Tent City (32 page)

He’s probably sick of having to pick up my pieces all the time. Wasn’t it just the other day I was on top of the world with how strong I had become?

“Her?” I say, with confusion in my face. I slowed my breathing, but now it has turned to hiccups and the hiccups are distracting.

“Yes. She needs you. Now, more than ever. You need to get it together.”

“Who needs me?” Now he looks confused.

“Kit, of course.”

My mind is reeling again. How come I can never keep up? The thoughts are trying to be formed and then being interrupted by incessant hiccups.

“I don’t understand.” I’m trying to replay the conversation I thought I heard between Bentley and Jack.

“You said she died? Weren’t you talking about my mother?”

Bentleys face registers understanding, and he lets out a long sigh.

“Come down. I’ll explain everything.”

And so he does. When Bentley and Jack went to rescue Wes, they made radio contact first. I guess Bentley had help from some of his friends who helped him get into contact with my uncle Randy.

I thought Bentley was alone in his missions against The Council. It’s astounding to know that there are all these underground groups all over the country. They explain everything, but my mind is a fog and I find myself asking the questions again.

“How did you know how to get a hold of my uncle? How did you even know who he was?”

“Well, Kit told us his rank and location,” Bentley explains, as Jack watches in silence. It’s just the three of us around the campfire. Everyone else is still in bed, with maybe an hour of moonlight left, before the sun rises again to introduce us to another day.

“Your uncle has been very helpful to Tent City. I contact him when we run low on supplies and he sends me in the direction of the raid, always keeping one step ahead. He lets me know the safe ones and the ones to stay away from. He even set up drop points for the medicine Jack needed. We would have never had access to so much medicine. If it hadn’t been for Rigby, we could’ve had a good thing going for a long time. I have to admit, I didn’t see that coming.”

“What’s the deal with Rigby, anyway?” I ask. My hiccups have subsided, but now it’s my stomach growling again. Jack asks if he can get me something to eat and I shake my head no. Food is the last thing on my mind now.

“He’s an old enemy, I guess you could say,” Bentley begins, as he stokes the fire, maybe more to keep his hands busy than because it really needs tending.

“But not always so. We used to be good friends actually. But we had different ideas. I haven’t seen him for so long; I just assumed he had moved on. When we ran into him on the raid you were attacked, I was surprised as anyone. Our dads used to be good friends. I don’t know for sure, but I think he leads recon missions, to find what The Council would call traitors. And I guess we are. I can’t be sure…but he’s probably after me. It’s the only way I can explain why he would be in South Dakota. Nothing else makes sense.”

Jack nods in agreement.

The early part of daylight is making itself known and I will it to go back down. Will it to make the night last forever. If it lasts forever, I won’t have to tell Kit what I know.

I’m still irritated that Bentley has kept this information to himself for so long. He’s known Kit’s parents were killed for months now. While we were busy starting our new life in Tent City, they were being executed.

They were shot one week after we left because they didn’t have the death certificate for Kit.

Randy must have been able to make them for me and Brody, but not Kit. When they failed to produce Kit, and hand her over to the safety camps, they were executed. They are dead because of me. All because I needed to have my best friend. How can I tell her that I’m responsible for their deaths?

“There’s one more thing,” Bentley begins.

He has stopped fiddling with the fire and has now knelt down so he is face to face with me. I’m sitting a foot from the fire, teasing the fire, taunting it to go ahead and burn me. He leaves a little distance, unsure of how I will react.

I’ve seen this coming. I know there’s more. I’ve known it by Jack’s silence. He’s holding information. Every time I try to make eye contact with him, he diverts his eyes to the ground. As sick as I am about Kit’s parents, I know I’m not lucky enough to get away with having my parents tucked away securely based purely on Uncle Randy’s status. 

I’m surprised by the urge I have to slap Bentley in the face. But I won’t do that now. He has some more great news for me first.

“Just get it over with,” Jack finally says.

Bentley has his head bent down now, seeming to search for the right words.

“Okay, just promise not to run off again. I don’t think I have the energy to chase you down again.”

“I never asked you to do that! You don’t need to be my baby-sitter. You’re not respons…”

“Just shut up would you?” That quiets me. He’s never talked to me like that before. I’m not offended. He’s right. I’ve had so many emotional upheavals; he must be weary with it.

“First of all, I haven’t kept this from you. I just found out on the last mission. Give me some credit for that.” He tries to smile to lighten it up. It doesn’t work.

“They do have your parents, Dani. They’re alive. They’re only holding them. Randy has saved them…for now. He’s made some kind of deal. But we are coming up with a plan. We’ll get them out before anything happens.”

“Where are they?”

I’m not feeling angry with Bentley, or even hysteria at all the events. What I’m feeling is relief. There’s still time. As long as they are still alive, there’s always time.

“Being held. I’ll make contact with Randy again and we’ll figure this out. Dani, I swear, I’ll do whatever it takes.” He’s not telling me something. True to himself, he’s still holding out.

