Siren had wondered what the hammering and sawing sounds were. They came from where the smell of brine was strongest.
She could also Sense something beneath the man’s words, something he was hiding… Something he was afraid of. Siren seized on the thin strand of fear and gently tugged on it, easing the truth from the man’s lips.
“The truth is,” the man said, whispering behind his hand and glancing this way and that. “There’s a village that was once part of the others. They made their offerings too, but then they hit on a bad patch and said they couldn’t afford to keep paying it. Hope, it was called. But when the guards searched the storehouses, they discovered the villagers had been storing the crops for themselves.
“The Controller withdrew his guards, taking the crops with them. The villagers were left to defended themselves. They begged for help from the other villages, but they feared receiving the same treatment from the hands of the Controller. They did as best they could to protect themselves, but the Undead came at them, relentless. Somehow, a fire started. It swept over the village, burning big and bright for a week. Those that survived ran to the other villages, but the Controller had already told them to not give aid. Sometimes you need to be bold in this new world of ours. They cast them out.”
Quinn wore a frown during the entire Hope story. Siren could see there was something about it that made him feel uncomfortable. She had plenty of time to speak with him later. She needed to focus on this local man first.
“What do you think of what happened at Hope?” Siren said. “Do you think it was the right thing to do?”
The man shrugged, turned his head, and looked away. He shrugged again.
“What happened happened,” he said. “Sometimes things look right when you’re in the middle of doing them. The people are starving. We’ve barely got enough food to live on. But he offers safety, something tough to come by in the world today. We have no choice.
“The good news is, we, the survivors, are finally beginning to get a foothold on the new world. There are other communities out there. That’s who we’re trading with. In fact, some of them are coming to Arthur’s Port in one week to discuss the future of our relationship. It’s an exciting time to be alive.”
He blinked, as if waking up, surprised he’d divulged so much and said something he ought to be ashamed of. He looked afraid.
“Please, don’t tell anyone what I said,” he said. “If anyone found out I criticized the Controller…”
“We won’t,” Siren said, assuaging his fear with a lick of compassion.
The man seemed relieved, though not completely sated. That was good. He would be too afraid to mention it to anyone else.
“I… I need to get back to work,” he said.
He pushed his cart down the street and hastily turned a corner. It wasn’t the direction he wanted to head in, he simply wanted to get away from Siren as quickly as possible.
Other men and women led their wagonloads of produce into the largest building in the entire town. It might have once been a stadium. They deposited their goods and made their offerings. Siren and Quinn filtered off to one side.
“Now what?” Siren said.
“Now we find a place to stay,” Quinn said.
Chapter Five
Siren and Quinn entered a hotel. It was one of just a handful of buildings that still carried out the purpose it had originally been built for. A large woman with drooping breasts stood behind the desk. Wallpaper hung limply from the walls in strips.
“Good evening,” Quinn said with a winning grin.
The old woman sneered.
“What do you want?” she said.
“One of your fine rooms in your… colorful establishment,” Quinn said.
The old woman glanced at Siren, running her eye over her.
“It’s ten dollars an hour,” she said. “Minimum of four hours.”
Siren’s eyes narrowed, her hands turning to fists at her side. Quinn stepped in front of her, blocking her eminent rage.
“We’ll be sleeping,” Quinn said. “Three nights.”
“One hundred twenty,” the old woman said.
“Perhaps you can do one hundred for three nights?” Quinn said.
“No,” the old woman barked. “One hundred twenty.”
Quinn stepped aside and let the old lady get a full blast of Siren’s Compulsion. The old woman grunted and placed a hand to her chest. Her eyes widened, like she was going to have a heart attack.
“Are you all right?” Quinn said nonchalantly.
The old woman got a grip on herself.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m fine. I’m all right. But the price is still—”
She grunted again, doubling over as Siren pummeled her with her ability. The old woman slapped a hand on the counter, pushing herself back up onto her feet.
“How much, did you say?” Quinn said.
The old woman’s eyes moved from Quinn to Siren and back again, sensing something amiss but unable to put her finger on it.
“One hundred,” she said.
“That’s very kind of you,” Quinn said.
He reached into his pocket and took out a fistful of notes. He had to add some coins to the total, not having enough notes on him.
“Well,” he said. “There we are.”
The old woman snatched up the money and tucked it into her bra.
“Which room is ours?” Quinn said.
“Take your pick,” the old woman said, turning back to reading her novel.
“What is your name, by the way?” Quinn said. “In case we need you for something.”
“Lydia,” the old woman said, not looking up.
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Lydia,” Quinn said.
But even he couldn’t pretend not to be irritated by Lydia’s countenance.
The stairs creaked underfoot, sounding like they would snap any moment, as they made their way to the top floor. The corridors were disheveled, dirty and boasted only a threadbare carpet.
