When the Chips Are Down (3 page)

“You’re crazy,” Brooklyn shouted.

“Just do it like I did,” Trent shouted back.

“
We’ve done this hundreds of times.  There’s nothing to it,” Caleb said.

Brooklyn
took several steps back from the swing, got a running start, jumped on it, swung over the lake, and let herself fall in. Trent and Caleb cheered. “That was kind of fun,” she exclaimed when she rose to her feet.

“We told you,” Trent said.

“Why don’t you join us,” Brooklyn called to Zane, who was lying on his back in the shade, reading a book.

“No thanks.  I don’t exactly have a beach body,” Zane replied.

“Who cares?  It’s ninety degrees!” Brooklyn exclaimed.

“I’m fine.  I’m not much of a swimmer anyway.  You kids carry on,” Zane said.

It had been several
weeks since Brooklyn had first came to live with them, and Trent was trying to cheer her up as much as possible.  He wanted to show her that life wasn’t all about farming now.  As Brooklyn floated on her back, she remembered the summer in high school when Trent went with her and her family to Florida.  Brooklyn’s parents owned a condominium in Destin and they used it as a vacation home every summer.  They sat along the shoreline as they talked about the future.  It was then that Trent and Brooklyn decided they would join the Peace Corps sometime after graduation.  Brooklyn told her father that night of their plans and he couldn’t have been more proud of her.

“Trent, do you remember when we were planning on joining the Peace Corps?” Brooklyn said floating around him. 

“I remember we were
talking
about it.  I thought it was an insane idea,” Trent replied.

“Then why were you going to go with me?” Brooklyn raised her head from the water to look at him.

“I wasn’t going to let you go to a foreign country alone.  It’s too dangerous; you’re young and beautiful.  What made you think of that?” Trent said.

“I’ve just been thinking about what
our lives were like before…..before all of this happened,” Brooklyn’s voice trailed off.

“It doesn’t do any good to think about it.  It just makes you long for
what you’ll never have,” Trent said.

“We all had dreams, careers, and plans.  No one wanted to end up here,” Caleb injected.

“That’s an understatement.  Someone with my talents shouldn’t be stuck raising pigs and chickens,” Zane said closing his book and laying it on the ground.  “Okay, someone with
our
talents,” Zane corrected himself upon seeing Trent’s angry glance.

“I’m not talking about a career.  Jobs are replaceable, but families aren’t,” Brooklyn said.  Her reply received only silence.  “So, this is it?  We’re just going to live in hiding for the rest of our lives, not even knowing what happened to the rest of the people we care about?!” Brooklyn demanded rising to her feet.

“Brook, you don’t know what it’s like out there,” Caleb said.

“I know.  You guys have told me over and over.  It’s one thing to abandon our dreams, but does that mean we abandon our friends and families?  They probably need our help,” Brooklyn exclaimed.

“It’s
too late to help them.  These are the times when we have to fend for ourselves,” Zane said sitting up.

“You don’t think it’s too late
to help your brothers, so how can you say that?” Brooklyn retorted.

“My brothers aren’t eighteen, so they don’t have a microchip, and the day they turn eighteen will be the day the
y come to live with us.  Trent’s cousins will do the same thing.  You don’t even know where your family is. You can’t go running around out there trying to save people.  You’ll only get yourself arrested.  You have to accept it,” Zane said.

Brooklyn climbed out of the lake
, threw her towel around herself, and marched toward the house.  “Brook, wait!” Trent called after her. 

“Let her go,” Caleb said.

“Did you really have to say all of that?” Trent glared at Zane.

“She needed to hear it.  The sooner she realizes that this is the best life she can hope for now, the better off she’ll be,” Zane replied.

“
She doesn’t have closure because she never got to say goodbye to anyone.  Who wouldn’t feel that way?” Caleb said.

“You don’t know Brooklyn like I know her.  She’s always wanted to save everyone,
which is why she wanted to join the Peace Corps.  It’s just who she is, and now she can’t even help the people who matter the most to her. That’s why this is especially hard for her to accept,” Trent said.

“She’s had a lot to deal with.
Having woken up from a coma doesn’t make it any easier. Just give her time,” Caleb said.

“I hope you’re right, man.  I just don’t want her to try and do anything foolish,” Trent said.

Brooklyn was watering the garden when she saw Sarah’s purple sports car pull into the driveway. 
She was surprised that Desiree wasn’t with her; they almost always came to the farmhouse together.  Sarah slammed the car door fiercely.  She looked tired and worried as she ran up the driveway, passed Brooklyn without noticing her, and banged on the front door of the house.

“Over here,” Brooklyn called. 

“I need to talk to you.  It’s really important,” Sarah called back.  Brooklyn set down the
water pitcher and approached the farmhouse. 

“What is it?” Brooklyn asked.

“Let’s go inside where no one else can hear us,” she said, wringing her hands.

Brooklyn called Zane, Trent, and Caleb inside, who were cleaning the barn.

“What do you need?  We’re kind of busy right now,” Zane complained as he came in through the back door, throwing his gardening gloves on the floor.

“I’m really worried about Desiree.  She’s gotten involved in something and she’s in way over her head,” Sarah confessed.

“What has she done?” Trent wanted to know.  He stood in the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest.

“
It’s not what she’s done but what someone else has done,” Sarah replied taking a seat at the kitchen table.  “Desiree had an assignment in her history class to do a report on a certain type of government bill and its pros and cons.  She chose this guy named Theo Thomas to be her partner because he’s really smart, so she figured it would be an easy ‘A’.  Theo’s had a 4.0 GPA all through high school and he’s a member of the Debate Team, but he’s also really arrogant and doesn’t know when to shut up. 

