Stealing Liberty

by Jennifer Froelich

  “Here’s something — the government tried to keep the entire incident under wraps, but several pictures of the killing were posted online. Riots in several Dirt cities followed and forces were sent in to crush the rebellion, resulting in seventeen more deaths.”

  “Hmm.” Oliver frowns at his tablet. “I just found a rebel blog about it. The State Press might be hushing it up, but these people will never forget.”

  He tilts his screen toward me. “Cute little girl.”

  “Yeah.”

  “She had something called Down’s syndrome. It was all but eradicated by abortion over a generation ago. Her name was Copper.”

  My blood feels like ice hitting warm water, crackling all over my body.

  “No! No, no, no, no!”

  I drop my tablet and run — sliding on linoleum, turning a corner, taking the stairs two at a time, up to Zak’s dorm.

  If I know, she knows.

  It’s a mantra, repeating in my head. I reach his room and burst through the doorway, searching the bunks amid muffled protests and loud cursing. One bunk is empty — Zak’s.

  By the time I leave the room, Oliver has caught up with me.

  “Zak,” I say grimly.

  “Where will he be?”

  “Somewhere the cameras aren’t working.”

  I send Oliver toward the train yard while I head east. I know my route well — the places the cameras can’t see, the hot spots where Cit-Track lights sputter or fail. It doesn’t take me long to find Zak. He’s leaning against a concrete barricade out by one of the fallow fields, holding a mine in his hands.

  I circle the barricade slowly. “Can I sit? Or are you planning to blow me up?”

  Zak doesn’t stir.

  I lower myself to the dirt, too numb to feel the cold. For several minutes, we sit there freezing, saying nothing.

  “I never meant for anyone to die. Jeanine…” He chokes on her name.

  My eyes dart to the mine, then back to his face. “Tell me about Copper.”

  Zak sniffs. “She was the happiest kid I’ve ever known.”

  His entire body shakes from the cold. The tears that fell moments ago are already freezing on his cheeks, but he ignores them.

  “We all worry, every day. You know? All of us. Always have. Worry about the harvest, the government, how much they’re gonna take, what we can say, who’s spying on us, who we can trust. Then there’s Copper. A sweet little girl who collected pebbles — just the common gray ones — and saw them as priceless. Who laughed when I carried her on my shoulders, or in a wheelbarrow, or whenever I pushed her on the tire swing. She laughed every day.” He sniffs. “Every day.”

  “You wrote those threats—”

  “Yeah. Not part of the plan, but I wrote them. I had to know. Had to see for myself whether Kino has a soul. So I sent the notes and watched her read them. Some of them, at least. But she doesn’t. No soul, no heart.”

  “Why doesn’t she know your name? Who you are?”

  He lifts one shoulder. “We were just another family on her list — Momma just one more criminal who had an AT kid without permission. She showed up to check a box and move on. She never saw my face. I doubt she’d even recognize my name.”

  I think about Kino’s records, how fastidious she is about knowing all of us — our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities. It doesn’t add up, but I leave it alone.

  “The science lab—”

  “Was an accident!” Zak screams the words, gripping the mine more tightly than ever. “No one was supposed to get hurt!”

  I edge away, which is stupid. If the mine is armed, I’m still in the blast zone.

  “Just tell me about it.”

  “I was on my way to admin, holding a stack of sheets. The mine was hidden inside. I was gonna put it in a storage closet near Kino’s office then figure out a good time to put it under her desk. The plan was to blow it late one night after she left. Destroy her office and scare her to death, you know? Make her quake in those stupid high heels.”

  He stops and stares at his frozen fingers. “I let myself imagine her being there by chance — then blown to bits. I told myself I wouldn’t care. I thought about Copper and I just wanted revenge. Until Jeanine…”

  “How did it end up in the bushes?”

  “Vardelos saw me from across the courtyard. I was supposed to take the sheets to the Med Center, so he started yelling at me for being slow. I pretended to drop them, just so I could hide the mine under a bush. I was gonna come back for it later. I set the trigger just like they said, connected it to a remote detonator on a tablet I hid in Mr. Patrick’s classroom. Something went wrong. It detonated on its own.”

