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“The remaining government started shepherding people into smaller clumps. They saw the wisdom of consolidating the population in smaller areas where utilities and food distribution could be more easily managed. However, the general population had other ideas.”
History of a Changed World, Angus T. Moss
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AFTER EATING, TED EXPLORED the upper level of the train station. The children were fed and settling down now. Nixie had taken the older ones back to the cart to retrieve their bedding. He had a few moments of unencumbered time to do as he pleased. The stock room was full of Stew-goo and Crunch. He patted the rows of packages feeling giddy. He wished the cart was larger so he could take it all. Maybe they should stay here for a few days. It would be good to rest in a safe place with plenty of food.
He went back through the lobby, noting the system map. All of the stations were dark. That hit him like a bucket of ice water. If the stations were closed, no one would have access to the train food. Even here, where they’d come in a secret back door, the food they found would run out eventually. With the trains shut down, no one would be restocking it. Ted’s knees felt weak. He staggered over to a bench in the waiting area. What did that mean to all the people wandering? The answer hit him equally as hard. It meant they had to stay put.
Why?
He wished he had Epsilon’s gift for seeing patterns. His brother would understand what this change meant in a larger context. He saw the big picture and might know what had triggered this. The trains had run on time and food had been available for the taking. All of that ended over night. The stations closed with no warning. Safe haven gone. Ted had no idea why this happened, but the consequences were dire. He pondered why the desperately needed services were being withheld.
He needed to find a permanent safe place for all of them as soon as possible. This station was secure enough that he thought he might leave the children here to start looking around the vicinity for a settlement. He cringed at the thought. It wasn’t that he loved his time on the road, the truth was that he hadn’t found a place he could tolerate. Over the years, he’d sampled a lot of them. One place had been run by a tyrant, everyone bowing before the miserable old man to earn a small meal. Another had been run by a religious nut. People forced to pray four times a day to a pile of made-up gods for a bowl of gruel and a blanket near the fire. Despite what he told the children, he feared that there was no Good Place out there.
He forced himself to his feet, pushing away his fears. Nixie would be wondering what he was doing. She was a constant companion against his self-doubt. A stout soul that made him feel stronger just by her presence. He didn’t know how he would have managed without her at his side. That thought muddled his brain, making him anxious to reassure himself that all was well with her. He moved quicker, back through the lobby, his mind taking in the surroundings, churning it to pull out anything to his advantage.
The facilities here were still functioning. He could have a hot shower. That was a lovely thought. As Ted walked back towards the stairs down to the cubbies, he caught the faint scent of smoke. He went to check the main entrance finding the area blackened and warped, clear signs that a fire had raged here. Ted tried to look out through sooty smudges on the glass. At closer inspection, there were fingerprints where someone had touched it. Ted tried the door. It swung open into the station. He peeked outside. A brisk wind blew past him rustling leaves and debris across the threshold through a grill of steel bars. On the other side, a short stairway up to the surface was charred black. The walls to either side of the doorway were marked with soot and water stains. Ted worried that someone had attacked the station here. The sign was badly burned, but he could still make out the name: Clarkeston. A paper flapped on the door drawing his attention.
“All are welcome at High Meadow med center. Sick and well. No good heart will be turned away.”
Ted blinked at the flyer. What an odd way to phrase it. A spattering of rain blew down the damaged stairs. He shut the door hearing the bolts snap into place. It was rigged to open from inside, but not from the outside. If the bars hadn’t been down, he would have left it propped open so people could get access to the food and cubbies. He gave some thought to moving the food. With the children, he could make a chain from the stockroom to the entrance, but that would take up a lot of time. The wind whistled through a crack in the door, grit pattered against the glass. Suddenly this didn’t feel as safe as it had before, and something told him he should get on the road first thing tomorrow.
He hurried back to the shelter. Nixie had packed up all the dinner things. The children were just laying out their blankets.
“What?” Nixie demanded.
Ted tried to smooth his face. He wasn’t good at hiding his emotions from her. “This feels too exposed.”
Nixie narrowed her eyes in thought. “Back in the tunnel. There’s another staircase.” She headed to the secret door.
Ted followed. She preceded him back to the stairs, then past them. A narrow hallway led away into the darkness to another door, beyond which was another staircase that went up. They climbed to the top finding a short hallway that ended in a big room. Storage most likely from the look of the sturdy door. It was out of the way and somehow felt a lot safer. Ted nodded his approval to Nixie. “This is a better place to sleep.”
She rounded up the children and brought them up to the room. They moved obediently without questioning the change. Then she went out to hide the cart. When she came back, Ted relaxed, feeling foolish. He’d made everyone move because the sound of the wind had spooked him. He left the children bedding down to head back to the washrooms to indulge in a hot shower. He was almost to the stairs when he heard voices. Men. At least two of them. He crept back down the hallway, hiding in the shadows.
Three men tromped down the stairs from the maintenance garage carrying flashlights. They laughed together over a mumbled joke. Ted stayed silent, not moving, hugging the wall.
“I’m telling you somebody’s been in here,” a whiny voice complained.
“So?”
“This is ours.”
“Yeah, well, next time you can stay here and watch over it.”
Then they were out of range for Ted to hear clearly. He waited, wondering if they lived here or just took the food. He should have realized that others could come in the same way they had. Slowly, he moved back to the room. Nixie waited just outside the room full of children, eyes wide in the dim light of the candle lantern she held.
“I’ll look for another way out,” she whispered.
Ted watched her ghost away down the hall. The men might not know about this room. They might only care about food and hot water and a safe place to sleep out of the weather. A boom of thunder overhead meant they had to stay the night. He couldn’t take the children out into the storm. If Nixie didn’t find another way out, he needed to find a way to bar the entrance to this room. His heart pounded a little harder as he thought about all the young lives he had to protect.