Jackson (3 page)

“He’s only searching for you?”

“Primarily. He wants to kill us all, but Cato and I are his top priority.”

I shivered. My whole body shook. I wrapped my arms around my knees, and Gallatin moved toward me. I scooted back, away from him. He exhaled and his shoulders dropped.

“I wish you would trust me,” he said. “I haven’t changed from before. When we were friends.”

“How can I trust you? You’ve been holding us captive for weeks!”

“It’s gone on longer than we ever expected. Two weeks is far too long for your world not to notice. Even in a remote location like this.”

“Like the cops and stuff? I was wondering about that.”

“We’d planned for the possibility of a slight delay. You and the others in this camp could stay as you are indefinitely—”

“And our parents? Dr. Green?”

“They’re perfectly safe. Please understand, it was our only choice. I honestly couldn’t believe how long it worked. This community is so isolated. Few residents ever leave here.”

“Flora’s sister Lisa moved to California last year.”

“Yes, and we’ve covered her.”

“Covered her?” I struggled to stand up quickly. “What does that mean? Did you kill her?”

“Of course not! We’re just monitoring her contacts, making her think her mother and sister are fine.”

“You’re mind-controlling her?”

“Not specifically, but Prentiss, that’s what I needed to tell you. We’re leaving. It’s an enormous risk, but Cato said it’s more dangerous to stay.”

Again I shivered. I couldn’t seem to stop. “You’re going to another planet?”

“Yes. It’s why I wanted to come here one last time.” He looked down, and his energy seemed to fade. “You won’t remember any of this. And if you do, you’ll think it’s just a strange dream you had.”

“I’ll forget? Everything? But what about the time loss? The two weeks?”

“Incidents like this have occurred in the past. Collective time loss. Your people will make up some explanation for it.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think this will work out as easily as you’re saying.”

He shrugged, and his voice was sad. “Regardless, we’ll be light years away.”

“So it’s not your problem?”

He didn’t answer, and I started walking. This time I wasn’t going to stop. “I’ve got to think about this and figure out what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything. We’ll be gone in a matter of hours. A day at most.”

I paused at a skinny tree and looked back. He stood there in his shorts, his palms facing me. “I would never hurt you,” he said. “I hope you know that. I hope you can understand.”

“Understand what? That you’ve been treating us, treating
me
like an animal? Holding us like your cosmic playthings? Or worse. Acting like we have no rights or say in what happens.”

“Remember that day when Bully was born, when I thought you might die?”

The abrupt change in subject confused me, but I nodded. He took a step toward me, but I took a step back. He stopped and crossed his arms, placing his palms against his torso “It didn’t make sense, we’d only just met, but everything in me refused to believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“That I might never get to know you better. That it was all over that fast, and I’d only just scratched the surface. I couldn’t let that happen. I would not let you die.”

I turned away, toward the camp. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I just... wanted you to know.”

“And in two days, I won’t remember it. I’ll forget you ever existed?”

He looked down. “Knowing that, that you’ll never remember me...”

We stood there for a moment, silent. Then he turned and started back to where his clothes and the pack still sat. I inhaled a shaky breath and headed toward the camp. By the time I reached the fence, I was crying.

––––––––

I
t was almost time for dinner, and my damp clothes and swollen eyes were a sure sign that I’d been up to something. I wiped my tears away with my sleeve, but as I looked down, I saw the marks from my soaked boxers and tank that couldn’t be excused as sweat. It all added to my misery, but it was quickly forgotten when D’Lo stopped me mid-way across the yard. His dark face was strangely pale, and my sadness turned to fear as he grabbed my arm, quickly pulling me to the dorm.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said. “It’s Braxton. He went and did it. I don’t know how long it was before we found him.”

“Did what? What happened?” My voice was breathless as I clutched his giant arm.

“He went down to the perimeter, to the place where the big trees line the fence. He took his sheets and made a knot... Roxie found him hanging, but I got him down.”

Pain exploded in my chest like a bomb, and I dropped to my knees on the grass. D’Lo went to one knee beside me, holding me in his big arms. My eyes closed as whiteness crept into the sides of my vision, but D’Lo squeezed me.