  “They? Who do you mean?”

  Zak lowers his chin to his chest and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”

  “What are you planning to do here, man? Blow yourself up? Blow me up too?”

  Zak sniffs. “It’s not even armed.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief, then tilt my head, hearing Haak’s truck in the distance. “Zak, listen. We only have a few minutes—”

  “I knew you’d never let it go when you found my mended fence. Nothing was gonna stop you after that.” He swipes at his nose. “It wouldn’t matter if it worked. But nothing I did was big enough — not the fire or the virus. Even the bomb was hushed up — not even a blip on the news feeds. There was no point to any of it, was there?”

  He starts crying again, whispering Jeanine’s name.

  I don’t know what to do. Dawn is breaking behind the ridge, golden fingers reaching up into a cold blue sky. Time is up. Haak’s old truck peels against gravel, heading our way. If I could hide Zak or figure out some way to shield him, I would. Or maybe I wouldn’t. I don’t know, and there’s no time to think. But getting caught between Zak and Kino will mean not just my death, but my mom’s. I have one chance of surviving and I take it.

  I stand up and raise my hands high in the air, turning my back to the sun, turning my back on Zak, as the truck screeches to a stop behind the barricade.

  Chapter 26

  Adam

  * * *

  Haak’s truck rumbles by, brakes screeching, shuttering to a halt by the library. He jumps out, yanks open the tailgate, drags someone from the truck bed. Kino follows from the passenger side. They are close enough now, I can see the kid’s face.

  Zak.

  “Tie him to the flagpole,” Kino says.

  A crowd gathers. Students pour out of the dorms, from the cafeteria, drawn by the commotion. I see Riley with Sam. Oliver is across the way.

  “Attention!” Kino’s voice is loud and frozen, recoiling off the buildings. She circles Zak, but focuses on us. “I told you we would find the terrorist who set off a bomb at our school. I said you would all witness his punishment.”

  Something moves near Haak’s truck. It’s Reed, running from the fields. His face is white as ash. His eyes stay fixed on Zak and I know what’s coming. I know, but there’s nothing I can do.

  “Here he is,” Kino continues. “Zak Wythe. Someone I trusted. A murderer. A traitor! And this is what he deserves.”

  Then she pulls a gun from her coat pocket, points it at Zak’s head, and pulls the trigger.

  None of us go to the cafeteria. Not for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We’re starving, but we can’t face a meal. None of us can cross the courtyard to eat it.

  I can’t get it out of my head. How Zak fell. How his body didn’t seem human by the time it hit the ground.

  “Leave him there.”

  Killing Zak didn’t kill Kino’s rage. Students cried, but she still glared at us. Her face twisted, red. The gun twitching in her hand. “Let the snow bury him. Or let the birds pick him clean.”

  Her voice cracked. “When I think about the sacrifices I make. The hours I work, trying to return each of you to the society that gave you everything...” She jerked her gun one last time toward Zak, then wilted like a kite losing wind. “And this is what you make me do.”
/>
  After Kino walked away, the crowd thinned. Soon, just a few were left. Paisley was on her knees in the snow, breathing hard, her face red. Oliver headed toward Xoey, who is so thin since her illness I think she might fade to nothing. Sam paced along the edge of the sidewalk, muttering, his arms stiff. Riley’s eyes met mine, angry, confused.

  Reed was different. He stood by Haak’s truck for a long time, his features carved in stone. He’s been the same ever since. Oliver told us what they uncovered.

  Tonight we’re in the corner of the common room. The pixel wall above us is gray. Lifeless. No one talks. Most students are in the dorms, keeping their heads low. Not Brock and Xu. They are across the room with a few girls, laughing, playing some obscene gesture game on their tablets.

  I sit close to Riley, hoping she’ll lean on me for comfort. But Riley never needs comfort. She needs something to hate. So she stares at the wall separating us from the courtyard where Zak’s lifeless body still lies, her hands clenched by her sides.

