Chapter 20: Finals
I knocked on the door then looked around the porch while I waited. Some flowers and gloves — definitely a female touch. The streets behind me were busy; students and parents were everywhere. The sun was low in the evening sky. The door opened and I prepared myself for his reaction.
“Who are you?” the young girl asked. I could have asked her the exact same thing.
“I’m Pene.” I smiled.
The girl looked at me with bemusement. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Okay.
“Is Austin home?” My smile was starting to fade.
The little girl closed the door and stepped next to me. “Austin is acting really weird right now. I think he’s in trouble with Mom. You probably should run off to the re-enactment finals without him.” With that she turned around, walked inside and closed the door. I was amazed — this kid looked eight but acted eighteen. I was about to knock on the door again when it opened up.
“I see you met my annoying sister,” answered Austin as he was putting his jacket on.
“Charming, must run in the family. Are you ready to go to the stadium?”
“Mom!” Austin yelled back into the hallway. “I’m heading down — you guys should go soon if you want to get a good seat.”
“We’ll see you there. The two of us will be cheering you on,” an adult female voice responded.
“Let’s go.” Austin shoved his hands in his pockets and we walked into the street. Drones hovered above the parade of people, although none seemed to be interested in us. We walked a block in silence.
“So are you ready for the finals? Does your school have any strategy to come out on top?” I asked playfully.
“As if I would tell you,” he played along while looking up. “Your school doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Where’s your buddy Alex?”
“Ah, we finished the project a few days ago. Haven’t seen him since then. Where’s your friend Lacey?”
“She’s meeting me there. She’s in it to win it.” As we entered a main expressway, crowds starting gathering along the edge of the street. It became more difficult to walk as arms and shoulders blocked our way.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Think my school’s band is marching down the street to the stadium.” As if on cue, a tuba blared and drums began to beat. Through the crowd I could see a number of musicians with uniforms walking in the middle of the street. The crowd began to chant and yell, warming up for the finals. Austin lowered his lips to my ear.
“Chances are the drones can’t pick up on our conversation. It’s dangerous for you to be around me. Why are you here?” he whispered.
“I have to talk to you about the drones.” I leaned back and smiled. If a camera was recording our actions, it would just look like two teens having a normal conversation.”
“What about them? Did you find their base?”
“Yes and no.”
“What do you mean?” The exasperation grew in his voice.
“I saw a maintenance center, lots of spare parts to replace drones. I was told that the drones don’t have a central base — they work 24/7. There is no place you can infect, destroy or blow up to keep them contained. They’re always working.” If a drone were watching me now, it would see the concern in my face.
“Are you sure? Is your source reliable or was your dad trying to throw you off?”
“My dad has nothing to do with it. I had a tour with one of the officers when the Chief Judge came by. I don’t think he’s lying. He said it so casually, like it was a silly question.”
Austin was silent. It was as though his big solution to the problem was all smoke and mirrors. I didn’t know if he could accept it, at least not right away. He turned away, ready to join the parade. I pulled him back.
“Tell me what you’re thinking? I deserve to know. Don’t go silent on me once the parade goes by.” He looked at me and his was face was conflicted.
“I’m lost, Pene! I don’t know what to do. We’re like chipped mice in a maze. I wish I didn’t believe you. It would make things easier. I thought if I knew where the drones where stationed, we could blow up the facility. Or shut it down. It would be months before they could rebuild. Maybe people would adapt to the change and have drones reduced permanently. You could use the time to escape. This was the best way to get you out of the city.”
“Then think of another way!” I demanded as Austin considered my question.
“What else did he show you?”
“The maintenance center was huge, with tons of drone heads. At one point he showed me by view of his remote control how they could manipulate all of the drones at once. Hundreds of eyes stared at me. It kind of freaked me out.”
“A controller. Maybe there is some way to hack the signal?”
“Really, is that something you could do?” I started to feel hope.
“Probably not — likely beyond my expertise. Just trying to make you feel better.” He smiled weakly.
The crowd was starting to thin out. Soon the crowd roar would be gone and our voices could be overheard.
“So what do you want to do? Throw up our hands and give up?” I mocked and raised my arms. I was being unfair by not giving him any time to process the news. But there was no time for pity — we had to decide what to do next. “Leave with me. There has to be a weak area in the city boundaries, some way we could slip through. I trust you more than anyone.” There, I said it. He must know that I consider him more than a friend.
Austin looked conflicted. “You make a tempting offer. But I can’t leave my family. The journey out of the city is yours. But what if I could set up a diversion?”
“Maybe if something big was going on?” I offered.
“You mean during the finals?” he laughed. “Little late for that.”
