by Nelson, Kip
“There's nothing else for you in this world, only the pain and suffering of being reminded of what used to be. Let go of your attachment to the world that has gone and embrace the new. Bend your knee to me and I will give you shelter, food, and a place to live. What's more, I will give you a purpose. We can create a legacy for ourselves, Mack. We can be the people who usher in a new era for humanity.”
Mack mimicked Mr. Smith by dabbing the corners of his mouth with his napkin. He gave the impression of a man who was considering the offer, but Mack was not going to change his mind. He was a patriot, and he was not about to let go of the world just yet, not when Anna was out there, not when there were still enemies of freedom.
“You speak well, Mr. Smith, but all you have are words. If you want to build a place, then you must start from the beginning. Right now, you're ruling by fear and intimidation. You're nothing more than a petty bully, and I hate bullies. Do you think you can steal, threaten, and cheat your way to paradise? It doesn't work like that. You believe in something, and I respect that, but that doesn't mean you can go around treating people the way you have been. So, if that's all, I think I'll be getting back to my friends.” Mack stood up. Mr. Smith leaned back in his chair and placed his hands in his lap.
“I'm very disappointed in you, Mack. I thought this was going to turn out very differently.” With that he called in the guard and Mack was taken away.
Chapter Twelve
When Mack returned to the tent he found Luis, Grace, and Saul sitting in silence. Saul had his back turned to the others, while Grace still was trembling with anger.
“What happened?” Luis asked when he saw Mack return. Mack waited for the guard to leave before he replied, and then told them all what Mr. Smith had said.
“He's a monster,” Grace said in a small voice.
“Yes, he is, but what set you off so much in there? Did you really think you were going to be able to kill him?” Mack asked.
“I don't know. It was just the way he was talking about people as if they were just things to measure excellence. He talked about freedom, but what he offered was anything but. It sounded more like everyone would be under pressure always to outdo each other. How could anyone actually have a friend in such a competitive world? I don't think I actually was going to kill him. I just...I just wanted to do something. I know we need to try playing it cool, but I've just been going so crazy here. I hated the way he just was sitting there with that stupid look on his face, like nothing mattered. I guess I just wanted him to be scared,” she said with an apologetic look on her face.
“I understand, but from now on we're going to have to be smart about this. We can't be making any rash decisions. If we're going to get out of here we're going to need a plan, and we're also going to need to trust each other. Saul, do you have something to say to us?” Mack folded his arms, his eyes falling upon Saul, who was sitting in the corner.
“I got nothing,” the big man replied.
“That's not good enough,” Mack said. Saul grunted. This time it was Luis who showed an outburst of anger.
“Really? You have nothing? After we saved your life? After we invited you to come along with us? After we saved your ass from being killed when you went against Mack's instructions to leave that guard alone? We're only in here because of you and now it turns out you've been lying this whole time! And you don't have anything to say? I knew we couldn't trust you from the moment we met you,” he said, but even that wasn't enough to inspire a reaction from Saul.
“Saul, talk to me. Why didn't you tell us the truth? Why didn't you tell us he was your brother?” Mack asked.
“Would you? You saw what he's like. Would you want to be associated with him?”
“No, but I'd be honest with the people who had helped me. So, what's his story? Was he always like this?”
Saul shook his head. “Not really, not to this extent anyway. He was always different, always had his head in a book or reading about some old emperor or king. He always was bullied at school. I had to watch out for him. He hated me, though, hated all of us. As soon as he could get out of the house he took his chance and I never saw him again, not until I got a letter from him saying he wanted to reconnect. So I came up here, along with that job I was telling you about, and I met him a few times. I barely recognized him at first. I was surprised to see he actually had friends, the same kind of people who used to bully him. I guess all his life he was looking for their acceptance. As it turned out he always had resented me, and he thought I was the reason he was unpopular.”
“Why would he think that?” Mack asked.
“Because I beat up the bullies for him. He thought if I just had left them alone they would have let him hang out with them. Then he got his wish, but there was always this undercurrent with him. I never got the feeling he ever truly was a part of that group; it was more like he had been hanging around for so long they started just tolerating him. Then this all happened and he changed. It was like he had been waiting for this moment all his life. He rallied the men and gave them orders at a time when they all were panicking. I went along with it because he was always smarter than me. So I figured if anyone knew how to make it through this thing, he would. Then he started talking this rhetoric of his and I put up with it, but it got worse and worse. The rest happened like I said it did. But if I had told you he was my brother you never would have trusted me.”
“Maybe so, but you should have given us the chance,” Mack said, and that was all he wanted to say on the matter because they had other things to worry about.
Even though Mack had refused Mr. Smith's offer to be a part of the community, they were still a drain on resources while they stayed there. So they were forced into labor to pay their way. It was that or die, as Mr. Smith wasn't about to let them leave. They were split up into different areas and sent to work every day with guards watching over them. Unlike when other groups were brought into camp, none of them were trusted with guard duty. Mr. Smith knew it would be too dangerous to allow them access to weapons. So they were forced into more menial tasks, such as gathering and chopping wood for the fire, building huts, and tending to the horses. Their roles here were similar to the tasks they had performed on Willie's farm, but with a much different focus. They weren't done voluntarily, and none of them felt as though they could relax.
