Autumn in the Dark Meadows (The Autumn Series) (4 page)

Ben would say it was just the desert aggravating the agoraphobic tendencies I’d developed after The Plague.  Another reason to stay home, I thought, my eyes flickering over the various clusters of excited Hoover residents as Snicket and I passed.

I yanked hard on Snicket’s reins suddenly, pulling her to a dead stop in the shadows between a couple buildings.  She danced sideways and tossed her head in protest.

Lit like a glowing beehive, the window of Ash’s Laundromat across the street was a perfect frame for the man standing at the counter.  Every curve of his profile was familiar to me, the tilt of his head, even his stance.  How anyone could believe Grey was a teenager was beyond me.  He looked physically nineteen or twenty, but his mind was roughly three hundred years old, and he had lived through two centuries of our history, experiencing the rise and fall of empires, world wars, revolutions and the modernization of the entire planet.

Giggling broke my concentration, and I looked around for the source, hoping no one had caught me ogling.  Three girls dressed for the dance clustered next to the open door to the laundromat.   All three were obviously enjoying the same view I was.  Two of them pushed the third toward the door, and they all started giggling again.  To my shock, the girl adjusted her skirt so it was shorter, then slipped into the laundromat to lean against the counter next to Grey.

I leaned forward in the saddle, straining to hear.  Surely he wouldn’t be interested.  Not that I should care, but my eyes didn’t leave the pair until he exited with a pressed shirt on a hanger, scattering the two waiting girls like birds.  He was smiling.

Smiling.  A brick materialized in my stomach.  Tess’ taunting words echoed in my mind. 
He’ll be off the market again soon...

I slumped in the saddle, bewildered at the green sprig of jealousy sprouting through the thick layer of unease and paranoia that had accumulated in my brain over the past nine weeks.

I kicked Snicket into a steady canter.  My mind was made up by the time I rode into the front yard.  I tied her to the front porch and dashed inside and down the hall to the bathroom, unhooking the straps of my overalls as I went.

Common sense told me to ignore the possessive streak surging through me as I turned on the shower as hot as it would go and ran across the hallway to my bedroom.  I stripped off my dusty overalls and stared at my mostly empty closet.  Problem.

I had no dresses.  I had no need for them here.  I thought of the amazing gowns hanging in my mother’s wardrobe at The Water Tower and sighed.

Connie might have something.  I went into her room and pulled open her closet door to reveal a slightly bigger selection of clothes.

Something green, Tess said.  My eyes scanned the neatly hung clothing and landed on an emerald dress with a scoop neck lined with tiny black sequins.  I pulled it out and held it up to myself.  The fabric caught the light spilling in from the hallway, and it shimmered pleasantly.

Fifteen minutes later, I was wrapped in a towel with three safety pins pinched between my lips, and my wet hair dripping onto the floor.  The dress was much too long, so I decided to pin it up.  I secured the last pin, hoping my temporary hemline wasn’t crooked, and slipped on the dress.  I managed to fasten all of the buttons up the back and inspected myself in the mirror.

It was strange to see myself dressed so nicely.  I felt awkward in a skirt, as if too much of myself was exposed.  It would have to do.  I adjusted the silver chain around my neck, so the clasp was at the back and the Celtic knot was centered on my chest.  I tapped my bare feet on the floor.  Sneakers wouldn’t work.  The dressiest shoes I owned were a pair of black flats.  I bent to grab them and caught a glimpse of my hidden cell phone.  I’d forgotten all about it.

When I pressed the power button, the familiar startup tone chimed, and a picture of Sarah appeared as the wallpaper.  A pang of sadness swept over me.  Unable to resist, I began flipping through the hundreds of pictures stored on my phone, each one greeting me like an old friend.

There was my dad, working in his messy office, surrounded by rolls of blueprints, drawings and models.  There was Sarah on her birthday, laughing by her open locker, which I had packed with balloons.  I smiled, remembering the racket she’d made getting her books out.

I looked up when I heard Snicket whicker impatiently outside, and the warmth from the memories disappeared.  I sighed, reminded of the dance, and the brick in my stomach returned.

A mental picture of the girl talking to Grey filled my mind.  As much as I didn’t want to talk to him myself, I didn’t want any girls in short skirts making him smile either.  I stood and slipped the cell phone into the pocket of my dress.