“It’s always too late for me.” The parade had passed into the next block, and the crowd had followed. “We have to get going.” Austin grabbed my hand.
“I would like to go with you. You’re the only person I have told about this. My mom won’t listen and my friends don’t care. Sometimes I feel like I’m crazy.”
“You’re not, Austin.” I cupped his chin in my hand. Then he kissed me. Quickly. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to thank me or if he was saying something more.
I had no time to consider it either way as he dragged me into the crowd. We blended into the throng of people and walked towards the stadium. Looking up, I could see the drones in full force, watching us the way people stare down at an anthill. Growing up, I remembered a boy who used to kick anthills to watch the ants try to repair, or try to burn them with a pair of glasses. I wondered if the drones had a chance, would they take a magnifying glass to us?
We walked for fifteen minutes in silence, although the street noise was loud. Students were excited to compete in the finals; it was the one event each year where all schools went against each other at once, instead of two teams at a time. The premise was simple, like a video game. This re-enactment took place right after the earthquake, when buildings had fallen and dust filled the air. Each school was assigned the task of saving as many citizens as possible, and the school collecting the greatest number of survivors was the winner. The going was treacherous; most students would ‘die’ and be sent out of the game while trying to rescue people. Strategies were diverse. Some schools maintained that you should send everyone out around the city to maximize the number of people that could be saved. Others clustered in a large group, concentrating on high destruction areas that had a large number of survivors in a small area. Our school had a plan somewhere in between.
We were to be divided into four teams, each taking a direction, north, south, west and east. We had even researched specific building sites where we expected to find a lot of survivors. As soon as we entered the game, we would break off into our teams. ‘Divide and Conquer’ was our plan name. The strategy actually had a chance of working.
As we approached the stadium I was overwhelmed by its size. Seating over eighty thousand people, it was still not big enough to accommodate all of the spectators. Huge video screens adored the side so onlookers could view events from outside the stadium as well. As we arrived to enter the main entrance to the field, the crowd started to disperse away to other entry points. Two large drones, looking like tall grasshoppers, looked down on the crowd and were allowing students to enter. Both Austin and I flashed our school badges. The drones’ eyes scanned the card, their red eyes moving from left to right. Then they scanned our faces. The gate clicked.
“You two can proceed,” the drone on the left commanded. We followed other teenagers down a long tunnel. It was well-lit but barren. It was wall to wall with teenagers. Fortunately the flow of people was moving well; I knew I would be claustrophobic if we stopped here. Austin’s eyes met mine.
“Look.” He pointed as we stepped out onto the field. The view was breathtaking. The stadium was mostly full, each section representing the parents of a specific school. Their roar was deafening; cheers, jeers and screams for their favorite schools filled the air. It was a must-see event — you’d have to be on your deathbed for a family member to miss this. Above the middle of the field hung the largest video screen in the city, four-sided, and each side would document different events during the re-enactment. The best action would feed to the screens, usually pertaining to the parents of the students sitting in that section of the stadium. I looked down the field and saw my school’s banner hanging overhead. I turned to Austin.
“Good luck. What do you think your school will do with the prize money if you win?”
“If we win?” he smirked. “When we win, we’ll probably put it towards more useless gear for the school or some boring field trip. You?”
“Our history teacher wants to build a monument in the school courtyard to commemorate the disaster. Probably get vandalized in its first week.”
“Naw, I’m sure they’ll plant a drone on it the moment it’s built.” Austin leaned closer as if to give me a goodbye kiss. He was rudely pulled back by several arms.
“Come on buddy, we have to get ready,” another boy said while pulling him away.
“See you in the game.” He waved. The crowd swallowed him up and he was gone in seconds.
I walked towards my school group and soon recognized several faces.
“About time you got here,” a familiar voice said as someone elbowed me in the back. “You must have taken the long way. Your dad said that you had an errand before the game.” Lacey’s expression was telling. I wondered if she had seen me walk in with Austin.
“Well, I’m here now.” I chose to ignore her comment. “Where’s the gear?”
Lacey pulled me over to wheeled racks with electronic crowns dangling. I could see Mr. Stewart making some last-minute adjustments. It had been even more difficult being in his class since the fight between him and my father. I couldn’t understand why he wanted me to know past information about my dad, almost like he was taking perverse pleasure in my family’s discomfort. As if I could dislike the man any more, but for the sake of our school finals, I pushed those feelings down and concentrated.
