by Jill Cooper
“Please,” Jeff pushed the tray towards her. “Eat. You need to heal and you’re going to need your strength.”
Liz picked up the sandwich and took a big bite. And it was good, real good. One of the best sandwiches she had in a long time. “Did you make this?” Liz asked as Jeff headed out the door.
“Sure did. I ran a restaurant for a long time. Seems ages ago. It’s the number nine special on Dusty’s old menu.”
“It’s delicious.” Liz said and her words felt hollow as they chased after him. Wherever Dusty’s was for some reason it made Jeff sad. Liz wished she’d get to ask about it when the door latched shut behind him.
She didn’t know how long it would be before she had another visitor. But it seemed like a long time. The sky was growing dark and her stomach was rolling with fresh hunger when the bedroom door opened. This time there was no knock.
Liz sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes. This glistening she remembered from the night before. It was the one responsible for the fires. It was the one that saved her life.
Victor.
She trembled as he turned to face her. There was something not right about his eyes. He wasn’t like the other glistenings, so why did they follow him? Why would a bunch of people that followed kind natured Jake follow this guy on such a whim? Were the glistenings really that fickle about their principals?
“I take it you are finding yourself well cared for?” Victor asked.
Liz nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
“And how are you feeling? I hope your wound is healing?”
“It is. There’s still some pain, but I feel better.” Liz swallowed back the fear bubbling up in the back of her throat. “Thank you for saving me. I don’t know why…”
Victor’s smile was slight and smug. He sat down beside her on the bed and Liz resisted the impulse to back away. “You may think we are monsters, but we have no real qualms with your kind, but we no longer want to be oppressed. We want to live, Liz. Just like you do.”
“That’s why you killed all those people in the fields? That’s why you burned our crops?” Liz’s voice edged up, bordering on a shrill.
“It was unfortunate people were there. It was late. We didn’t anticipate that they would force a young, innocent girl like yourself there. To kill you.” Victor’s voice trailed off slowly and he let out a giant sigh. For show? Maybe, but Liz didn’t know for sure.
“We need to get the attention of the government. The United States doesn’t just oppress us. They oppress you too, don’t they? And not just the Canadian state if what I see on the news is true. Mexico too. The Americans wants to keep the power they had a century before the glistenings were born. And to do that, they’re willing to keep anyone pressed under their thumb and use an illegal police force to do it.”
Liz licked her lip. It wasn’t that different a speech than the one her father gave on a regular basis. But this man was nothing like Mark Nuefeld. Nothing like him at all. Liz clung to that shred of truth as Victor stared her down.
“I saved you because you were in trouble. Those men were hurting you because you befriended Jake, isn’t that it? Because their views of us are so horrible, they are willing to harm a sweet girl who saw the truth in Jake.” Victor let out a breath. “A sweet boy not despite the fact he is a glistening. And you are kind, trusting not because you are human, but because you are you. Being a human doesn’t make you a monster any more than a glistening makes you one.”
Victor smiled sadly. “We are just different. But our differences don’t need to keep us divided. I am afraid though that humans will never see it that way. Hate will always mar their vision and they would rather wipe us out than see the truth.”
“Truth?” Liz whispered, tears threatening to rise in her eyes. She blinked her lashes to keep them at bay.
“That humans are the villains. They keep us in cages. Big cages, but cages nonetheless. Glistenings seem to have freedom;, the ability to work, go to the park and even fall in love. But if we step out of line, we’re tortured. Hunted.”
Tortured? Liz’s skin shivered. “I never heard about torture…Are you sure?”
Victor pulled the collar off his shirt down and Liz saw a red scar running deep around his neck. In the front were two pin holes. He took her hand and made her touch it. Liz was desperate to pull her hand away.
“I was only five when I was caught on the outside with my family. This is what they did to me to get me inside New Haven with my mother. My father was not so lucky. He resisted and they killed him right in front of me.”
Liz yanked her hand back and glanced away from it. “I’m…sorry.”
“I am sure you are. But they weren’t. My father wasn’t even taken back with us. No burial. They just disposed of him like he was trash. And I was kicked, electrocuted, and told to shut my trap. Stop crying. I was only five. Do you think a hero, a good person does something like that?”
Liz shook her head, but couldn’t find her voice. She had no idea that’s what the police did to glistenings.
“We just want to be left alone and I am sorry to say sometimes to get that, you must fight. I’m just sorry innocent people will be caught in the crosshairs.” Victor stood. “But the men who were going to kill you, were not innocent. They were monsters. And I…the glistenings…we saved you.”
He headed toward the door and Liz stared after him. “I’ve said enough now. I’ll visit you again soon, Liz.”
****
In two days time Liz was itching to leave her room. She was escorted by her guards downstairs and allowed to eat breakfast with everyone. At first she was afraid as she saw human looking glistenings, but one poured her some apple juice while another handed her a paper plate with pancakes and bacon on it.
She thanked them, of course because she was raised to do so and inside her terror was waning. Others stopped to say hello and introduce themselves. “I’m Margret and this is my daughter, Mary.”
