In the After (22 page)

“Are you okay?” Rice asked, lowering his hands and looking concerned. I could see
that he was trying to minimize the awkwardness of the moment for me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that.” I said nervously. “Do you want to sit with us?”

“Rice has already classed out,” Vivian joked, helping to break the tension. “He can’t
eat with lowly Class Five kids.” Everyone at the table laughed uneasily.

I faked a smile though I really wanted to cry. “Actually, can you walk me back to
class?” I asked Rice softly. I no longer had much of an appetite.

“Of course.” He put his hand on the small of my back and we left. I expected him to
walk me back to the school entrance, but we took a slight detour and headed for the
Quad. Rice sat on the grass and motioned for me to sit beside him. We rested there
for a while, in silence.

“Rice . . . I don’t know if I can do this,” I confided as I lay back on the soft grass.
“I thought things were going okay, but I keep freaking out, like last week when Baby
dropped her glass and just now when I almost stabbed you. . . .” I began to tear up.

“You just have to give it time,” he said softly, laying his head down next to mine
and squeezing my hand. “You’ll get used to it.”

“What if I don’t?” I asked in a whisper.

“Amy, I know what it’s like to feel out of place.” He turned his head toward me. “I
told you that I was named after my father, right? Well, my parents died when I was
very young and I was raised in foster care . . . until Hutsen-Prime found me.”

“Found you?”

“I won my fourth grade science fair and the next day Hutsen-Prime offered to fund
my studies, to put me on a fast-track course. I finished high school when I was twelve
and my undergraduate studies in a year and a half. That’s why I was here,” he explained.
“I was in my second year of grad school when the Floraes arrived. In the few days
it took them to reach this far into the country, a student working on a sonar project
for the Navy discovered the creatures couldn’t stand the noise.”

“And that student was you?” I asked, enthralled. Rice really was a genius.

“No.” His voice was heavy. “I knew her, though. She gave her life to save the campus.
. . .” He trailed off.

“What happened?”

“We were setting up the emitters,” Rice explained, his face pained. “We knew we had
to expand in a circle, keep the Floraes on the run, away from the compound. We thought
they were still far away, but suddenly one was right in front of us, at the center
of the sonar radius. It didn’t know where to run, but as soon as it spotted us, it
. . . rushed us.”

His eyes lost focus and I could tell he was back there, in that awful place nearly
three years ago.

“It reached her first. And I ran. I thought I was dead for sure, the Floraes are so
fast, but it stayed with her. I was
lucky
.” He sat up as he spit out the word bitterly, as if he were anything but.

“A lot of people here don’t understand. I mean, they know the Floraes are real, that
they’ve killed nearly everyone on the planet, but they’ve never seen one up close.
They were here when it happened. They can’t understand what it’s like.”

I sat up next to him. “I survived outside of New Hope with the Floraes. You couldn’t
have saved her. You did the right thing by running away.” I placed my hand on his
arm, my touch bringing him back from his memories.

“Yeah. Well. That was a long time ago.” He shrugged. I gave his arm a squeeze before
letting go. “We’ve positioned the emitters to optimize sonic output and we expand
the area of New Hope a little each year. We’re even working on something for the Floraes.
. . . You know, your mother would probably be the one to talk to about all this. I’m
not sure what she wants you to know.”

“Did my mother tell you I snuck into the lab?” I asked.

Rice sighed. “Yes, she told me. I don’t know why you did that. You could have been
sent to the Ward or expelled.”

“I don’t know why I did it either. I saw the black door open and slipped through without
even thinking.” I paused and looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. I lowered
my voice. “I saw all the experiments you’re doing. You must have discovered something
about the Floraes by now. Where they come from, why they’re here.”

Rice fidgeted, adjusting his glasses. “Amy, I can’t talk about this. I can’t share
our research with you. Even though you’re the director’s daughter, you’re still just
a citizen. You haven’t even classed out yet.”

“I don’t understand why this is all so secretive.”

“It’s not, just . . . I mean, every citizen of New Hope doesn’t need to know every
single thing that is going on. It would be too much for some people to handle.”

I sighed and rubbed my face.

