Untitled Agenda 21 Sequel (9781476746852) (14 page)

“We stayed in the cave for the longest time. When we'd hear people shouting, we'd move even deeper into it so we were hidden from view. Sometimes we heard screaming. Those were terrifying sounds. We heard men shouting commands: ‘Stop! Stop or I'll shoot.' Then we heard the sound of gunfire. This went on for several days, maybe weeks. We lost track of time. After a while, it grew silent.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“We painted our faces with mud and came out of the cave,” Paul said.

“Then what?”

Ingrid took over. “The sun hurt our eyes when we came outside of the cave after so many weeks. We couldn't look up for the longest time. We had to look down at the grass until we got used to the light.”

“It's been a while since you've seen anyone?” I asked.

Paul nodded. “Yes, quite a while.”

“But you still paint your skin. Why?”

“Because they will never stop hunting us. We aren't important, but catching us is.”

I listened, trying to picture all they had been describing, but the only thing I could see in my mind was that large bear standing on its hind legs, growling, and using its massive claws to mark its territory.

“O
kay, Emmeline and David. We've told our story, now you need to tell us yours. How did it all start for you and your families and what was it like living in what you call a Compound?” Paul leaned forward, his bony legs folded in front of him, the skin stretched across his knobby ankles, a large dark mole on his shin. He had no fat anywhere on his body.

“Let David start,” I said. “He knows more about the beginning than I do.”

David took a deep breath, and was quiet for a while. Finally, he started talking. Micah sat near him, his eyes on David's face.

“I was just a kid, myself. Emmy was a baby. Our farms were right next door to each other. No fences between us, except around animal pastures. Those were good days.”

“You had animals!” Micah exclaimed. “Real animals?” His mouth was a little round circle of surprise.

“Yes, we did. Cows, horses, pigs. Even chickens.”

“Wish I could have seen them!” Micah said.

David went on, looking at Paul. “You already know about the meetings. You said you went to some of them.”

“Had to. It was required,” Paul said.

“Well, I didn't have to go to them, but my parents did. They didn't talk to me about what went on there. And then, for some reason, we lost the farm. I'm not sure why, other than that the federal government said they owned all the land. They told us that we would be relocated and everyone would be taken care of and they would take us to our new homes on a train.”

“You rode on a train?” Micah asked, every detail fascinating to him.

“Yes, my first time riding a train. I thought it was the most exciting thing ever. But it turned out to not be as much fun as I thought it would be. The windows were painted black. Couldn't see where we were going or anything.”

“Oh, dear me,” Ingrid said. “That's very strange.”

“The whole thing was strange. There were lots of trains and lots of people herded in groups under the watchful eyes of guards. The guards called the groups by Compound number. ‘Northeast Region Compound Ten over here. Northeast Region Compound Eight, this way.' The guards pushed and shoved at this group or that group and pointed to the train they were to get on.” David made a pushing motion with his arms. “Everybody was going to a Compound, somewhere. I heard my dad tell my mother he figured the whole nation had been divided into regions. That was the system.”

Micah leaned against me and kept his eyes on David's face.

“I watched them shuffle the other groups onto their assigned trains. Then it was our turn,” David said.

“What else do you remember?” Paul's voice had a sad tone.

“People on the train were all so quiet. Strangely quiet. I remember the silence more than anything else about that ride.”

“Where did the train take you?” Paul urged him to go on.

“To our Compound. Northeast Region Compound Fourteen. We weren't sure exactly where that was located.”

Talking about the Compound made it seem like it was right there, behind me, around me, sucking me back in. In fact, I didn't want to hear any more. I was tired of all the talking, tired of waiting to move on. I moved to the entrance of the cave and sat, looking out, watching for an Earth Protector, an Enforcer, or other predator.

Snippets of conversation drifted my way. I tried to ignore them but sometimes I wanted to scream.

“What are living spaces?” I heard Paul ask David.

Tell them they were gray, cold cement. Tell them about the energy boards we had to walk on every day! Tell them about the bicycle paths, the Transport Teams, the Human Recycling, the Social Update Stage, the Enforcers!

“I was a Gatekeeper,” David said.

“Gatekeeper?”
Paul said the word like it was in a foreign language.

“Yes, every area had a Gatekeeper. I was basically a monitor, tracking when Citizens left their specific area and why. The Authorities mandated that. Every movement was monitored. That's just the way it was. It was my job.”

“You were a Gatekeeper?” Paul asked. “One who monitored others?
You did that?
” I could hear the judgmental tone in his voice.

Of course he did, Paul
, I wanted to shout at him.
We all did as we were told. That's just the way it was. Citizens have no power. No voice. You could say no and die, or say yes and live—those were the only choices we got to make
.

“I lived in the Children's Village.” Micah wanted to be part of the conversation. “I slept in the boys' room and I had to follow the rules. We all did.”

“What kind of rules?” Paul asked him.

“Like this.” He made the circle sign and recited: “ ‘I pledge allegiance to the Earth and to the animals—' ”

“Stop!” I left the cave entrance and went back to Micah. “Never, ever say that again!”

His face puckered into a tight little frown. “I was only telling them . . . I'm sorry.”

Then shame washed over me. I had spoken too harshly. I knew how ingrained the teachings of the Authorities were in his thinking. No child could escape the indoctrination. Could I change that? They'd had him for eight years! I'd had him for six days.

“I'm sorry, Micah,” I said. “You can talk.”

He squirmed, not sure what he should say, not sure if I would get angry again.

“You can tell them about the classroom,” I prompted him. “I won't yell again. In fact, I'll just go and keep watch for the bear.” I went back to the entrance and stared into the woods surrounding us. I tried to listen as intently as I could. I needed to hear what Micah said so I could understand him better and know what demons he might be struggling with.

