Behind the Stars (3 page)

Still, he looked at me and smiled like I was someone dear and not the tiny person he lived to hassle. Good lord.

I pulled down hard on his arm trying to get him back to reality, and he slid with me to the ground with his back against the shed. Sitting, my shoulder didn’t reach his armpit, so I pushed up, into a crouch.

“We gotta get out of here,” I said, looking away so my words were hidden near his face. He didn’t respond. “You hear me?”

He didn’t answer, and when I leaned forward, I saw his eyes were closed again.

Dammit!
I chewed my lip, but at least he knew me. That was a start. I took a deep breath and stood, forcing myself to think as I re-crossed the yard. I’d just reached the small grove of trees in the center, when the tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose. Someone was following me.

The grass swished footsteps that weren’t mine, and my heart did its best to speed up against the drugs. I grabbed one of the thin trunks, and used it to pull my sluggish body so my back was to it.

“What do you want?” I snapped, when the male figure appeared.

“Whoa!” The guy pulled up short, and I saw he wore the same grey coveralls as the rest of us prisoners. He looked my brother’s age, early twenties, but he was a stranger.

“You’re not from Dabb Creek.” My voice was a hiss.

His eyes went quickly back and forth then he stepped in close, hiding himself in the grove with me. I pushed further back, trying to keep some space between us. Even if I couldn’t get my emotions to act right, my brain knew to be on guard.

“Why are you following me?”

He looked straight in my eyes. “You’re trying to escape.”

His irises were normal, but my mamma didn’t raise no dummies. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Not all of the guards carry guns.” He looked over his shoulder, keeping his voice low. “They could still have weapons strapped to their legs or hidden in their clothes, but if we work together—”

“Who
are
you?”

After a little pause, he took a breath and started over. “Name’s Cleve. I was hitching through the area when everything went black. Next I know, I’m waking up here, and everybody’s gone stupid. Except you.”

“Where you from?”

“Meridian.”

Mississippi or not, I wasn’t anywhere near ready to trust this guy. “Kind of far from home, aren’t you?”

He exhaled, and studied his boots. “I was headed for the coast. Heard there’s work in construction down in Alabama.”

Chewing my lip, I considered him. He was tall, maybe six foot with copperish skin and hair. Hazel eyes lit with the same determination I knew I felt, behind the haze of chloroform.

“What are you suggesting we do?”

He almost smiled then. “Looks like this is an old summer camp or something. You’ve got the dining hall up there, and further down the hill, hidden in those trees are small cabins. I think that’s where they sleep.”

“You got a plan or something?” I’d seen everything he described, but I didn’t see how it mattered. Their cabins were opposite from where we all slept, with the dining hall, a medium-sized garden, and a large barn in the center.

“Not yet.” Cleve looked all around the perimeter the same way I did.

The blonde, general-lady appeared then entered one of the cabins farthest away. I figured that was hers. Cleve took a step back in the growing heat. The air was damp, and without air-conditioning, it wouldn’t be long before it was like an oven out here.

“Look at the top of those trees.” He pointed to a bird that seemed to be sitting in mid-air.

I held the front of my jumpsuit and pulled it in and out quickly to circulate the air next to my body as I squinted up. The bird swayed in the scant breeze, and I saw the glint of chicken-wire fencing. It was tall and stretched high.

“That’s the fence.” He exhaled and shook his head. “It’s smart. The holes are too small for us to climb it, and if we try to bust through, we’ll just get all wound up in it.”

“It’s metal, so we can’t break it without a tool.” My eyes traveled to the ground. “Maybe we can dig under it? At night or something?”

“Depends on how close we’re being watched. And how hard the earth is packed. We need a tool. It’s not easy to dig a hole.”

I wondered what Jackson would say to this guy. His words were right, but I still hesitated. The Band-Aid pulled at my arm, and I remembered the shot. Cleve must’ve got a lower dose than me. He was way more alert than anybody else here. Maybe his body metabolized the anesthesia faster?

Two guards stepped out of the barn, and both of them looked at us. “We’ll talk more later,” he barely spoke.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and resumed my path across the yard. Braxton sat alone on the grass, so I headed in his direction. He could help me decide whether to trust this guy. Roxy, another girl I knew from school, braided Yolanda’s hair as I passed, but we didn’t speak. None of them ever paid any attention to me.

