Wanderers

by Susan Kim

With the dog by her side, Esther moved forward as silently as she knew how. Yet Pilot’s nails clicked on the hard tiles and the guard looked up.

  “Who is it?”

  Esther held her breath. Next to her, Pilot began to growl. It wasn’t loud, but it sent a vibration rippling through the darkness.

  The guard spun around, raising a rifle to his shoulder. “Who is it?” His voice was shaky now.

  Pilot’s snarl grew louder. Panicked, the guard fired at the sound, and Esther ducked. The noise brought others racing from different parts of the hall. In the confusion, Esther saw the candles in Inna’s room go out.

  The noise seemed to madden the dog. He leaped forward and Esther, unprepared, let go of the lead.

  The animal vanished into the darkness. Moments later, a man screamed; there were the sounds of struggle and loud growling. Then came a piercing yell, which echoed as it faded. An instant later, an explosion from the ground floor far below seemed to shake the entire building. It was followed by a deathly silence.

  The lights went on, everywhere.

  Esther had known it was only a matter of time. Still, the few precious moments of darkness had not only saved her life, but also allowed her to come this far. As the dog bounded back to her, wagging his tail with incongruous happiness, Esther slipped with him around a corner. She watched as Inna, carrying a lit torch, hurried into the hall. She headed for the stairs, her expression grim.

  Kai wasn’t with her.

  Esther blinked, dismayed.

  Where was Inna keeping her child? She had no idea. Yet every minute she hesitated gave the older woman the chance to get farther away.

  Esther tried to remember the commands Aras had given his dog. She tried a different one now, giving a low whistle and jangling his leash. “Go,” she whispered. “Follow her.” Pilot took off and Esther went with him. Within moments, they had crossed the wide hallway and caught up; she could hear footsteps on the staircase above them.

  For all her craftiness, Inna knew nothing about tracking and stalking. Unlike Esther, she had never needed to hide from others or avoid detection. So her footsteps were giving her away as they clattered up the metal stairs.

  Even without his dog, Esther thought with disbelief, Aras could track Inna by how much noise she made.

  The woman’s steps were slowing down and her breathing was loud and ragged; it was easy to put on speed and catch up. Yet by the time Esther reached the top, Inna had already disappeared. Esther hesitated. There were numerous stores Inna could have hidden in. But then the bang of the metal door at the far end of the hall once more gave Inna’s location away.

  She was heading to the roof.

  As Esther and Pilot entered the airless cement stairwell, she could hear the clatter of Inna’s footsteps several stories above. She doubted Inna was armed; in fact, the older woman seemed to be spooked and not thinking properly. By fleeing to the roof, Inna was in essence putting herself in a corner. Still, Esther knew it was foolish to underestimate her enemy; even the most cowardly animal could be vicious when trapped. As she mounted the final flight, Esther put herself on guard against a possible ambush.

  Yet when she pushed open the door and stepped out into the suffocating humidity of the roof, she was stunned by what she saw.

  Inna was gardening.

  At least, that’s what it looked like. Halfway across the roof, the woman was leaning against a trellis dense with foliage, reaching up to prune it with a pair of shears. After trimming a branch, she would step closer to examine the vine before making another cut.

  Esther stared at her. It would have been impossible for Inna not to have heard the door. Yet, other than a faint flush along her cheeks, the older female seemed perfectly at ease.

  A whistle, so faint it was barely audible, arose from the open door behind them. Pilot jerked free. Even as Esther grabbed at his chain, the animal was escaping down the stairwell, as if he had been summoned below.

  “Pilot!” she yelled, but he was already gone.

  When she turned back, Bao was approaching from across the far end of the garden, Kai in her arms. The boy was holding a handful of grapes, stuffing them in his mouth. He smiled at Esther; yet when Bao set him down, it was toward Inna that the child stumbled. The older woman greeted him with a hug, then dismissed Bao with a nod of thanks.

  Esther was alone on the roof with Inna and the little boy.

