Vanquished (17 page)

I immediately remember his strange behavior on the hospital roof a few days ago. I had said it was hard being separated from your family, and he'd cringed ever so slightly. This is why he was against the Greaters and their system. I'm sure of it.

“Who's keeping you from your family?” I ask softly.

He takes his time turning to me. It's not because he's trying to ignore me, or to show me he'll speak when he's ready. It's because of the pain I see in his eyes. He doesn't want me to see it.

My heart warms to him, and I want to do something—anything—to comfort him.

“
They
are,” he says.

The Greaters. I don't know why I asked, other than I wanted to hear him admit it. Fischer is so perfect, like an arching rainbow in the sky after a rainstorm. I want to be sure he's human, that he has cracks like me.

“Where are they?” I ask.

He takes a deep breath and turns back to the levy. “I would go back there in a heartbeat, if they'd assign me to the hospital there. They don't send Lessers back to their home cities, though.”

I freeze. I definitely hadn't expected this. At all.

“You were a
Lesser
?” the words come out much harsher than I'd intended, but he doesn't seem to notice.

He nods. “I took my Test and scored as a Middle. I was shipped out the next day. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my family.”

A million questions run through my head. Was his life horrible growing up? Had he starved or lived without electricity? Had he lived in squalor?

But then I remember his words—he would go back in a heartbeat.

“It's not like they told you,” he says, as if he can read my mind. “My Lesser city, I mean. The people aren't scum. They're not all drug addicts, even though they would be if the Greaters had their way. They're not all criminals. We're just people. My parents taught me about God.”

God.

If God is a Lesser concept, how can I really put any stock in it? I hear what he's saying about their cities, how they're not all bad. But I've seen pictures of the filth, of the sickly and unattractive people. I can't reconcile the two images.

Fischer has to be an exception.

“My friend Jamie was just demoted.” It's out before I can stop it. I haven't talked to anyone about it, not even Dad.

He turns to look at me now. “What for?” No condemnation, just curiosity and understanding.

“She got pregnant and refused an abortion.”

“I'm sorry. You must miss her.”

“I do,” I squeak out. “Will she be OK?” For the first time I feel relief. Here is someone who might know what Jamie's life will be like.

“If she's anything like you, she'll be fine.” His eyes bore into mine, and I swallow the lump in my throat.

I'm not sure how to take that, but I guess it's a good thing. “Were you born Lesser?” I ask.

“Yep. My parents were demoted before I was born because they believed in God. They refused to meditate just because they refused to follow the Greaters' form of teachings.”

Icy fear trickles down my neck, intermingled with sweat. How did the Greaters know his parents weren't meditating? I haven't meditated in at least a week. I picture my own room and determine to keep my curtains pulled shut from now on.

“They were demoted to keep them quiet, but when it didn't work they were threatened.”

I frown. “With what?”

He looks at me, his eyes wide. “Execution.” Like I should know this already. “My mom had just found out she was expecting me, and they knew it wouldn't do anyone any good for them to be dead. So they went underground.”

Underground. I know he doesn't mean it literally, as in they didn't actually dig a hole. But I'm not sure exactly what it does mean, either.

“I don't understand about God,” I say. “How does anyone know anything about Him? How did your parents know about Him?”

He sits up now, his face lit with excitement. “There's a book.”

This seems too simple. “I've read dozens of books recovered from digs. I've never read one that mentioned God, at least not in a serious way.”

He laughs. “Or course not. They burn the books that deal with religion, or politics, or freedom.”

I remember that day in Mrs. Baily's bookstore, and how she reacted when I saw a book she hadn't removed in time. I know he's telling the truth.

“The Holy Bible,” I say.

“That's right.”

“But how have you seen a Bible? Do Lessers have them?”

“Not most, but those in the underground have them. My parents had one, and Mr. Elders has one. I've read it.”

I glance around once again. I'm not as nervous now about being caught with Fischer as I am about being caught taking part in this conversation. Still, it's too unreal to not make me curious. A forbidden book that tells me about a real God? People in my own city who are spreading His message?

I want to know more. “How can I see it?”

He watches me, gauging my sincerity. “Why do you want to learn about this? Just to rebel against the Greaters, or because you really want to know God?”

“Does it matter?” I ask.

He watches me again, and then he shrugs. “I'll do what I can.”

We don't talk about the Bible anymore. I glance around again, and when I'm sure no one is watching us I lay down in the soft grass beside him. It's cool and soft, like a pillow. A second bird joins the first in a swirling dance across the sky.

My arm is only centimeters from Fischer's, and I can almost feel the sparks between our skin.

“Tell me about your city,” I say. “Tell me about how you grew up.”

He lies beside me, watching the birds too. “My mom kept the house spotless. I promise you've never seen such a clean house. It was impossible to play like a normal kid.” He laughs as he says this.

I stop watching the birds to watch him. His cheeks are round and rosy with his happy remembering. I'm fascinated by him. “We prayed before every meal.”

I don't stop him but I have no idea what pray means.

“My dad played with me every night when he got home from work.”

His description of life doesn't match up with what we've been taught in school. At all. His life sounds happy, clean, and normal. “Where does your dad work?”

Fischer turns to me now. “He's a janitor at the Lesser hospital in our city. I used to visit him. That's where I figured out I wanted to be a medic.”

His story is unusual, I think. We were taught the Lessers rarely took their Test, and even if they did they didn't make it past Lesser.

I pick a blade of grass and rub it between my fingers. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No. You're allowed two children here in the Middle cities, but in the Lesser cities you're only allowed one.”

My eyes widen. “Really?” I prop myself up on my elbows. “What about your allowances? Do Lessers get different allowances?”

