When All is Lost

Chapter 7

"What? How?" My voice hitched. First the President, then Chicago, now us. It had all crumpled down so fast. I felt blindsided, and frankly, I was getting sick of it. I looked to Ian for an explanation. "Why?"

Owen scoffed, making Abby sit up straighter in her chair. I turned to him to see a bitter expression darken his face. "Depends on who you ask."

Ian cut in. "I told you about the people from Chicago, right?"

I nodded, glancing around the table. I seemed to be the only one in the dark about our situation and a simmering mix of anger and frustration bubbled up inside of me.

How did I become so ignorant?

"Well, in the last few weeks the Mayor and his people started cutting back even more on supplies," Ian continued grimly. "They took people off of other jobs and added them to guard duty all while giving us less food and fewer weapons. This was all happening while we were trying to deal with the people at the border. I guess they wanted to keep it for themselves, but-"

"That's exactly what they did." Owen jumped in. "Those bastards lined their pockets and screwed the rest of us."

"Were you a guard?" I asked.

Owen shook his head. "No. I was a building guard – at your apartment complex actually - but they screwed us even harder. We stopped getting lunches and had our hours extended so we were working fourteen-hour shifts. They were using us to save time to plan their own escape out of the city."

"Or," Ian said calmly. "They were holding it back in order to have enough supplies for all the people who were inevitably going to get in."

Owen glared at him and Ian shrugged. "It doesn't matter. The strain on everyone ended up being too much and so - someone or a group of people or something - they cut the power. I guess after that, everyone just started leaving their posts."

"Seriously?" I asked, flabbergasted. "How do you know that?"

Mark raised his hand. "I saw people leaving one of the power plants."

I looked at him in confusion. "Wait, you're a guard?"

I realized too late how my words came out and cringed as I watched Ian grin. Evidently, Mark didn't mind too much because he chuckled.

"Only for the last two weeks. They moved me when things started to get tense. I was an accountant before for that."

I blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Was that still a job people had?

"Right, uh, better known as a supply delegator? People just call us accountants. I made sure supplies were going to the right destinations, but mostly I just made sure guards were checking their equipment in and out. That's how I met Ian."

"Right."

I guess that makes sense.

"So, you saw that things were falling apart and met up." I guessed but didn't require an answer. "Did you also see how low supplies were getting?"

"Somewhat, but mostly I experienced it." He shook his head. "A lot of unhappy guards."

Chris.

Why hadn't he told me any of this? Ian knew all about it. Hell, Abby seemed to already know about it as she looked bored while staring out the window. So, how was it that I knew nothing?

I started to feel a pit of resentment settle in my gut, but I refused to let it flourish. If Chris hadn't told me things, I had to believe he had a good reason.