The Reaping

by Annie Oldham

  “You remember our conversation?” Jack asks.

  “Of course I remember.”

  Red peeks out of one eye. “Now don’t get snippy, Nell.”

  Nell sighs. “I’m sorry, Jack. I just feel like I’ve been hijacked for so many months. I get so angry every time I think about it. You two just go. We’ll be fine.”

  I glance at Jack, and he shrugs his shoulders. We both stand and make our way across the room.

  “We’ll be back in twenty minutes. Maybe sooner.”

  “Go,” Nell says, shooing us away.

  Chapter Eleven

  The building moans as the breeze sweeps through the holes and windows. We pick our way through crumbling walls, patchy floors, and smashed furniture. We find a stairwell and climb up a flight. Still I hear the incessant drip, but I can’t place where it’s coming from.

  Place gives me the creeps, I write to Jack when he takes my hand halfway down another shadowy hallway.

  “I know. And I can’t figure out where the water’s coming from.”

  We turn a corner when my feet stop dead. Hear that?

  What? Jack writes back, seeing the serious look on my face and knowing we need to be silent.

  Whispers. I could swear that’s what I heard. Yes, there’s the moaning of the decrepit building, the drip that’s just about to drive me insane, but something else that I heard for just a moment.

  Sure?

  I nod.

  Careful.

  We come up to another corner, but the room it leads to is so shrouded in darkness, I can’t make out any shapes. I’m just about to turn back when I hear the scuff of a foot on the floor, but I have no time to react before something hits me from behind and I stagger forward.

  “Hey!” Jack shouts, and he’s on the ground.

  I whirl around to see our attackers, and two hands shove me so hard I fall down next to Jack. I should be scared, but I’m not. If it were government agents, this wouldn’t be a shoving match. If it were dangerous nomads, I think this would be a little more cruel. I can’t place what in the world this is. Not until a light flares up and illuminates the faces of a man and a woman not much older than we are. The man has a dirty bandage wrapped haphazardly around his head, and the woman’s hands are balled into fists. Jack rubs the back of his head and sits up.

  “Don’t move,” the woman commands in a squeaky voice.

  I could almost laugh if I weren’t sitting on the floor with them over me, and I have no idea if there are more of them.

  “Who are you?” the man says.

  Jack holds up his hands. “My name is Jack. This is Terra.”

  At the sound of my name, both of them flinch and their eyes meet. Weird.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Jack glances at me, and his expression asks me if we can trust them, if we should tell them, if we’re being idiots for telling them just our names. Ifs, ifs, ifs. I’m tired of ifs. I jump up and grab the woman’s hand in one swift movement, and the man is ready to pummel me.

  “Stop!” Jack says. “She’s not going to hurt you.”

  The woman’s fist is clenched so tightly her fingernails dig into her skin. I hold her wrist gently and look into her eyes. In the light from the man’s flashlight, her eyes are green and scream at me with such defiance that I like her already. I meet her gaze and our eyes lock. Slowly she uncurls her fingers.

  We’re helping friends escape.

  “Where did you come from?” she whispers.

  Salt Lake.

  Her eyes widen. “So far?”

  I nod. On a truck. We’re headed for water.

  “Are you Terra?” She says my name like it’s something more than a name, and it makes me uncomfortable.

  Just Terra.

  “That’s not what I mean. Are you the Terra that takes people to the ocean?”

  I had no idea they would have heard of me so far south. I just nod.

  Her whole posture relaxes and she chances a smile at her companion. Then she gathers me up in her arms and squeezes me.

  “We’re helping you, you know,” she whispers fiercely.

  I pull back. What?

  “We help people escape too. Then we send them in the right direction.”

  I’m speechless. All those nomads I found in my woods, some of them could have been sent from these two people.

  “Come with us,” the man says.

  “Wait,” Jack says. “Our friends, they’re downstairs. They’re both older, and one of them is very weak.”

  The man whistles, and three figures separate from the shadows. “Go bring their friends.” The shadows melt back into the darkness.

  The woman looks us up and down. I put a hand to my chapped lips. I must look horrible.

  “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

  I nod.

  “Come on.” She inclines her head to a doorway I can just make out in the dark.

  We follow the man and the woman through hallways and over debris. The building creaks around us. We enter a hallway of windows and the man turns off his flashlight.

  “Stick to the wall,” he says.

  I press myself into the shadows, and as we make our way down the hall, through what’s left of the windows, I see lights flickering in the distance. Another building several blocks away is all lit up.

  “That’s the town center. The agents and soldiers are there, along with any medical care—whatever that is these days. We have to be careful they don’t see us at night. It’s illegal to live in this part of the city.”

  It reminds me of the settlement—the way we’d meticulously cover all the windows at night and wouldn’t burn fires during the day. Glass crunches under my shoes, and we turn a corner and go up another flight of stairs, and then we open up onto a wide-open room and the murmur of voices. I see stars in my eyes until they can finally squint open and I can see. All the windows are boarded up so no light escapes.

