This Town Is Not All Right

by M. K. Krys

  By the second hour, he was jumping at every imagined noise outside the room of cells, desperate for a sign that the plan was going to start up again, even though he was pretty sure the room was soundproof. Both Arthur and Everleigh had long since drifted off to sleep, but he was wide-awake and vigilant.

  By the fourth hour, he was kicking the walls, climbing onto the bed in search of a weakness in the ceiling, scouring the floors for a drain they could climb into to forge an underground escape. All he found were three holes in the concrete floor barely big enough for a beetle to scuttle inside, with a red stain he was pretty sure was blood.

  By the fifth hour, he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. He sat curled against the wall with his legs pulled up to his chest and his face buried in his knees to cover the tears that slipped down his face.

  “It’s okay, Beaks,” his sister said quietly.

  Beacon startled. He hadn’t realized his sister had woken up. He swiped at his wet cheeks.

  “No, it’s not!” he said thickly, trying to keep his voice down so he didn’t wake Arthur. That kid looked like he needed to sleep for about a century. “I never should have brought us here. You were right. It was stupid and dangerous.”

  “It was brave,” she said. “And honorable.”

  He shook his head. She was just trying to make him feel better. “I’m sorry I asked you to come. I should have done this alone.”

  “You didn’t make me do anything, the last time I checked,” Everleigh said. “I wanted to help.”

  “Still, it was my idea. And now who knows what’s going to happen to us.”

  “Exactly, who knows?” Everleigh said. “I bet they want to make us special ambassadors for human youth. They were just attacking our pod by accident. Victor will be down here any minute to beg for our forgiveness.”

  Beacon squinted at his sister through the blur of tears.

  “Oh yeah,” she said brightly. “This prison? Just temporary until they can get our mansion in order. It’s real fancy, with pillars and a moat and everything.”

  A smile wobbled at the corner of his mouth. She was trying to make him smile. Trying to pave over all the bad stuff with relentless optimism, the way Beacon always did.

  “I bet they’ll hand-feed us grapes,” Beacon said.

  Everleigh smiled. “Absolutely. That’s why they haven’t fed us yet. They’re getting a feast prepared.”

  “A whole table overflowing with food. Turkey, mashed potatoes, rhubarb pie,” he said. “All of our favorite stuff.”

  His stomach rumbled. He hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until he thought about how long it had been since he had any food.

  “I’m sure we’ll have someone to follow us around with one of those big fans just in case it gets warm, too,” he said. “And someone else just to throw their jacket down over puddles like in the olden days so our shoes don’t get wet.”

  Everleigh threw her head back and laughed. The sound echoed through the room. As it died away, she leaned against the wall. They were across the room from each other, but it felt like a hug.

  They still had each other. For now, anyway.

  “Listen, Beacon, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Everleigh said. “I know I haven’t been very fun to be around this year.” She shrugged a bit and wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  “It’s okay,” Beacon said.

  “It’s not, though. I was mean and cranky, and I’m sure it only made you guys feel worse when you were suffering, too. And if it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t be here. Dad wouldn’t have wanted to enter us into that program.”

  Beacon was shaking his head.

  “It isn’t your fault. I know you think it was—I know you blame yourself, for everything,” he said meaningfully. “But you didn’t know what would happen.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” Everleigh said, getting up and pacing around the cell.

  But Beacon persisted. It had been a year. If they didn’t talk about it now, when would they? The secrets and unsaid things would just eat them up inside until there was nothing of the old them left.

  “We’d been swimming there a hundred times before and everything was fine. How could you know that this time there would be a current?”

  Everleigh swallowed hard.

  “But I get it,” Beacon continued. “I blamed myself, too. For not being a better swimmer. I should have saved him.”

  “There’s no way you’d have been able to pull him out of that current!” Everleigh said hotly, spinning around. “You can’t blame yourself.”

  Beacon smiled a bit. They were both such hypocrites.

  “I’m going to work on it,” Beacon said. “Maybe you will, too?”

  She nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it—maybe if we get out of here, I’ll talk to that lady Dad wanted us to see.”

  “The counselor?” Beacon said.

  Everleigh flushed, darting a glance at Arthur, who was still fast asleep. “I know, it’s stupid.”

  “No, I think that’s an awesome idea,” Beacon said. “Maybe I’ll come, too.”

  Everleigh gave a wan smile.

  “Anyway, no one can plan how they’re going to react when something like this happens,” Beacon said. “I don’t blame you for how you were this year. You were just trying to get through it, the same as Dad and me. Just differently is all.”

  “You’re too nice to me,” Everleigh said.

  “Can you say that again a bit louder?” Beacon said, putting his hand to his ear. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

  Everleigh grinned wider. “Love you, Beaks.”

  “Love you, too,” Beacon said.

  “This is going to sound weird,” Everleigh said, “but I kind of liked this. Spending this time with you. It’s the closest to normal I’ve felt in ages. Like old times, somehow. Even though we’re fighting aliens.”

  “I’ve kind of liked it, too,” Beacon said. “I missed you.”

  “Too bad our YAT club adventure was so short,” she said.

  “Our?” Arthur said, sitting up quickly. “Did you join?”

