by Nate Phelps
“Johnny is not our only defense in this city. Not anymore.”
There was a pause.
“It’s not ready,” said Dr. Henry. “We’ve got weeks left. No tests were even scheduled till the end of the summer.”
“We don’t have a choice. It’s nearly complete. Either we get it working, or we die.”
Several others voices chimed in at this point. The arguing grew louder. I pressed my ear harder to the wall.
“I left you half your force,” said the original voice as the sounds died down. “It will have to be enough.”
“It won’t be.”
I stood back, feeling guilty. This conversation was not meant for my ears, but I wanted more.
Dr. Henry was usually in charge of all the defenses, wall and city, but in wartime the President could take control of the army. It sounded like this had already taken place. I’d read of similar times in my studies and I knew they would take more than just Enforcers and government employees like me. They’d likely draft every able-bodied young man and woman to guard the wall. I couldn’t imagine our supply of weapons stretching very far without help from Lutosa. Every scenario of defending the city had always included their assistance. They outnumbered us in trained soldiers and number of weapons. Johnny had been our only advantage over them.
I flushed the toilet as I left, just in case anyone had entered without my noticing. It was still empty.
Dr. Henry was too busy to deal with me. I’d go find Sarah instead.
Suddenly, the lights went out and the bathroom fan went silent. Were these automatic lights? I swung my arm over my head. Nothing. I fumbled my way to the door and pulled it open. The hallway was dark. Screams rang out.
Then, the lights returned and I gasped, realizing that I’d been holding my breath. What was that? I stayed there for a moment, looking down the hall as if the monster was about to turn the corner and come after me. It took me another few moments to realize the power fluctuation was probably due to the damage the downtown area had received.
While I was distracted, the meeting broke. I pressed back against the wall as several soldiers passed in front of me. Dr. Henry came next, followed by an older man in a grey jacket and white shirt. His white hair and long chin gave him away as President Gruber, leader of the city. I’d never seen him in person, but I’d seen his photograph on the first floor and they often plastered his face on tv. He must have been the other side of the argument. I shrank against the wall.
Dr. Henry stopped when he saw me. “Kleiner? What are you doing here?”
“Sorry,” I sputtered. “I just…”
“Kleiner?” President Gruber halted and turned to consider me. Erik came to his side, giving me a suspicious look. “This is the one who gave us the account?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Erik.
“We were listening in on your meeting,” Dr. Henry explained.
They’d been recording me?
The President stepped closer and analyzed me. “The monster chases you halfway across the city and you live to tell the tale. Odd that I haven’t been told about your project when you have such incredible talents. The good Doctor here likes his secrets.”
I looked at Dr. Henry and noticed his jaw moving, almost as if he was restraining himself. It’d never occurred to me that the two most important people in the city might not get along.
“Did you need to talk to me?” asked Dr. Henry.
I glanced at Gruber. He watched me with interest, showing no signs of leaving. The weight of the sword on my hip seemed to increase with every moment that passed.
“I just… I think Lutosa is behind this. Made the monster, I mean.”
“We know.” Dr. Henry placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry about what happened to you, and I can’t tell you how glad I am you made it away safely. Try to get some rest.”
“Yes,” agreed the President. “We’ll need you fresh before you report for the Wall. It seems that you’ll be an excellent solider.”
My stomach fell and I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I’d nearly forgotten—Shania would be taken and repurposed for someone else. Sarah and I would likely never have time to see one another.
I tried to say something, but my voice failed. Walking away, Dr. Henry looked back at me as if he knew there was something else I’d meant to say. But it was too late.
My fate was sealed.
* * *
Brad didn’t know what to say when I told him that I didn’t have a home anymore. He drove slowly, making his way towards the living district, trying to avoid downtown.
I’d called Sarah and sent her several messages. She wasn’t responding. Neither was Ricky. Who else did I know? I wasn’t actually that close with any of my classmates.
“I would take you with me,” Brad said. “But I just have the one bedroom. They aren’t handing out much to older bachelors these days.”
I didn’t respond because I didn’t know what to say.
My watch buzzed and I jerked up. The message was from an unexpected source.
A few minutes later, Brad dropped me off where it specified. I stood before one of the boxy living complexes on the far corner of the living district. Gerald sat on the edge of the sidewalk.
He looked up and smiled as I approached. “Hi.”
My chest was clenched in a vice as I looked at him. He was still wearing a ripped and blackened lab coat. Did he know his father was dead?
I sat next to him, not trusting myself to speak as the numb blanket finally started peeling from me. For a long time, we said nothing.
“I saw you…” He finally said. “When you found him. You tried so hard.”
My stomach clenched. This was worse than I had imagined.
“Th… thank you.”
It came in a rush. Gerald let out a wail. I put an arm around his shoulder as his sobs deepened. No tears came from me. I’d already failed Gerald once that night and it wouldn’t happen again.
* * *
“Look!”
