The Mountain and The City: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale (9 page)

I feel pulled toward it.

The Boots will be too loud on the Concrete, so they come off. Filthy Water pours out with my Feet as I tell Child to stay behind the Tree.

She says, “No.”

“Do you remember my Eyes when we met? Those were Night Eyes, they helped me see in the dark. The only way we can make it away from the City is if we walk when the Sun doesn't. In that Building they have enough Night Eyes for both of us.”

“Go with.”

I shake my Head. “I don't know what they'll do if they catch me, but I do know what they'll do if they catch you. So you have to stay here, where they can't see you, no matter what happens.”

She fights me a little longer, but eventually she listens. I leave her behind the Tree and go close to the Ground, walking on my Hands and Feet so I can reach the side of the Fence without the Real People seeing me.

When I get close, I see how smart they are.

Around the Fence is a long hole in the Ground they made with their hands, then laid plastic like Garbage Bags in. This alone wouldn't be smart, but then they filled the hole up with Water. The Fence is surrounded by it. The Munies are so scared of Water they've never even touched the Fence, it has no damage from their attacks, no sign of them at all. This is smart, and I like smart. What I don't like is how the Water makes me feel. Like I'm back in the rushing dark. My Head feels dizzy and my Heart is like a Beast caught in a trap.

The Real People don't see me. One is tall and one is short. They're laughing behind their Masks, which aren't like the one I wore because you can see the face Inside, and because a tube runs from the top to something round and metal on their backs. They're very calm for having Guns in their hands, but I'm sure they haven't had to worry about the Night for a long time.

Crawling into the hole and down the plastic, I put my Hand in the Water to make sure they haven't added any dangers to it. It feels cold but otherwise it's just Water, so I put some on my Tongue to see how it tastes. Like plastic and dirt. I crawl into the Water and swim to the other side, and even though I know its just Water, even though there's nothing wrong with Water, I still feel I'll never escape it. That Life will become danger and screaming and pain until the Death finds me and takes me in and lets me fall.

I've never felt this before.

It's not good.

Where the Fence collides with the Mountain I climb slowly and quietly, my Fingers clung to the metal, Eyes watching the Real People, Ears listening to them talk though its mostly the taller one talking while the shorter one listens. The same thing repeats more than once: the taller one talks until he makes himself laugh, and then the shorter one laughs, too, though not as loud, and the taller one goes back to talking.

I'd forgotten about the Giant Mouth. A hole cut into the Mountain, taller than me and even taller than the Building in front of it. I ignored it back then because I didn't have the Night Eyes yet. I'll ignore it now because no good comes from such dark places.

The Suit helps with the sharp parts at the top of the Fence, lets me slide over and drop to the Ground without danger or Blood. Then, still quiet, still listening to the Real People laugh at the front of the Building, I pull myself across the Ground, to the Back Door and Inside.

**

My Eyes like the Light.

Real Light feels different than Sun Light or Fire Light, different than anything the Night Eyes ever showed me. As much as I can see better in here it's also making me think of things from the Real Times. Things I've been cut off from by years of breathing in the Suit and sitting on the Bunk-bed, setting the Watch or listening to the Records on the Record Player.

The Trailer seems so far away now. But it's still here, on the Mountain.

Real Light shows me things. It leaves spots in my Eyes that have the faces of my mother and my father, but if I try to look right at them the spots disappear. I even see the City for a moment, clean and unchanged, moving through the Window of a Car. I feel my mother to my side but when I turn my Head she's gone, and all that's left is the Inside of the Building.

Tall, metal Lockers stand along the Walls, and in the middle a desk with six Vision Boxes and a plastic tray of rice and beans with a fork in it. The Building hasn't changed in ten years except for the signs that Real People were here. Chairs moved around and bottles of Water left empty, even a few pieces of clothing hanging in the Lockers. I touch a shirt and feel how soft it is, smooth, not like Suit plastic or the clothes left on bones. I smell the shirt and my Heart goes faster in my Chest.

I drop it when I realize my mouth is watering.

Night Eyes hang in the Lockers. I take them and put them in the Suit. Another sits on the Desk, so I go to it.

The Vision Boxes look dead but there's a small, red Light under each one. I touch one and jump when the Box wakes up. A dark and foggy picture comes from Inside, until I can make out two Real People standing in the middle of the screen with Guns in their hands and Masks on their faces. It's the ones Outside, yet right here in the Box.

Take the night eyes and leave. Go back over the fence and take the road away from here and don't ever come back.

But if I stay quiet and listen, I can almost hear their voices through the wall, hear what they're saying. The Walls are thick but the sound carries. Crouched under the Window by the Front Door, my back to the Wall with the Real People on the other side, I just need to bring my Ear closer and I can make out their words.

Eyes closed, all other sound pushed away, I hear words like “kingdom” and “tumbling off his hill”, but I don't know what they mean.

Then my Eyes open. And they open to a terrible thing.

The shorter one is looking at me, his eyes wide and his mouth open. He holds the Gun loose in his hands with his shoulders and feet frozen. The taller one notices the shorter one's face and starts to turn his shoulder, but I duck under the Window before he can see me.

Maybe the shorter one didn't see me. Maybe he blames his mind.

The Glass explodes over my Head. Pieces fall on my back and roll off the Suit like Rain. The sound puts anger in my Ears, so I cover them with my Hands as another explosion comes, and then another after that.

Get away from the window. Hide under the desk.