  Beacon grinned. He should have known Arthur was just pretending to be asleep.

  “Yeah, dude,” Beacon said. “We’re officially up to three members.”

  A broad smile split his face.

  “Sweet!”

  He lay back down, and they lapsed into silence.

  After a while, Beacon’s eyes grew heavy. He realized it had been ages since he last had a full night’s sleep. He was suddenly exhausted. He wanted to stay awake. Alert. Ready at all times, in case help was on the way. But his eyelids were weighted with lead.

  Before he knew it, he was inside the dream again. Only it wasn’t the same dream. The coral where Jasper normally lay was empty. Fish dived over and under the reef.

  Beacon heard a voice. He turned, his movements slow and languid in the water, and there was his brother. Jasper floated above him, his arms and legs spread wide like a starfish and his body backlit in the diffuse glow of the sun. He opened his mouth.

  Beacon.

  Beacon reached for Jasper, but no matter how hard he swam, his brother floated farther away, moving toward the light.

  Jasper’s lips were moving. He was trying to say something. Beacon stopped fighting and listened.

  Wake up. That’s what he was saying.

  Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP.

  “Beacon. Beacon, WAKE UP!”

  Beacon’s eyes fluttered open.

  He was steeped in complete darkness. For a brief, frightening moment, he didn’t remember where he was. He gasped and sat up, just as a strip of neon emergency lighting flickered on along the edges of the ceiling. The pale outline of the prison came into view. Everleigh was standing with her hands pressed up against the glass. Arthur was sitting up ramrod straight.
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  An earsplitting alarm wailed through the ship. Beacon scrambled up, instantly awake and alert.

  “What’s going on?” Beacon asked.

  “I don’t know,” Everleigh said.

  Footsteps pounded the ceiling above them, and Beacon thought he could hear the muted sound of raised voices calling to one another. But otherwise, it was frustratingly silent.

  Suddenly there was a deep beep from the door.

  “A guard!” Beacon cried. The kids scrambled away from the door to the back corners of their cells. A guard stood framed in the entrance, his chest heaving in his ill-fitting uniform. It took Beacon a moment to realize that it wasn’t just any guard. It was Nixon.

  His green cargo pants bunched around his ankles, and his belt, notched on the tightest hole, had at least a foot of extra leather poking out. He looked like a kid playing dress-up. That didn’t make him any less frightening. His wide shoulders were tensed and set, and he had his hands curled into fists. Shadows played on the sharp angles of his face.

  “What are you wearing?” Everleigh asked.

  Leave it to his sister to focus on the totally wrong thing.

  “What are you doing here?” Beacon asked.

  Nixon didn’t answer, just stepped into the room. The door whooshed shut behind him. He closed the distance between himself and the cells in two huge, serious strides.

  “Don’t you dare go near my sister,” Beacon yelled at the same time as Everleigh said, “Touch my brother and die.” They were both pressed up to the glass.

  Nixon stopped in front of Beacon. Up close, the boy towered over him. He hadn’t realized just how big Nixon was.

  “Our dad works here,” Beacon said. “Hurt me, and he’ll have you punished. Maybe even killed,” he added belatedly.

  “Oh yeah? That why you’re locked up in Contam?” Nixon said. “Because your dad cares about you so much?”

  Touché.

  “I’m serious,” Everleigh called out. “Hurt my brother, and I will come after you.” It didn’t seem to matter that it was currently impossible. There was a fiery look in her eyes that Beacon was sure glad he was not on the receiving end of. She looked like she wanted to smash through the glass walls to get to Nixon. And like she might actually be capable of it.

  “Victor wants to study us,” Arthur said. “If you hurt us, he’ll be mad. And trust me, you don’t want Victor to be mad.”

  “Relax,” Nixon said dismissively. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to get you out.”

  He punched something into the digital panel outside Beacon’s cell, and the door opened instantly. Beacon stumbled forward. He would have run right into the Gold Star, but Nixon was already walking briskly toward Everleigh’s cell. She braced her legs apart, her hands curled into fists and her chest heaving as he punched in the code. Beacon almost asked Nixon if he was sure he wanted to let her out. The girl looked feral.

  He stopped at Arthur’s cell last. Arthur struggled to his feet like a deer learning to walk for the first time. Nixon was already moving away before the glass had fully disappeared.

  “We’re going to have to move fast,” Nixon said, walking toward the door. None of them followed.

  “You got somewhere else to be?” Nixon said. “Because if that’s the case . . .” He let his words trail off.

  “Why should we trust you?” Arthur said. “You’re one of them.”

  “Because no one else is going to get you out of here,” Nixon said.

  “You don’t know that,” Beacon said. “We have a plan.”

  “Does the plan involve your dad? Because yeah, that’s not going to work.”

  Beacon’s heart plummeted into his stomach.

  “What did you do to him?” Everleigh said, charging forward. Beacon leaped ahead and put his arm out to stop her.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Nixon said. “But Victor’s not an idiot. He’s got your dad tied up in interrogation and he’s not going to let him go until he finds out exactly what you’re up to. He’s not going to be coming to break you out. Not before Victor gets here, and trust me, you don’t want to be here when Victor gets here.”