He manipulated several small tools on the crowns, like a surgeon working on a patient. Sometimes I thought he was a better electronics expert than a history teacher. He pulled one down and handed it to me without a word. His silence was fine with me. I turned from him and strapped it to my head. The glass lens came over my left eye and a flashing red light signaled that the game had not started yet. I looked up the stadium seating for my school and imagined that my dad was sitting and cheering for me somewhere up there. The stadium speakers barked: “The survivor re-enactment is ready to begin.” A face appeared on all the video screens.
“Welcome to the annual school finals!” Lord Morall crowed, and the crowd roared with enthusiasm. Morall had to be the center of attention, and he clearly lived for these moments when all eyes were on him. “Each year, these finals are a testament to the sheer bravery our citizens exhibited during the great explosion and earthquake that rocked our city. Today’s children play the role of saviors, recreating the heroism that was exhibited during that time.” Morall smiled and his eye flashed on the video screen. “This is also a time to remember the ones who were lost and to make sure that our society doesn’t make the same mistakes.
“There are fifteen schools here today. For the parents who are watching, congratulations on having your children participate in such an important event.” The crowd cheered. “To the students on the field, on behalf of the Justice department, we appreciate your commitment. Whether your school finishes first or last, the fact that you participated, trying to save citizens of your past, is worthy of pride. To the city, you are all heroes!”
The students on the field raised their arms and screamed their approval. Whatever problems I had with the system certainly weren’t shared by the people in the stadium. A band started marching through the center of the field and spectators cheered their music. Mr. Stewart motioned about ten of us into a circle.
“I’ve spoken to the other three groups. Follow the directions on your crowns. You need to go eight blocks to the west for the Burbidge Building. It was one of the tallest in our city. Run as fast as you can. You only have ninety minutes to secure survivors. Avoid other teams, check out your surroundings; you only have one life. If you die in the re-enactment, you’re done. Any questions?” He looked around. It was so close to game time that all questions should have been asked much earlier. A guy named Stuart had other ideas.
“What if another student tries to save the same survivor? I don’t want to get involved in a tug of war.”
His choice of words wasn’t so great but his question was good. We all leaned in for Mr. Stewart’s answer.
“Let me make myself clear. You must save the most survivors. Period. If someone gets in your way, do what’s necessary to win. Do you understand?” Most of the boys nodded but I didn’t think they understood.
“Are you saying we should hurt someone if they’re try to save the same survivor?” I asked. The re-enactment was about to start and I could tell that I was testing his patience.
“No, Pene. You mistake the goal of the re-enactment. Thousands of people perished in the explosion and earthquake aftermath. Many more were saved. You are playing a game — this isn’t about winning at all cost. This is about saving lives. If someone else wants to save the same person,” he turned to me, “let them. Now get going.” Our group broke but his words stuck with me.
Lacey grabbed my hand. “Are you ready?”
“No. But let’s do this anyway.” Our group held hands and looked up. A mini helicopter drone flew about ten feet above us. Four mini blades swirled in the air. At its base, a lone red eye watched us — it had been assigned to relay our movements back to the crowd. Looking around, I saw dozens of similar drones hovering above other groups. The crowd became quiet, anticipating the start. Lord Morall barked his commands.
“Let. Us. Begin!”
The stadium vanished. I was suddenly transported to the center of the city. Huge, unfamiliar buildings surrounded us and reached towards the sky. Even though there were hundreds of students around me, it was perfectly quiet, like watching a movie with the sound turned off. Then a huge explosion appeared to our left, and the sound of terror filled my ears. The concussive force rattled the air, and seconds later the earth shook, forcing me down. A huge rock erupted out of the ground to my right and three of my fellow students disappeared.
“Run!” Lacey yelled and pulled me down a city street. Three guys and two other girls followed behind us. The ground shook again and I felt myself lifting up into the air. The sky became black, as if a curtain had been thrown over the sky. Streetlights still illuminated this block; the earthquake hadn’t knocked the electricity out yet.
“Look at that!” One of the boys pointed. About two blocks away one of tallest skyscrapers swayed, slowly at first, like a pendulum. But with each swing the arc grew larger and cracks appeared in the structure. A section of the uppermost floor broke away and fell. The impact was loud, and a car alarm sounded. Then the building crumpled like a house of cards, its base imploding from the weight and the rest tipping forward. None of us yelled; this was the area we were supposed to be at. We knew we had to move it or lose the competition. As we rounded the corner, we all stopped and covered our faces and mouths. Seconds later, a dust cloud rushed by from the impact of the collapsed building. My dust mask didn’t stop it all, and I could taste dirt at the back of my mouth. We waited at least a minute before moving on; no one wanted to be blinded by the dust. I wished they’d let us wear virtual goggles.
“Help!” a voice squeaked in the distance. I turned my head. Lacey was trapped under a pile of debris, her hair matted with dirt. I began pulled off the rubble. A hand tugged me from behind.
