by Jason Luthor
Mandy shakes her head. “I don’t like it.”
Cynthia shakes her head, too. “I don’t like it either. But, I also know you’re right about them making it harder to get out of the city.” She looks back at her sister. “Mandy?”
“Yeah,” she confesses. “I know.”
“You did just get done saying you know more than I like to think.”
“It’s true. And . . . it’s true that it’s getting harder to leave. It’s just that . . .” She looks away for a second before looking back my way. I see her hand run over her face, pressing at her eyes. “Mikey, that would scare me. If we left you behind, something could happen, and if we didn’t ever see you again . . .”
My free hand runs through my hair as I look at her. “Not going to happen. You’re just going on vacation. Then, I’ll be going out there to meet up with you guys. I just got to wrap up stuff here.”
“So, you promise that you won’t take too long getting out there?”
“Mandy, the only thing I’ll be thinking about the whole time you guys are gone is about coming out there to be with you.”
Tommy’s Recording 26
I hear Dodger’s voice call out to me from the kitchen the second I’m through the door. “Babe, I made your favorite,” she says as she appears down the hallway. “Take a guess.”
“Um, let me think,” I tell her as I tap on my chin. “Salad? Vegetable soup?”
“What if I told you I was able to get a box of spaghetti noodles from the garrison today?”
“You what?” I nearly stumble over my feet as I follow her into the kitchen, my eyes going to two pots that are on the stove. “You got the noodles and tomato sauce?”
“See? It pays to date someone who actually works in the community once in a while. You could probably learn a thing or two from me,” she says with a smile as she stirs at the noodles. For a second, she stands at the stove before turning around. “Actually, there’s been something that’s, you know . . . just, something’s been on my mind, and I know you’ve already got enough going on, but . . .”
“Don’t say anything else. I already know.”
“You . . . do?”
“You want to go home because you miss your parents.”
When I say it, she looks confused for a second. Actually, she turns around and puts down the spoon, her hands grabbing onto the edge of the counter. I see her wipe at her nose and hear her sniff before she talks. “I guess Branagh told you.”
“I’m sorry, Dodger. I’ve been so caught up with everything happening in Central that I stopped paying attention to what you were going through, and honestly, that kind of makes me the worst boyfriend in the world, but . . .”
She turns around and smiles at me. “Shut up, weirdo.”
I look up at her and grin. “You’re not mad?”
“I’m not mad, Tommy,” she says as she wipes at her face again. “I’m glad you brought it up. I mean, I know . . .” She looks over to the window that stares down onto the street. “I know this isn’t a good time. I’m not stupid, even though half the time people seem to think I am . . .”
“Who thinks you’re stupid? You’re one of the smartest girls I ever met.”
“Doctor Watson kind of barked at me in the lab the other day. Said I was talking like a ‘layperson.’ Sorta implied I was acting dumb for people.”
“Well, as smart as that man is, he’s an idiot if that’s what he thinks. Don’t think that I’ve forgotten you’re the girl who was our computer whiz coming down the Tower. I know you haven’t really had a chance to work with those since we got here, and I was kind of hoping you’d be able to enjoy yourself in the lab.”
“I did. Really. Maybe I just need to start listening to everyone and grow a backbone. I think I’m getting there.” She takes a deep breath as she works through her thoughts. “I guess life toughens you up. Between losing Linda and getting shot . . . Dealing with this whole situation with the raiders and Jackie coming back . . . Not to mention Fort Silence locking down everything on the island . . . It’s been a tough year, Tommy.”
“I know.”
“So, I just thought that maybe it was time to say something. I’m glad you wanted to talk about it too though.”
“Listen, I messed up. You’re always willing to listen to me, and I brushed off going back home. To be honest, I didn’t even really stop to think about how important it might be for you. Well, the first chance we get, we’ll stop putting this off. We’ll head back to the Tower, whether or not we have anyone from Central to back us up.”
She smiles again and closes her eyes, her hand pressing on my chest. “Tommy. You just said I’m not dumb.”
“I did. I did.”
“So let’s be honest about everything. If it’s just me, you, and Mike, we can’t go back up the Tower. I know that. Even if the Creep’s gone, we’re still only three people. We don’t know what’s happening with Security up there or how Tower Authority has reacted since we got out. For all we know, we’d be shot at the second we got halfway back up.”
“Okay then. Well, you’re my genius girlfriend,” I tell her as I take her hand. “I’ll go with your plan. You’ll figure out something. I mean, I don’t know anybody else with the smarts to do it.”
“Alright, cheeseball,” she laughs as she leans in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Grab a fork and hold onto your pants. I’ve got some mean spaghetti coming to the table.”
“Great, because I could use some food. President Branagh actually asked me what we’d have to do if we ever had to fight Jackie.”
“You know that would never happen, right?”
“I hope so. It’s hard to tell sometimes behind the mask.”
“Well, don’t worry. I’ve actually had something up my sleeve for a while. I think it might help get her more on your side.”
“Oh yeah? So what’s the plan?”
She just gives me a little smile. “You let me worry about it for once.”
