Price of a Bounty (Reliance on Citizens Makes Us Great!) (6 page)

“No.”
Richard laughed sadly and rested his head in his hands.

“What
is it then? Do you think she would have joined the Resistance if
Elaine Ramsey hadn’t gotten to her?”

“I’d
hoped so, but I’d recently decided it wasn’t to be. Rose
was involved in a number of committees and charities: Deliverance
from Hunger, Keepers of the Children, Redemption for Orphans, but I’d
come to realize that she was like so many of the others. It was all
surface, a way to look good and feel good without actually doing
good. When I first met her, I had hoped that by making a connection,
together we could redirect resources from the wealthy to those who
most need help.”

“Are
you Robin Hood or something?”

“Not
exactly. My goal is to help others become more like Robin Hood. I
try to cause a domino effect, people helping people by providing
whatever they can, whether it’s money or skills. Unfortunately, that
wasn’t Rose’s goal, and now she’s dead.”

“You
didn’t cause her death,” I assured him. “She has her own
choices to blame for that.”

Richard
finally looked me in the eye. “Now she has no choices.”
He held my gaze. I was the first to look away.

-Guy-

A
History

Keira
looked away first. Was it a sign of remorse? I studied her. What
was she thinking?

“What
do you expect from me?” Keira finally blurted out. “Unless
someone steps in, bad things happen to good people and good things
happen to bad people. I’ve seen it over and over again. I try to
change things, and I feel bad when people get caught in the
crossfire, but I can’t spend time worrying about it. It just happens
sometimes. You can’t let yourself get dragged down by that.
Otherwise, you won’t be any good to anyone.”

Is
this my chance? Can I convince her?
“You have a strength,
Keira, a strength I don’t usually see in people. It’s a strength of
spirit. No wonder Scott trusts you.”

“Scott
trusts me? I was beginning to wonder,” she replied
sarcastically. “If he trusts me, why didn’t he ever tell me
about you?”

I
decided not to answer her question, not yet. “Your anger adds
to your strength, but it’s misdirected. You can continue to take out
‘the bad people,’ or you can use your strengths to serve ‘the good
people.’ If you choose the second, you can live, truly live, and
stop simply surviving.”

Could
I help her? I wanted to, I really did. Scott had helped me to see
clearly. I hoped I could finally return the favor.

“You
asked how I knew Scott.”

She
nodded.

“We
met when I transferred to your high school. We’d both been going
through a rough time. My father had just uprooted me. That’s how it
had felt anyway. I was being relocated against my will. Scott was
being relocated against his will too, but it wasn’t the same. He’d
been told he would have to leave in just a few months. He was
preparing to move on.”

“I
remember. I was still at the junior high, but I remember how quiet
and withdrawn Scott was at home. I was afraid he would leave, and
we’d never see him again, or worse that we’d already lost him.”

“I
think most teenagers are selfish and self-centered. I was.
Everything I wanted had always been provided, and until our move to
Tkaron, I’d always gotten my way.”

“You
think Scott was being selfish?”

I
shook my head. “Scott wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before.
And he was never selfish. From what he told me, it sounded like he
didn’t expect anything to go his way. He worried that he was at the
end of his life, not the beginning. Even so, even as everything he
knew was ending, he put you first, you and your sister.”

That
was all I was willing to share with Keira for now. Would it be
enough? Scott had changed my life. Would this conversation be
enough to change hers? While she sat deep in thought, I remembered.

Scott
and I had eaten lunch together every day for the rest of the school
year. Our lunchtime conversations had allowed me to see the world
from a different perspective.

That
summer, Scott was hired to do yard work at a few wealthy estates. He
was trying to earn as much money as he could to leave behind for his
sisters. I began to work alongside him, but I refused payment,
making sure Scott took 100% of the earnings. I didn’t need the money
– he did. I only wanted to experience what life was like for
the majority of citizens who had to work hard to survive.

Later
that summer, my father took me on a business trip to the Realm of
Mediterra. We’d needed a special pass to be allowed inside their
borders. My father had explained that most Mediterrans didn’t like
to do business with Terenians. We were fortunate that one of their
corporations was willing to negotiate with our company. I saw
possibilities in Mediterra that I’d never before imagined. If they
could do all that, why couldn’t we?

In
just a few months, my views about life had changed completely. I’d
decided that I wanted to devote my life to improving our realm. I
began by using my family’s influence and wealth to serve the less
fortunate in any way I could. My father would have forbidden most of
my actions. That only forced me to find creative ways to finance my
projects. That was the start of it all, of everything that was
important.

-Keira-

Crossroads

I
thought about Richard’s words. “You can live, truly live, and
stop simply surviving.” It was an invitation.

I’d
had opportunities to join the Resistance before, but no one had ever
given me a good reason to even consider it. Help people I didn’t
know? Why? No one had ever helped me or anyone I knew unless there
was something in it for them. No, that wasn’t entirely true.
Richard had just reminded me that Scott had helped me and was always
willing to help me. But that wasn’t the same as helping strangers.
I wondered, had Scott helped others, besides me and April? I sensed
that my life had come to a crossroads, again.

The
first time I’d been at a crossroads had been about a month
before my sixteenth birthday. Scott and I had had a conversation in
which he tried to convince me to join the military. He said I could
easily pass the same tests he had.

I
knew what he meant. He meant blood tests, genetic tests. I’d heard
the rumors about Ramsey Corps and the military. It was common
knowledge that a number of corporations dabbled in genetics, but some
lines should never be crossed. I believed the rumors that said
Ramsey Corps had crossed the line, and I didn’t want any part of
that! Every part of me belonged to me, and I wanted to keep it that
way.

***

Late
one night, we sat on the window seat in my bedroom. I stared at my
reflection in the glass.

