by E S Richards
“Former residence?”
Chase paused. He didn’t want people to know that he and Riley were from outside of the city. If the Authority discovered that, then there was nothing to stop them traveling out to the farmhouse and pilfering the resources that his grandparents had collected there. Thankfully, this was something they had anticipated so Chase swiftly reeled off the fake address that both he and Riley had agreed on. The drive to the theater district may have been short, but they made sure they discussed the most important details.
“Block D. Room twenty-four,” the woman spoke, handing a piece of paper to the soldier who was escorting him, again without looking Chase in the eye. Chase could tell she was bored; taking inventory of children couldn’t be a very entertaining job and through it she had grown jaded and weary.
He didn’t spare the woman another thought as she opened the door behind her, allowing Chase and his escort entry to the building behind. Immediately the noise increased. Chase could see handfuls of people pacing around, both men and women in uniforms, and various children of all ages too—although all were male. He was being walked through the outside central stage of one of the theaters, one of the few open-air buildings in the city that still remained. The place had been cleared and renovated somewhat though, with temporary housing now surrounding the circular stage. Chase tried to take note of all the entrances and exits as he was led through the area. However, with so many moving parts and people walking around, it was hard to scope the place out immediately.
“Block D; room twenty-four,” Chase’s escort repeated as they drew to a halt in front of one of the temporary structures. “Someone will be along to process you within the hour.”
Before Chase could open his mouth to ask a question, his hands were untied from behind his back and he was pushed forward through the open door in front of him. The clanging of metal immediately sounded once he was inside the room, the door yanked closed, allowing the soldier to turn the key in the lock.
“Hey!” Chase exclaimed, gripping the metal bars of the door. It reminded him of a prison cell and being locked inside didn’t do any favors for his opinion. “What’s going on?”
“Standard procedure,” the soldier on the other side of the door explained to him in a monotone voice. “Once you’ve been processed, you’ll be allowed to leave your room. For the time being, I recommend you sit quietly and don’t draw any attention to yourself. Trust me when I say it’s better to keep a low profile around here, especially for pretty boys like yourself.”
Chase opened his mouth to speak again, finding the solider already gone. It was obvious the man had no interest in him, just like the woman at the entrance. But what he’d said had piqued Chase’s interest. Doing as he was told to some extent, Chase retreated to the back of his room and sat down on the bed that ran along one wall. The room couldn’t have reminded him more of a prison cell if it tried. There was the temporary camp bed, which had been fastened to the bars of the room with zip-ties, a metal toilet, small table and a single chair—the table also fastened to the bars and the chair fastened to it.
Chase counted twenty-five rooms in each block, his own cell being second to last. It made his view of the amphitheater to the left of him somewhat limited. Regardless, he sat back and cast his eyes over the place. If he and Riley were going to find a way out of Houston and back home, they both needed to keep their wits about them and learn everything they could.
Peering through the bars into the other “rooms”, Chase could see that every one was exactly the same until you reached the end of what he assumed was his block. The rooms on either end of the block had one solid wall to the outside, which looked to be made out of metal sheeting. At the sight of it, Chase was reminded of his grandparents and the farmhouse. He wondered how the house was doing without the repairs it desperately needed, but moreso how his grandparents were managing without him and Riley around. They had been gone for nearly two whole days now. In these conditions, it was far too long to leave the old couple alone.
***
Riley walked as slowly as possible, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to commit everything to memory about the building she walked through. It was one of Houston’s many theaters, though she couldn’t be certain which one. Not one of the bigger stages, and not one she had ever visited before.
The meeting she had just had with someone from the Authority had been very informative, though she suspected a large percentage of what she had been told was propaganda. Riley had very quickly learned why all the children in the city were being gathered up—and it corroborated what Connor, Nate, and Mindy had told her and Chase earlier that day.
The air in Houston was toxic. Riley already knew that. To her dismay, the Re-Breather that she had spent hours designing and creating had been taken from her, along with the knife she’d carried in her back pocket and everything else in her rucksack. She had been told she’d receive the non-dangerous possessions back. Riley didn’t trust the word of the Authority one bit. Not after what she had learned.
Because it went a lot further than just rounding up all the children to protect them from the toxic air; the Authority had also revealed the true reasoning for it to her, something Riley was surprised they had been willing to share. It was for breeding purposes. The Authority believed that everyone else in Houston would eventually die from the particles they were breathing in. It may take a week, or it may be several years, but they were confident the population wouldn’t be able to survive it. That was why they had rounded up all the children: to ensure they could be protected and therefore assure the continuation of the human race.
Riley was utterly taken aback by the whole thing. Due to her age, the woman she had spoken to had informed Riley that she wouldn’t be required to be a part of the breeding program for at least another three years. Until then Riley would be placed in the junior housing and given a normal life while the Authority did what was best to restore the city to its former glory and battle through the effects of the Yellowstone eruption.