Jackie’s Recording 12
I can’t help but be a little weirded out as I’m standing the school kitchen with Dodger and Cynthia. “Thanks for inviting me,” I manage to tell them, “Even if this is a little . . . weird. Am I the only one who feels that way?”
Dodger smiles my way. “Weren’t you the one complaining that the only thing you get to do in Central is fight?”
“Murdered by my own words.”
“Executed. Central always needs people volunteering to help out around the city. And the school needs people to help make lunch, so . . .”
Cynthia motions to the sink. “You can wash dishes, right?”
My eyes roll at that. “Yeah, I can wash dishes.”
“Why don’t you do that while I start getting food ready?”
I nod to her as I head over the sink, my eyes going over all of the trays sitting in the oversized sink. “How many kids do you guys even have here, anyway?”
“A few hundred.”
“A few hundred?” I look over my shoulder to the two of them. “I mean, I guess it makes sense, considering how many people live in Central. Still . . .”
Dodger point to the cafeteria behind her. “Talk and work, lady. Got kids coming in a second.”
“Alright, alright,” I tell her as I dip my hands into the water. “You know what’s really weird?”
“What’s that?”
“I can count on my hands how many times I’ve worn a short sleeve shirt since I first came to Central.”
“Well, you’re always walking around in that jumpsuit of yours.”
Cynthia pats me on the back as she passes by. “Is there something wrong with not wearing a jumpsuit?”
“No. It’s just so . . . normal.”
“And you don’t think that’s how you should feel?”
“I could probably do with more of it, actually.”
“It just makes you uncomfortable?”
“Yeah. Weird, right?” I tell her as I pass trays beneath the spray, blasting off foo
d bits before shoveling the dishes into a monster of a cleaning machine. “I’ve never actually thought about how everything in Central still works. Like plumbing.”
I hear Cynthia laugh from behind me. “The Creep didn’t destroy the pipes here, Jackie.”
“I guess the island being separated from the mainland helped that a little.”
Dodger answers back. “Most stuff around Central survived better than on the mainland. I mean, a lot still got lost. It’s not like the Creep didn’t hit here. Things just didn’t get hit as hard. From what I’ve heard, the plumbing survived surprisingly well. The whole island’s got a really amazing water system. So yeah, we can do dishes and drink clean water. I just really wish we could get the power running everywhere.”
“Yeah, it’s crazy to think about. All those abandoned parts of the city coming back to life. The towers, billboards . . . All that stuff that’s just dead now.”
“Then you’d really start feeling normal. Imagine a world where you don’t need to fight the Creep anymore. Where you can just go shopping in the afternoon like they do in all the old movies.”
It actually makes stop a second as I’m grabbing another tray. “Yeah. Imagine that.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No. It’s really not your fault. All this talk about being normal . . . I don’t even remember feeling like that as a kid. I think things just got worse the older I got.”
“Well, one day you’ll get a chance to just settle down and, I dunno, play baseball or something.”
“Mind if I ask you something that’s absolutely going to sound rude?”
She sighs. “Do I already know what the question is?”
“Probably. I guess I just want to know why you two even bothered inviting me here.” I turn around a little to look at them. “I get the whole try and make Jackie feel normal thing. But shouldn’t you two hate me by now or something?”
Cynthia rolls her eyes at me as she’s slicing through vegetables on her cutting board. “Dios mio. Is that really what you think?”
“I mean, yeah.”
“You know, I just got done defending you to someone from Fort Silence the other day. I told them that the Angel is always looking out for everyone else.”
“And that’s why Mike’s face looked like hamburger meat when I got there?”
“It looked like that because the people from Fort Silence are . . .” Cynthia pauses and shakes her head. “No. They’re not all bad. But, some of them don’t know what it’s like to live without feeling like everything is a threat. That’s why they behave the way they do.”
“I still could’ve done something earlier. Said something.”
“There’s lots of things we can try to do, Jackie, that won’t change what happens. What happened, happened. You still saved Mike, me, Mandy . . .”
Dodger lifts a finger and smiles “Let’s try and not make this an inflate Jackie’s ego moment.”
Cynthia laughs before pointing with her knife to the cafeteria. We all look up in time to see doors slide open and the room suddenly just surge with a crowd of kids. “Jackie, the trays. We need to hurry.”
“Going, I’m going,” I tell her as I speed through the last few and dump them into the machine. “That should get us through the lunch rush.”
“Then get out there and start introducing yourself.”
My eyes slowly crawl toward her as I feel the blood emptying out of my face. “What’s that now?”
“All of our school volunteers have to introduce themselves to the kids. It’s so the kids feel comfortable with the people working here.”
I start to chuckle a little as I process the horrifying news, my eye dragging over to Dodger. “You didn’t say anything about this . . .”
Dodger shrugs. “Jackie, I’ve been volunteering around the city for a few weeks now and I’ve only got marginally better self-confidence than you. If I could do it, you can do it. Just find Mandy and tell her to introduce you to her friends.”
“God.” I look out of the serving window facing the cafeteria. “Okay. Okay. I can do this.”
