Aftermath (12 page)

Midway through the afternoon, and the heat was stifling. The invaders had picked the second worst time of year to destroy the world; the worst being summer. But Paige planned to be long gone by then.

Paige decided it was time for a rest, with or without her dark overlord’s permission. Most likely without.

Paige waited until they weren’t looking, then she slipped between the stalks. She removed the gloves, clenching her fists to ease the cramps. She stood there for a while, enjoying the shade from the stalks.

Then came a rustling. Paige froze, not even daring to breath. Then more rustling. Someone was coming her way. Paige thought about making a quick dash back to her row. She was quietly slipping on her gloves, when Valerie squeezed through the stalks.

“Hey,” Valerie whispered, giving Paige a smile.

Paige took a second to read this girl. Her smile seemed real, like seeing an old friend. “Hey?” she responded back.

“Your name’s Paige, right,” Valerie asked. “I’m Valerie.”

“How’d you know my name?” Paige asked, her spidey sense suddenly on red alert. The task masters knew their names, but had never let the workers introduce themselves. And there was absolutely no talking allowed.

“I was at the clinic when you were asking about your friend,” Valerie responded.

“What do you know about him?” Paige asked.

“I know it’s not good,” Valerie replied, shaking her head. It was apparent that this girl felt some sympathy for Paige. “But we can’t really talk about it now.” Valerie started to head back.

“Wait,” Paige caught her. “Let me see behind your ear.”

“It’s not there anymore,” Valerie said. Then, off of Paige’s look, “One of my friends found out about them, and removed it. And your’s isn’t there either,” she added.

“How’d you know that?” Paige asked.

“I saw the way you acted in the clinic,” Valerie replied. “Everyone else here is kind of like… you know, robots,” she continued, “but you really went off on that nurse.”

Paige just nodded, almost smiling at the thought. “And then I heard you and your friends talking in the dining hall,” Valerie continued.

“You were spying on us?” Paige interrupted.

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t one of them,” Valerie replied.

“How many of us are there?” Paige asked.

“A few. But there’s two I really want you to meet. They may be able to help you find your friend.”

At that Paige’s eyes lit up. “Where are they?” she asked.

“They’re in the garment shop making these,” Valerie nodded to their tunics.

Paige managed a snort.

“Yeah, I agree,” Valerie grinned. “But I can have them meet us tonight.”

“Where?”

Before Valerie could answer, noises broke out on the other side of the stalks. There was some sort of struggle going on.

Paige and Valerie squeezed back through the stalks, and onto the row they had been on. About twenty yards down, the task master had one of the workers on the ground, waling on him with his club.

Guards raced past, shoving workers aside as they scrambled to the fight. Several workers stepped in, trying to pull the task master off their fellow worker.

Then shots echoed through the cornfield, as the guards fired on the workers who had been trying to help. They were aiming to kill, and it worked, as several workers lay there dead.

Paige and Valerie just stood there, frozen.

Valerie finally turned to Paige. “Meet me outside the dining tonight. But I can only bring you. We can’t have too many people, or we risk getting caught.”

The Outlaws

“You guys really don’t need to wait with me,” Paige said, as she, Drew, Trish, and Randy headed from the dining hall. As they filed in line out the door, she noted that the mood everywhere seemed to be much more somber than it had the previous night. The brutality the guards were so quick to demonstrate had taken its toll on everyone’s morale. And that included hers’.

She’d told her friends about the fight in the cornfield, and how the workers had been shot while trying to break up the fight, and it was a harsh reality check for all of them. Discipline was going to be enforced with brutality.

She’d also told her friends about this quirky new girl she’d met, Valerie, and how she knew so much about them. That had been a red flag at first, but the fact that Valerie hadn’t ratted them out led Paige to believe this girl was for real.

Her friends had insisted on coming along with her, but Paige convinced them they couldn’t. And after watching the guards’ reactions two days in a row now, Paige knew Valerie was right to keep it to just her.

As their line flowed out the dining hall door, and into the warm night air outside, Paige scanned the area for Valerie.

“So what’s she look like?” asked Drew.

“Nerdy,” Paige smiled. “But sort of a cute nerd.”

“Someone’s waving at you,” offered Randy.

Paige turned, and spotted Valerie standing at the far corner of the building.

“That’s her,” Paige said, heading off in that direction.

Valerie eased back around the corner as Paige and her friends approached. They followed her around the corner, and found Valerie standing there with a young boy.

“Hey,” Valerie greeted her with a big smile. “I wasn’t sure if the guards had spooked you off.”

“No,” Paige shook her head. “It actually made me want to find my friend, and get the hell out of this place even more.”

“Amen, sister,” Valerie smiled, nodding in agreement.

“So you’re the guy who knows all about this place?” Paige asked, turning to the boy standing next to Valerie.

“That might be a slight exaggeration,” the boy smiled, before extending his hand. “I’m Lucas.”

“Lucas is one of my geek squad,” Valerie chimed in, giving the boy a pat on the shoulder.

“Actually, we prefer the term resistance fighters,” Lucas interrupted, “but whatever.”

“Paige,” she smiled, watching the back and forth between them, as she shook his hand. The kid seemed friendly enough, if not a little full of himself. He looked to be a few years younger than Paige, skinny as a rail, and with a face full of pimples. She was sure she could take him in a fight, but quickly brushed that thought aside. If he could help her find Chad, then he was her new best friend.

“So Val tells me you’re like us,” Lucas continued.

Paige and Drew exchanged a puzzled look that Valerie quickly noticed. She leaned in to Paige’s ear, whispering, “he means the implant thingy behind people’s ears.”

“Oh,” Paige got it, nodding. “Yeah, we’re like you,” she replied to Lucas.

