by Otter Lieffe
“We'll be bringing this to the meeting,” one of them said, spitting out the threat.
“Let's go,” said Alex, gathering her friends and pushing them towards the exit. Before Kit could say another word, they had stormed out of the warehouse and slammed the door behind them.
The group sat for a moment in shocked silence.
“I'm really sorry…” Kit began softly. But Rhona, still grabbing her knees was already in tears.
Chapter thirty-four
That afternoon, after Kit's self-defence class, the squatted warehouse became a meeting room. Nearly a hundred people crammed in, sitting in concentric circles. At the top of the agenda were the raids in the forest and preparation for a counter action.
Only five minutes in and the meeting had already been derailed. Kit sat as calmly as she could with Danny on one side and Rhona on the other who was already back in her defensive knee hugging posture. Kit would have liked to have Nathalie there for support, but it would be months before she would have access to this level of meeting. Alex stood across the circle practically screaming at her.
“The self-defence class is supposed to be a safe space.” Alex yelled. “A women-only space. How can I feel safe when I train if there's a dick in the room?”
Kit was trying very hard to keep calm.
“This isn't the time or the place for this discussion,” she said. “But actually—”
“Well of course it isn't. No-one ever wants to talk about these things.”
Kit continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.
“But actually, I've never declared it a women-only space, just a consensual, respectful one. How people identify is none of my business.”
“But it is a women's only space. The guys have their class on Fridays.”
“The point is moot,” said Kit calmly. “Rhona is a woman.”
“He's a man in a dress!” shouted Alex. Her friends stood next to her now.
“A man in a dress!” they joined in.
Kit glanced over at the facilitator, an old friend of hers who already looked exhausted and overwhelmed by all the shouting. Kit's expression clearly asked permission and the facilitator nodded. Kit stood up.
“Okay Alex,” she said quietly. Danny recognised that tone immediately.
“This Alex person had better be careful,” he signed silently to Rhona who nodded in agreement.
“Let's make this perfectly clear,” Kit continued. “Rhona is welcome into my class any time she likes. She has been nothing but respectful. You on the other hand have been offensive, obnoxious, and—by calling yourself the authority on what women should look like and reducing women to our genitals—downright fucking misogynist—”
Alex looked too shocked to speak.
“You will not be welcome in my class again.”
Kit sat back down next to Danny and caught her breath. She knew she was overstepping meeting protocol, but this meeting was already a shambles. “And…” she continued in USL. “If you go on like this, you and me are going to have problems.”
“She's threatening me!” Alex cried, still standing. She looked at the facilitator. “Are you going to just sit there while this tranny threatens me?”
The room fell suddenly, completely still. Even outside, the birds seemed to stop calling for a moment. In her twenty years with the resistance, no-one had ever publicly discussed Kit's trans-ness. Most people assumed she was cisgender. She had never brought it up, not once. Danny put his hand comfortingly on her knee and was about to say something, but Kit stood up, her arms open, eyes glaring.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me!” said Alex, her voice entirely out of control now. “We all know what you are!”
Kit was about to speak when, to her surprise, Rhona stood up next to her. In a powerful voice, entirely unlike the quiet, shy one Kit had heard that afternoon, Rhona shouted loud enough that her voice echoed off the walls.
“That's enough!”
Alex's mouth was open.
“Sit down and shut the hell up because no-one wants to hear your vicious bullshit anymore.” shouted Rhona. “If you want to beat on women and hate on oppressed minorities, go join the fucking State already.”
Alex paused for a moment. Then before she could think better of it, she was running towards Kit and Rhona with her fists out.
In a flash, Danny was on his feet. Kit bent down and took off her heels—her very dangerous heels—and held them in one hand. Rhona braced herself and clenched her fists. People instinctively began clearing the floor as Alex stormed across the room. Kit lifted her heels ready to strike.
“Wait!” someone shouted from the back of the meeting. Alex paused barely two metres from Kit and turned to the voice. “I'm trans too!” they announced. “And if there's a fight, then bring it!”
A woman stood at the other end of the room.
“I'm not trans,” she said, “But count me the hell in.”
“Me too,” said a third also standing. “I'm genderqueer and I defend my trans sisters' right to be here.”
One by one the entire room got to their feet.
“I'm done with this shit,” shouted another. “Get the hell out of our space.”
“This isn't feminism, it's a witch hunt. Go join the State.”
Surrounded by a room full of enemies, Alex and her friends stood frozen, suddenly looking terrified. They paused for a moment, looking around them. They were entirely alone. Then without another word, for the second time that day, they ran out of the warehouse.
* * *
Out in the forest, the resistance shoal was getting ready to move. The camp was loud and stressed. People shouted back and forth as they took down tents. Pinar wanted to leave immediately, but they were going to move as a group and breaking camp for thirty people would take time.
