Population Zero

Chapter Twelve

After a few weeks of this routine the stress and anxiety began to slowly fade and life began to feel more normal, whatever normal was. The long walks to and from our cabin became commonplace as was all the suffering that surrounded me. Even the smell of sewage and raw garbage started to fade away as my senses numbed. On a day that was not particularly interesting, when we arrived for our daily shower I had a sense of unease come over me. It was a feeling as though someone may have been watching me. I tried to ignore the feeling and continue focusing on washing my body but I couldn't shake it off. The feeling became unbearable as I suddenly turned to look over my shoulders with water rushing down my face. I gasped as I was suddenly snatched out of the shower, completely nude, and rushed straight out the double doors. In my panic I tried to wriggle free but to no avail. I shouted out "What's going on? Hey! Let me go! Asher!" My last glimpse of Asher's face showed an expression of shock. Clearly this didn't happen very often. I was so afraid and so many thoughts started to fill my head as I was being dragged away with no explanation. Did they find out my secret? Did someone rat me out? Where were they taking me? By the time they let me go I was standing there, naked, dripping with water and shivering. Someone wrapped a towel around me and sat me down in a chair and spoke for the first time. "Relax. Calm yourself down." I had been whimpering uncontrollably and sniffling and was overcome by shock. I squeezed my eyes shut and refused to look up to see who the voice belonged to. The shivering overtook my body and I felt completely paralyzed. I heard a sound that reminded me of someone dropping a few ice cubes into a glass of water but I couldn't look up. The voice began again. "You are not in trouble. Relax." Then "He isn't listening. He's shutting down like he always does." Who does this voice belong to? Do they know who I am? I tried to suck some air into my lungs to relax my body but the shivering continued. Another voice began, "Maybe we should give him some benzodiazepines. We don't want him to lose consciousness." Then, "No. give him a chance. I think he'll come out of this one." I heard a door open, then shut. My eyes began to relax and I started to blink a few times to clear away the blurriness of the tears. My breathing steadied. I looked down at my hands as I saw a glass of water appear next to them. I took the glass but didn't sip. My mind was blank. The familiar voice returned as it sat down in a chair next to mine. "Drink some water. You're going to be alright. Jason has gone off to fetch you some clean clothes. You didn't belong in that uniform. Look up. Look at me." I hesitated for a while taking in all his words. Each of his statements left me with questions but I couldn't move my lips to speak. I tried to raise my head but my eyes wouldn't follow. They stayed down at my glass and I watched the ice cubes bobbling around as my hands slowly tried to steady. I felt the man stand and the air around him moved as to make way for his presence. A door opened and then shut. A voice boomed. "Here's the clothes, Sir. They didn't have a small so medium will have to do for now, I'm afraid." The response, "That will be all." A door opened and shut. The voice returned to sit next to me. "Here is some clean clothes. Get dressed. We have much to discuss." With that the voice stood up. A door opened. A door shut. Then silence.

After many moments of silence I decided it was safe enough for me to raise my eyes from my glass. I was in a huge office. A big red leather chair was beneath my body and on the table beside me was a pair of black slacks and a navy blue button down long sleeve shirt. I scanned the room and saw a huge black desk with stacks of papers all around. A laptop computer sat shut in between the stacks and I found a very oddly shaped lamp that seemed much too small to make any significant light, especially with large windows, curtains opened, with beams of sunlight shining throughout the room. Against the walls were rows and rows of book shelves as though this were a library of some sort. I stood up immediately entranced by what the contents of these books could be when I suddenly remembered I was still naked. I looked down at my still slightly shivering body, and began to get myself dressed. The shirt was baggy for sure and the sleeves were much too long so I rolled them up the way I used to when I was in the youth compound and I had to wear hand-me-downs. As I got each leg through the pants I realized they wouldn't stay up without some sort of belt or rope to tie around them. I glanced at the curtains sitting atop the giant windows and spotted rope hanging down from them. In the desk drawer I found scissors. I cut some rope from behind the curtains and fashioned myself a belt from it. I tied it tight across the belt loops and pulled my shirt down over it to hide the evidence. My heart pounded in my ears as I considered how I would escape when the door knob turned and the door swung open. A cold chill creeped down my neck as I wondered what would become of me now.