“I’ve
heard the rumors. Can you tell me they aren’t true?”

Scott
was silent. I shifted my gaze to look at his reflection.

“Are
you really all right with them taking parts of you, owning you in
that way, after what they did to Mom and Dad?”

“Ramsey
Corps is independent of the Gov,” he insisted. “They
didn’t do anything to Mom and Dad.”

During
the last few wars, leaders of corporations that designed weaponry and
scientists who dabbled in either germ warfare or genetic screening
had become wealthy and powerful, the crème of the Elite.
Toying with genetics had allowed germ warfare to reach new levels.
It had been reported that our military could now target specific
populations. And, genetic screening was the best way to determine
which people could be trained and medicated to be the fastest, the
strongest, the best. Because of genetic studies, Terene had won the
last world war.

“Don’t
kid yourself, Scott. Ramsey Corps and others like it are the Gov.
They created the Divide. You know as well as I that without the
Divide, Mom and Dad would still be here.”

“Keira,
you need a job, a livelihood, and right now, you have no training.
You haven’t even finished school.”

“I’ll
finish. I just need to find a place to stay.”

I’d
been trying to figure out how I could survive yet keep my autonomy.
Joining the military certainly would have been a means of survival,
but it would have meant forfeiting my independence. I wasn’t willing
to do that.

***

Scott
wasn’t happy about it, but I’d made my decision. It had been a path
of difficult times, cold times, hungry times and painful times, but
I’d kept my independence. I’d also made a name for myself, and many
throughout Tkaron respected and feared me.

What
Richard was offering was different. He wasn’t asking me to give up
my independence. He was asking me to use my independence to help
others.

He’d
been waiting patiently, had given me plenty of time to think about
his offer, but I still had some questions. “Why would I want
to help people? Why do you?”

“Life
shouldn’t be like this, this Divide that we have in Terene. Ever
since the war against Mediterra, our citizens have turned on each
other, and many in the Gov have encouraged it. It benefits them.
Don’t you see? The workers outnumber the Gov and the heads of
corporations, but rather than banding together and demanding a better
life, they fight for the slim pickings they’re given. This allows
the Elite to keep all the money and power. It doesn’t have to be
like this, and it wasn’t always so.”

“Are
you sure about that?” He sounded like Mom and Dad. “Are
you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?”

“I
know it’s not. I’ve seen…”

I
wasn’t done. “After all, there really aren’t many jobs
available, and most people barely have enough to get by. Even if the
Elite were to share what they have, would there really be enough for
everyone?”

“Keira,
you said yourself, you see good things happening to bad people and
bad things happening to good people. It doesn’t have to be that way.
It shouldn’t be that way. You can help to change society for the
better and make a living in the process.”

“I’m
already making a living, and I’m helping society get rid of some of
the troublemakers. Our methods aren’t even that different.”

“Yes
they are. You’re only helping yourself, when you could be helping so
many. You can change that.”

“I
can’t change my outlook on the world just like that! Do you really
think a person can just wake up one day and think, it’s all
going to be different from this moment forward?”

“I
did, and Scott had a lot to do with that.”

“Did
he recommend that you join the military too?” I asked
sarcastically.

“No,”
he replied seriously. “He wasn’t even certain that it was his
best option.”

“Really?
I thought that was always his plan.”

“Maybe
you don’t know your brother as well as you think.”

Does
Richard know Scott better than I do? Does Scott share more with him
than he does with me and April?
I looked at Richard carefully
and asked, “What has Scott told you?”

“I’m
not certain I understand what you’re asking.”

“What
has Scott told you about me?”

“He
said I can trust you.”

“And?”

“And
that you’re independent, but I’d already guessed that.”

I
smiled, then asked, “Do you expect that good things will happen
to you because you do good for others?”

“No,
but I do believe the only way to heal our realm is to serve others.
It doesn’t really matter if ‘good things’ come my way or not, but
yes, it has worked out well for me.”

I
knew it.

Richard
continued quietly. “You have an opportunity. What would your
parents want you to do?”

I
looked at him coldly. “What do you know about my parents?
Just because Scott…”

He
interrupted. “I’m sorry. Scott never talked about your
parents. I only know that they’re no longer with you.”

“Oh.”
If Scott hadn’t told him about that, then he couldn’t possibly
know Scott better than I did.

Both
of our parents had died because of greed, and nobody had stepped in
to help them. Where would I be now, what would I be like today, if
people had been looking out for each other back then? Maybe Scott,
April and I would have grown up happy.

As
suddenly as it had come, my anger drained away. Only sadness
remained. I was a product of my environment, doing to others what
had been done to me. I was living a life of revenge. Could I change
that? Did I even want to?

“I
need some time to think.” I stood. “Thank you for
telling me what happened to Rose.”

“Please,
let Eberhardt drive you home.”

“No
thanks. I’ll walk.”

“Then
let him walk you home.”

Then
they would know where I lived, and they’d know where to reach me. I
guessed that would be all right. I nodded and looked at Eberhardt.
He’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten he was there.

We
walked a few blocks in silence. Every once in a while a car drove
by.

Eberhardt
interrupted my thoughts. “Did Scott ever talk with you about
the Resistance?”

“No,
why would he?”

“He
seems like a good candidate, doesn’t he?”

I
smiled, and then shook my head. “He’s military. That’s about
as close as you can get without actually being the Gov! Do you know
Scott too?”

“No,
I’ve never met him. There are many reasons to join the Resistance,
you know.”

“Why
did you join?” I asked.

“I’m
not as noble as Guy, but I do respect him for that.” Eberhardt
paused. “I’ve been hurt.” He traced his finger along
the scar on his face. “People I love have been hurt and
killed, and I want payback. The Resistance allows me to push back,
hard.” He grew quiet again.