Untitled Agenda 21 Sequel (9781476746852) (9 page)

“We saw a worker fall down and get kicked,” Micah whispered to David. “She didn't move.”

David looked at me and I nodded.

“That's why we have to get away,” I said as I punched holes into the rubber. Grabbing a diaper, I ripped it into thin strips and threaded it through the holes. David now understood what I was doing and he helped me place his arm into the contraption. I tied the ends of the diaper behind his neck. He sighed with relief when I was done. “That feels better.” He touched my cheek with his hand. It was hot on my skin.

“We have to get out of here soon.”

“But it's daylight,” David said.

“I know that. But you didn't see what we saw. We have to move on fast.”

“We're safer moving at night. We should stay here till it's dark.”

Micah picked up the leftover part of the rubber mat and ran his hand along it, studying it intently.

“I'm telling you, David, we have to get away from here. They're going to see things are missing from their tents.”

“They won't be back in them till dusk. We can wait till then.”

“We're not waiting till dusk. You didn't see the workers ignoring one of their own when she fell down. Nobody helped her get up. The guards kicked her. Kicked her! The workers didn't even look up when she was carried away and tossed lifeless into the bus-box. Nobody is going to help us here. If they treated her like that, imagine what they would do to us.”

“But my shoes,” Micah said. “Can you fix them?” He pointed to the rubber mat. “That would be better than the moss and stuff. I can walk faster if you fix them with that.” He pulled the pulpy mass of cattails and moss out of his shoes.

I nodded. “We'll fix your shoes. Then we move on.”

I quickly traced the outline of his shoes on the rubber mat with the knife, cut through the outline, and slipped the pieces into his shoes, completely covering the worn-out holes. He put them on and smiled. He reached up and touched my cheek, just as David had done. He was learning from us. We were his protectors, his teachers. He was our future.

There was enough rubber left to repair my shoes and David's as well. What good luck that we had found that mat, and how smart of Micah to think of using it for our shoes. A warm feeling of pride and gratitude washed over me. I smiled at him and he flashed his crooked little grin back at me.

We tied everything up in our first bundle and made a second one,
using the blanket Micah had taken. The workers were picking at some distance away from us. We'd travel until they turned back in our direction. Then we'd hide again, in whatever shadows we could find. Crouching, we started moving downstream, following the water as it flowed rapidly, in choppy little waves with whitecaps leaping and twisting.

The terrain was becoming rockier. Big boulders stuck out of the hillside. Some had cracks where trees had managed to grow, their roots splitting the rocks. I couldn't imagine how strong a tree needed to be to grow out of a rock and split it. Outside the Compound nature was a wonderful but curious thing. So far, the only animals we had seen were small: rabbits, squirrels, and a red fox that yipped as it ran. There were fish in the water, but we had no way to catch or cook them. Still, I was hungry enough to eat anything we caught raw. The peas were not enough. I rummaged in my pocket hoping that maybe there was one left, but it was as empty as my stomach.

The sun was low in the sky now. We had walked all last night and hadn't slept during the day because we had come so dangerously close to the farm commune. I could see that David and Micah were exhausted. I was, too, but fear and determination overruled fatigue. I urged them to keep moving.

Off to my right I saw something shining white in the distance. Even though it was far away, I could tell it was big. “Look,” I said, pointing. “What it that?”

David squinted. “I have no idea.”

“Let's check it out. Maybe we'll find something we can use. Maybe it's a place we can hide.”

“Or maybe we'll find something that puts us in danger.” David said.

“We're checking it out. Come on.”

“Emmy, I can't. I'm too tired.” His face was pale, but he had dark circles under his eyes.

I had to find out what that was. I just had to. Some instinct was
driving me, and making me push my limits. Whatever that something was, it could not be ignored or denied. I knew one thing: I was not going to walk away without exploring that place. Of that I was certain. But just because I was determined to push myself, didn't mean I had the right to push David. He was sick and I had already insisted he stay awake for almost twenty-four hours. I had to somehow balance curiosity with compassion. And most important, while he was weak, I had to grow stronger. Surprisingly, I knew I could do that. I already had.

