by D. S. Murphy
It suddenly dawned on me what Tamara would need the bombs for. Like Tracy said, she wanted to destroy Zamonta. The only question is, whether we’d be able to rescue all the kidnapped girls first.
“There has to be something else you haven’t tried,” Tracy said.
“There is,” I said. “Tamara told me I needed to kill Kyle Peters.”
“Oh,” Tracy said. “Well, that makes sense.”
“Seriously? I’m a sophomore in high school. Murder isn’t exactly in my repertoire.”
“I just meant, it makes sense that she’d say that. With her, it’s always been more than just saving the world… it’s personal. I mean after your mom—”
“You know about that?” I asked. “I literally just found out about that stuff.”
“We’ve had a lot of time to talk,” Tracy said. “Before, and after. Tamara and I were close as well. You built a tight little community, you know. It was even fun sometimes. Working together to try and save the world. Until it wasn’t.”
“So, we try harder. More lottery tickets, more predictions. Right?”
Tracy shrugged, but this time he didn’t look convinced.
“There might be another solution you haven’t considered,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Buy him out. Take over the company as majority stake-holder. Get the board to vote to stop him, or shut down his research.”
“That would take too long,” I said. “And cost a fortune.”
“In that case, Tamara’s solution isn’t the worst in the world. Kill one man, save billions.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” I said.
“Or you could do it Tamara’s way. Blow up the company. Plant a bomb. Just do it before, when it matters.”
“Again, sophomore in high school,” I said, raising my hand. “You guys act like I’m some kind of skilled assassin. I can barely play volleyball.”
“You’re far more capable than you think,” Tracy said quietly. “The things I’ve seen you do… you were basically a superhero.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I said sharply.
“There’s still time,” Tracy said. “Anyhow, if you want to visit Defiance, we should get going before it’s dark.”
“Wait, what? You’re coming with me?”
He smiled and pointed out the windows to the front yard, then touched a button on the control panel near the door. Outside, a large panel slid back and a platform began to raise.
“No way,” I said.
“You gave me all that money and told me to prepare for the worst. I was a teenage boy. Did you honestly believe I wouldn’t buy a helicopter? Plus it’s been a few years since I visited Defiance. Sounds like they could use some support right now. You can memorize these on the way,” he said, handing me a new list of predictions and two more lottery tickets.
I held my breath as the chopper lifted off, sending a whirlwind of dust up around Tracy’s front yard. Seeing things from air gave a different viewpoint. The empty, forgotten houses looked like they were being eaten by the yards around them. When we got closer to Defiance I could see the destroyed pieces of the bridges, like open wounds on the landscape. Then I saw the smoke. Something was burning.
“Down there,” I shouted. Tracy brought us lower, until I could make out the wooden pyres floating in the river. Each was covered in flowers and herbs, and a body wrapped in white fabric. Men and women gathered on both sides of the bank. Tamara was in the center in a green jacket, standing at the edge of a pier. She lifted a sword and archers raised their bows. The arrows were lit with candles, and when Tamara brought down the blade, they fired into the air. The smoking arrows hit the funeral pyres, which burst into flames. It was so perfect, the whole event looked almost staged, as if it were being filmed. I realized half of what Tamara did was pageantry. She was creating a living mythos about Defiance, and about herself as its keeper. I wished Sam could have had a ceremony like this. He should have had one. Instead he was torn apart by mods, and his body left for wild animals.
Then I noticed Jake, standing a little way behind my sister. My heart leaped to see him again. Had nothing changed? Tracy circled around the island and then set the chopper down in the large square in the middle. Children came running up to greet us as we landed. Tracy took a box of cookies and chips from the back and tossed them out like confetti. He looked so happy, I realized for the first time how lonely he must be in his high-tech house. Was he just there for me? A sentinel of hope, lit for me alone?
“Tracy,” I said. “I’ve got to go find Jake.”
He nodded. “If I don’t see you again this trip, I programmed the gates at my place with facial recognition software. So when you show up unnannounced, you can still get in safely.”
The adults were starting to trickle back into town from the river. The ceremony must be over. Meredith was the first one I recognized.
“Back for some more, eh?” she said, smirking at me.
“Maybe later,” I said. “Have you seen Jake?”
“Tamara let him out after he promised to behave,” she said, jerking her thumb behind her.
I ran to Jake when I saw him, but then stopped and hesitated when I reached him. He pulled me into a hug and squeezed me. He smelled like burning wood and basil. I melted into his arms. Part of me felt relieved that we’d failed. But it was tinged with guilt.
“Meredith said you disappeared again,” he said.
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“With everything that’s happened, I thought this time you’d finally stay.”
“I know how hard this must be for you,” I said, “but we can talk about that later.”
“If you’re still around,” he said with a bitter grin. There was a dark edge in his voice, and I realized what the last few days must have cost him. To lose his best friend, and then Annabelle.
