Sapience

by bret Wellman

  “Everything was going so well until one day after school I got off the bus to find a black van sitting out front of the house. As I walked up, a firing squad stepped out.”

  “Firing squad!?” I was horrified, were Brianna’s parents massacred?

  “You didn’t think President Mead would let my perfect life last forever did you?” She asked patiently.

  “No… I just liked the idea of you living a happy and normal life.”

  She turned and started tamping the paver level with the others. I waited for her to continue with the story but she didn’t. She had her back to me, I think she might have been trying to hide a tear. She acted as if she were wiping dirt off of her face. I wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how.

  “Did they make you watch?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

  “They called my parents outside using a blow horn and gunned them down as I tried to run to their side. After that they hauled me back to the government buildings. That teddy bear that I brought from the trailer park, the one I hide a gun inside. My parents gave it to me, I was clinging to it as the men through me in the van. It has been with me ever since.” She stopped tamping and leaned back. “There, done. How does it look?”

  I was at a loss for words. “Brianna I…”

  The Kingdom worked through fear, that was what it did best. Killing Brianna’s parents would have sent her a clear message, we are in charge and can do anything to you we want. But there would be another point, they wanted to make her hard, this act placed her one step closer to becoming an emotionless killing machine. In this case their “lesson” had back fired.

  “I know William, our old life was hard but we are here now so let’s look to the future.”

  I tried to make a smile that wouldn’t come. The pain Brianna had endured made me both angry and sad at the same time. It made me want revenge.

  “From that moment on I vowed to do everything in my power to destroy the Kingdom. Every time I look at that teddy bear it reminds me. That is why I convinced the others to escape a year ago.”

  I looked at her thoughtfully. “You were the one who started it.”

  “What about you?” She asked.

  I winced, things had been so bad, to relive the worst was hard to even think about. There could be a thousand different moments I could mention, but one came to the forefront. They had forced me to kill an innocent person. They did it in a way that made it my decision, I could die or I could kill somebody, those were my options.

  “There was a boy named Adam.” I said, mustering my strength and looking her dead in the eye. This was a story I had never spoken out loud. “He was a friend of mine, a fire user. We couldn’t have been more than twelve years old, we were caught goofing around when we should have been training takedown techniques.”

  Her blue eyes were wary but they never left mine. I wondered if she would think less of me after she heard what I had done.

  “They locked Adam and I in a room together for a long period of time with no food and little water. It’s hard to remember for how long, I could have told you before I lost my mind but now I just can’t grasp the full details of the memory. It had to have been weeks, maybe a month.”

  “So they starved you.” It wasn’t a question.

  “At first we would ration our water and drink it systematically, it wasn’t long before we were just downing it as it came in. We were just kids you know, we couldn’t hold our composure together as we might now. When they finally gave us food it wasn’t enough for two people. Being as smart as I was, I knew that only one of us was going to be allowed to live. Our health steadily declined as we tried to split up the small scraps of food, we were nothing but skin and bones in the end. After being starved for so long, there came a point when I knew, if we split what little food there was we both would die.”

  “So what did you do?” She asked.

  “I’m still alive today aren’t I?”

  “But what happened to Adam?”

  I took a deep, troubled breathe “We fought. I saved as much energy as I could until he grew too weak to keep on. And then I kept all the food for myself… After that first meal I got stronger and he grew weaker. Things went on like that until he was dead and they let me out of the room.”

  From that day on they would never catch me goofing around again. I had become a killer, my hands would forever be stained with Adam’s blood. I would be lying if I said all of me had come out of that cell. There was a piece of me still in there, dead and rotting with Adam's corpse.

  I didn’t say the last part out loud, I couldn’t.

  I watched her, waiting for the moment when she would jump up and storm away. It was a grotesque thing I had done. Instead she moved closer and embraced me in her arms. I welcomed the warm touch of her body against mine. I could feel the chill that had entered my body start to dissipate.

  When she let go I leaned down and set the last paver into place. “I think that should do it.” I said.

  We both stepped back and admired our work. The patio was large and round with a brick wall and barbecue on one side. The rest of it would be filled with chairs and a table in the coming weeks.

  “What are you doing making a high stakes bet at school?” Adrian asked. We turned to find Lillie and him walking up from the house.

  “It’s all because Blake won’t leave us alone.” Brianna said.

  Adrian gave her a mischievous glare “And whose fault is that?”

  “Mine.” I said, drawing his attention.

  “That was a very foolish thing to do.” Lillie said “Did you even think about the attention this is going to draw to us? And what are you planning to do if we lose?”

  “Oh, we aren’t going to lose.” Adrian cut in. “But it was still out of line for the three of you to have done this.”

  “So what do we do now?” I asked.

  Adrian watched me for a moment before speaking. “Lucky for us, I knew this was going to happen. This is the event we have been planning for all week.”

  I should have known. In his mind's eye he would have seen Spencer making that bet. He would have predicted this party simply by watching our behavior around the house. He had known even before we did.