It hurts to crawl on the Glass. More windows explode and then a voice yells Stop, Stop, and it does, just the little tinkles of glass falling away, hitting the Floor and coating it and covering it in Stars, and then the Voice of the Outside breathing In, and, listening closely, foot sounds on the Concrete. One set of feet moves to the Back Door and the other to the Front. I can tell it's the taller one at the Back by the weight of the sound and the shuffle of the shoes, which is something I never noticed but now it's impossible not to.

The taller shouts at the Back Door. “I'm coming in, you god-damned monster. You better not be eating my dinner!”

Then the Front Door: “We know you're in there. Tell us you're not a monster and we won't shoot. You hear me?”

“The hell we won't.”

“It might be human.”

“I might not care.”

Front, louder: “We're coming in either way, you just have to decide if we're coming in shooting or coming in talking. Say you're not a monster and we'll talk.”

But I can't say that.

Nine seconds pass, then: “Screw it.”

The taller one opens the Back Door and steps to the side, hiding along the Building. I don't see this but I hear it by the scrape of his round, metal back against the Wall and then two, deep breaths and a slow lean into the Doorway.

“I see you, monster. Why are you hiding from me?” He talks to me the way Real People did when I was young, like my Brain has gone soft.

I don't like it.

He laughs. “Are you afraid of the big, bad man with the big, bad gun?”

“C'mon, stop playing around.”

“Easy for you to say, you're still hiding like a bitch. How did I land look-out with such a bitch?”

Another explosion. A hole opens in the Desk above my Head and the Light comes through.

Surrender now or they'll kill you. You're no good to her dead.

My Hands go out of the Desk. “Please. Wait.”

“Ahh, now we're getting somewhere,” the taller one says.

**

Under the Moon again. The dark hides too much. My Eyes keep going back to the Building, where the Light shines through the Windows and looks warm and safe and good and doesn't try to hide dangers from me.

The smaller one has white in the hair above his mask. It's short, like him, and neater than the taller. The taller has spots on his face and little teeth in his mouth which he shows me as he talks.

“Well, well. You're not an ugly, old monster at all, are you? A little beat-up, maybe, but that suit's been keepin' you fresh.”

“She's infected.”

“She's young.” He walks around, pushing the Gun into my Shoulder. “And I think she's got nothin' on under this thing. Oh, honey, where have you been hiding all my life?” His words become louder as he brings his mask next to my Ear. “I bet you're good for one, last party before you go full-monster.”

“Don't get so close, you know how unpredictable the early stages are.”

“You think I don't know that,” the taller one shouts, “you think I don't remember all the shit we've been through?”

“I know you remember, Tom. I want you to act like it.”

The taller one breathes into his Mask and walks around to my Front. “I'm just trying to have a little fun here.” Then his face creases and he pokes the Gun into my Stomach. “What do you have in there? Did you bring your daddy a little present?” He laughs and moves the Gun around, and with it the things I hide.

“No.”

“Don't be modest, I'm sure you have all kinds of presents in there for me to unwrap. Here, let me take a look.” He reaches his fingers toward the Neck of the Suit, his little teeth showing in his mouth.

I'm not sure what happens next. I lose track of the seconds, which is rare for me since I used to be the Keeper of the Time, but in one second I'm watching the hair on his knuckles blow in the Voice of the Outside, and in another he's screaming and shaking the same hand and saying so many words that his mask is foggy with them.

“I told you to be careful, now we have to take you in to be disinfected.” The smaller one keeps distant. “Oh man, Graham's gonna be pissed.”

The taller one points his Gun at the smaller one. “Pissed? I'm the one you should worry about!”

“Alright. Calm down.”

He points it at me. “Enough screwing around, show me what you're hiding in there.”

The smaller one nods for me to do it. I reach in and take out the Silvery Tape and lay it on the Ground.

“Keep going.”

I take out the Night Eyes and wait.

The Gun clicks. “I thought I told you to keep going.”

I take out the other Night Eyes. He shows his little teeth again.

“Now we're getting somewhere.”

**

The taller one searches the Building while the smaller one points his Gun at me with a serious face. Then the taller one comes back with his hand wrapped up in cloth.

“Who's waiting for you out there? Is it a man? Please tell me it's a woman, make this the happiest day of my life.”

I listen to the dark.

“That's okay, honey, watch how easy this is.” He pushes me with the Gun toward the Fence. We stop where the Road leads up to the Gate. A thick piece of metal lays on the Ground and looks like it can slide across the Hole and cover it up when the Gate is open, so the Real People can walk over without falling in.

He holds my Neck. “Hey! Whoever's out there, come take a look at this. I got my gun to your pretty, little infected girl's head. Caught her trying to steal some of our stuff. Problem is I'm pretty bored here, I might pull the trigger just to see what colors come out.”

“Come on, Tom.”

“I think you better show your face before I put a bullet in hers.”

The Night is quiet. Even the Tree Beasts stop shouting at the sound of his voice. He moves his hold from my Neck to my Chest, feeling me with his wrapped-up hand, and I shout for him to stop but he just laughs.

Something moves in the Wood. When I see what it is, I realize the mistake I've made. He touched me to get noise out of me, and it worked. He hoped the noise would upset anyone who heard it and bring them out of hiding.

And it worked.

Child inches out from the Wood, sniffing the Air, squinting to see. I can't let them touch her, especially the one who touches me. I'd do anything to stop that.

“Run! Go away,” I shout.

He puts his hand around my Neck again. “Sshhhh. Now that's not nice. I would love to meet your monster and you're ruining it for me.” I feel my Neck close up and the Air with it. Bastard Air, never wanted it in my Lungs, now I burn for it.