“There are reasons why I can never stay,” I sighed.
“I think I deserve to know those reasons,” he said.
“You do, absolutely. But we have bigger problems right now.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t give him the chance.
“Tamara’s planning something big—something dangerous. Did you know she has a whole room of explosives? She’s not thinking straight. I think she wants to bomb Zamonta.”
He stepped closer to me and there was fire in his eyes. “What about Annabelle?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “If she goes through with this, everyone in that building dies.”
He clenched his fists. “There are dozens of girls in there. That we know of.”
“I don’t think she’ll do it without getting them out first,” I said.
“You don’t know that,” Jake said. “She promised to let me lead the rescue mission. She’s got everyone training and preparing. Maybe it was just to keep us busy while she makes her own plans.”
His eyes were panicking. I put a hand on his arm and he jumped. There was so much he didn’t know. I wasn’t sure how fair it was to keep him in the dark.
“It’s my fault,” I blurted out.
His brows inched up. “What?”
“This whole thing,” I said, gesturing around us. He shook his head, not understanding.
“I wanted to tell you before, but I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
“You didn’t give me a chance to. I’m listening now.”
“Well…” I swallowed. “You know how clueless I was the first time you found me?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was like you were from a different planet.”
“Not a different planet,” I said. “A different time.” He blinked at me.
“I traveled here from the past. Every time I disappear, it’s because the substance that I use to travel wears off.”
“You’re a time traveler, and you’re from the past? Before De-evolution?”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
The look of surprise in his eyes mirro
red my anticipations. Then he frowned, and his eyebrows furrowed together. I pretended not to catch the clench of his fists. I took a step closer to him, but he pulled away. I blinked rapidly, puzzled. I knew it was hard to hear, but the anger that I saw surprised me.
He laughed suddenly—harshly. “I can’t believe this,” he said quietly. “This has to be a joke.”
I shook my head violently. “It’s not,” I said. “I promise.”
“Just… stop. Please.” He placed both hands on his hips and took a deep breath.
“I understand if you can’t tell me the truth, but I don’t know how you can make up a story like that. I mean, not now. With everything that’s going on.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m not lying. I couldn’t tell you before, because I wasn’t sure how dangerous it would be for you to know.”
“So, what changed? Why would you tell me now?”
“Because I’m worried about you,” I said, grabbing his arm. “If Tamara is planning something without telling you, it could put you in danger.”
“Tamara practically raised me,” Jake said, crossing his arms. “And I just met you. What makes you think you know her better than I do?
“She’s my sister,” I said.
“You’re too young to be her sister,” he said, but with less conviction.
“She’s only a couple years older than me,” I said. “At least in my time.”
He rubbed his hands over his face. When he looked at me again, it was with pity—like he’d just found out what a mental case I was. I pulled on the edge of his sweatshirt, until he was close enough to wrap my arms around. My arms tentatively pulled him in. After a few seconds, I felt his arm around me. My heart pounded, but not with fear. We held each other for a moment, but without warning, he pushed me away. I looked up at his face, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. That’s when I heard the footsteps behind us.
“The commander would like a word,” one of the guards said. There were four of them this time, and their palms were resting on their swords, as if they thought I was going to resist. Jake grabbed my hand.
“We’ll be right there,” he said.
“The girl only,” the man said. I turned and pulled Jake into one last hug.
“You don’t have to believe me,” I said. “But I’ll always tell you the truth.”
Jake let me walk away and I felt a thread snap between us as the distance grew. As much as I acted like I could do everything on my own, I didn’t want to. It scared me how much I needed him.
The sky darkened as we made our way to the council building. I tried to pry myself away, but the hands on my shoulders tightened as we got closer. We entered the same room I came to before, where Tamara waited. She stood alone, no circle of council members by her side this time.
She frowned as the men dragged me towards her. “That’s enough Ellis,” she said to one of the guards. My mind screamed at me to run, but my body was frozen in place.
“You left so suddenly last time,” Tamara said. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”
A shiver ran down my spine, but I swallowed back the fear. She was still my sister. I had nothing to be afraid of.
“I saw the explosives,” I said shakily. “What are you going to do with them?”
She clasped her hands behind her back. “Retaliation.”
“So, I was right?” I said, shaking me head. “You’re planning to blow up Zamonta?”
She pursed her lips. “I wanted to reveal that to you in a more strategic way, but I should have known you would figure it out. I would have told you anyway, but the way you keep sneaking around, dropping in and out, sometimes makes it difficult to get a hold of you.”
“This is crazy Tamara,” I said. “You’re not some government spy in a video game. You’re talking about real people’s lives here.”
“I’m not crazy,” she said, glaring at me. “These are the measures we must take in order to move forward with this world we’ve created.”
I shook my head. “We didn’t create this world,” I said. “Zamonta did.”
