Forager (9781771275606)

by Scheer, Ron

  “Don’t you ever feel like you’re trapped here?” Chane said. “This is my last year of school. When I’m done, I want to go somewhere. See new things. Meet new people. All anybody does is work. I want to go to the city. Surely things are different there. Not just different, but better, too.”

  I said, “Different, sure, but different doesn’t mean better. They probably have their own problems.”

  “But it would be new. I get so tired of worrying about Scavengers, and storms, and quotas, and…everything. You’d go with me, wouldn’t you?”

  Gravity reversed. It must have because there was only air under my feet. “Sure, Chane, I’ll go.”

  Had she run off? Was yesterday her breaking point? I shook my head. I didn’t think Chane would do it. I considered sharing my suspicions with the mayor and Jason, but that would open up a whole new can of worms that didn’t need to be dealt with. Besides, lots of kids I’d gone to school with talked about leaving. None of them ever had.

  Josh rounded the corner with his mother. Even from thirty yards away, I could tell she was crying. The mayor chewed his thumbnail as we waited. His face remained pale, but not as white as when Jason first told him about Chane. Josh guided his mother up the four stairs. Then the pair of them stood in front of the mayor and Jason.

  The mayor kept his voice soft. “Where’s Chane?” he asked his former wife.

  Tears trickled down her face and a soft sob escaped her lips. “I don’t know…I don’t know where she is. I…I thought she left early for school, but when one of her friends stopped by to see if she was sick, I got worried. I went to the school, but… but nobody’s seen her.”

  The mayor’s voice was more controlled than his former wife’s, but I heard the strains of fear and doubt in it. “Where could she have gotten to?”

  Josh’s mother shook her head. “I don’t know,” she cried. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’ll form search parties. She can’t have gone far. Most likely she’s mad at me for sending her away from the attack yesterday. She’s probably holed up somewhere rebelling.”

  He turned toward the crowd and addressed them for the first time since Jason’s arrival. “Citizens, my daughter, Chane is missing. She hasn’t been seen since last night. We’ll need to begin searching immediately.”

  The mayor noticed me in the jolting ropes. “I’m sorry, Dillon. Your punishment is going to have to wait. Finding Chane is much more important right now.” There was genuine regret in his voice.

  A flood of relief washed through me when Kurt released my wrists from the ropes. “This isn’t over, boy. You’ll get your jolts soon enough.” Though my wrists were now free, the relief vanished. I wasn’t getting out of being punished. It was simply being delayed.

  The mayor spoke to the crowd again, “The public punishment of Dillon Montgomery is postponed until further notice. Someone run to the lumberyard and get Frank Miller. I need him to organize search parties. All work is suspended, except for the harvest and those pedaling generators. Everyone else will search this town inside out until Chane is found.”

  Josh followed me down the platform steps. I wondered how long it would be before I’d be climbing them again. I’d only taken a few steps toward the crowd when Josh grabbed my shoulder and pulled me around. “Where’s my sister? I know you’ve got a thing for her. So where is she?”

  “Josh, seriously, I haven’t seen Chane since your dad sent her away from the Scavenger attack yesterday.”

  He flexed his too-big biceps at me and said, “You better not be lying to me.”

  Luckily his attention was diverted when Frank arrived and went into action. “Separate into search parties. Take the three closest people to you and come forward so that I can assign you an area.” We milled about for a few minutes while he talked to the mayor.

  What was the holdup? We needed to get the search parties organized and get moving.

  Josh stood next to me at the foot of the platform. I should have been more worried about Chane than Josh, but I didn’t want us to get stuck in the same search party. The crowd boxed me in. If I tried to move away, everyone would notice. Which would be worse, being in a search party with Josh, or having the whole town know I didn’t want to be in a search party with him?

  There wasn’t anything suspicious or wrong about Jason coming down from the platform and joining his brother and me. I just didn’t like it. That made three. Who would our fourth be? They needed to hurry. Chane might be hurt. We needed to find her.