  “Would you hand me that?” Inna said, indicating a flat wicker basket. After a moment’s hesitation, Esther did.

  Inna placed several withered vines in it. “You have to prune away the old growth,” she explained as she continued to trim. “Otherwise, it steals nutrients from the new. And you need to distribute the weight by making sure there are only so many buds on each vine.” She counted under her breath, then made another cut. “Did you know that?”

  When Esther didn’t answer, Inna smiled. Her expression was pinched. “No . . . I didn’t think so.”

  Esther started to speak, but Inna cut her off.

  “You see, this didn’t just happen by magic.” As she gestured at the roof, the flush on her face deepened to two red spots on her cheeks. “I suppose you think that we just walked in and found everything waiting for us. But believe me, everything—the water, this farm, our electricity, our standard of living—is here for a reason. And that’s because we studied how to make it happen. And we worked hard.”

  Inna was becoming agitated, punctuating her sentences with snips of her shears. “But you wouldn’t understand,” she said. She was sweating now, her hair flopping forward into her face. She pushed it away with one hand and kept clipping. “You’re just a child, and what we’re doing here is grown-ups’ work. And yet you have no problem coming here and judging us. As if you even know what we’ve had to do in order to survive.”

  “I do know. The children—”

  “There are sacrifices!” Inna exclaimed. “None of us want to do it . . . we have to! We have to do it in order to live!”

  Something in the older woman seemed to break. Dropping the clippers to her side, she turned to Esther with a beseeching expression.

  “Don’t you see? You and your friends have spent years in the outside world. It’s only a matter of time for you. All except for Kai, of course.” She had pulled the boy to her and now held him close. “And the baby, too.”

  Esther blinked. “What baby?”

  “Why, yours, naturally. The one you’re carrying.”

  Esther was struck silent.

  Could it be true? Although she now suspected everything the older woman said, Esther thought of her fatigue, the nausea. She tried to recall the last time she and Caleb had made love. Was it in Prin? No . . . it was while they were traveling with the others and they spent the night under the highway bridge. It was true she had not had her monthly blood in a while, but she had never paid it much attention.

  Having a baby, she now realized with the shock of a thousand emotions, was completely possible.

  Esther was trembling. “I thought it was something else.”

  “That’s why I had you separated from the others.” Inna was gazing at her with what seemed genuine warmth. “I’m going to take care of you . . . and then the two little ones. After you’re gone.”

  She rose and came closer. Esther was so stunned, she allowed Inna to wrap her arms around her. For a moment, she was amazed by the fleeting yet powerful sensation she once again had of security and trust within the soft embrace.

  But a sound snapped her out of her reverie.

  Across the roof the door opened, and several adults came spilling out, weapons drawn. Ramon was among them and, with a start, Esther noticed he was carrying her rifle.

  More than fear, she was overcome by anger. She yanked free of the older woman.

  Esther was furious at not only Inna, but herself—for allowing herself once again to be so easily manipulated. She seized Kai, who let out a squawk of protest. Then she took a step backward, her eyes darting around.

&
nbsp; There was no escape. She and Inna were against a wall. There was only one door, and it was crowded with armed adults. Esther was glad that all of her friends were most likely outside by now, safe and free. Yet she was outnumbered, unarmed, and alone.

  The heel of her foot banged against something.

  It was a bucket, one of the containers used to catch leaks. It sounded no more than half full of water, poisonous rainwater that hadn’t yet been processed. Esther thought of the ending of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and how Dorothy killed the wicked witch. Even as she heard the water slosh, Esther pushed Kai to the side. Then she grabbed the bucket by the handle and hoisted it up high.

  Inna was staring at her, puzzled. She recoiled as realization struck of what Esther was threatening to do; and her expression changed to one of pure contempt, a patronizing smile on her face. She was about to say something, but Esther cut her off.

  “Your weapons.” She was speaking to the others who now stood clustered around the door, confused and motionless. “Throw them away.”

  The adults looked at Esther as if she were joking and then at Inna. She was standing close to Esther, much too close to escape; surely, the older woman had calculated the space between them and realized it was impossible to run.

