Sixteen SixteenElsie and Sanders squirted through the chain-link fence blocking the alley. They had heard rumors about the resistance being in the area. Hoping to find it soon, they darted down the garbage-laden alley before any officers spotted them.
They entered a street. Quickly, they turned right and walked casually so as not to attract attention. Elsie noticed an officer doing his rounds. She took Sanders’ hand into her own.
“What are you doing?” whispered Sanders.
“Just go with it. Pretend we’re in love.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
Finally realizing what Elsie meant, Sanders put his arm around her shoulders and placed her head on his own. He smiled and laughed while pretending to whisper words of love into her ear. In addition to his playacting, Elsie giggled like a schoolgirl.
The officer noted them. He tipped his hat as he strolled by what he believed to be two people hopelessly in love. Glancing behind, Sanders and Elsie rushed down the walk and turned another corner.
Sanders glanced at one of the gigantic television screens that dominated the city. Once again, the president’s message that Dana was a dangerous criminal who needed to be stopped aired. Then, static took over until a new video appeared with the insignia of the resistance.
“Wait,” he said to Elsie as he watched.
The song of the rebellion played while words darted across the screen.
Don’t believe the lies.
They smear her because they fear her.
Dana’s picture appeared on the screen again, but this time, she looked noble and proud.
All she did was ask a question.
All she did was try to save a friend.
And they have condemned her to death for it.
Carry the torch. Hold it high like Dana Ginary.
“What is all this?” asked Elsie as the screen went blank, and then Halloway appeared, apologizing for technical difficulties.
“She must still be alive,” said Sanders, “and maybe the resistance knows where she is.”
“Let’s get out of here,” said Elsie, pulling Sanders along. “We need to find them before the officers find us.”
~ ~ ~
Dana walked down the main road, heading for Betsy’s diner to work. Since Malcolm wouldn’t be back for weeks, she decided to continue working there for money.
She noticed a crowd gathering around someone speaking at a podium. It didn’t take long for Dana to recognize Kenny’s voice. Curious, she joined them and listened.
“We have rights as workers,” said Kenny over the crowd, “and we deserve equal pay for equal work. People need a day off every now and then. Is that too much to ask?”
“No,” said a few within the gathering.
“And why isn’t there a fund to help take care of the old and infirmed? Sometimes, things happen and you find yourself unable to provide for your family. I propose that we set up a security fund that everyone pays into, and when you fall on hard times, money can be withdrawn from it to meet your needs until things improve.
“Why is it we have an attitude of ‘too bad you lost your job, but don’t ask me for anything’? That’s pretty callous. We need to start thinking about the common good and about our community so that we all benefit.”
Dana’s heart sank as she listened. Apparently, Kenny refused her advice. She looked around at the various faces of the crowd. Most listened with rapt attention, with only a few openly agreeing.
Bert stood in the front, pretending to absorb everything Kenny said. He shouted cheers and agreements every so often, trying to get others to join him. Most of his efforts proved to be in vain.
“Betsy,” exclaimed Dana as she ran into the woman who owned the diner. “What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d come out and see what all the fuss was about,” said Betsy in her usual crass manner. “Most of what he says sounds reasonable.”
Dana glanced at Kenny, who continued speaking. “It usually does.” She remembered President Klens giving similar statements.
“Nincompoops,” muttered Betsy. “Well, I got a business to run and you’re late for work.”
Dana followed Betsy to the diner, allowing Kenny’s statements to fade. She hung up her coat and put on her apron, tying her hair into a bun.
“Now hurry up and get those counters cleaned,” said Betsy.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Dana. She had learned to ignore the woman’s brusque manner.
The door rang as someone walked in.
“Hello, Mr. Callors,” greeted Dana. “Eggs and ham this morning?”
“You know me too well,” said Mr. Callors, taking off his hat. “Would you mind adding some of those biscuits with gravy?”
“I don’t, but Betsy might.”
“I don’t know why I should make gravy for you,” came Betsy’s voice from the back. “Always making me do more work.”
“So, how’s Kenny doing at the stables?” asked Dana.
“I fired him,” said Mr. Callors, “He left the job half done. Guess he thought the work was beneath him. Seems like he prefers to speak to crowds. Though what he’s talking about is beyond me.”
