Population Zero

Chapter Twenty-One

William grabs me and ushers me into his room fast nearly tripping on the stacks of books, papers and random garbage that littered the floor. He shoved me hard into his closet and threw piles and piles of old clothes on top of me. Jackets, sweaters, button down shirts and denim covered every inch of my face and body as I huddled up knees to chest. I moved a loose sleeve away from one of my eyes and my nose so I could see a little bit and catch some air. I desperately wished I had saved at least one hearing aid so that I could hear something, anything that was going on outside the room. After many moments of complete stillness the door to William's bedroom bursted open. From inside the closet I covered my nose back up with the sleeve but kept a tiny piece off one of my eyes. My heart began to race and I felt hot. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I couldn't see anything at first but some legs and I guessed one pair belonged to the visitor and one pair belonged to William. Who it was I didn't know. The first pair of legs seemed to be trying to prevent the second pair of legs from entering the room but had failed. Soon I saw a pair of arms throwing sheets and blankets off the bed. A pair of legs began kicking books, papers, and cardboard boxes around the room. Then that same pair of legs started toward the closet where I was hiding. I held my breath unaware if it was making a sound or not, just to be safe. I felt the ground move from hard footsteps and squinted my eye so hard trying to see if the legs were moving closer to me or further away. Suddenly, both pairs of legs stopped moving. Next, they both walked out of the room and the door shut behind them. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I was safe. I moved the clothes off of my face and took a deep breath into the air and tried to steady my breathing. What on earth had just happened? Was William trying to hide me from being returned to the compound after all? He had told me just last night that he was going to return me but something had changed this morning when he saw that I was reading his book. The door quickly opened again and I jumped up, impulsively deciding I would hide no longer, when I saw Williams face, alone. He frowned and handed me a note.

I saved you from my brother this time. If you want to return to the compound and accept your fate I won't stand in your way. I do think you should consider continuing your fight. I can help you reach the female's fortress if that's what you decide to do. The choice is yours.

So that was his brother that came after me? I expected it to be Eric. Maybe he still wanted me to be a father. If I return to the compound there's still a chance I would be forced into the female compound. Deep inside of me there was still a strong desire to go but under my own terms. I took the pen and responded:

I want to continue my fight but I am worried about my friends. I need to know they are okay.

I passed the note to him and he quickly responded:

Your friends are going to be okay. Come with me out back.

He scrubbed the last part so fast it was barely legible and when I finished reading he had vanished from the room. How did he know my friends were okay?

I followed him to the back door and for the first time I realized just how big his property was. Outside was ATV's galore although they were all broken down and in pieces. Tires flung around the lot most of them flat, and cans of nuts and bolts and spare parts dumped out all around. William was walking ahead of me passing all the rubble and heading towards what looked like a small coop. I had only seen something like it a few times before because thankfully I never had to work on the farm like Renzo and Fabian did. I caught a couple glances of one on one of our adventures for the first time and I'll never forget it. It was during the day when all the level 3's and below were working on the farm and we had snuck out to go watch them. Renzo pointed out to me where the cows were kept and where they were milked. He showed me from a distance where the chickens were and explained in gory detail how they would chop off the heads and use buckets to catch the blood, feathers, and guts that spilled out. It was enough to keep me from eating meat for weeks. I tried to pick up my pace following behind William trying to figure out what he was up to. He was carrying a tool kit and looked like he meant business. He set the tool box down next to a run down dusty looking ATV that I guessed hadn't been in use in a long time. I started to get a little anxious because I wasn't sure exactly what his plan was. While he worked on the ATV I wandered off to go check out the chicken coop and get away to clear my head for a minute. There were at least 20 chickens and dozens of eggs. I sat down in some hay and watched them move. I thought about my friends and wondered if they were really okay like William said. I thought about Asher and Benjamin and Dustin and Elijah. I wished there could be some sign here right now to tell me what the right thing to do was. Should I go back to the compound and risk getting sent to work as a father? Or return to the adult compound to work myself to death with my friends? Or should I ride this man's ATV into the unknown and potentially dangerous female compound? William called it a fortress. I absentmindedly started digging into the hay with a stick when a chicken walked over towards me and started pecking at my shoe. I watched the chicken closely wondering what it's life must be like. It seems happy just clucking around here pecking at things. After a while it wandered away and a large rooster came up to it that I hadn't noticed before. The rooster climbed on top of it and started pecking at its neck. I realized quickly that they were mating. It seemed natural. Maybe this is the answer. All of my life I believed that males and females should be separated. I believed it was a sin against the earth to procreate and yet here were these animals doing the very thing I believed was wrong. I longed to feel the soft touch of a female as though it were as innate as the air I breathe. As much as I miss my friends maybe this is the path I need to be on right now in this moment. I can grieve for what I've lost and still move forward knowing this is what I was meant to do. To stand up and fight against the system I was born into. William believed in me. I have to believe in myself now.