Outside, the sky was void of color, and stars clustered above me as I untethered Snicket from the porch railing.  I glanced down at my dress.  This could be a problem, I thought, looking up at Snicket’s broad back.  I quickly shortened the left stirrup and then pulled myself up.  While balancing on my left foot, I twisted my body and perched sideways on the saddle, hooking my right knee over the saddle horn.  I gathered the reins and felt Snicket move uneasily under me.

“This’ll work; don’t worry,” I told her.  “Girls used to ride this way all the time, though their skirts were three feet longer than mine,” I muttered, trying to keep my knees together as we started toward town.

The Recreation Hall was close to the edge of Lake Mead, near the greenhouses.  Laughter and calls of greeting drifted from its brightly lit interior, and Lake Mead glowed midnight blue in the darkness beyond.  A light shudder in my lap startled me.  I looked down, confused at the sensation at first, then remembered my cell phone in my pocket.  Still holding tight to Snicket, I dug the phone out and checked the display.  I had a text message.

I pulled Snicket to a stop and stared at the phone, bewildered.  How could I have a message?  I unlocked the display and opened the message.  It was from Sarah.

I felt myself slipping and grabbed the saddle horn.  I looked at the message.  It was from two months ago, right after I left Los Angeles.  It read, “heard u on the radio!  so glad ur ok!  the front has me.  help!”

I reread the message over and over, afraid to believe it.  Sarah was alive.

My fingers trembled with excitement.  “ur alive!!  my phone was off for months.  where are u now?” I typed out.  When I hit the send button, nothing happened.  I had no service.  I lifted the phone over my head, trying to find the elusive bar that would allow my text to go through.  No bars appeared, and a red “x” remained steady and unforgiving.

I gave up, fear and relief pulsing through me at the same time.  I had to get to her.  Sarah was in danger if she was with The Reconstruction Front.

For the first month after The Plague, I carried my phone around with me, the ringer turned up to the highest volume, hoping to hear from someone, anyone.  But it remained silent.

After a month, I packed away my phone, sure I’d never hear from anyone ever again.  I wondered if Sarah had tried to contact me after that.  I pictured her at the base of The Water Tower, unable to find a way up the secured private elevator, wondering if I was still there.

A tear slipped down my cheek, and yet I couldn’t be smiling any wider.  My best friend was a mere three hundred miles away.  She’d been alive all this time.  What if I’d had her with me those weeks and months after The Plague?  I wiped the tear away and swore I would find her.  I had to.

I nudged Snicket into a canter toward the Rec Hall.  I needed to find Ben.  He’d know how to find a signal for my cell phone so I could get a message back to her.

When I reached the glowing Rec Hall, I tied Snicket to one of the hitching posts.  I smoothed my skirt, feeling the slender lump of the phone in my dress pocket, as I entered the hall.  Through the crowd of people, I saw Ben and Shad setting up speakers on the stage.

My eyes fell on a girl in a black dress that might have looked plain on anyone else, but with her tanned skin and silky, black hair, she was stunning.  Lydia was just like Grey.  She was a member of The University and here to study our planet, but hadn’t been on Earth nearly as long.  It was his opinion that if Lydia had been here as long as him, her need to practice suppressing emotions would disappear, just like his.  For now, she appeared cold and aloof.

“You came,” a voice said.  I turned to find Grey beside me.

“Reluctantly,” I said.

“What made you change your mind?” he asked.

I shrugged, wondering if I should ask Grey to take me to Los Angeles to find Sarah.  It would be a lot faster if he astral projected us there and back again.  Would he chance revealing himself to my best friend?  Did I want to be that close to him again?

“Are you okay?” Grey asked.  I saw genuine concern in his eyes, and for a moment, I considered blurting the whole thing out to him.

“I just need to talk to Ben.  Sorry.”  I sounded harsher than I’d intended.  I figured at present, I didn’t even know where to tell Grey to take me.  My first priority was getting a message to Sarah, and for that, I needed to talk to Ben, the walking encyclopedia.

“I see.  He’s over there.”

I turned away from him and started in Ben’s direction.

“Wait,” he said, taking my arm, but he didn’t turn me around to face him.  I gasped and leapt away from him as I felt him undoing one of the buttons on the back of my dress.

“What are you
doing
?!” I hissed, spinning around and edging away at the same time.

“Your dress... you missed a button,” he started.  His eyes were wide, startled.  I twisted an arm behind my back to feel for the gap.

“Here, let me.”  He reached for me again, but I stepped away.

“No!  It’s fine.”  I knew I was being ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it.  I turned away from the surprise on his face and immediately crossed the room to Ben.

