by Nancy Isaak
There was a sudden commotion from the girls across the street as Jay pushed her way through. “Kaylee!” she yelled, loudly. “Cherry!”
“What am I—chopped liver?” grumbled Jude.
Ignoring the stern looks from the girls on the Protection Detail, Jay ran across the street toward us. She was breathing hard, like she had run all the way from the Medical Center.
And she looked angry…very angry. “We need to talk.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Do we have time to get a soda and some cake?” asked Jude.
Jay seemed to notice Jude for the first time. “Oh good, there you are, Jude. I need you, too. Come on—all three of you.”
Beside me, Jude immediately tensed. “Where’s Lily?”
“She’s fine,” Jay said, quickly. Then, looking at Cherry, she added, “Lily’s with Shawnee and Wandy—at your house.”
Unsure about what to do with our shopping carts, I turned back to Orla. I wasn’t surprised to discover that she had been listening closely to our conversation.
“Go,” she said, motioning with her hands. “I’ve got girls who can take your carts the rest of the way.”
Jude and Cherry immediately abandoned their carts. I, however, took just long enough to reach inside of mine and take out the Hocking books.
* * * *
I still can’t believe it—that bitch Tray spanked Shawnee!
Cherry was absolutely livid when she found out. She immediately wanted to go to the Foxes Compound and beat up Tray for what she did.
We all begged Cherry not to go.
No matter how stupid the spanking was—Tray is surrounded by the Protection Detail. If Cherry went after her, she’d be coming up against a dozen guns.
Wandy actually held onto Cherry’s arms, trying to keep her from racing out the front door. “It’s what Tray wants!” cried Wandy. “Don’t you get it, Cherry?! She wants you to try and beat her up. Then she’ll have a reason to shoot you!”
“I’ll gladly give her a reason!” growled Cherry. “Nobody spanks my little sister! Nobody!”
Cherry managed to eventually shake off Wandy but—when Cherry reached the front door—Jude had stationed herself in front of it. Her arms were crossed and she wasn’t moving.
“Seriously, Jude!” Cherry hissed. “You really want to do this?”
“Pretty much,” Jude answered.
“You don’t think I could make you move?”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Stop it!” It was Shawnee who had cried out. She ran up to Cherry and put her arms around her big sister. “Please stop it, Cherry,” she begged. “Please!”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Lily began to cry. “I don’t want anyone else to get spanked!” she blubbered.
Cherry slowly looked around at the rest of us. “What would you do?” she asked us. “Truthfully? What would you do if they spanked Lily?”
“Kill them!” Jude snarled.
“You’re supposed to be helping, Jude,” Jay cautioned.
“Sorry,” Jude said—not looking sorry at all.
Shawnee began pulling Cherry away from the front door. “It didn’t even hurt,” she lied. “And I really did steal those cookies, so I kind of deserved it anyway.”
“No one deserves to be spanked,” Jay and I said, at the same time.
“Well…it doesn’t matter anymore,” Shawnee quickly added, “because…because it’s over now. So, you gotta’ promise me, Cherry…you gotta’ promise me that you’re not gonna’ go and beat up Tray.”
Cherry said nothing, but I could tell that her anger was starting to diminish.
“You gotta’ promise me,” Shawnee continued to insist.
Even as her eyes filled with tears, Cherry nodded. “I promise, baby sister.”
Shawnee beamed, and she gave Cherry a big hug. “Me and Lily brought sodas and cake from the cafeteria for everyone,” she said, happily. Then—she added, quickly. “Orla said it was okay, so it wasn’t like we were stealing!”
“Why don’t you and Lily go get it ready for us?” I suggested.
A moment later, Shawnee and Lily were skipping toward the kitchen.
“Cherry?” I asked, worried. “Are you going to be okay?”
She was just standing there, frowning. Jude reached over and punched Cherry in the arm. “Dude, you’re going after Tray, aren’t you?”
“First chance I get,” Cherry growled.
* * * *
About an hour later, Shawnee and Lily were playing on the hill, just outside of Wandy and Cherry’s house. The rest of us, meanwhile, were out on the back patio—alternately watching the two girls play or looking at all the dead cars along the 101 Freeway.
“Have you guys noticed how some of the cars are already starting to rust?” I asked. “Not a whole bunch—kind of like just at the edges.”
“I noticed that, too,” said Wandy. “And there’s grass growing on the freeway. It’s coming up through all the cracks.”
“We see a lot of coyotes traveling along there now,” added Cherry. “Wandy even saw a herd of deer cross over a couple of days ago.”
Wandy nodded. “I keep waiting for a bear.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about the beasts anymore,” said Jude.
“Maybe,” I said.
“Probably,” insisted Jude.
“Do you really think that Orla just made it all up to control us?” asked Wandy. “That just sounds so manipulative.”
“I believe it,” said Cherry.
“It’s just that it would have to be more than just Orla and the Foxes for it to work. That would mean that a lot more girls would have to be involved in the ‘lie’. Like the whole Protection Detail probably,” mused Wandy. “What do you think, Jay?”
