by Lucy Adler
“So, do they not get Sendrax out here?” Phillip asked.
“Oh no, they’ve got it. They’re all on it. Even Clarence over there,” Max said, nodding toward the old man.
“Then, why aren’t things, you know, better out here?”
Phillip was obviously trying to ask his questions in the most sensitive way he could. It was all completely new to him. Aury could feel his sincerity, and Max was trying his best to separate his own animosity toward Progress from the genuine ignorance of their new friend.
“A lot of the people in this part of the state are farmers or ranchers,” Aury explained. “Even though they’ve got more energy and more waking hours, there’s only so much they can do with it. Sure, they could build more barns, or more silos, or whatever. But even if they have a thousand acres, they can’t force it to grow more food, no matter how much they run around with all their extra energy. And they can’t force their cattle to grow faster and have more calves. At least, not if they’re going to keep them healthy, anyway.”
“And the craftsmen and other skilled labourers,” Max continued, “get a pretty raw deal. There’s manufacturing out here and small businesses, but they rely on Progress for the bulk of their income, just like most of the outlying areas around the Advanced Cities. Only problem is, their products sell for much less in the city, while the stuff they need that comes out from the city costs a heck of a lot more. So the standard of living just ain’t the same.”
“Families like the Franklins,” Aury concluded, “aren’t starving but they aren’t comfortable either, even though their parents and grandparents have been working this land for a long time. It didn’t used to be so bad. But now, it’s a tough life outside the Cities, and it’s all thanks to the ‘miracle’ of Sendrax.”
“Wait, how is that the drug’s fault?” Phillip asked, his face skeptical. “That sounds more like corruption or mismanagement in the government.”
“There’s something else going on, Philly,” Max said, his voice lowering a little. “There’s more at work behind the scenes than drugs and Doctors, I’ll tell you that. And Sendrax has opened up humanity to its influence in a way we’ve never seen before.”
Phillip leaned back a bit in his chair. He looked at Max as if he had just told him the earth was flat.
“Please don’t get freaked out,” Aury said, placing her hand on his forearm. The purity and honesty in her gentle blue eyes dispelled his doubt, even if it didn’t actually explain anything. He found himself ready to trust her implicitly. It felt... safe.
“No one fully understands the things Max is talking about,” she continued. “But, I think what you saw me do back at the Institute should be proof enough that there’s more in this world than Sendrax and the Progress Guidelines!”
She laughed and her easy tone lightened the moment.
“Excellent point!” he said. Her hand was still resting on his arm, so he placed his other hand on hers. It made her heart jump just a little, in a pleasant way.
“Oh, but that reminds me,” he suddenly said, pulling his arm away without thinking. “I don’t have my Sendrax. Can I get some here, do you think?”
“Were you just listening?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Right! What the - I can’t believe I just said that,” he replied, shaking his head at himself.
“Give it some time, Philly. It’ll wear off.”
“And you’re going to love the settlement!” Aury added with excitement. “It’s such a peaceful, beautiful place. I can’t wait to show you around!”
____________________________
Clarence let them borrow his old pick-up truck for the final stage of their journey later that night. They had debated sleeping at the store then finishing the trip the following morning. But the Direx was taking longer to settle out of Max’s system than he had hoped, so he wasn’t in the mood for more than a couple hours of sleep. However, his legs were feeling well enough that he was able to do the driving. And he was considerably faster than Phillip.
There wasn’t much of a moon that night, so there wasn’t much scenery for them to enjoy along the way. Thankfully, though, despite the old pick-up’s age and condition, at least its heater worked well enough to take the chill out of the cab. Aury promised Phillip a warm jacket once they arrived.
It was almost an hour and a half before they actually reached the main settlement. The icy roads inside the park were enough to convince Max to take his time for the last thirty miles or so.
“I wonder if anyone will be awake? Aury asked as they finally emerged from the forested area north of the lake. The landscape opened up to either side of them and the faint outline of the settlement was visible in the distance.
But then, as she continued staring at it, she realised that the buildings were visible because of an eerie glow that filled the air around them.
She tried to get her mind around what she was seeing.
“Is that... fire?”
14
Month: 4 | Day: 10 | Year: 60
(A few hours earlier)
THE GIRL IN THE YELLOW JACKET
The moon was only a sliver in the sky, not bright enough to cast shadows on the ground.
But the darkness that crept over the eastern hills, through the trees and across the white blanket of snow that surrounded the settlement, was darker than the night. Dark enough that its fluid form was visible, like a shadow within a shadow, against the dim landscape.
The thin, wispy cloud silently snaked its way toward the settlement, as if a mystical fountain pen were tracing an inky path to its doorstep.