  “In another couple of hours the town of Newbery is going to suffer a black out.” he went on. “Because of sixteen backup generators, our mansion is going to be one of the only places in the county that still has power. When I tell Lillie, she is going to reroute Newbery’s power supply and push the power grid far past its maximum capacity. From there we have arranged for a little fire that will cause the grid to crash. The armory will spend the rest of the night trying to fix the damage while we slip under the radar with our party. The fire will look of natural causes to them and by noon tomorrow the power should be back up and running.” He looked thoughtful “It may seem a little over the top but we are taking no chances. This will also make it more difficult for the people at the party to get a hold of others outside. The less communication they have the better. People have already been told where to go, they don’t need anything more than that.”

  “Why are you even going through with this?” I asked

  “I plan on taking stock of your classmates.” He said, confirming what Josh had said earlier. “I want to watch them a while, figure out their habits and interests. The information I take in tonight should help me know who to keep a closer eye on.” He turned and started back for the house leaving Lillie by herself.

  “Please stop drawing so much attention to us William.” She said before turning to follow.

  I felt bad after seeing the worry in her expression. Next time I would have to try harder to stop Spencer before he makes a bet like this.

  “At least he didn’t try to hurt you.” Brianna said. I watched a sly smile creep into her expression. “It would be a shame to have to attack him before the party.”

  “You were going to kill him?” I asked.

  She shook her head innocently. “No, just maim.”
>
  “That’s a pretty serious punishment.”

  She winked. “Nobody touches my boyfriend but me.”

  She said the word boyfriend in a way that made it sound more like a joke. We truly weren’t dating. It was her way of confirming, it was our little secret and the world had no clue.

  “I’m going to go get ready.” she said.

  I watched her leave my side and head for the house. Each step was a precision movement of poise and beauty.

  And then I was alone, standing there watching the rain slowly begin to pick up and splatter against the new patio. At least it was semi-warm, I had a feeling that this was going to be one of the last hot days before winter started to set in. Puddles were soon forming in the low spots of the yard, I moved under the awning of the back porch and thought about the bet against Blake. It was going to be a muddy game.

  Chapter 14

  The rain was more or less pouring when people started showing up. Their cars were parked off to the side in the yard. Neal was the first to show up shortly before a few of Brianna’s friends.

  “So this is your house.” Neal said in astonishment as we slipped into my room.

  I sat with my back against the wall on my bed. He sat down on a black couch Lillie had ordered the night before.

  “Dude it’s like a mansion!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh “What do you mean like a mansion?”

  He sat forward looking more serious “Hey man I don’t get it, you start dating Brianna for like a week and then her whole family moves in with you. What are your parents thinking?”

  My blood went cold and I froze up. How could I have not thought of an answer to this question? My old mind would have never let something like this slip. What could I say?

  “Well I ah. Remember when we got all that money from the hospital when they died?” I started.

  “We don’t have parents” Brianna said, walking into my room. Two of her friends followed and sat down on either side of Neal. I scooted over and made room for Brianna next to me. She slipped her hand into mine as she sat down. I sensed that there was something else going on, the girls were up to something.

  “We are all from the same adoption home. The older kids came back for us as soon as they were able. I thought you knew this already Neal?”

  Neal nodded rapidly, looking like a deer caught in the headlights “Oh, well yea. So when is the party getting started?”

  I couldn’t believe it, Brianna had just gotten Neal to change the subject on his own. Or was it the two girls? Regardless, I felt relieved to not have to explain things I would probably have to lie about.

  “The party is wherever we are!” One of the girls said, it was Nikki. Her hair was died darker than the last time I had seen her. It seemed to look perfectly natural against her tan skin.

  “Is that so?” Brianna asked.

  Nikki turned to face Neal and I felt Brianna pinch my side. “Watch this” She whispered.

  “So how come you never talk to me in science class?” Nikki asked.

  Neal flinched, “Huh?”

  “I sit next to you every day and every day you pretend I’m not there.”

  “I don’t pretend you’re not there” Neal said “I’m just busy doing my work.”

  “Every day?”

  “Yea, the teacher gives us new work every day…”

  Nikki huffed and crossed her arms “Well?”

  Neal looked at her nervously and confused. “Well what?”

  “Aren’t you going to make it up to me?”

  Neal looked at me, pleading for help. I just shrugged.

  “I’ll tell you what” Nikki said “If you give me a tour of the house we will call it even.”

  “But I don’t know this house.” Neal said, it was almost a whimper.

  Nikki grabbed his hand and jumped up to her feet. “Then let’s go exploring!” She started dragging him out of the room. Neal gave me one last frightened look before he was yanked out of sight.

  “Hey, I want to come too!” The other girl said as she jumped up and followed them.

  “What just happened?” I asked when Brianna and I were alone.

  “Nikki thinks he is cute so all it took was a couple hours of encouragement.”

  “How did you encourage her to go after Neal?”