  Inna’s lips were pinched together in a thin line. Then she spoke. “Do as she says.”

  “Out there,” ordered Esther.

  The adults exchanged a baffled look. Then one stepped forward and hurled his rifle at the transparent wall closest to him with all his strength. Glass exploded as the weapon crashed through and sailed outside; moments later, they could hear it smashing on the pavement far below. Then Bao threw a handgun after it, and Tahir and the rest of them, in a noisy shower of flashing metal and shining splinters. The last to go was Ramon. Keeping his eyes on Inna the entire time, he tossed Esther’s rifle off the roof and it disappeared.

  Hot air gusted in through the shattered glass walls.

  Esther and Inna stared at each other. The bucket had grown heavier; as Esther shifted it, her palms sweaty, the water sloshed again, nearly spilling, and Inna jumped back. Her face was now filled with terror.

  The truth was Esther had no intention of killing anyone. But Inna didn’t know that.

  “Look,” said the older woman. She sounded desperate, even as she tried to project an air of calm. “No more guns. That means we’re equal now, you and I.” She licked her lips and swallowed hard, her eyes bright. “Maybe we can come to an agreement.”

  In spite of herself, Esther almost laughed. “You mean if we live here with you? We already tried that.”

  “No,” Inna shook her head. “I know that’s over with. But there must be something we can do.”

  Esther hesitated. She didn’t trust Inna and realized the older woman was saying whatever she could think of just to stay alive. Yet what she said made a kind of sense. Esther thought about it a long moment. Then she spoke.

  “If I let you live . . . will you teach us?”

  Inna looked uncomprehending. “What do you mean?”

  “You know.” Esther thought of all the adults had accomplished, what they had built from nothing. They had years of valuable experience and knowledge between them, decades’ worth. “We’ll let you stay here. But only if you teach us what you know.”

  Inna blinked, rapidly. Her eyes flickered to those of her partner. He gave a faint shrug, as if to say, Why not?

  “So is it a deal?” Esther lowered the bucket, extended her hand and waited. An eternity seemed to pass before Inna nodded.

  “It’s a deal.” The woman looked older now, much older than Esther had ever seen her. And yet she seemed relieved, too. She was about to grasp Esther’s hand, when something made them both look up.

  The noises were faint, yet impossible to miss, rising up from the cement stairwell: shouting and cheering mixed with the sounds of glass breaking and heavy objects being toppled. Esther became aware of the smell of something burning. Only then did she notice wisps of smoke that seemed to be rising from the building beneath them. A faint tremor passed through the roof once, then twice.

  The Insurgents had arrived.

  They had not stayed outside, as Esther had asked. Instead, with no one to stop them, they were taking over.

  “I see,” Inna said, her eyes narrowing. She had already withdrawn her hand.

  “No.” Esther was confused, appalled. “I told them to stay away. I told them to—”

  “Very clever. You lure us up here and convince us to get rid of our weapons. All the while your friends are breaking in, to destroy everything. It’s brilliant, really.”

  “No—I didn’t. You have to believe me . . .”

  Inna reached forward. Before Esther could stop her, she plunged one hand into the bucket, her bracelets clanking against the metal. Scooping up a handful of its water, she dragged it across her own face, leaving a shining trail that dripped from her forehead, ran across her eyes, and into her mouth.

  “My terms,” she said.

  Across the room, the others gasped. But Inna ignored them. Still poised and collected, she turned to the person most familiar to her.

  Ramon stepped forward. He took Inna’s wet hand and raised it to his lips, kissing the palm. Then he too brought it to his face and brushed it there, letting the poison drip into his eyes and mouth.

  “I . . . please.” Esther was so stunned, she could barely speak. “Stop. You don’t know what you’re—”

  But Inna didn’t stop. She turned to the other adults, who quailed as they clung to one another, shocked.

  “Your turn,” she said.

  No one moved. Incensed, Inna grabbed and twisted the bucket out of Esther’s grasp. Then she hurled the contents, dousing them all.

