Luca

by Jacob Whaler

  Something new is happening.

  The girls are hungry, tired, cold. Rain comes down hard, and the ground is a sea of mud. It’s the middle of the second day out of the Institution, the start of another typhoon, and the food in their packs is already running low.

  They’ve walked a treacherous path to get this far, threading their way through a labyrinth of toxic dumps and radiation ponds.

  “Can you still hear the voices?” Zero comes up behind Luca. “Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?”

  “The human voices come and go. But I think we’re getting closer.” Luca bends down to brush a dokudami flower, petals open to the rain. “The plants and animals always speak to me.”

  The fear grasps Zero’s mind.

  “Can the plants tell us the way to go to find food and shelter?”

  “I’ve asked.” Luca looks up. “But they don't understand. All they need is here. Everywhere. In the air, on the ground, in the soil. They tell me to simply partake. The way they do.”

  “But we can’t live off dirt and moss. Even if the plants and animals were edible, they’re so contaminated by all the toxic dumping that we can't eat them.” Zero’s hands harden into fists. “This whole area is the dumping ground for all of Asia. Maybe our only choice is to head for Tokyo. Back to the cities. Back to civilization.”

  As he speaks, a strange sound comes through the howling wind and rain.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  “A heli-transport.” Giraffe comes up behind Zero, face dripping, pointing at the sky. “What’s it doing this far from Tokyo?” His eyes light up. “Maybe they know we’re here. Maybe they’ve come to pick us up.”

  The mechanical sound of the transport is unfamiliar to Luca. The rest of the girls gather close to her as it nears. As they wait, a massive machine bursts through the clouds and drops down, hovering just above the valley floor.

  “Over there!” Giraffe swings his arms wildly. “Let’s go down and meet them.”

  When Luca stares down at the valley and up at the transport, a dull pain starts behind her eyes. “No,” she says. “Don’t go. It’s not safe.”

  “Why not?” Zero starts to move down. “It’s a long way to Tokyo. Hundreds of kilometers. We’ll never make it. We’re running out of food. No place to go. This may be our only way out.” Some of the girls follow him.

  Straining, Luca searches for voices within the heli-transport. She finds them and listens.

  Same thing as always. Looks like as good a spot as any, wouldn’t you say, captain? The Corporation doesn’t much care where we make the dump. Filthy cargo. Polonium and PCBs, from what I hear. Wouldn't want to live within 500 klicks. Drop it and get us out of here as fast as you can. Storm’s coming in strong.

  “No!” Luca yells. “Something’s wrong. It's not here to help us.”

  Zero is running, already halfway down the hill, arms waving, gaining speed as he sprints through the wind and rain. Two of the girls follow.

  The Corporation’s sneaky, sending us out here when the typhoons hit. Makes it impossible to track anything. Scatters the hot stuff around so no one can pin it on us. Give me just a second to get into position. Don’t want to be sideways to the wind when I pull the trigger. I’ll need to get down closer to make a clean drop.

  The heli-transport turns so it’s pointing in the opposite direction and floats closer to the ground. Large doors on its underbelly slide apart.

  “They’ve come for us.” Giraffe steps away from Luca and jumps forward. “I wonder how they knew we were here.” He starts to descend the hill, following Zero.

  Half the girls go with him.

  Got your camera ready? Corporation wants proof of the drop. I wonder if it’ll explode as soon as it hits the ground.

  Luca freezes in fear. Not for herself, but for Zero and Giraffe and the girls that are going with them, the ones who no longer hear the voices. They’re tired and hungry, looking for a way out. It’s not their fault. They don't know any better.

  But Luca does.

  It’s up to her to help them. But what can she do?

  Hey, look! Do you see what I see? Are those actually people down there?

  By now, the other girls with Luca have tuned into the voices in the heli-ship, and they all sense confusion pouring through the minds of the pilots.

  I don’t know who they are, but it looks like a couple of guys with some kids.

  Zero is almost under the ship, yelling, wildly waving his arms.

