Tent City (35 page)

“Follow me,” the guard says, and we follow him into another room that looks like maybe was a secretary’s office. He tells us to sit and we do.

“First of all, you all need to know what a break you’ve been given today. I don’t need to tell you that. General Burke has been very generous and forgiving. All he is asking for in return is your discretion. None of you are to ever mention any of this to anyone….ever. I don’t need to remind you of what the consequences could be.”

Silence.

“You may leave now.”

And that’s what we do. We walk briskly, but cautiously, not sure if the guard will change his mind.

We walk out of the sheriff’s office and head towards home. They have no car here since they were arrested at home. When she feels we are far enough away, Mom breaks the silence.

“Where’s Brody?” she asks.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure he’s fine. I left him with Kit. We just have to find them. Are we going home?”

“We’ll stop home, but we’re getting out of here as soon as we find Brody,” Dad says.
 

“Getting out of here?” I ask.

“Yes. We should have gone with you when you left. I don’t know why we didn’t. Things aren’t safe. I don’t know what just happened in there, but I’m not going to question it for too long. We need to find Brody and get out of here before they change their minds.”

It takes us about an hour to walk home, as we live out on a farm. On the way I tell them all that I can about Tent City and the people we met. I tell them about Grant’s training, the raid, the baby, and all the things Brody has learned.

Mom smiles when I tell her about the orange dandelions and I think Dad can’t help but hold me a little too close as we walk. Mom won’t let go of my hand. I can see Dad is formulating his plan as we walk.

We walk into the house I left five months ago and it looks exactly the same.

It’s as if Mom left it that way, not to be disturbed until her children were returned to her. Or maybe it was more like those stories you hear about when people lose their children; they keep every item in place to preserve the last day they were alive.

I’m worried about Kit and Brody, but not the way I was before. Mom and Dad can take care of this for now. I want to think about it too, but for now I’m totally exhausted. I go up to my room and true to form, not a thing is out of its place. I collapse on the bed, not even bothering to remove my shoes.

It must be daylight when I wake again because the sun is blinding me and I’m alarmed because I can hear noise in the kitchen—a lot of noise. I panic for a moment and will myself to still my thumping heart so I can figure out what the noises are.

Is The Council back? Have they changed their minds? We should have left last night. But what I hear changes my mind. It’s laughter—lots of laughter. Who’s laughing, and why are there so many of them?

I run downstairs as fast as I can and see something so amazing, I must still be dreaming. My family from Tent City. They’re all in my kitchen! Kit and Grant are there: Callie, Jess, Jonah, Avery, and even the baby.

Brody is there and wrapped up in Mom’s arms. From the way they are hugging, he must have just walked in the door. She is squeezing and hogging him from Dad. He’s teasing her, telling him to give him a chance, but I can tell he’s not going to win this one. And then I see him.

Bentley’s standing off by the door, looking unsure of himself. He is watching the reunions and seems out of place. Mom notices too and does what she does best.

“Who’s hungry?” Of course this causes total chaos and I ask Bentley if he wants to sit on the porch.

“That’s some family you got there.” He’s looking wistfully out towards the cornfields and rocking his chair slowly.

“So you heard about Jack?” I ask.

“Yeah, I knew what he was doing. Part of the Jack’s big ‘save the world’ plan.”

“Was this part of the plan from the beginning? Give himself up and your dad lets everyone go?”

“Well, not everyone. I’m sure he’s keeping the other nonbelievers held. Maybe he won’t execute them on Halloween like he planned, but I’m sure he’s not letting them go. Not just yet. He hasn’t got everything he wants.”

Of course. Burke would want to have Bentley back too.

“So he didn’t know you were here?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s not me he’s looking for,” he says, casually looking at the clouds rolling in. “Looks like another storm.”

“What’s he looking for?”

He looks over at me trying to calculate what I know, and what I don’t. I could tell him, the list is endless.

“The prophet.”

“Oh, you mean the ‘Golden Child’,” I say, playing along.

“Yeah, something like that.” He laughs. “Supposedly, we’ll know when he’s born. He is to be born with some kind of symbol, like a circle marking the time for a new kingdom.”

“Might be waiting a long time then, huh?”

I like this game we are playing now. Making light of the situation and on an afterthought, I feel hopeful that it’s not really Jack and Bentley that Burke wants. Maybe I can have them back and he can go search for his Golden Child.

“I wonder what will happen to the other families,” he says.

“Jack made it part of his conditions.”

“What do you mean?” He’s turned his full attention to me now.

“Jack told me that he promised to go with Burke if he allowed the families to go. I don’t think it was easy, but he must have wanted you guys back pretty bad.”

“Jack anyway. It was always that way, for Mom and Tom. It was always about Jack. I can’t say that I blame them. Even in the end, Jack was good enough to try and convince himself that Tom was a good guy, just misunderstood. Maybe it was the only way he could look past what happened to Mom.”

