He slammed my arms over my head and breathed hard against my face. He was young and built nicely. Not like the pot-bellied Enforcers I'd seen before. "Now, you've gone and made me dirty up my uniform," he said harshly…before laughing.
I squinted my eyes at him. Was he laughing at me? Was I so pathetic that the thought that not only getting caught, but being humiliated with laughter was appropriate punishment for my lameness?
He finally stopped laughing and looked at my face. "What's your name?"
"Mary Poppins," I said sarcastically. "And you are?"
"Well, Mary Poppins," he said and chuckled, "I'm Enforcer Chesser. Nice to meet you."
"Forgive me if I don't shake your hand."
He laughed again. "Well, you're just a whole bucket of fun, aren't you?"
"I try."
"Well…what am I'm going to do with you now?"
"Um…let me go?"
He smiled. He had dimples. I'm sure he thought they were charming, but this jerkface was totally barking up the wrong tree. "Now why would I want to do a thing like that?"
"Because it's the right thing to do."
"You've got a point," he said and stood, groaning. He stretched his back.
"Can you believe I used to be a linebacker? The good old days." He held his hand out to me as I continued to look at him as if he were a mental patient. "I won't bite." He grinned.
"Aren't linebackers the fat ones?" I asked as I let him help me stand.
"Nah. That's the lineman. Linebackers are lean and mean."
I sneered at him, "I can see that."
"Hey, you didn't have to run," he argued with a smirk.
"Hey, you didn't have to tackle me!" I shouted and checked to make sure I still had my necklace. "Why didn't you just shoot me anyway?"
"I'm not in the habit of shooting beautiful women."
"You can keep your pretty lines for someone who eats that crap up. It's not me." He seemed amused by my rant. "And I'm not going with you to the enforcement facility. I won't go back, so if that's your plan, you may as well shoot me now."
His suddenly serious face worried me. "Won't go back? You've been to a facility before?"
"Yeah. Nice tile floors," I sneered.
"Listen," he said and held his hands up, "I don't mean you any harm. I stopped you so you didn't get stuck out here at night."
"Oh, really?" I poked his chest in my anger at the situation, but he was telling the truth. That didn't stop me, however, from saying, "Why did you radio in for back-up then?"
"I sent them to another location," he answered calmly and smiled. "My last radioed in location was the Need Warehouse on Turner Street."
"You're lying," I said, but I could tell that he wasn't. Why would he do that?
"All truth, scout's honor," he said and flashed the Boy Scout's hand signal. "I got called to the warehouse and figured I'd trail the roads to see if I found anything suspicious. A Jeep full of boxes heading away from the scene is pretty suspicious."
"I didn't do it," I found myself stammering. "I didn't…kill those people."
"I figured that when you got out of the car. I just radioed in to get them off my track, so they wouldn't come out this way. They'll be busy with the warehouse for a while."
I could stand it no longer. "Why are you helping me?"
"No offense, ma'am," he took my arm in his and ran his fingers over the bones in my hand that were prominently more defined over the past few weeks, "but you look like you could use a little help."
I jerked my hand back, embarrassed. It wasn't my fault that my family was practically starving. It was the Lighter's and the Taker's and Piper's. He seemed to understand the look on my face.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Listen…this is going to sound like a serious line…but you need to stay with me tonight." I rolled my eyes at him to let him know that, yes, that was a total line. "I know," he held his hands up, "but it's almost dark and they're on a massive manhunt right now for rebels. They do most of their searching at night because they figure that's when they'll be moving the most." He waited, but I didn't say anything. He went on. "You can come and stay at my house tonight, and in the morning, you can be on your way. I'll even give you an escort to…wherever it is you're staying."
He wasn't lying…again. "Why are you helping me?" I repeated.
"I used to be a cop," he said and crossed his arms over his chest. He stared at the dirt as he spoke. "When all this started happening, I was on board, all the way. I was one of the first ones to join the Enforcers back when. I was under their compulsion pretty bad." I jolted and looked at him. "But I had an accident. A head injury when my old partner and I were on a call for a suspicious vehicle. When I woke up in the hospital, I could remember everything that had happened. I remembered the words they said to get us to follow them, I remembered what had actually happened and what they had made me to believe had happened. I remembered…all the horrible things I'd done." He shook his head. "From then on, I understood everything. And the first time I saw one of those things…the dark guys, I knew something wasn't right and we were no longer alone on our planet."
"So why are you still working for them?"
"Situations such as these." He smiled, showing two rows of perfect teeth. "They never noticed anything was different with me. As long as I don't look at any of them, they don't pay me any attention. And I have others who I've told. Others who know the truth now. We try to help out rebels when we can." He nodded his chin at me with a grin in place. "But you wouldn't know anything about rebels, now would you Miss Poppins?"
"It's Sherry," I muttered.
"Thanks."
"So, what now?"
"Why don't you follow me to my humble dwellings?"
I thought hard. It was almost dark. And we had told Merrick and the rest that we might have to spend the night out. They weren't expecting us until morning. That reminded me. "Hey, you didn't see a van, did you? A white van with a few men inside?"
