Chapter 10
That night, Wendy joined the others in the mess hall for dinner. All of the tables and chairs had been pulled out from the walls. Men, women and teenagers sat in random configurations. Some talking, some laughing, some reading and others simply eating. Wendy caught sight of Kev and Cal immediately. Kev was, as usual, perched on the back of a chair, surrounded by a small flock of people. Whatever he was talking about, his hands might be telling more of the story than his mouth was.
When he spotted Arie and Wendy, he waved them over. The two girls grabbed some food and took a seat near the boys.
The amount of food—even though it was much less than the day in the marketplace—still astounded Wendy. She wanted to shake everyone and make them realize how lucky they were.
After dinner, they had garbage duty.
“Come on,” Arie said. “We're doing floor three. The boys are going to do the rest.”
“Hey,” Kev said. “After garbage duty, why don't you girls meet us back down here? We'll show Wendy around a little.”
Arie looked at Wendy, who shrugged. “Sure.” The more she knew about this place the better.
“Great,” Kev said.
Wendy followed Arie, and let her talk about mundane things. Arie led them into the residential section of the complex. Large red barrels sat at the end of each corridor. When they got to the first one, Wendy saw it was full of garbage.
“What do we do with them?” Wendy asked.
“We haul them to the chute and toss the garbage down into the incinerators. Then we collapse the barrels and put them away.”
“The incinerator?” Wendy asked.
“Yup. We have geo thermal something or other power. It's spotty sometimes, but at least we have it. Burning the garbage helps feed something. At least that's what they tell us. I'm pretty sure they just want to keep us from complaining about hauling it.”
They each grabbed a handle on the hip-high barrel and lifted.
Wendy was surprised how light it was, and said so.
“They have little repulsors in them,” Arie said. “My dad and I actually thought it up a few years ago. This way even the kids can do garbage duty.”
“Smart,” Wendy said.
The two girls carried the barrel down three halls before they got to the chute.
“Right here,” Arie said when they got to a yellow circle painted on the floor. “There's one on each level.” They put the barrel into the circle. With her free hand, Arie punched a code on a keypad.
Wendy jumped when a small section of the wall opened and a hose came out. The hose started out as big as her arm, but the end expanded and sealed over the mouth of the barrel. A sucking sound preceded a lot of rattling. The hose swayed back and forth as the garbage got sucked up and into the wall.
A few seconds later, the hose let go and retracted.
Arie reached out and twisted one of the handles. The barrel fell in on itself until it stood just taller than Wendy's ankle. Arie pulled it up and it hung at her side like a duffel bag.
“And now we put it away,” Arie said. “Five to go.”
Wendy decided she should share something about herself. Kenzie did that. “This is a lot easier than how I had to take the garbage out.”
“Really?”
“We recycled everything, so someone had to go through it all. It was horrible. That's one reason I convinced my dad that I could do the duty rosters. It got me out of separating garbage.” Wendy felt a small bit of pride in the memory.
“Nice,” Arie said.
Wendy kept the conversation going. “Did you and your dad get the idea for the barrels from the boots?”
Arie nodded. “We did. Although the air boots have all of the controls inside, which is really amazing...”
It was almost comforting to be walking through the halls with Arie, talking about normal things and not worrying about who was on duty, or if the food supply was going to hold out until the next harvest, or if they had enough weapons for everyone, or if they had to have a funeral and burn a body.
It was almost enjoyable. Is this what a teenager's life should be like? Wendy had never wondered before, mostly because she'd never had time.
She corrected herself; she'd never taken the time.
The two girls made their way back down to the mess hall and only had to wait a few minutes before Kev came in.
“Come on,” he said.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“Cal's got something for us. Do you have any treats in your room?” he asked the girls.
“A few,” Arie said.
“Uh, no,” Wendy said. “Wait, Elle gave me some hard candy the other day.”
“We'll drop by and get it.”
“Why, what's going on?” Arie asked.
“It's a surprise.”
“Is this the kind of surprise that is going to make me want to shoot you?” Arie asked.
Kev led them out and through the halls. “Seriously, you want to be on the leadership for this place with an attitude like that?”
“I get things done,” Arie said.