“The room at the end,” Quinn said. “It’ll have the best view of the fort.”
He led them to it and pushed the door open. It was just as dilapidated on the inside as it was on the outside. The most that could be said for it was that it had running water. There was no electricity, and clearly hadn’t been any for at least the past few months. The water was cold, but still, it was a lot better than they’d had in a very long time. They hadn’t even come across another town or village that even came close to having running water. No one had even attempted it.
Most towns could boast of a local well. Even then, it was difficult to get a fair share of it. There had been widespread water wars, as if they were in the Middle East or backward places on the map in Africa. Having a water shortage used to mean you couldn’t use your hosepipe for a few days. Now, it meant the death of thousands of people.
Sitting in the middle of the room, pushed against the wall as if it was the focal point, was the bed. It was a single double bed.
“I’ll check the other rooms,” Quinn said. “They might have single beds.”
“Don’t bother,” Siren said.
“You don’t mind sharing a bed?” Quinn said, the faintest hint of a sly smile on his lips.
“We can do tops and tails,” Siren said.
“I can take the floor if you feel that uneasy about it,” Quinn said.
“It’s not a problem,” Siren said. “I know you’ll behave yourself. And if you don’t, I’ll make sure you do. You can have the left-hand side. Or the right. I’m not fussy.”
After washing in pleasantly cold water, they dressed in fresh clothes. It felt like they had experienced a nice hot bath and the best massage in the world. Siren felt extremely relaxed. She was surprised by the fact that having to share the bed with Quinn didn’t make her nervous.
She supposed it was because she knew who he was, what he was like, that he couldn’t try anything if he said he wouldn’t. Despite all his flaws, he was a man of his word. And yet, he
didn’t look particularly comfortable in their new surroundings.
“What’s up?” Siren said.
Quinn wrestled with whether or not he wanted to tell her.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
“If you’re going to lie about it, at least lie well,” Siren said. “Come on. Tell me what’s up.”
“Nothing,” Quinn said. “Really.”
Siren arched an eyebrow and waited for more. The question on her face was obvious: Really?
“It’s just… usually I can feel them out there,” Quinn said.
By the way he said “them,” Siren knew exactly who he was referring to. His creatures, or his “friends” as he liked to refer to them as. Being in Arthur’s Port like this, surrounded by the living, he was unlikely to be able to get much of a read on the Undead that might have been around the city.
“I can’t feel them,” Quinn said. “At all. Not one. That’s weird, don’t you think?”
“Not really,” Siren said. “Only in today’s world could you even consider calling the fact there aren’t more Undead around strange.”
“There’s usually one or two within reach,” Quinn said. “But right now, I feel none of them.”
“Then the security system they have in place here, whatever it is, must be working really well,” Siren said.
“Too well,” Quinn said.
“Not if you ask them,” Siren said. “If just one of those things managed to get through their defenses, how long do you think their little community here would last?”
“Not long,” Quinn said.
“So, it pays to be super careful, don’t you think?” Siren said.
“I suppose so,” Quinn said. “But it means I’m next to useless here.”
“We’re just going to have to rely on my ability while we’re here,” Siren said. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.”
Quinn stood looking out the window at the town. It looked every inch a normal place from before the Incident. Sure, there would still more horses than cars, more of a labor-intensive feel to it, but it was a lot more advanced than anything they had come across so far during their travels.
Siren joined Quinn at the window. While he was busy looking out at the town—although calling it a city might be a more apt description—her attention was immediately taken with the keep that stood perched on the precipice of a large dock.
From there, the boats were coming and going, the near-constant army of carts and horses unloaded and then turned and headed away, back through the town and on to the outer villages they had passed on their way there. A well-oiled, well-running machine.
“One guess where the Controller lives,” Quinn said. “Now all we have to do is figure a way in to see him.”
The keep was a large monstrosity that began at the lowest levels of the rocks that supported it on the dockside and then rose directly up. Anyone who wanted to attack would have to first approach on the sea side, then scale the huge walls slippery with seaweed or some other substance.
And that was only if the assailant managed to get close enough to the wall without being seen by the guard, currently perched on the very top of the keep walls. She could see them from there, though they were distant and moved back and forth along the top of the wall. That was where their defenses failed them, Siren thought. If something was predictable, it meant someone could figure it out, and if they could figure it out, it meant they could work their way around it, to slip through it.
Any well-laid organizational plans ought to have some element of unpredictability to them. It would force the assailants to have to rely on luck rather than skill to get through the defenses. And luck, unlike many other things, could not be manipulated.
But those were just Siren’s thoughts. Why she had figured they ought to try and break into this place, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was the signals and waves of influence she was picking up from Quinn. She could not read minds, though it came across that way at times. She could pick up on the slightest inflections and changes of voice. It helped her develop an image of what the speaker was really saying. And right now, Quinn’s mind was telling her he was preparing to break into the keep.
