Untaken (29 page)

“You don’t know shit,” Terry muttered into his beer. “He thinks he’s real smart,” he said, turning back to Brandon “But he was the one got us kicked off the mission.”

“Terrance, that will be quite enough,” said Doc.

“Are you an army guy, too?” I asked. I was pretty sure I had Terry’s number, but Doc was harder to pin down, and to my mind, that made him more dangerous.

“An intelligence officer,” said Doc. “Not a heroic marine like Terrance here, but yes, ‘an army guy.’ “

Terry snorted. “Haven’t seen you do much intelligence recently. He told the brass he was going to bag ‘em a ship, but what happened? My unit gets scragged, hostage is toast, and I end up demoted and stuck in this shit hole on another big-ass wild goose chase with him. I got a medal in Afghanistan, and he—”

“Shut up, Terry,” said Doc. His tone was mild, but Terry shut up.

Doc ate the rest of his soup in delicate spoonfuls while Terry watched him in sullen silence. Soup finished, Doc disappeared into the back room behind the kitchen. The door to that room was locked. I had tried all the doors in the house, had a good poke around while they’d all been sleeping. Not that I expected to find anything too creepy. These guys might be assholes, but it wasn’t like “Bluebeard,” where I was going to find a big room full of dead women.

It’s good to find out all you can, though.

Know your enemy.

Jake slept behind the sofa with the dog curled around him, a furry black and white comma. “Dog,” he’d started to call it, like it was a name. The name on the dog’s collar said “Bridie” but Jake called it Dog all the same. The two of them wore identical nervous expressions when either of the Army Guys were around.

“We’ll be out of here today,” I told Jake again when I’d woken him up in a vain attempt to get him to eat breakfast. He’d nodded, but he’d looked doubtful. I was beginning to feel pretty doubtful myself. Would Brandon want to leave? He hadn’t suggested staying here for good yet, but I just knew he was going to. In his mind, it probably made sense. Who knew what we’d find at the cabin, who knew how we’d take care of ourselves all winter long?

But Brandon didn’t know about Jake.

Doc and Terry didn’t know about Jake either, so it was
probably
safe for now. I wasn’t even sure
I
really knew about Jake. Or wanted to admit that I knew something. I’d been trying to avoid thinking about what happened at the mall—the way Jake had told those Drones to back off. Because he was Jake. One of
us
. Just a little kid, not a…whatever Drones turned people into. If Jake had been one of those people, one of the Taken, he would have gone to a ship, walked into the light like the Novaks and all those other people.

There were others who hadn’t been picked up by the ships, though. Stephie. Brandon’s dad. People who got held up, held back, and when people in charge, people like Doc and Terry got hold of those Taken…

Jake was playing a game with Dog, tossing someone’s old shoe, which Dog brought back to him, tail wagging, and bug-eyed with excitement. Jake even smiled a little at Dog’s antics. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him smile before. If the Taken were sick, infected somehow, then it could be right that the police and the army guys had taken them away.

Then I remembered Brandon’s dad.

Mona screaming and screaming after the drugs wore off.

The locked doors and the piles of dying people.

I needed a minute to settle my nerves, then I was gonna grab Brandon and get all three of us out of here. It had been dumb to stop here in the first place. In the back bedroom, I climbed into my sleeping roll, and tried to cry. Just one good cry was all I needed to clear my head. The lumped-up horrible feelings were there, but the tears which would relieve them wouldn’t come. I heard a hoot of drunken laughter from downstairs. At least Brandon was enjoying himself. I knew I should have told him about what happened at the mall with Jake, but if he’d known there was something wrong with Jake, would he have left him behind? Would he have left us both behind and gone on to the cabin alone?

Ugh, it was all such a mess.

I felt like punching something. Smashing the room up. That stupid pink lamp would have been fun to break for a start. It was nice to have real light again, but that was one butt-ugly lamp. When we got to the cabin, we’d have a generator and light of our own…

For a second, I couldn’t believe I’d been so dumb.

The power was on. I could charge the tablet!

As soon as the battery had enough charge to power up, I looked for a network. I was amazed that there was one at all, but of course it was locked and useless to me. I decided to try searching again—maybe there might be a weaker one that was unsecured?

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Doc stood in the doorway of the room.

“Just recharging,” I told him “I wanted to get online.”

“You did, did you? And why is that?”

I stared up at him. His face was red with rage. “To see what’s going on, why else? But the network’s locked, do you know…?”

“It’s a military network for essential communications only. Highly classified information. We’re in a state of martial law. You’re committing a crime even trying to break into it,” he snarled.

“Jeez! I wasn’t trying to break into anything! Why are you being so crazy?”

“Give the computer to me,” said Doc.

“No! It’s mine. I don’t have to give you anything.”

Doc took three short strides across the room. He snatched the computer from me, ripping the plug out of the socket.

“You can’t!” I screamed as he raised the tablet above his head. He threw it hard on the floor where it smashed. There were footsteps on the stairs, and Brandon and Terry appeared.

“What in the hell?” panted Brandon. “Why did you do that?”

Doc ignored him.

