by D. S. Murphy
Courtney smiled at the group of jittery girls. Her smile seemed genuine, but I knew better than to fall for her charm. “What a great turn out this year!” She shouted so everyone could hear her. “I know you’re all eager to show me what you got, so I won’t go on with any pep talks or unnecessary coddling.” Her smile slowly faded as she regarded everyone. “If you don’t already know what I expect from you, you probably shouldn’t be here right now. This team is ranked third in the region, so of course, we only take the best. Coach Whitman here can attest to that.” She gestured to the volleyball coach standing a few feet away. With a round build and fiery red hair, she looked even more intimidating than Courtney. My skin prickled at the thought of being yelled at by them during practices. If I even make the cut. What I did that day in gym class could have been a fluke, or a temporary side effect of the phylia.
“Okay!” Courtney boomed. “Get your asses on the line. We’re going to run some drills.” I was surprised that she could talk to us like that, but coach Whitman barely blinked. We all shuffled into place in the middle of gym. I looked down the line at all the girls. Courtney had a lot of options. Then I noticed Crys, standing close to the end of the line. I didn’t even know she wanted to join. I felt a flash of anger that she hadn’t told me, followed by guilt that I’d never asked. Maybe she would have told me this morning, if I hadn’t pushed her away. I held my chin up as Courtney scrutinized each girl in the line. She threw the ball to random girls and they did their best attempt to volley the ball back to her. Most of the girls made it look relatively easy. When everyone in the line had a chance to volley, Courtney finally walked toward me. I prepared myself, fixing my stance and holding up my hands to receive the ball. I tried to focus, but when she threw the ball at me, it was too low to reach. The ball hit my knuckle and fell pathetically to the ground. Courtney smiled innocently, and I glared back at her. Most of the girls snickered at my attempt.
We had to find a partner for the next drill. I looked around the gym, but everyone paired up so quickly I didn’t have time to find anyone. Courtney smirked and folded her arms. “I guess you’re mine then.” She tossed the ball at me without warning and I missed it. I sighed, but tried to keep calm. You can do this, I told myself. I tossed the ball at her, and she knocked it back several feet to the side. I dove for it awkwardly, banging my knee.
“Come on Courtney,” I said. “Can you just pass it properly?”
“You think the other teams will make it easy for you? This is varsity. It’s supposed to be hard.”
“You’re the one who said I wasn’t good enough. What are you so afraid of?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and quickly tossed the ball again. It was a good throw this time. I should have been able to get it, but it bounced off my hand. Courtney smiled in triumph. I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath. When I opened them, Courtney was making her way to the front of the group. “That’s enough,” she said. “Now show me your spikes.”
We shuffled into a line in front of the volleyball net. One after the other, the girls jumped up for their spikes. Some of them couldn’t even jump high enough to touch the ball. Courtney shook her head, unimpressed. When it was Crys’s turn, she waited for the ball to be thrown, then jumped and spiked it with a force I didn’t know she was capable of. She was never horrible at volleyball, but I hadn’t seen her put much effort into it in gym class. Courtney smiled at her and there was a moment when it looked like she wanted to smile back, but then she looked at me and her face fell. She was dating a senior, and now it looked like she was cozying up to Courtney. The only thing holding her back was her friendship with a loser like me.
I walked up to the line and bent my legs, preparing to jump. I cleared my mind and watched the girl that stood at the net with the ball in her hand. She tossed the ball too far to my left. I ran for it, but couldn’t reach it in time. I passed the ball back to her and she threw it again, this time too high for me get the timing right. The ball hit me in the face and I nearly fell as I landed. Courtney winked at the girl—her seal of approval. I kicked the ball back at the girl and glared at Courtney. She raised an eyebrow, challenging me. I cursed myself for letting her get under my skin. Why did I even want to be on the team? It was an invitation for abuse.
But I wasn’t ready to give Courtney the satisfaction of quitting. I just needed to get a fair chance. I looked at the crowd of girls and pointed to a tall girl with long, blonde hair. “Could you throw the ball for me, please?” The girl didn’t budge. Everyone was too afraid of Courtney. Nobody wanted to go down with a sinking ship. My lip trembled. After everything I’d been through, the guilt of Sam’s death, my father’s secrets, I felt ridiculous to let a little bullying affect me this deeply, but it was the last straw.
I was about to give up when Chrys stepped forward. She didn’t even glance at Courtney as she took the ball from the other girl. I threw her a grateful look and got ready. Courtney moved to stop her, but before she could, Crys tossed the ball in the air—a perfect toss. I zeroed in on the ball and focused on the energy stirring inside me. All the pain, anger and frustration bubbled up inside me. A feeling of power wrapped around me, and my peripheral vision blurred until I could only see the ball, the net, and the other side of the court. Orange and pink flames crackled, and I could hear a subtle roar. Pink sparks floated around me as I jumped for the ball, which seemed to hover right above the net. I smashed my open palm down on the ball, and it shot to the other side of the court and slapped the ground with a deafening thud. The entire gym went silent. I turned to the group of girls. A mix of stunned, impressed, and confused looks crossed their faces. I can’t believe I did that. I caught a look of pride on Crys’s face and lowered my head to hide my smile.
