by Dawn Dagger
I jerked back and ducked out of the way with a cry as he hit the floor. Dierdre grabbed the owl and disappeared. I tried to wheel around, but arms suddenly gripped my waist, thin and strong. I roared in surprise and gripped the arms, flipping the person over my head and slamming them into the ground, their legs hitting Thomas.
Biyu-Chen coughed on the ground and I stumbled backwards, staring in horror. Thomas vanished. A new hand gripped my arm and I spun, but it was Dierdre. “We’ve got to go!” she gasped.
Sirens wailed through the building, and the lights began to flash.
I dashed after Dierdre as she tore out of the room and started down one of the hallways. Footsteps pounded on the ground. “Dierdre, the room with the teleportation device is open! I unlocked it!”
She nodded and turned, beginning to run faster down a new hallway. We slid to a stop and reached for the handle, but someone appeared on the other end of the hallway suddenly. It was Tiberius. Thomas appeared beside him.
The black man reached out his hand, walking toward us quickly, looking concerned. “Clayton! I looked into what you were telling me. We--”
“It’s your fault!” I gasped as Dierdre ran into the room and began to pound buttons on the machine. “You traitor!” I jumped into the room and slammed the door, locking it. I shoved the table across the room and in front of the door as Tiberius called from the other side,
“We are trying to help you! Clayton, please! I can explain everything. Don’t—”
The world blinked and I was on the platform. Then the world disappeared from beneath my feet.
8
We were standing on a concrete road. I assumed it was concrete, by the smell of warm rock and the feel beneath my boots. It was too dark to see. We were in the present, though. I knew it. The air was warm and comfortable. The air tasted different than any other place we had been. We were where zoos didn’t exist and jaguars were extinct.
We were home.
My heart fluttered at the thought.
As my eyes adjusted, I saw Dierdre rip something off her arm and throw it to the ground. She crouched and felt along the ground until she found a rock, then smashed it into the bracelet, over and over and over again, until it was nearly dust.
Once she was satisfied that it was destroyed, she let the rock drop beside her and slid into a sitting position, panting heavily. As my eyes adjusted, I realized that although it was dark, I could see everything fairly well. The world had an overlapped, dusty hue, as if I were staring through a curtain.
I stood beside Dierdre, blinking and trying to make out my surroundings with the strange vision, feeling queasy. We were… back to square one. Were we worse off than square one? We had two of the four figurines, but we had been betrayed. We had people coming after us, surely…
Dierdre stood up slowly, rubbing her face with her hands.
“What now?” she asked wearily. “And is it always this dreadfully dark?”
“I’m not sure what to do now… and not usually…” I responded, taking in my surroundings again. I had gotten a sort of clear picture.
We were standing on a concrete road that stretched far in both directions, surrounded by rolling prairies. To our left, I thought I could see a flickering light or two. Cars? A town?
“Let’s go towards that light, and get out of this horrid, horrid darkness…”
I didn’t think the darkness was quite as horrid as she was saying, but I nodded and began to walk towards the light anyway, carefully stepping downhill off the road. Dierdre followed, then missed her footing, stumbling downwards with a cry. I reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her from falling.
Dierdre gripped my hand tightly, shivering. “How can you see anything?” she asked.
“I’m not… not sure. But I can…”
She didn’t interrogate me further, instead clutching my hand tighter and letting me lead. We climbed over many rolling hills, over the brittle, long prairie grass. I hoped there were no wild animals roaming around. I was sure we’d look like a regular snack to some bear. Despite the wind tousling through our hair, Dierdre sweated through her zoo outfit, looking tired and miserable.
She never complained though.
I could see distinct buildings in the distance, glittering with lights in a few of the windows. There appeared to be no dogs, no cars, no people… Nothing besides the silent houses. We’re still very far away, maybe it’s just that we can’t see or hear anything yet.
It seemed we couldn’t hear anything at all, except for the crunching of the grass beneath our feet. It was maddening. Finally, I spoke up. “Where do we start?”