She directed her impatience into helping pack up the camp. Ash watched her sweating and lifting logs with her long hair tied in a bun. She moved like a woman half her age, a fierceness to her movements that was new and yet familiar.
Just at it was getting dark, everyone sat down for a final moment of calm before the long walk. Ash and Pinar sat next to each other as the entire camp came together in a large circle around the fire. A gentle silence fell over them.
Each person sat for a while with their thoughts and their worries. They were held by the circle, by this determined group so dedicated to their cause and their missing friends. There was a collectivity here, a group living that Pinar and Ash had known in days passed. Something familiar embraced them and held them close.
The moment ended. The fire was put out and the camp was ready. Silently, as one, they moved out into the dark night.
* * *
In the warehouse, the facilitator, finally reprising his role, stood up and cleared his throat.
“I'm afraid we're out of time for this evening. I propose we postpone until tomorrow morning at six A.M. We still need to discuss the forest situation and Danny apparently has some very interesting intel for us.”
Danny rolled his eyes and groaned. For him, six a.m. was basically the middle of the night.
After the meeting, Kit dragged Danny to the bar where she worked. A loud pub was the last place he wanted to be on his night off but he rarely got the chance to spend time with his friend and after all the drama, she wasn't taking no for an answer.
“It's so ridiculous!” she shouted in his ear. He had to lean in close to hear her. “What the hell were they even doing in our groups for all that time? And outing me in public. I actually wish we'd had the chance to fight.”
“I'm glad you didn't. You would have broken her, K.”
“She deserves it. Who the fuck is she to talk about occupying space when her and her friends occupied my class.”
“I know, I know.” Danny answered, barely suppressing a yawn.
I really need to get more sleep.
“Well, they're gone now.”
<
br /> Kit still looked angry as she drank from her bottle of beer. Danny seized the opportunity to speak.
“Oh wait! I still haven't told you what I found out from my client!”
She gave him a stern look.
“This is important. Don't change the subject.”
“Sorry,” said Danny, glancing down at the floor.
“You're forgiven.” Kit looked up at the clock. “Anyway, it's fine, my girlfr—erm…N will be here soon, I'm excited for you to meet her—She's so incredibly hot!”
“Erm…great,” said Danny doubtfully. “But I can't stay long. The meeting was postponed until tomorrow morning at seven, right?”
“Six, dear.”
Danny made a face of disgust.
“Let's drink! I want to get you so drunk tonight.”
Danny wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.
* * *
While the entire village was preparing for Harvest day—hanging streamers from trees, preparing the kitchen stage for performances, and cooking up a huge feast—Elias took the opportunity to be alone. The water was low, but the perfect temperature. He had an hour or so before the festival began, and he planned to thoroughly enjoy it cooling off in the river. When he lowered himself in from the bank, he had to sit on the riverbed just to submerge himself.
Elias was worried. It's not right that the water's so low. If it doesn't rain soon, the wells will dry up. When that happens, there really aren't any good options.
Elias placed his glasses on the riverbank. Pinching his nose and holding his breath, he dipped his head under the water. He loved the silence and calmness of being below the surface. It was perfectly dark down there; cool and still. He felt like he could stay forever.
A minute, two minutes, and his lungs began to hurt in a familiar way. If only I didn't need to breathe, I'd stay down here in the quiet. Away from people. Away from so much painful history.
His instincts were stronger, though. He burst out of the water. He gasped for air. He took a deep breath and another, but his lungs were still burning.
Smoke, he realised. The air was full of smoke.
He coughed. This wasn't the gentle smoke of a camp fire. He could smell burning grass and bush. He could already hear the roar of flames coming from the direction of Central Square.
The forest, his home, was on fire.
Chapter thirty-five
Panicked voices shouted out in the darkness and Elias ran towards them, pulling on his clothes and his glasses as he went. He could see the fire in Central Square, light flickering off the pine trees standing all around the clearing. As he got closer, he could see the Memory Board already engulfed in flames.
“My god, what happened here?” he shouted as he joined a line of people passing buckets of water from the river. “How did this start?”
“No idea!” shouted a colleague from school as she passed Elias a heavy bucket that sloshed over his trousers. “I was just walking home when I saw it. We're so careful with the cooking fires. This couldn't have been an accident.”
The fire in the square rose ten metres into the air, dangerously close to the lowest branches of the pines, which sizzled and popped from the heat.
“And the Memory Board,” Elias said sadly. “It's completely destroyed.”
“Just be grateful it hasn't reached the trees. If it does, there's no way we'll be able to stop it.”
Elias passed the buckets even faster.
The community sweated and doused the flames into the night until slowly they began to overtake the fire. Another hour of hard work later, Elias watched as the last flame was stomped out barely a metre from the edge of the clearing.
This can't have been an accident. Someone set this fire intentionally. Someone wants to destroy the village.
Chapter thirty-six
“N, this is D.”