“Terry, put the boy somewhere secure.”

“What did I do?” asked Brandon, but I knew it wasn’t Brandon that Terry wanted.

Had they known what Jake was from the beginning? Had it really been that obvious?

Terry was pounding down the stairs.

“Brandon, stop him!”

A commotion of barking and swearing thundered in my ears, and then a thud and a yelp.

“Gracie, Doc, what’s happening? I don’t get it.” Brandon stared at the smashed tablet, at Doc, and I knew he was going to be no help. I darted for the door, but Doc grabbed my arm and jerked me back, twisting my wrist painfully.

“Let her go, man,” said Brandon. “You don’t have to drag her around like that, what the hell?”

“Brandon, please,” I sobbed, “they’re going to take Jake.”

Brandon

e just need to talk this through calmly, so I know what’s going on,” I pleaded. My head was pounding, and angry blood-flowers bloomed in my field of vision. If they’d all just quit shouting!

“They’re taking our stuff! They’re taking our things out of the car. I told them to stop, but they won’t,” Gracie yelled.

“Wait, who’s taking our stuff?”

“Those asshole guys, who’d you think? Your new buddies. First they lock Jake away, now they’re stealing our stuff.”

I tried to make sense of what she was saying. That she’d been right about the beer didn’t make me any happier.

“There’s gotta be a good reason for all of this,” I managed, finally. “They’re army guys. They’re on our side. If we just talk to them, tell them they made a mistake about Jake, it’ll all be okay.”

“We don’t have a side!” Gracie was shouting again. “We’re just a bunch of kids! You, too. You’re not an army guy; you’re just a dumb kid, too.”

“Jeez, Gracie.”

“No more bullshit, Brandon. This crazy idea you have about army guys saving us. It’s never going to happen. They didn’t save us at the center, did they? They didn’t save your Dad!”

I gave her a shove and she fell back against the wall.

“Oh, hey now, kids, no fighting.” It was Doc. He grinned as though everything was real funny, and I felt a fresh lurch of unease.

No. Gracie was wrong. The army guys were the only guys left in charge. They were here to help. If my head would just stop throbbing, I’d be able to figure out what was happening.

“Don’t you dare talk to us,” said Gracie, squaring up to Doc. “Let Jake out and give us back our things.”

“Calm down, Miss,” said Doc. “We haven’t taken your things. They’re right here, in the garage. When you leave, Terry and I will pack them all in your car for you. We’ll even send you off with a little extra.”

“We’re leaving now. And Jake’s coming with us.” said Gracie. She stormed away, leaving me to squint up at Doc.

“What’s going on?” I asked him. “Why’d you guys shut Jake away?”

“I’m afraid the little girl doesn’t understand,” said Doc, taking a seat next to me at the kitchen table. “I know she’s just concerned about her brother; what was his name again?”

“Jake,” I told him. “He’s not really her brother. We just found him.”

“Really?” said Doc. “But I expect she
feels
like he’s a brother now. I don’t expect she would lie to us otherwise.”

“Gracie’s okay.” I shrugged. “She doesn’t trust people, is all.”

“Quiet little kid, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t say much. He’s getting better though. Probably saw some pretty sick shit before we found him. In shock, right?”

“It sounds likely,” agreed Doc.

“And these doodles. Are they Gracie’s?” Doc held up a sheath of crumpled papers. I had to squint at them hard before I could see what they are.

“Nah, those are Jake’s. He likes to make those crazy patterns. Keeps him quiet.”

“I see,” said Doc.

Outside, Gracie was shouting about something again. There was a thumping noise, and a yell from Terry.

“Is it true you’re going to let us go? I don’t understand why you guys shut Jake away.”

“You’re all eager to go on to Gracie’s mom’s place in Bangor?” Doc asked, ignoring my question.

I paused. I had no reason to lie to Doc, but I found myself agreeing. “Yeah. I’m guessing she won’t find her family there either, but you have to keep hoping right?”

“Right,” said Doc. “And you’ve been driving up from the South?”

“Walked a lot of it,” I said. “But yeah, we’ve driven the last part.”

“And have you seen anything unusual in the woods while you were driving?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “What kind of thing?”

“Debris. Broken trees. Maybe people, or a person on the road.”

“Nothing like that,” I said. “Is it important?”

“Perhaps,” said Doc “But right now there is the question of young Jake.”

“If you’re trying to help us, then let him out. Just for five minutes even, so we can make sure he’s okay.”

Gracie was yelling at Terry out in the yard. There was no sound at all from the room where Jake was shut up, except from the occasional whimper from the dog. It had bitten Terry pretty good, tore his pants, and ripped a good chunk of the meat from his calf. I figured the dumb mutt was a sight safer shut up with Jake than it would be if Terry got his hands on it.

“It’s a credit to you that you want to help your friend,” Doc said. “But the best way to help him, to help all of us, is to trust me. You know you can trust me, Brandon.”

“Do I? I’m trying, but truth be told, I don’t know you guys from Adam. You won’t tell me nothing. You smash up Gracie’s computer, you lock Jake away. And you still haven’t told me why, just asked a bunch of weird questions.”