The Wire Hanger

Chapter 31

My legs moved as if they were on autopilot. I couldn’t think. We burst through the secondary tunnel into Lower Queen, where the women who had gone before us were crowded onto the platform. Jezebel had climbed up onto the rickety metal stairs that led to the station proper, but she didn’t seem to be planning to use them. She watched the last of us as we clambered up on the platform. The deathly quiet had abated somewhat, with a low murmur coming from the crowd of women as they looked at each other and at Jezebel. Most of them had wan, drawn faces and seemed to be shellshocked.

            I looked furiously at Felix as soon as I could see his face in the low emergency lights. He muttered, “I tried, Coby, honest I did, but something made him stop. He wasn’t listening to me.” With a hitch in my chest, I knew exactly what that something was. He’d seen our father – our father in the elite Protector gear, silver slash across his chest; our father in his big black boots – and he’d frozen up, and he’d gotten caught. I should have told him about it beforehand, so he wouldn’t be surprised. It was all my fault.

            Jezebel held up a hand for quiet, and even the lowest of whispers stopped immediately, their faces turned towards her like plants towards the sun. “We have to move quickly,” she said in a normal speaking voice, probably the loudest she dared use. “I know you’re probably weak, so we’ll be taking the train.”

            The women recoiled almost as one.

            “Don’t worry,” said Jezebel, “private service. Felix, if you would.”

            Next to me, Felix nodded, and spoke into a microphone I hadn’t noticed clipped to his collar.

            “It’s just a few minutes through the tunnel,” said Jezebel, and with that she set off into the tunnel that had brought us there in the first place. I was beginning to wonder how many of them crossed beneath the city. It was a wonder the buildings hadn’t collapsed. We followed her through, the terrain becoming familiar to me, my heart pounding all the way. Esau. Esau. Why did he have to follow me? I should have been able to save him.

            Jezebel halted us along a desolate stretch of tracks. I heard the low rumble that by now I knew signaled an oncoming train and instinctively flattened myself against the wall. The train – but just the engine car, with no cars trailing behind it – pulled up and stopped near us. The driver popped his head out the window and waved at Jezebel, then hit the button for the doors. They opened with a hiss and we all piled aboard. Those who looked the worst off took seats, and the rest of us held onto the handrails as best we could. Then we rocketed off down the tracks. I had never been on the subway before, only the trains that ran above ground, connecting the city to its suburbs, so I looked around with interest. The cars had worn red seats, nearly threadbare, and the floor was covered with the black circles of ancient gum. I tried not to think about the germs on the handle. The car did not smell very good, what with the women cooped up near me, all of whom could have used a good shower. Avoiding the swollen gaze of the woman nearest me, I looked across the train into the face of a different woman.

            “Coby?” she said.

            Goosebumps broke out all over my body. I hadn’t recognized her, somehow, when she’d filed past me; her face was thinner than I’d ever seen it and her clothes were dirty and her hair had been cut short. But there she was, at last. My mother.

            “Mom,” I croaked, but we couldn’t reach each other; the bodies were packed far too densely for that. We could only stare at each other as the train hitched and swayed. I wasn’t aware of anything else, not how far we traveled, not any of the women around me (who undoubtedly had their own families, their own daughters). It was only my mother, twenty infinite feet away from me, untouchable but finally and undeniably real. I could hardly remember to breathe.

            Eventually the subway shuddered to a stop, the squeal reverberating through the tunnel. I couldn’t imagine how the sound wouldn’t be heard, but I was used to taking my cues from Jezebel, who didn’t sound worried in the least as she called out instructions for us to follow her through the tunnel. In the press towards the train doors I pushed only towards my mother, ignoring the flow of traffic.

            When at last I reached her I didn’t know what to do. She looked almost too frail to hug. She reached out her hand to brush along my cheek and I thought I might burst out crying.

            “Let’s go, ladies,” said Jezebel, but she was smiling. I grabbed my mother’s hand tightly in my own as we delved into the darkness of the tunnel.

            “Later,” said my mother, “much later, we will talk about what you’re doing down here, putting yourself in very serious danger, young lady.”

            So instead of crying, I burst out laughing, quickly muffling the sound with the back of my other hand. It wasn’t far to the storage room I was familiar with, but when we got there, the door was standing ajar.

            Jezebel held up a hand to make us wait and we all fell silent. She scooted sideways through the open door, not touching anything; I heard a series of curses followed by some electronic beeping.

            “It’s okay,” she said, popping back to our side of the door, “I deactivated all their sensors.”

            “Not like they’d catch us,” said one of the women, holding her bare arm up. It gleamed bone white in the glare of Jezebel’s headlamp and I shuddered.

            “We’re not all so lucky,” said Jezebel drily.

            “How did she do that?” my mom whispered in my ear.

            “Noah,” I said. “You’ll meet him.” It seemed impossible that it could be true, but it was. An image of his face flashed before me – suddenly replaced by Esau’s face. My heart dropped like a stone. How could I ever explain to my mother what would happen? She would blame herself, and how could I stop her, when there was no way I could ever forgive myself either?

            I decided to let that conversation wait for the safety of the Professor’s kitchen. We slipped out of the cellar, noting the ominous blinking lights around us. I hoped Jezebel had gotten to them all. It was obvious that we wouldn’t be able to come back this way, and if the Protectors had discovered this, trashed it (there were jars of pickled vegetables everywhere; the smell of vinegar was overwhelming), might be watching it…I felt the my skin prickle. What would be waiting for us at the Professor’s house?