  Reed gets up first. Leaves without comment. Sam follows. Oliver leans toward Xoey, whispers something. She shakes her head, then Paisley takes her hand, says something I can’t hear. They all get up and leave together.

  I put my hand on Riley’s. I should say something, but what? Blood pounds against my temple, a painful knot builds behind my eyes. I’m afraid I’ll laugh. It’s happened before, a burst of mirth at inappropriate times.

  Maybe I’ll just hit something until it breaks.

  Zak set the fire in the library. He spread the stomach virus. No one knows how. His bomb killed Jeanine.

  But they killed his little sister. His mother. His rage has been festering since then. It’s something I understand. The way it’s always under the surface, needling you.

  I wonder if mine will ever flare like his. A flame leaping beyond my reach. Beyond control. Failing to burn its target.

  Burning everything else instead.

  I want to know what Riley thinks. I want to know I’m not alone, but can’t figure out how to ask. I say nothing and we sit there for a long time. Together, but not.

  She eventually gets up. She doesn’t notice my hand drop from hers.

  “I’ve got to do something.”

  I don’t know if she’s talking to me or herself.

  I follow her outside, then downstairs, through the laundry room to the Hidden Library. Reed, Sam, Paisley, and Oliver are there. It’s like they’ve been waiting. For her, not me.

  “I checked the news article about Zak’s family,” Oliver says. “Their last name was Franklin, not Wythe.”

  “But Kino keeps records on all of us,” Riley says. “She would have known—”

  “Unless his name was changed by people who know what they’re doing,” Oliver says. “People who know how to create a complete history to bury the truth.”

  Reed pushes a knuckle against his red eyes. His hand shakes. “Zak said something about ‘they.’ They told him how to trigger the bomb. He talked about a plan.”

  “It could be a rebel group from the Red Zone,” Paisley says. “Some of them have the know-how to create a false background, to arrange things so Zak would be picked up by social services and transferred here.”

  Reed nods. “So someone planted him here. He set the fire, the virus, the bomb — they were all meant to get the media’s attention.”

  “To bring this place out of hiding?” Paisley asks. “Put the school under a public microscope?”

  “Yes.”

  I think about it. My mind snaps to my father’s execution, how much I hate those responsible. What would I do if someone gave me the tools to avenge his death?

  “So Zak thought he was doing the right thing,” I say. “But then the bomb exploded early...”

  “And Jeanine died,” Riley says.

  The dryers hum next door, tumbling clothes. Spinning like the Earth. Spinning like my head.

  Reed turns to Riley. “You’re off the Cit-Track tonight. So am I.”

  Riley nods. For a minute, they just stare at each other, then Reed turns away, pulls out something I hid months ago in the library. The American flag.

  “Will you help me with something?”

  Riley reaches out, takes the flag. Hugs it to her chest.

  “Yes.”

  Chapter 27

  Riley

  * * *

  The temperature plummets overnight, dropping below zero by the time Reed and I go offline. As we step out into the cold wind, I wonder if it means God is mourning, His heart broken for Zak.

  Or maybe He’s so angry, He’s turned His face away, leaving us all in the cold.

  I don’t know why I’m thinking about God. I never do. Maybe it’s Xoey, who doesn’t speak His name so much as she carries Him around with her. Maybe I just need to reach out tonight, for someone bigger than this miserable world, even if I’m not sure what I believe about Him.

  Of course, I’m not sure what I believe about anything. Zak killed Jeanine, even if it was an accident. He would have killed me too if not for Reed. And I wanted him caught. I wanted him punished.

  Reed seems to know what I’m thinking.

  “What he did was horrible.” His voice is soft, but I hear it. I always hear it. “What he did to you.”

  I nod. I can’t meet his eyes. Whenever I do, there’s pressure behind my own, in my throat, building like a flood against a dam.

  “But he didn’t deserve this, did he? Not this.”