Someone cleared their throat. I turned to see Courtney’s seething expression. “Give me another ball,” she said, marching up to the coach, who stood beside a rack of volleyballs. The coach handed her a ball and she tossed it up for me to spike. It was easier this time. Time slowed down at the perfect moment, and I knew exactly when to jump and where the ball was going to be. It flew so fast over the net that Courtney had to do a doubletake. It landed just within the lines; a perfect hit. I landed softly on my feet and gave her a challenging look. She quickly grabbed another ball and threw it.
As my feet left the floor, my vision blurred again, but this time the fire consumed everything. I was still in the gym, but it was a barren place. Dust caked the floor and the bleachers. Deflated balls and gym equipment littered the ground. I managed to spike the ball into the far corner, but I was so distracted I landed awkwardly on my ankle. A sharp pain shot up my leg and I cried out. When I tried to stand up, the pain heightened. My ankle could not support my weight. I fell to one knee, hoping for the vision to pass quickly like it had in the bookstore. But when I looked up again, all the girls were gone and the gym was still a wreck. I heard voices and noticed a group of men standing in the far corner of the gym. Mercs. Tom and Curt were at the front of a group of what looked like about twenty men. They were heavily armed with rifles, shotguns and pistols.
I stumbled closer so I could hear what Tom was saying.
“We go in hard, take all the girls we can find. Peters is paying double this time. Apparently, Defiance thinks it’s OK to attack Zamonta directly—you all know what happened to Bruce a couple days ago. This is our chance at payback.”
“No!” I shouted. Tom cocked his head, like he could actually hear me. I limped towards them, pushing through the pain, but then I hit something hard and fell backwards again. The panic rose in my chest and my breath hitched, but suddenly I was back in the present. The floor was so polished it reflected the flourescent lights above, and I blinked against the brightness. When I could see again, I was surrounded by high school girls with shocked faces.
22
Crys ran to me and helped me to my feet. I pushed her off, wiping my tears with the back of my hand.
“Alicia, are you okay?” she asked. There was genuine c
oncern in her voice.
“I’m fine, I just… landed on my foot wrong. I guess I got a little confused for a minute.”
“You look like you’re in serious pain. You should see a doctor.”
“Can’t,” I grunted, limping towards the exit.
“Where are you going?” Chrys asked, catching my elbow.
I reached the edge of the gym and waited until the other girls had gone back to tryouts.
“I have to go back,” I whispered.
“Back where…” she said, but then her eyes widened. “To the future?” I nodded and she reached for me. “I thought we were out of phylia?”
“Brett and I found more in Zamonta. I might have kept some.”
“Shit, Alicia, you’re traveling by yourself? That’s too dangerous.”
I snorted. “Thanks for noticing. But you, Brett and Cody haven’t given a damn about me all week, why start now?”
“We didn’t know you were tripping on your own,” Chrys said, raising her voice. “We all thought we were waiting till the weekend.”
“Some of us can’t afford to wait and play high school when the future of civilization is at risk. Go back to your new friends while I focus on more important things. I hope you make the team.” There was more snide in my voice than I intended, but I was tired of feeling isolated, and the pain in my ankle was affecting my filter. If nobody wanted to help me, I’d do it all myself.
Part of me was hoping Chrys would run after me and offer to help. When she didn’t, I realized I didn’t have a good plan for getting to Defiance. I needed to warn them before Tom and his goons showed up. The pain in my foot made it difficult to navigate my way through the halls. I tried to hide the limp, but there was no use. Any pressure on my foot sent an intense burning sensation through my leg.
It took me nearly an hour to reach Defiance by bike, cursing myself for all the time I was wasting, pushing through the pain that was screaming up my entire leg. I almost cried with relief when I hit the river and crossed the bridge into the city. The sun was already low when I ditched my bike in some bushes and lay down in a patch of grass behind a fence.
I pulled out a small amount of phylia and a lighter; I’d stashed it in my backpack because I was afraid of hiding it at home where Dad could accidentally find it. I lit the makeshift pipe so fast I nearly burned my fingers. My hands shook as I inhaled the smoke and closed my eyes.
My surroundings blurred and warped. I fidgeted with nervous energy as the wave of pink took over. Paint peeled from the walls of the buildings near me and the fence rotted, leaving broken boards and rusty nails. When it was over, I stood up and rushed into the city to warn the others.
But I was too late. Defiance was in smoke and ruin.
***
The streets were crowded with people, running with buckets of water to put out the lingering flames from burning houses, or lifting the bodies of the wounded. I asked a woman if she’d seen Tamara, and she pointed towards the square. It was empty this time, but I could see a crowd gathered outside the doors of a wide, square building with two floors. I pushed through them and made my way inside. Tamara was sitting in the center of a large table in front of what looked like a town hall meeting, except most of the people were standing up and shouting. A burly man with dark hair and tattoos on his arms pounded his fist on the table and the room quieted down. Most of the men sat back down, except one. Jake stood in the front of the room with his arms crossed defiantly, until finally Tamara sighed and nodded to him.