“All right. Stay here with the children. I'll go investigate while you rest.”

“I'll go with her,” Micah said. “I'll help her.”

“No, Micah. Stay here with Daddy. He doesn't feel good and you can help by watching Elsa.”

Without any further discussion, I climbed up the bank and, moving from tree to tree, slowly closed the distance to the object I'd seen. The sun was already noticeably lower in the sky.

As I got closer, I saw that the object was a huge house of shiny, smooth stone surrounded by a high fence made of tightly spaced metal spikes. Who could possibly need a house that big, surrounded by such a foreboding fence? And why was this area so flat? Except for the farm commune, we had seen only rolling hills covered with spiky weeds, shrubs, and rocks. But this place had a large level expanse covered with short grass.

The trees gave me cover. I got as close as I could until the trees ended. I crouched behind the last one and peered around it.

There was a massive front door with round white pillars on either side. The building didn't have narrow window slits like the Living Spaces back in the Compound. Instead, the windows were large and covered with something that sparkled and glistened in the sunlight. A crew of workers was busy washing them. Children ran on the lawn inside the fence and chased each other around a pond filled with large white birds with curved necks swimming lazily about. In the middle of
the pond was a statue of some sort spraying arcs of water into the air. Rainbows formed in the sunlight.

These children were not corralled in any Children's Village. They weren't forced to practice walking on energy boards to teach them how to produce energy for the Authorities. They ran freely under the watchful eyes of Chaperones in crisp white uniforms. A man in an Authority uniform sat on a bench. The gold trim of his jacket gleamed. A woman sat next to him. They raised glasses full of red liquid to each other, and then each took a small sip.

Colorful plants blossomed all along the front of the house. Pink, purple, yellow, and red mounds of flowers contrasted sharply against the whiteness of the building. A worker was picking some of them and putting them into a container of sorts. Citizens weren't allowed to pick flowers. Why was this person able to? I waited for the Authority to scold him, but no one seemed to care.

In the distance, off to one side, was another large fenced area where cows and horses were grazing on the grass.

Men in Gatekeeper uniforms, with guns on their shoulders, paced around the perimeter. Each had a large black dog on a leash walking alongside him.

Two women in Nourishment Team uniforms carried trays of food and placed them on a table near the man and woman. I watched as they began to eat. Not nourishment cubes, but real, fresh food. My mouth watered at the sight.

One of the dogs started barking. Then more dogs barked. I knew I was well hidden, but I recoiled in fear.

I had seen enough. It was time to go.

I retraced my steps, moving from tree to tree. It was growing darker.

Suddenly bright lights lit up the landscape, beaming from the corners and roof of the building. What kind of powerful lights do these people have on their homes? They were unlike anything I had ever
seen. Lights powerful enough to slice great distances through the darkness and, at the same time, cause the trees to cast long dark shadows. I stayed low in those shadows and kept moving.

The dogs kept barking.

My heart kept pounding.

B
ack at the river, I told David about everything I had seen, including the guards and dogs, and that we had to keep moving. I let David take the lead and set the pace, because he felt poorly and I didn't want him to struggle to keep up with me.

Finally, the dreadful farm commune was too distant to see. We were beyond the big white house as well. Anger pulsed through me at the Authorities who dared to live that life, that comfortable, indulgent, and extravagant life, while Citizens like us lived in despair.

David was moving slower and slower, and then he stopped and leaned against a boulder. I moved up beside him.

“I can't go on,” he said. “I have to rest.”

I glanced around for a place we could hide and rest. Nothing looked promising.

“I'll find something. Sit here for a minute while I look.”

He nodded and slid down to the ground.

“Stay with him,” I told Micah. “I'll go a little bit ahead, see what I can find.”