“Don’t you faint, now. He needs you, Pren.”

“Oh, god,” I wailed, fresh tears slicking my face. “Oh, god, Dee, it’s too much. It’s all just too much.”

My breathing was shallow and difficult, but D’Lo rubbed my back.

“Stay with me, girl. You’ve got to be strong.”

“I can’t anymore. I don’t know how to fight this. I don’t know what to do—”

“Do it for your brother.” His deep voice urged in my ear. “They did this to him. They’re the reason.”

My body shook so hard, I couldn’t stand. I could only cry, gulping in hoarse breaths as I clung to my friend. I was sorry for Braxton, of course I was, but my tears were also for a loss I couldn’t share with Dee.

In spite of what Gallatin had revealed, in the last few hours since I’d left him in the woods, my mind had gone from shock and fear to sadness and pain. All the moments we’d shared these last few days and nights, the experiences we’d had...

We wanted the same things—our own place, family, peace. He called me strong. He watched everything I did and truly saw me, not what I needed to become or how I need to change. He saw me as I was, and he was proud of me. He said I was smart, and he wanted me to be a doctor.

He told me his wishes and dreams, his hopes for us—dreams I’d been watching slip away between Jackson and me in the past months. Things I didn’t believe could grow so fast and be so strong...

And just as fast, they would disappear. In a matter of hours, it would all be taken away. I’d never even remember what I’d lost. I gulped another breath.

“It’s too much,” I whispered.

“Come on, now,” Dee said. “Try and stand up. You need to talk to Braxton. Try and get him to come around.”

I blinked back my tears, knowing he was right. I was being selfish, and we didn’t have time for such things. I grasped D’Lo’s arm. “Where is he?”

“We got him in his bed, but he can’t let go of the bad feelings. He says we should’ve let him die.”

Holding Dee’s arm for support, I got to my feet and followed him back, past the empty bunks to the corner where my brother lay on his side, his back facing outward the same as before when I’d left him. I wiped my tears away and focused on helping him.

“Braxton?” I placed my hand on his arm. “You okay?”

“Leave me alone.” His voice was cold.

“Braxton, listen to me. You can’t do this. You just can’t.” My voice broke, and I started to cry again.

My brother didn’t move. He didn’t turn or try to comfort me, and he didn’t speak. I looked up at the faces of my friends all looking back at me waiting, wanting me to do something. Wanting answers, anything, but I couldn’t tell them what Gallatin had said. Anyway, what did it matter if in two days none of us would remember any of this?

I turned and walked back to my bunk. The tone sounded for dinner, but I couldn’t eat. Everyone walked toward the door, but my heart was so heavy, I lay over on my side and stared at nothing. I had become like them—hopeless, defeated. But unlike my friends, my hopelessness centered on a coming loss I couldn’t stop. I sniffed and began to cry again, and this time it was because my heart was breaking. I was saying good-bye to something I’d only just discovered I wanted so very much, something that had changed absolutely everything in my life.

My eyes closed, and I thought about what Gallatin had said when he’d held me in the creek, his dream of us together, our life. I remembered seeing the mixture of a million different colors shining in the sunlight, through the leaves, on the water like a prism. I remembered wanting to kiss him. I remembered his touch...

Instantly, I sat up in the bed. That was it. I’d found the answer—for one of us, at least.

The room was empty except for my brother, and I quickly rose and ran from the dorm down to the smaller cabins at the bottom of the hill. I went to the one where I knew I’d find him, where I
hoped
I’d find him, and went around to the small window I remembered being propped open. Dropping to my knees, I looked through the space, and there he was.

For a moment I could only watch him, that painful ache twisting in my chest. I tried to make my eyes see him as scary or strange and alien, but I couldn’t. He simply lay there on his back on the bed, an arm over his eyes. I studied his scars, remembering the horrible story of how he got them, a little boy trying to protect himself against blow after blow in a savagely executed attempted murder. More pain twisted in my chest, and I wanted to keep him close, to know he was safe.