“We have to get to our assignment. We don’t have time. Leave her!” one of the boys in my group commanded. My response was to throw a rock at him that bounced off his shoulder.
“I’m staying. The re-enactment is about saving people, even our own. You can go ahead. We’ll catch up.” He nodded and the rest of group followed behind him. In moments, they were lost in the dust.
“You’re wasting time, Pene. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ll see you later at the finale in the stadium,” Lacey coaxed.
“No!” I pushed rocks away, and an edge gashed the back of my hand. Blood bubbled to the surface; it might not be real but I definitely felt pain. “We do this together.” I searched around, found a metal rebar and propped it under the concrete by Lacey’s feet.
“Let me know if this hurts.” I pushed. Lacey made a face but didn’t yell out. A large clunk of stone fell to her left. She wriggled her legs free. As she got up, she gave me a big hug.
“Come on, we’re running out of time,” she told me. Lacey limped a bit but seemed otherwise okay. We scrambled over to a pile of rocks and headed over to our checkpoint. As we rounded the corner of a building, I saw our team pulling people out of a pit. As each survivor was pulled out of the hole, a boy on our team would touch them. Each survivor would vanish — adding to our school’s score total. As we ran closer, the ground rumbled again and my vision went sideways. Everything went black.
After several seconds of nothingness, I felt like I was floating in the air. Not like floating in water, but zero gravity. My body was weightless. The sky became night and I reached towards the stars, which rushed closer to me. It was the closest I’ve felt to pure joy in my like. With no worries pressing down on me, I felt like nothing was watching me. I felt freer than I had my entire life. Maybe this was how a baby feels in the womb. Then something tugged at my mind. A nagging doubt. A persistent worry. A constant fear. And then I opened my eyes.
I was back where I started, lying prone. I looked beside me and Lacey was gone. I got up and strode towards the hole in the ground. The rest of my team was gone as well. Had they been knocked out of the game? I looked into the hole, expecting to find it empty. I was wrong. A middle-aged man and a small boy lay motionless at the bottom.
“You can come up now. I’m here to save you.” No response. They remained still. Are they dead? All around me was a deathly quiet; it was the opposite of the rage of the earthquake. Only the dust in the air reminded me of what had happened. I grabbed the rope attached to a rock and climbed into the hole. I lay down next to the boy, whose chest rose as if he was asleep. I reached over to wake him and he disappeared at my touch. Damn — the game is still on. I looked closely at the man.
“Hey! Wake up. Can you hear me?” Knowing I couldn’t touch him, I waved my arms, vainly hoping the wind would revive him. As I walked around him, my foot accidently clipped his arm. He disappeared — another score for our team. I shook my head at my own clumsiness. I was helping the school but why were people asleep? Everyone was very much awake during the earthquake. I wasn’t going to get any answers if I kept touching survivors before I could get them to talk. Resigned, I climbed out of the hole and began to explore the immediate area.
I walked around, carefully avoiding the rubble. On a pile a rocks, a rat scurried through the debris. It squeaked, the only noise in the area. At least animals weren’t asleep. I continued west along one of the main city streets. The roadway was four lanes, two going in each direction. A car was crushed at the start, a victim of a piece of a nearby building. I tentatively looked inside, fearing the result. Empty. At least no one was hurt here.
I headed to the Point Park and was amazed by the sight. There were bodies everywhere. Most looked like they were trying to escape into the park since there were no tall buildings adjacent to it. The ground had heaved in a few places and some shards of rock had jutted out of the sidewalk; otherwise the park looked untouched. Except for the sleeping bodies everywhere. A dog lay next to its owner; I stroked its head and it panted happily. I touched the owner and he disappeared. The dog looked confused and circled the spot where its owner had lain, its leash dragging behind. I walked around the park, listening carefully to people’s mouths, hearing the air exhaled from their lungs. Then I would touch them and they would disappear. I might as well get points for the school while I figured what was going on. I looked at the monitor on my crown.
The display seemed wrong. I was ninety-five minutes in. The re-enactment was only ninety minutes long. Was that why none of the students were still left in the game? Was I trapped? I looked closer at the counter. Time was going backwards, counting back to ninety. Would the game end at ninety? I quickened my pace, wanting to see more in case time was running out. A pigeon flew by and made me look up again. The sky was still black from debris. I couldn’t see clouds or the sun. It felt like looking at a blank screen.
