Chapter 6 #2
I knew the tactic very well.
It was why my apartment looked the way it did. If I started to act up, they would show me how many rungs above the “lower class” I was to get me to fall back in line. My skill level made me as valuable as it made me dangerous, so I was granted privilege in order to facilitate compliance.
“One of? Oh, so I’m a pig head too?”
She grinned. “No, you’re a good boy. That’s why I take care of you so well. Now, and back when you used to have to look up at me.”
Mae didn’t heal, build, farm, or protect, but her cooking skills were renowned throughout D.C.
She’d owned a diner that had some of the best apple pie in the nation, and she fed me, a homeless teen when we first met, for years until I enlisted.
The only thing she ever asked for in return was that I kept myself out of trouble and never went hungry, knowing she would feed me.
Had it not been for her, I probably would have died or resorted to something darker to survive.
“There’s another lawyer I heard they picked up,” she went on.
“They marked her as NE, but then they found out she used to have a successful food blog. Plus, she was in shock when she arrived, but once it wore off, they learned her husband was in the military and stationed overseas. So, they’re starting her in the kitchen with me this week. ”
I paused in the middle of lifting a spoonful of oatmeal to my mouth. “Where were they sending her before?”
“Sanitation.”
I dropped the spoon.
If they’d sent Larke to Sanitation, it made sense as to why I hadn’t found her yet.
I didn’t know if it was guards in general or those at my level, but I never crossed paths with Sanitation.
Then, Sanitation didn’t simply clean units, sweep floors, and launder clothing.
They also disposed of human waste, scraped maggots and mold from ration barrels, hauled out the deceased, and cleaned up the areas where the infected were “neutralized.”
I shook my head. “She’s not there.”
“They have Sanitation like roaches, honey,” Mae said. “I don’t think any of us has ever seen them in the light. That might be why you can’t find her.”
A bell rang, and Mae tenderly patted my hand before leaving to serve the newest influx of guards. Assignments poured in over the intercom system, but I barely paid them any mind. If Larke was truly on sanitation duty, I didn’t care what I had to do.
I had to get her out.
This was all because of me.
Looking back, I was sure the Reaper had funneled us toward the trains, and like a dumbass, I didn’t pick up on it in time.
“Level P, Class One, Group A…perimeter patrol.”
If there were any silver linings amongst all of this bullshit, perimeter patrol was one.
Being out in the open increased my chances of finding out where Larke was.
I needed her to know that I hadn’t abandoned her and that, if she genuinely was where Mae said she might be, I would kill to get her back.
I took my empty containers to the dish return before heading out, eager to start my rounds.
After assignments, we briefly met with our head of command.
Here, they were called strategoi, from the word Strategos, Greek for “military general.” The underlying premise was that democracy was a Greek experiment, and regardless of what happened in the outside world, inside the walls, the experiment would continue.
The highest-ranking strategoi, Pete Cerner, gave my group a brief overview of camp updates since our last shift before we were dismissed. As I went to leave, he called out to me. I approached him, reminding myself of the importance of playing along, playing the game.
“How are you today, sir?” I asked.
He smiled. “Glad to be a Class One General.”
When he added nothing further, I clenched my jaw to control my irritation. The longer we stood around, the less time I had to survey the grounds and the longer Larke remained in the trenches.
“I’m going to share some classified information with you, Harding,” he said.
“There’s talk of a bit of a ruffle amongst the Non-Essentials.
Right now, it’s just that—talk. Chirps and buzzing.
So, today, I’m going to change your route a little.
Now, I trust you, Dez. Don’t make me regret trusting you. ”
I said nothing.
He went on, “Do you know Jeremy LaSalle?”
“Only a little,” I answered. “We enlisted together.”
I’d noticed Jeremy on the train, and I saw him around the complex, but that was the extent of our interaction.
From what I could remember, he was a good soldier, but his weakness lay in his eagerness.
His willingness to “do for” and his need to be recognized would always leave him just shy of rising to the rank of a leader.
“Do you fraternize with LaSalle?”
“I don’t fraternize with anyone, sir.”
I wasn’t looking for friends.
I was looking for Larke.
“Well, keep an eye on him for me, would you?”
“An eye or tabs?”
“An eye. If the occasion arises for tabs, keep tabs. See, that’s why I like you, Dez. You don’t care about being recognized or loved. That keeps you objective. I prefer that. I’m not a fan of bias.”
My entire role at the safe zone existed because of bias, but there was no use in pointing it out. Around here, mental gymnastics was seen as more of a norm than what it truly was: fear of cognitive dissonance.
“Am I dismissed?” I asked.
He tipped his head toward the door. “Dismissed.”
I returned to the main corridor and ran into LaSalle. At first, he uttered a quick, “Sorry.” When he noticed who he’d collided with, he paused and looked as if he wanted to say something, but I watched him actively chicken out before walking away.
I followed him until we were outside, far out of earshot of Cerner, and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Where is who?” the liar deflected.
“Don’t fucking play around with me. Back there, you wanted to tell me something. I know it’s about Larke Tapley. What is it?”
He lowered his voice. “Okay, okay. I overheard you talking to the cook. I don’t know where Larke is right this moment, but I was the one who escorted her after intake.”
“Where was she placed?”
“Sanitation.”
I wanted to destroy something.
Someone.
Luckily, right then, LaSalle had value.
“Why Sanitation?” I hissed. “She’s a former federal prosecutor. They could’ve put her in Admin, at least. Hell, she can do intake in her sleep.”
“But she’s unmarried and childless, Dez,” he argued.
“No spouse or kids? She’s too much of a flight risk, and it increases the likelihood she might rebel.
No one depends on her, and that’s what makes people tick—knowing someone needs you.
Knowing there’s a life out there more important than your own that can be threatened if you fall out of line. ”
I hated that bullshit justification.
Her family needed her.
I needed her more.
“I see.” I released his shoulder. “Thanks for that information, then. I really appreciate it, LaSalle.”
Like I knew they would, his eyes lit up, and I momentarily felt sorry for him. At some point in his life, he’d been neglected so profoundly that he would have sold his soul for a teaspoon of favor and an ounce of approval.
“I can keep an eye out,” he offered.
“Would you? It would mean a lot. I’m worried about her. I just…I need to see her. I was the head of her private security before all this. Not knowing where she is now? It makes me feel like I failed. You know how that is, right?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“I appreciate it, LaSalle.”
I gave his shoulder a brotherly pat and walked away.
“I won’t let you down,” he called after me.
At the end of the corridor, I did an about-face, waited until he started his rounds, and mirrored every single step he took. If he truly was affiliated with an underground revolution, he knew where Larke was. Organized retribution had my girl’s name written all over it.