“I’m not sure, yet,” said Jay, honestly. “But now I am wondering if there was really a drawing to choose which girls got to go to the library.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, think of it,” she said. “You, Cherry, and Jude got chosen, but Wandy and I didn’t.”
“You didn’t put your name in,” I said.
Jay waved that aside. “Yeah, I know. And Jude didn’t either, but she still went.”
“Then, what are you saying?”
“It’s just curious, you know. I wonder if maybe Orla made sure that some girls in each of the ‘groups’ went, but some of us stayed behind. So—no matter what happened outside of the boundaries…”
“…we’d all have a reason to come back again,” Jude finished.
“Exactly.”
* * * *
When Sophia came through the front door an hour later, Wandy quickly leaned over and whispered, “Careful what you say in front of her.”
“You don’t trust her?” I whispered back.
Wandy shrugged. “Let’s just say that Sophia’s still a little unstable at the moment.”
“True that,” agreed Jude.
A moment later, Sophia dragged herself out onto the back patio and collapsed in a lounge chair. She looked fatigued, and gave a big sigh as she settled in.
“The cake was good, Sophia,” I offered.
“Thanks,” she said. “I just wish I had eggs, you know…and milk…and some decent chillies”
“Well, I think you’re doing amazing things with what you’ve been given.”
“It’s not going to last for long,” she warned. “Supplies are getting very low.”
“We’ll get the farm started,” Wandy assured her. “I think I can get us our first vegetables in a couple of months. Chillies take about three to four months, though…I think.” She turned to Cherry. “Hopefully, you guys brought back a book on growing times, right?”
“That was on my list,” nodded Cherry. “I think you’re going to be happy. Westlake lent us almost every book that you wanted.”
Sophia sighed. “I don’t know why you are even bothering.”
“Um…beca
use we need to eat,” said Cherry.
“I just think it is a waste of time, is all”
“Why do you say that?”
“It is not going to last much longer…this ‘thing’. I think that is very obvious.”
I should have just kept quiet, but I couldn’t help myself. “Why do you say that, Sophia?”
“Because Orla is the devil…and Tray is a black demon who does her bidding.”
Jude actually choked on her soda; she sputtered, spraying her drink over all of us.
Sophia frowned at her. “It’s true!” she insisted. “I was sleeping in the home of the devil—so I know these things.”
“The Foxes Compound,” said Jay.
“And there are horrible, horrible sins there,” Sophia told us.
FLAMES IN THE DISTANCE
Five days later—around three in the morning—Jude, Jay, and I woke to the faint echo of shopping carts being pushed along Argos Street. Even though it was dark and we were still under curfew, Jude and I snuck out and climbed along the back of the houses until we could see what was going on.
Sure enough, there were 11th and 12th graders—pushing carts down Argos toward Driver Avenue. In total, there were ten girls—eight of them pushing shopping carts.
All full of books!
“What do you think is going on?” I whispered, confused by what I was seeing.
“Come on!” Jude took off running.
Keeping to the shadows, we eventually made our way down to the culvert. From there, we followed it around until we were in Chumash Park.
“Make sure you keep your voice down,” whispered Jude. “Sometimes they station a girl up in the rocks.”
I wondered how she knew.
Had Jude been sneaking around during the night while the rest of us had been sleeping?
* * * *
Luckily, there was no one on guard in the rocks that evening.
We climbed up the hill—across from my townhouse—one quiet step at a time. When we finally reached the top, Jude looked out over the Conejo Valley—toward the north.
“Damn,” she said softly. “Do you see it?”
I looked to where she was pointing. It was faint, but there was a definite flicker of light coming from the Westlake Village area of Agoura Road.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.
“The library,” said Jude. “I think they just burned it down.”
“Cammie and the others!” I gasped.
“They’re smart girls,” said Jude. “They’ll have gotten out. I’m sure of it.”
But—I wasn’t.
* * * *
We met after work the next day to plan our escape.
There were five of us sitting in the living room of my townhouse—Jay, Jude, Wandy, Cherry, and me.
Jay placed the trail book that she had taken from Jacob’s house onto the coffee table in front of us. “I think we need to create a number of different routes. Like Plan A, Plan B, Plan C—that sort of thing. That way, if one way gets cut off, we’ll already be prepared.”
“Do you think the Foxes will figure out where we’re going?” asked Cherry.
“I haven’t really talked about my dad at school,” I told them. “I mean, Jay knows, but I was kind of too embarrassed to mention that I was originally from Malibu. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was a snob or anything.”
“So, that might give us a good chance to make it all the way down Kanan before they know we’re gone,” said Jay.
“Unless they’ve got it covered,” said Cherry. “I mean, we don’t know where they’ve stationed all the Protection Detail girls—especially at night.”
“That’s why we need to have a number of different routes through the mountains.” Jay tapped the trail book. “They can’t cover everything.”
“Or we could go somewhere they wouldn’t be expecting,” suggested Wandy. “Maybe to Simi Valley.”