They hadn't moved from the bar and Danny was already dizzy. As always in public spaces, they used their State names: full names were strictly for resistance or in the privacy of the home.
“I told you about him. The stripper.”
“Dancer, actually. Nice to meet you, N.” They exchanged kisses.
“Hell no!” shouted Kit, far too loudly. Danny noticed she was a little drunk. “I've seen you dance, boy. You're a stripper through and through. My old grandma could dance better!”
“What's gotten into you, K?” Danny laughed, “Is this what you look like when you're in love?”
She gave him a hard poke in the chest.
“Shut up!” she said but smiled.
Danny noticed that the two women were standing as close to each other as they could get away with and looked at each whenever they could. He had never seen Kit so excited about someone before.
“I'm just kidding.” Danny turned to Nathalie. “Careful with this one, she's gonna work you hard, you know.”
Nathalie replied with just a little sass:
“Yes, I've noticed…”
“Anyway…” Kit continued. “I didn't tell you yet, did I? N joined the erm…thing that begins with R.” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “And she's already got a full schedule of meetings and barely any time to sleep—so now she's officially part of the family!”
Danny looked confused.
“The thing that begins with R…oh!” He almost said 'resistance' out loud. “Erm. So welcome to the family I guess?”
Nathalie smiled politely. “Thanks. It's just one more reason I'm glad I met K.” She turned to her. “Hon, could you get me a drink? I'm just going to the bathroom.”
“I'll get you two. You have some catching up to do.”
Nathalie smiled and left.
“She seems nice,” said Danny. He was slurring a little from the gin. “Less pushy than you described her…”
“I never said she was pushy, just…you know…a bit in love with me.”
“Which doesn't seem to be a problem anymore.”
“Well, no. I admit, I'm pretty into her. And look, she's already joined the erm…R—thing,” Kit said, looking around suspiciously at the other people in the bar.
So many skills, Danny thought to himself, but subtlety is definitely not her art.
“Well, I'm not surprised that you'd find an obedient partner…”
“She is quite obedient. That's definitely one of her charms.”
“It's a little fast though, isn't it? From Admin worker to being part of the R-thing in a few weeks.”
Kit had excellent selective hearing.
“Another drink?”
“Erm…I should probably get going…”
Kit continued to ignore him and ordered four more shots from the bar.
“Cheers!” she said enthusiastically as Nathalie came back. They raised their glasses.
“Here's to too many meetings and not enough sleep!”
Danny’s glass nearly slipped out of his hand as they clinked glasses. I really should go to bed.
* * *
The shoal had been walking for hours, following a dry river bed through the valley towards the City. Ash and Pinar had been in almost constant movement for days and were beginning to feel weary from their sleepless nights on the ground.
“Are you okay? You look exhausted,” Pinar asked gently as their path started climbing up the side of the valley.
“I'm fine,” said Ash, almost slipping on a rock.
“Is your arthritis playing up?”
“Let's pretend it isn't.” Ash clambered over more rocks and loose scree. “Let's pretend we're at home drinking tea.”
“Sure thing, hon. Whatever helps.”
They climbed uphill for another hour until they found themselves high on a dusty cliff, a sweeping panorama before them of the moonlit valley and forest.
The shoal stopped to rest.
Out of breath, Ash sat down near the cliff edge amongst the dust and pebbles to take in the scene.
From here, it see
med to her that the whole world was dry and dead. Even the forest itself, which had survived so many droughts and floods over the last decades, looked like it was finally giving up on life. Down below, in the canopy, she could see great gaps—old oaks and pines felled by winter winds but never replaced. She rubbed her fingers in the soil. It was bone dry, practically dust. No wonder nothing could grow here.
Pinar joined her.
“It looks bad, doesn't it?”
“Yeah,” Ash replied sadly. “It's gotten so dry out here, I didn't even know. Our valley's really escaped the worst of it.”
“And tomorrow we'll reach the Ring. I heard it's even worse than when we left.”
The Ring was the name given to the dead zone surrounding the City walls—a swathe of burned, eroded forest destroyed by the State.
“It's wider every year and they're still burning,” said Ash angrily. “Just to make it easier to spot resistance groups. They don't even use the wood; they're just killing the forest for politics.”
“It's always been for politics. That or money, which is almost the same thing.”
“Yeah.” Ash looked over the dry canopy below them. “In the end though, it won't be the State that kills the forest, but this fucked up climate. All that oil and gas and power gone up in smoke. What a waste.”
Pinar took her friend's hand. There was nothing she could say that didn't sound like a platitude, so they sat in silence, looking out over the land.
After a while, she noticed a small herd of red deer had appeared in a clearing below them. They moved silently, nibbling on leaves, silver in the moonlight. Pinar turned to point them out to her friend, but Ash had already been watching them for a while. Her face looked calmer than it had in days.
After an hour of rest, they heard Vicki calling. It was time to move out.
Chapter thirty-seven