Vengeance Is Mine

by Katherine Elizabeth Curtis

  “What-?” he said, his voice full of astonishment. “How did you get here?”

  “You know Aaron?” Benjamin asked in surprise.

  “He was at the same facility as me.”

  “Aaron?” Benjamin said, looking at the boy, obviously expecting a response.

  “It was my first mission, sir,” Aaron said, his tone conversational, “if you'll remember.”

  “Ah, yes, I remember that. You were successful too.” He nodded at Dylan and both boys grinned, then left. Benjamin turned back to Nathan. “I'll explain it all to you sometime soon. Right now, I need to know why and how you've come.” The questions were out, but Nathan didn't feel threatened at all. He plunged right into the story.

  He told Benjamin all about finding the Bible, his escape, meeting Lily, what she'd said about the treasure – at this part Benjamin shot a glance over at Lily, not unfriendly, just inquisitive – finding Helen, her help, riding over to the tunnel, and then finding the room. He drew in a deep breath as he finished his story. “So we've come to ask about the treasure,” he finished, and then winced at how mercenary it sounded.

  Benjamin mulled over this for a moment and then said, “Before I explain about the treasure, may I ask what you would do with it?”

  This time Lily spoke. “I'd help my family and the rest of the people in the poor community.” Her voice was full of longing and hope and pride in what she planned to do. “Nathan's just curious.”

  “Lily, the treasure is something that will enrich your community, but not in the way you think.” He leaned forward, his wrinkled face earnest, the leather covering the bench he sat on creaking as he shifted. It's all a trick, Nathan thought. I knew it. Lily's face took on a puzzled and worried look. She suspected a trick as well. “The treasure,” Benjamin continued, “is connected with this book, the Bible, but it is not an earthly, material treasure. It's an eternal, spiritual treasure that moth will not corrupt and thieves will not steal.”

  He wasn't making the tiniest bit of sense, except Nathan could easily figure out that they wouldn't be getting any treasure in the way of gold or jewels. He glanced over at Lily and felt anger filling him as he saw her disappointed face. He cursed aloud and shouted at Benjamin. “What on earth do you mean? There's no sense in anything you say. You-” He fell silent, though not without a struggle, as Lily laid her hand on his arm. He noticed everyone was looking at them and he took a few deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm himself. Anger...

  “It's not easy to understand at first,” Benjamin said, his voice mild as though he and Nathan were having a friendly conversation about some little problem. But his calm manner infuriated Nathan and he would've stalked off, had not Lily's hand still been on his arm. “It would take me a long time to explain everything to you, but I'll try to give you a few things to think about.”

  Nathan nodded halfheartedly and Benjamin continued.

  “We have no treasure here in the way you probably think of treasure. Gold, jewels, silk, and that sort of thing. But we have an incorruptible treasure through our Lord Jesus Christ when we accept him into our hearts. Once you do that, you have peace beyond compare and a home in heaven some day soon. And that is a treasure worth more than anything in this world. It's hard to explain in such a short amount of time, and in so few words, but it's real. You can go back to the people on the Outside and tell them about all you learn here. And then they too will have the gift of God – eternal life.” Benjamin sat back; he was done what he would say, at least for now, and now he wanted Nathan to think over what he'd said.

  Nathan didn't want to think about it. Eternal life and God and heaven wouldn't help the immediate needs of Lily's family. Only coins would do that, and these people obviously had none. So why was he sticking around here? He wouldn't. He'd leave right now and figure out some different way to raise up his revolution. He didn't need the help of an old man who babbled nonsense.

  Regardless of Lily he scooted away from the bench, and stood up hastily. He'd find some way to get out of here, go retrieve a horse and leave. He turned to go when Lily caught his arm. “Nathan,” she whispered, keeping her voice low on purpose so no one else would hear. He appreciated that. “Don't go. I want to find out all I can about these people. Then we can go back.”

  “Why on earth would you want to do that?”