His eyes lose focus, like he's searching the air behind me. “We got the same food allowance, but less electrical allowance and medical allowance.”

We get such a meager electrical allowance here. How can anyone survive on less, especially in the winter?

“The worst part is that the Lessers can trade any of their allowances for extra entertainment allowance.”

This is hard to believe. We're not allowed to trade allowances, period. If you're caught, you can be punished. “Why would they want the Lessers to spend more on entertainment?”

Again he looks at me as if I should have this figured out. “Entertainment is where the Greaters make the most money. If the Greaters have to spend less on food for the people, that's just money in their pockets.” He doesn't stop there, though. “If you have any medical problems they don't treat them. They put you on the pills. Once you're hooked, they know you won't be any trouble.”

An invisible hand clenches around my stomach. “Is that what they're doing to Ava?”

He watches me innocently for what seems like ever. Finally, he shakes his head and shrugs. “I don't know, Hana. They may be trying to get her through the tough time with her brother and nothing more. Her father was a Greater, wasn't he?”

I nod.

“Then I doubt they'd try and get her hooked on anything.”

That doesn't really reassure me.

“Why'd you meet me here today?” Fischer asks. He's propped up on one elbow now, facing me.

“You asked me to,” I remind him. But I have a feeling he's asking for a deeper answer. I'm not sure I can give him one, even though I want to ask him why he asked me here himself.

He smiles. “I'm glad you came. I haven't spent much time socializing since I've come, except for meetings with the underground.”

“You've been here for your whole training?” I ask.

He nods and lies back down.

So he was here before Mom got the mutation. He was here before Jamie even met Easton. He was here before Keegan took his Test and left the city. He was here, in that hospital, for the past few years, and I never knew it.

“I wish I had met you back then,” I say. I immediately regret it, but the smile he gives me melts my heart, and I change my mind. I'm glad I told him. I like being the one to make him smile.

“Tell me about how you grew up,” he says now. “In all the gory detail.”

I laugh loudly. “Nothing gory about it, only boring. I played outside with Jamie and Keegan, both my neighbors. Both of my parents work at the local colleges, and they have my whole life. There was no—praying—before we ate, and no talk about God. We did meditate though. A lot.”

“Jamie's your best friend you mentioned earlier?”

My throat feels small again. I swallow and nod.

“And Keegan?”

Do I imagine the suddenly serious tone behind his words? I hesitate only a fraction of a second before answering. “He's my other best friend, or he was before he tested and left for his training.” I push away the guilt of not admitting he's more than a friend.

“What's his profession?”

“He's in entertainment,” I say. How would Keegan feel about padding the Greaters' pockets? What does Fischer think of this?

“You Test soon.” It's a statement, and he says it while staring at the sky.

“Yes,” I say. “In a few days.” I'm beginning to wonder if there's something wrong with my throat. Why's it so swollen today? It can't be the tears I keep trying to fight back.

He looks at me now. “You're going to do great, and you're going to get the profession you want.”

But he doesn't state the obvious, that I'll be sent away to train in another city. Away from him, and away from Mom. I don't bring it up either.

We lie in silence for a while. It feels nice just to be together for no reason. I haven't done that in a long time.

“You're going to the market?” he asks.

I had almost forgotten. “Yes, after school. I'm meeting Ava. I guess I should go.”

He sits up, raking his hand through his hair to dislodge grass and dirt. “Go to the park tomorrow after school. Mr. Elders will meet you then.”

His words come out of nowhere, and I'm surprised. “What for?”

“You said you wanted to know more about the Bible. I'll make sure you get to.”

I'm not even sure how to thank him. I stare at him for way too long, my heart beating faster with every second. He stares right back until finally I look away.

We both stand up and brush off our pants.

“I'm glad you talked me into taking a day off,” he says, grinning.

I smile too, sad that it's over. “I'll see you around?”

“Right. See you.”

We take separate routes home.

 

 

 

 

30

 

I get to the school just as the first students trickle out the front doors.

Ava peers through the crowd, her eyes scanning the other kids, her face laced with confusion.

I wave my arm above my head to get her attention. She sees me just as she pops something in her mouth. I cringe. How many of those things does she take a day? The doctors must have given her an unlimited supply.

She meets me on the sidewalk. “Where have you been all day?” she asks. “I didn't see you in any of our classes.”

I wish she was Jamie, and then I could tell her about Fischer. Instead, I shrug. “I got a medical pass because of Mom. She had a special doctor evaluating her today.” We start toward the market place.

“Aren't we going to meditate first?” Ava asks. “I thought you always did that after school.”

I think of Fischer's parents, and I fleetingly wonder why they don't just give us all pills, but then I realize that would be too expensive. Should I say I meditate at night? I don't want to lie. “We can if you want to.”

She shakes her head. “No, I don't really do that anymore either.”

I don't ask why because the reason is pretty obvious.

The weather is warm and friendly and nice. It shows in the citizens of our city because people mingle on the sidewalks and in the streets, instead of staying holed up in their cold houses wrapped in coats and blankets. The clatter of voices permeates the air. It's a warm feeling, a welcome feeling. The camaraderie of the people feels safe.

“Did you bring any allowances with you?” I ask.

She shakes her head like it's no big deal, but her eyes look clouded. I realize she's hiding something. Maybe they already used their allowances for the week, but why would she need to hide that?

“I'm glad you could come with me. I get lonely without Mom around,” I say.

“Or your other friend, too, I bet.”

My breath catches, but I force myself on. This is the first time someone's mentioned Jamie to me, but of course Ava would have noticed. “Yeah, that too,” I say.