“How is Baby?” Rice asked, changing the subject. “The director said you two were resting
this past week. She’s not sick is she?”

“No. She’s fine,” I assured him. “We’re just getting used to sleeping at night instead
of during the day.”

“I was worried about you two, hiding in your apartment all week.”

“We weren’t hiding,” I told him, though that’s exactly what we were doing. I lay back
in the grass and let the sunshine pour over me. After a few minutes of peace I sat
up and gave Rice a weak smile.

“Feel better?” he asked.

“Yes, thanks. This was . . . necessary.”

He stood, wiping the grass from his jeans, then held out a hand and helped me up.
He looked down at me, his eyes shining intensely. “I have to get back to work, but
I’ll see you after class. Okay?”

I smiled and nodded. I walked back to my classroom with a strange mix of emotions.
I liked Rice, trusted him. But when I slipped into my desk, I wondered about our conversation.
Floraes outpopulated us thousands to one. We had to stop them. Someone in New Hope
had to find the answer. I looked around the classroom, at the gifted and talented
kids back from lunch, all working quietly on their proposals.

I made my way over to Vivian’s desk. She looked up cheerfully. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah . . . about lunch . . .”

“Don’t worry about it. People expect post-aps to be a little jumpy,” she told me.

“Well, I was just wondering about what you were doing earlier, when I first got to
class . . . when you were all talking to figure something out.”

“The think tank?”

“That’s it. Can I call a think tank?”

“Sure.” She stood and started arranging chairs in a circle. “Come on, guys. Andrew,
Hector, Haley . . . Amy needs our help with something.”

Everyone gathered in a circle and stared at me expectantly.

“Well,” I started hesitantly. “I just have a lot of questions. I guess I want to know
. . .” I took a deep breath. “How are there still so many Floraes when their main
food source—us—is mostly depleted? How have they not died of starvation, or left,
or whatever?”

They considered for a moment.

“They could eat other things,” Haley offered.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I’ve never seen them eat vegetation. They are
definitely carnivores.” I told them what I observed from the safety of my electric-fenced
home. How they can’t see well, but have amazing hearing. What they looked like up
close. What they smelled like—damp earth and rotting flesh. How they shuffled along
until there was meat, then sprinted with single-minded determination.

“What about their blood?” Hector asked. “Is it red, green, thick, thin?”

“Blackish green. I don’t know how thick it is.” I remembered the night we met Amber,
how that gang of men killed a bunch of Floraes, how their blood splattered against
the sidewalk and pooled into the street. “Actually, it’s fairly thick, like syrup.”

Hector scribbled in his notebook before he looked up at me. “They don’t eat anything
but meat. I think they get the rest of their nourishment from the sun.”

“What?” I asked, doubtful. “You figured that out in five seconds from greenish-black
sludge-blood?”

“No, it’s been right in our faces the whole time,” he explained. “What are they called?”

“Floraes?” I felt dense.

“Florae is short for Florae-sapien. They’re plant people. It was so obvious, but they
don’t educate us about the Floraes.”

“It makes sense,” Vivian said. “They’re green. They need the sun. They like to be
underground at night.”

“They know,” Andrew spoke for the first time. “The people who run New Hope, they don’t
want us talking about it.”

“What? Why not?” I asked. “Any knowledge that the people of New Hope have about the
Floraes would only serve to help them. Wouldn’t it?”

Hector gave me a pointed look. “I don’t know. None of us have ever been asked to study
them. Maybe the people in charge decided it wasn’t important?”

Meaning my mother decided: she and her creepy colleague Dr. Reynolds.

Suddenly Jacob looked grim. “Guys, maybe we should lay off the Florae talk. We don’t
want to end up like Frank.”

“What happened to Frank?” I asked. A heavy silence followed and everyone looked uncomfortable.

“He was working on an undesirable project and was told to stop,” Jacob explained quietly.
“He wouldn’t, so he was sent to the Ward.”

I looked at him. “I thought the Ward was supposed to be for people who were mentally
unstable. What was his project?”

“Not sure,” Jacob told us, “but I know he wanted to study a Florae up close. It’s
all he talked about. It became an obsession and I think it pushed him over the edge.”