I heard a voice. Four minutes left until ninety. I ran towards the source, eager to seek answers from someone. A school bus was parked at the edge of the boulevard. Its door was closed. It was an old bus with wheels for propulsion. I pushed on the door and it folded to let me in. As I walked up, I saw the driver slumped over the steering wheel. He snored loudly. I looked down the aisle and saw children resting peacefully in their seats. It was almost cute, if I hadn’t thought something sinister was happening. This was no Sleeping Beauty, and I wasn’t the prince coming to save them.
“Mommy!’ I heard a weak voice from the back of the bus. I heard heavy breathing and a whooshing sound. I tried climbing over a kid who was sleeping in the aisle. I reconsidered and touched him, sending him out of the game and out of my way. I could see movement ahead as a small foot shifted from under the seat. I scrambled ahead and pulled out a small girl who was drooling in her sleep. A boy behind her raised his eyes in alarm as the girl disappeared at my touch.
“Don’t touch me!” he wheezed, taking a puff from an inhaler. The kid looked like he could hardly breathe. I held my hands up to show I had no intention of touching him.
“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”
“H—how did you do that?” he stammered. “Where did Margie go?”
“Don’t worry — she just left the game. None of this is real,” I explained. “This a re-enactment of a historical event. I mean, you were actually scared at the time and you’re replaying history. You’re not actually a kid, you’re an adult now.” The boy stared and blinked. I might as well tell him that we were surrounded by aliens and that a third eye was growing out of the back of his head. I looked at the time remaining, less than two minutes before the time counted back to ninety. “Listen, none of this matters right now. Why are you awake while all of you classmates are asleep?” He took a moment to answer, and even though he was wasting precious time, I resisted the urge to shake him.
“I don’t know,” he wailed. “Our class went on school trip to the park when the ground shook. My teacher took us all back to the bus. Everyone was crying and yelling. I couldn’t breathe because of asthma. I overused my puffer.” He shook it to illustrate. “I think I passed out and then when I woke up, everyone was asleep and the ground was quiet. Are they all hurt?” His eyes glistened with concern.
“No, honey,” I consoled, “they’re just sleeping. Once they wake up, everything will be okay.” Less than a minute left. “Was anything strange before the earthquake? Did they eat something that made them sleepy?” He looked around and pulled out his kitbag. He reached out with an uneaten sandwich.
“I never got to eat my lunch. Does peanut butter make you sleepy?”
This was getting me nowhere. He didn’t know anything. He was a scared kid.
“Finish your sandwich. Everything’s going to be okay.” I resisted the urge to pat him. He started chewing enthusiastically and then raised his finger as if to make a point.
“You know, my teacher did point at the sky.” He looked up.
“Yes?”
“She said it looked strange, as if…”
And the boy disappeared. And the bus. And the entire destruction of the city. I was back at the stadium and I had about six people staring at me. I lifted off the crown as Lacey punched me in the arm.
“Way to go! You were the last woman standing for all the schools. You touched a lot of last-minute survivors. How did you do it?”
“Did it help us win?” I asked.
“Not quite,” Mr. Stewart said, pushing through the teenagers standing around me. “But your last-minute heroics did put our school in second place. Our best showing in years. Congratulations.” His smile was genuine, and even though I wasn’t trying to win, I accepted the praise.
“Where did you go?” Lacey asked. “One second you were with me, the next you were gone.”
“I don’t know what happened,” I answered truthfully. I needed to talk to Austin again. Maybe he could explain what happened to me. Before I could begin looking for him, announcements for the top schools were made.
“Congratulations to Vermont High, this year’s winner!” Lord Morall’s voiced boomed over the speakers. The crowd roared its approval and stamped its feet on the concrete bleachers. On the screens they listed the schools in order of first place and lower. Sure enough, my school was in second place. Dad will be proud. There was a siren coming from behind. I turned and watched two large drones walking towards us. They had a police insignia on the side of their tall metal bodies, and a half-man and half-motorcycle drone wheeled in behind them. Mr. Stewart approached them.
“Is there something I can help with?” The police drone on the right simply pointed behind him towards me and Lacey. I couldn’t make out what the other drone said but Mr. Stewart made a face in response. The motorcycle drone wheeled up next me.
“You will accompany me,” its human top half said emotionlessly.
“Why? Was she the top scorer? Are you going to parade her around the stadium?” Lacey asked. Mr. Stewart came forward and pushed some of his students back.
“Pene. Please go with these drones. It’s important.”
Suddenly I had the feeling that my conversations with Austin might not have been as private as we thought. What if they had found his computer? Or worse, found something to incriminate me.
“No. I haven’t done anything. I’m not going anywhere until I talk to my dad.”
“That’s why they are here, Pene,” Mr. Stewart answered. “You dad has been arrested for the crime of falsifying evidence. If he’s convicted, he could get a life sentence!”