by Lynda Engler
Luke simply said, “She brought a cot.”
Teagan glared harder at him, then at Daphne. When she was done glaring, she pulled the scrambler from her pocket, turned it on, and set it in the middle of the coffee table. Obviously, Teagan was not worried about the soldier knowing she had a scrambler. Teagan continually confused and surprised him.
Moments later, Isabella returned to the living room wearing a close-cut, v-neck white shirt that showed off her Outside tan, and a pair of low-cut, dark blue pants similar to the roomy style that Luke was wearing, with large pockets on the sides. Her long hair was still wet but pushed back behind her ears, and neatly combed. Her angry eyes bored into Daphne’s. The brief absence had not diluted her rage one bit.
“How can you know what’s right and do what’s wrong?” she said quietly across the room at the young corporal, just short of sneering as the words left her lips.
Noticing Luke’s shushing motion, Isabella glanced at the scrambler and resumed in a loud whisper. “You spent three days with my family and the other captives. Even an imbecile could figure out in that much time that they are not idiots! Since you aren’t that stupid, you must be that closed-minded.” Her anger somewhat exhausted by her declaration, Isabella crossed the room in three strides and stood nose to nose with the soldier.
Luke spent sixteen years with his cousin-sister and knew how volatile her personality could be, but also knew that once she exhausted herself, she usually calmed down. After all these weeks of being Outside with mutants, he was not so sure anymore. He thought Isabella might punch Daphne right in her pug nose.
Luke was wrong. Suddenly the hard expression she had worn a moment ago melted away, and Isabella took Daphne’s right hand in her own and held it gently. “You can help my husband and my daughters. You know it. I know it. But will you?”
Daphne relaxed from her military stance at the touch of the younger girl’s hand and after a long moment breathed, almost inaudibly, through her teeth. “I don’t know how.”
* * *
Malcolm
Malcolm climbed to the top bunk of the cell, lay down, and closed his eyes. Though it was only mid-afternoon, he was exhausted – physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
He listened to Clay on the bunk beneath him, surrounded by other mutants in the crowded cell. Clay was talking excitedly with two other captives. Boys, no older than his own young friend, barely even men, yet making the most of their situation. Most of the captives were only eleven or twelve, maybe thirteen at most. The only prisoner as old as Malcolm, or perhaps even older, was Jarrick, a tall man with reptilian skin similar to that of Telemark village’s leader Oberon. The rest were younger, like Clay. Mutants were deemed adults at twelve and Clay would reach twelve in just a few weeks when he was to be officially mated to Kalla.
If they survived long enough.
Chapter Ten
Luke
Daphne sat down on the couch like a deflated balloon. Usually in a position of authority, Luke could see that being unsure of her next step was severely disconcerting to the young woman.
Isabella came to her rescue, which was another new aspect of her personality that her experience Outside must have created. Luke had never known his sister to come to other people’s aid. Oh, she cared about others well enough. Isabella was idealistic to a fault, but she could also have bursts of anger when someone went against her uncompromising notions. Individuals were never as important to her as her philosophies.
“Daphne, you do know what to do. It’s easy. Just do what’s right.” Isabella sat beside the confused soldier and turned the older girl’s chin to face her squarely. “You have to.”
“I know.” Daphne closed her eyes for just a moment, and then opened them again. They shone with a new resolve, but her voice was tentative. “Not everyone in the military believes the lies our superiors tell us. We see the mutants every day and we know that they are intelligent, thinking human beings. Maybe not the same kind of human as us, but certainly not the animals as some would portray them. I didn’t really see that until your family showed me.”
She paused and thought a moment before going on. “I learned a lot on the Spec ride to Mt. Weather.”
Isabella smiled at the girl and looked as if she was about to ask her something, but Daphne glanced at the people around the room and continued steadfastly. “There are others in the military that believe that too. Some of us have morals, you know. It hurts every time I send a mutant out to clean a hot spot. I wouldn’t send my own troops out without protective suits, without training, without a snowballs chance in hell. It just isn’t right.”
“We know,” interjected Roan. “Most younger people feel the same way, but it’s hard to convince the older generation. They’ve lived with this mindset for most of their lives, and saying anything takes courage when you are watched all the time. They’ve been afraid to speak up for decades.”
Isabella looked accusingly at Daphne and said, “How can the people of Mt. Weather be so afraid? A democracy based on fear is no democracy.”
Daphne snapped back with a short groan. “Huh! What makes you think we live in a democracy?”
The soldier turned her attention back to the band manager, two complete opposites in life but with similar beliefs about their world. Luke could see the decision forming in Daphne Noble’s eyes. She had finally made up her mind.
She raised her chin and said, “Tell me what to do.”
* * *
Malcolm
Someone brought the mutants dinner, a bucket of gruel with a serving ladle and a stack of thin plastic bowls with an odd combination spoon and fork utensil. There were twelve people in Malcolm and Clay’s cell, all of whom had been held captive much longer than they had, so when the food arrived – if you could call it food – they raced to the front of the cell, pushing the two newcomers aside. Seniority ruled in the prison.