  The Corporation doesn’t like witnesses. Toxic dumping is officially illegal. What if these people report us? Could be bad for business. Bad for us.

  The cargo doors on the underbelly of the ship open fully. The craft hovers thirty meters above the ground.

  The people down there are waving their arms, mad as hell. Trying to scare us away. Some kind of sick enviro terrorists. I say we kill them. Only way to be sure they don’t report us. Nobody will know. Target them with the bio-sensors on our pulse laser. It’ll be over in a couple of seconds. Then we drop and run. I’ll start the power-up sequence.

  A shrill mechanical buzz breaks through the wind and rain.

  No! thinks Luca.

  She drops to her knees, closes her eyes and goes deep into the sea of voices to find the mind she’s looking for, the one belonging to the pilot on the ship.

  And then she locates the thread of Zero’s thoughts.

  Their minds are like two burning dots in black space.

  Another couple of seconds, and the ship will acquire the targets. I hate to kill the kids, but what can you do? The Corporation will blame us if the dumping goes public. Murder us in our sleep. It’s us or them.

  Focusing on the two bright dots, Luca strains to pull them both into her thoughts, like repelling magnets. Slowly, they move to each other, merging.

  It happens.

  For a few seconds, Zero and the man on the ship come together, one mind. Each becomes the other. Luca becomes them both.

  The pilot stares up from the ground through Zero’s eyes, immobilized.

  Zero looks down through the pilot’s eyes as his hands reach out to press a green circle on a glass screen, the trigger that will end Zero’s life. He pulls the pilot’s fingers back in horror.

  Luca watches them both.

  The ship wobbles, dropping closer to the ground.

  Uniting the two minds for as long as she can, Luca’s strength falters. She lets go. The minds fly apart.

  Don’t shoot! Power down the laser. Close the bay doors. Get us out of here!

  Through the pouring rain, the ship rises until it disappears in a maelstrom of swirling clouds.

  35

  SMALLPOX

  Moses towers over Jedd, the old man’s right hand gripping the barrel of a long rifle.

  “Moses.” Jedd meets the steely gaze above him. “What have you done with the others?” He pulls at the ropes on his wrists and ankles.

  “You remember my name. I’m flattered.” Moses leans his rifle against a metal box marked ‘US Army’ and sits in an old chair that creaks under his weight. “You’ve grown into a man.” His eyes scan the length of Jedd’s body. “Strong. Confident. I taught you well.”

  “You taught me to kill and steal.”

  Moses shakes his head and laughs. “Is that why you left us? Because I showed you how to survive?”

  “There’s a better way, Moses.” Jedd pulls on the ropes and relaxes against the dirty plastic box behind his back. “I’ve been there. Seen it. Lived it. You don’t have to fight and murder to survive.”

  “It’s kill or be killed. Always has been, ever since I was a child. Since the time they cut us off. Nothing’s changed. Nothing ever will." Moses reaches into the side pocket of his army fatigues and pulls out a small flask. Twisting off the lid, he brings it to his lips, takes a drink, pauses to feel the burn and puts it away. “That’s the way of the world. The strong accept it. Embrace it. That’s what it means to be a man.”

  “No, Mo
ses. You’re wrong. You should see the city where I work. Buildings of glass, higher than mountaintops. Clean streets. So much food, they throw it away. Water that’s plentiful and free. Gadgets for everything. I know the way back, through the Divide. The way Ricky and I went when we were kids. I could show it to you. Take you there.”

  Moses lets his arms go wide. “When I was a child, the whole land was covered with trees. It was green everywhere. Rain and rainbows and fields of corn. Rivers full of water all year long. We were farmers back then. When I sat down with my mama and papa to eat, there was no end to the food. It was paradise.” He leans back. “But then, people in the cities got greedy. They and their technology turned on us. The rich got richer, and the rest got left behind. Then the rain stopped, and the wars started. Food ran out. When we tried to get to the cities, our own government rained bombs down on us from the sky. Blocked the roads and shot anyone trying to leave. Including my mama and papa. So don’t brag to me about the city people. They’re nothing but murderers.”