“We have to go after them,” he said. “We mount an attack. We can stop them before they reach Zamonta—.”
Tamara held up her hand and he stopped talking. “First of all, you’re still healing. You barely survived your last encounter with Zamonta’s troops. But more than that, when you disobeyed me before, not only did you get a young guard killed, but you also escalated the conflict. You killed a merc on Zamonta’s front doorstep. You stole from them. You didn’t think they’d come back, wanting revenge?”
“You’re saying we should have let them keep the girls? We let them get away with it?” Jake scowled.
“Of course not,” Tamara snapped. “Zamonta has to pay. They will answer for what they’ve done. But we need to be smart. We need to plan. Running off into another conflict would leave Defiance defenseless—we’ve just lost half a dozen guards, and dozens more are wounded. We need time to regroup and plan a proper attack. We need a way into Zamonta. Otherwise they’ll just wait us out until dark, and we’ll be sitting ducks for the mods.”
“I can’t just do nothing,” Jake said, clenching his fists. There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd.
“I was afraid that would be the case. And since you already lost my trust last time you disobeyed a direct order, this time I’m going to have to take more serious measures.”
She snapped her fingers and two of her guards grabbed Jake by the arms. His eyes widened but he didn’t pull away. Meredith jumped up, her hand on the handle of the knife in her belt. Jake shook his head at her.
“Come now,” Tamara said, standing up. “We can’t afford to be divided. Not right now. I’m only looking out for the safety of the whole community. I’m asking that you trust me for a few days, while our injured heal and we rebuild our defenses. Then we’ll plan our attack. Don’t forget, Defiance is one of the last communities of humans in the entire world. If we make a wrong move, and are wiped out, we jeapordize the future of the human race.”
The crowd nodded in agreement, though I saw some younger men in the back shifting uncomfortably as the guards led Jake through the crowd. I whispered his name when he was near me. His head snapped up at the sound of my voice. His cheeks were red and blotchy, like he’d been crying. I reached out to him and he took my hand in his.
“Jake, what happened?” I asked.
He lowered his chin to his chest and let out a sigh. I looked up at the faces around me and found Meredith. I gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head. The silence concerned me.
“Just tell me. Please.”
His voice cracked as he finally whispered, “They took her.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, squeezing his hands. “Who did they take?”
“Annabelle,” he mumbled, barely audible. “They took Annabelle.”
The look in his eyes sent shivers down my spine. My mouth went dry. I started to say something comforting, but he pulled me into a tight hug. The feeling of Jake’s tears dripping onto my shoulder made my heart feal like it was ripping apart. I gently pulled away, and the guards led him through the park, towards the apartment building where Tamara had tried to lock me in before.
I looked up towards the center of the room. Tamara was staring at me with a calculating expression. She motioned to meet outside, then dismissed the others. I waited by the door as the gathering spilled out of the building. Tamara led me towards a grove of trees at the edge of the park before speaking.
“Back so soon?” she said. “Didn’t you do enough damage last time?”
“I came to warn you,” I said. “I saw a vision at school, I knew they were planning to attack. So I rode my bike here—”
Tamara laughed out loud, a cruel laugh.
“I remember that day. Boy are you in trouble when you get back. Well, it was a nice thought, but as you can see, you’re too late, and we’ve got things under control.”
“Sure you do,” I said. “Locking Jake up because he doesn’t agree with you? He’s just trying to help. He lost someone he cares about.”
“I’m sorry Alicia, but this is none of your business. I’ve been running Defiance for twenty years without you. I’ve given my life to this community, because you asked me to. And I’ve had to make difficult decisions. Choices that you will never understand. You think we haven’t all lost someone? I’ve watched hundreds of friends die, usually because they run off on some stupid mission. I’m responsible for every life here, and I won’t see it all far apart now. You may be a tim
e-traveler, but you’re still just a teenage girl. So keep out of the way, and go back to your own time, where you can actually do something about it.”
“I’m trying,” I said. “I’m about to give you the lottery tickets, so you can start building all of this.”
“That’s not enough,” Tamara said. “You shouldn’t be focused on saving Defiance, you should be focused on saving the world. You know what needs to be done.”
“Not this again. Please.”
She grabbed my shoulders tightly, her fingers digging into my skin.
“Warning them wasn’t enough. Zamonta needs to be stopped, in your time. Cut off the head and the body will die.”
“Stop,” I snapped. “Just. Stop. Please.”
“Alicia! Wake up!” She yelled. “Have you even tried to do anything?”
“Of course I have!”
She laughed a humorless laugh. “What exactly?” she said. “Go ahead. Tell me your master plan for fixing the fucking world.”
My eyes grew ten sizes. I’d never heard my sister sound so harsh before. She was a modern-day hippie who hated conflict and negativity. A stretch of silence followed her words, and she regarded me with stone cold severity. Then her gaze softened.
“I’m sorry, Alicia. It’s just, you coming here, it’s too risky. Don’t you see, you’re the only one who can actually do anything to stop all of this, and it’s frustrating watching you throw it all away and rush into danger. If anything happens to you, that’s it. Game over. So take care of yourself, please. We’re all counting on you.” She pulled me in for a hug and squeezed me tightly.