Grandfather (43 page)

Ashton laughed. “Of course
you do,” he said.

I bet he could kill
Cornelius easily. Heck, I probably could have too. But like I said
before, killing was something you didn’t know about until the
actual time came.

“Sweetie, this is war,”
Mae said. “And unfortunately, death comes with war.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was
right. “I guess that means I’ll never learn the truth.”

Marley shook her head,
knowing I was thinking about my parents. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I
believe there will be other ways to find out.”

Maybe she was right, but I
didn’t want to wait to find out another way. It took nearly
seventeen years to find one person who knew the truth. I didn’t
want to wait another seventeen years. I guessed I had to wait. Or
maybe I didn’t. Perhaps there
was
a way.

“
What do you think will
happen after this is over?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t
fool Marley. She observed me, frowning. I tried not looking
suspicious, but I knew it was pretty obvious. She knew something
else was going on, but she didn’t question me. I didn’t doubt she
would later.

Ashton and Mae thought
about the question. I could tell that they hadn’t thought about
that question. Now, they were forced to, because Grandfather would
be destroyed in just days.

“Belladonna says there
will be a rough transition after all this is over with,” Mae said.
“I think she’s right, but I still want to try and create a home for
Marley and I. I don’t know where we’ll go, but I want us to live
normal lives.”

I wished I could’ve said I
wanted to live a normal life. I didn’t even know what a normal life
was. In fact, I was pretty sure that nobody in the country was
living a normal life. Everything was just so turned
around.

“Me?” Ashton said. “I have
no idea.”

Belladonna had told me
that she and Edgar could help me reach my potential by using their
resources. She also told me that it would take time to figure out
what it was I wanted to do. I still didn’t know. Honestly, I hadn’t
been thinking about it much. There was always some sort of
distraction, like being held hostage by Cornelius.

“You know,” Ashton said.
“It doesn’t end when Grandfather is gone. If they fall down, that
doesn’t mean city walls will fall too.”

The separation. We had
talked about it before. Yeah, the rich people had begun to question
the walls. I guess I could thank myself for that, because for some
reason, it was me who got several people questioning the separation
to begin with. For some reason, people liked me. I still didn’t
know why. I
did
know that if all walls around every city were going to fall,
it was going to need more than just Grandfather being destroyed.
More people were going to have to realize how unbalanced, unequal,
and unfair the walls made things.

“You’re right,” I
said.

“Yeah,” Ashton said. “I
don’t think we’re done until every wall is torn down.”

I agreed. At least that
would give me more time to figure out what I wanted to do. I
wondered what Belladonna and Edgar planned on doing after the
meeting in two days. Hopefully they planned on destroying the
separation. Then they could help me do whatever I chose to do. I
made a mental note to come up with a plan. I suppose you could have
called it a life plan.

Some of the medicine that
Dr. Mac had given Ashton was making him drowsy, so he went back to
his room to get some sleep. Mae went to meet Edgar to see how he
was doing. Marley and I decided we were going to go to our secret
spot. I was sure not to mention it around Ashton because he
wouldn’t have been able to get up the ladder. And I knew he would
have wanted to go.

As we walked through the
tunnels, I told Marley more about what happened when we all went
into the city. I told her some of the things we had left out, such
as Edgar having a phone and Edgar telling Mr. Harrison to give him
a call.

“You think he will?”
Marley asked.

I shrugged my shoulders.
“I hope so,” I said. “But then again, do we really need him
anymore?” Now that we had a plan in place, it seemed as if we
didn’t need Mr. Harrison’s help. Of course, he could always help us
with getting people to believe the walls were holding us back. Mr.
Harrison
was
a
reputable man. People would probably listen to him.

“I do like Momma’s plan,”
Marley said. “I do want to settle down and have a home like normal
people.” She paused.

“But,” I said slowly. “You
. . .”

“I don’t want to now,”
Marley said. “I want to help bring the walls down. I want to help
Belladonna and Edgar and you and Ashton.”

I explained to her how she
should talk to her mom about it, and I told her that Mae would
probably understand. Mae seemed to be that kind of person. Marley
didn’t want to, but she knew I was right.

We soon reached the small
room with the ladder. I climbed out of the ground first and made
sure Marley made it up safely. Then, I looked at the
city.

This time, I didn’t just
see buildings as before. Several square aircrafts hovered over one
particular area.

“I’m guessing that’s where
it happened?” Marley asked quietly.

I nodded, picturing what
the explosions and falling building would’ve looked like from the
ledge. My eyes stayed fixed on the Presidential Tower, standing
proud and tall. I pictured Cornelius smirking as he watched the
explosions from the very top of the tower. I bet anything that’s
where he was.

Marley and I sat down at
the edge of the cliff. I was careful not to fall off. I didn’t want
to be on crutches too.

“Belladonna said only
fourteen or so people would need to go,” Marley said.

I nodded. “Yeah. One of
them will be me.”

“I . . . I don’t think
they’ll let you,” Marley said. “Why would you even want
to?”

“I don’t care if they let
me or not,” I snapped. “After everything I’ve seen, I’ll see
Cornelius’s end. And . . .”

“Your parents,” she
whispered, looking down off of the cliff.

I didn’t say anything. She
was absolutely right. Yeah, I wanted to be there just because I
wanted to see Cornelius get what he deserved. But at the same time,
I was hopeful that there was a chance I could learn the truth just
before his death. More importantly, I was sure Edgar and Belladonna
would find out about this safe. I wanted to be there to see what
was inside, especially since I was the only one capable of opening
it.

“They can tell me no all
they want,” I said. “I’m going. If I have to sneak out, then I
will.”