As the days went by they all gazed longingly out toward the forest and envied the people who could come and go as they pleased. Yet, everywhere they looked, there were plenty of people with guns who looked all too ready to fire at the slightest provocation. Mack made it clear to the rest of them they had to keep their heads down and not draw any attention to themselves while they gathered information and formulated a plan. During their working hours, each of them made contact with other prisoners, and they all had their own story to tell.
However, Saul was the person who was treated the worst out of all of them. He was given solitary tasks and was made to walk all around camp so people could get a good look at him. He was famous, as he was one of the few people who had stood up to Mr. Smith, but now he was being displayed as an example. The people could see that even if someone was taken away from the camp to die it still was not a guarantee of relief. Mack could see it in the people's eyes as they saw Saul walking around camp; their hope was diminishing and it didn’t help that there hadn't been much left in the first place.
Mack’s task was tending to the horses, which involved cleaning up their waste, and he was sure he hadn't been given this job by accident. The man with no name continually came by to taunt Mack, and it was fortunate Mack was a master of self-control, or else he would have buried the man's face in the pile of crap. Mack worked alongside a man of similar age, although he looked much older than Mack after the rigors of working at the camp. Upon speaking to him Mack learned his name was Chris, and the first thing Mack asked was how long he had been in the camp.
“I don't even know anymore, but it feels like a lifetime. I was one of the first ones he
re. It was your friend Saul who asked me to join. Said that they were building a new settlement, one where people would be welcome and safe. Didn't sound too bad to me, not after I'd been trying to figure out just what had had happened. I'd been at home, sitting by myself, when suddenly the lights went out. Tried to change a fuse, but nothing was working and I knew something bad had happened. I didn't know the first thing about survival in this type of world, so I was glad when they came along, but now I think I'd rather take my chances out there.”
“Has Mr. Smith told you about his plans for the world?” Mack asked.
Chris snorted. “Oh yeah, he's told me everything. He barely can keep quiet about it. He's deluded, though. I think he sees something else, he must. We're treated no better than cattle here, and if he wants to build a world, then I don't want to live in it.”
“Have you tried to escape?”
“Not me personally, no, but others have. There's just no way. They have the guns. They have the vehicles. They always have eyes on everything. And when somebody does try to escape they do horrible things to the body.” As he said this he blanched and his eyes fell to the floor.
“Such as?” Mack pressed, and waited patiently for Chris to answer, which he did after some time.
“There was one man...I never knew his name. We didn't get acquainted. But he reminded me of you. He was taken to dinner as well. He was here with his family. He kept saying how he was going to escape, how this wasn't the life he wanted. He was warned not to try, but he wouldn't listen. One day he did try. He sneaked into the armory and grabbed a gun. Even managed to kill a couple of guards before they shot him in the arm.
“We all thought he was lucky to be alive but what happened next was far worse. They dragged him out in the middle of the day, in front of his wife and child, and tied a rope around each of his limbs. Then they put the rope around the necks of the horses. They made his family...made us all watch as they whipped the horses and made them run. They pulled him apart. It rained blood, and all the while Mr. Smith stood there watching, like he actually enjoyed it,” Chris said, his voice strained and the emotion plain on his face. He smoothed a hand across the horses' rump.
“It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. And I hate how he uses these hoses as weapons. Ever since then nobody has tried.”
“Are his wife and child still here?”
Chris nodded, “But she never speaks, and I don't blame her. I'm not sure the kid understands either. It's a hell of a thing to be in this world in the first place, let alone a place like this. I barely understand it myself.”
“Haven't you ever tried working together to try fighting back against him? There are enough of you here that if you made a concerted effort I'm sure you could rebel.” Chris inhaled deeply and looked at Mack with a frank expression.
“Look, I know your type, and I appreciate that you don't want to be here, I really do, and I wish you all the best. But you have to understand we're just a bunch of ordinary, scared people. We weren't much in our old lives, and we're not much now. We're not used to fighting, and for a lot of us the fact we're alive, when so many other people we knew are dead, is enough.”
“I wonder if they would be proud that you're making so much of your life when they didn’t get a chance to breathe again.” Mack said, and moved away. It was perhaps a little harsh, but he didn't like what he had heard.
Grace was with a group who were sorting through the food and sending it to various storage areas. A number of people were working there and she was sitting next to a plump woman who seemed to maintain what passed for a cheery expression. Grace wasn't used to starting conversations, but she tried remembering what she had learned from Mack.
“So, have you been here long?” she asked.
“A little while, I suppose. Probably longer than I would have liked.”
“You don't seem like the others.”
“In what way?”
