“Why were you sneaking up on us with guns, Alex?” I asked, coming to stand beside Reyes. Alex didn’t even look at me. He stared at the ground, still gasping for breath. I turned my attention to the other soldier. I read out the badge sewn onto his jacket. “Sims. It looks like your commanding officer is a little out of breath. Maybe you can answer my question.”
The look of terror hadn’t left his face. “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I was just following orders.”
“And what orders were those?”
“To come here,” he said, talking fast.
“Come here why? And don’t tell me it was a social visit. We watched you from the ridge sneaking around with guns in hand.”
He shook his head again, this time a little more rapidly.
Reyes reached for him. “Maybe some air time will help him out.” His hand closed around Sims’s throat.
“Wait!” Sims said, grabbing Reyes’ hand in both of his own. “We came here to disable your raft.”
Reyes kept his hand around the man’s throat but didn’t lift him.
“Disable our raft? Why?” I asked, genuinely confused. It didn’t make sense. I looked at Alex. “You want to find Jack and we want to find Jack, so why try to stop us?”
I wasn’t sure if Alex wasn’t capable of talking or if he was using his strangling as an excuse not to. Considering he was looking pretty red in the face, my guess was he actually couldn’t.
Reyes tightened his hold on Sims and brought him up on his tiptoes. “You want to answer the question?”
Sims tightly closed his eyes and screwed up his face. When Reyes didn’t raise him any higher than his toes, he opened his eyes again. “All I know is that Senator Kenner isn’t supposed to make it back home.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jack
The little girl remained crouched in the corner, her eyes big, round, and wide with fear, the cross-shape seared into her cheek an angry red. I touched my own cheek with my shoulder. It barely hurt. The late afternoon sun streamed in through the cracks of the walls, giving us a bit of light. I was still standing in the middle of the shed, suddenly aware that I was towering over the terrified child. I took a few steps back, leaned against the far wall, then slid down to the floor and sat with my legs outstretched.
Two plates of food, two glasses of water, and two blankets had been placed inside the shed before they’d closed and locked the door. I surmised that the others weren’t expected back that night. It was easy enough to guess where the young lady might have been taken, but where were Naoki and Talon? Their absence worried me.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said.
She didn’t move.
“Where’s your sister?”
She didn’t respond.
“Is she your sister? Your mom? Cousin?”
She nodded. Progress.
“Your sister?”
She nodded again.
“Did they hurt her?”
She was silent.
“Did they hurt my friends?”
She shook her head.
I wasn’t going to get much information from her. She was too scared. I motioned with my head toward the food. “You should eat.”
As she stared at the food, her tongue shot out to lick her lips. She swallowed. I could tell she was starving.
“It’s been a long time since you had a proper meal,” I said. “Please eat.”
It took some time, but finally she moved, hesitantly at first, and then with the speed of someone trying to get past me and back to the corner before I could touch her. Tossing the spoon aside, she scooped the food up with one hand and filled her mouth. I eyed the other plate, trying to figure out what was on it. There were a few chunks of meat I wasn’t interested in—mainly because I was afraid of who I would be eating—some type of unleavened bread, green sprouts, and what might be root vegetables. There was also a cup of water, which I really wanted.
“I’m just going to stand up for a minute,” I said. Slowly I got to my feet. She stopped eating and kept a close watch on me. “I’ll teach you a cool trick, but don’t tell anyone where you learned it.” Pulling my shoulders forward, I slouched my body and dragged my bound hands down, past my butt and across the back of my legs, until I was almost folded in half. I did a little jump and, in one quick motion, moved my tied hands under my feet. The girl’s face transformed from fear to keen interest. I held up my hands and wiggled my fingers. “Now I can get my water.”
Squatting down, I picked up the cup with both hands and drained it. I wasn’t as parched because Hollywood had been giving us bigger rations since yesterday, but I was still thirsty. Next, I ate the vegetables and bread but left the meat. Even without the protein, my meal was a feast.
I held my plate out to the girl. “You can have the rest if you want.”
Her plate was clean, her cup empty. She shook her head. Slowly I approached her, trying not to scare her, and picked up the empty dishes to stack with mine. I left them by the door.
“It’s going to get cold tonight,” I said, dropping one of the blankets on her. I took the other for myself. “Try to get a good sleep. You look exhausted.”
Wrapping my blanket around my shoulders, I sat back against the wall and closed my eyes. As the sun went down, the breeze blowing through the cracks in the walls became colder. The kid shivered, and I got up and put my blanket on her. It was over an hour before her breathing became even.
Too tense to sleep, I lay down flat on the cold, wooden floor, took a few deep breaths, and then pulled my torso up. The first crunch was the hardest, but after the tenth one my muscles had warmed with the effort, and I pushed on to find that endorphin high.
***
I had worked my hands behind my back again by the time they came for me in the morning. Even though I didn’t get a wink of sleep, I felt stronger than I had since my capture. A little food, water, and exercise to get the blood flowing had done amazing things for both my mind and body. I was worried about the little girl, although some of my anxiety eased when the same woman who’d put me in a bath came to collect her. There was mention of the girl helping in the kitchen for the day. It was warm in the kitchen, and she stood a better chance of accessing food and water.
