“Where is the other one?” I asked.
“Cipher’s on duty,” she said, though she didn’t say what his duty might be.
Cipher, a fitting name for a wraith.
“And you are?” she asked.
“Joshua Perrin-Rogers,” I said. None of them had told me their last names, and probably not their real names either, but my parents had always insisted I say my full name when meeting someone for the first time, to show respect for myself and my family.
“Nice to meet you, Joshua.” She smiled at me, but I didn’t trust it.
“What do you want?” I asked again. Or rather, “When are you leaving?”
“Soon,” she said, then pressed her full lips together, seeming to choose her next words carefully. “We’d like you to come with us.”
Of all the things I thought she might say, that wasn’t it.
“Why?” I asked.
“Why not?”
“Where are you going?”
“Atlanta.”
Atlanta was where my brother was headed.It’s a big city with doctors and hospitals. They’re bound to have a cure, or some medicine at least. I’ll come back as soon as I can, Joshua, I promise…
“Why Atlanta?” I asked, shutting down his voice in my head.
“Cipher needs more bullets,” Teresa piped up.
Artemis shot her a look. “We’re looking for information on a place called Promised Land. It’s a settlement in one of the southern states where civilians work together as a community without any government interference. We want to find its location and see if they’ll allow us to join them.”
“All you have to do is show up, and they’ll give you a place to live and a plot of land to farm,” Macon said.
“I have that already,” I told him.
“You’re defenseless here,” Artemis said. “You have your garden, and that’s good, but I doubt it’s enough by itself to feed you. And what if you get injured? What if the next band of scavengers who come through here isn’t as kind as us?”
“You’ve been kind?” I asked. The girl had some nerve. “At least they won’t murder my mother.”
She stared at me steadily, unapologetically. “It needed to be done, Joshua. You may not want to acknowledge it, but your life was in danger.”
I glared at a scratch on the wood’s surface. It didn’t make sense. Kill my mother then recruit me? “Why would you want me to come with you? How do you know I won’t murder you all in your sleep?”
She smiled coolly, then said, “You can try, but the truth is, we’re stronger together. We’d expect you to contribute, help with cooking, gather firewood and other camp chores. Nothing too strenuous. You may decide to stay in Atlanta or continue with us to Promised Land. At the very least you’ll have options. And you won’t be alone.”
“I’m not alone. I have my brother. I’m going to find him,” I said stubbornly.
“I’m going to build an IEU-5000,” Gizmo said.
I stared at him, perplexed.
“It’s a super-battery,” Artemis said.
“It’s an Independent Electrical Unit that can operate anything,” Gizmo continued. “Lights, refrigerator, electronics. Powered by wind and solar, maybe even a crank if necessary. It’ll make power grids obsolete and put energy production in the hands of the people.”
I wasn’t sure how that related to my current situation, but I wished him luck. I tried to read the intentions of the faces staring back at me. With the exception of Cipher, none of them had harmed me, not yet at least, and even Teresa, the smallest of the group, seemed healthy enough and well-fed.
