a young girl plopped into the bed across from her, also next to the window. Adelaide met eyes with the teen. The younger girl blew her blonde hair from her face and exposed her brown eyes. She sat at the foot of her bed and nodded toward Adelaide.

  "It's quieter down here," she offered as an excuse. Adelaide recognized the girl again as the younger one who had spunk enough to disagree with the bullhorn man.

  The rest of the girls had chosen the beds farthest away from the window, closest to the door that they used to come in and out from. Whispers and stares followed down to where Adelaide and the other girl were.

  "Where are you from?" the girl asked, her eyes on the scene outside the window.

  Adelaide shrugged. "Out of town."

  The girl half-laughed. "That much is obvious. New Jersey?"

  "Something like that," Adelaide needed to placate the girl with half-answers, and it helped if the girl was willing to supply them for herself.

  "I'm Jo, by the way. What's your name?"

  "Adelaide," she said with a sigh. The sun outside the window dipped toward the horizon, the last of its rays stretching across the sky, even though the buildings in the city hid its body.

  "Do they call you Addy?"

  Adelaide blinked and turned to face her companion with a quirked eyebrow. No one had ever called her anything but by her full name. She shook her head. "No."

  "Do you mind if I call you Addy?" Jo asked, offering a wide, but crooked smile. Her top teeth were in a straight line, but underneath, her bottom teeth bent in several directions.

  Adelaide returned to looking back out the window. Down below on the street, not one person had moved past in the several minutes she'd been watching. "It's fine," she answered.

  "My brother said this place can be brutal, and it's better if you have a friend. You know, to watch your back. The only friend I ever had was my brother, so if I watch your back, will you return the favor?"

  Turning back toward Jo, Adelaide studied her for a moment. The smile she'd worn a moment before had become shyer and her hands twisted in her lap. Somehow, it seemed to take a lot of bravery for her to ask the question. "Who's your brother? Is he here?"

  She nodded. "You sat with him during lunch. He told me to do what the other girls were doing, and not to sit with him. So I was trying to blend in and sit with other girls my age. But they are already forming groups and bonds, and weren't interested in letting me in. You're my last hope, it seems."

  A smile tugged at Adelaide's lip. She was the girl's last choice. Honestly, Adelaide couldn't blame her for trying the other route first. But even in her life as a Mer, she'd been a bit of a loner. She didn't spend time doing the trivial things that most others did. As she eyed the girl in the bed across from her, she got the impression that Jo didn't get involved in triviality, either. Perhaps that was why she couldn't get along with others. Finally, she nodded. "Okay. Deal. You watch my back, I'll watch yours."

  Jo smiled wider, and her hands settled in her lap. Her gaze went back out the window where the sun's rays painted the sky in purple and pink hues. "The wolves will be out soon."

  Adelaide frowned and her heart stuttered in her chest. "Wolves?"

  Eyes wide and still fixed on the scene outside, Jo nodded. "Everyone stays inside at night because the wolves and other wild animals run the streets. I heard that some of them escaped the zoo, or moved down from the mountains because it was easier to find food down here where the people are. I don't know. I just know that my mother disappeared one night when I was younger... and it was because of the wolves."

  Adelaide's jaw clenched. She knew what it was like to lose her mother, but to have lost her at an even younger age would have been devastating. And this girl was sharing a piece of herself. That's what friends were supposed to do, right? Even allies, which is what they would be better defined as. Adelaide nodded. "I lost my mother, too. Only a few days ago. It was the reason I came here."

  Jo's gaze turned toward Adelaide, and the girl's eyes went wide. She nodded. "That makes sense."

  Adelaide swallowed back the sob that threatened to surface. No matter what happened to her in this environment, she was determined not to let her emotions show too much. She needed to stay strong. It was the only way that she'd be able to get back to the one person who constituted family for her now. Jonas.

  Darkness fell outside, though a few flickering fire lights could be seen in the windows of buildings. Jo pointed toward a building to the south. "That's where Nathan and I lived. See the fire on the third floor? Our uncle keeps it burning. He wanted to make sure that we got a chance to go to Atlantis 5. Nathan refused to even do the initiate's trial until I was old enough to do it too."

  That made sense, too. If the brother and sister were as close as they seemed, he wouldn't want to leave her alone. "So you are sixteen?"

  Jo shot a glare toward Adelaide that silenced her. "As far as anyone needs to know, yes, I'm sixteen. You won't hear me say anything differently."

  With a nod, Adelaide agreed to that. It was smarter to stay that way. If a lie never comes to light, it becomes truth. And eventually, Jo's age wouldn't matter anyway. "How old is Nathan?"

  Returning her gaze to the scene out the window, Jo answered, "He's twenty next month. He barely made the cut-off to join the reaping himself. And now they're saying that there's only one spot for Atlantis 5 for a boy. Only one. He is one of thirteen--I mean twelve, now--boys to compete with for that one spot. You and I have three spots to try for, and there's only ten of us left. Better odds of making it. If I make it, but Nathan doesn't, I don't know what I'm going to do."