As it reached the edge, it turned and continued its journey with a single circuit around the ‘downtown’, that grid-like arrangement of buildings where most of the sleepers lived. Their narrow, two-storey wooden houses were dark inside. The only signs of life were the lazy ribbons of smoke rising from their chimneys.
As it completed its course and slithered along the eastern edge again, the cloud glided past a girl in a yellow jacket who was walking alone through the snow.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
She turned off the main path that skirted the rows of houses, and approached the largest of the buildings that comprised the downtown.
She pushed and pulled on the door but it was locked. She walked around it, checking each side. There were no windows, at least not on the ground floor.
As she circled back around to the front, she stopped once again at the locked door.
She stood still, staring at it in silence. Then her pale grey eyes began to fill with a deep red glow, and she placed her right hand against the wooden door.
A second later, the door exploded inward, splintering into hundreds of pieces that filled the entryway.
The girl walked over them, the fragments of wood cracking beneath her feet as she slowly crossed the cement floor. She glanced this way and that, scanning the dark space inside the warehouse. Along the wall to her right was a row of six red jerrycans.
She grabbed one, then another, and another. She carried them, one at a time, out to the path near the houses. Then she unscrewed the cap on the first one and proceeded down the first street, dousing as many porches as she could along the way.
The girl repeated the same act until each of the six jerrycans lay empty, scattered around the back half of settlement.
When she was finished, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of matches.
Once the final trail of petrol had been lit, she ran back to the house where Daria and Jake were seated together on the couch in front of the fireplace, enjoying the last embers of its dying flames.
And as she did, the inky cloud that had sketched a circle around the settlement, now uncoiled itself and silently retraced its path back into the eastern hills, vanishing over the forested horizon.
____________________________
“You’re enjoying it here, aren’t you?”
“So much!”
“I’m really glad! I’ve been
wanting to bring you out here for a long time.”
“I know it’s only been two days but it feels like two years!” Daria said with wide eyes. “I mean that in a good way. I feel like I’ve come back to some place I forgot. That probably sounds weird.”
“Not at all!” Jake said with a smile.
Does it get any better? This beautiful place, these awesome people, learning about my gift... and all of it with Jake by my side.
It’s like a dream.
Whoa, that has a whole new meaning now!
They had been sitting next to each other, holding hands and staring into the glowing coals that remained from the fire earlier that evening.
Daria pulled Jake’s hand closer and held it with both of hers.
“What’s that about?” he asked.
“Nothing. I’m just happy,” she replied as she slouched down a bit so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
But Jake’s brow was furrowed with care. He wasn’t feeling as peaceful or as content as Daria. This was all he wanted for her. To embrace her true self, to learn, to grow... to be happy. But at the same time, he was having trouble keeping the truth from her.
“I need to tell you something, Dash.”
“What’s up?”
“It’s about what you heard at the Institute.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you and Corey were in the lab...”
Daria sat up straighter but continued holding his hand.
“Yeah?” she asked, trying not to look concerned.
“Well, that thing Dr. Reston said about ‘curing’ me...”
As Jake searched for the right words to explain his situation to her, she suddenly started grimacing.
“Uh, are you ok?” he asked.
She dropped his hand and grabbed the sides of her head as she closed her eyes in obvious pain.
“Daria? Daria?” he repeated, his voice filling with fear as he held her by the shoulders.
“I - I’m sorry - I...”
Then she let out a yell. A terrified, torturous yell. She fell on her side on the couch, her body writhing in pain as she grasped the sides of her head more tightly.
“Make it stop! Make it stop!” she shouted in agony.
“What? What is it?” Jake asked in desperation, now kneeling beside the sofa to make room for her.
“It’s so loud! So loud!”
Daria buried her face in the cushions and yelled again.
Just then, one of the guys that was also staying in the house came rushing down the stairs.
“What’s going on? Are you two alright?” he asked.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Jake answered. “Get Helena!”
He didn’t hesitate. He threw on his boots and darted out into the snow in his pajamas.
But he had barely left the house when someone else entered.
A girl in a yellow jacket.
“Brix! Come over here!”
The girl walked slowly across the room, her snow-covered boots leaving a watery trail behind her, until she stood beside the couch.
“It’s Daria,” Jake said. “I don’t know what’s wrong but I think sh--”
He stopped talking as he looked up and caught sight of the girl’s eyes. They were like two coals plucked from the fire.
Jake rose to his feet and stared at her while Daria’s cries for help filled the space around them.
“What happened to you, Brix?” he demanded.
She didn’t reply.
She just looked down at the couch.
At Daria.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m not going to let it happen,” Jake said.
The girl raised her right hand over the back of the couch, then lowered it toward Daria’s head.
“No!” Jake said firmly, grabbing her by the wrist and pushing her back.
The girl stumbled then looked at him.
She fluttered her eyelids and winced in pain.
Then she stumbled again, but not because of any external force.
