by Jill Cooper
“Just like Wendy. Wasn’t that her name?”
Jake hadn’t expected her to bring her up. He blinked back tears and tried to look away, but she grabbed his chin and made him face her. Liz was usually so sweet and unassuming, but staring at her with her lip pulled into a thin line, he saw something else. Determination. His feelings grew for her, even though it was a dangerous thing. So dangerous….
“I’m sorry you lost her. I’m sorry you feel like it’s your fault.” Liz shook her head. “But you aren’t responsible for how people react to who you are. And if we’re keeping score, I like you a lot, Jake. Since the moment you stepped on my parents’ farm…” Liz shrugged and more tears filled her eyes, but it didn’t make her look weak.
It made her brave. Strong.
“And maybe,” Liz said, “maybe if we’re going to go through this horrible thing, maybe we could at least go through it together.”
Jake couldn’t believe she was suggesting they might have a future. The world was descending into madness and she was offering him a branch of hope. “I can’t ask you to give up everything for a glistening.”
“You’re not a glistening. You’re Jake. A person. An individual. You’re race, or whatever you’re going to call it, shouldn’t define you. Out of everyone here, I trust you. I know that. I don’t care what you call yourself. I trust you.”
Jake couldn’t stop himself any more. He grabbed her face and began to kiss her like time had stopped, the world had ended, and they were the last two people on the planet that mattered. He didn’t think about what tomorrow was going to bring or the sorrow in his heart that threatened to claim him whenever he thought of Wendy.
He just kissed her and all the bad emotions, all the pain was replaced by hope for a future.
****
Side by side humans and glistenings prepared rows of fresh baked bread, huge pots of homemade soups and chili topped off by some of the best pumpkin pies Meghan had ever baked. She even passed her secrets off to some of the human mothers that were there.
When Jake heard that Jackie and Mark was there, he was overcome with relief and guilt. He wanted to see them and at the same time, didn’t. But he swallowed his fear and headed upstairs. They were given a private room and Meghan dressed Jackie’s wounds.
As he reached the top of the stairs, Meghan came from the room, wiping her hands on a towel. Her lips were rounded in a deep frown and he saw sadness clouding her eyes. “Jackie?” Jake asked with great despair.
Meghan shook her head. “She has an infection and she’s dehydrated. I’ve given her some antibiotics, but I just don’t know, Jake. If we can’t bring down her fever…”
Jake nodded. “I’ll sit with her for a bit. Can you help downstairs in the kitchen?”
Meghan pursed her lips and grabbed her wrist for a moment. Then she was gone, trotting down the stairs but the usual spring in her step was gone.
Jake took a deep breath, pausing for a moment to reflect and then opened the door and went in.
Liz was sitting by the window with a far off look on her face and Mark was sitting by his wife’s side, his head hung with his hand gripping her. Jake approached slowly and stared at her sleeping form. He listened to her shallow breathing.
Beside her bed was a bucket of cold water. He rinsed a wash cloth in it and with care applied it to her cheeks and then her forehead.
Mark tilted his head to look at him. His eyes darkened with hatred and malice. Jake hated to see the look directed at him, but he had every right. His daughter was nearly killed and his wife was fighting for her life.
“Her ribs are broken.” Mark said softly, but there was an intensity to his words. They lashed from his tongue and robbed Jake of his ability to speak. “May have punctured something.”
“We’re looking for a doctor among…the humans.” Jake said and couldn’t hold Mark’s gaze any further.
“A warning would have been nice.” Mark said. “On what you were. What you were doing. I would have packed up my family and left. But you left us sitting ducks. Look what you’ve done, boy.”
“Dad,” Liz said softly, turning her head but she didn’t get up from her seat. She wanted no part in their conversation and Jake couldn’t blame her.
“I’m sorry,” Jake said, “you’re right and I’m sorry. I should have handled everything differently.”
“You never should have come here.” Mark let out a deep sigh. “Now you’re mistakes might cost us everything.”
“If there’s anything I can do--.”
“Get out.” Mark ordered.
Jake sighed. “I just want to help.”
“You can help by getting out of here and never bothering our family again. You hear me?”
“I’m the same person I was before. The one who cared for your family. The one you invited--.”
Mark shook his head. “I don’t know you, boy. I knew Nick, a character you fabricated to get what you want. But you? Far as I can tell you’re a lying weasel just like the rest of your kind.”
The anger Jake expected, but the hatred and venom shook him. He went back to the door. “I do hope she makes a full recovery.”
He left and didn’t look back not until someone grabbed his arm out in the hallway. When Jake turned, he didn’t expect to find Liz. “I think you should go back and be with your family.”
“He doesn’t mean it.” Liz said simply. “He’s angry, scared. I am too, but you didn’t hurt my mom. I know it and he does too, deep down somewhere.”
Jake shook his head, his jaw tensed. “It was a mistake to ask you for your help. I’m sorry, Liz.”
She grabbed him. “Don’t. I am still going to help you.”
“Your family needs you.”
Liz nodded. “And I’ll be here. But for a few hours, I can be with you too. If our two people don’t come together, we have no hope. You know that, don’t you? There will be a war that will rip us both apart. We have to try, Nick.”
