The Annihilation of Foreverland

by Tony Bertauski

  But Danny knew he wasn’t dead. Franklin Constantino stood in front of him as the record book projected his image before him.

  Mr. Jones.

  The house had burned down. The police found two bodies. One was a woman and the other was a boy. Each was beyond recognition but assumed to be the bodies of Danny and his mother. The fire started when she fell asleep on the couch and dropped a lit cigarette. Danny was asleep in the attic and couldn’t escape.

  None of it was true.

  He didn’t fall asleep in the attic. On the nights he did sleep, he went to his room. It was too cold upstairs and there was nowhere to lie down. But to the world, Danny was dead.

  And there was no family left to care.

  No family left to look.

  Like the database at the Federal Bureau of Investigations, he had been erased from the world.

  He had been acquired.

  The record ended there.

  No explanation how he got to the island. Only when he got there and who he belonged to.

  Danny closed the book. It flew back to the shelf. So many books, each someone that had been acquired. And every one of them boys, each of them brought to the island, fed and cared for, each marched to the Haystack where they gladly stuck a needle in their head. Every one of them doing what they were told to do and the world would never know.

  All of them following this trail to Foreverland. All of them but one.

  [Reed…] Danny thought-commanded.

  The room shifted. One book came out, front and center.

  Reed Johnston, born in Wooster, Ohio.

  He was an only child, too. Grew up on a farm. His mother had died when she delivered him.

  He was raised by his father. He stopped going to school before he graduated so that he could help with the crops. Reed planted the fields and helped harvest at the end of the season. He also cleaned out the bottles of vodka that rolled from beneath the seat. When his father went on a real bender, he’d be the only one in the fields. He was the one that answered the door when the creditors came knocking and he was the one that called the bank when they needed money for seed.

  Reed didn’t socialize much. He wouldn’t talk to anyone at school except for a girl that sat behind him in most of his classes. Her name was Lucinda Jones.

  Lucinda lived with her aunt and uncle and their twelve kids. They weren’t thrilled about it; they had enough mouths to feed. She was given custody to them when her father died serving in the military and her mother died of breast cancer two years later. Lucinda was only five.

  She made plenty of trouble by the time she was ten.

  Reed spent years watching her. He even went to church just to see her walk back from communion. He’d sit in the back row while his dad was sleeping off a long one and slip out before mass was over. But she knew he was watching.

  She would meet him out in the field and they’d find the shade of a tree to sit and talk. She would sometimes sneak out after midnight and meet Reed waiting on the road in his father’s old pick-up. They would drive the deserted country roads and look at the stars until she fell asleep in his arms. He would take her home and help her back through the window.

  There was no mention of Reed being an ideal candidate.

  When Reed was seventeen, he finished the morning rounds. The tractor needed parts. He ate lunch before heading into town. When he got back, his father was still asleep. At supper, he finally checked on him, found him dead in his bed.

  Reed didn’t bother calling an ambulance.

  He buried his old man in the soybean field out behind the silo. No tombstone, no cross or words. He put him in the ground still wearing coveralls, his mouth slightly agape, and covered him with dirt. When he was done, he dropped the shovel and went inside and called Lucinda.

  The next day, they were hundreds of miles away from home. Lucinda’s suitcase was in the back. Reed’s few belongings were in a paper sack. They were driving south. They didn’t know where, they were just going to drive until they felt like stopping. They wanted to get married but they’d have to find someone that would wed seventeen year olds without parental consent. There was always Vegas.

  Their truck went off the road somewhere in Oklahoma. The bumper wrapped around an oak tree.

  Both of them went through the windshield.

  Reed survived. He saw her body next to a tree. She wasn’t moving. He tried to get to her, to help her, to breathe into her lungs, to touch her once more…

  The record ended.

  Reed Johnston was acquired.

  And woke up on the island.

  43

  The Nowhere room was empty.

  Lucinda wasn’t there when Danny returned from the Records. He was relieved. He considered staying in the Records until the round ended but it was too risky. Lucinda would know his thoughts the moment he arrived. She would know that she was dead.

  Lucinda is a memory.

  When Reed arrived on the island, somehow she slipped out of his memories and came to life in Foreverland. She didn’t know that she didn’t exist outside in the real world.

  She thinks she’s alive. Does that make her real?

  Did Reed know?

  No, Reed was just as confused as she was. He dreamed of her, didn’t know her name. Only Danny knew they had a real past. He knew they had parents, they were real people before they woke up on the island. But their parents were gone. There was nothing left of their lives.

  No one would look for them.

  Danny drifted back to his body, back to the Haystack and cold reality. He sat up, groggily. The cells were open and empty. Reed was gone. Zin, too. A few Investors were standing outside his cell. They were looking across the aisle. They didn’t pay attention to Danny quickly getting dressed.

  Two more Investors came inside with a stretcher. They placed it next to Sid. He was still lying flat on the floor. The Investors began to dress him. His eyes were open. His mouth, too.

  “Let’s go, Danny Boy.” Mr. Jones reached for him. “There’s nothing to watch.”