Grace made a passing glance around the room. “They're all unhappy. Their shoulders are hunched; they barely look up. That one over there doesn't ever talk.”
“Well, she's got her own story. Something terrible happened to her husband. I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Figure if I keep my head down and do a good job I might get rewarded. They're not so bad, really. If you just keep out of their way they let you get on with things.”
“Try telling that to the people they bully,” Grace spat.
“Now, look here young lady. I don't need you coming in here with your high and mighty attitude, judging me. There ain't nobody in this world who is free of sin. That's as true now as it was before, and the way I see it you either can brood like them and be miserable or try making the best of it. I've seen enough misery in my life to know which way I want to go.”
“So you don't want to even try escaping?”
“Escape? Escape to what?” the woman said with a sneer, her full lip curling up, making the fine peach fuzz above her lip twitch.
“You think there's anything out there? No way. I'm not going to risk all this just so I can go and starve out there.”
“But what about all the people who are suffering?”
“That's their problem. If you want to feel bad for them so be it, but at the end of the day we've all gotta sleep at night and I'm not going to lose any dreams over it. You want a medal for feeling bad? Boo! Hoo! Keep your head down, work hard, and you'll do alright. The more things change, the more they stay the same,” she said, and Grace felt disheartened by what she was hearing.
When it had been just the three of them in the forest it had been easy to forget how selfish and uncaring people could be, even in the face of such injustice. Mack's optimism had rubbed off on her and she had started believing there was a way out for all of them. Now her well-worn cynicism was back with a vengeance and as she worked she looked around at all those who had been engulfed by misery, and wondered if the suffering was all worth it. Maybe this woman had it all figured out, and Grace was a little jealous of her for being able to ignore her conscience.
Luis was with a group of people who were fetching and chopping wood from the nearby forest. It was hard, sweaty work, and he found himself thirsty long before it was time for his first water break. He had taken off his shirt, like most of the others, and his body was glistening with sweat. He had been paired with another young man who looked a little like Steve, the one who had been guarding them. As they spoke, Luis found out that a man called Danny was Steve's eldest brother, and the fire in his eyes had been tempered.
“So your brother is a guard?” Luis asked as he set a piece of wood up on the base of the trunk.
Danny nodded as he swung the axe back and let it roll over his shoulder, through the air, ultimately crashing down and chopping the chunk of wood in half. Luis bent down to collect the fallen chunks and put them in the pile.
“Sure you don't want another go?” Danny asked as Luis picked up another piece of wood.
“My shoulder still is aching from the last one, I think I'll give it a pass for now,” he said.
“There's only one way you're going to get used to it,” Danny said, and cut another piece of wood in half.
“I was hoping I wasn't going to be here long enough to get used to it.”
“Well, good luck with that.”
“So how come Steve was chosen to be a guard and you weren't?” Luis asked.
“That's the way they do things around here. They take the youngest and make them one of theirs, which makes it unlikely they will fight back. It's not so easy to fight against the guards when you know a lot of them are made up of people like your kid brother.”
“You ever thought of fighting back?”
“All the time, but it's hopeless. That's why I like that they assigned me to this job. I get to work out my anger,” and on cue he let the axe fall once again. This time he handed it to Luis.
“If you don't practice you're never going to get good, and they'll reassign you. They don't like dead weight
around here.”
Luis reluctantly took the heavy axe and tried ignoring the throbbing in his shoulder and the dull ache of his muscles. Danny set the wood on the trunk. Luis wound his arm back and let the axe fall. Unlike Danny's smooth strokes, the axe lodged itself in the wood at an angle, and created an ugly gash. Luis, with Danny's help, pulled the axe away and Danny gave him a few pointers about how to create a smoother motion.
“I saw your brother. He was the one who brought us our food. He seems like a good kid.”
“He is, and I hate what they've done to him.”
“If there was a way to fight back, would you do it?”
“As long as my brother didn't get hurt, yes.”
This time when Luis brought the axe down it cut straight through the middle, and he couldn't help but feel a certain amount of pride at having accomplished the task.
“You know, I spoke with my brother the other day. He told me about you, and the guy you're with.”
“Mack?” Danny nodded.
“Said he was different from the others, like he has a plan or something.”
“Mack always has a plan. He saved me, you know; I was being held captive by some crazy people. I'm sure he can do the same for you.”
“It won't be easy.”
“That's why we'll need people like you helping us,” Luis said. Danny paused a little before he put another block of wood on the trunk and told Luis to swing again.
Chapter Thirteen
When the group of them were together again they all discussed what they had learned. Mack was encouraged to hear from Luis, who told him there were people willing to help if they had a plan, but shared Grace's heavy heart about how many were willing to ignore the suffering of others for the sake of their own comfort, although he couldn't necessarily blame them. Saul remained disconsolate and uncommunicative, so Mack let him be for a while. He told the others to keep uncovering as much information as they could, to make note of guard patterns, and anyone who could prove to be a weak link, as well as finding out who they could trust if it came to the point of starting a rebellion.