  Brianna blushed “Oh you know, I just agreed that he was cute and said things like I would date him if I was single.”

  “You said what?”

  She wrapped her arms around me and pushed me back so we were both lying on our sides.

  “William, some girls just want a confirmation so they know they won’t be making a mistake. Neal is a good person and there is no reason why he and Nikki should be ashamed to like each other. She was mostly afraid of being judged; I made it clear that anyone who judged her for dating Neal was both foolish and not a true friend.”

  We were only inches apart, laying there staring into each other’s eyes. I wondered what she would do if I kissed her. I glanced at her lips and then back into her eyes. She made no attempt to turn away.

  Just then my door flew open and Josh leaned in “I think you guys should start getting warmed up with the rest of us.”

  “Is it that time already?” I asked.

  Brianna and I stood together and made our way to the front porch. When we got there we found that a bunch of people were starting to come up the driveway. After parking most stayed in their cars, some came running over to the porch.

  Our entire family, for lack of a better word, was slopping around in the pouring rain, throwing a football.

  I was thankful for the warm weather, this game could have turned out to be quite miserable. The grass squashed under my feet. I caught the football as it barreled down on me and tossed it to Brianna.

  “Heads up!” She said and threw the ball back.

  I tossed it to Lillie as we came up to everybody else, I was soon having a blast running around in the rain chasing after the ball. It was the first time I had ever played football in my life. Adrian had us running plays and trying to teach us different techniques. He was relentless, making sure we stood in the right position and ran to the exact spot he told us, at the exact moment he wanted. I tried to remember everything he said, expecting to succeed. But my mind was like a water balloon with a hole in it, no matter how much I crammed in it all seemed to be slipping right back out. Even the frustration of not being able to remember everything was causing me to remember less.

  By the time the football team showed up in two hummers, we were soaked to the bone. Our rag-tag team regrouped as they made their way over to us. The idiots left their varsity jackets on to get soaked. A lot more people had showed up by then and it seemed that they were all beginning to crowd around, huddling under umbrellas or the front porch.

  “What is this?” Blake yelled so the whole congregation on the porch and sidelines could hear. “They don’t even have enough players!”

  “You are an ignorant coward,” Adrian said, matching his volume. “Pick your seven best players, anyone trying to sack the quarterback must first count out loud seven apples.” He picked up the football and lowered his voice. “Losers walk, we are kicking to you.”

  At first I was confused with Adrian’s rule but then it hit me. Saying apple after every number would make it hard to count fast, giving the quarterback the same time he would get if he had linemen defending him. With only seven players there would be no linemen, making the apple count very necessary.

  “The only one that is going to lose today is you.” Blake said.

  One of his buddies, the one that had shoved me in class, I could not for the life of me remember his name, grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the other end of the field “come on, we will show them.”

  Blake yanked it free and turned to glare at him “You think I don’t know that?”

  “I’m just saying, man.”

  “Get to the other end of the field or I’m starting the game without you.” Adria
n cut in.

  Blake tried to stand his ground but soon gave in as the rest of his team made their way to the other end of the yard. Adrian made us huddle up when he was gone.

  “Ok here is the plan, I’m going to kick the ball with enough altitude to get you guys down the field. It’s going to land right in Blake’s hands.

  “You can do that?” Rachel asked.

  Adrian ignored her. “I want you all to work as a team to take out any player in your way and get Josh to tackle Blake.”

  “Why me?” Josh asked.

  “Because you’re big enough that you just might hurt him. Take out the head and you kill the body.”

  Adrian broke the huddle and directed us to position ourselves on either side of him. We all started running as he kicked the ball. From the corner of my eye I watched it soar through the sky.

  I kept close to Josh, only a few steps ahead. Everybody else made rank in front of us.

  We hit the other players like an avalanche, using our combat training to overcome the bigger opponents. Each new tackle was an image of pain and precision.

  I watched Lillie chop a guy in the throat moments before I tackled Blake’s last guardian. As I wrapped myself around my opponent and shifted our body weight into the ground I could hear a heavy impact close by. It was loud, the loudest of all the hits. From where I laid I could see the ball bouncing across the ground. Blake cried out in fury that sounded deeply pained.

  Adrian was there scooping it up and trotting into the end-zone. He spiked the ball and raised his fist in victory.

  I could only gaze around at all the people not getting up, spread across the yard. In one play we had wiped out the entire football team. I shifted my weight off of my opponent who lay moaning on the ground. Each and every one of my team was unaffected by the hard impacts. We had been taught to take people out like assassins not tackle like football players, it showed in our opponents.

  “That’s not fair, you cheated!” Blake yelled as he scrambled to his feet.

  Adrian laughed “You can cheat too. Go ahead, we will let you.”

  “We play by the rules.” Blake shouted back.

  I didn’t like the way that Adrian was talking and looking around at the rest of us, I could see that they didn’t like it either. We had taken out their players the only way we knew how, not trying to deliberately cheat. Adrian made it sound otherwise.