"Not today, but believe it or not, white vans have become pretty popular lately. All the rebels drive them." I grimaced. "Why?"
"My friend was with me," I whispered. I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I hoped he was all right. "The men who…shot everyone. They took him."
"Why?"
"I don't know. He was trying to stop them, I guess."
"Well that explains a lot."
"What?" I asked.
"I was wondering what a little thing like you was doing on a food supply trip. So…how many people you got back where you stay?"
I eyed him. He was just being curious. "Thirty, roundabout."
"Thirty! Whew…" He rubbed his head. "That's a nice little group you've got there. The biggest rebel camp I've found was twelve."
"And what did you do to them when you found them?" I asked and looked him right in the eye.
He grinned. "Gave them a crate of Honey Nut Cheerios."
I laughed. I couldn't help myself. I looked up at his young face and held my hand out to shake. "Sherry..Finch." I grinned. "Nice to meet you."
He shook my hand firmly. "Mark Chesser, but everyone calls me by my last name. It's an Enforcer thing that stuck with me. Nice to meet you, too. Are you ready to come home with me?" His smile grew.
"Sure!" I said brightly. "I can tell you all about my husband over dinner."
He groaned. "Dang, man." He shook his head and made a That's a shame noise out of the side of his mouth. "Well, let's go and in the morning, I'll get you back to him."
"Thank you," I said sincerely and we walked back to the cars. I followed him just a few miles up the road to a trailer park. Everything was a bit run down, but I had no room to talk about accommodations.
He got out and came to my door. After opening it, he said, "These places were abandoned. After we learned what was really happening, me and my buddies thought it was a good idea to all stay together." He looked around. "So we found this place and all moved next door to each other."
"I can underst
and that," I answered and followed him up the stairs. He knocked, so I assumed it wasn't his house. "Hey, McDonald! Open up!"
"I'm coming! Hold your ponies!"
Chesser chuckled and looked back at me briefly. "I will not be held responsible for what comes out of these guy's mouths."
"Deal."
The door opened to reveal another Enforcer, of the pot-bellied variety. "How now, brown cow. What have we here?"
"This is Sherry, a rebel I found on the highway. She's staying with me tonight. And she's married and off limits," Chesser said sternly.
I cringed a little. Should I be worried about this?
The man smiled good naturedly. "Thanks for that, Father. Like I can't make my own decisions or anything."
"Back off," Chesser said and shoved the man as they laughed. I shook my head. If I ever told a girl to back off and shoved her shoulder, we'd have an all out cat fight on our hands. I swore I'd never understand men.
"Come on in, girly!" he said and I tried not to frown at him.
I hadn't been called girly since… I sighed when my stomach rumbled. Of course it had to be at a moment when everyone was quiet. I looked up embarrassed to see if they heard. They did.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
Chesser's eyebrows jumped. "Are you apologizing for being hungry?"
"Now you sound like my husband," I told him and slouched into the little dinette bench seat. A wave of exhaustion hit me. I realized I hadn't eaten one thing all day.
"Hey, here," Chesser said and moved around McDonald to the fridge. He grabbed me a glass of something. I drank it quickly. It was apple juice.
I looked at him. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had apple juice?"
"We only have a couple jugs left ourselves. There's not any of that kind of stuff left at the warehouses anymore. All gone."
That statement sent an unexpected wave of sadness through me. It was one thing while going through boxes of food to speculate that certain things would never be available again, ever, but it was an entirely different thing to hear it straight from the horse's mouth that it was so.
I let my fingers collect the condensation from the side of the glass as they spoke in the kitchen. Something smelled like Hamburger Helper, but my mood had plummeted. Cain was gone, who knew where, and I knew everyone at home was worried about us. I imagined Merrick pacing, Danny bugging Merrick about being worried, Lillian fretting by the elevator for Cain…
I laid my head in my hands and closed my eyes to the dark of my palms.
"Hey, Mary Poppins," I heard. Then a chuckle followed and I lifted my head to see Chesser leaning over me. I'd fallen asleep with my face in my hands. I grimaced at the light above me and then looked down as he set a plate in front of me of the stuff he'd been making and a side of garlic bread.
I took the fork as slowly as I possibly could and took small bites. Even though there was no meat, it tasted like heaven on the end of that fork. I groaned loudly and he chuckled again. "Sorry," I mumbled again.
He sat down across from me and scooted in when McDonald sat beside him. "You keep apologizing," he said and grinned. He took his own heaping bite and watched me eat. "So, what’s the deal with your…people?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is everyone else as…hungry?"
I nodded and spilled the beans to him, no pun intended. "Rice and beans is all we have left. And we only manage that twice a day. Sometimes we have oatmeal for breakfast, but not every day."
He pursed his lips. "So all that food in the Jeep…?"
"Is going to save my family," I said with conviction. "At least for a little while."
He nodded. McDonald just kept eating like we weren't there. Then the door banged with a knock and another man entered without waiting for an answer. He, too, was wearing an Enforcer uniform and he went right to the stove to grab a plate of food. He came and made an annoyed noise. I realized he was waiting for me to scoot over, so I did.