Drew nudged her arm. The question was written all over his face. Like them? Paige gave a quick tap behind her ear. Then he nodded, getting it.

“Cool,” Lucas nodded with a smile. “Welcome to the Outlaws.”

The what? Paige stole a glace at Valerie, who was rolling her eyes. Just humor the kid, her smile suggested.

“Glad to be part of it,” Paige replied.

“That sounds kinda cool,” Randy nodded.

“It felt appropriate,” Lucas shrugged.

“We should get going,” Valerie offered. “I promised Trevor we’d meet him right after dinner.”

“He’s another one of the… outlaws?” Drew asked, and Paige could tell he was fighting to keep from busting up at the name.

“He’s the ringleader,” Valerie smiled back. The humor in these skinny kids calling themselves Outlaws hadn’t escaped her. “I’d love to have all of you guys come, but with this many people, it makes it a lot easier to get spotted.”

“No worries,” replied Drew, shaking his head. “Just be sure to have our little Paige in bed by eleven.”

Paige jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

“I will,” Valerie laughed. “It was nice meeting all of you.”

***

A light breeze brushed through the cornfield. The night was warm, so the breeze was definitely welcome. Lucas led the way, as he, Paige, and Valerie scurried across the dirt path bordering the city, and into the cornfield. They paused there, looking back to make sure they hadn’t been followed. So far, so good.

They eased down the row deeper into the cornfield, pausing several times to listen for anyone following them. Other than the breeze and chirp of insects, the night was quiet.

“How far are we going?” Paige asked in a whisper.

“It’s just up ahead,” Lucas replied, “we keep the radio hidden next to a ditch.”

“You guys have a radio?” Paige looked impressed.

“Yup,” Lucas replied.

The girls followed Lucas through the cornstalks to a small clearing, completely masked on all sides by corn. There they found Trevor cranking the handle on a small box, while listening to a pair of headphones plugged into the box.

Trevor was roughly Lucas’s age and build, looking like he’d lived on a diet of video games, computer hacking, and Pop Tarts.

Lucas made the introductions. “Hey, Trev, this is that other chick who knows about the implants.”

“It’s Paige,” she chuckled, extending her hand.

Trevor removed the headphones, seemed to double take on the pretty brunette, then shook her hand. “Hey. Trevor.” Then, turning to Valerie, “Damn, Val, you didn’t tell us she was cute.”

Paige almost busted up laughing. Yes, that just happened. Valerie just rolled her eyes, shot Paige a grin. “They’ve been without their comics since all this happened.”

“Damn, right,” Lucas interjected.

“So that’s the radio?” Paige asked, nodding to the box.

“Yes, sirree,” Trevor responded, patting it on the side. “Probably the last one in this city that’s working.”

“But how?” Paige asked, “I didn’t think anything electronic was working.”

“Correction,” Lucas interjected. “Things with transisters and integrated circuits aren’t working. Good old vacuum tubes like this thing runs on didn’t get fried by the EMP the aliens emitted.” Then, off the puzzled look on Paige’s face. “EMP. Electromagnetic pulse. It’s how they knocked out our electronics.”

Paige nodded. She got it. Or at least thought she did.

“We found Jobs here in an old antique store right after the pulse,” Trevor explained.

“Jobs?” Paige asked.

“You know. Steve Jobs. The patron saint of all things cool and electronic. We had to give it a name, so we picked that.”

Paige couldn’t help but chuckle. These guys were honestly the weirdest people she’d ever met. But she liked them, and their total enthusiasm for all things nerd.

Then chatter came over the headset. “Hold that thought,” Trevor said, sliding the headphones back over his ears. He keyed the mic. “Falcon, that you?,” he said into the mic. “This is Ringleader. Got Deep Throat and two girls here with us. Both of them hotties.”

Valerie and Paige exchanged a look, both rolling their eyes. “Who’s he talking to?” Paige asked.

Lucas held up a finger to his lips, motioning for the girls to follow him quietly.

“Who’s your friend talking to?” Paige asked in a whisper.

“It’s a militia that’s camped outside of the city,” Lucas answered. “Bunch of Army guys.”

“So wait,” Paige added, something dawning on her. “You mean they’re outside of the force field?”

“Yeah,” Lucas nodded in reply. “We’ve been trying to help them find a way to smuggle people out of the city, but so far nothing. That thing’s impregnable.”

“I might know a way under it,” Paige said. “My friends were hiding in these tunnels beneath the city. That EMP pulse, thing, whatever, didn’t reach them.”

Lucas shook his head. “They already tried the train tunnels.”

“These ones are different,” Paige added. “They’re the old tunnels that were abandoned when the new ones were built.”

Lucas’ eyes widened. “No kidding? And you think they go beneath the force field?”

“I don’t know. But it’s worth a shot.”

Lucas headed back over to Trevor, motioned for him to take off his headphones. “Hang on one second, Falcon. Deep Throat’s got something important.” Trevor slipped off the headphones.

“Tell them one of the girls knows of some abandoned tunnels that might not be blocked,” Lucas explained.

“No shit?” Trevor exclaimed, glancing up at Paige.

“No shit,” She nodded.

Trevor slipped the headphones back on. “Hey, Falcon, you still there? Come in. Got some good news. Those girls I told you about, one of them might know a way in.”

Lucas turned to Paige. “Can you show us?”

***

Paige and her new Outlaw buddies crept down a path that wound between two rows of buildings. They reached the end, where it merged with a mall.

Paige peeked around the corner, scanning both ways down the mall. It was deserted at the late hour.

She signaled the others, and then they crept off down the mall, keeping close enough to the buildings to be masked by their shadows.