“Start?” she echoed.
I pulled the jaguar out of my pocket and squeezed my hand around it, reminding myself it was real. “We could do anything now. Do we go after my mother? Do we try to get the rattlesnake back? Do we find the turtle?”
I noticed now that she had her hand in her pocket, no doubt running her thumb along the owl’s head as she always did. “We’ll see once we get to the town,” she said finally.
We were quiet for a long time again, Dierdre panting heavily as we walked. The town was so, so much farther away than I had thought. “Dierdre?” She grunted in response, not having enough energy to speak. “Why did you destroy your bracelet?”
She sighed softly. “It’s how they pull us back to base. I destroyed it before they could find us. It’s got a tracker on it. The amount of technology in these years muddles the connection, but there was a connection.”
“So, they can’t track us?”
“No. They can’t. They can’t pull us back either. Clayton, we’re safe.”
The rest of the trip was walked in silence, but when we finally crested the last hill, we both groaned with relief. Even I panted softly as we skittered down the last hill. I had started to sweat through my uncomfortable outfit as well, and I was pretty sure the stiff pants had completely rubbed me raw.
Although we were in the town now, we still saw no people, nor cars, nor pets. There were always pets running around! Only one house had its lights on. It wasn’t unusual for the houses to turn out all lights—households actually could receive bonuses if they did regularly, to stop pollution—but this was an unsettling kind of dark.
Dierdre looked confused, her brows furrowing. She seemed to be able to see now that the light from the singular house spilled out of it. There seemed to be no hotels or restaurants in this town, but there was a small building that had ‘postal services’ on the side.
“Well, might as well try there. Maybe they have a notice, or someone working late?” I tried weakly.
Dierdre did not respond, looking uncomfortable. We stepped up to the singular glass door, but we were disappointed to find it was locked. It looked long out of use, with the hours of the place just dusty shadows were the stickers once were on the glass. I turned to Dierdre, feeling the unease on her face pool in my stomach.
“So, um… Is this town… abandoned?” she asked.
“No? The light’s on!” I turned and trotted back towards the house that was full of light. “Besides, the government resettled all old world towns a very long while ago… Look, there’s not even any solar panels, despite the houses looking fairly new…”
I rapped my knuckles against the wooden door. “Hello?” I called loudly. Dierdre clutched my arm, looking worried. “Hello? Is anyone home?”
No one answered, so I twisted the knob of the door. It was locked. I jiggled the door handle, then tried to knock again. “Hello! Hey! Let us in, please!!” I let out a yelp of surprise as I stumbled forward, my fist going through the door.
Dierdre cried as I wrenched my hand out of the door. I stared at it, my knuckles flecked with blood. “Uh…”
Dierdre shot her hand in through the hole in the door and unlocked it from the inside, pushing the door open. We both stumbled inside and blinked in the bright light that seemed to come from the center of the room. Dierdre seemed more at ease in the light, and as our eyes adjusted,
I looked around.
The glow came from three construction lights, all plugged into a generator that hummed loudly. Scattered across the tile floor were newspapers, cans, and a couple bloody rags.
“What in the name of…?” I muttered.
“Maybe, maybe someone got hurt?” Dierdre asked, her cool demeanor returning. “Perhaps they were working on this house, building it as part of that resettlement program, and someone got injured.”
“Let’s go… let’s check the other houses…” I mumbled, feeling dread creep along my spine.
She shook her head. “They’re probably being built too, yeah? If we find anything, it’ll probably be in the post office, right?” We wandered back over to the post office, and I tried the door again, lightly. It did not budge. “Try harder,” Dierdre prompted.
I jerked again, this time as hard as I could, and to my surprise, lost my footing, stumbled backwards, and fell on my back, a large, glass door falling onto me, knocking the wind from my lungs.