  We are standing on the sidewalk outside the common room, staring at Zak’s body, a dark shape against the frozen snow. I wish there was no moon. I wish the darkness of night would shroud him, making it impossible to see the dark stain of blood spreading from his head. But I can’t be a coward. Not tonight.

  Sam promised us the courtyard cameras would be off. No one will see us. Still, we don’t move. We just stand there.

  Like we stood there when Kino shot Zak.

  “We can’t dig a grave.” I kick a clod of hard snow. “The ground is too hard.”

  “I know. We can’t bury him. But I can’t leave him like this.”

  “What can we do?”

  Reed reaches for the flag. I hand it over.

  “I’ve read a lot about this flag. How it was created, the songs written about it, how it was protected, hidden, repaired, revered. Did you know Americans wouldn’t let it touch the ground? They wouldn’t even fly it at night unless it was lit up for everyone to see.”

  I shake my head. I’m too choked up to speak.

  “It wasn’t a symbol of hate, greed or power, no matter what our texts say. It was about freedom, justice, and hope. It was about liberty. ”

  I stare at Zak’s body. “Is that what Zak was thinking when he lit his fire? Rigged the bomb?”

  “I don’t know. But I read this quote in one of our books: ‘What is worse? Violence suppressing freedom, or violence resisting tyranny?’”

  I think about it. “Both. Neither. I don’t know. Either way, people end up dead.”

  “But his death doesn’t have to be meaningless.”

  We stand there longer. I dread what comes next, whatever it is. Hopelessness blows in with the cold wind. I struggle to resist it.

  “Whatever we do, Kino will undo it.”

  “No. We’re going to do something that can’t be undone,” Reed says. “Are you sure you want to help?”

  “I’m sure.”

  We finish just before dawn. Reed’s eyes are rimmed with dark circles, like he’s been punched.

  “You need to sleep.”

  “No, I need to see this.”

  But he’s shaking. Numb with fatigue and cold.

  “Over here.” I drag him toward the cafeteria, to the warm place behind the kitchen where there’s a direct line of sight to the flagpole. I pray we’ve timed our spectacle for maximum effect. There’s nothing to do now but wait and see.

  We don’t have to wait long. God seems to be on our side in this, at least.

  When the su
n breaks over the horizon, the clouds part and all of Heaven’s light shines down on Zak, who is now laid out on a dais constructed from four large stones and a piece of wood we dragged from the dumpster behind the library. His body is wrapped in clean bed sheets. The American flag flies high above him.

  A crowd is gathering, just like yesterday, but not like yesterday at all. I see less fear, more anger. Students stare at the flag and the figure beneath, murmuring words I can’t hear or understand. Soon, teachers join the crowd and, finally, Kino.

  I’ve never seen her so unnerved. Her stride falters halfway across the courtyard. She stares at the flag, flapping in the sunlight, and stops, putting her hand to her throat. Then she rushes forward again, only to stop several feet away where she finds the UDR flag on the ground.

  She picks it up and whirls around. “Who did this? Who?”

  No one answers.

  Her nose flares, catching wind of the fuel we siphoned from Haak’s truck. We timed it perfectly. The dried grass we left smoldering under the dais ignites at just the right moment and Zak’s funeral pyre goes up in flames.

  Kino jerks back, falling to the ground and dropping the flag to shield her pretty face from the inferno.

  Ash floats in the air all day. Zak settles on our skin and we breathe him in. He becomes part of us all.

  When the fire dies, Kino orders her three remaining aides to clean up every trace of it. Of course, they can’t do anything about the scorched earth under the flagpole, which earns them a fresh helping of Kino’s wrath. She fires them on the spot, publicly revoking all their privileges. They emerge from her office the next day with slumped shoulders, bruised eyes, and bloody lips. Everyone gives them a wide berth.

  Kino rages all week, putting the House in lockdown, prowling the campus. Haak, the teachers, and even Vardelos use any excuse to punish us. We travel in packs to avoid being singled out. From the dorms to the cafeteria, to class to work, and back to the dorms again. We don’t speak and keep our eyes focused on the ground.