We were in Gerald’s living quarters, the one’s he’d shared with his father. He’d pulled out the case that I’d seen him holding when Johnny saved him, plopping it onto his bed and pulling the latches free. It flipped open and my breath caught.
Inside were foam pistols, ice picks, extra hoses, and everything else. It was packed tightly. There was enough there to last me weeks, not that it mattered anymore.
“Please tell me he didn’t go back for this?”
Gerald shook his head avidly. “It was almost like he knew the fire was coming. He had this thing packed in just a minute or two. No, he stayed back to help the others get out with Johnny. And everyone did. Everyone except him.”
There was silence for a moment.
Gerald shook his head and wiped at his eyes aggressively. “You can stay here. He was always talking about inviting you, anyway. I don’t think he liked that you were living all by yourself at the school.”
“That’s…” I nodded. “Thank you.”
My watch went off—a call from Sarah.
“I gotta take this.”
“No, worries,” said Gerald. “I’m just… gonna lay on the couch for a minute.”
I moved out into the hallway of the living unit and answered the call.
“Kleiner! I’m just making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine! Where are you?”
Sarah sounded out of breath. Something I didn’t hear from her often. “I’ve got to do something, but I’ll find you as soon as I can, okay?”
“What’s going on?”
“Soon, soon. I’ll tell you. Just please stay safe.”
I stared at my watch as it went dark. When I went back inside, Gerald was already asleep, sprawled out on the small couch. I packed up the case that held my tools and shoved it into the corner of my new bedroom. My thoughts swirled into dark places and I sat on the edge of the bed staring at the wall. Sleep eluded me for a long time.
Chapter 15
&
nbsp; My watch chirped loudly and my head snapped up. The sun was just thinking about rising and the sky was still a deep blue. My watch kept buzzing and chirping. It was a call.
Sarah?
I jumped up and answered it.
“Kleiner, where are you?”
I paused. “Riker?”
“Yes, it’s me. Where are you? We have to talk.”
After deciding on a location to meet, I went back and woke Gerald so I could borrow his dad’s car before heading toward the largest generator house by the river. When I got out, I could hear the machinery inside whirring and pumping. The water roared as it was released out the back.
Riker descended and landed nearby. I ran over to him.
“What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Why aren’t you armed? It’s not safe in this city.”
He was right—I’d taken nothing with me in my hurry to get there. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“Are you kidding? Johnny’s dead! I got here as fast as I could.”
“What if it comes after you next?”
“Slow down, Kleiner. Tell me what happened. I need the details.”
I took a heavy breath and then told him everything that had happened. I’d had so much practice the night before, it was easy to recite it again, just as I had for President Gruber’s men.
He cursed as I finished, stomping his foot and cracking the road.
“Easy,” I said.
“I thought Johnny was the strongest of us. How did he go down so easily?”
“You’ve got to get back to Sanitatem. What if that's the next target?”
“You think so?”
“It left so suddenly. What if it’s on a mission to kill each Sentinel?”
Riker growled. “I have to find it.”
“No!” I grabbed his arm. “You can’t fight that thing.”
“How else do we stop it? None of Midhaven’s weapons will do any good.”
I thought for a moment. “There’s a new weapon. I don’t know much about it, but it could be good enough to kill the creature.”
“That’s very vague. Where did you hear about this?”
“Dr. Henry told me about it.”
Riker growled and paced back and forth. “I fear you’re right about me returning to Sanitatem. My people are far from safe. Johnny and I spoke the last time you visited. Something strange is going on in your city.”
“What do you mean?”
“Johnny thought that there were some traitors among your leadership. They might be involved in the creation of this creature.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Many are furious with Gruber and with Henry.”
“Furious? Why?”
“They’ve been hoarding resources for years now, promising that we would be creating new settlements. Lutosa has been griping to us about it for ages. They say your leaders do nothing but lie.”
“Dr. Henry is not a liar! He’s just careful because he doesn’t want any more dead settlers.”
“And President Gruber?”
I hesitated. Him I wasn’t so sure about. I knew that we controlled all the trade routes between the cities, but I’d never really thought about the advantageous position this gave us. Had Gruber been leveraging it over our neighbors?
“Is this why Lutosa is doing all this?”
Riker nodded. “I think they were tired of being under Johnny’s boot, so they took action. Sanitatem isn’t entirely pleased with MIdhaven either, but we aren’t insane. Politics aside, we’ll join your fight against Lutosa.”
“Good.” I sighed heavily.
He looked at me. “Why don’t you come?”
“Where?”
“To Sanitatem. We could use your help.”
The invitation caught me off guard. “I can’t… I have to go on the wall…”
“The wall?” He looked incredulous. “Are you serious? What good will you be there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come with me,” Riker firmly said. “Bring your those tools and anything else that might be useful.”
“I…” It was tempting. I loved Sanitatem and it was probably much safer. “Can I think about it first?”