“Clayton!” Dierdre shrieked. I groaned and pushed the door off of me, and it fell with a thump. I lay on the ground, wheezing, as Dierdre crouched beside me, her eyes large. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I think.” I sat up, rolling my neck. It cracked painfully, but otherwise I felt fine. I shakily stood, then stared at the door that sat at my feet. “Well, if ya would look at that.”
“How much can you lift?” Dierdre asked in awe as I stepped in through the doorway. She flicked the lightswitch a couple of times, but nothing happened.
“I don’t know!” I began to shuffle through the papers on a heavy, oak desk that sat inside the building, searching for signs of contracts or government documents. “It was all of a sudden. I promise, I can’t usually do even a pullup.”
We rummaged through the shed that served as a post office for a while, only to turn up with nothing. Nothing indicated that this place was being resettled. Nothing explained why the night was so dark, or why there was no one anywhere.
I lifted the receiver of the grey phone that sat on the desk, and I held it to my ear. It made no noise. No power, as I suspected. We met back up at the gaping doorway, Dierdre looking uneasy and defeated. Then her face brightened.
“Grab the desk!” she commanded.
“What?” I demanded.
“Go on! Grab the desk. See if you can pick it up. I want to see just how strong you are.”
I glanced at the desk skeptically. “It’s literally entirely oak and metal.” But part of me was tempted. I felt the tugging in my chest. It wouldn’t hurt to just… try.
“Just do it!” She fluttered her hands at me. “Just try it, will you?”
I grumbled beneath my breath, but gripped the sides of the desk anyway. I glanced around at the feet of the desk, and realized it was bolted to the ground. This was going to be impossible. I cracked my knuckles nervously, then moved my hands to grip the front of the desk.
I’m going to fall on my ass and embarrass myself, I thought bitterly. Despite this, I closed my eyes and jerked as hard as I could back. Wood cracked and I felt my body lean backwards. I opened my eyes in surprise and jerked again. Once, twice, and-- “oh!” I stumbled backwards as the desk peeled from the floor and stayed in my hands.
Dierdre whooped with excitement and gestured for me to follow her outside. I pushed the desk through the doorway, my muscles aching from the effort. I panted softly, but I couldn’t help grinning. I felt so alive. I felt powerful.
She dashed away from me and the desk, and pointed into the open field. “See how far you can throw it! C’mon!”
“I… I dunno…” I set the counter down for a moment, taking a second to breathe. “Isn’t that technically illegal? Destruction of government property and whatnot?”
Dierdre gave me a look, then pointed to the twisted door and gaping frame. “The government can eat our pants!” Her eyes were shining, wild with excitement. “The government and the MMEA both! You’re a superhero, Clayton! No one can ever touch us again!!”
That felt good. It struck a chord deep in my chest. No one could ever hurt us again. We never had to depend on anyone.
I planted my feet into the ground and tried to do what I had seen people on TV do. I picked up the desk and spun my body in a circle, once, twice, gaining momentum. At the last second, before it could pull from my fingers, I thrust it forward.
The counter went soaring through the air, tumbling end over end.
Dierdre and I heard an explosion of wood crashing into the ground, though we could not see the desk, far, far away, hidden behind a hill. Dierdre squealed and jumped up and down, clapping her hands.
I whooped and jumped myself, my pulse pounding. I was a superhero! No one, nothing, could ever touch me! I was untouchable! I was strong.
“But how?” I asked Dierdre breathlessly, as if she would know how I obtained my sudden strength. “How in the world?”
“Who cares?” Dierdre was laughing now, dancing in a circle. I loved the way her eyes shone. “We’re safe! No one can hurt us!” I grinned back at her, feeling her excitement settle across my skin like fresh air. “C’mon, let’s see if there’s any food in any of these houses, I’m starving. Then we can follow the road. We’ll come to a city eventually.”
I nodded, still grinning, and we trotted towards the nearest house. I turned the handle of the locked door with enough force that it cracked off, not wishing to damage things anymore than I had to. We stepped into the dark house.
It was fully furnished, to my surprise. The furniture was all shadowy boxes in the dark, but otherwise the house was empty, as expected.