“Tom?”

“Dad.”

“Oh.”

“So what now?” he asks.

“You wouldn’t believe it, but I think my dad’s got a plan to go back to Tent City. Well maybe not Tent City exactly since it’s probably swarming by now, but somewhere in that area. He was pretty impressed at how we lived out there. Thinks it’s good country to hole up in. You should see him. Like a kid in a candy store.” I laugh softly, and then feel like an idiot as I realize Bentley just lost the last of his family.

“You’re going with him?” he asks.

“You’re not?” I guess I just assumed we would all make it back that way.

“No. I think that ship has sailed. I have to figure out what I’m going to do about Jack. I might contact your uncle again. He usually has some pretty good ideas when it comes to this stuff. I don’t know about this one though. It’s a doozy.”

We sit out on the porch in silence until Mom calls us in for a feast. She has made a strange combination of bacon, mashed potatoes, biscuits, eggs, turnips, green beans and some kind of gravy everyone just piles on top. She has plated everyone up and they are all eagerly shoveling food in their mouth. I take my time with the bacon. I don’t know that I have ever seen Mom so happy.

Everyone here is happy. Everyone but me and Bentley, I suppose. There’s someone missing and it doesn’t feel right without him. When I look over at Bentley, I realize my place is no longer with Mom and Dad, but with him. If he’s going to go out and fight to get Jack back, then I’m going with him.

I don’t know how I will convince my parents of this, but I’ve never been more sure of anything. Brody is back where he belongs, and in the last five months I’ve grown up.

I eat the last of my potatoes with a small sense of satisfaction. Ever since Jack left, I couldn’t help but feel like he sacrificed everything for everyone else, with no one to do the same for him. I don’t know why deciding to go with Bentley has set my soul at ease, but it has.

“Are you sure?” Bentley asks in whispers as we sit out on the lawn later that night, staring at the massive sky. It’s an Indian summer night and the stars are endless.
 

“Yes. We have to do it for him. He would do it for us.”

“I mean, are you really sure? You just got your family back. Are you ready to leave them so soon?”

“Well, I was thinking of more like a road trip before we head to D.C.”

“Road trip?”

“I thought that maybe we could get them all to the Hills. Spend a day or two there. You could show my dad everything you know about surviving up there, and I can feel a little better about leaving them….If you think Jack will be okay that is. You would know more than I would about that.”

“No. He’ll be fine. Tom wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. I’m just not sure what Jack has in mind. He might be planning his own escape. We could give them a week to settle down.” He considers this. “Truth is, I could use the time to formulate a plan.”

We sit without speaking for minutes. I can’t seem to get Jack’s last facial expression out of my head. A combination of hurt and loss. It nags at me.

“So, when are ya gonna to tell them?” Bentley asks.

“I thought maybe after we got there?”

“Okay. Sounds good to me.”

We sit in silence again while Bentley tries to make a whistle out of a thick blade of grass, when he stops to look at me.

“So, just out of curiosity, who were you going to choose?”

The question he’s asked has now made our proximity too close. I sit up straight now, feeling vulnerable. I don’t know that I would have ever been able to choose, but now with Jack gone, it’s impossible. Even thinking about Bentley that way now makes me feel guilty.

My silence seems to answer his question.

“That’s just like him,” he chuckles, “to go and do something like that. He has sealed the deal. Now, I’ll never have a shot with you. How could I after what he’s given up….But for the record, I’m not giving up either. But to make it fair, I won’t make you choose until we get him back.” He winks and gets up to walk into the house.

Everyone in the house is busy with packing activity. They are a bundle of energy. Avery and Brody are running around the house like crazy, and Mom is dizzy with the joy of it.

Jonah is outside double-checking the wheelers. Dad is barking out orders inside and everyone is obeying.

The plan is to leave at daylight. We will be taking the four-wheelers again, but we have to stop by Kit’s to get her family’s wheelers and then we will stop to pick ours from the spot they left them. I know it’s going to be hard for her to be there. I find her before bed to see how she is doing.

“How you holding up?” I start.

“Tomorrow is going to suck, but it is what it is,” she says. Her lip quivers a little and she seems to be fighting tears.

“I’m really sorry Kit. I’m so sorry for everything.” I’m not holding them back as well as she is, and they slip in fat drops off my chin.

“I’m so sick of crying, aren’t you?” she says,  and then she starts laughing. First she starts out shaking with silent laughter and then she is full on howling. If it were anyone else, I
would be fully creeped out, but it’s Kit, so I join her.

Our little hodge podge of a new family is strewn out all over the house. Kit sleeps with me in my bed or I should say talked with me in my bed, as I got about as much sleep as I did the last time I left this place. But this time, it’s under different circumstances.

I’m a different person now and this time I get to bring my whole family with me. I’m not leaving them behind to worry about. They are coming to share in the adventure.