  Danny pulled his arm away. Mr. Constantino.

  “Come along, son.” Mr. Jones blocked the view into Sid’s cell. “Why don’t you get to your room and get some rest. This was a long round.”

  “What happened to Sid?” Danny said.

  “He just progressed a little faster than expected, nothing to worry about, son. Come along.”

  Danny hurried into the aisle so that Mr. Jones wouldn’t touch him. He went to his room alone and looked across the Yard. A flatbed cart emerged from the trees. Someone was lying on the back of it, covered with a sheet and his Investor riding next to him. They went around the dormitory. Toward the Chimney.

  You can stay here.

  Lucinda pulled him into Foreverland, like she ripped his identity from his body.

  Where was he now?

  It didn’t matter.

  A satellite would soon be punching a crater in the Mansion.

  LAST

  ROUND

  Foster Parents Arrested for Neglect and Abuse

  CHICAGO, Illinois. – Cynthia and John Halner were arrested for neglect and physical abuse of twelve foster children living in their home. The Department of Child and Family Services investigated claims of children complaining at school about being punished with belt buckles, bamboo sticks and screwdrivers.

  Eleven of the children have been placed in the custody of other families. The oldest child, Eric Zinder, 16, was reported missing. Cynthia and John Halner claimed he had run away several months earlier and failed to report it, although they continued to receive support for his care.

  44

  It felt like his brains got pulled out of his head.

  The Director had to yank the needle out. His hands were still shaking. He lay in the chair, his breathing shallow, staring at the needle in his forehead for too long. Foreverland had closed but he was afraid to reach for it. Each time he did, his hand quivered violently. It would be dangerous if the needle shook ins
ide the stent and scrambled his frontal lobe like a lobotomy knife. He took a deep breath and ripped it out like a loose tooth.

  It was several minutes before he stopped seeing double.

  She shook Foreverland.

  He’d never seen anything like it.

  The boys were gathered around the sundial where the Director could see them very clearly. He didn’t even sense her nearing, she just appeared out of nowhere. Before he could act, she struck the sundial and let loose tremors that never ended. They were still inside his head.

  The Director threw the needle on the floor.

  He put his feet down. He needed some water, maybe something to settle his stomach. He’d already been on the recliner far too long. The room felt like it was turning ten times as fast as it should’ve been. He was imagining it.

  He stood slowly, hand on the armrest. He let go, took a step and another, quickly leaning over. The floor felt tilted. The Director went several more steps and crashed into the telescope. He rolled to his back, swallowed back bile bitterly surging upward.

  Relax, you idiot. This will pass.

  Foreverland needed to be shut down for awhile. He had to admit, that would be the best thing after what he saw. It was getting too risky. He’d never become paralyzed inside the needle. Not only had he lost track of Danny and the girl, he didn’t see anything after she belted the sundial. He didn’t know where they went or what they were doing. He was half-baked until the day finally ended and he returned to the chair.

  But he couldn’t shut things down. That would require starting everything over. He’d lose the confidence of the Investors. He might not get it back up and running. Besides, the girl… she was out in the open.

  She was getting too strong. For that reason, Foreverland needed to continue, full speed ahead.

  The Director decided right there – staring at the ceiling, swallowing foul gulps of saliva – he would follow Danny into the next round and put an end to this madness once and for all. He’d set a trap for the little bitch and be done with it. He had to do something. Soon.

  But who’s trapping who?

  “Director?” the intercom called. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes.” He rolled to his side and spent some time on his hands and knees. He decided to sit on the floor a bit longer. “I want Jones and Smith up here.”

  “They are with the boys right now.”

  “Well, send for them.”

  “I think we have bigger problems, Director.”

  Oh, you have no idea. “What would that be?”

  “You’ll need to come down to the network floor. I think we need to consider suspending the program until we can—”

  “No.”

  The Director pulled himself up. He saw the cart driving away from the Haystack with someone lying in the back. He assumed the boy Zin had finally crossed over for graduation and was being transferred to the Chimney.

  “What would you like to do?” the intercom spoke.

  “Right now, I want Smith and Jones in my office.” He filled a glass with water and drank. “Afterwards, I want to see what Danny Boy was up to.”

  “I’m not comfortable with the risk you’re suggesting.”

  “Life is a risk.”

  “You’re risking everything.”

  The world settled around the Director. He smoothed the front of his floral-designed shirt, brushing away the fear that, seconds earlier, churned inside him. He poured Scotch over the water.

  “Get Smith and Jones up here. Now.”

  45

  Danny woke in his bed.

  His room was lit up. He pulled open the curtain. The sun was high enough to be noon. The Yard was active. Dozens of campers were playing soccer. Others were hanging out at the tables.

  Something is wrong.

  When the sleep-fog cleared, he remembered. The satellite!

  It should have landed. The impact would’ve been like a bomb. There wouldn’t be much of the Mansion left and there sure as hell wouldn’t be a soccer game. Unless it was off the mark, landing a mile or two in the water. That was possible.