My appearance caused some turmoil among my jailers. Apparently, my face had completely healed overnight, and no sign of the cross-shape remained on my cheek. I didn’t have a mirror to confirm it, but I could feel the smooth skin and the absence of any pain. If I’d ever doubted Doc’s nanobots were still working, I didn’t anymore. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I was unkillable. In my current state of imprisonment, it would be a handy trait to have.
My breakfast consisted of unleavened bread with two raw eggs on top. They weren’t the chicken eggs I was accustomed to, or cooked over easy the way I preferred, but one thing I’d learned when I lived in the Pit was that food was food. I cleaned my plate and washed it down with water.
Aside from tying me up and locking me in a shed, these recruiters were being downright hospitable.
“Father Ryder assigned you to work in detention,” Fadi said. He was my height, dark skinned, and bald. I couldn’t tell his age, but the creases in his face suggested he had at least ten years on me. My other guard, or escort as Ryder referred to them, was slightly shorter with pale skin and a buzzed haircut. Both men were physically fit, although they weren’t as brawny as their boss.
They guided me around the house and into the village square. Several men were inside the fenced area where I had been appraised and branded the day before, assembling what looked like a platform. A few people loitered around the fence, watching the men with excited fascination.
We continued through the village square and then headed down a street toward the big stone chimney that dominated the compound. My presence drew curious stares and even some whispered giggles when we passed a group of young women.
As we left the residential area, the building attached to the tall sm
okestack came into view. It was an open structure with the stone chimney rising up from the center, a fire burning hot at its base. Slanted roofs attached on either side midway up the structure provided cover for the work areas. There were no walls, just thick wooden beams to support the slanted roofs. The roofs appeared to house distinct work areas. On one side, stones had been stacked to create a box-shaped structure that supported a slab of flat stone on top—a stone stove. Two big pots sat on the stone, steam pumping from them, attended by two people with long spoons in hand. A short distance from the stove was a long, thick wooden table where four people were assembling something...maybe molds for the plastic.
On the other side of the chimney was a tall pile of plastic. About ten workers sorted through the mound, while others whittled the sorted plastic into chips with small knives. I thought of our gasifiers and replicators and realized how much work machines did on our behalf.
We continued past the plastic factory and headed to where two sentries stood by a gate. This gate was on the opposite side of the compound from the one we came through when we arrived. As soon as Fadi waved at the sentries, the guards opened the gates, and I was led through.
Not surprisingly, about a mile of open flat plain with little growing on it stretched before us. What was different on this side of the compound was the small lake at the edge of the plain. To my immediate left, a shallow ditch had been dug all the way to the lake, and I could see a plastic pipe running its length. To my right, a square plastic grate covered a large section of ground close to the fence. Fadi pushed me toward the grate. No one else was there, which I found odd. They’d told me I would be working in detention. Was I the only detainee?
Fadi cut the binds around my wrists while the other guy retrieved a shovel from the gate sentry.
Fadi pointed at the ground. “Dig a hole the same as the others.”
“Others?” I asked.
He pointed to the grate, the closest edge of which was about six feet away from me. Holes had been dug beneath it. From my vantage point, all I could tell was that each hole had roughly a three-foot circumference and they were spaced about six feet apart. What were the holes for? Maybe they shackled prisoners to the grate, and the holes were latrines.
I didn’t question the order. My two guards both had knives and bows, and then there were the two sentries at the fence keeping a close watch on me too. There was no way I could take out my two guards and make it back to the fence to incapacitate the two sentries before they shot me. I couldn’t just run because it was a big open plain and I’d make a clear target. The ditch was too shallow to provide cover. And even if I could get away, would they punish Naoki and Talon for my escape before I could get back to spring them? My escape could very well lead to their execution.
I slammed the point of the thick plastic spade at the ground. I didn’t expect it to sink very far into the dirt, but I was able to lever out about half a shovelful. The earth wasn’t as frozen here as it had been back home before I left. I pulled back, slammed the spade down again, and came up with another half shovelful. I wondered how deep I was supposed to go.
About an hour into digging, Ryder showed up trailed by a couple of men carrying a chair and small table. As they came through the gates, another figure appeared, this one much smaller than the men. It was the seven-year-old girl.
Ryder wore an affable smile as he approached us. “Good morning, Amos and Fadi. I trust your families are well?” he asked, even as he continued walking past them toward me. The men responded, but Ryder didn’t seem interested. He focused on me, took my face in his hand, turned it sideways, and examined my cheek. “It’s true.” He looked into my eyes before he let go of me. “How is it possible?”
I smiled. “I have these little, tiny microscopic robots living inside me that repair tissue damage as it happens.”
Ryder threw back his head and laughed. “You are an entertainer, Jack. I’ll give you that.” His men set the chair and table down and walked back toward the gates. The little girl carried a pitcher of water that looked too heavy for her. She set it on the table with a plunk, and some of the water sloshed out. Her eyes darted to Ryder, but he didn’t seem to notice. She looked relieved. Digging in the pockets of the apron she wore, she produced two cups and set them beside the water pitcher.