“What are you not telling me?” He looks over to Jack, now almost pleading for backup. He stands now and turns before saying “nothing.” But now that I’ve seen him look away at the moment he says nothing, I know it’s not true. If anything is driving me crazy, it’s all the secrets.

“That’s enough!” I scream at Bentley. “If you claim to be my friend at all, you’ll tell me.” He’s staring off in the distance, so I try a different tactic. It’s dirty, but I know it will work. I focus on Jack.

“No secrets remember? What’s he not telling me?”

“Jack, don’t,” Bentley interrupts, but I have my gaze zeroed in on Jack. Just hold it. Hold it until he breaks. Just a few more seconds.  

“Might as well tell her. She won’t stop until you do,” Jack says.  

“Fine! You be the idiot. That’s on you.” Bentley stomps off but not before adding, “Now we’ll really have to baby-sit you!”

“Okay, just give it to me,” I say again, feeling unusually calm.

“Just one thing before I do tell you…Promise me, you won’t run off and do something stupid.”

“I promise.” I don’t care what I have to promise. I just want the information.

“All right. No more lies,” he starts saying more to himself than me. “They do have your parents. That’s true, but they are not safe for too much longer. From the sounds of it, your uncle is at the end of the line for how much he can do for them. Burke has issued…you guessed it,” he says with sarcasm heavy in his voice, “another new order.”

He stands now and he is pacing. Obviously, he is about as frustrated with this as Bentley.

“They have a long list of all the parents of children who magically went missing when the safety camps were announced. These were all people who had the necessary papers. A lot of them are parents whose children actually did die.”

He hefts another big log in an already healthy fire and says, “They are even exhuming graves to prove innocence. The whole thing is just ridiculous!” His voice is starting to rise now and I see Bentley in him more now than ever.

“Burke has the idea that there is a conspiracy going on behind his back. It’s a scare tactic. He thinks there’s an army being built. He thinks anyone who doesn’t support The Council is automatically gunning for him and in part, I suppose he’s right. There is an uprising building. This is Burke’s way to stifle it. His excuse, of course, is that anyone in opposition comes from the dark side, as in Devil, Satan, whatever you want to call it. He’s justifying the executions as eradicating evil. Not that he will advertise it. He will let the rumors do the job for him.” Jack says.

He sits down and puts his head in his hands. He looks to be physically exhausted and what he is saying is draining the last of his energy. “He’s going to put down the last of his ‘evil doers’ on the most evil day of the year. His voice catches in his throat before he adds, “He’s planning on killing your parents on Halloween.”

Halloween? I don’t even know what day it is. I know it’s October and I know it’s the end of October based on how the air has chilled.

“Jack....” I begin slowly, “what day is it?”

“We have three days.”

I’m so consumed with counting the hours that I find myself distracted, even when I have to tell Kit about her parents. She doesn’t take it nearly as hard as I would have thought, although honestly I’m not even sure she has processed it. She is walking around camp numb. I want to console her, but she seems to only want Grant. Deep down, I’m a little relieved. The guilt I feel is acting as a Kit-repellant.

Seeing her silent grief eats at me, and if I can physically keep from seeing her, maybe I can forget that she doesn’t have her parents and I still have mine. She hasn’t said anything, but I’m sure when she realizes the whole scope of it, she will realize that I did this. Knowing her, she won’t come right out and say it, but it will be a secret between us. A silent understanding of what I’ve done to her.
 I’m the one who asked her to come. If I hadn’t, her parents would still be alive.

I play nice and act like I’m formulating a plan
with
Jack and Bentley for what we need to do. They try to fill my head with details about how Randy is going to get my parents out before anything happens. They never told me the detail about Burke trying to draw in the missing children with the hopes of saving their parents, but I’ve put it together myself.

Why else keep them alive? It’s so simple; they should know I would have figured it out. If I can get back in time, maybe they will be spared. Maybe I can even make a deal to trade my life for theirs. Convince Mom and Dad to pledge some sort of allegiance to The Council.

I don’t tell Jess about what I need from her until right before I leave. I don’t want her to blow the whistle on me before I get a chance to escape. She doesn’t like the idea, but assures me that Brody will be fine with her and something along the lines of owing me her life.

I always pictured it would be Kit I would leave him with, but after what I’ve done now, I can’t possibly ask her. I find a strange sense of satisfaction that since Bentley now knows Randy, maybe he can get Brody to Mom and Dad. Of course, they couldn’t stay on the farm since I will be trying to convince Burke or whoever is working for him that Brody is dead.

 
I can’t take the wheeler because they need it and if I did, they would catch me for sure. They think I don’t notice, but I do. If Jack isn’t watching me out of the corner of his eye, then Bentley is. I stifle a small sense of panic that is teasing at the back of my mind at the thought of leaving. It’s probably the last time I will see Brody. I’ve accepted this, and once again, I’m grateful for my Tent City family because I know they will take good care of him.

I go down to the edge of the lake to wash up, still contemplating how I can make my break when Callie approaches me.

“I know what you’re planning. Everyone does. It’s pretty obvious.”

“What do you mean?” I say, trying to busy myself with washing the grime from under my fingernails. Am I really that obvious?