“I think it’s about time you told me what it is you plan on doing, don’t you?” Siren said.
Quinn took a seat on the corner of the bed and held his knee with his clasped hands.
“It’s actually very simple,” he said.
“Let me be the judge of that,” Siren said.
In her experience, whenever someone said something was simple, it usually meant it was nigh-on impossible to actually carry it out.
“The Controller here is the most powerful man in the area,” Quinn said. “Certainly in the state. Perhaps in the whole country, I don’t know. Only he could know something like that. But I don’t believe he is the only one to have achieved success like this. There will be others. Other communities.”
“During my trips all over the country, I never saw any even approaching something like Arthur’s Port,” Siren said.
“Perhaps you weren’t looking in the right places,” Quinn said.
That was certainly possible. Siren and her brother Wyvern had traipsed all over the country, following any rumors of where a community might be. Each time they arrived, they had not lived up to expectations, or else been destroyed by the undead already. Then again, they hadn’t seen every inch of the US continent.
“I’m willing to concede there could be other large compounds like this one out there,” Siren said.
“The next step in developing a bunch of communities like this would be to bring them together,” Quinn said. “Some kind of network so they can help one another when they’re in trouble, but more than that, so they can trade.”
“The ships…” Siren said, looking out the window at the boats coming in and out of the harbor.
“That’s what my money would be on,” Quinn said. “The ships are trading ships, coming and going as the wind blows. Why else would the boats be sent out into the world?”
“Which means there have to be other communities out there, for this one to trade with,” Siren said.
“That’s right,” Quinn said. “It was only a thought, an idea, until we came here and I saw the dock. Then I became sure. There is no other explanation.”
“Is that the reason you wanted to come here?” Siren said. “To see that?”
“Yes,” Quinn said. “But it’s not everything. You see, if these powerful communities trade and communicate like this, it’s an opportunity. The chances are, they aren’t aware of people like us, people who can have an influence over others. Imagine what these communities could achieve if they were brought together and educated on the subject.”
“Educated about what?” Siren said. “I don’t see how that will help.”
“Don’t you?” Quinn said. “Or perhaps you don’t wish to see. Imagine the food and money it takes to maintain the level of safety this community enjoys. What if we could remove that cost? What if we could not only save them the need for guards, but also give them a workforce that will never tire, never slow, never complain, and require only enough food to keep them going.”
“Oh my God,” Siren said, eyes going wide. “You’re insane.”
“True vision is often seen that way when viewed for the first time,” Quinn said.
“You want to use the undead as a workforce,” Siren said. “As a way to feed the rest of the population.”
“That’s right,” Quinn said. “The perfect workforce. While they’re doing the mundane tasks, the other survivors can rebuild, study and research. Do the things only a live mind is capable of. We will experience the kind of boom we did back during the industrial revolution. Only this time, we know the error of our ways and can ensure not to repeat them again in the future.”
“They’ll never accept it,” Siren said. “The community leaders won’t trust the Undead.”
“Not at first perhaps,” Quinn said. “But once they see what they c
an do, when properly marshalled and controlled, they will have no choice but to follow our lead.”
“You’re going to show them what you can do,” Siren said. “That’s why you want me here. To help convince them to listen to you. The other community leaders who are coming here in one week.”
“More than listen to me,” Quinn said. “To convince them to do it, that this is the right course of action.”
Siren shook her head.
“You know how my power works,” she said. “I can’t force them to do anything.”
“You won’t need to,” Quinn said. “I fully intend on showing them how we can make the most of the Undead. I just need you to push them over the edge and accept.”
Siren kept shaking her head.
“It’s impossible,” she said.
“Nothing is impossible,” Quinn said, moving to her and taking her hands in his own. “I believe you can do it.”
His plan was dangerous and she was certain it would fail. At least… it would without her. If they could convince just one of the communities to take the chance, that there was a possibility it might work, wasn’t it worth trying?
Once the other communities saw how successful the one that had taken up the Undead as a workforce was, they would be more likely to follow suit. Why wouldn’t they? It would be difficult convincing the first. No one like to take unnecessary risks.
“Together we can convince them this is the right thing to do,” Quin said. “Together, we can bring humanity back from the brink. There’s no reason we can’t do this. But I need your help. There is no way I can do this on my own. I need you, Siren.”
Siren paced the room. It was only a few steps before she had to turn and head back. She ran the idea through her mind. There were no obvious reasons why it couldn’t work. Still, it wasn’t going to be easy.
“The good news is the other community leaders will be coming here in one week,” Quinn said.
“And the bad news?” Siren said.
“Everything else,” Quinn said. “We only have one week to convince the Controller to listen to us. He’s hosting this event. If we can convince him to listen to us, we can get him to let us talk to the other community leaders.”
The Compulsion Series (Book 3): Expulsion Page 2