Liz smiled at the little girl with her rosy cheeks and back of flowing curls. She wore a ribbon in her hair that a lot of the glistening woman seemed to like. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
Margret squeezed her hand. Liz realized it was the first time that a glistening touched her that didn’t make her want to recoil in fright. Her smile was warm and it reminded Liz of her mother. It reminded her how much she missed her parents. “I hope you’ll stay with us. It’s nice here and it’s safe for you.”
Liz scowled with a mouth full of pancakes. “What do you mean safe?”
Margret moved away and Liz stood up from the table and wandered into the living room. Only two glistenings were gathered there in front of the television. They were watching the news. It looked like a war-torn country or parts of the United States that were no longer inhabited, but Liz recognized the images on the screen. It was downtown Swift Current. The charred, crumbling wreckage of a building was the café she had just been at days earlier.
Off to the center was a pile of rubble and Liz saw the blinking sign for the Twin Cinemas as smoke wafted up.
A scream lodged in her throat as her heart cracked and pain came pouring out. Her home, her people…Liz dropped her plate and covered her trembling mouth with both her hands.
The images on the screen changed. Swarms of people were gathered at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School. Cots were crammed together and dirty faces, saddened and sullen, filled the screen. Liz swept the screen with her eyes, looking for her parents. For someone she would know.
Some were holding makeshift signs on poster board or old napkins, crinkled and dirty. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF FOOD! WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT NOW?
Liz stared down at her pancakes crumbled on the floor. She was enjoying so much food and well taken care of. So how was it that her friends, her family, were out there starving when the glistenings had so much?
A sob lodged in her throat and she spun around to see Victor coming into the room. His eyes were warm, soft and filled with compassion. “Oh, dear girl. I am so so
rry you had to see this. Frank, please turn off the television out of respect for our guest.”
Liz shook her head. “You did this. You all did this. How could you do this?” She sobbed into her hands. “Why did you save me? I should be with them. I should—.”
Victor’s eyes darkened. His words came slow, deliberate. “But you would not be with them, Liz. You would have bled out in a field and died had we not come across you. I am not the enemy in all this. I am sorry for the suffering of your people, but we do what we must against the government.”
“Then help them!” Liz wailed. “Help them!”
Victor laughed. “They would not accept my help. They believe me to be a monster. They would not accept my help if I were the last person, the last glistening, on the planet. You should know this better than anyone given your circumstances.”
“If you talked to them. If you promised them food.” A thought dawned on Liz like a morning sunrise. Her mouth fell open and her eyes danced with glee. “I could talk to them. I could tell them what it’s like here. That no one here wants to hurt me. I could convince them, I know I could.”
Victor sighed. “It is too risky. If you were to align yourself with us, you would be making yourself a target.”
“I have to try.” Liz insisted, her lips pressed together. “You can help me. If you mean what you say, that you mean us no harm, then you have to help. You have so much food here, there must be something you can do.”
Victor rubbed his hands together, his lip stuck out and he considered her words. “All right, Liz. Our crops are numerous and we have taken more livestock in than we can care for and butcher ourselves.” He nodded. “If humans would work for us than yes, we can come up with an arrangement for water, food. Shelter. If you think you are up to it.”
“I am.” Liz stood taller.
“As you wish then. I will help you prepare a statement. We will film it and I’ll have it broadcasted out to the town. The country. Anyone who will listen.”
Liz scowled. “You can do that? You can get access to the news station in town.”
“I can do anything I wish. We control the town.”
Liz’s skin crawled. “Can you find my parents? Bring them here?”
He put his hand on her back and led her away toward his private room. “My dear Liz, once you record your statement, I will do anything you wish.”
Chapter Twenty-Two Dirk
Dirk drove speeding like a freight train out of Chicago. When they hit traffic, he took a detour and headed down the coast while baby Travis slept. Obsessively Jane tried to get Jenna on the phone, but Dirk ignored it. He pretended he wasn’t worried out of his mind. That the wheels weren’t turning about what the last message from Jenna meant. What she had been trying to say.
And why she sounded so hoarse. Why she sounded like something was horribly wrong and not like herself at all.
She’d be there. She’d meet him just like she promised. She was Jenna Morgan. When she arrived, she’d probably have half a cow ready to be put on the barbeque and in tow, the would-be assassin. They’d party, they’d kiss, but she would be there.
Dirk had faith in her. It never faltered, even when it should have. But now wasn’t one of those times. Now…his knuckles turned white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
Jane was in the passenger seat beside him, a blanket covering her lap. She sighed with frustration and gripped her phone close to her chest. “She’s not answering.”
“She didn’t thirty seconds ago either. Or thirty seconds before that.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I must be making this worse on you.” Jane slipped her phone into her pocket.
“You shouldn’t be calling her anyway. The police know who you are. They’ll track us. You should toss the phone out the window. Jenna knows where we’re going. She has the number for the house. If she can call, she will.” And if she can’t…calling her does no good.
“Asking a girl to get rid of her phone…” Jane’s voice trailed off as Dirk glowered at her. “Fine.” She sighed. Jane pulled out her phone, removed the Sim card and pulled the phone apart, tossing it out the window.