  Frank spoke from atop the platform. “From what I’ve been able to determine, our last confirmed sighting of Chane was last night when she went to bed at her mother’s house. We’ll start our search around the house and work out from there. Any questions?”

  “Was she counted?” someone in the crowd yelled.

  “Yes, I did the count myself right after the attack,” said Frank. “Are there any other questions?”

  I had lots of questions, but Frank wouldn’t have been able to answer any of them. Where was Chane? Was she hurt? Had she run off to the city?

  Frank spoke to us. “The three of you take Kurt and head toward Chane’s mom’s house. Search the houses on the same side of the block as hers. Keep searching to the north until Chane is found or night falls.”

  How unlucky can a person get? Kurt? Really? As if the twins weren’t bad enough. Now I was forced to deal with the new number one Bull. It crossed my mind that it might be in my best interest to run away to the city. Maybe I’d find Chane and the two of us could make a nice quiet non-jolted life together.

  Kurt barreled down the steps, pushing people out of our way. One thing I’ll say for the guy, he sure knew how to make a hole in a crowd. Kurt bellowed to us, “Come on! Let’s find the mayor’s daughter!”

  Chane’s mom lived six blocks south of my RV. When we arrived, each of us took a neighboring house and started searching. The first house I came to was an empty brick ranch-style. I’d walked past it many times without giving it a thought.

  It had withstood the years of neglect better than most, even the roof only had a few curled shingles. The front door was locked. I tried the back door and the side door on the two-stall garage. Everything was locked up tight. Searching the house would be impossible if I couldn’t get in. It crossed my mind to break a window, but decided not to. We didn’t have any glass to replace it.

  I’d wasted so much time trying to get in that Josh was closing the door on the house he’d been searching. “What’s the deal, Orphan Boy?”

  “I can’t get in. It’s locked.”

  “No problem.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocketknife. He went to the front door and slid the blade between the doorjamb and the lock. With a quick twist of his wrist the door sprang open.

  “Where’d you learn how to do that?” I asked.

  “Never mind, Orphan Boy. Just get in there and search the place.”

  Walking inside, I considered how easily Josh had defeated the lock. The twist of his wrist was so practiced it could have only come from experience. Why was he breaking into empty houses?

  The answer was staring back at me—this house wasn’t empty. White sheets covered what looked like a pair of recliners and a couch. A dust-covered coffee table rested between the furniture, and on the far wall sat an entertainment center with a large TV.

  I stood there stunned. None of this stuff should be here. All of it should have been cached.

  “Chane! Chane are you here?” I called.

  Searching from room to room,. I took in the furniture, appliances, and other possessions that made up the life of the former owner. The beds were complete with pillows and comforters. The kitchen was equipped with a refrigerator, stove, microwave, and other smaller items I couldn’t identify. In the basement stood a beautiful claw-footed pool table, complete with cues and balls.

  I found many things, but one thing eluded me. Chane wasn’t here.

  Before I left, I made sure to release the loc
ks on the doors. I wanted to come back and explore this house further, after Chane was found.

  Why hadn’t this house been emptied? Had it simply gotten missed in the caching? Was it left this way on purpose? By the amount of dust, no one had entered in a long time. I liked my RV, but nothing forced me to live there. As long as a house was unoccupied, it was fair game for whoever wanted it. This house and its contents made my heart thump.

  I closed the front door. Kurt and Jason were waiting out on the walk. “What took you so long?” Jason asked.

  “I had to use the restroom,” I lied.

  “Whatever. Let’s keep searching. We’ve got to find Chane,” he said.

  We continued north of Chane’s mom’s place. I found two more locked houses. Josh located a pry bar and showed me how to use it to force the doors. Both of the locked houses were also fully furnished.