“Sorry to hear that,” said Dana as she poured a cup of coffee.
“I know he’s your friend, Dana, but it sounds like he’s trying to cause trouble.”
Dana frowned as she glanced outside at Kenny’s animated motions. She started to wonder if perhaps he really was her friend. The thought that she needed to stay away from him entered her mind. “No need to apologize,” she said.
“Order up,” said Betsy.
Dana grabbed the plate and placed it in front of Mr. Callors. “Enjoy your meal.”
“Thanks, dear.” He picked up his fork and dug in.
Sampson walked in. “Coffee, please.”
Dana gave him a cup with cream and sugar.
“Looks like trouble is brewing,” he said.
Dana didn’t respond.
“I don’t know what that kid is working the people up for, but I do know that Bert is behind it.”
“What makes you say that?” asked Dana.
“In all the time I’ve been here,” answered Sampson, “Bert has been trying to get people to follow him. He is a lazy SOB who just wants what he thinks is owed to him. The thing is, most people ignore him because he spends all his time drinking. Now it seems he’s sobered up and has snagged himself a new best friend. Yours.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Dana.
“The thing is, he believes what he’s saying,” said Sampson.
“Yeah, he does,” replied Dana, worry filling her.
She had hoped that if Kenny learned the value of hard work, he would appreciate it. She wanted him to understand what most in Dystopia understood, that people need to be allowed to live their own lives. Now she started to think it was a lost cause.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” said Dana. “Hopefully, this will all blow over.”
“I hope so, but I have my doubts,” said Sampson. “I might have to break it up.”
“But people are allowed to meet in public,” said Dana.
“They are,” replied Sampson, “but not if it means they plan on starting a riot. If they take to what he says seriously, it could turn ugly. I suggest you stay close to the house and don’t go wandering too much.”
Dana frowned. She went back behind the counter and continued serving customers, all the while keeping a wary eye on Kenny and the ever increasing crowd.
The door jingled as Karl walked in. Goggles sat atop his white head as he strolled into the diner, oblivious to all the stares he garnered.
“Karl?” said Betsy. “You don’t often leave your house.”
“You didn’t blow it up, did you?” asked Sampson.
“No. No,” Karl waved their concerns away. “But I thought I could use some real homecooking for a change.”
“Your stove not working?” asked Betsy.
“Not at the moment, no,” replied Karl.
“What you do, set fire to it?” asked another in the diner.
“Actually,” Karl turned to the man, “I needed a power source for this new invention of mine, so I hooked it up to my stove. When I turned it on, I fried both the invention and my stove. So here I am.” Karl took two deep breaths while beating his fists against his chest. “Ah, smell that fresh air.”
“That would be bacon,” said Betsy.
“Well, be a dear and put some of it on a plate for me.”
Karl leaned over the counter and kissed Betsy on the lips. In return, she smacked him hard across the face, leaving a red handprint on his cheek. Infuriated, Betsy stormed into the kitchen. Karl just smiled to himself with glee.
“Still got it,” he muttered to himself.
“Got what?” Dana asked Sampson.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out,” replied Sampson. “He lost his marbles a long time ago.”
“Oh, Dana,” Karl hurried over to her, “I need some coils for—uh—well, I need some coils about this big. Next time you go off with the traders, will you pick me up some? I’ll pay you.”
Dana thought a moment. She didn’t mind helping Karl out. “I might know where I can get some without having to go far,” she said. “I can bring them by sometime.”
“Great!”
“Order up,” Betsy plopped a bag with cartons of food on the counter.
Karl seized it eagerly. “Oh, that smells tantalizing.”
“Enjoy, cuz I poisoned it,” replied Betsy.
Karl wagged a finger at her. “You are a shrewd woman. But I will thoroughly enjoy this home cooked treat, even if it is my last meal on this earth. Oh, and Dana, just wait until you see my newest invention.”
Karl skipped out the door. He took two more deep breaths before marching down the street.
“One of these days, that crazy old coot is going to blow himself up,” said Betsy.
Sampson drank the last of his coffee. “Sometimes I wonder if he acts crazy on purpose. Well, I need to go. Thanks for the coffee.”
Dana watched Sampson leave. She took one last look across the street at the crowd as more people joined, before turning back to her work.