“Jake? Why... Where...” she asked in a broken, gravelly whisper.
He moved around behind the couch and stood in front of her, trying to figure out what was happening.
Then the red glow in her eyes intensified in a fiery flame.
She regained her sense of balance and stepped past him toward the couch.
“Stop it, Brix! Don’t touch her!”
But the girl’s movements were robotic now. She wasn’t listening to him.
She raised her right hand and it faded into shadow. Shimmering red lights appeared within it and began to coalesce into a stream that flowed from somewhere inside her, out toward her fingertips.
Jake could hardly believe what he was seeing. He knew Brix wasn’t a sleeper. But how was she channeling this kind of... power?
He watched as the stream of red light grew brighter, as if it were charging up for a sudden and explosive release.
Then, all at once, the moment seemed to grind into slow motion.
Jake looked down at Daria, who had fallen silent just a few seconds earlier. She was curled up on the couch, still facing the cushions, her hands lying limp beside her head. She looked oddly peaceful. And despite the chaos, he couldn’t help enjoying the way her soft brown hair fell across her shoulder and down her back.
He looked up and watched as Brix - no, the thing standing in front of him leaned over, its shadowy fingertips approaching Daria’s helpless body.
He didn’t have time to wait for help.
And he knew he couldn’t access the gift inside him.
He couldn’t overpower whatever darkness had gripped their friend.
But he also knew he didn’t have to watch it claim the one person who meant the most to him.
All at once, the stream of red light came bursting forth from the girl’s hand, cascading down upon the body lying beneath her.
Only, it wasn’t Daria’s.
Jake threw himself on top of her at that very moment. The full force of whatever dark energy was brewing within their friend now collided with his body and rolled like a wave over every nerve and fibre of his being.
He tried to scream but the excruciating pain choked his voice until all that came out was a desperate gasp for air.
His eyes closed as the strength drained from his body.
He rolled off of Daria and fell to the floor in front of the fireplace.
Just then, there were voices outside. And boots thumping along the path, then the staircase that led up to the porch.
The girl with the fiery eyes turned like a frightened animal and tried to run toward the back of the house. But she only got a few steps before her body gave out.
Her eyes drooped while her head swooned, then she lost her balance and collapsed on the floor.
____________________________
“Wake everyone you can and focus on containing the fire! I’ll check on these two.”
“On it!”
The guy who had fetched Helena ran off to start banging on doors, while she entered the house where Jake and Daria were.
As she caught sight of their lifeless bodies, she hurried across the room. Then she noticed a third body, several feet from the couch.
“What happened here?” she whispered to herself as she knelt down between Jake and Daria.
She felt Jake’s neck. His heart was beating slowly and he was breathing.
Then she turned and faced the sofa.
“Daria? Can you hear me?”
She didn’t respond.
“Daria?” Helena asked again, placing her hand on the back of the girl’s head.
Then the older woman closed her eyes and focused.
____________________________
“Daria?”
“I’m... here,” a weak voice replied.
“It’s Helena.”
“I know.”
“Are you ok?”
“It... it was... here.”
“What was here?”
“The Dar... Dark.”
“Did you see it?”
“No.”
Helena was quiet for a moment, then she took a deep breath in, and out again.
“You heard it, didn’t you?”
“Ye... yes.”
“The humming?”
“So... so loud.”
“I know. I know, Daria.”
“Did you... did you hear it... too?”
“Not this time.”
“Why... why... me?”
“We’ll talk more about this when you recover. Right now, I need you to wake up.”
“No.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, Daria. I’m here. It’s safe. You can wake up.”
____________________________
Thankfully, the deep snow had prevented the fires from spreading out of control. Of course, it didn’t stop them from consuming quite a few of the homes where the gasoline had saturated the front porches. And while no one was killed, at least a dozen residents had to be carried to unaffected houses as they coughed and wheezed from the dense smoke that had filled their lungs.
As Daria’s eyes opened and she slowly pushed herself up into a seated position on the couch, two guys came through the front door carrying a third guy who was hacking loudly.
“What’s wrong…?” she asked, her voice flat and quiet.
“He’ll be fine soon enough, don’t worry,” Helena replied, rubbing Daria’s knee with her hand.
One of the two who had carried him knelt down beside him and closed his eyes. He held out his hand over the man’s chest as his patient continued to wheeze, fighting for each breath.
Daria suddenly recognised the scene.
The kneeling man’s hand faded into shadow as flecks of gold and silver light twinkled in the darkness. Then he lowered his hand and touched the other man’s body.
It was just like what Julia had done outside the Institute that night when Max had broken the guard’s nose.
It took almost two minutes but the wheezing slowly faded. The coughing ceased and the man’s chest moved more steadily now. Up and down, up and down. Smooth, easy breaths.