Kev looked at Wendy. “Maybe you can teach her some manners.”
Arie smacked him on the shoulder, and Kev clutched at his arm like he'd been cut wide open. “Why?” he asked.
“You deserved it.”
Kev looked at Wendy again. “Did not.”
Wendy held up her hands.
They dropped by both girls' rooms and picked up a few little treats. Kev seemed pleased, and led them back toward his and Cal's room.
“You're not going to make me play games again, are you?” Arie asked.
“Don't knock the games,” Kev said, waggling his finger. “But no, not this time.”
The look Arie gave Wendy suggested she'd rather lose a limb than ever play the games again.
When they got to Kev's room, he ducked inside and grabbed a bag. With that, he took them deeper into the complex. As they moved, Wendy could tell this section was used less than the others.
After two flights of stairs up and two left turns, Kev said, “Here we are.” He opened a door and waved them in.
“Nope, not going before you,” Arie said. “I fell for that once.”
“Honestly,” Kev said, going through the door. “I'm not sure where this deep distrust comes from.”
“Too many pranks to list,” Arie said.
“She's exaggerating,” Kev told Wendy.
Wendy followed Kev through the door, and found a long room with six mismatched chairs, and a low table inside. Near the door Cal was fiddling with a piece of machinery she didn't recognize. It was some sort of box with two round discs attached to it. A light-colored blanket hung at the far end of the room.
“We're here,” Kev said.
“About time,” Cal said. He finished with whatever he was doing, and turned toward them. “Did you bring treats?”
“Of course.”
“Have a seat,” Cal said.
Arie and Wendy exchanged one last look before each of them sat in a chair.
“What’s that?” Wendy asked, as Cal began once again fiddling with the machine.
“A projector.”
“Of what?”
Cal laughed. “Of pictures.”
Wendy had seen computer screens, they showed pictures, but she'd never seen one of these.
“Where did you get it?” Arie asked.
“I asked one of the scavenging crews to bring one back if they found one,” Kev said.
“It's huge,” Arie said. “How did you get them to bring it?”
“You'll see.”
“The price is that we all have to take a turn cranking it,” Cal said. He indicated a handle under the projector. “My arm can only take so much.” He pointed at Kev. “Lights, please.”
Kev moved to the door and flipped the light switch down.
The dark had never before bothered Wendy, but now sweat broke out on the back of her neck.
But the darkness didn't l
ast long. After a couple of seconds, a deep, clicking noise started, and the blanket at the end of the room came to life.
At first only bright white light shone, then the people appeared.
Wendy's dad had told her about movies, but she never thought she'd see one.
“This is a short one,” Cal said as he cranked.
After another second, the people started to talk.
Wendy watched as a story began to unfold before her. A family that lived together—obviously before the Starvation—needed to be three places at once. The son sneaked out and got in trouble when his sister caught him, and then he had to make it up to her by covering for her. The parents didn't want to go to a social obligation, and asked their kids to lie for them.
After a few minutes, Kev relieved Cal, and a few minutes after that Arie and then Wendy took a turn cranking.
The comedy didn't at first appeal to Wendy, but when Kev kept bursting out in laughter, she started to get it. The pure delight at watching the movie took her breath away as she marveled at the carefree life of the family.
Is this what it really felt like to be normal? Before everything had happened, had life been this easy?
In the end the whole family had to apologize to one another for their faults. Even the dog got a small story.
Wendy was the last to run the machine. When the names of the people who had acted for the production scrolled by, Cal had her stop.
Kev switched the lights on. He was still wiping tears from his eyes. “That one kills me.”
“How many do you have?” Arie asked.
“Thirteen,” Cal said. “But I found two more the other day. Hopefully I can restore them.”
Wendy shook her head. “Why do you look for them?”
Cal shrugged, turning a knob back and forth as he spoke. “This world is mostly horrible. I just want to add something good.”
“Who has time to come and see them?” Wendy asked.
She regretted the words as Cal's face, which had been bright, immediately darkened. He lowered his eyes to the ground. Wendy opened her mouth to apologize, but Cal beat her too it.
He looked up at her and said, “I know it's frivolous, and I know it's basically a waste of time, but doesn't everyone deserve some happiness? A chuckle?”