  “They're different from us. A good different. Please, Nathan?”

  He looked into her eyes, the ones that weren't particularly beautiful or sparkling but infinitely fascinating, and relented. “Fine,” he said, “but don't expect me to like it. I'll keep to myself as much as possible.” She gave him a grateful smile for an answer and he felt warmed inside. Perhaps it was worth it to stay here if Lily was so kind and thoughtful, not like her usual biting self.

  :::::

  Nathan decided that if he was going to hang around the Nonexistents for a while, he should at least find some boys his age to talk to when he wasn't sitting off by himself. He searched the small knots of people for Aaron. They hadn't been the best of friends at the facility, and certainly not Dylan, but they were the only people he knew here and he was more than curious as to what Aaron's 'mission' had been.

  He finally found Aaron standing by a railing that protected people from falling into a huge waterfall that thundered down from far up above and disappeared into infinity below. The place was definitely bigger than he had first thought. He moved up beside Aaron and leaned against the strong iron railing just like he was doing. Aaron started at first, saw who it was and relaxed again. “I suppose you've come for some answers,” he said after a moment.

  The nice thing about the waterfall was that it allowed them to talk without letting anyone overhear them, but they could still hear each other. “Yes,” Nathan answered cautiously. He wasn't sure what Aaron would be like after six years. He seemed much more polite and mature, but he decided to wait and see what came up.

  “I'm part of the Existents.”

  “Don't you mean Nonexistents?”

  “No. Existents are young people from ten to twenty who are sent to the Outside on missions. A few are chosen from each generation and sent out.” Aaron paused and looked reflectively out at the gushing water. “Few being a relative term, of course. In the North American colony alone there's several million of us. I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but there's a lot there too.”

  “You said you're sent out on missions?” This sounded exciting.

  Aaron nodded. “For food, news of the Outside, and all that, but mostly to bring back converts, if we can. It's risky,” he added. “Very risky.”

  “So it's exciting, right?”

  Aaron shrugged. “If you call knowing that you could die any day exciting then, yes. The boys are put in facilities as transfers and such, and the girls are maids. Your facility was my first mission, and I just want to say I'm sorry for being such a pain. I'm not supposed to get close to anyone, mostly because I'll have to leave them one way or another, so I wasn't friendly at all. Except to Dylan, 'cause I saw potential in him. He converted and we escaped that night.”

  Nathan accepted this apology, but he was interested in learning more about their techniques. Infiltration must be one of their biggest skills. “What's your favorite part?”

  “I don't like being an Existent and I'm glad this is my last year,” Aaron said shortly, his manner changing. “I want to stay on the Outside permanently. Fight against all the stuff I saw out there. It was terrible. All the poverty and oppressiveness and debauchery. I want to leave here. And I don't really care about bringing in new converts anymore. We already have more than enough.” His tone and body language were vehement and Nathan knew this wasn't some spur of the moment idea. He'd been thinking of it for some time.

  “Well-” he began, and then stopped. Should he tell Aaron the rough outline of his plans? He seemed trustworthy enough and passionate about wanting to fight for what is right. He would risk it, mostly because Aaron couldn't really do anything with the informat
ion, could he?

  “I'm planning a revolution.”

  Aaron's eyes lit up with excitement.

  Chapter 9 – Gathering Storms

  “I'm sorry Nathan behaved like that,” Lily said to Benjamin after Nathan left.

  “That's all right,” Benjamin said, a little smile on his face. “Most of us here have gone through something like that, though usually not so dramatic. Now, you want to help your family and friends in the poor community, was it?”

  Lily nodded. Her throat felt all clenched up and she knew she'd cry if given half a chance. She'd been so close to helping her family to rise above their poverty-stricken state but now it would all come for aught. She'd had dreams before of doing it without the help of anyone, even going so far as apply for the position of queen-in-training, but she'd been turned away. And right now she didn't want to think of why that had happened. The reason rankled in her every day, festering away, making her bitter even though she didn't want to be.