She called him Nick. It made Jake smile.
“Sorry,” she said sheepishly with a spread of red across her nose.
“I like that you called me Nick. It means for a split second you forgot. You forgot I was a glistening and saw me for who I really am. Inside I really am him.”
Liz smiled up at him with adoration. She brushed his hair off of his temple. “You’re more than him.”
Jake wanted to tell her how wrong she was, how special she made him feel. Maybe he just wanted to sweep her off her feet, spin her around, and kiss her, but there wasn’t time for that. Taking her warm hand in his, “Come on. We have work to do.”
****
In the barn, makeshift tables were created by putting old hinged doors on construction horses and chairs were stacks of wood. Outside, the rain began to crackle and Jake huddled everyone together as hot apple cider was poured.
Humans and glistenings sat together in mixed company even if the humans were on edge. Jake noticed some kept their eyes on the exits and they kept their loved ones close, just in case. He sighed and glanced behind him and Jeff Monroe offered his support by nodding his head.
At his side, Liz stood wearing a yellow rain coat over her pretty pink dress. Jake thought she might be perfect.
“The glistening responsible for your suffering and confinement is not here.” Jake said and he watched a collective sigh travel through the group. As he spoke his words, Liz took his hand and gave him a squeeze.
“His name is Victor and there is no excuse for his actions. I know he fights for glistening freedom, but I want no part in his violence. No part in making you, or anyone suffer. I was,” Jake flashed a look at Liz, “in love with a human. I know what they are capable of. Beauty, horror, just like glistenings. The thing is, the government has kept us apart for so many years, we view each other as enemies, but we’re not.”
“Tonight proved that, I think. In that kitchen you couldn’t tell who was who. And yeah, one meal doesn’t change everything between our people. But it means we can mak
e strides toward it, when we have a common goal. When we mean to. And there will be detractors on both sides. People who hate and want to see things go back to the way they were.”
Jake shook his head. “But we can’t. Neither way of life is sustainable separately anymore. Glistenings have tasted freedom and we won’t let it be taken from us, any more than humans should live oppressed and in fear.
“We need to come together. Show the world we can tackle the problems as one group. Find a way to bring peace; I think that starts with taking care of each other regardless of what we’re afraid of.
“So tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, human and glistening will work side by side. We’ll no longer horde the food storage. We’ll start cleanup in your town. I can’t bring back your crops or animals. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop Victor; hadn’t figured out what he was up to. I’ll never forgive myself for that. But we’ll move forward together and when Victor gets back here, he’s going to answer to me.”
Jake wanted to stay and catch their faces as he finished his speech, but he didn’t think it would be favorable yet. He hadn’t proved himself to the group. And he needed to do that. One speech and one dinner, wasn’t enough to make amends for what happened to them. For the danger he put them all in by deciding to make Saskatchewan his home.
He left the barn and trotted back to the house. Meghan was inside, still wearing her dirty apron and her dish washing rubber gloves were on. But there was a look of horror on her face as she studied the living room television.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked and followed her gaze.
The night sky was ablaze and the screen was one giant fireball after another. The bottom of the screen scrolled ‘thousands of glistening attack the largest US army base as war ships off the East Coast are ravaged in attacks’.
Jake had to hand it to Victor. He thought big.
Now it was his turn. Jake had to up his game before it was game over not just for glistenings or Saskatchewan, but the country.
Chapter Twenty-Six Jenna
Undisclosed Location
The lights flickered overhead.
No, Jenna realized that was wrong. The lights weren’t flickering. Her eyes were slowly blinking, but her vision wasn’t focusing. Instead everything was a blur. She closed her eyes and tried to draw a deep breath, but was unable to. She panicked, her heart raced, Jenna felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Her arms wouldn’t move. She tried to scream for help, but everything lodged in her throat.
Eyes fluttering open, Jenna saw ceiling tiles above her moving. But they weren’t moving. She was.
Jenna whipped her head around and saw faces. There was a group of three people wheeling her somewhere while she laid strapped to a gurney, but they didn’t look at her. Even as tears ran down her face and her throat swelled large like she had a hockey puck lodged in it, they acted like she wasn’t there. Like they couldn’t see her.
One of the women was tall and blonde. It was pulled into a French twist and there were crow’s feet around her eyes.
Rebecca Seers?
Her eyes snapped shut.
When they opened again, Jenna felt different. Her stomach spun and wretched, like she was going to vomit.
She was in a different room. It was dark and her shirt was pulled up. A machine beeped and there was a man in the room with her. Jenna recoiled as he touched her exposed belly with his cold hands. Her legs jerked and her arms flailed, but the restraints kept her locked in place.
Head rocking back, Jenna let out a scream.
Her skin felt like it was on pins and needles. Every part of her was swelling in pain. Her brain was searing in heat and her eyeballs dry like someone took a cheese grater to them.
“Easy.” The blonde man had a soft voice as he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Your body is coming down off the sedatives they gave you. “But you’re going to be fine. There’s nothing wrong with you. You just feel like there is.”