It all sounded fine on paper, even making sense to Riley in the loosest meaning of the phrase. She also knew it would never work. No one could force the youth to repopulate the city, especially not in the manner that they were attempting. It wouldn’t last and Riley was sad she wouldn’t be around to watch everything crumble to the ground. She and Chase would be long gone by then, she knew. She just had to focus on finding a way out and reuniting with her brother.
There was one thing that stuck on her mind. The confidence with which the woman from the Authority had spoken about the deaths of the adults who remained in the city was frightening. She had marveled at the Re-Breather that Riley had designed, though she wore a much more advanced gasmask attached to her belt. The woman had told her many facts about what had happened to the oxygen people were now breathing in and how, due to the volcanic eruption, it had changed and was no longer safe. Riley didn’t understand the technical side of things completely but she did take one important message away. It was deadly. And it likely wasn’t only deadly inside the city. Her grandparents were only a few hundred miles outside of Houston and they would be breathing in the same air. Bolstering her determination, it only added fuel to the fire burning inside Riley to try and find a way out of her prison and back to the farmhouse.
“You’re in here,” the female member of the Authority who had debriefed Riley on the situation and then guided her through the building announced, finally stopping outside a closed door.
Riley looked up at the woman, waiting for her to say something else, even as no more words graced their company. Preparing herself for whatever was on the other side, Riley squared her shoulders and looked straight ahead, pushing open the door with ease and walking inside. As it swung closed behind her, Riley waited and listened. She didn’t hear a click or any sign that it had been locked, just the faint padding of footsteps as the woman walked away. So she wasn’t being kept prisoner. With that in mind, Riley finally blinked and processed where she had just walke
d into.
“Hey!” A girl of similar age or slightly younger jumped down from a bunk bed in the room, one of three identical sets. “What’s your name? I’m Jessica.”
Riley stated her name automatically, turning her head as she looked around the room. Her first thought was that it looked like it had formerly been a dressing room of some kind, a place where the actors would get ready for the show, doing their makeup and getting into costume before making their appearance on the big stage. Now it had been repurposed, with three bunk beds crammed into the small room, leaving only a gap of twenty square feet in the middle of the room. That was where Jessica stood, smiling at Riley.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Jessica replied. “That’s Casey and Gwen over there.” She pointed to two other girls who quietly sat on one of the bottom bunks together, both staring at the new arrival. “And then there’s Olivia and Alex who sleep in here too, but they’re both outside at the moment. You can sleep on my bunk with me. You’ll have to take the bottom. The top one is mine.”
Riley nodded slowly, trying to process what was happening. Jessica was definitely a talkative girl, but Riley couldn’t tell whether it was because she was scared or because she felt comfortable. They were two emotions that were surprisingly difficult to tell apart at times, the feeling of nervousness often increasing someone’s desire to talk and fill the silence.
“How old are you?” Jessica asked as Riley walked over to the bunk Jessica had identified, standing by the ladder as she wondered what to do.
“Thirteen,” Riley replied. “How old are you?”
“Oh wow,” Jessica replied. “I’m only ten. Casey and Gwen are both nine, Olivia and Alex are older like you. You’ll meet them soon, I’m sure.”
The more that Riley heard from Jessica, the more certain she became that the girl was scared of what was happening. She could tell that she was desperate for a friend—someone who she could use as a safety blanket to get through what was happening. Riley felt sorry for the girl, while she knew she couldn’t be that support system for her. If she was going to find Chase and escape from the city, she needed to stay detached from anyone else she met.
“How long have you been here?” Riley asked, leaning back against the ladder to the top bunk and posing the question to Jessica. She needed to stay detached, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t ask questions. As frightened as Jessica seemed, Riley knew that the girl could still have important answers.
So Riley tried to look relaxed and interested as she spoke to Jessica, discovering quickly what the young girl knew while the two others in the room went back to whispering between themselves quietly. While Jessica spoke, however, Riley’s mind worked quickly. She thought back over everything she had witnessed since leaving the van and being escorted away from her brother a few hours earlier. She processed the twists and turns through the building that they had taken and the various different doors they had walked through. Riley knew she had to remember everything if she wanted to stand a chance of escape. One thing that she hadn’t failed to notice was how protected the area was. There were members of the Authority everywhere and getting out without being spotted by them wasn’t going to be an easy task. It had to be possible though. If Riley ever wanted to see her family again, she had to believe that it was possible.
Chapter 17
“What will you do?” Mia asked Patrick, more upset than she’d thought she would be as she said goodbye to the man. The time had come for her to leave Tanner, though the group she was departing with was considerably smaller than the one that had arrived.
“I’m not sure,” Patrick shook his head. “I want to go back to Seattle, except I don’t know if we should. I also feel like I owe something to Vern and Tracy after everything that has happened to them. I don’t really want to leave my friends behind. I don’t want them to die alone.”