  There’s a fire in the center of the room with a makeshift chimney that vents out one of the windows. About ten to fifteen people huddle around the fire. They pass around cans of food and granola bars—it’s all government issued—and as soon as we come into view, their hands freeze, and the murmuring stops and everyone is dead silent.

  “Don’t worry; they’re safe,” the man says. He slings a gun off his shoulder. I never noticed it before.

  “So who are they? And what are they doing jumping off the transport at night?”

  Jack and I exchange glances. I had no idea we were being watched so closely.

  The woman steps forward. “This is Terra.”

  The murmurs start up again.

  “Says who? Her?”

  The man raises his hands. “Yes, she says her name is Terra. This is her friend Jack. She has two others with her downstairs. They’re being brought up. They’re trying to get to the ocean.”

  A short blond woman. “So what is she doing down south? I thought she was up in Washington.”

  The man looks at me expectantly. Jack clears his throat.

  “Where we lived before, it was an old school by the Puget Sound. It was a lot like here—the government didn’t know we were there. Terra and I left. Then the settlement was raided and our friends were taken. They were sent to Salt Lake to the hospital where they were serum-tested.”

  Someone whistles. Jack ignores it.

  “We made our way to Salt Lake and got them out and escaped on the truck here. Now we’re hoping there’s a sub waiting for us.”

  A tall man. “When?”

  “Tomorrow night.”

  A freckled kid. “Why isn’t she talking?”

  “She can’t.” Jack’s voice is flat. He doesn’t like this part of my story any more than I do.

  The woman steps next to me and takes my hand. “So it’s true.”

  I nod.

  “There were always rumors about that, but you never know quite what to believe. I’m so sorry—that’s horrible what the agents did to you.”

  I
laugh. Rumors are funny things. I take her hand and write, They didn’t do it.

  “Oh. But I always thought that must have been. . . . Then who did?”

  And the story just got a whole lot more complicated. I did it to keep the colonies safe.

  The freckled kid. “Did what?” An older kid next to him nudges him to keep quiet, but the freckled kid pulls away. “Why can’t you talk?”

  I walk over to them and squat down. The fire is warm, and their cheeks are rosy with the heat. I touch the freckled kid’s hand. You really want to know?

  He nods.

  I sigh and then open my mouth.

  He falls back. “Gross! That’s disgusting.”

  The older kid starts laughing and teasing him. I smile and wink.

  There’s a scuffle from the stairwell door, and then Nell and Red come in with three others.

  “Here're your friends.” Red is propped up between two of them. “This one needs some help.”

  The man and woman rush to his side and help carry him to a spot by the fire. He groans when they set him down, and Nell sits at his side and holds his hand.

  “Let’s get them some food,” the man says, and he motions us over.

  We’re presented with canned chili and granola bars, and I tear into them like I’ve never eaten before. Someone gives me a bottle of water, and I down it before I even taste it on my lips. I can still feel the eyes of just about everyone in the room on me. I slow down and clear my throat. After another moment, the woman speaks.

  “Do you know how to get to the ocean?”

  I shake my head and turn to Jack. He shrugs his shoulders.

  “I’ve never been here.”

  “If you come with us to the supply drop tomorrow, you might be able to get close.” The woman takes a stick and pokes at the fire. Sparks fly up in a flurry. “The drop spot is near the bay. Can your sub get in the bay?”

  Probably.

  The spoonful of chili freezes in Nell’s hand on the way to Red’s mouth. “Why are you talking about the ocean and subs, Terra?”

  I study her a moment, and the glazed look is completely gone from her eyes. I think she’s free from the last dose of loyalty serum. I look at my hands clasping my granola bar wrapper. I squeeze my fingers into a fist and crumple the wrapper. I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell people that I’m from the colony—how many times I’m going to have to admit that I lied. My chest tightens. Jack puts a hand on my knee.

  “Terra’s not from Arizona,” he says. He squeezes my knee once.

  Nell narrows her eyes. “So just where are you from?”

  I reach forward to take her hand, but Jack speaks. “She’s from a colony. She’s a colonist.”

  There used to be a time when it sounded like a dirty word coming from his mouth, but now he’s unapologetic about it.

  Nell’s jaw drops and the color drains from her cheeks. Red turns to face us.

  “You’re from where?” he croaks.

  “One of the ocean colonies,” Jack says.

  “So that morning we found you,” Red says, laying his head back down on the folded blanket, “you had just come from your colony?”

  I nod my head. Then I grab his hand. The day Dave was in the boat. He almost drowned. I saved him.

  Red shakes his head. “I wondered about that.”

  Nell’s hands are trembling, but she’s keeping her voice steady. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  I’m about to write again, but Jack jumps in. “Why do you think she didn’t tell us? Everyone who finds out is angry at her.” His eyes find mine, and they’re filled with apologies. He was one of them. “She doesn’t deserve that, not for where she grew up.”

  Nell raises an eyebrow. “And how do you know so much about it?”

  Jack looks at his hand on my knee. “I’ve been there.”

  Red really does sit up now, even though he strains to do it. “When?”

  “I lived there for six months. I came back about a week ago.”

  Red looks at the woman at my side, at the people around the fire, and back at my face. “You’re who they were talking about.”