A flash of annoyance crossed Riker’s face. “Think quickly, Kleiner. Who knows when that thing will be back?”
With that, he turned and leapt away. Had I really just encouraged Riker to go home? What kind of idiot would do that?
I got back in Professor Laevis’s car and headed back towards Gerald’s place. There was a screech as a dark colored vehicle cut me off. I stiffened as the driver got out and came towards me.
Then I heaved a relieved sigh when I saw it was Sarah. She all but pulled me out of the car as I opened the door. We hugged tightly. She was covered in dust.
“How’d you find me?”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I should have come sooner, but I had to help through the night."
I felt an immediate guilt. While everyone else had been searching for survivors, I’d gone to bed. “I’m sorry, I should have been there.”
“No, that’s just it,” she pulled back and I noticed that her eyes were red and puffy. “There were hardly any casualties. Most of them got away. It’s miraculous.”
“You’re kidding!”
This was not the news I’d expected after seeing the Tower take out half of the downtown area.
“I need you to tell me everything,” she said. “Absolutely everything you remember.”
Again, I told the story, but this time I didn’t hold back. I told her about how I failed Laevis, how Johnny was overpowered, and I told her about the sword.
“I think it’s the key,” I said. “Thirteen was going to kill Johnny with it, but instead gave us the answer to killing this thing.”
“I need to see it,” she said. “And I need to find this Thirteen guy I keep hearing about. He’s more important than we realized. Don’t worry about any of this. I’m going to set it right.”
I looked at her. “What are you going to do? You can’t fight that thing. It ripped Johnny to pieces.”
“This thing didn’t come out of nowhere. It was created. I think Lutosa got some of the journals.”
“Journals? What are you talking about?”
“Edward, the man who created the Sentinels and the Crawlers, made copies of his work. We call them the “Journals”. There were supposed to be destroyed, because we didn’t want anyone replicating the serum that created the Crawlers. I think Lutosa got their hands on a few and kept them instead. That would explain how they can control the creatures and how they were able to make a new monster.
“That’s makes sense,” I nodded, thinking furiously.
“I’ll track down Thirteen,” said Sarah. “Then I can find out how they created that monster and how to stop it.”
I was startled by the venom in her voice. She wasn’t going to stop until this was over.
I thought for a long moment.
“I’ll keep checking on you,” Sarah was saying. “We can…”
“I’m coming.”
She paused. “What?”
“I’m coming,” I repeated.
“Are you serious? That’s a terrible idea.”
“If I don’t report to the army, how long will it take them to track me down?”
“Report in? Crap, I forgot about that.” Sarah scrunched her face. “I don’t want you on the wall, either. Lutosa will be banging on our door any day now. To be honest, you’d be safer with me anyway.”
“Perfect,” I said. “It’s settled. I’ll help you in your investigation.”
“I can probably get you off the record, but are you sure you want this?” She met my gaze and looked deep into my eyes.
“I’m sure.”
She hesitated. Then she punched me on the arm. “Partners?”
“Ow!”
Chapter 16
Sarah’s house was a quaint, little blue thing. It
was the sort of place I imagined most people had lived before the Crawlers were loosed on the world. Having a house was unusual. Money wasn’t usually enough, you had to have a certain amount of influence to be able to keep a traditional home. Most had been ploughed out of the way to make room for living units. Powering an entire building for just one family wasn’t energy-conscious.
The house was just another part of the Sarah mystery, as if there weren’t enough pieces already. But, the time for putting the pieces together had finally come. Now that we were partners, I intended to learn more about her.
Sarah’s mom greeted us as soon as we walked in. She looked similar to Sarah, just a bit shorter and with some wrinkles around the eyes.
“Kleiner,” she trilled. “What a wonderful surprise! Take your shoes off.”
“Yes ma’am.” I’d visited for Christmas and she’d pulled my shoes off my feet the moment I'd sat down.
“You too,” she said, eyeing Sarah.
“Mom!” Sarah groaned. “We’re in a hurry.”
“Not with dirty shoes, dear.”
Sarah pulled her boots off and tossed them next to the door. I set mine down neatly, gave her mom a smile, and followed Sarah into the house.
“Lunch will be in an hour!” she called after us.
“We don’t need lunch!” Sarah argued.
“Everyone needs lunch.”
“We’ll get it ourselves.”
“I’d like lunch,” I chimed.
“See, dear?”
Sarah groaned again. “Fine.”
She grabbed my arm and dragged me through a door in the hallway. It led to some stairs.
“You have a basement?” I asked.
Sarah grinned, descending with practiced ease. I followed, but stopped short when I got to the bottom.
The basement was unfinished with a concrete floor and wooden beams spread throughout. Sarah had plastered the walls with maps, lists, and diagrams. There was a computer in the corner, a rack with a variety of clothing (mostly darker shades), and several chests scattered about.
“You have a secret hideout?”
“Duh,” Sarah gave me a wide grin. “What about me makes you think I wouldn’t have one?”