“I get that.” Mia understood. Patrick and Allie were two people that she had been certain wouldn’t be joining the next leg of their journey, but the fact that they were considering staying in Tanner was new information to her. She could see why it made sense to Patrick; aside from the dying residents, it was a safe town. Patrick’s desire to stay with his friends was a noble one as well, something she respected the man greatly for. Mia was just uncertain whether it was something that she herself could do, being some of the only voices in a silenced and dying town would very quickly become a nightmare, she imagined.
“It’ll be different with Deb and the others here as well,” Patrick continued, Mia uncertain whether he was trying to convince her or himself. After what had happened with Billy, everyone who had traveled from the village under the airport had decided they should stay in Tanner for a while too. There were several now-uninhabited houses that they were all going to move into, Stuart, Ethan, Miles, Deb, and Billy all under one roof.
Doctor Reeves had been more than accommodating when Deb first suggested the idea to him, the man nodding and quickly scribbling a note of agreement down on a page in front of him. They had asked Vern and Tracy too, along with a few other residents of the town just to make sure it was okay. Deb and the others were all aware they were moving into a house that had been inhabited by other friends no more than just a week ago. It was a strange feeling, but Mia could see that for them it was the right decision.
When they had left the village behind—leaving Michael, Angelica, and a few others to their fates—they hadn’t really had a new destination in mind. No one from that village had anywhere else that they could call home and so now that they had found a comfortable and pleasant new town where they could live, it made sense to settle down. Doctor Reeves could watch over Billy as well, the young boy recovering nicely from the sudden albeit serious operation he had undergone in the physician’s living room.
“Well, wherever you end up,” Mia declared, “I’ll miss you. I hope you manage to find happiness again eventually.”
“You too, Mia,” Patrick smiled. “Your family is very lucky to have you. I know you’ll make it back to them.”
“Thanks,” Mia returned Patrick’s smile, a faint blush covering her cheeks. “Give my love to Allie as well. She’s a wonderful young girl—you’ve done an incredible job with her.”
Now it was Patrick’s turn to look away, his eyes finding the floor bashfully as he accepted Mia’s compliment. That was all he wanted: to be a good father to Allie and to make her happy. All his decisions now stemmed from that, and he was trying to figure out what was best for his daughter. Should the two of them stay in Tanner with Vern and Tracy, or would returning to their own home be better for them? It wasn’t an easy decision to make and Patrick knew he would be thinking about it for a good couple of days before he finally made up his mind.
“Goodbye,” Mia finished, noticing Jorge, Marcus, Jadon, and Jesse all approaching the car. They were the only ones left, everyone else staying in Tanner. “I know you’ll make the right choice.”
Leaving their conversation there, Mia smiled at Patrick as he walked away—back to Vern and Tracy’s house where his daughter waited for him. Mia was glad she wasn’t in his position. She didn’t know what she would decide and she didn’t want to have to think about it. For Patrick, his journey was nearly over. For Mia, it was still long from finished.
“Do you want to drive?” Jorge spoke as he approached Mia, knowing better than to comment on the goodbye she had just shared with Patrick. Jorge knew how close the two of them had become, but he also knew that saying goodbye to him would have just made Mia think more about her family. “Or shall I?”
“I’ll drive,” Mia replied, knowing that forcing herself to concentrate on the road would keep her mind from wandering to her family and the many what ifs that circled through her head on an hourly basis. “If that’s okay?”
“Of course,” Jorge nodded. “I think we’re all ready to go if you are.”
Mia returned the nod. They had spent one night in the town, adding several more hours on to the tally of how long she’d been away
from her family. She knew it couldn’t really be helped, but she was anxious to get back on the road and continue their drive. With them only needing one car now, they had siphoned off all the gas from the other vehicles and filled the Mazda’s tank. Another canister of fuel sat in the trunk as well, collected from the various vehicles around the town that people would no longer be using.
Patrick and Allie came outside to wave them off, joined by Vern, Tracy, and Doctor Reeves. Stuart, Ethan, and Miles also made an appearance, while Deb remained inside with Billy. Mia cast one last look over everybody before starting the engine, the three college students crammed together in the back seat while Jorge sat beside her. They had had a brief discussion about their route earlier that morning and she needed him to direct her.
“This is it,” she remarked as she turned the key in the engine. “Houston, here we come.”
It was a strange moment for Mia. Even though she had started the journey home several times, for some reason it felt more real as she pulled away from Tanner. Perhaps it was the smaller group or the fact that they didn’t have anywhere else to stop off on their journey, but as Tanner finally faded out of view behind her, Mia felt like Houston was a realistic possibility. She was coming for her family and she would see them again very soon.
The route that she and Jorge had chosen was the more dangerous one, taking them closer to Yellowstone National Park and everything that had happened there. It was also quicker and would avoid the bigger cities on the West Coast. After spending some time thinking about it the night before, Mia had decided that avoiding big cities was the best course of action. If meeting various people along her journey had taught her anything, it was that humankind could be more dangerous than any natural disaster.
So they were going to be taking Route 84 all the way down to Salt Lake City and then south through New Mexico before crossing into Texas. On paper, it was a simple journey—though everyone was aware it would take them several days to complete.