  Moses drops his head, tears welling up in his eyes.

  “Look, I know how you feel about this.” Jedd presses the back of his head against the plastic box. “But me and my friends are in a hurry, heading for the Free City of Denver. We’ve got to tell the world. Something much worse is about to happen. To you. To me. Everyone.”

  “The Apocalypse already did happen.”

  Jedd shakes his head. “You don’t understand. This is big, Moses. Bigger than you can imagine. The rains are going to start again, only this time, it’ll be fire from the sky. The end of the world. In just a couple of days. Including you and the Family.”

  “We’re survivors. Nothing can kill us as long as we stick together and stay strong. That’s all that matters. Stay strong. Stay loyal. Protect our own."

  “You’re wrong, Moses.” Jedd’s eyelids drop down. "You can’t protect the Family from what’s coming.”

  Moses runs his hand along the rifle. “We’ve had a recent change in luck. Let me tell you about it.” Moses pops his knuckles one at a time. "Last winter, I sent one of my boys, a kid your age when you took off, down an open hole as big as a house. Found it in the middle of the riverbed of the big river that used to run south to the ocean. You’ll never guess what he found.”

  Jedd shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Oh, I think it does.” Moses smiles and pats an old gun and holster at his side. “It was an underground military storage facility. United States Army. Back when they had one. Looked like it’d been sitting there for a hundred years, just collecting dust. A whole army base full of equipment. Big guns. Little guns. Ammo. Clothing. Food. And gasoline. Thousands of barrels of the stuff in sealed containers. Enough to last for years."

  “Guns aren’t going to help you fight what’s coming.”

  “We’re strong now. Even stronger than before.” Moses relaxes into the chair. "You saw how we brought down that airship from the City. You lured it into our trap, and we blasted it right out of the sky.”

  Jedd hates to ask the question, but it slips out of his mouth before he can stop it. “So, what are you going to do with your guns?”

  “Wait until you hear the rest of the story.” Moses leans onto his long rifle, eyes glazing over. “We found more than just guns at the underground base."

  Jedd knows there’s no stopping Moses, so he decides to play along.

  “Tell me. What else did you find?”

  “A map.”

  Jedd looks up. “A map of what?”

  “The people that lived here before, my people, knew how to prepare for the end.” Moses stands. “They knew how to store things for the future. And they left it all for me. So I could take back what belongs to us. To the Family.”

  “Tell me about the map.”

  Moses drops his gaze to the floor. “The map gave the location of other hidden military bases. Turns out there are dozens of them. It takes time, but I’m finding them.”

  Nausea starts in Jedd’s belly and spreads out. He knows there’s nothing that captures the attention of Moses like weapons. If Moses is telling the truth, if he really has found huge caches of weapons, there’s no telling what he’ll do.

  But Jedd has an idea.

  “So, let me guess. You’ve been killing off all the other clans?”

  “Wait, son.” Moses folds arms across his chest. “Always too impatient.”

  “I’m not your son.”

  “You could have been. I wanted to give it all to you. So you could finish it.”

  Jedd looks up. “Finish what?”

  Moses pulls another drink from his flask, draining it. “The people that left the hidden army supplies . . . were smart. They knew the time would come when we’d need to take back our country.” His voice rises in a slow crescendo. “Take it back from the freaks and mutants that stole it from us and left us with nothing.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jedd lies. He remembers how Moses could go on for hours talking about the freaks and mutants in the cities. The ones with the genmods. People like Mercer.

  And Qaara.

  Jedd’s pulse jumps.

  Leaning on his old rifle like a staff, Moses walks to the far end of the tent. He throws back a heavy canvas tarp to reveal half a dozen metal boxes stacked neat and tidy. There’s writing on the side of each one next to a bright red picture of a skull and crossbones.

  Jedd squints his eyes.

  Danger! Biological Agent! Smallpox variant!

  “As you can see, this is no ordinary weapon.” Moses caresses the boxes like he’s stroking a kitten. “The people that left this knew we’d need it someday. To fight against them, the enemy who took our country from us.”