Anyway, Theo took the assignment
way
too far!  He says he’s found evidence that the bill was passed illegally.  I don’t know if he really found any evidence or if he’s just using this as material for his debate team, but he’s started a blog about it and mentioned Desiree as his partner.”

“He did
what?!
Trent cried.

“This is
bad.  It doesn’t even matter whether or not he has any evidence.  If he has a public blog claiming that he does and the wrong people see it, they’ll come after him and her both,” Zane said.

“I think the wrong people have already seen it.  Desiree says she keeps seeing this strange black car parked outside of the house
.  She says she sees it every day.  I’ve seen it a couple of times too now,” Sarah said.

“If they’re watching her, they’re watching everyone in your house!  Are you sure you weren’t followed here?!” Caleb exclaimed.  Sarah nodded.  “You need to be a
bsolutely sure!  They could come after us all!” Caleb cried.

“Alright, man calm down,” Trent snapped, seeing his cousin’s fearful expression.  “Have you
or Desiree spoken to anyone over the phone about this?”

Sarah shook her head.  “Good!  Don’t talk about it over the phone to anyone under any circumstances.  You’re phone lines are probably tapped.  Tell Desiree she needs to get this guy to take down his blog
immediately
or delete her name from it at the very least,” Trent emphasized.

“
Did you say anything about this to your parents?” Brooklyn wanted to know.

“
No, I can’t talk to them about anything anymore, not since they’ve gotten their microchips” Sarah replied.

“
Even mentioning it in front of them would be dangerous. I tried to convince them not to go through with it but you know they don’t listen.  I think you girls should stay here where it’s much safer,” Trent suggested.

”You can’t possibly be serious!  The la
st thing we need is federal agents following them here!” Caleb shrieked.

“We’ve always agreed that they could come live here,” Trent retorted.

“But now they’re under government surveillance and you’re going to put us in a position where we could be as well!  This is the worst idea you could’ve possibly come up with,” Caleb exclaimed.

“There’s got to be a way to sneak them to the farm without anyone noticing.  I’m not turning m
y back on my family,” Trent snapped.

“You’re talking about the United States government, the most powerful, evil, and corrupt force in the free world! There’s a reason we’re all here hiding from them!” Caleb cried.

“Wouldn’t that just arouse more suspicion if the girls suddenly disappeared?” Brooklyn said.  The room was quiet for a minute.

“Brook is right.  It would only make them more suspicious and more determined to find Desiree and Sarah, and they would probably start wondering where you’re at, Trent, since you’re an extended family member.  Don’t do anything out of the ordinary, Sarah. Just go on about your normal routine and maybe they will realize you and sister haven’t done anything wrong and leave you alone,” Zane advised.

“I hope you’re right
,” Sarah said nervously.

“It’ll be alright,” Trent assured, walking over to her and throwing his arms around her.

Several weeks passed and no one had heard from Desiree and Sarah.  It was unlike them not to show up to bring needed supplies or just to drop by. 
Brooklyn hadn’t realized just how much she cared for them. She hoped for the best, but feared the worst. Trent hadn’t spoken of them, but she knew they were on his mind one night when she caught him silently staring out the window.  “I’m sure they’re just doing what Zane told them.  They’re trying to seem as normal as possible and driving miles out of their way to see some farmers would probably seem suspicious to a bunch of federal agents,” Brooklyn said, breaking the silence.

“I have a feeling it’s something much worse than that.  I should’ve insisted they stay here,” Trent said softly. 

“It’s not your fault.  It would’ve been too risky for everyone i
nvolved,” Brooklyn consoled, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“
This is bad for us no matter what’s happened.  We were really dependent on those girls, and we’ll be running low on supplies soon,” Zane said entering the room.

“This is hardly the time to talk about supplies,” Brooklyn snapped, astounded by his insensitivity.

“Look, it’s not that I don’t care about Desiree and Sarah,” Zane said, realizing how badly he had come across, “I’m just saying that things are going to get a lot worse for us.”

                                        
 
Chapter 2

As Brooklyn stood over the sink, washing dishes, she cursed Zane under her breath once again for not cleaning his plate.  How she missed her dishwasher!  In the midst of her grumbling, she pulled the chain of the makeshift water spout Trent had designed to release more water.  Nothing happened. 

“Dry,” she sighed.  She gathered as many containers as she could find below the kitchen sink and walked fifty yards to the lake, only to discover that it contained nothing but plants and mud.  The well yielded no better results.  She was not terribly surprised, considering there had been little rain for several weeks, and the crops were suffering because of it.

“Trent,” she called into the barn.

He was collecting eggs from the chickens. 

“Yeah,” he called back. 

“The lake and the well are dry
. I don’t even have enough water to finish the dishes,” she said.

“Did you check our emergency reserve?” Trent asked. 

“Yeah, Caleb’s taking a bath with it,” she complained. 

“No worries
I know where another lake is.  Load the containers in the truck,” Trent said, putting the eggs into a basket and sitting them on the ground.

Trent drove far into the heart of Montana’s rural farm land until he came to a grassy plain near a wooded area.  Brooklyn didn’t care where they were as soon as she discovered this lake wasn’t dry.  They gathered their plastic containers and began filling them in the lake until a man’s voice from afar caught their attention.