  As they shrieked, Inna threw the empty receptacle onto the ground, where it clanged with finality. Then she took hold of Ramon’s hand and started for the exit. No one made an effort to stop them.

  Bao wept openly, trying to dry herself off with her scarf. The others stood as if made of stone, disbelief written across their faces.

  As Kai cowered behind her, Esther stared at the ones left behind. But she couldn’t stay. The sounds of destruction had grown even louder and she had to find her friends.

  Holding the child’s hand, Esther headed to the stairs.

  By the time Esther reached the third floor, the clamor had grown ever greater.

  Dozens of Insurgents swarmed the marble halls like an army of vengeful skeletons arisen from the dead. They ransacked stores in a blind frenzy, grabbing whatever they could find—clothes, shoes, belts. Others used torches to set them on fire and the air was full of the stench of burning cloth and leather. Insurgents wrenched bars off the same railings Eli and the others had polished with such care only days before. They used them to smash windows, while others tossed display tables and racks over balconies. The noise was deafening.

  Esther spied a familiar group huddled together far below, on the ground floor: Skar, Michal, Silas, and Eli stood by an exit. To her vast relief, they all seemed safe. But even as she realized that Joseph was not among them, Esther became aware of a commotion coming from the second floor.

  She thought she recognized her friend’s voice.

  With Insurgents running past her, Esther fought her way through the crowd and down a flight of the metal steps. As she moved, she was met by billowing waves of smoke. They filled the mall floors, rolling toward her like a thick, white carpet. Choking and coughing, she kept following it until she saw where it was coming from.

  It was a store that was completely ablaze. Silhouetted against the flames was Joseph, trying to get in.

  Esther sprang at him and grabbed him by the arm. “Joseph—no!” Although smaller than he was, she was much stronger. Yet Joseph fought her with a ferocity she didn’t know he possessed.

  “The records!” he kept shouting. “The records! I have to save them!”

  She finally succeeded in pulling him away. He was trembling, his fac
e wet with tears. Although the fire was already beginning to die down, nothing was left inside the small enclosure other than charred embers and giant pieces of soot that wafted through the air.

  “Now no one will know.” Joseph spoke with a grief Esther had not known he was capable of. “No one will know . . . except me.” Like Inna, he too looked suddenly older than his years . . . and afraid.

  Esther put her arm around him, although she knew well the limits of comfort. Then she retrieved the cat carrier that had been pushed to the side. Handing it to him, she led the weeping boy away from what had once been the library.

  It was only when she caught up with the others that she understood what had happened. Gideon had deliberately ignored her instructions. Once Aras had shown them the way in, the Insurgent leader had taken full advantage of it. He came in through the basement, as directed, and then opened the main doors to their friends outside.

  “They don’t aim to harm anyone,” Eli said. He was watching the destruction with interest, even excitement. “They even let Inna and Ramon go past them and leave.”

  Esther glanced up sharply. “Did she say anything?”

  “Just good-bye.”

  Esther gazed out the revolving doors. But if she was expecting to see Inna and Ramon, she was mistaken.

  Someone else was standing across the street. It was a thin, dark boy with long hair and sunglasses. Sitting by his feet was an animal that seemed half wolf, looking up at him with an expectant expression.

  Esther pushed past Insurgents, squeezing and shoving her way through the mob that clogged the entry. Once outside, she raced across the street, only remembering at the last second how much Aras hated to be snuck up on.

  “It’s me,” was all she said.

  And then she was in his arms.

  The first crop of radishes, their tops lush and leafy, was almost ready to harvest.

  Standing over them, Esther felt a wave of pride she didn’t know was possible. For six weeks earlier, the flourishing garden that surrounded her had been nearly destroyed.

  When the Insurgents had invaded, one of the last things they did was ransack the roof. Once they realized that the plants growing there were edible, they had plundered it: eating what they could and fighting over everything else. They upended planters, smashed glass panes, and trampled fruits and vegetables. It had been impossible to stop them.