Jenna licked her lips. They were dry as beach sand. “I’m jonesing for drugs?”
The man nodded and it was then Jenna saw he was wearing a white lab coat. She recognized the insignia and it had the initials NHI on it. Damn New Haven after everything she had given up for them. Now she was a trapped rat in her own maze. Well where was the hunk of cheese because Jenna was ready to get the hell out of there already?
The man went back to studying her abdomen, feeling around her swelling flesh. Then he wheeled over a machine and placed the ultrasound monitor on her belly. He studied the images on the screen and made several keystrokes before touching the screen and zooming in on something.
He was smiling. So that had to be good. But good for her or good for them?
Jenna licked her lips and her words lodged in her throat. “Is it…all right?”
“Oh yes. A strong heartbeat. Do you want to hear it?”
Jenna shook her head no and rolled her head against the pillows. The last thing she wanted was to hear it now. Not if this was her future. Her life. She needed to find a way out of this, but if they didn’t loosen the straps, Jenna saw no way to get out.
Oh damn her and all her bravado. Why did she send Dirk away? How the hell was he going to find her when she didn’t even know where she was? She had to pray he’d find out. Somewhere there was a trail.
The man picked up a needle and approached her. Jenna threw her head back and strained her neck, but it was futile. There was no where she could go.
“You can’t do this. I’m a New Haven officer. I’m a—.”
“Glistening.” He said simply. “Half glistening. There’s no difference here. Just hold still and I promise this won’t hurt.”
Jenna swallowed. It was like a nightmare. A nightmare where all her worst fears were coming to life. “What is that?” Jenna asked.
“Another sedative. We need to move you and can’t have any more theatrics from you. I’m sorry, Ms. Morgan, but soon you’ll be feeling more comfortable.”
Jenna shook her head, whipping it back and forth. She didn’t care if it was just delaying the inevitable. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. She’d fight them every step of the way. No matter what happened.
She wasn’t just a glistening. She was a human. Her baby was more human than glistening. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair, damn them all.
Jenna screamed and arched her back as more technicians came in the room. They pressed down on her body, her head, to force her still.
And then the needle slipped beneath the skin of her neck and sweet relief floated through her body. Her eyes closed, a playful smile danced across her lips.
A door closed and someone entered. In her haze of sleep, Jenna heard a familiar voice say, “We need the fetus to survive. No matter the cost.”
Then the voice and consciousness slipped behind a veil.
****
“You need to eat something.”
“No.” Jenna cracked out a whisper and even though she was handcuffed to the rails of her bed, she pushed the tray away.
Her head was spinning and she could barely focus on the nurse’s face, but Jenna could make out the woman’s pursed lips. Clearly, they weren’t happy with her.
“But,” the nurse’s voice was strained. “Your baby…”
“Fuck my baby.” Jenna’s harsh words stung her own ears. But she meant them. She meant them if her baby was going to be born in New Haven and serve as some sort of scientific experiment to be prodded and tested.
She laid her head back on the pillow and moaned. It had been awhile since she had been drugged. Hours? Maybe days and her body was rocking with spasms. It was desperate for another hit, but if they thought that would get her to beg for it, they were wrong. Jenna Morgan didn’t beg for anything.
So screw them and their organization.
The nurse huffed and went over to the door. She hit the buzzer and then pulled it open. “She won’t eat. Something needs to be done.”
Jenna closed her e
yes and pretended to sleep. Footsteps approached her bed and she remained still and didn’t even flutter her eyelids as someone touched her wrist, checking her blood pressure.
But the touch changed and hands clamped her arms down. Another hand pressed on her forehead. Jenna thrashed, her eyes sprung open and she moved her head to the side as a strong pair of hands pried her mouth open as food was spooned into her mouth.
Her heart was pounding and her pressure raced as they forced her mouth shut and a calloused hand forced itself over her mouth and nose. He pressed so hard, Jenna felt like her jaw was going to snap.
“Chew.” He demanded, his eyes narrowed. “Chew!”
Jenna chewed, thick hot tears streaming down her face. The food wasn’t bad, it was good, but this was New Haven. Nothing was just food. It was filled with vitamins and mind altering drugs designed to keep glistenings docile and open to suggestion. Just like the organ juice they lovingly provided to them free of charge.
Slowly the man removed his hand from Jenna’s faces and the technicians went among their business like nothing had happened. Jenna took a deep breath, closed her mouth and when the doctor, or whatever he was, came in close to talk to him, Jenna spat all of the half chewed vile mixed food back on his butt ugly face.
His hands went up in horror and his face twisted with disbelief. Jenna smiled and she laughed.
“Towel.” The man ordered without a hint of anger in his voice. He waited for his towel, wiped his face clean and then backhanded Jenna across the face.
It stung and her cheek turned to the side. “It’s an unfair fight with me strapped to this bed.” Her voice croaked.
He sneered. They were nose to nose. “You think you’re such a tough ass? You think we haven’t broken tougher glistenings than you?”
Jenna took a deep breath and her chest rose. “I know you haven’t. I know because I caught glistenings for a living. You want to break me? I’d like to see you try.”