  “But what ever happened to helping humans mutate so we can survive the floods?” Beacon asked. “I thought the Sov were supposed to be helping us.”

  It wasn’t as if he’d ever totally believed that. But he needed answers. He felt as if he were floating in the middle of the sea with no life jacket, no help, and no idea which direction was the shore.

  Nixon snorted. “Don’t tell me you actually believed that.” He shook his head. “There is no flood.”

  Beacon spluttered for words. “No storms?”

  “Nothing. The side effects of that antidote? That’s the real reason they’re shooting us up. They want humans to be ‘docile and complacent,’ he said, doing air quotes. “They figured out that humans attack them in the future. Kill their people. I guess we learn space travel and decide we like their planet better than the one we’ve ruined. They don’t want to wait around for that to happen, so they’re dealing with the problem now.”

  “Why don’t they just kill us?” Arthur said. “If they’re so advanced, they could probably do it pretty easily.”

  Jeez, Arthur. Don’t give them any ideas, Beacon thought.

  “Don’t think they haven’t thought about it,” Nixon said. “In that timeline, a different war starts up with another alien race—one that doesn’t take too kindly to genocide. This way they get to make sure humans never get too smart, and they keep the other aliens off their back. Space politics, am I right?” He shook his head.

  “Are you an alien, too?” Everleigh asked.

  “Do you think I’d be telling you this if I was?” Nixon quirked an eyebrow.

  “Then how do you know all this?” Beacon said. “Why would the Sov tell a kid all about their evil master plan?”

  “Let’s just say you’re not the only ones who can figure out sneaky ways to listen in to top secret meetings.” Nixon gave Beacon and Arthur a knowing look.

  Beacon’s cheeks warmed, remembering his grand entrance into the Gold Stars’ meeting in the church basement.

  “Still, how come you’re telling us all this?” Everleigh said. “How come you’re helping us?”

  Suddenly Beacon remembered Nixon’s folder in the nurse’s office. The huge list of vitamin injections he’d received.

  “You’re Off-Program,” Beacon said. “The injections—they’ve been wearing off. That’s why you’ve had so many!”

  “Wrong,” Nixon said. “Can’t be Off-Program if I was never on it to begin with.”

  Beacon’s mouth fell open. He tried to talk, but he couldn’t get the words to come out right. “What? So you were just acting this whole time?” he finally managed.

  “Yeah, well, I figured out pretty quickly what happens when you don’t fall in line around here. But every once in a while I slip up and they jab me again. I act for a bit longer, and the cycle continues.”

  “So you’re immune?” Arthur asked.

  “Jealous you’re not the only one?” Nixon said.

  “No, I mean, of course not,” Arthur spluttered.

  “Do you think there are more of you?” Beacon asked. “Are more people just pretending?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t exactly ask anyone without tipping them off, can I?” Nixon said heatedly.

  “Why doesn’t it work on certain people?” Beacon wondered aloud.

  “Not sure,” Nixon said. “Should I get us some tea? Maybe a nice tray of cookies so we can theorize on this some more? Or do you maybe want to get the heck out of here?”

  Nixon punched some numbers into the digital panel next to the main doors, and they slid open soundlessly.

  Beacon, Everleigh, and Arthur exchanged a glance.

  “Wait, what’s the plan?�
�� Everleigh asked.

  “There is no plan,” Nixon said without turning around.

  “What?” all three kids squeaked at the same time.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” Beacon said.

  “Hope everyone is too distracted by the chaos to notice us leaving,” Nixon said. He was halfway down the hall now.

  “That’s a terrible plan!” Arthur called.

  “If you have a better one, by all means, use that one instead.”

  Beacon, Everleigh, and Arthur gaped at Nixon’s retreating back.

  The doors began to whoosh closed. Everleigh jumped forward, darting her hand out to grab the doors. But they weren’t like elevator doors, which opened if someone walked in their path. They continued to close, nearly crunching her fingers before she got her body in between the doors and propped them open. Her muscles bunched as she struggled to keep the doors open.

  “Hurry up!” she cried.

  Beacon ducked under his sister’s arm, and behind him, Arthur hobbled through. When they were clear, Everleigh leaped out of the way of the doors before they sealed shut.

  Nixon was already at the end of the hall.

  Beacon put his arm around Arthur’s waist and propped him up, shouldering some of his weight, and then all three of them took off after the Gold Star.

  They followed Nixon through the dark, barren halls. On their way in, it had seemed as if they’d walked forever without passing a soul, but it didn’t take long for voices to come into hearing range. As soon as they did, Nixon gripped Beacon and Everleigh by the backs of their shirts, as if he were hauling off prisoners.

  “You—keep up,” Nixon barked at Arthur. Arthur nodded, his head ducked into his chest as he scurried along next to the others. The boy seemed to be limping more than he had before.

  It wasn’t much of a cover, but it worked. No one was paying much attention to them at all. The place was in utter chaos. People ran through the darkened ship, bumping into one another and calling out desperate commands. Beacon wanted to run, too—in fact, his muscles twitched with the urge to bolt—but that would have looked too suspicious.