“It was just a room,” he continued. “I was in the boys' classroom. I slept in the boys' sleeping area. The girls had their own rooms. The babies were in the nursery, at the end of the hall. That's all.” I think he was afraid he might say the wrong thing.

“Where were your parents? Did they have their own room?”

Micah answered in that honest way that only a child can. “I didn't know my parents. I wish I could have seen them, at least one time. But I never did.”

So
that
was Micah's demon.

They continued talking but I quit listening. My thoughts were of Micah, the sad little boy who wished he could have seen his parents just one time.

After a while, I heard David call me. “Emmy, they want to hear what you can tell them.” I returned to the group.

It was time for me to speak up.

I knew exactly what to say.

“David has told you the facts. I'll tell you the feelings. It was the every day, constant darkness of being fenced in with no place to go. It was the feeling of living a meaningless life, and knowing your body, mind, and soul are owned by others. It was the feeling of being helpless and hopeless.”

That was the end of our history lessons. And, while I didn't know it at the time, the beginning of the longest week of my life.

S
teven always woke the men well before dawn, and Julia watched, observing how they reacted to him. Each morning, Nigel and Adam were already awake, their backpacks in place, as if they had anticipated an early start. Winston would wake quickly and shoulder his pack. Guy would fumble clumsily with his, the straps twisting on his shoulders.

This morning was different. Guy was still asleep, slack-jawed and snoring, even after Steven roughly shook his shoulders.

Julia watched as Steven reached into Guy's backpack, took out a water bottle, and poured the water over Guy's head. Guy stumbled to his feet and shook his head. Drops sprayed off his hair and more ran down his face.

“You'll learn to sleep lightly, and wake easily!” Steven said. “And that's an order I don't want to repeat again.” He handed the empty water bottle to Julia. “Take this to the stream. Fill it and bring it back.”

Julia left her pack propped against a tree and walked the short distance to the stream. Looking around as the water flowed into the bottle, she noticed that most of the rocks had moss on them but a few were bone-dry and bare. She also noticed some shriveled brown fern
leaves lying a good distance away from the plants on which they had grown. Something didn't seem right to her. She tightened the lid of the water bottle and looked around for anything else that seemed odd. Nothing stood out but she still felt uneasy.

She returned to the group and handed Guy his water bottle. He mumbled a thank-you, slipped it into his pack, and stood waiting with the others for more orders from Steven. Julia looked over at her backpack, and noticed that someone had moved it, if ever so slightly.

“No nourishment cubes until we've walked for an hour. And we'll be walking fast, so keep up with me.”

“Excuse me, sir,” Julia started to say, ready to tell Steven about the rocks and the ferns.

“I said no nourishment cubes for an hour, so don't bother telling me that you're hungry. I don't care if you're hungry.”

“Yes, sir,” Julia replied. That ended that. She would not tell him what she saw. She would not tell him anything.

They started walking, in single file, just as they had before. Julia was last, behind Winston. When they got to the edge of the stream, she reached forward and tapped Winston's shoulder and pointed to the bare rocks and brown ferns. He looked where she pointed and nodded. Julia could tell from his reaction that he understood. She wondered if Steven had noticed those things.

She looked at the backs of the five men ahead of her. All of them had broad shoulders, much broader than hers. They were taller, too, with long legs capable of long strides. They could easily outpace her on any terrain. Their uniforms fit better than hers. She had to roll up the legs of her pants to keep them from dragging on the ground; the waist of her slacks was too big. Frustrated, she struggled to maintain their grueling pace.

She was sweating by the time Steven said they could stop and eat their morning cube. Gratefully, she sat down on a smooth rock. For a few minutes, she just sat, exhausted, catching her breath. The others
had already eaten their cubes and drunk some water before she even reached into her pack.

“All right, men,” Steven said. “Time to move on. Remember, they have a three-day lead on us, so let's get going.”

Julia had no choice. She had to move on as ordered. Winston must have seen that she had neither drunk any water nor eaten. Quickly he handed her his water bottle and inclined his head, encouraging her to drink. She took a few quick swallows and handed it back. Steven, apparently busy with his own pack, had not noticed Winston sharing his water with her. Julia knew that Steven would have been angry if he had. She smiled at Winston and he smiled back. It was the first time she had seen anybody in this group smiling at all.

They walked on and on. Julia guessed they'd covered over ten miles, maybe more. Would the day ever end? She noticed broken branches along the way, but this time, Steven did, too. Without saying a word, he would point to every broken branch he saw. She noticed bits of paper in the grass. Steven saw some of those and pointed to them, but missed others. She started keeping score in her head, comparing the number of clues she saw with the number Steven pointed to. She felt proud that her score was much higher than his. In her mind, she imagined what it would be like to say
“But, sir, you missed some. Sir.”

The game would have been more fun if she wasn't so hungry.

They took a water break mid-afternoon and Julia wasted no time digging out her bottle. She had learned her lesson well. Steven allowed them to refill their bottles in the stream, which grew smaller and shallower the farther they walked. It was getting harder to completely fill a bottle.

Julia scooped water into her hands and drank it. It was so cold that it hurt her teeth, but it tasted clean and refreshing. She splashed water on her face, and that, too, rejuvenated her. Then she sat back on her heels and looked around. The clouds were beautiful, great flawless puffs of white scattered across the blue sky. She wished she could sit there forever. She was startled when Winston touched her shoulder.

He pulled his hand away quickly when Steven approached them.

“We're ready to move.” Winston took a step back and Julia stood quickly. She knew there would be no more gazing at the sky, no more daydreaming.

They walked on.

Finally, when Julia thought she could not take another step, when night had fallen around them, Steven announced that it was time to set up camp.

“Same partners as last night. Same schedule. Same rules.”