She tilted her head to one side. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Alicia, we let this happen. We let Zamonta carry on when we could have prevented all of this. We tried to do the right thing—to be good people—but instead we let everyone die, because we were too selfish to do what needed to be done.”
“We were doing the right thing—”
“And where did that get us?” She sighed and grasped both of my hands in hers.
I ripped my hands away from her. “You’re... terrorists,” I whispered, astonished.
Tamara didn’t even flinch. “We’re the resistance,” she said calmly. “If not us, who?”
I took several deep breaths, but I felt suffocated in her presence. The resolute conviction in her eyes burned like fire. This woman was a stranger to me. Tamara eyed me cautiously. I glanced around the room, trying to decide what to do. I mentally noted where the man—Ellis—stood and suddenly pivoted and maneuvered my way around him. I ran for the exit, but Ellis was too close. Tamara rushed after me, but Ellis got to me first. He grabbed me by the waist and grunted as I elbowed him in the face. He raised his arm to strike me, but Tamara cleared her throat and shook her head, so he lowered his arm and snarled at me. She nodded at him and he released me.
“Why do you keep fighting this?”
I breathed heavily and spoke through clenched teeth. “Because no matter how you try to spin it, this is wrong. What are you going to do about the girls?”
“Save them of course,” she said without missing a beat. She smiled at me. “You didn’t think I’d just let them die?”
“Well… no, but…” I closed my eyes. This was all too much.
“Of course, there will always be casualities. And the mission, bringing down Zamonta, is more important than any one soldier.
Tamara beamed at me, and I knew somehow that she was making a veiled threat against Jake.
Frustration coursed through me.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Tamara said. “With your help.”
“What could I do?”
“You told me before you’d gotten into Zamonta. How did you do it?”
“Brett has a visitor’s pass,” I said.
“And you know your way around in there, right?”
I shrugged. Her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Come with us. Help us plant the bombs. If we go in quietly, we can get everyone out safely, including the girls. You might be our only chance of getting this right.”
“And you think all of this—” I pointed at the crates “—is right?”
Tamara sighed. “What’s right is stopping more destruction at the hands of that man. This plan will be executed with or without you. So, what is your decision? Will you help us?”
“It just seems so final,” I said. “Isn’t there any other way?”
She laughed. “Of course there is. There’s still time. For you. It would have been better to save the whole human race, but I no longer have that option, so at least we’ll save what’s left of it, by wiping Zamonta off the fucking map. It’s what should have been done a long time ago.”
It dawned on me that Tamara had to live half of her life in this new world. She’d witnessed the death and destruction, but been powerless to stop it. She didn’t have the ability to travel back and fix things, so she pushed it all on me.
I looked away, but she grabbed my chin.
“You don’t have to decide right now, but we won’t wait long. We can’t count on you any longer, so we have to take matters into our own hands. But there’s something else I need to tell you.”
“What is it?” I asked, dread rising in my chest.
“You’re getting too close to Jake. Maybe that’s why you’ve been so reluctant—you’re developing feelings for him. Well, let me tell you about Jake.”
“Please, don’t,” I said.
“I was trying to protect you,” she sai
d. “But maybe you need to know the truth. His parents were Chrys and Cody. I raised him after they died.”
The room spun as my brain struggled to make space for this new piece of information. A few things snapped into focus. The way Jake’s smile reminded me of Chrys. The relaxed posture he got from Cody. I shook my head, and crossed my arms.
“What happened to them?” I asked, my lip trembling.
“You killed them. They trusted you, and you let them down. You made Jake an orphan.”
26
I gasped in panic and my fingers clutched the air—catching someone’s shirt in the process. Brett grabbed me and stroked my back.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concern filling his eyes. He ran his eyes across my arms, and I saw the bruises had returned with a vengeance. After leaving Tamara, I ran into Meredith, who dragged me to the training area so she could use me as a human punching bag again. If nothing else, I was getting better about tolerating pain. And my blocking abilities may have improved slightly. I ached all over, but it wasn’t just cosmetic. There was a deep pain in my chest that threatened to consume me. I breathed deeply and held onto Brett’s arm, pretending I needed the support.
“I’m fine,” I said. He helped me stand and his hand lingered a moment longer at the small of my back. A shiver slid down my spine. Crys appeared on the other side of me.
“Please tell me you got more information,” she said.
Hearing her voice made my eyes water, and I spun to hold on to her.
“Woah, want to buy me a drink first?”
I laughed as a tear slid down my cheek.
“Not good news, then.” Cody said, moving the rock and pulling out my bag again.
My mind sifted through the conversation between Tamara and me. How much could I tell them without making them hate me? Tamara said she’d been protecting me. From what, myself? From the things I’d done? She said I’d killed Chrys and Cody, but how was that even possible? I couldn’t imagine myself doing that. I felt sick to my stomach and bent over.
“It’s all the same,” I said. “Worse.”
Crys cocked her head to the side. “Can you be a little more specific?”