I knew Marley didn’t
agree, even if she didn’t say anything to me. We just watched the
city in silence. More aircrafts joined the others. Sometimes, one
of them would get close to the ground. Something would drop down
from the bottom, pick something up, take it back up and then glide
away.
I wondered what they were picking
up. Probably people they were finding. Ugh, the thought gave me
chills. It still does.

We stayed up there for
another hour before going back. Close to my room, I found Edgar
carrying several guns.
He even had a gun
strapped around his shoulder. He seemed to get more and more
excited as he inspected the weapons. When he saw us, he gestured
for me and Marley to go to him. We did so.

“Ever shoot a gun?” he
asked, handing me a small black handgun.

“Seriously?” I asked. “You
know I haven’t.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “You
been at the orphanage.” He turned to Marley and handed her a silver
handgun. She took it slowly. “What about you, missy?”

Marley shook her head.
“Momma wouldn’t like me shooting one.”

Edgar looked around with
this sneaky look on his face. Nobody was around. “Follow me,” he
said. I was a bit uncomfortable holding a gun, and I know Marley
was too. But we still followed him through the dining room and out
of the cave we used to get Ashton in. We exited the cave, entering
the woods.

“Where are we going?” I
asked Edgar.

He snickered. “Don’t start
on those damn questions again.”

I should have known. We
followed him for another ten minutes before he stopped with a
satisfied look on his face. “Good spot,” he said, setting his other
guns down and taking the gun off his shoulder. He cocked it and
pointed it at a tree. He gave me and Marley no time to prepare. He
shot it. I dropped my handgun to cover my ears from the loud boom.
Birds flew out of the trees all around us, rushing to get as far
away as possible. The bullet hit the tree, sending bark flying in
every direction. Edgar turned to us and started laughing. Marley
also had her ears covered.

We uncovered
them.

“Somebody could have heard
that,” I shouted.

He laughed more. “We’re
far away from Grandfather.” He pointed at the guns on the ground.
“Stress reliever. Pick it up. Come here.”

I did so. He made Marley
do the same thing. “Now,” Edgar started. “Stand here.” He pointed
at the spot to his left. He had Marley stand on his right. “You
first, Carsyn.”

He showed me how to load
the gun and prepare it to fire. Before he would let me pull the
trigger, he had me load the gun several times. Finally, he pointed
at the tree. “Aim,” he said.

I took a stance and held
the gun straight toward the same tree Edgar shot earlier. I closed
one eye, aiming with the other one.

“
Take a deep breath,” Edgar
said.

I did so.

“
Slowly let it out, focus,
and then shoot.”

I did this a few times
without shooting. I aimed as best as I could. Then, on the third
try, I pulled the trigger. A vibration ran up both my arms to my
neck. Smoke left the gun. Edgar was laughing
hysterically.

“Not bad,” he said. “You
hit the wrong tree, but not bad.”

A large spot of bark on a
nearby tree had exploded. Maybe I didn’t hit my target, but Edgar
was right. It was a lot of fun, and it definitely relieved
stress.

“Your turn, missy,” Edgar
said turning to Marley.

“I don’t know,” Marley
said. “Momma might get mad.”

“Maebelle won’t find out,”
Edgar said. “And if she does, blame it on me. I can handle
her.”

Marley thought for a few
seconds. Then, she grinned. “It does look fun.”

“There ya go,” Edgar
shouted. He had her load the gun several times and told her the
same things he told me before letting her shoot.

She shot the gun, and the
bullet hit the tree she was actually aiming for. It had to be
beginner’s luck. That didn’t stop Marley from gloating. “Beat
that,” she said. “I bet I can do that every time. Can
you?”

I couldn’t help but laugh
and take that as a challenge. I took out my gun and got it ready as
Edgar had taught me. I aimed for the tree again and shot. Yeah, I
missed again, which gave Marley a good laugh. But I got my share of
laughing in, because when she shot again, she completely missed. It
took me one more try before I actually hit the target. Edgar
congratulated me and took the guns away.

“
Gettin’ a little too
trigger happy,” he said. “That’s enough for today.”

Something told me that
Edgar was a gun person. I bet anything that he had a lot of guns
when he used to live in the city. Sure, guns were outlawed for
ordinary citizens, but something told me that never stopped
him.

“
I might’ve had one or two
lying around,” he said with a guilty grin.

He led us back to the cave
entrance. When we reached the dining room, I heard a ring. That
threw me off guard. Marley was just as surprised. Edgar stopped and
looked down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his
phone.

“
First call I’ve gotten in
months,” he said, answering it. He took a seat at one of the
tables.

Marley and I were curious
so we joined him.

“Mr. Harrison,” Edgar
said.

That caught my attention.
I scooted even closer, hoping to be able to hear Mr. Harrison talk.
All I could hear was a voice too faint to make out
words.

“Yeah,” Edgar said. “Two
days . . . no . . . hell, we hope so . . .underground? . . .
where?”

It was killing me. I
squirmed around in my seat, wanting to know what they were talking
about so badly. It must’ve been some good news because Edgar was
smiling. He jumped up and ran off. I mean he actually ran. And he
was pretty quick too. Marley and I jumped up and chased him. He led
us to the meeting room. We burst inside. Belladonna and Robert
jumped off of the same sofa, caught off guard.

“We’ll get it,” Edgar was
saying. “Seven of them and fourteen of us
. . . okay . . .
damn soldiers can’t
stop us
now
. . .
I’ll tell him.” Edgar hung up the phone and turned to
me.

“What was it?” I asked.
“What did he say? Is it good news?”