When they finally got their share, Clay and Malcolm sat against the cold cell wall on the dirty floor to eat the gruel. Malcolm leaned toward Clay and said quietly, “Even if the food is terrible, we have to keep our strength up. We might get the chance to escape.”
Malcolm either wasn’t discreet enough or the older man sitting near them had enhanced hearing abilities. “You’re a funny guy!” the mutant with the reptilian skin guffawed in a resonant voice. “The only way out of here is to the Yellow Zone.” The man went right back to his food and did not look up again until his bowl was empty. Then he stared Malcolm in the face and added belatedly, “Or as an experiment.”
* * *
Luke
Dr. Rosario entered the apartment so quietly that Luke did not hear his arrival, until the old man stood behind him. “Who are your friends, boy?”
“Doc!” Luke nearly jumped out of his socks. “Don’t do that.”
Dr. Rosario blinked in surprise when he saw Isabella. “How nice to see you made it here safely, child.” He smiled at the girl he had not seen since she climbed the fence into the property of his pharmaceutical company almost two weeks ago. It had been a very eventful two weeks.
Isabella hugged the man like a long-lost grandfather. “Dr. Rosario! You’re here! You look good.”
“You seem surprised. Did you think I was too ancient to make the journey?” asked the old scientist, pushing her backward a bit so he could see her face, while raising a quizzical eyebrow.
“Yes, actually,” she replied and pulled him back into the hug. Her next words were almost lost against his body. “I’m so glad you are here.”
His sibling’s show of affection for the scientist surprised Luke. Dr. Rosario had saved Luke’s life, patched him up, fed him, and traveled with him, and Luke had developed a genuine love for the older man, but he knew Isabella had barely spent any time with the scientist at all. Somehow, the gruff old man was easy to like.
Dr. Rosario returned the girl’s hug. When he pulled away, he turned back to Luke and asked, “Are you going to introduce me to your friends?” But bef
ore hearing Luke’s reply, the scientist entered the small kitchen, only half listening as he rooted through the refrigerator.
Luke knew the man lacked social skills after 50 years of being trapped inside a shelter – the last three years of it alone – so he silently forgave the old guy for not really paying attention. Still, he introduced each of his new friends, but then they, one by one, made excuses to leave, starting with Daphne, followed by Teagan who scooped up the scrambler and dropped it into the pocket of her pants. Within a few minutes, Luke was alone with Isabella and Dr. Rosario.
Dr. Rosario strode to the couch, empty-handed even though he had thoroughly explored the refrigerator, and almost fell as he slumped into it.
“Hard day, Doc?” asked Luke. Their journey from the scientist’s research lab to Mt. Weather had clearly been exhausting for Dr. Rosario. They had journeyed first on foot to the George Washington bridge, then by sailboat up the Hudson River to West Point, and finally by plane to Mt Weather. Jumping into an all-day laboratory situation right away was wearing on the old man, and Luke thought how much he really needed to rest. Days at least, maybe weeks, but he refused. Luke was surprised how motivated the scientist was, putting research on the inoculation ahead of his own health. Humanity had waited 50 years. Surely, a few more weeks would not make a difference.
Dr. Rosario leaned as far forward as his head could go toward his knees and held his temples with his fingertips. “You have no idea,” he said to his lap.
It was almost six o’clock and Luke knew the scientist did not have the stamina to work as hard as he obviously had today, but still, he looked more than just tired. “What’s the matter, Doc?”
“You were right, boy.”
“Right about what?” asked Luke, even though he had a good idea what he was alluding to.
“Everything. Both of you – you were both right, as much as I hate to say it, much less believe it. Isabella, you were right about the government not only desiring, but also actively planning to exterminate the mutants once humanity can return Outside. Luke, you too were correct. The government is using mutants to clean up the irradiated cities where the bombs fell, and they are not giving them protective suits to do it. Most do not last a week after they send them out. Luke, you know that story you heard at that mutant village where you stayed, the one about the sickly boy who wandered in and died right away? Your suspicion that it was radiation poisoning was correct.” The aged man looked much older than he had when he left the apartment that morning.
Isabella nodded affirmation but remained silent, her eyes welling with tears.
“Not that I don’t enjoy saying I told you so, but …” and Luke’s voice trailed off as he decided not to finish that sentence. He did not always have to be self-righteous – even if he had been correct all along. Instead, he asked, “How did you find out for sure?”
“It took less than three hours working with the team of researchers before they brought me test subjects. Twelve mutants! Besides the fact that it is exceedingly unscientific to progress to human trials with such little knowledge, how did they just happen on a dozen mutants so quickly? I’ll tell you how! They are holding them captive right here at Mt. Weather!” The old man blew air out of his lungs in frustration.
“They are being held in cells on level ten,” said Isabella. “I was there. They brought more than 70 of us here from West Point, but they let me go when they found out who – or rather what – I was. Or, what I wasn’t.” The scientist knew Isabella had been brought to the city with others, but somehow the fact that it was a mutant roundup had not registered in his brain. Perhaps the vile reality of it did not allow the information to sink in.