I stood there awkwardly in front of the red leather chair awaiting my fate when I made eye contact with a man who looked older than any youth officer I had ever seen yet younger than most the elderly patients at the hospital. He had silver highlights in his hair but it was mostly brown and he had 3 thick wrinkles along his forehead but it may just have been his expression. He wore silver glasses and a white button down shirt with black slacks and shiny black shoes. He looked like he was very important and I couldn't begin to understand what he could possibly want with me. He walked up to me slowly which gave me plenty of time to size him up and decide what my next course of action would be. Just tell him what he wants to hear, Luke. You know what they all want to hear. I nervously fidgeted with my cupped sleeve as I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off before I could get out my words. "Lucas. We've been watching you. You clearly do not belong here." He walked up so closely to me and spoke so loudly I fell backwards into my seat still looking up to maintain eye contact. He has been watching me? He continued without hesitation, "We think you are a very special youth. Strong. Resilient. Highly adaptable. Clever. Many highly sought after qualities for a youth officer." He paused to turn as the door opened and another man walked into the room. "Jason. It seems that Lucas has regained his wits." Jason responds, "Yes, sir." And sits opposite to me in the second red leather chair and held out his telepad typing away as if he were taking notes. The man returned his attention to me. "My name is Van Whittle. I am head of the Youth Quest. Our organization scouts out youths and young adults who could be potential youth officers. As I said, we have been watching you and feel you have very high potential and are considering placing you into the youth officer training program." My head was buzzing. Youth officer training program? He continued, "There are big incentives to joining Youth Quest. Private showers. Private cottages. Not to mention food." He finally paused long enough from his monologue to allow me a chance to speak. I mustered up all my courage and tried to ignore the pounding in my chest. "Wow. That all sounds really nice, Mr. Van Whittle. But why me?" I clutched my rope belt nervously and continued, "As you said, I don't really belong here. It was all a mix up. Eric dropped me off weeks ago as some sort of prank.." he interrupted me quickly. "None of that matters now. You must return with us to the youth compound. If you refuse to cooperate you will be stuck here to work in these conditions. Think about it long and hard, Lucas. This will be an excellent opportunity for you and I would hate to see all of your potential waste away." All I could think about as he was talking was Asher, Benjamin, Derek, and Willie. How could I leave them all behind? My eyes searched the room as though I would find the answer here somewhere. My eyes fell onto the giant book shelves and couldn't help but ask distractedly, "What are those books?" Van Whittle looked at me slightly amused as a smile touched his eyes. "Those books? They are the world's history, dear boy. And you can read them all if you like. You'll soon find out that nothing is as it seems." My eyes dropped to the floor. I'm afraid everything is exactly as it seems. My friends are suffering. People are starving. How could anything written in those books help my friends? Van Whittle knelt down on his knees and softly touched my thigh. I looked up into his eyes and saw a look of compassion. He spoke softly to me. "Lucas. You are fiercely loyal. Another fine quality in a youth officer. And you seem to want to help people. You can help so many youths as a youth officer. Just as many of them have helped you. Those kids need a good mentor. Someone to show them the light. Just think about it. You have until tomorrow morning to decide." With that comment he stood up and exited the room. I turned to look nervously at Jason who was still typing away on his telepad. After what felt like forever he finally stood up. "I will be bringing you pajamas and fresh sheets this evening. Here is a menu for ordering dinner. Just call the number at the bottom and order when you are ready. You'll be sleeping here tonight." He began pulling out a bed from a red leather sofa directly across from the chair I had been sitting in. After he left my stomach began to growl. I looked down at the menu Jason gave me but I didn't really recognize any of the food items. I decided on the Spring Lamb and since it was the only one I could pronounce I dialed the number and ordered it even though it felt like it might still be a little early for dinner. I didn't care. I turned my attention back to the books and began idly reading and studying the spines. I thumbed through a few books I was already familiar with. Plagues and People's, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Origins of the Second World War, oh, what's this? The Great Flood? What great flood? As I began to pull the book off the shelf the door opened and Jason stepped inside wheeling a cart with my sheets, pajamas, and lamb dinner. I let go of the book and turned to sniff the air. I was famished and exhausted. I ate my meal quickly and drifted off to sleep as the sun still blared through the curtain.