We all just looked at her—was she really suggesting that we go further inland, where it was even hotter and dryer, as opposed to the beach and Malibu?
“Never mind,” Wandy quickly corrected.
“And we’ll all need weapons,” I added. “Now I know we’re pretty sure that there aren’t any gangs or beasts out there, but—just in case. Plus, we’ll be walking through mountain lion territory.”
“Just in case,” agreed Cherry, nodding.
Wandy looked at her, then; her eyebrows went up, questioning.
She and Cherry seemed to be having an unspoken conversation. An agreement must have eventually been made, because Wandy nodded once, then turned back to us. “We have a shotgun and thirty-two shells.”
“Excellent,” said Jude, opening her fanny pack and pulling out her own gun. At the same time, I opened my purse and exposed my revolver.
Cherry and Wandy both looked at Jay.
She shrugged. “I got nothing.”
* * * *
Jude and Cherry wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Jay and Wandy asked for a month. They both had things that they wanted to do before we left. As they reminded us—there would still be fifty-eight girls left behind—and Jay and Wandy felt a responsibility toward them.
Wandy wanted to make sure that the farm was up and running first.
Jay needed to find someone to take over the Medical Center.
Me—I just wanted to go to Malibu.
But my vote still went with Wandy and Jay’s. Because, let’s face it—of all of us—they were the most level-headed.
Sadly…I made the wrong choice.
MAY
STATE YOUR CASE
During the first week of May, the Foxes set up a ‘Tribunal’.
Every Wednesday—just after work—Orla, Tray, and Peyton would sit on the stage in the auditorium and listen to any disputes or petitions from the girls. The Tribunal would then make a decision on the matter, which would be considered final.
As in—there would be no chance for an appeal.
Even though a lot of the girls didn’t consider this very fair, Orla explained at an Assembly that—for the time being—the Tribunal needed to have ‘absolute power’ because of our ‘unique circumstances’. She said that, later—after we had held elections for a new government—we would once again return to a normal ‘appeals system’.
When Jay heard this, she just shook her head in dismay. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” she quoted, sadly.
* * * *
We were all waiting for the first Tribunal to begin.
Up on the stage, Orla, Peyton, and Tray sat in three chairs behind a long table. Meanwhile, the girls doing the petitioning would be required to stand in front of them and state their cases. Shelton, meanwhile, sat at a desk to one side of the stage, taking notes for the ‘official record’.
As I looked around at the audience, I wasn’t surprised to see that almost everyone was there. This was going to be today’s ‘entertainment’—in essence, off-the-grid television for ‘Generation Y-us’.
Orla and Tray, of course, were their usual well-dressed selves—wearing expensive sheath dresses and matching jackets. Peyton, however, was dressed in a pair of simple jeans and a turquoise t-shirt. Her hair was back in a high-pony, but it was messy and appeared to be unwashed.
Jude leaned over to whisper to Jay and me. “Peyton’s losing her mojo.”
“She hasn’t gotten over Amelie,” said Jay. “I think she’s seriously depressed.”
“Has she been into the clinic…since…you know?” I asked.
Jay shook her head. “Far as I can tell, she spends all her time in the Foxes Compound. I overheard Alice telling Shelton that Peyton doesn’t even talk much anymore.”
“She must be depressed,” said Jude. “Girl couldn’t keep her mouth shut before.”
Up onstage, Sophia walked forward to stand before the Tribunal.
Cherry and Wandy were seated in front of us—with Lily and Shawnee to one side. I tapped Cherry on the shoulder. “What’
s Sophia going up for?”
“Got me,” she shrugged.
“Let the record show that Sophia Rojas will be the first to petition the Tribunal this Wednesday,” announced Orla. She swept her hand toward Sophia, a somewhat-royal gesture, indicating that the girl should speak.
“Gracias…thank-you,” said Sophia, looking nervous and uncomfortable. She had a paper in her hand, which she placed on the table in front of the Tribunal. “I ask the Tribunal to please make Church Sunday Services for all girls to have to attend. The exception, of course, is the Protection Detail—those girls on duty.”
Without picking it up, Orla leaned over and read the paper on the table. “I see that Reena Coddlemeier has seconded your petition.”
We all looked over at Reena in the audience. She was nodding and smiling widely.
“Any one in disagreement,” announced Orla, “has ten minutes for discussion before the Tribunal will make their decision.”
Jay immediately stood up.
“Yes, Jay,” sighed Orla.
“Can I have compulsory mosque for all girls on Friday—with the exception, of course, of those members of the Protection Detail who would be on duty?”
Sophia turned and gave Jay a dirty look. “This is a Christian country, Jay. You know this!”
“I actually don’t,” said Jay, sweetly. “But then, when I legally entered this country and legally became a citizen, I’m pretty sure that I learned that our Constitution doesn’t give us ‘freedom of just Christian religion’ but ‘freedom of all religion’.”
Sophia’s mouth fell open. She looked absolutely offended. We all knew that she was illegal, but everyone had always been careful not to mention it.
Now Jay had just gone and thrown it right in her face.