“Hey, you okay?”  Ben’s brown eyes shot between me and Grey, concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine.  I need your help with something,” I said, and reached for the phone in my pocket.  I paused, realizing my phone should still be at The Water Tower.  I had no way of explaining how it got here.

“What is it?” he asked, waiting.

I thought quickly, my fingertips brushing the phone that I so desperately wanted to work.

“I... um... need you to fix the back of my dress.  I think I missed a button,” I said and spun around.  It took a moment for Ben to process my request, and what was worse, I was now facing Grey again.  His eyes locked with mine.  I knew what he must be thinking.  That I didn’t want him touching me, that I’d gone to Ben instead.

“You really made a mess of this, you know,” said Ben as he worked.  I felt him fumbling with the button and regretted asking him for help.  Asking Ben to close up my dress might have crossed the intimacy line I’d drawn since realizing he had feelings for me.

“Almost done?”  I asked eagerly.

“Yeah. Done.”

“Thank you,” I said, turning and trying not to notice the shade of red coloring his face.

“Any time.  Was there something else?”

I paused for a moment, thinking about how to get the information I needed from him without showing him my phone.

“Hypothetical techie question for you.”

“My favorite kind.  Shoot.”

“Can cell phones still work?”

He shrugged.  “In theory, yeah.  Here and there, some towers might still transmit a signal.  It’s just luck, though, being within range of a tower that still works.  Why?”

“Just curious...”

I knew exactly where I’d start.  The crest of one of the nearby hills would be a good place to pick up a signal.  I was about to make an excuse to leave when Shad appeared beside me.  He and Ben exchanged a ridiculous amount of fist bumps and hand slaps.

“You guys look super cool when you do that,” I said dryly.  “See you later,” I added quickly and tried to sneak away.

“Hey, did you come with Connie?”  Shad said, stopping me.

 “No, I was late getting home, so I thought she was already here.”  I searched my memory, back before I saw Sarah’s text, back when I was going through Connie’s closet.  Did it look like she’d been home that evening?  I couldn’t remember.  “Was Rissi home when you got home from work?” I asked Ben.

He shook his head.  “I assumed she was with Connie and you.”

“Daniel was supposed to fly Connie’s class to Vegas this morning, right?” Shad asked.

“That was the plan, but they were supposed to be back in time for the dance,” Ben said.

“We would’ve heard if they had to spend the night for some reason, right?” I asked.

Ben shook his head.  “These storms have been getting worse, and Kyle, the guy who runs Communications, says Vegas’ ham radio hasn’t been reliable.  I bet it’s down again.”

“There must be tons of ham radios in Vegas,” Shad said.  “Can’t they get another one?”

“It could be the weather that’s affecting the radio, so it wouldn’t matter how many they had,” Ben explained.  Though Las Vegas was only thirty miles from Hoover, they’d experienced the brunt of the windstorms.  The sand accumulated in drifts against the buildings one day and were completely swept clear down to the asphalt the next.

Daniel was an amazing pilot and could fly under almost any conditions, but with kids on board, he would probably be more cautious, so it was possible they’d stayed overnight.

“I’m going to find Tess,” I said.  She had an uncanny knack for learning just about anything in town worth knowing.

I went out to the veranda that overlooked Lake Mead and found Tess winding twinkling lights around the railing.  Her red dress was skintight, and she was perched on high stilettos.

“Autumn!  You look stunning!  I like the green,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

 “Thanks.  You look... wow,” I said, saying the only word that came to mind.  She had the figure of a 50’s-era movie star, and her dress showed off every curve.

“Do you think Shad will notice?” she asked.

“I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting
anyone’s
attention tonight.”  I laughed.  “If we had traffic here, you’d stop it.”

Tess laughed.  “I definitely feel like a blinking red traffic signal in this dress.”

“Have you heard any news about the kids Daniel flew to Vegas this morning?”

“No.  Why?” she asked, securing the string of lights to the railing.

“They should have been back by now.  They wouldn’t have wanted to miss the dance.”

“I wouldn’t worry just yet.  You know how the weather is up there.”

Music suddenly blared from inside, drowning out any possible further conversation.

“I love this song!”  Tess hauled me inside.  The overhead lights were doused, and twinkle lights lit the room.  People seemed to have materialized from nowhere and began to dance.

We stood in awe, watching the scene before us.  The soft light transformed everyone’s faces to appear less tired and work-hardened.

