“Yes, ma’am. Me too.” It didn’t forgive me my sin, but it comforted me to know that Promised Land was being led by a kind and compassionate person. A life-bringer, Marion wouldn’t allow people to be sold into slavery or traded for weapons.
Crenshaw’s radio chirped to life then. “Captain,” a voice said.
“Report,” she said briefly.
“No signs of any illegal activity or captives. Everyone appears healthy and relatively well-fed. They have stores of meat, food, and live fowl. A couple of them don’t speak English, but they don’t seem ill-treated.”
“They speak Spanish,” my brother said.
Crenshaw nodded at Santiago and addressed the voice on the radio, “All right team, let’s clear out and let these young folk get back to their business.” She holstered her radio and said to us in a brighter tone, “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell you boys that the military offers a generous pay along with shelter and three meals a day in exchange for enlisting.”
“Not interested,” Santiago said to her, rather rudely.
“What sort of things do you do?” I asked.
“We have several companies who work on base, keeping the place running, similar to what you all do here. My squad mostly does field work. We monitor the area for criminal activity and occasionally trap infected individuals to bring back to the base.”
“Rabids?” I asked.
She nodded. “There’s a secure section of the base where scientists and doctors live and work. Their care and safety is our responsibility too.”
Had Jeremiah been providing live specimens to their lab? Is that why Crenshaw was asking about his weapons?
“I’ve had enough with being a lab rat,” Santiago said.
“As a human, you wouldn’t be tested on without your consent. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the only way we’re going to find a way to beat this thing.” She handed me a half-sheet of paper detailing the terms of enlistment. Five years of service in exchange for food, housing, healthcare, and a living wage. There was also a map to their base. What would the world look like in five years? Would we all still be alive?
“What good is money?” I asked.
She smiled as if indulging me. “You can buy supplies at our commissary, snacks or clothes or personal hygiene products. Money will be important again one day, Joshua. Just you wait and see.” She nodded once more and then took to the ladder, rejoining her party at the gate. I trailed after her, wanting to see if she’d give us any more information.
“Seems like a well-run operation you have here,” Crenshaw said to Cipher. “As I told Joshua here, the United Forces is always looking for new talent.”
“We’ll take it under consideration,” Cipher said, though it was clear to me he’d do no such thing.
She handed Cipher one of their hand-held radios. “If there’s ever an emergency, try calling us on this radio, Channel 4 has the longest range. We monitor the line at all hours of the day.”
“Will do.”
Cipher saw them off while I hung back with the rest of our crew, most of us quiet, simply observing them leave.
“Well?” Cipher said once he had rejoined us.
“They now know all of our capabilities,” Artemis said.
“They were particularly interested in our workshop and what we were working on. We tried to keep it high-level,” Wylie said.
“Did she ask you any questions?” Cipher said to me.
“Yes, and I stuck to the story,” I assured him.
He nodded but looked no less agitated than before. He saw the piece of paper in my hand, and I passed it over for him to have a better look. His brow was furrowed and dark as he read it over, then raised his voice to address us all.
“The United Forces is offering food, housing, and healthcare in exchange for enlisting. Service is a five-year term. Would anyone like to join them?”
I glanced around at my friends and family. None of us said a word. Cipher searched all of our faces individually before finally handing the paper back to me. “How about you, Kitten?”
I scowled, angry that he didn’t seem to trust me, hurt by the question. “I told you before, I’d never leave you.”