When my brother saw me coming, he pushed himself off the ground and caught me in a long hug. “You’re here, praise the Lord!”

His body trembled, and he kept holding onto me until I pushed out of his arms. His face was wrinkled in anguish, and he seemed genuinely terrified.

“What’s happening, Brax?”

Calloused hands slid through his dark hair, and it looked like he’d been crying. “Judgment, Prentiss. It’s the end of days.”

“Nah,” I shook my head. “You’d be gone if it was the Rapture. More like World War Three. We’ve been invaded or something. Taken over by the Russians.”

“The Russians don’t want to invade us.”

“Sure they do. They probably teamed up with China or North Korea like Daddy said.”

Glancing around behind me, I didn’t see where Cleve had gone. The soldiers by the barn had also disappeared, but I guessed since everyone had found a place to fall asleep, they didn’t think they needed to watch us too close.

Or maybe they
were
watching us, and we couldn’t see them. Maybe they were studying us, deciding which of us to use as an example of how they dealt with rebels “swiftly and finally” like the leader-woman said.

My throat knotted when I remembered Cleve’s greeting. He knew I was trying to escape. Did
they
know, too?

“We’ve got to get out of here,” I whispered. “A fella named Cleve, a drifter from Meridian’s got some ideas. I’m going to talk to him, and you’re going with me.”

My brother took my hand and led me over to sit with him. I slid the zipper on the front of my heavy coveralls all the way down to let in more air. It was okay because I had on a white tank under it.

“When a nation turns its back on God, it’s just a matter of time before the end comes,” Braxton said.

I pressed my lips together. “We don’t have time for fire and brimstone. This is about escape.”

“How? We have no weapons, and if it’s the end, it doesn’t matter. We just have to wait for the last battle.”

That made my blood grow hot, and weariness aside, I was ready to fight. “This isn’t God, Braxton, and we can’t let them win.” My brother’s surrender fueled my resistance. “Jackson’s out there. I know he is, and I’m going to find him. Dabb Creek is so hidden, the Army probably won’t get here for a while, so we have to do our part. Fight for our freedom and everything. Like good Americans.”

“With what?”

Rubbing my forehead, I pushed my stringy hair behind my ears hard. Anger burned under my skin. First D’Lo was useless and now Braxton was flaking out on me.

My evangelist-brother’s fiery preaching allowed him to handle snakes and cast out devils, but when it came to fighting real people, he went all “God’s will” on me. Only a total stranger stood ready to help me.

“What about Daddy?” I reached for his hand, knowing our father was his soft spot. “Wouldn’t God want us to try and save him?”

He shook his head, brown eyes meeting mine. “I’ve done all I can to help him. First there’s sin, then comes the judgment. All we can do now is pray.”

He leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. I watched his lips start to move in a whispered stutter, and I knew he was speaking in tongues.

My lips tightened, and I nearly cussed. Instead, I looked at the grass in front of me. Braxton and I’d never seen eye to eye when it came to much of anything, life or religion, and I didn’t even try to talk to my drunk daddy. He’d been good for nothing since Mamma died. The only one I’d ever been able to count on was Jackson, and he was MIA.

I pulled my knees to my chest thinking about Cleve. What good would it do him to betray me? We were all stuck here together no matter what happened. I had to give him a chance. Fear tightened my throat, and I mentally said my own prayer, a prayer to show me the way. I clenched all my muscles as hard as I could, hoping that might push my words to the front of God’s line. I needed an answer, and I needed it fast.

More than that, I needed Jackson. I needed to know he was alive, waiting for me or better yet, searching for me. I needed to know we’d survive this and have our farm. My life was supposed to get better once I graduated high school. I’d counted every day waiting for it to happen. It was all I had, and I wouldn’t give up on it.

Tears stung my eyes, but I fought them back. I had to believe. I’d trust Cleve, and we’d work together. We’d get everybody back to where the only thing we had to worry about was beating the Mississippi heat. We’d watch and think and make a plan. And I guessed praying about it couldn’t hurt.