  “We're not rich,” he said, “even though we may look like it, but I can send word to a few of our Existents on the outside to see if they can provide any help. I'm sure they'd be happy to do so. Food, blankets, repairs, that sort of thing. Would that work, at least for now?”

  “Oh, yes, thank you,” she said. It was nothing compared to her old plans but getting some repairs and food would make all the difference to most of the poor people she knew. And it would give her time to think of some other way to help them in a more permanent way.

  Even though she didn't know what to think of the strange things he said, Lily liked Benjamin. As soon as he said he'd send word to some Existents – whoever they were – he beckoned to a young man and gave him the message. The young man nodded and went off in the direction of the entrance to the tunnel. Lily watched him leave the room and then turned back to Benjamin. “Could we stay here for a while?” she asked. “Please?”

  His face softened into another smile. “Of course you can. And if there's not any available rooms here – we always put guests in their own rooms – you can go to another state area. Bit of a long trip but with our bicycles it shouldn't be too long.”

  “State area?”

  “Oh, I forgot you don't know as much about us as Helen and the others do. We have tunnels and underground cities honeycombing almost all of North America. It's very handy. And then we also have tunnels going-” He stopped abruptly.

  “What?” she prodded.

  He shook his head. “I'm sorry, Lily, but I can't tell you.”

  Inwardly she rolled her eyes, but she determined not to be as rude as Nathan, at least not on the outside. Nathan infuriated her at times with how he always seemed angry and suspicious, but he could be a great friend so she resolved to give him as much time as he needed to get over whatever he'd seen that would affect him so much that he tried killing the queen.

  “I'll go now,” she said as her way of being excused.

  He smiled and nodded. “You'd probably like talking with the girls.”

  She nodded this time. “I will.” Even though she spent her day going in and around the city and the palace she had never really met any girls her age, or gotten to know them at all so she was interested to see what they were like in 'real life'. She left Benjamin sitting on the bench and walked over to the girls Helen had joined (even though she was in her mid-thirties). Shyness had never been a problem for Lily, as she loved getting to know people, so she walked right up and sat down in the group and introduced herself.

  “Hi, Lily,” one of the girls said. She was absolutely stunning, with black wavy hair and deep blue eyes. Lily always felt a wee bit uncomfortable around very pretty girls as it always reminded her of her own deficiency, but she told herself to grow up. Having been around them all the time in the palace, she should have gotten used to it by now.

  “My name's Esther.” She grinned and gave Lily a little hug and in that moment Lily was sure she'd found a kindred spirit. Esther was obviously as outgoing and enthusiastic as Lily herself and she was sure they'd be great friends. The other girls greeted her as well, one of whom stuck out to her as much as Esther had. She was a serious, sad looking girl with clear grey eyes and dark hair. Lily wondered what was behind the sadness of those eyes but knew it would be rude to ask on such a short acquaintance.

  The girls were very interested to hear Lily's account of how she found them and came to the tunnels. They didn't seem concerned in the least that she'd found them, or worried about traitors and betrayals. Lily imagined they had been too sheltered in here to think of anything like that. That illusion was shattered when Esther responded to a comment one of the girls had made about the Outside. “I hate going out there. It's too harsh. Everyone has to scramble for themselves and there's no friendships. You should be glad you're not an Existent.” There was no bitterness in her tone, just a matter-of-factness that Lily found refreshing.

  “What exactly are the Existents?”

  Esther, who seemed the spokeswoman for the entire group explained it to her. “Most of the Existents are women, of course, since there's so many more than men on the Outside, but we do get our fair share of boys as well. Aaron's one of the best. Dylan too.”