  Who?

  “The agents in the hospital. Of course they didn’t know I was listening in, but I was. What else is there to do when you’re lying in a hospital bed waiting to die?”

  Nell closes her eyes.

  “Sorry, Nell. It’s true.” Red turns back to me. “They talked about someone who was sending nomads to the ocean. To the colonies. I always thought it was a load of hooey, but now I’m starting to rethink that opinion.”

  I reach for him, and he holds his hand out to me. I want to take you there.

  “Me and Nell?”

  Yes.

  “She’d be safe?”

  Yes.

  He takes his hand away and folds his arms over his chest. “Right then. We’ll go.”

  Nell frowns. “Now don’t you go making decisions for me, Red.”

  I can see the conflict in her eyes—it’s written all over the way she wants to look at me but can’t quite do it. She’s trying hard, trying not to be one of the people Jack was talking about, but she just can’t reconcile what she thought she knew about me with this new information.

  “What would we even do there? They wouldn’t have a place for people like us.”

  I laugh and take her hand. You could plant hydrangeas.

  She smiles and shakes her head. “Why would they need hydrangeas a million miles under the sea?”

  They appreciate something beautiful. And not just the flowers. They would love having someone like Nell there. They’d love her the way I love her.

  She eyes me skeptically. “They really grow flowers?”

  Jack leans forward. “It’s amazing, Nell. They have fields of crops. There’s a flower garden. They have an enormous bakery, they have beehives. The only difference between here and there is it’s under the water, and there are no soldiers or agents.”

  Nell settles back into Red. “So why did you leave? Why did you both leave?”

  I felt trapped.

  Nell considers my answer, her eyes filled with questions. She doesn’t ask them, though. She just sits and watches me. I shift under her gaze, but I keep my eyes on her. Then her eyes crinkle around the edges as she smiles, and she pats my hand.

  “Jack?”

  Jack turns to me and touches my face. “I love Terra.”

  He says it like it’s the most logical answer in the world. And Nell leans forward and pinches Jack’s cheek.

  “Good for you, Jack. It’s about time.”

  And then the subject of the colony is dropped and the tightness in my chest eases, and we laugh with these strangers and all fall asleep in each other’s arms.

  Chapter Twelve

  When the first light of morning trickles through the cracks in the windows, I’m stiff and sore from being cooped up in trains and trucks and lying woven with the others on the floor. Jack’s eyes flitter underneath his eyelids, and then slowly he stretches and yawns and finally opens them. He draws his arms around me and kisses my forehead.

  “How did you sleep?”

  Good.

  “Mmm. Me too.”

  I’m not ready for today. I feel his breath in my hair. It pauses for a second before resuming its rhythm.

  “Me neither.”

  I’m scared for them. Nell and Red are by my feet. She’s already awake, and she strokes through Red’s gray hair.

  Jack’s whispered voice drops even quieter, and I have to strain to hear him. “I don’t know if Red can make it.”

  He’s said it, the thing I feared: that one of us is incapable of meeting the sub. My heart speeds up, and it feels like a panicked bird trying to escape my chest. Jack holds me tighter.

  “But don’t worry about it yet. We’re not there.”

  We will be soon.

  Jack lets out a breath and it ruffles through my hair. “I know. I’ve been trying not to think about it.” He burrows
his head closer against me. “I don’t know what I’d do if we lost one of them.”

  I grip his hand tightly in mine. I don’t know what I’d do either. I watch Nell playing with Red’s hair. I watch his eyes open and watch the smile spread across his face as he focuses on her. She leans down and kisses him gently on the lips, and he snatches the ends of her silver hair to keep her there longer. She laughs against his mouth and bats his hand away.

  I don’t know what they would do if they lost each other.

  I won’t let it happen.

  “I know you, Terra. And I know that’s true.” He hesitates. “But there’s only so much you can do.”

  In a few minutes everyone around us is waking up. The woman steps over a few still-sleeping bodies and crouches down next to us.

  “Come on over. We’ll walk you through what’s going to happen today.”

  We help Red to his feet. His coloring looks a lot better than it was, and having enough to eat and drink for just a day has already started to fill in his cheeks. He’s still too frail though, all jutting bones. He’s a twig that could snap at any second. I exchange glances with Jack, but neither of us says anything. There’s nothing to say. We are going to try this impossible thing. I don’t think Nell and Red would have it any other way.

  We sit down with the man and the woman. They give us more granola bars and water.

  “Lana and I are going to the med drop. Everyone in the city will start making their way to the med drop this morning. Five others are going with us—all of us with trackers. We want to bring back as many supplies as we can. I think that’ll be enough of us that you can fall in with us. Having Red there might even help. No one will question bringing him to the med drop. People might think he’s going to the free clinic.”

  The man takes out a faded, worn map of the city. He smoothes it open, careful not to tug on the edges. It’s so thin along the folds that it looks like it will fall apart if you breathe on it too hard.

  “The supply drops happen here.” He points to a round blob on the map. “It’s a baseball stadium. You can see the water is close. It’s an industrial area—most of this has been converted into work places.”