  Her voice had cracked in the end. It seemed that the brother and sister were very close. Hardships often did that to people. If Adelaide had had a brother, would they have been as close? Maybe, with the elder as their father, their lives never would have been easy. It would have been a huge blessing if Adelaide had had someone to lean on and rely upon. Someone who would have helped her with the struggles and understood her emotionally. In some ways, she was jealous of Jo and her brother.

  A buzzer went off again, and the girls quickly finished making their beds and getting into them. Adelaide did the same, with the understanding that in a few minutes the second buzzer would sound and it would be lights out. The sheets felt cool against her back as she pulled the blanket up to her chin. For the first time, she felt herself surrounded by a mild pressure and that much felt like comfort to her. Her mind went through all that had happened through the day as the room was plunged into darkness. Just when she'd wondered if she'd be able to sleep at all, her eyelids slipped shut and sleep overcame her in an instant.

  At breakfast in the morning, Jo and Adelaide sat with Nathan, Scotty, and the two other boys, Deacon and Gerald. None of them had yet been eliminated, but the day was still young. Deacon picked up some of the yellow slop in one of the small serving plates and said, "I guess they're calling this, eggs. Last I heard you could only find real chickens that lay real eggs down south. I wonder if they have some in Atlantis 5?"

  Gerald's almond shaped eyes studied his friend. "Atlantis 5 isn't some paradise, you know. Even if we make it there all our problems won't be solved. We'll have to work for our wages, and I'm sure there are some bad people there, just as there are here. They are still human down there."

  "I'll be happy if there aren't any wolves," Jo said, shoveling a bite of her yellow slop into her mouth and then going for the gray one. "That's all I need."

  Nathan shook his head at her, but smiled nonetheless. His gaze brushed across Adelaide's for a moment before he turned away, and then he returned with a happy grin. Adelaide returned his smile.

  A chirp came over the intercom, and the room which had been filled with several murmuring conversations became quiet. Standing at the front on a small raised dais, the man who had a bullhorn the day before stood. He wore a navy blue pinstripe suit this time instead of the gray one from the last time. Instead of a bullhorn, he held a microphone in his
hand. His plastered smile didn't reach his ice-blue eyes. "Congratulations, initiates on making it this far. Today we have planned the first of many trials for each of you to overcome to prove you are more worthy than your peers to become a part of the society in Atlantis 5. The Horizon Corporation has created this fifth premiere city on the East Coast for the ultimate purpose of saving humanity by using one of our greatest resources, the ocean."

  The man's words twisted in Adelaide's stomach. What did the man mean by that?

  "The ocean protects the city from the harshness of the sun's rays. We use the currents of the water to power our generators and cool our reactors. All this makes our cities beneath the waters safer and more efficient than anything we can find on land at this time. But we need to keep our numbers at a minimum. Overpopulation had always been a problem with our forefathers, so we are avoiding that down below, where oxygen and fresh water are resources that cannot afford to be squandered. You all know how difficult it is to get a cool, fresh drink of water. I don't need to explain that."

  Adelaide looked at the glass sitting on her tray half full. It still had good, drinkable water. Although she had suffered with thirst for the day while traveling across the desert land that had once been a part of New York, she'd forgotten its scarcity since she'd been inside the Horizon Corporation's building. Everything within its walls seemed plentiful while the people outside suffered to get a mere cup of murky water.

  "The first trial will begin today. You will split into groups of four or five. At least two members of the group must be male, and two female. It makes no difference if there is a third member of one gender for the groups of five. We want to see how well you use strategy and teamwork to accomplish tasks. All the male members in the group that fails the task will be eliminated as well as one of the females. Choose your teammates wisely. And remember that you are being watched at all times in this building. Everything you do is a test, and you can pass or fail at any time. My strongest advice for you is to take note of this."

  He clicked off the microphone and then stepped down from the stage he'd been standing on. The cafeteria erupted into excitement as the usual split between genders melted. At their table, the boys stared down at Adelaide and Jo. Scotty frowned. "There are two females already here in our group. Four males. I think it's best if we go with four in this group, so two of our males can go join another group. Quickly, girls. Who are the two that you want to work with today?"

  "Nathan," Jo said emphatically. "I want to work with Nathan, no matter what."

  Nathan frowned but nodded.

  "That leaves one more. Addy?" Scotty's gaze fell upon her as he said the name they had all come to call her by since it was how Jo introduced her to the others.

  She shrugged. "It makes no difference to me."

  Scotty's brow furrowed and he growled slightly as he looked over at Deacon and Gerald. "You two are on your own. Get moving and find your group."

  The two lackey's eyes went wide and they darted for the melted mixture of sexes where people were already trying to separate as quickly as possible. Then the buzzer sounded, and the tension in the room amplified. Groups formed quickly and stood in closely knit packs. A hush came over the group even before the woman in the severe bun rose to the top of the stage. "We have taken note in how you have chosen your groups. Now remain in them as we move to the Terrarium." She lifted up a rope that had several belts knotted into them. "Each group will receive one of these belts. You will complete a course of obstacles two at a time until the last group has gone. The best time on the course wins a prize. The team who fails the trial will find members of their team eliminated."