Micah nodded and sat down next to David. Leaving our bundles with them, I started off with Elsa, following the path of the river that
was now wild and rumbling loudly in its bed. It curved around to the right and ahead there was some kind of structure built over the water. Its foundation on either side rested on large rocks. One boulder jutted out from the bank, and the area underneath it was a hollow big enough for us to hide in. It wasn't far from where I'd left Micah and David.

I went back to them and told them what I had found. Micah gave David a hand and helped him to his feet.

Slowly, we made our way back to the space underneath the rock. Knowing we were reaching our limits frightened me. David lay down immediately, and Micah curled up beside him. I fed Elsa the last bottle I had. She fell asleep in my arms and didn't wake when I laid her next to Micah.

I slept, too, wrapped in the darkness of the night.

I woke early when the fingers of sunlight began to stretch over the horizon, pushing away the night sky. The darkness faded reluctantly.

David looked more feverish. I figured that if I wet a clean diaper, I could wipe David's flushed face with it. I needed to fill empty bottles with water anyway. At the edge of the river I worked alone on my chores, glancing over my shoulder at my sleeping family.

I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the structure that spanned the river. I squinted but couldn't make out anything. Was it a person? An animal maybe? A shiver ran across my skin. I gathered my things, watched for further movement, and scurried back to our hiding place. Everyone was still asleep where I'd left them but David was moaning. I squeezed the cool water out of the diaper and laid it on his forehead. He woke and I put my index finger over my mouth to signal him to keep quiet. He frowned but said nothing. He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

I sat up, vigilant, keeping watch. I scanned the area for any sign of life and strained to hear anything above the roar of the rushing water. My body was tense, ready to spring into action if necessary.

Long minutes passed.

T
he old man shooed squawking birds away from brambly bushes, picked red berries, and then sat cross-legged beside the woman by the edge of the forest. Behind them was the steep rise of a wooded hillside; below them, the raging river spanned by the rusty bridge. The road leading to the bridge was long gone, overgrown with weeds and saplings. He watched their surroundings in all directions, his eyes scanning constantly. Watchfulness had become a habit ingrained in him, and his caution was unending.

The woman sat, hunched and shrunken, like a curved gnome. The fabric of her dress was thin, almost transparent, and frayed along the hem and sleeves. The neckline's opening was far too big; it hung in folds across her collarbones. Her shoulder blades were prominent, like wings attached to her knobby spine. Her gray hair hung in a long braid, tied at the end with a piece of string. Below the string was a ball of frizz, like the period at the end of an exclamation point.

Their dirty faces were dappled with early sunlight and shadows. They might have been shrubs growing there instead of human beings.

“Do you see them?” the woman whispered. She chewed on a fingernail.

From where they sat, they looked down on a man and two children sleeping under an overhanging rock on the other side of the river. A woman, looking around nervously, was at the edge of the water filling bottles and rinsing out a cloth.

“Yes, Ingrid, I see them.” He had painted their exposed skin with mud, as he did every day, making them one with the Earth, less visible in the shadows, their eyes a startling white contrast.

“They have a boy child. Don't they? I thought I saw a boy child.”

“Yes, I saw him.” He wondered how there could possibly be people there, under that rock. Hadn't they all been captured and punished by the Earth Protectors? Hadn't he and Ingrid sat huddled, hidden, while listening to the screaming, the gunfire? Eighteen years had passed since then. No more gunfire. No more screaming. No more skeletal refugees hunted down by well-fed, well-armed Earth Protectors. He felt his pulse, suddenly irregular, like moth wings in his chest, and he felt dizzy. He hit his fist against his chest, against that irregular pulse. He felt a pause in the heartbeat, then a regular cadence. The dizziness passed. That worrisome fluttering in his chest was happening more often. He had to stay healthy. It was up to him to take care of Ingrid. She couldn't take care of herself anymore.