Redeemer (5 page)

I sleep on the couch again, and in the morning I make a decision. “I'm bringing you my food.”

She frowns. “What? You don't have to do that.”

“I might as well stay here. I don't want to be alone.”

“You want to live with me?”

Her words stop me. I turn to her slowly. “You don't want me to?”

“Of course I do! I just didn't think you'd want to, not with the baby and how he cries off and on through the night.”

She moves toward me and I close the steps between us. I hug her again with all my might. “I love Easton, and I don't mind it at all. I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”

“You might need help bringing the food,” she says as she pulls out of the hug. “Someone might take it if they see you carrying a box of food through the streets.”

“I thought of that,” I say. “I'm going to ask Isabel for help.”

Jamie moves back to Easton who's started crying. She cradles the baby in her arms. “You know how to find her?”

“She took me to her apartment the same day she brought me here,” I say. “I don't think she'll mind helping me.”

I leave an hour later and make my way through the dirty streets. Rubbing my arm, a plan begins in the back of my mind. I let Miriam and her people tag me with a tracker when it was time to go into the prison outside of Greater City. Now the Greaters use the tracker to keep tabs on me and divvy up my allowances.

Could there be a way to take the tracker out and leave it with Jamie? She could definitely use the extra food. All it would take was her wearing long sleeved clothes and keeping the tracker under the material.

But something in the back of my brain tells me I shouldn't do this. No matter that the Greater government is corrupt; mutilating my arm in order to deceive them doesn't seem like the right thing to do.

A few of the Lessers I saw earlier sit on the steps outside Isabel's building, and I wave at them politely. They wave back but don't stop me as I hurry by.

Isabel's door hangs open when I approach so I knock on the frame. “Isabel? Are you home? It's Hana.”

She comes out from a hallway to the right, wiping her hands on a threadbare towel. “Hey there, sugar. Did you get your food?”

“I did. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” I glance up and down the halls outside her apartment to make sure no one is listening. “I'm going to stay with Jamie for a while. I wanted to move my food to her place, but I wasn't sure that was safe.”

“We can get it done.” Her confidence is contagious.

“Thank you,” I say. She opens her mouth to speak, but I stop her. “I mean thank you for everything. Thank you for being my friend. You didn't have to, I know, so why did you?”

Isabel draws back, a thoughtful look on her face. “The truth is I would have done it for anyone. But I'm glad it was you.”

I want to press her—ask why she would do it for anyone. Just a couple weeks ago I found it so hard to trust the one friend I'd met in Greater City, and it turned out trusting Kassy hadn't been the best idea. Kassy had come to me. Found me. Probed me.

She wanted a friend because all her friends had been sent away after they discovered the Broken City. When I offered my friendship she wanted more. She wanted to help the cause.

Only it hadn't ended so well. How can Isabel offer her heart to help people?

She nudges me and grins. “Are we going to move some food, or what?”

I smile and nod. “Sure.”

We walk in silence to my apartment and she helps me load the food into two oversized bags she brought with her.

“Sling it across your chest,” she says. “That way a thief can't get it off so easily.”

I freeze but she grins. “Not that anyone would try with me along.”

I hope she's right.

We start down the street and by the third block out my shoulders begin to relax. It isn't much farther, and so far no one has given us a second glance. The food is heavy, but I can handle that at this point.

A commotion startles me from my vigilant stance, and I turn to see a young boy run from an apartment building on the other side of the street. A guard follows him, but the worst part is what the guard drags behind him.

I gasp when I realize it's a woman's body.

The small boy weeps on the broken sidewalk, but no one moves to help him. The guard speaks into a small machine then drops the lifeless form to the ground.

“Isabel?” I whisper. “Is she dead?”

Isabel slows to a stop and nods, her gaze across the street. “It looks like it.”

“What will happen to her son?”

Isabel sucks in a tight breath and shakes her head. “Who can say? Someone might take him in.”

Might, except among the small crowd gathered to watch, not one person has stepped up to help the boy. Including me.

My feet move before my brain can stop me, but Isabel clamps down on my arm. “You need to get this food out of the street.” Her words hold a warning I want to ignore.

“Why would you be so quick to help me but not help this boy?”

“What do you want to do for him?” she asks, but her voice is kind. “Bring him to live with Jamie? That's not your decision to make when it's her apartment. You got to make up your mind before you rush over and take the boy to
live
with you.”

Her words make sense. Is it OK to rush in and save the day, when it might put others in danger later? I bite my lip and turn away, but walking the rest of the way to Jamie's apartment is one of the harder things I've done. My mind returns to the boy over and over, and the look on his face haunts me. Someone had to have helped him. I pray I'm right.

Isabel helps me unload the food and I return her bag. “Thanks,” I say, but the word doesn't hold the same excitement it did earlier in the day.

She nods solemnly. “I'll see you tonight at the meeting.”

Maybe helping the little boy will come in a bigger way. Whatever I learn at this meeting will mean more than taking in a boy whom I plan to leave shortly. It will mean helping all the boys. All the girls. All the parents and friends and family.

I nod, determination surging through me. “I'll be there.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7

 

Jamie wraps baby Easton into some type of body sling and carries him against her chest as we walk into the darkening night and toward Isabel's meeting. Easton sleeps cozily against Jamie's chest with his tiny mouth slightly open.

“It's hard to stop looking at him, isn't it?” Jamie asks.

My gaze moves away from Easton and I smile. “Yeah, it kind of is.” I've never been around babies before, and I'm finding it hard to understand how the Greaters could be cruel enough to stop people from having them.

We walk through the city and I keep an eye out for guards, but no one gives us a second glance. “I don't understand why they aren't enforcing the laws here.”

Jamie shrugs. “It's been this way since I was brought here. Turn left.”