“But they study them,” I said. “The Guardians do, in the wild,” I quickly added, not
wanting to scare anyone, especially after Rice’s warning.

“So they must know a lot,” Haley chimed in.

“Like where they came from?” I asked. I turned to Hector. “Any clues about that?”

He shook his head.

“The news said they were aliens,” Tracey offered.

“But I’ve seen them, up close. They don’t have the intellect to turn a door handle;
I don’t think they could have manned spaceships.”

“Why don’t you just ask the director?” Vivian asked me.

“My mother doesn’t talk to me about these things,” I admitted. “She’s a master at
changing the subject.”

“Amy, she would have the answers,” Hector said. “If anyone does.”

“If they don’t like us to talk about the Floraes and don’t want anyone to know that
they’re studying them, they know something they don’t think we can handle,” Andrew
told us.

“What are they keeping from us?” Hector asked, dismayed.

“I don’t know,” I quietly replied.

“I’m concerned about her test scores,” the older man tells Dr. Thorpe in the hallway.
I heard them out there, muttering, so I got off my bed and knelt down next to the
door. “It’s not unusual for scores to worsen when a citizen is in the Ward, but Amy
didn’t even try. She’s given up.”

“What do you think the problem is, Dr. Samuels?” Dr. Thorpe asks, concerned
.

“If your goal is rehabilitation, you should ease up on the sedatives,” Dr. Samuels
tells her firmly
.

“Ms. Harris has been exhibiting some highly erratic behavior,” Dr. Thorpe explains.
“Her medication is the only thing keeping her from a complete relapse.”

“Then try something else.” He sighs loudly. “Dr. Reynolds mentioned to me that he
is investigating some alternative procedures. He’s had encouraging results with electroshock
therapy in several patients.”

“Yes,” Dr. Thorpe tells him. “Dr. Reynolds also mentioned electroshock to me. . . .
At the time I didn’t think it was appropriate for Ms. Harris. What’s your opinion?”

“Perhaps . . . ,” Dr. Samuels suggests hesitantly, “Amy would benefit from such a
treatment.”

“I’ll take your recommendation under consideration and consult again with Dr. Reynolds,”
Dr. Thorpe promises. “Thank you, Dr. Samuels.”

I hear footsteps echoing down the hall and I rest my head on the floor. Dr. Samuels
had promised to tell my mother how I was doing. She wouldn’t let them do any of this
to me, would she? But what if he’d only said that to placate me? I barely know him.
He’d only given me a few tests before I was assigned my class
.

Suddenly a memory comes to me. Advanced Theory. Vivian, Tracey, Hector, and Andrew,
all sitting around talking about the Floraes, and how someone was sent to the Ward
for probing too deeply. Frank. He would be here. Maybe I could find him. He could
answer some questions for me
.

Or maybe I could get a message to Vivian. If Rice couldn’t help me, she would find
a way. Vivian’s so smart and I know she’s someone I can trust. She’ll be here for
me, just like she was when I first got to New Hope. She’ll help me if she can
.

• • •

When school was over for the day, Vivian caught up with me outside class and handed
me a lumpy brown muffin. “I saved this for you. You didn’t eat much lunch.”

“Thanks.” I nibbled at the bran muffin, not really all that hungry.

“Um, Amy.” She looked anxious. “I wanted to talk to you. You might want to cool it
on all the questions. Some things are best left alone. You don’t want to be sent to
the Ward.” She was twirling her long brown hair around her fingers. I’d noticed that
about her: she was always fiddling with something. If it wasn’t her hair, then it
was a pencil, or her gold cross necklace.

“What is all this about the Ward all the time? It’s starting to sound like a bad joke.
What exactly
is
the Ward?”

“It’s a place where citizens can go to get better,” she said automatically.

“Yes, I’ve heard that before. But if that’s true, then why wouldn’t I want to go there?”

She shook her head, her eyes almost pleading. “People don’t usually come back from
the Ward. If you go there, you go there to stay.”

My chest was oppressively tight. I took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “But
how do they determine if you need to go there?”