  Esther blushed a little as she said Dylan's name and Lily suspected there was something between them. She'd also noticed that the quiet, serious girl who'd introduced herself as Cara had lowered her eyes and looked even sadder when Aaron's name was mentioned. All Lily knew about Aaron was that Nathan had known him at the facility he lived in, but she longed to know more and work out Cara's mood concerning him. However, she laid that aside to concentrate on what Esther was saying now.

  “It's really scary to go out there, at least for me. All the boys do it for thrills, though.” She rolled her eyes and the other girls snickered, all except Cara, of course.

  “Why's it dangerous?”

  “Well, none of us have the tattoo – or brand, in the boys' case,” -here she shuddered- “so if we're caught they think we're rebels or something like that. I don't think anybody actually knows what we really do, but it doesn't matter. It means death anyway.” Her face was pained and she bit her lip hard, perhaps to keep in tears for some secret reason. Everyone seemed to have secrets here.

  “Anyway,” she said, regaining control of herself, “we're sent out for one year and then we come back, even if we don't have a convert – we also bring supplies and news – and then we have the choice of going out again, or staying. If we stay we usually marry, but not always.” She blushed a little and then continued. “After two or three successful missions, which is pretty rare for an Existent to do, they have to stay here because they might get too easily recognized in a crowd which is really risky, you know. Like if the Leah from fifth district became that Kaali from second, and so on. I've been on two, so far, so I'll probably go out again.”

  Lily was puzzled. “Why would you go out again if you don't have to and you hate the Outside so much?”

  Esther looked pensive for a moment before she answered Lily. “I have to do it. There are so many people out there who haven't heard what we have; don't know the joy of it, and they need to hear what we can bring them. It's as simple – and as complicated – as that. I don't want to go out, but I know it's God's will, so I do it. And He gives me grace to deal with it all: he's kept me safe this whole time, you know. I trust Him to do it the next time too. And if He doesn't, well...” She shrugged. “I'm ready to die. Not that I want to, but I'm ready.”

  Lily swallowed a lump in her throat. She knew above all else that she wanted the peace and confidence Esther had, peace to calm her aching doubts and deepest fears, and confidence to rise above her failures. But she had no idea how to go about it.

  :::::

  “And I have three little brothers – Zach, Mike, and Joel. They're triplets. Mom says she doesn't know how she managed to take care of three babies all at once without my help. I was away on a mission.” Aaron and Nathan were exchanging details of their lives, as friends will do. Natha
n kept away from mentioning the hurtful, personal details about Hunter and the children in the facility, but he told Aaron almost everything else. Aaron had then returned the favour by telling Nathan about his different missions – he'd gone on four, abnormal for an Existent – his family, and his friends.

  “I started a little group, or band, whatever you want to call it, with boy Existents from the different continents. We haven't met in a while (I don't even know if they're all still alive) but we had fun when we were together.” Nathan didn't know what continents were, so Aaron explained. “You know, North America – that's where we are – South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. There's actually no Nonexistents on Antarctica, since that was colonized after we all went underground, but there's cities like this in all the other places.”

  “How do you meet?” Nathan said. It seemed impossible, especially if the world were as big as Aaron painted.

  “Well...I can't really say,” Aaron said, looking uncomfortable. “Maybe I'll show you someday. So now that we have all the personal details out of the way, let's talk about the revolution you're planning.”

  Nathan shushed him. They weren't standing directly by the waterfall anymore, but rather sitting a few yards away, which meant people could overhear their conversation. He didn't think the Nonexistents would take too kindly to the idea of revolution. They didn't seem that sort. “I don't have a really big plan right now. It's all pretty rough, but I was thinking of breaking into facilities and getting boys to help with the revolution. Rescuing them and training them and all that.”

  “That sounds amazing,” Aaron said, his voice full of admiration.

  Nathan almost told him about wanting to rescue the children then, but he held back. Now was not the time. “It'll be hard, but worth it.”

  Aaron sighed. “I'll have to stick back here and get married and raise a family. I'm engaged, so I suppose I should get married.”

  “Who're you engaged to?” Nathan asked, curious.