––––––––

J
ackson’s hands covered mine. “Hold it like this, Pip.”

It was a blazing-hot August day. The air rested on us like a wet rag, and Jackson’s arms braced mine straight as he positioned my grip around the shiny silver pistol. He sneaked it out of his daddy’s truck, and we were by ourselves in the woods past the backfields.

“It’s too loud, and it’s gonna kick me.” My back pressed against his chest, and my heart beat hard.

“There’ll be a little kick, but I’ll hold you the first time.”

Every muscle in my body tensed, and two beads of sweat tickled down my sides where our bodies met. I wanted to go back to the house, grab a Coke, and flop out in the air conditioning, not shoot some stupid handgun as big as my head.

“Why is this so important to you?”

His arms relaxed, and he stepped back. Sweat pasted his light brown hair to his forehead. “There’s all kind of reasons for you to know how to use a gun.”

“Name one.” I turned to face him, the heavy pistol hanging loose at my side.

“Panthers? Heck, you’re the one always talking about our farm. You think wild animals don’t come onto farms?”

“I don’t think I’d go after a panther with a gun like this.” I pushed the flyaway pieces of hair that always slipped out of my ponytail from my face.

“Besides, it’s fun.” Jackson smiled, reaching for my waist and pulling me back against his chest again. “Like them other things you’re too scared to try.”

His voice was low and his breath tickled my neck, causing a tingle to move across my stomach. He meant us sleeping together for real, but I was still saying No to that.

“I’m not scared. I’m just not ready.”

“Well, get ready.” He lifted my arms and held my hands around the gun. “It’s loud. And it kicks. And you’re gonna love it.”

My jaw clenched. “I’ve got to get to Dr. Green’s.”

I could feel his excitement as he kissed my ear. “Ready?”

Eyes squeezed shut, bracing, our fingers slowly pulled the trigger...

* * *

“I
am Shubuta, your team leader,” the woman in the dark-green uniform said.

After our silent breakfast of steak and eggs, we’d been led into the yard and made to stand side by side in a line. I hadn’t seen Cleve again—they’d separated us into two groups based on gender.

A female guard dressed in lighter-green coveralls handed out straw hats and baskets, and I decided the darker colors must be for the leaders, light was for their assistants. Gray was for us.

“Each morning, I will give you your work assignments,” Shubuta said. “They will primarily be tending the crops. In the afternoons, you will rest in the shade. Please stay hydrated so you do not become ill.”

Farming was second-nature to me, but as I glanced around the group, I could tell most of the girls were new to it. Finishing by early afternoon was a typical farm schedule, but on the farm you rose before dawn. And you didn’t eat steak at every meal. I couldn’t figure out that part. Maybe they thought that’s how Americans always ate? Our average body size would support such a notion.

Flora Magee was here. I’d found her last night before as we were led to the showers, a metal two-serve building where we were issued yellow, lemon-scented soap and then guarded as we went back and forth in pairs. The two of us kept close together now.

Flora and me’d been friends since we were little. Her presence comforted me, but it also worried me. She had pernicious anemia. It was pretty rare and not deadly anymore—not since she got regular vitamin injections. I wasn’t sure what to expect in captivity.

I told her I’d look out for her, and for whatever reason her weakness made me feel strong, like I couldn’t give up on saving us, no matter what my brother said.

I looked back at the camp. The guys, who comprised Team Two, now entered the dining hall. I didn’t see Cleve, but that didn’t mean anything. Team Two was the most heavily guarded. A fair-haired man led them, and the pale general-woman briefly spoke to him before heading in our direction. Her face was anxious, and she walked quickly.

Shubuta helped her assistant give us bottles of water as the general woman arrived where we all stood. She stopped and addressed us.

“Team One, thank you for your cooperation during this time.” Her voice still held that superior tone. “We appreciate the difficulty of this situation and promise not to prolong your stay.”

I didn’t understand what she hell she was talking about “prolonging our stay,” but I studied her face. It was too perfect somehow, and her movements were too fluid, like the air moved around her instead of her moving through it. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but in addition to her pale-blue eyes, something was different about her. Maybe it was what made her the leader.