  Maybe the Trojan horses were quarantined. Possible, sure. There was always a chance a security scan picked them up while they lay dormant. Still, they would find him. Eventually. One day.

  He cursed.

  Stupid. Stupid, stupid, STUPID. He should’ve pulled the trigger while he was there, sent them all hurtling toward the island. That way, at least, he could battle off security snoopers and if they caught him they would trace him back to the island.

  Stupid.

  He needed to get dressed, get over to the Mansion and see if anything had landed. Maybe there would be some debris that would indicate an off-target crash. Even if the satellite was fifty miles off, the military would cruise by the island. There was still going to be an investigation.

  He threw on some clothes and noticed someone sitting at the card table. The camp wasn’t down there throwing cards like usual. It was just one person. One he didn’t expect.

  Zin was lying on the table, hands folded over his stomach. Taking in the sun.

  “Zin?” Danny approached, warily. “Is that you?”

  Stupid question. But after seeing Parker not recognizing them, he worried that Zin would be absent. But then he turned his head and smiled. His eyes were bright and focused.

  “Danny Boy,” he said.

  Danny wanted to hug him. They slapped hands, instead. Zin sat up, stretched. “Man, the sun never felt so good.”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I woke up in the Haystack before you did. You should’ve seen the look on my Investor’s face! He looked like he dropped a ten pound load in his trousers when I stood up and hugged him while I was still full on naked. The old man was speechless. I wanted to wait until you woke up but the old men were running everyone out of the Haystack.”

  “I don’t get it. What happened?”

  Zin rubbed his face, looked out to the Yard, thinking. “I don’t really remember anything about the last… week, I guess. I mean, I don’t even remember going inside the needle. It just felt like I was… floating, I suppose. Like, I was out in the Nowhere just floating around and coming apart.”

  He stalled.

  “It’s weird, I don’t know how to describe it. I just felt like I was being pulled in a hundred directions, like I was being stretched. It didn’t hurt, really. It was all rather numb. And I just didn’t care.”

  Zin looked good. He was more present. Healthy, somehow.

  “The weird thing? I remember everything, Danny Boy. You know how we remember more when we go inside the needle? I’m Eric Zinder. My parents died when I was little and I ended up in foster care. I ran away and lived on the streets. I was homeless, dude. I was some street rat jacking cars and… and… no good, man.”

  He looked sick.

  “I was no good.”

  Zin recalled robbing some tourists on their way to the theater, some old man and a woman way too young. He remembered getting hauled into a van and a sack over his head. Something over his mouth and vapors in his head.

  And then he woke up in the Chimney.

  But the weird thing was, Danny was remembering, too. He didn’t know his whole life, not like Zin was reciting. But he remembered the stuff he knew inside Foreverland. He forgot things when he came out before, but now he was remembering it.

  “She did it,” Zin said.

  “Who?” Danny said. “Your girlfriend?”

  “A girl with this…” He chopped at his ears. “She had long red hair, these big eyes. She sent me back.”

  “Lucinda?”

  Zin shook his head. “She didn’t say her name, she just came out of the fog and then she was standing in front of me.”

  He put his hand on Danny’s shoulder and bowed his head.

  “‘You don’t belong here’ she said to me, Danny Boy. And then I felt all pulled back together. The fog lifted and I woke up in the cell.”

  She sent him
back. Zin was fading from his body, he was heading for Foreverland and she had the power to send him back. Of course, she did. And maybe that’s what she did to Danny, gave him the ability to remember in the flesh. She did the opposite to— “Sid!” Danny said. “What happened to him?”

  “You didn’t hear?” Zin threw his arm over Danny’s shoulders. “Our man Sid set the record for smoking out, brother. He went into that round all normal and came out empty. The Investors were more baffled by Sid then they were watching me walk out of there. I think the rest of our camp thinks I’m possessed, they think maybe I did something. They’re not talking to me.”

  They had to know it wasn’t Zin. They saw Lucinda come out of the ground and hammer the sundial, stick her arm in Sid’s chest. Right? Or did they not see any of that? Maybe they didn’t even see her.

  The sky was nothing but blue. No clouds or streaks or smoke.

  Untouched.

  There was no point going to the Mansion. Nothing was coming. The good guys would never arrive. They were truly alone, now. The Director would figure out what he did in the last round, there was no way they were letting him inside the needle again. Maybe they already knew.

  “What’s going on, Danny Boy?” Zin calmly said. “You expecting someone to parachute into the Yard?”

  Danny shook his head.

  “None of this was supposed to happen,” Zin said. “I shouldn’t be here and Sid shouldn’t be wherever he is. Did you do something?”

  “No. Not really.”

  “Well, what did you do?”

  Danny sat down, rested his elbows on the tabletop. All the dorm windows were open except Reed’s. The curtains were drawn. He was probably curled up in the dark recovering from God-knows-what they did to him. And now Danny had to tell him that he had another round to go.

  “I blew it, man.”

  “Ah, yes. You’ve got the world by the balls here on the island. You can do whatever you want, as long as you go to the Haystack and let them drill your head. Yeah, how could you blow that?”