“Satisfied?” Jane asked.
Dirk gave a slow nod. “Now get some sleep. You’ll be dead on your feet just when everyone is going to need you.”
“I think I like it better when Jenna orders me around.”
Dirk chuckled and gave her a soft smile. “She has more practice at than I do. Please, Jane.”
She nodded and settled back in her seat. Her eyes trained on the open road. “I always felt that I was right. Jenna was wrong. Glistening wouldn’t attack if given the chance. I thought when they broke out of New Haven and did nothing for a year, I was smug. I knew I was right.” Jane let out a long slow sigh. “My life’s work was validated and I thought Jenna’s was a waste.”
“But now a territory is burning and we might be out of food in a week. Maybe less.” Jane’s voice dropped quiet. “I just wish Jenna was here to say I told you so.”
“She will. Just give her a chance and she will.”
“She better.” Jane whispered.
****
Dirk drove clear until morning. Exhausted, even his soul ached for something—sleep, word from Jenna, but when the ocean came into view, he perked up. A small fishing port, Summerset was the perfect place to ride out a food famine with access to small local crops and an abundant supply of fish. Plus, they had a few old friends tucked away from view.
The streets were free of traffic and the smell of salt water filtered through the car’s ventilation system. Smelled great and lifted his spirits, Dirk drove by an old diner and it was the only place he saw a few people walking by. He kept going down a residential street and parked his car in the driveway of the Miller home.
Dirk poked Jane and then carefully unbuckled Travis from his car seat. The boy opened his eyes with a yawn and it was only then did Dirk sigh with relief. Something about Travis always made him feel better. He hugged the boy to his chest and Travis’s little chubby hands gripped his skin, like he needed it to.
Jane stood from the car and glanced around until her eyes fell on the small cottage home. There was a porch outside with a few rocking chairs and colorful pots of wild flowers beckoned them home. “We should hurry. The others won’t be too far behind.”
All business all the time; that was a Morgan woman for you. Dirk hefted the diaper bag on his shoulder and they started up the steps. Before he even knocked on the colorful door, it swung open and he came face to face with the ever smiling Mary Miller. A petite woman, she was up and dressed early and welcomed Dirk with a big hug.
He was crushed in her small frame, and Travis gave a squeal. Dirk had to agree the woman could hug harder than it looked.
“Come in, come in.” She said and held the door open. Dirk stepped inside and smelled coffee and breakfast cooking. The kitchen table was set with simple china and there were pitchers of juice resting on white dollies. It was comforting and warm. The type of place you went to go on vacation, not where you went to hide from the authorities. As he heard Mary make introductions with Jane, Dirk knew they shouldn’t have come. They were putting the Millers and the entire fishing post in danger by being there. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right.
“Dirk,” John Miller raced down the stairs, adjusting the suspenders on his jeans. “It’s good to see you again. Wish it was on better circumstances.”
Dirk shook the hand offered to him. “Always, John. I wish we didn’t need to call on you.”
“And this?” Mary asked and addressed the baby, holding her hands out, “this is Claire—I mean Wendy’s baby?”
“You told them?” Jane hissed.
Dirk held his hand and patted the air to get her to back down. “The Millers can be trusted and Jenna thought they had a right to know.”
“Oh well, he’s beautiful.” Mary smiled through her tears and stroked the boy’s head. “Just like his mom was.” She cleared her throat. “Excus
e me while I get the toast on. Come make yourselves at home.”
“I must come across as an ungrateful brat. Let me help you.” Jane followed after her into the kitchen.
“She’s still not over it.” John’s eyes trained after his wife. “We didn’t know Wendy long, but we were ready to take her under our wing. Jake too.” He ran his tongue along his teeth. “Then the news and the hearing your wife testified against, we realized if Wendy had stayed with us, maybe she wouldn’t have died. Maybe we could have made a difference.”
“What if is a dangerous game, John.” Dirk said.
“Aye, at that it is.” John slapped him on the back. “Come on, we can’t let the women get to breakfast first. We’ll end up fighting over the last piece of bacon.”
Dirk sat at the full breakfast table and took in the sights and smells of the bounty in front of him. Toast, coffee, eggs, bacon, it was the perfect breakfast. How many people were able to sit down to such a feast? How long would Summerset remain untouched by what was going on in the world?
He broke up some bread and fruit for Travis to snack on, and the kid did, greedily shoving food into his mouth with his pudgy hands. Dirk balanced him on his knee and ate with one hand. He had long grown accustomed to holding Travis whenever he could, and that meant often at meal times.
“You didn’t need to go to so much trouble.” Dirk said.
“But it’s wonderful.” Jane said with a rare smile. “Wonderful. We will never be able to repay you for your hospitality.”
“Hospitality doesn’t need to be repaid. You’re welcome as long as you need to stay, to regroup and do whatever else is necessary.” John spooned eggs onto his plate. “Someone pass the cream, please.”
Dirk did the honors as Mary stood up again and bustled over to the stove. She was a good hostess and rarely ever sat still. “You might feel differently about that when the feds are banging on your door again.”