He sat up as straight as his tired body would allow and said, “I realize that now, but up until today, I was sure you were both jumping to conclusions. I did not think your suspicions were accurate, could be accurate. I had to believe that you were wrong. It went against everything I knew to be right and decent. As angry as I was at the government for abandoning my research, and me, that kind of neglect is not the same thing as the active slaughter of people. By using the mutants the way they are, they are murdering them as sure as if they simply put a bullet into each one’s head.”
“Doc,” started Luke. “Just because they have mutants held captive here, doesn’t confirm that they want to exterminate them, or that they are using them to clean the radiation.” He felt a need to play devil’s advocate and see just how much Dr. Rosario’s view had changed. He needed to know if he could trust the scientist before revealing anything about Social Dissonance. Plus, there was also the chance that their apartment really was bugged, so he couldn’t simply blurt out his new friend’s revolutionary activities!
The old man’s visibly clenched jaw relaxed as he expelled his frustration in one breath. “Oh, but they are! The researchers were all too proud to divulge that information, my boy!” Dr. Rosario exhaled noisily as he leaned back on the couch again. “It is apparently no secret here in Mt. Weather.”
Isabella agreed. “During the trip in the HSPC they brought us here in, they allowed us to watch a news broadcast, and that confirmed that they are using mutants to clean up radiation. Dr. Rosario is right. It’s no secret.”
The scientist continued. “I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am in the human race right now. If this is what we’ve become, perhaps we do not deserve to survive any longer.” He massaged his temples as if his brain were going to explode.
“Not everyone feels that way, Dr. Rosario,” said Isabella quietly, and then gave him a tight-lipped smile. Luke realized how much quieter and introspective she had become since she had left their underground shelter. She could probably still be volatile, but something had changed in her. She had always been caring but now her attitude was different. She empathized with them now. She did not just understand their pain. She felt it.
The old man looked up at her with questioning eyes, but she silenced him with a quick gesture. Isabella crossed the room to the small kitchen and pulled drawers open until she found what she was looking for: a pad of paper and a pencil. She scribbled a note, and then handed it to him. Without reading it, Luke knew his sib was telling him that the room was bugged.
Luke took the pad from Dr. Rosario and wrote another note:
My friends are part of a secret organization working to free the mutants. Not everyone thinks they should be treated as sub-human.
Dr. Rosario just shook his head and sighed, still coming to terms with the situation. “It doesn’t matter. There is nothing we can do to change it.”
Isabella took the pad and in swift but even script wrote:
I know where we can get some help for my family. I have a friend in the military that will help.
For the benefit of the listening ears, Isabella asked, “Dr. Rosario, can I make you some dinner?”
They made small talk while eating dinner. Dr. Rosario did not seem to want to talk any more about the mutants and Luke did not blame him. It was too much emotionally for the old scientist, and sometimes you just had to ignore things until you could wrap your head around it.
By ten, Dr. Rosario had gone to bed and Isabella was asleep in her room, so Luke quietly left the apartment to find Teagan at Indigo. The band blaring from within tonight was not Social Dissonance, but another popular band that had the young crowd gyrating to the irregular beat. Luke spotted Teagan delivering food to a table but waited for her at the bar. She saw him from across the crowded room and winked.
“Hey,” he stammered when she approached him a few moments later. Smooth. He had gotten better talking to her when they were in a group, but one-on-one still made the words catch in his throat.
“Hey yourself, kid! We should talk, somewhere quieter. I’m only working until 10:30. Hang till then?” she asked.
Luke nodded and she ducked under the bar to retrieve another food order. He saw her glance over her shoulder at him before disappearing into the kitchen.
He tapped his foot to the p
ulsing music until he felt her hand on his arm 20 minutes later. “Ready to go?” She hitched the colorful canvas bag on her shoulder a bit higher.
Luke followed Teagan to a lift and she punched the button for level five. “Where are we going?”
“My domi. That okay?” She smiled at him in a way that was funny and erotic all at the same time and Luke did not trust himself to respond, so he just nodded. He did not know if she was coming on to him or simply had more information on the plan to rescue the mutants, and Luke was not sure which petrified him more, but he was fairly sure it was this girl.
The door to Teagan’s domi, as she called it, opened to her palm. Domicile had a homier feel to it than apartment, but domi still rang odd to Luke’s ears. Luke followed her into a living room that looked utterly different from anything he had ever seen. The walls were dark purple, the kind that leaned toward blue rather than red. The doorframes were green. Deep piled carpet in earth tones covered the entire room, carpet that was dotted with eclectic chairs, ottomans, and even a suede beanbag chair. There was a chess set on a cherry wood table in the far corner and bookshelves lined one wall from floor to ceiling.
“You and Hayden live here with your parents?” asked Luke, taking in the surroundings.
“Nah, just me and the parents now. Hayden moved to his own place after college. They turned his room into an office or library or whatever they are calling it this week. Mostly it’s storage. Come on,” said Teagan, and led Luke toward a hallway. Hanging from the last door on the left was a cute little pink and cream-colored plaque with Teagan’s name written in childish script. He looked from the door to her lovely face. She licked her lips, then pulled him into her bedroom and closed the door behind them.