  Trying to raise his hands in protest, Jedd remembers he’s still tied up. “Now hold on, Moses. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You’ll end up wiping out your own people if you aren’t careful.”

  “It’s divine providence. Manifest destiny.” Moses raises his gaze to the sky with one hand on his heart, one hand still on the boxes. “We’re going to take it all back from the bastards, Jedd. Put it all right. Just like it used to be. One nation. Under law. My law. E pluribus unum."

  “Listen to me, Moses.” Jedd talks as slowly and earnestly as he can. “You have no idea what you’re doing. It’s suicide.”

  “A few of us may die. Maybe more than a few. That’s to be expected. All great movements have their martyrs.”

  Now that the full extent of Moses’ madness has been revealed, Jedd breathes deeply in and out, trying to relax. “Back in the City, they have weapons and machines that you can’t even conceive of.”

  Moses drops the tarp over the boxes and laughs. “A few months ago, I sent a wave of spies east. Some of them made it through the Divide. Just like you. A couple of them even came back. They’ve seen the people of the cities. And guess what? They're weak. They’ve written us off, stopped watching their backs. The time to attack is now.” Moses walks closer to face Jedd. “She’s a fine woman, the one you brought. What’s her name?”

  Jedd flings himself forward, straining against the ropes, pulling the heavy plastic box with him a few inches. “If you’ve done anything—”

  Leaning in, Moses grabs his rifle and swings the heavy butt against Jedd’s chin, throwing him back. “Don’t you see, Jedd? You're one of them now. One of the City dwellers. You betrayed me when you ran off. But now you’ve come back.” He stands to leave. “I can’t help but think there’s a reason.”

  Jedd sits with his jaw hanging open, blood running from his mouth. Adrenaline surging, he pulls on the ropes and lunges toward Moses. Now he understands. Moses isn’t going to let them go on to Denver. Moses care that everyone is going to die. The only thing on Moses’ mind is revenge.

  Falling back against the box, Jedd tries to make sense of it all.

  Moses found a huge cache of twentieth century weapons. He’s hatched a plan to seek vengeance on the people of the citie
s. He’s put together a ragtag army. They’re ready to march against the City and unleash a pandemic with some old weaponized small pox agent.

  He’s also got Ricky and Qaara tied up in the camp. There’s no telling what he’ll do to them. What he’s already done.

  Ricky’s been here before. He understands the Zone and how the Family operates under the dictatorship of Moses.

  But not Qaara.

  How long will she survive?

  He has to make a decision. For Qaara’s sake. For his own sake.

  “Wait.” Jedd clears his throat. “Maybe I was wrong, Moses. Maybe I should have stayed with the Family and never left. Maybe I can make it up to you. Help you. Maybe we can help you.”

  “We?”

  “Me and Ricky. And Qaara.”

  “So that’s her name.” Moses scratches his chin. “I couldn't get her to say a word. Qaara. I like the sound of that. Foreign. Exotic. What can you and the others do for me?”

  “A lot. We’ve lived in the City and the Fringe. We know the way in, the way out and everywhere in between.”

  “What about Qaara?”

  “She’s a gold mine.” Jedd feels the shift in Moses’ thinking. "An insider. One of them. She’s smart. Knows all the big players. With her help, we can get you access to the highest levels. Hit ‘em where it’ll hurt the most.”

  Moses waves his hand. “I can’t trust you. You’ll say anything to save your life.” He turns to leave.

  “Wait!” Jedd struggles against the ropes. “I’ve come back, Moses. Back to you. I’ve never forgotten how you saved my life all those years ago. I owe it to you. Give me a chance.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Not much. For starters, the three of us need to be together. So we can talk and make plans. We need to know what your resources are. How many guns? How many people?”

  Moses turns back to the front flap of the tent. “I’ll think it over.”

  36

  BRIGHT FUTURE

  They’ll never make it.

  The multitude of voices is too far away. For two days, they’ve been following it over each successive hill. The voices, thousands of them, have food and water and shelter. Surely they will share it with the girls.