  "What's the prize?" someone called out from two groups away.

  The woman frowned down at them, shook her head, and then let out a sigh. "It is a prize worth winning, so it would behoove you to give it a try. Team leaders, come forward and get the belt for your team."

  Like most of the other groups, theirs hadn't chosen a team leader, but Scotty nodded down at the group and instantly became leader as he stepped forward and took hold of the rope for their team. He brought it back and they all frowned down on it in his hands. "How do we decide the order of go, he asked?"

  Adelaide shook her head. "Jo is the smallest. She's going to set the pace for us, so she should go first." All eyes landed upon her while she thought things through. "Nathan should go next. He can help her get through any obstacles she is struggling with. We have no idea how high things are going to be or how tight. Scotty should be last. He's the biggest and the strongest. If we need a rear-guard for any reason, he'll be there."

  They all nodded. "Good plan," Scotty said, and they began to help Jo get into her belt.

  After all the teams had settled into their ropes and belts, the buzzer sounded once more and a different door in the cafeteria opened at the other end of the room. Each group followed through the door, starting with Adelaide's group, simply because they were closest to this new door. The elevator took them up to the twelfth floor. Once the doors opened, they followed the woman in the severe bun down the hallway to the end which led to a pair of glass doors. Beyond the glass they could see the sunlight beaming through into what looked like a jungle ahead of them.

  Once they reached the doorway, the woman waited until all teams were gathered in the hall. Then she cleared her throat. "The first two teams will enter and stay on this side of the red line until the buzzer sounds. Then you will race to the other end of the room where the exits lie. If you choose to take the direct route, the obstacles will be harder. The longer route, which takes you along the walls of the Terrarium will have easier obstacles, but may take longer depending on how well the other groups handle the direct route. The teams who go first will only have a moment to decide which route they will take. We will choose the teams at random right now based upon the names of the team leaders."

  The younger, thinner woman appeared with a tablet in her hands. Red, White, Blue, and Purple flashed across the screen of the tablet, and with each color, the numbers counted down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And then the first name appeared on the screen chosen by the random generator. The first name was "Scott James."

  8

  Jo stood with her toe at the red line as they looked into the man-made jungle. Trees with enormous leaves fanned their way into their path. They had only had a moment to discuss their options. The boys believed they could make the straight path, and help Jo and Adelaide get through it, but they all understood it would be tough. Regardless, they were going to give it a shot. With a deep breath, they waited for the first buzzer. Once it sounded, they ran forward straight into the giant leaves.

  Adelaide shot a glance toward their opponent group and watched as they darted to the right, choosing the longer, easier route. They were all-in now in order to beat the other team, they would need to make it over each obstacle as quickly as they could. Blindly, Adelaide followed after Nathan and Jo. The rope around her waist tugged and pulled her forward, but she continued at the fastest pace she could. They reached a grassy area, where the leaves no longer blocked their view. After leaping into the grass, they found the mud sucked them down to halfway up their calves and slowed them down tremendously.

  When she pulled upward the mud sucked Adelaide's feet back down. The only way she could make it through was by twisting her feet to get air under them and break the suction. Each of them had to figure it out for themselves as they pressed forward, side-by-side now, pulling the rope to help each other along. Mud found its way within each of Adelaide's shoes and she sloshed through. As the field came close to the end, they found the water grew deeper and the leaves less sparse. A swampland lay before them. The stench from the swamp waters rose up and struck them. Sewage .

  To the right, a log floated upon the water. Adelaide kept her eyes fixed upon the log, feeling as though it moved in an unnatural way. They plunged into the murky waters. Adelaide gagged as the water rose up to meet her belly button. The log moved again, and this time, she was certain it wasn
't a log. She cried out, "Alligator to the right."

  Jo gasped and froze where she stood. Her brother grabbed hold of her arm and tugged. "Come on. We can't stop now. We'll be fine once we make it to the other side.

  "I need to get out of here!" Scotty sped up and rushed through the swamp waters. Another alligator floated in toward them from the opposite side, moving in at a faster rate.

  Jo slipped and fell, completely submerged in the sewage. Nathan lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder. She coughed and wiped the darkened water from her eyes. They pressed forward, Scotty pulling the rope so Adelaide almost had to jog sideways through the slop to keep up. He reached the other side, continuing to pull the rope, helping Adelaide get to the shore faster. The brother and sister followed, but when Adelaide turned back, she saw the Alligator catching up fast. "Hurry!" Scotty yelled.

  Adelaide pulled herself onto the land, her breaths heaving. Somewhere along the way, the stench of the sewage had become less oppressive. Nathan pulled onto the shore right after her, dumping his sister unceremoniously onto the dry land. The lot of them took a moment to just breathe. "We can't take a rest, guys. This is a race, remember?" Scotty said from over top of them.

  Jo leapt to her feet. "He's right. Let's go."