We stepped into the kitchen, to find it similarly furnished. Dirty dishes piled in the sink. We opened the fridge, and a putrid smell wafted out, making me gag. Dierdre slammed the door closed, then began to rummage through the cupboards. The dirty dishes bothered me, but I didn’t know why.
Dierdre produced a box of granola bars and we both tore into them, discarding the wrappers onto the floor. I didn’t know why I felt so Devil-may-care, but I was too careless to worry about it. Dierdre snatched a handful of fruit snacks from the cupboard as well, shoving it into the pockets of her shirt. I stashed a few miniature bags of trail mix into mine.
She rummaged through the drawers in the kitchen, then held up a flashlight triumphantly. “Ah ha! Now I can finally see clearly.” She flicked on the light and I shouted in pain, covering my eyes. White hot pain shot through my skull and Dierdre turned it off, reaching out for my shoulder frantically. “You okay?!”
I shakily opened my eyes, spots dancing across my vision. “Not really… Ow… That hurt. Turn it on again, just, facing away from me.”
Dierdre nodded and turned it on again, beaming it onto the wall behind her. It flickered at first, then a yellow circle glowed steadily. She began to leave the house, but I tapped her shoulder. “Hey, uh… I gotta pee.”
She laughed and jerked her head towards the stairs that led to the second level. “Bathroom is probably up there. Do you need me to escort you?”
“No… But I need the flashlight. And I don’t want you to stand here in the dark.”
“You need me to escort you. C’mon.” She gestured with the flashlight and started up the stairs. I followed her and she pointed the beam of the flashlight toward a door that was slightly ajar. “That one.”
I nodded and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door quietly. It was dark inside the bathroom, but my eyes quickly adjusted, and the grey-ish filter appeared over the shapes again. I quickly did what I had to, only to find out sorely that there was no running water.
“Well that sucks…” I grumbled. I glanced over in the bathtub, hoping some sort of waterless sanitizer would be hiding in it. Instead, I found something much more disturbing. The bathtub was splattered with something dark, and I knew immediately what it was.
“You get lost in there?” Dierdre joked from the other side of the door.
I pushed open the door, my stomach doing fl
ips. “Dierdre, there’s something really wrong here…” The greyish hue began to fade from my vision as my eyes adjusted to the flashlight beam.
“Yeah.” She pointed the yellow light at my hands. “The significant lack of water on your hands. Wash them now.”
“There’s blood in the bathtub.”
“That doesn’t excuse you not wash-- What?” She blinked.
“There’s blood. In the bathtub. And no running water.”
Dierdre swallowed, then jerked her head sideways. “Aye, why don’t we check the bedroom for hand sanitizer.” I raised a skeptical brow. “Hey, you never know what us women have.” She shrugged.
I followed her into the room, muttering, “So you think there were people here, Dierdre?”
The bedroom was destroyed. Clothes and jewelry were scattered everywhere. A vase was overturned and shattered on the ground. Dierdre was decidedly unbothered by the state of the room, and began opening the drawers of the side tables. She handed me a small bottle triumphantly.
I squeezed the cold liquid into my hands, and hissed as it stung the small cuts in my skin. “Dierdre… What do you think happened?” I asked carefully.
“A homebirth gone wrong, obviously,” she said matter-of-factly. “That, or it wasn’t intended to be a homebirth.”
I was skeptical, but tried to nod in agreement. Maybe it really was nothing. Maybe the couple had a baby, the area was deemed unsafe, then they were never able to return. Maybe something horrible happened to them on the way to the hospital… So many maybes.
We left the bedroom, I stashed the hand sanitizer in my pocket, and we trotted back down the stairs. We stepped into the living room, hoping to step into the garage and find a vehicle or bike. As I walked, my boot hit something and sent it rolling away with a small clink.
I looked down, then crouched on the rug of the living room. I gingerly picked up the object between my fingers. It was cylindrical and cool against my skin. I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed it and pulled it out from under the couch, then shrank back.