  Those three houses made me wonder how thorough the caching had been. I couldn’t be the only searcher finding these intact houses. Why were they still furnished? Answers would be nice, but not at the expense of having everything cached. At least not until I’d had a chance to explore.

  An hour later, we began searching the houses on my block. My throat was dry and hoarse from repeatedly calling for Chane.

  My RV rested two houses down from the one I was searching. No way were any of my fellow searchers getting in my trailer. I had nothing to hide, I just didn’t want them tearing my place apart—which knowing Josh and Jason, was a real possibility.

  “That’s my place.” I pointed to the charcoal RV. “I’ll make sure Chane isn’t in there. I should check in on the Forager, too. Dr. White told me to look after him.”

  “Not alone you’re not!” Josh growled. “There’s no way I’m letting you hide my sister.”

  “She’s not in there, Josh.”

  Kurt stepped up. “I’ll go in with him. You two,” he pointed at Josh and Jason, “keep searching.”

  Having Kurt in my RV wasn’t any better than Josh or Jason, but I couldn’t do anything about it. “Fine, let’s go,” I said.

  We entered the RV. Sawyer lifted his head from a pillow.

  Kurt sneered, and his irritation could clearly be heard in his voice. “Some Forager you are, asleep on the couch while the rest of us spend the day searching for the mayor’s missing daughter.”

  Sawyer’s simple response left Kurt silent for a moment. “Isn’t looking after the mayor’s family part of your job?”

  Kurt’s hard, narrow eyes and locked jaw said more about his anger than the lame, “Mind your own business,” he eventually voiced.

  A moment later, Kurt noticed the homemade batteries and the lights attached to them. “You looking to get more jolts, Dillon? I don’t think the mayor would approve of you having so many bulbs.”

  Before I could tell him they weren’t mine, Kurt swept his hand across the table. Cups, nails, wires, bulbs, and salt water flew everywhere.

  “Pick it up. Pick it up now.” It was Sawyer. He hadn’t raised his voice, but there was pure menace in it.

  With his back to Sawyer, the fool had the nerve to ask, “Why should I?”

  I knew why, even if it would take Kurt a bit longer to find the answer. Sawyer had pointed a large revolver at the back of Kurt’s head. Sawyer didn’t say anything, but the unmistakable sound of the hammer being cocked back on the pistol echoed through my RV.

  Kurt took a quick look behind him, saw the pistol, and got straight to work cleaning up.

  Sawyer said, “Except for the cups, everything you found so offensive was mine, and the mayor has already seen it. You can leave. I need to speak to Dillon—alone.”

  After Kurt scampered out, I securely shut the door behind him. I wished for Sawyer’s nerve. Nothing fazed the man. No problem was too big. I began to hope he’d be stuck in my trailer a while. There were many things he could teach me, maybe even ways to deal with Josh and Jason.

  Sawyer smiled and slowly eased the hammer to its resting position. “I really don’t like enforcers. They’re too full of themselves. That one really made me wish this gun actually worked.” Sawyer turned his head to look out the window, wincing as the movement put pressure on his injured leg. Apparently satisfied, he turned back to me and said, “I can’t forage. Not with this hole in my leg. Dillon, I want you to fulfill the mayor’s request. I want you to find that alternator.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sawyer’s words sent an electric current into my veins. My heart raced. My hands shook. It was next to impossible to stay still. I hadn’t even known I wanted this until the words were spoken.

  The furnished house came to mind. If Chane hadn’t been missing, I’d have spent several hours looking at everything. Now, a Forager was telling me that not only was it okay, it was necessary.

  Thinking of Chane made me realize that as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t leave. The excitement faded, and the cold weight that had settled into my stomach on hearing she was missing grew deeper. “Chane has to be found. I can’t run off and go searching the countryside for a combine. Besides, there’s no way the mayor will approve, not with his daughter missing.”

  “Have you ever seen what happens to a town when it fails to meet the governor’s quotas?” Sawyer asked.