Cynthia’s eyes go wide open as she starts gesturing almost scarily with her knife. “Jackie, you’ve killed monstrous beings that can control the Creep and beaten armies by yourself. Are you scared of a bunch of little children?”
“I’m terrified,” I almost scream as I force my way to the door. “But I’m going. I’m going!”
I practically slam the door open and explode into the cafeteria like I’m busting into a room ready to fight. The second I do, the sounds around me are almost overwhelming. There are just so many kids shouting and laughing, I almost feel disoriented in the sea of them as my eyes are searching the room. I finally spot Mandy waving at me, her body wrapped in a thick jacket to protect from the cold. Even with the heat flowing out of the vents, the whole building’s chilly with the winter winds.
I end up hovering over Mandy, looking uncomfortably between her and all her friends. She must see I’m in a half panic because she motions for her friends to make some space, and I end up sandwiched in between a bunch of 12-year-olds all talking too loud for me to feel comfortable. As soon as I’m in a chair, she motions to everyone at the table. “This is Jackie. She’s volunteering at the school.”
There’s only the barest of responses from a bunch of kids who are too busy talking about things I don’t even recognize. I actually feel a little relieved to be so thoroughly ignored as I sit there. “What’s going on, Mandy?”
“I can’t belief you actually came over here to introduce yourself.”
“You and me both, kid.”
“Are you having an anxiety attack yet?”
“You have no idea,” I tell her as I suck in a breath. “But let’s not focus on that. How’s school?”
“Today wasn’t too bad. We’re doing stuff in science with plants. You’d like it.”
“Oh yeah?”
She nods as one of the cafeteria volunteers drops one of the trays in front of her, a pile of seasoned and spiced vegetables there along with large slices of mushrooms. “We’re supposed to be raising our own plants in a terrarium, so we have to use fertilizer for the soil and water the plants every day. Oh, and keep them lit so they grow.”
“Doesn’t sound like much of an experiment.”
“Well, we can’t raise animals, so what else are we supposed to raise?”
“I guess that’s true. Plus, it does teach you about how to take care of something besides yourself.”
“I also get to work with Danny Chang.”
“Danny Chang?”
She smiles at me as she’s devouring a fork full of vegetables. “He’s cute.”
“Ah, I get it. Aren’t you a little young to start having crushes?”
“How old were you when you had a crush on Mike?”
“Hey, that’s . . . This is not a conversation about me, okay?” I say as I’m laughing. “Well, just as long as you keep doing well in school then I don’t think your sister’s going to have any problems with you having a crush.”
Mandy points a finger at one of the kids across the table. “Jackie’s in the militia.” I can’t help sending her an annoyed look because, all of a sudden, I’m getting swarmed by kids peppering me with questions about what it’s like, where I’ve been, and what I’ve done. Still, after giving the briefest responses possible for a couple of seconds, I finally start to get into it. I have to gloss over a lot of it, just because I don’t want to get into discussing anything about being the Angel, but soon I’m having some fun with them, talking about visiting Central Primary and what it’s like to be in a fight. Nothing too gruesome, but just enough to make it entertaining.
I get so into it that I don’t notice someone behind me, at least not until they squeeze on my shoulder. When they do, I whip around, only to find myself staring up into the face of Corporal Yazzie, standing there in a navy blue uniform alongside someone else I don’t recognize. “Oh, Yasmine,” I tell her as I
get up from the table, giving Mandy’s shoulder a squeeze as I do. “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all,” she tells me as she motions to the brown skinned man next to her. “This is Michael Patel. We both serve under Lieutenant Chapman. Tommy, I mean.”
“I get it,” I tell her as I extend a hand to greet Patel. “Nice to meet you.”
“My pleasure, ma’am,” he tells me with a nod.
Yasmine nods away from the tables and to a glass wall facing the school courtyard. “Have a second to talk?”
“Until they need me to wash more dishes,” I joke as we walk to the end of the cafeteria. The second we get there, I can feel the cold chill seeping in through the windows. “Cold. Is it always like this in Central?”
Patel’s eye picks up. “You’re not from here?”
“Ah, no.”
Yasmine motions to Patel. “You mind if I tell him who you are? He’s trustworthy. Promise.”
I hesitate a second as I’m rubbing my arms, my eyes going over to the guy, who’s got a weird, curious look on his face. “Yeah. What the hell.”
She nods my way. “She saved your life during the Battle for Central Freedom. It was in your debriefing. When you were trying to get off the bridge?”
It takes him a minute before he connects the dots and his eyes spring open. “Oh. I guess this really is a special occasion. Thanks for that, by the way. Being alive is preferable to being dead.”
It almost makes me laugh. “You’re a man of many words.”
“The emotional detachment’s actually pretty useful in a fight.”
“I’d bet. I get that way too. Kind of comes down to getting business done. The only time I get emotional’s when someone puts a rocket into my stomach or something.”
“I’m not going to make a big thing about this. I hate when people make big deals out of things. But I think I should tell you that a lot of people in the militia are grateful for all of the things you’ve done. You’ve saved a lot of lives. Like mine.”