“Of—of course,” Wendy stammered. “I didn't mean it like that.” This whole making friends thing wasn't going so well.
Kev saved the moment. “I love it. It takes my mind off of the stress of being here and now.”
Wendy hadn't realized Kev might be feeling stress. He always seemed to be relaxed.
“It's great,” Arie said.
Wendy tried again. “Do you want to show everyone?”
Cal nodded. “I haven't talked to Mike about it yet. I'm not sure he'll let me.”
“Then we'll keep showing other people. Mike doesn't have to know about it,” Kev said.
“Won't Mike find out somehow?” Wendy asked.
“He knows a lot,” Kev said, “But not everything. He didn't even know about this part of the complex until Cal and I came in here.”
“You discovered it?” Arie asked.
“We sure did, right?” Kev asked.
“We did,” Cal said. “We get bored easily, so a few years ago we started crawling through the vents and found all sorts of interesting things.”
“Like what?” Arie asked.
Kev motioned Cal over to sit with the others. He then handed everyone a piece of candy. “Secret ways into the control center, a way out of the complex that isn't guarded, a way into the kitchens and a way to get up top.”
“Why?” Arie asked.
“Mostly we were looking for these,” Cal said. He pointed at the round discs on the machine. “I found one under the bed in my room and wanted more.”
“I wanted to figure out how to get into the kitchens,” Kev said.
Silence fell, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Wendy popped the piece of candy in her mouth and began to suck. The round orb immediately started to melt in her mouth. A sugary explosion accompanied a fruit flavor that she couldn't identify. She'd never had one before—had actually forgotten about them until Kev asked.
Cal broke the silence. “Have you ever wondered what you would have been if the Starvation hadn't happened?” He posed the question to the whole group.
Kev nodded. “I'd invent something and then sell it to everyone.”
“Like what?” Arie asked.
“I don't know, but it would be awesome. What about you?”
Arie thought about it. “I'm not sure. Maybe become a real painter. I'd paint entire buildings.”
For once neither boy made fun. They all turned their eyes on Wendy.
Her mind froze. She looked between them and had to lick her suddenly dry lips. “I, uh, I have no idea. I've never thought about it.”
“Never?” Cal asked.
“No.” Wendy shook her head. “I—life was really hard where I came from. I never really thought much further ahead than next week.” She didn't want to keep talking, so she looked at Cal. “What about you?”
He gestured toward the projector. “I would make films.”
“What kind?” Arie asked.
“All kinds. Funny, sad, action. All of them.”
The simple fact that Cal had thought about this astounded Wendy. Her dad had said she missed out on a lot of her childhood. She was starting to see what he meant.
“What about now?” Arie asked. “What do you want to do here after training?”
Kev answered first. “I'm going to join the scavengers. I want to see if I can talk Mike into trading with other complexes. We know they're out there, if we can gain their trust, then everyone will be better off.”
“That's pretty dangerous,” Arie said.
“Yeah, and so is walking up the stairs,” Kev said. “Life would be better if we didn't have to be so isolated. I get why we do it, but I don't like it. You?”
Arie smiled. “I want to get onto the governing council for Shelter. They need some new ideas.”
Kev laughed. “And you thought my idea was dangerous.”
Arie held up her hands. “Hey, at least I'm not Matt. He's looking for a cure for the Starvation.”
“That guy is crazy,” Cal said.
Wendy made a note to ask Matt about that. He might have what she needed for her test. However, right now she had to once again reassess Arie. The girl had ambitions. “So why did you join the fighters?”
“Because Mike told me it would be a good learning experience. And my dad is a fighter. I really respect what they do. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it for long, but at least I'll know about what goes on with the fighters.”
It was a good plan.
Arie turned to Cal. “What about you?”
He shrugged. “I'm pretty good with computers and math. I want to see if we can get some of the internal systems in here back up. I've already found a few books on it.”
Kev grinned at Wendy. “What about you?”
Wendy could answer this question. “I want to find whoever destroyed my compound, and I want to make them pay.”
The others nodded. No one told her it was a stupid plan. No one rebuked her for wanting revenge.
“I can see that,” Kev said.
“Me too,” Cal said.