1. Inspection #2
Larissa bent down, lightly kissing Mamma on the forehead before accepting the apple slices offered to her. “It’ll be fine.”
The screen door slammed as Pappa’s heavy footsteps thudded across the wood. Sweat pooled at his graying hairline as his broad figure filled up the doorway. His eyes were grim and his mouth pulled tight as he spat out one word. “Inspection.”
The kitchen erupted into a frenzy as Pappa darted out the front door. They had been due for an Inspection, but Larissa never would have guessed the sentries would arrive on Produce Day.
“Kings and Queens,” Larissa cursed, but Mamma’s rebuke did not come. She was already rushing into her daughters’ room. Larissa followed, darting after her as Mamma shook Halla from her doze.
“Inspection,” Mamma said.
Halla froze at the word, then bound into motion, shoving on her shoes.
With practiced movements, Mamma wrapped an arm around Halla and pulled her from the room.
Mamma would take Halla out the back door before joining Pappa on the dirt drive.
Larissa remained, remaking the bed, organizing the dresser, and hiding any evidence of a second child.
Within moments, the room was spotless. It would be enough to fool the sentries.
It always was.
Motors from the sentries’ trucks grew louder. Larissa could only hope that Halla had made it to the barn under the cover of morning's dim light, tucked away beneath the trapdoor in the last stall. Mamma’s footsteps pattered across the wooden floors, signaling her return.
“Larissa, hurry!” Mamma called.
Larissa gave the room one last glance then bolted through the house. As she passed the front screen door, her eyes caught on the rune for luck Pappa had etched into the frame. She rubbed it, willing it to work.
Even she believed in the AEsir on Inspection Days.
Taking her place beside Mamma and Pappa, Larissa forced herself to remain still as three sentries parked and exited their armored trucks.
Guns and knives hung on their belts. With their black armor and helmets, Larissa struggled to distinguish one sentry from the other.
She never knew if the same sentries performed each Inspection or if new ones came each time.
Larissa never attempted to look too closely under their visors to check.
Not that it mattered if they were the same or different sentries, as long as they didn’t find Halla.
The tallest of the sentries approached Pappa, extending his hand.
Pappa wordlessly supplied him with the requisite paperwork that detailed their latest product quotas.
The sentries would check their production, inspect their lands, and search for any contraband within their home.
As long as their family passed, they were allowed to continue their work of providing food for those within the Walls.
If they failed for any reason, they would be sold into slavery.
Of course, if the sentries discovered Halla, execution was more probable.
One of the Empress’ initial mandates after her rise to power was the population law.
All families were permitted the conception of one child, but additional children had to be requested and recorded.
Most of these requests went unanswered, and unapproved children were stripped from their families and sent north to become servants for the Empress.
Some of the unregistered children were merely taken by the thraell , who seized and sold the children within and between the five commonwealths.
The children were never heard from by their families again.
As the sentry continued reading, his two partners drifted away. One went into the house, while the other entered the barn. Larissa forced her eyes away. The trapdoor was well hidden. It had never failed them yet.
“State your name,” said the remaining sentry.
“Dal Oginson,” Pappa answered.
“How many farm hands do you have?”
“Myself, my wife, my daughter, and Tucker. He’s out in the fields.”
The sentry’s eyes narrowed. “Only one field hand?”
Pappa met his gaze. “My family works hard.”
Pappa didn’t mention that he’d turned down other potential farm hands in the past. Besides Tucker, whom could they trust to keep Halla’s secret? The sentries had never bothered to find out why Pappa turned down the extra help. As long as the produce quota was made, the sentries didn’t care.
The sentry moved to stand before Mamma. “Name.”
“Vern Askdóttir.”
The sentry turned his visor toward Larissa. “Name.”
She gulped, swallowing her nerves. “Larissa Daldóttir.”
He perused the pages further. “You will be making the delivery today?”
“Yes, sir.”
“A bit young to be doing deliveries.”
“I’m seventeen, sir.”
The sentry nodded, boredom creeping into his expression. He split the pile of papers and handed half of them to Pappa before shoving the other half at Larissa. “Your papers are in order. Take them and leave.”
Larissa’s eyes swung to Pappa. She’d never left mid-Inspection before.
Clenching his hat in tight fingers, Pappa nodded in her direction. “Truck’s ready.” His tight eyes spoke the words he couldn’t. Get in, get out, and get home.
Mamma squeezed Larissa’s hand, both as a comfort and a warning. It wouldn’t do to ignore the sentry’s order.
Their family truck idled where it sat between the house and the barn.
No doubt Pappa had left it running out of fear it would break down again should he turn it off.
It had been painted blue in some distant past. Now it sat rust-colored with spots of peeling, blue paint.
Some dents had been banged out, while others remained.
Pappa spent many an evening fixing it and cursing at it in equal measure.
The truck was a beast and a menace, but Larissa found its enduring presence reassuring.
She and Halla had named it Helga.
Larissa forced herself toward Helga now, knowing that any deviation from the norm would only lead the sentries to investigate further.
Helga sat low, especially toward the bed where crates and boxes of produce had been packed by Pappa and Tucker earlier that morning.
Surprised to find the tailgate still down, Larissa slammed it up before continuing on.
Once inside Helga’s cab, Larissa risked one glance back to where Pappa and Mamma stood at the sentry’s mercy.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a sentry leaving the barn.
The pain in Larissa’s chest rivaled the pressure her nightmare had brought.
The thought of the sentry discovering the trapdoor with Halla beneath it was enough to tempt Larissa to pray to the unanswering AEsir .
She shoved the truck into gear, guiding Helga down their dirt drive while her eyes remained locked on her family growing smaller in the rearview mirror.