~ ~ ~
Elsie and Sanders moved quickly despite the chilly rain as they trotted down the sidewalk and away from prying eyes. A door with red, peeling paint loomed before them. According to their information, this was the place where the resistance hid.
Cautiously, Elsie knocked on the door. She hoped that they had not been led into a trap. Footsteps sounded on the other side as someone approached, undoing the chains. Holding tightly onto one another, both Elsie and Sanders waited with baited breath.
The door opened a crack as a man peeked out. “What do you want?”
“Silent is the night where stands Lady Liberty,” whispered Elsie.
The man looked around before shutting the door. More bolts and locks snapped out of place before it was wrenched open again. “In.”
Quickly, Elsie and Sanders ran inside. They huddled together while looking around the dimly lit room. Several men and women looked back at them.
“All right, how’d you find us?” asked the man who had opened the door. He was Charles.
“We have sources,” said Elsie.
“So do we,” said Charles, “but that doesn’t answer the question.”
Sanders and Elise fidgeted while trying to think of how to answer.
“Well?”
“We asked around,” said Sanders, “starting at the underground market. Some people there told us where we could find you. But you kept moving around, which made it a bit difficult.”
“People there just told you?”
“His name was Phil,” added Elsie.
“You fools,” snapped Charles. “Did it ever occur to you that you might have been followed? That this might have been a trap?”
Both Elsie and Sanders shook their heads. They had never considered the possibility.
“Of course not. Dumb kids.”
“Now, Charles,” said Simon, “hold your temper in check. They don’t look like they work for Colonel Fernau.”
“No, of course not,” muttered Charles. “Just that stupid kid, Dana, did.”
“Dana isn’t stupid,” Elsie blurted out.
“Well she certainly got us all in a tight fix,” said Charles. “And George is dead because of her.”
“Dana was coerced,” said Simon, “and George knew the risks when he decided to go with her. Now, Amy, will you get these two something to eat?”
Amy nodded and went to the kitchen. Moments later, she returned with two steaming bowls of soup.
“Now, tell us how you got out of the plant,” said Simon.
“We ran away during the riot,” Elsie replied around a mouthful of food. “Been running ever since.”
“How is it you managed to steer clear of the officers? Ever since Dana’s speech, their numbers have increased.”
“That part gets tricky,” said Sanders. “We bribed a number of them, but mostly, we stay out of sight. During the nights, we stay in abandoned buildings. Nighttime is the only time we move, if we can help it.”
“How is it they haven’t tracked you?” asked Charles.
In response, both Elsie and Sanders held out their arms, revealing the healing cuts from where they had dug out their chips.
“Good thinking,” conceded Charles.
“Look,” said Elsie, “we can’t go back to Waste Management. You know what will happen to us if we do. We want to join you.”
“Join us?”
“Yes,” replied Sanders.
“We believe in what you are trying to achieve,” added Elsie. “We can help.”
“How?” demanded Charles.
“Those videos you air by hacking into the media network. How many times have you had to relocate after airing them?”
The stony expressions on their faces told Elsie she had struck a nerve.
“Sanders is the best person with a computer that I know. He managed to hack their system the day Dana escaped. It was him who played the video of her interrogations, and he set it up so it was traced back to Officer Burroughs.”
“I heard they had executed him,” said Amy.
“Sanders here can hack the network and make it look like it came from anywhere. It doesn’t mean that we won’t have to stay on the move, but maybe we won’t have to move as often.”
“That is worth considering,” mused Simon.
“We’ve got no place to go and you know it,” said Sanders.
“And if we found you once, we can find you again,” Elsie added.
The people within the room gathered together, whispering to one another. After several minutes, Simon silenced them.
“Okay, you can stay,” he said, “but you must abide by our rules. You cannot leave without permission. You must keep quiet and not attract attention. The officers are everywhere these days, and they would want nothing more than to hang all of us.”
“Yeah, and President Klens is expected to issue new regulations concerning people’s activities,” said Amy.
“I heard she was real angry when Dana took off,” laughed Charles.
“I think that is putting it mildly,” said Amy. “You’ve seen those propaganda pieces. They’re doing everything to smear her.”
“That’s enough,” Simon interrupted them. “We have a lot of planning to do before our next airing. You two get some sleep.”