A group entered through the open doors, and I recognized Mayor Westland.  He was a small man with outdated, round glasses and a comb-over.  He always seemed a bit nervous to me, but maybe that was because he was always sweaty.  He looked like more of an accountant than a mayor.  Mayors, in my thinking, should be portly, have booming voices and white hair and wear suits and monocles.  Although I believe this vision came from playing Monopoly with my dad.

Mayor Westland climbed the steps to the stage.  The volume of the music faded, and everyone in the room paused to look up at him.

“Good evening, residents of Hoover, new and old.  I want to commend you on what you have achieved.  We have created a home for our new families.  I’m proud of the contributions from each and every one of you.  Every day we grow stronger and larger.  No doubt you’re aware of the excitement this morning and would like to meet our new residents.  Today we welcome eleven members to our community.”  He motioned to the group he’d entered with.

“No wonder the sirens went off. Usually, these groups of newcomers are only two or three people, at most,” Tess whispered.

I stretched on tiptoe to see the newcomers.  I saw several men and three women.  One of the women had her back to me, but I could tell she was younger, possibly my age.  If she was from LA, there was a small chance she might know about Sarah.

I craned my neck to get a better glimpse of her.  She was so skinny, I could see the points of her shoulder blades through her thin shirt.  Her white blonde hair was growing out of what probably used to be a stylish pixie cut.  She appeared to be staying in the middle of the newcomers, not quite hiding, but keeping a low profile.  There was something familiar about her.

The group shifted, and the girl turned toward me.  My breath caught as I stared at her familiar heart-shaped face.  It couldn’t be her.  It couldn’t be her, I repeated to myself.

It was Sam, the former Greeter for The Reconstruction Front.  And she was staring at me.

The last time I saw her, she and a few other Greeters were lying unconscious outside The Water Tower after Grey used one of his mysterious powers to knock them off their feet.  They’d been chasing me, but we managed to escape with Ben and Rissi.

Sam’s face had hollowed in the weeks since I’d seen her last.  Her shirt hung loose on her narrow shoulders, and her jeans were dirty from traveling.

At that moment, applause filled the room, and my eye line with her was broken.  I glanced around the room and spotted Ben.  I caught his eye and motioned for him to follow me.

The veranda was empty save for the white lights glowing in the near darkness.  Lake Mead was black as a pool of ink.  Ben appeared moments later.

“Did you see her?” I asked.

Ben nodded, watching small waves silently lap the dark shoreline beyond the railing.

“So what do we do?”  I looked inside the bright windows, searching the crowd for Sam.  “We should tell someone who she is.  The mayor needs to know she’s with The Front.”

“They know,” he replied.

I stared at him.  “They know, and they let her in?”

“She defected, Autumn.  She ran away from The Front.”

“She’s lying,” I said.  She had to be, I thought.  That level of devotion doesn’t disappear.

“Josh interviewed her for hours today.  He only released her a little while ago.  He wouldn’t have if he had any doubt about her loyalty.”

I shook my head, my eyes still glued to the crowd through the window.  “Ben, you spent even more time than I did watching and studying The Front.  You know how brainwashed and crazy in love they all are with Karl.  She hasn’t defected.  She’s a spy.”

He sighed and said, “Look, I recognized her from that day when you and Grey came to get us from The Water Tower.  I knew she was a member of The Front.  But before I could say anything, she admitted it to the entire Hoover Guard.  She said she’d been in Karl’s inner circle, but after hearing your radio broadcast, she realized there were better options.  She left and decided to come join us.  Lots of people in this town were forced to join The Front, Autumn.  You know that.  We have to trust Josh’s judgment here.  He’s good at what he does.”

I stared at Lake Mead in the moonlight, overwhelmed by the things that happened today.  How could two such opposite people both appear back in my life so quickly?  It was almost too much to process.  I forced myself to take a deep breath.

I looked up at Ben.  His brow was creased between his eyes.

“Did you see how skinny she was?  She’s been on the run for two months trying to get here.  They chased her all the way to Santa Barbara before she lost them.  She went one hundred miles in the wrong direction so they wouldn’t know she was heading to Hoover.”

“A lot of us are skinnier than we used to be, Ben.”  Of all people who’d arrived today, why did it have to be Sam?  Why couldn’t it have been Sarah?  I suddenly wondered if Sam would know anything about Sarah.  If she’d seen her.  Could I trust her to ask?

Ben looked down at me suddenly.  “Sam wanted to apologize to you specifically.  She said she wanted to thank you for saving her life.”