“You become more interesting by the minute, Jack. Water?” he asked.
I nodded.
He looked at the little girl. “Annie.”
She picked up the heavy pitcher and carefully poured a cup, spilling more on the table, and brought it to me. I gave her an encouraging smile. “Thank you,” I said. I drank the water and handed the cup back to her.
“Robots,” Ryder repeated with a shake of his head. He sat in the chair and crossed his legs. “More like a miracle, and I’m very interested in miracles, Jack. The gods used to bestow them frequently before the War, but they’re rare to come by these days. Most of us are still paying penance for our ancestors’ sins.”
Clearing his throat, he launched into a story about some deity or other, rambling on about the philosophy of the scriptures he had found. I went back to shoveling and scoped out the area again, hoping to find some way of escape that I had missed earlier. But the entire plain was devoid of anything to hide behind—no rocks, bushes, or anything else. If we ran, we would have to run flat out. The only weapons the sentries had were bows and knives, neither of which had a one-mile reach. So if we ran, we’d just need to outrun their weapons. And if I could get my rifle back, it had a full round and a much longer range than their arrows. The problem was I didn’t know where they’d put it.
“Jack?” Ryder said. I stopped shoveling and looked at him, realizing he’d asked me a question. “Are you listening?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “I’m a miracle. Is this hole deep enough yet?”
Ryder peered down at the hole and shook his head. “Not even close,” he said. “You’re uncomfortable with being a miracle, Jack?”
“How do you know I’m a miracle?” An idea came to me, bringing a smile to my face. “Maybe I’m actually a god and you just haven’t found the scriptures about me yet.” I raised my eyebrows and stared at him. “Think about it.”
Ryder broke out in a big, hearty laugh and slapped the table. “I like you, Jack. Get back to digging.”
I rolled my eyes and drove the shovel into the ground. The plastic spade was starting to weaken.
“I checked into those allegations you made,” Ryder said, “and I want you to know that I’m taking action. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.”
“What allegations?”
“For one, cannibalism. The scriptures tell us that eating human flesh is not a sin as long as it’s done out of necessity. Our men are capable hunters, we have fish in our lake, and a few farms to the south keep us supplied in vegetables. There’s no need to eat our fellow human beings.”
“Why don’t you farm here?”
Ryder swept a hand out toward the plain. “Look around, Jack. Nothing grows in this soil. I chose this location to found New Canon because it’s easily defended.”
I paused in my shoveling to take in the landscape. A mile of barren plain edged by a lake and healthy forest. “You mean you didn’t clear cut around this compound?”
“It’s not a compound, Jack. It’s a city. And we found this area already bare of plant life. Only the hardiest of plants, like devil’s blood, grow in this soil.”
I churned over a shovelful of dirt and poked through it with the tip of the spade, wondering what had happened to this area to leave it sterile. An old mine? Chemical spill? Nuclear fallout? What exactly was I shoveling and breathing in?
Raised voices at the gate distracted us, and I looked up to see Hollywood standing there. Ryder beckoned to him to come forward.
“Forgive me, Father Ryder, but it was urgent that I talk to you,” Hollywood said. He shot a malicious glance my way, but softened his expression when he turned back to the good Father. “I’ve been to
ld that one of my best men, Phillip, will be castrated today.”
I almost dropped my shovel. Castrated? Not that he didn’t deserve it.
Ryder’s easy smile remained fixed. “Yes.”
Hollywood shifted uncomfortably. “May I ask why?”
Ryder looked at me when he spoke, and I went back to shoveling. “Several missionaries have confirmed that Phillip gave in to temptation. You know the rules, Ralph. When someone’s blood is too thick with poison, we can’t allow him to reproduce. There have been allegations of cannibalism too, which have yet to be confirmed.”
Covertly, I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye. Hollywood’s face was getting red, a familiar sign that he was losing his temper. Ryder was looking up at the sky.
“In fact, it’s probably just about time,” he said and stood up. “I have to go, Jack. They’ll be expecting me to say a few words.”
He walked back toward the gate, and the little girl and the men he’d arrived with followed closely behind. Hollywood didn’t follow right away. Instead, he waited until Ryder was out of hearing distance.
Before he had a chance to tell me off, I pursed my lips and drew in an exaggerated hiss. “Castration, eh?”
His lips curled into a sneer, and he pointed a stubby finger at me. “This is your doing, you little scorchedlander freak! I should’ve killed you and left you for the tigers when I had the chance.”
“Or put a stick in me and roasted me over a fire. Maybe I should tell Father Ryder about that too. What do you think? Maybe it’ll get your name shortened to Holly. You know,” I said, my eyes traveling down to his crotch, “because you’ll have a little less wood.”
Fadi and Amos snorted, and Hollywood’s face went so red he was almost smoking. “That was rodent! You little asshole, if you tell one more lie—”
“Ralph!” one of the sentries called. “Father Ryder wants you at the sterilization.”
Hollywood made some unintelligible sound, turned on his heel, and ran to catch up.
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