He sat beside me and started eating. Chesser smiled at me and nodded his head toward the man. "This here's Smith."
Smith looked at me and nodded. "Mmhmm."
Ok…
"So you're all Enforcement officers?" I asked. Smith looked down at his shirt and back up to my face. He gave me a Duh look and went back to eating. "Right, yeah. So you all help people around here?"
"We usually get things in return for our services," McDonald chimed in and smiled at me. He had Hamburger Helper in his teeth. I barely stopped the throw-up.
Chesser cut in with, "What he means is that we usually trade with them. We help them escape, they help us with something if we need it. Nothing like he's trying to make out."
"What?" McDonald said and kept chewing. "Nothing wrong with asking."
"Anyway. You're fine," Chesser assured me. "I'm sure you're willing to help if we needed it, right?"
"Help with what?"
"Just stuff. Like if we need someone to break in somewhere to get info or something."
"What kind of info?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"Well, we try to intercept the Enforcers when they bring in rebels to the facility. See, if a group of rebels attack an Enforcer, then it doesn’t look suspicious. We can keep right on working as usual, but helping as much as we can under the radar. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your soul sucking aliens even closer than that."
I smiled. "I'm sure my family wouldn't mind helping with something like that. And no offense, but you just stop people from reaching the facilities? Anything else?"
"We've been trying to figure out a way to expose the aliens. If people learn the truth, sometimes the compulsion melts off."
I nodded. I knew that.
"See, we had a secret operation going at one of the facilities in Effingham. We had a guy on the inside who told us everything that went on and videotaped it all. Though, those things can't be seen on the tapes." He pinched his lip. "Anyway, we had it all planned out to get all the records and show people that the rebels were being tortured and then killed. There's a big broadcast station near here that we could reach the whole state with. But…some of the rebels came and blew the place up. Our whole inside operation was blown to bits with it."
I stared at him. "That was us," I murmured.
"What?"
"That was us. My family came and saved me from that place. They bombed it when we left."
"That was you!" he yelled. "Ah, I can't believe it. What were you doing there…oh. That was where you were being held," he realized and everyone at the table stopped and looked at me.
"Yes," I answered and ducked my head. I hated to be looked at like that.
"So your family must be pretty well trained to pull off something like that."
He cursed and then put his hand flat on the table as he leaned forward a little bit. "I'm so sorry. It sounds stupid to say that by letting things happen, we're working for the greater good, but-"
"It's not stupid. I understand. If my going through that causes us to be able to end all this? I'd do it a thousand times over."
He leaned back. "Maybe, but it still sucks to think about. My friend was in there and he told us the things they made him do…" He shook his head. "I wouldn't have been able to do that to someone innocent just to keep my cover, but we're grateful for him. He helped us a lot and we made a lot of progress for it."
"So, any grand plans now?" I asked to remove their eyes from me and back to their food.
"Well…" Chesser drawled and looked around at them. "We've been thinking about having some sort of mass broadcast. I mean, we all know it won't go further than the state line, but at least we can get this one thing done, right? If we got the whole state to work with us, the aliens wouldn't stand a chance. I'm not sure what we can do…it's just a thought."
Lily was the first thing to pop into my head. Something Mrs. Trudy had said about Lily being the key. That she was all we needed. Something was working in my brain, trying to process it all. I felt like I was on the prec
ipice of something that could great.
"You're a million miles away," Chesser commented.
"I'm thinking about my daughter. Lily," I said and couldn't help, but smile.
He smiled, too. "You got a little girl?"
"She's four. I actually feel a little guilty. I got to eat more than she did tonight." I wiped my mouth and looked down at my empty plate.
"Hey, it's ok," he tried to soothe. Little did he know there was no soothing a Mamma who was trying to protect her baby. "In the morning, we'll get you back to them, ok?" I nodded. "Say, why didn't your husband do the shopping?"
"He's a…" I bit my lip. They could be trusted, but to them, Keepers would still be aliens. Would he refuse to help me if he knew? "Remember that I said that we had Keepers who lived with us?"
McDonald and the other guy perked up.
"Yeah."
"I…I'm married to one." His jaw slacked. I rushed on. "The Keepers are the Lighter's opposites."
"Lighters?"
"That's what the aliens are called. Keepers are the ones who've fought the Lighters from the beginning. They're kind of like…angels. They came here when the Lighters did, to help us stop them."
"And you're married to an alien?" McDonald asked, his lip curled.
"Yep." I crossed my arms on the table. "I know it seems strange, but there are just like you and me. Except they can fight the Lighters like nobody's business."
"Then why aren't they out there fighting Lighters instead of playing house with you?"
I sighed. This was going to be hard. "Have you noticed any people that have shown signs of…abilities or powers?" They stared blankly. I felt defeated and tired of explaining. "The Keeper's job is to watch after his charge. My brother is one of these charges and they have tasks they need to complete. The Keepers watch after them until they can figure out what it is. They can't leave their charge until the task has been completed."
They continued to stare. I turned to stare out the window. There was no back yard. I was staring at the wide plank fence and the highway beyond that. I really wished I was home.