I follow her directions, and I'm glad she agreed to come along. I would have been lost three times over by now. I step over a bag of trash—the area is covered in it—as I let her words sink in. “How long have you been here?”

“A few months,” she says.

So there's been no law enforcement here for months.

“I wonder how many people will be at this meeting. Almost everyone I've met claims to be a Christian. That doesn't mean they all act like it.” She gives me a look that tells me what she thinks about this.

I smile but don't respond. After a few more blocks I catch sight of a familiar face walking in front of us. “Isabel!” I call out. My breath catches as soon as the shout is out. What was I thinking, drawing attention to us like this? I glance around for guards, but of course no one is looking at us.

“Hard habit to break, isn't it?” Jamie asks with a smile.

I laugh nervously and shrug. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Isabel stops to let us catch up and she turns to Jamie. “I didn't know you'd be coming.”

“Hana asked me to come,” Jamie says. “I probably won't be making it a habit.”

This doesn't seem to faze Isabel, but it's odd to me. Why wouldn't she want to learn more? Do more? Make a difference?

We reach a building bigger than a house but smaller than the huge store where the Free met outside of Greater City.

“Are you ready?” Isabel asks.

Jamie and I nod, and Isabel pushes inside the building. It's lit inside and no one tries to hide it. A few dozen people gather inside. Laughter drifts on the air and a general din fills the space. I can hardly fathom doing this in any other city.

“Hey look! The Greater has arrived!” someone shouts. A few people laugh and wave.

My heart stops and panic rushes to my brain.

“Relax, sugar.” Isabel leans closer. “They're talking about me.”

My gaze snaps to her face but she ignores me as she waves and smiles at the people greeting her. But my mind reels.

Isabel was Greater? How did she end up here, like this?

No wonder she suspected there was more to my story.

We move into the room and I take in the set up. There are long benches set up in rows, and at the front of the room is a raised platform. “What is this place?”

Isabel smiles. “It was called a church back in the Early Days, but we just call it a meeting house now. No sense in inviting more ire from the folks in charge.”

“Isabel, how did you end up here?”

She studies my face, and I think she's about to answer when someone approaches and gives Isabel a side hug.

“Isabel! Who have you brought with you this week?”

She smiles at the thin—very thin—older man. “This is Hana, Jamie, and baby Easton.” She stops and motions to the man. “This is our leader, Todd Beaumont.”

He doesn't hold out his hand to shake, which is curious to me. I hold in my laugh at the realization. A few months ago I thought it was strange when someone did want to shake my hand.

“Glad you could come,” he says boisterously, and he doesn't seem the least bit fearful about it.

After a few minutes the meeting begins. The people settle onto the benches and Todd Beaumont steps to the platform. He welcomes us and proceeds to sing a song. I sit and stare as the others join in the singing. With so many voices, the music reverberates around the room, and I'm sure anyone passing by outside can hear.

Jamie and I glance at each other. Her eyes are wide and I'm sure mine look the same. But the general spirit in the room is comforting. I hesitate to like anything around here, but I can't deny I like this. The music washes over me, words I don't recognize but seem to speak to me. This wasn't what I was expecting at this meeting. I've never seen anyone able to speak or sing about God in the open, and now I can understand why they would want to.

When the song ends, Todd speaks about God, and when he's finished he finally moves into discussing the corruption of the cities. I lean forward, anxious to hear something new, something that might help me make a difference or get out of here.

His words are nothing new to me, though. He discusses the Greaters' oppression of the Lessers, and the need for change. He does speak of “unrest” in the west, but this isn't anything new to me.

Disappointment washes over me when the meeting ends. I'm no closer to my goals after meeting with Isabel's people. In fact, no one here seems interested in making a difference the way I am. They almost seem like they're more interested in meeting to learn about God than to join the rebellion.

The realization brings a wave of guilt, and I whisper a prayer of forgiveness for my selfish thoughts.

I grit my teeth and turn to Isabel. “I want to make a difference.” Most of the people are shuffling out or talking quietly, but I'm not leaving until I get answers. “It's what got me here in the first place, but I haven't changed my mind.”

“I'm glad you feel that way.” Isabel doesn't seem surprised by the words, she just watches me with indifference.

“Jamie mentioned a way out of the city.”

Now her eyes narrow. She casts a motherly scowl in Jamie's direction. “Did she now?”

Jamie shrugs, non-repentant. “I've heard things, and I knew Hana would want to know it was an option.”

“I know a lot of things that could make a difference, but I can't do anything about it if I'm locked up in this city.”

“Well in case you haven't figured it out, there ain't a whole lot of locking going on in this place. People get out just about anytime they want, as long as they keep a careful watch.”

“Jamie said there were groups.”

Isabel's frown deepens, but she nods. “Yes. I don't meet with them, but if you want to know more then you have to find Randolph. He works near the gates, keeping the guards' mechanical stuff running.”

Remembering the gates where I entered the city, I know it's not a short walk. “Thank you,” I say.

She nods, but the worry lines around her eyes don't lessen. She moves to leave, and it's then I remember she was going to tell me her story. But as she stomps toward the door, I know now is not the time.

“Ready?” Jamie asks. “Easton is starting to wake up.”

We move through the mingling crowd and toward my new home, but I can't get Isabel's behavior out of my mind. She didn't want me to make a scene and help the orphan boy this afternoon, and tonight she didn't want me to go.

“That was nice,” Jamie says, breaking into my thoughts. “Not what I expected.”

“That's exactly what I thought. I'm glad you liked it. Will you go back?”

She nods thoughtfully. “Yes, I think I will.”

My spirits lift a tiny bit. No matter if tonight was a disappointment for me, I'm happy it happened this way, if it helps Jamie.