  I shook my head. I hadn’t been further out of town than the farthest field. I’d never even seen another town.

  “The governor sends in an elite group of enforcers. These enforcers work the people hard, too hard. Every person in town, and not just adults, is given a specific job. Those jobs have deadlines. Fail to do the job or meet the deadline and face execution or banishment. Not many choose execution. Those that are banished rarely live out the season. The ones that survive…”

  “Become Scavengers,” I finished.

  Sawyer nodded. “It’s all about the numbers. The governor has his own quotas to fill. The only way he can do that is to make sure towns like this one produce their share. There are places where the enforcers drove the people so hard they gave up. As a group, they left their tools and belongings behind and fled to the countryside. It could happen here. That’s why it’s so important to keep that combine running.”

  Sawyer’s words fed my desire. I wanted to be out there looking for that alternator, but what was I going to do about Chane?

  “What about the mayor? I don’t think he’s going to let me go Foraging with his daughter missing.”

  “Don’t worry about him. He can’t stop you. He knows I have the authority to commandeer anything or anyone to help me Forage. I don’t even need to tell him, but I will. I take it you’re willing?”

  I nodded. I wanted to go, but at the same time I didn’t like abandoning Chane. I tried to tell myself that there was a whole town looking for her, and it wouldn’t make any difference who found her. Naturally, it didn’t work.

  Three sharp raps on my RV brought me back to reality. Opening the front door, I found Jason looking at me expectantly. “Are you about done in there? We need to keep searching for my sister.”

  “Dillon won’t be joining you. Continue the search without him,” Sawyer replied.

  “My father is not gonna like that. In fact, you both should be out here searching,” Jason said.

  “We’re headed to the mayor right now.” Sawyer waved his hand toward the street. “If you want to find your sister, you’d best get looking. Dillon, if you’d help me to my horse?”

  Jason threw his arms in the air and stomped off.

  It took a while to saddle Sawyer’s horse, which was a lot harder than I thought. Turns out I’d done things backwards last night—I should have unwound the long leather strap to undo the girth and left the buckle alone. With his instructions, I fumbled about with blankets and buckles and straps until everything was secured to his liking.

  Actually getting Sawyer in the saddle was a chore of its own. He grabbed the saddle with both hands to support himself, balancing carefully on his injured leg and putting his left knee in my cupped hands. I lifted straight
up until he was high enough that he could roll himself into position. A painful grunt escaped his lips as he swung his leg over the saddle. Even through his jeans. he felt warm. Too warm.

  “Sawyer, you’re burning up!”

  “Just a bit of fever.” His voice held firm despite his obvious pain. “It’s all the more reason for you to take my place. Let’s go. There’s a lot to do before you can set out tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow.” I sighed heavily. “Why not today?” I started walking and Sawyer, on his horse, followed.

  “There’s too much to do. We have to gather information and let people know what’s happening. Seriously, Dillon, do you even know what an alternator looks like? Do you have any idea where to find one? What tools you’ll need? And, another thing, have you ever ridden?”

  “No.”

  “It’s not hard to learn the basics, especially if the horse is held to a walk. Galloping, though, that’s a whole different ballgame. I can only hope you don’t meet anyone out there,” he waved his hand to indicate the countryside, “who’s looking for trouble. I can’t teach you everything you should know about riding in the daylight we have left, but if you pay attention, you should be fine.”

  “What? Sawyer, wait, I’ve never taken care of a horse. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Fred’s easy. Just feed and water her, and give her a good grooming when you’re done riding for the day,” he said.

  “Fred?”

  “Fred.”

  “But…”

  “Yeah, she’s a mare.”

  “Okay.” I did my best not to laugh. For some reason naming a mare Fred struck my funny bone. Thankfully, Sawyer was behind me, on the horse. I couldn’t stop the tears running down my face, but I bit my bottom lip and held in the laughter. He might have seen my shoulders shake, but he didn’t say anything.