“Gallatin?” I whispered, and he dropped his arm, sitting up to look at me through the screen.

In seconds, he was opening the window, helping me step through into his room. “Why are you here?” His voice was hopeful. “I thought you were angry with me.”

“I need your help.” Our hands remained clasped.

“Anything—”

“It’s my brother. He...” A sob snatched my voice away, and I had to sit.

Gallatin caught my arm as my knees gave way, and he helped me to the side of his bed. Then he pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arms around me. I didn’t pull back. I wanted him to hold me this way; it was so good. He softly shushed, and for a moment I clutched his shirt, knowing how in just a few days he’d be gone, taking our memories with him. He’d be gone along with this safe place in his arms, where I could release my fears and pain for a little while and lean on his strength.

Slowly, I pushed up, out of his embrace. “I’m sorry,” I said, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.

He handed me a towel. “Why are you crying?”

“My brother tried to kill himself. D’Lo found him, and—”

“What? How is that possible?” Gallatin stood and walked to the other side of his room. “That should never have happened!”

“It was while we were out. I don’t know if he went where no one could see him, or—”

He turned back to me. “What can I do? I don’t know if we have anything to give him here.”

“I thought about... The way you touched me. You said you could put thoughts, feelings in my head.”

“That’s not exactly how it works. It’s more like distracting the mind.”

“But it made me feel—”

“You want me to try it on him?”

I studied my feet, knowing it was a complete reversal of what I’d said before. “I just thought it might help.”

“It might, but you were so upset when I did it to you.”

“I know, but this is different. He’s been getting worse and worse, and now he won’t even look at me.”

I watched him pull open a drawer and quickly change his shirt. “It’s probably being aggravated by the meds.”

“What meds?”

“Ovett’s idea. He called it an insurance policy in case any of the larger males gave us trouble.”

He held out a hand for me to go with him, but I didn’t move from where I sat on his bed. That old sense of betrayal nudged me.

“What does that mean? What kind of drugs?”

“Nothing dangerous.” He crossed back to me. “Come on. I thought you wanted me to help your brother.”

“Just hang on a minute. Have you been drugging all of us?”

“Well, not me specifically.” He tried to reach for me, but I pulled away. “You’re angry again? It was just a mild sedative to prevent anxiety and panic. When I learned of it, I actually thought it was more humane.”

“That’s why I felt so heavy and tired some days.”

“To be honest, I couldn’t tell it was affecting you at all. Another of your strengths.”

“I don’t like this. I don’t like knowing you would do something like that to me.”

His shoulders dropped, and he held out his hands. “It was already happening when I got here.”

“But you could’ve told me.”

“It never occurred to me. Cato and Ovett have been scrambling since Day 3. He said your people do it with your elderly routinely, and he assured us no one would be hurt. It seemed like a harmless security measure.”

Glancing around the room, I didn’t have a good answer. Part of me wanted to understand, but the part of me that had been being drugged without my knowledge was really mad.

“Come on,” I said. “We don’t have time now. Will you help my brother?”

“Of course. I’ll do anything you need.”

* * *

E
veryone was still in the dining hall when we entered the dorm. Braxton was on his bed, and it looked like he hadn’t moved. We quickly made our way past the rows of metal bunks to the back corner, and I dropped to my knees beside his head.

“Braxton?” I whispered. He didn’t move, so I nodded to Gallatin. “Just do whatever you do now while he’s sleeping. Maybe he can have a happy dream and wake up feeling hopeful.”

“Is that the feeling you want? Hope?”

I looked at the amber eyes of my, what? Enemy? Friend? Something else I couldn’t name?

“Give him hope, Gallatin.”

He nodded and slipped his left palm against the side of my brother’s neck. I expected a light or a noise or a vibration. I expected Gallatin to close his eyes or glow. But nothing seemed to happen. It was quiet, and he simply blinked a few times as he touched Braxton’s skin. He didn’t even touch him for very long, it seemed, before he looked back at me.

“Let me know how he is in the morning. I can do it again if he needs more.”

“More?”

“Our races are very similar, but this is one of our adaptations, and human hormones and brain functions are different.”