Elsie and Sanders finished their meal before following a small, almost timid woman to their new accommodations while affectionately holding one another’s hands.
~ ~ ~
Dana stepped out into the ever increasing chilly air as she locked up the diner. Betsy had taken to letting her close up for the evening. Dana knew enough about cooking by now to handle the few small orders that came in.
She stuck the key in the lock and smiled when it clicked. As Dana headed down the street for the road that led to Sampson’s, she wished she had the truck. He had needed it to check on his fields. Because it was warm that morning, Dana said walking wouldn’t be a problem. If only I had remembered how quickly the weather can change.
“Hey,” said Kenny walking up to her.
“Hi,” said Dana.
“Can I walk you home?”
Dana paused and looked at her friend in the moonlight. For the first time, she saw him as a man. She didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed it before, but he no longer appeared as the scrawny kid from school. He had filled out some.
“What is it?” asked Kenny.
“Nothing,” said Dana, shaking such thoughts from her head. They frightened her.
“So can I walk you home?”
“Why do you want to walk me home?”
“Because it’s nighttime and I know there are dangerous people about. I heard about the men that had kidnapped you.”
“All right then. Come on.”
Together, they walked down the road, turning onto the dirt highway that went to Sampson’s. Though about five miles, Dana didn’t mind walking, so long as it wasn’t too cold.
“I saw you today giving your speech to the crowd,” said Dana breaking the silence.
“What did you think of it?”
Dana didn’t answer immediately.
“Didn’t you like it?”
“Yes and no,” said Dana.
“What was wrong with it?” asked Kenny.
“Parts of it sounded good and made sense.”
“But you still have your doubts.”
“How many times have we heard in school that the common good should never be ignored? How many times have we heard about equality? But they didn’t exist there. You know that.”
“I just want to live in a place where everyone is able to live as they were meant to, free and without hardship. That was the point of Dystopia.”
“Well, something went terribly wrong,” said Dana.
“But we can fix that here,” Kenny replied.
“But people are free here,” said Dana. “For the first time, I don’t feel afraid.”
“But there is hardship. I hear that some years, people here don’t have much to eat and are completely reliant on what your friend Sampson grows.”
“He doesn’t charge much and most don’t have to pay until things improve.”
“But it’s the unfairness of life I want to eliminate.”
“You’ll never be able to do that,” said Dana. “Look, Kenny, I admire what you’re trying to do, but I think you’re going about it the wrong way. You believe in the principles you were raised in, but you never experienced the other side of that coin.
“We have equality here. Everyone is equal before the law and expected to follow the same set of rules. Anyone can find a job here of their own choosing if they have a mind to. And right now, you and I are walking down this road alone and there isn’t an officer in sight. People here have a pretty good life. I’m not saying it isn’t without its problems, but I don’t think what you’re doing is going to help much.”
“That’s not what Bert says.”
Dana’s expression clouded. “You know how I feel about Bert.”
“Why don’t you like him?”
“I just have this bad feeling about him. He’s a good for nothing—”
“You’re judging.”
“Everyone judges.”
“So I guess you won’t be coming to hear me speak tomorrow night,” said Kenny.
“What?” asked Dana.
“You said that if I didn’t like the current mayor, that I should run for the position myself. Well, Sampson is up for reelection.”
“But the vote is weeks away.”
“Yeah, but I checked the rules, and anyone can enter their name into the race up until the day before the voting.”
“You don’t have any experience,” said Dana.
“I have plenty,” replied Kenny, “I was the First Councilman’s son.”
Dana didn’t think that meant much, but she kept her mouth shut. “Just be careful what you say, Kenny.”
“What do you mean?”
“Words mean things and can be used to convince people to do terrible acts.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
It wasn’t Kenny she was worried about. “We’re here,” said Dana, surprised that the walk had gone so quickly.
“Please come tomorrow,” pleaded Kenny.
“Maybe I’ll stop by near the end,” Dana relented.
“Good. Then we can grab some dinner.” He pecked her on the cheek and walked away waving as he left.
Dana stood erect unsure of what to think. Kenny had never openly showed feelings for her, but then back home, he couldn’t have, even if he wanted to. For the second time that night, she thought of him as a man. Though he aggravated her on many levels, Dana knew his affection towards her was genuine.
She turned and headed to the house, hoping she was not headed for trouble.