The Annihilation of Foreverland (13 page)

The Director nodded. Smiled. “Foreverland, indeed.”

He grabbed Parker’s arm and held it up. They turned to the booth and the expectant faces inside.

“We’ve saved another one, gentlemen!” the Director shouted.

The old men entered the lab with cheers, shaking Parker’s hand vigorously and patting him on the back. The Director stood back and watched. It was his favorite moment. The fruit of his labor. They brought Parker a glass of water and – in between sips – listened to him describe the details of his journey. They listened with bright eyes.

Mr. Jackson sheathed the syringe and stepped next to the Director.

“Check his vitals,” the Director said. “And run him through cognition testing. If everything checks out, put him on the standard quarantine for six weeks. His body’s in good shape, but we don’t want him slipping away after all this hard work.”

Parker touched his forehead, tenderly.

“Wait to remove the stent until the quarantine is complete,” the Director added. “Just in case we need to go inside again. Otherwise, he won’t need that anymore.” He smiled at Mr. Jackson. “At least not for quite some time.”

“And the garbage?”

“Hold it in the freezer for a few days, then the oven.”

Mr. Jackson went behind the curtain.

The Director put his arm around Parker’s shoulders and shook hands with all the men.

“We’re saving the world one life at a time, gentlemen.” He smiled through the scraggly beard. “One life at a time.”

“Boom!” Sid slammed down the Jack of Spades. “That’s game, you hole-headed freaks!”

The others threw their cards down. Sid swept them up. They were two days out of the Haystack and the damp cold was still inside them. Lying in bed just wasn’t the same as letting the sun heat them up. They sat around the table killing time while they slow-roasted their bodies in the mid-afternoon heat.

Danny had been to the beach. He was expecting Reed to be warming up on the dune, but it was empty. He wanted to tell him.

Merry Christmas, Danny Boy.

It was from her. The red wrapping, the same bright red of her hair. The sand, he figured, maybe that meant the beach.
Meet her at the beach inside the needle? Was that it? Or meet Reed at the beach when he got back? And Merry Christmas?

“Zinski!” Sid slapped Zin. “Wake up, boy. It’s your deal.”

Zin had his elbows on the table, staring at the mess of cards. He was yawning. Danny caught him shivering, earlier. Zin slowly unraveled the cards, stacking them all in one direction. He attempted to shuffle but they sprayed over the table.

“I think Zinski’s heading for the Chimney, boys,” Sid announced. “You feeling a little foggy, son? A little muddled in the noodle?”

Zin batted his arm away. “I’m waking up, fool.”

“Oooooo…” Sid poked the cards out of his hands. “This dog’s got some bite.”

Zin carefully picked them up and began putting them back together. He was sluggish. Maybe he was tired, but he was breathing through his mouth. Vacancy lingered in his eyes now and then. How long before the Chimney took him?

Danny didn’t want to think about it. He just got here and now Zin was looking more like Parker. Danny got up and stretched.

“Where you going?” Sid scooped up the cards as Zin dealt them.

“A walk, I guess.”

“Maybe you’re going to the beach with Reed.”

“Why would I do that?” Danny snapped.

“I don’t know. You been there a couple times, I thought maybe you two were dating.”

“Give him a break,” Danny said. “Who on this island is normal?”

“That’s my point, you lunatic. He’s standout crazy on an island of crazies. Right, Zinski?”

Zin blocked Sid’s attempt to rustle his hair.

“Reed’s in his room,” Zin said. “I heard him in there before I came down.”

“Well, good,” Sid said. “Maybe they finally broke through his granite skull and he’ll pop the needle like the rest of us.” Sid played a card. “He thinks he’s too good, that’s his problem. He’s special or something, all high and mighty that he can’t damage his royal head. Friggin idiot, is what he is.”

“You hit it right on the money.” Danny stepped closer. “He’s so stuck up that he would rather suffer than go inside the needle. All this time I thought he was trying to work something out or maybe he was just afraid we’re all doing the wrong thing, but now you’ve made so much sense, Sid. He’s an asshole! Why didn’t I think of that?”

The game stopped. Sid tapped his cards on the table. “What’s your problem, kid? You got a crush on Looney Tunes?”

“You ever stop to think why we’re here, Sid?”

“We’re here because we’re sick.” Sid nodded at the others. “This is a revolutionary method of healing, or did you miss orientation?”

“You buying that?” Danny looked around. “We’ve all had our memories sucked out and scrambled and we’re marched into a prison cell and forced to get naked before they torture us until we stick a needle in our brains… that’s what you’re buying, no questions asked?”

“It’s revolutionary, dummy.”

“Or something else,” Danny said.

Silence settled.

Sid tapped his cards into a neat stack and placed them face down. He was thinking. They all were. It was the line of questions that was always ignored. No one wanted to think about it. Even Danny.

But it was out there like the Ace of Spades.

“Okay, hotshot.” Sid was expressionless. “Why don’t you do something about it?”

Danny clenched his fists so no one would see him shaking. He didn’t have any more balls to do something about it than any of the rest of them. He was reaching for the needle just like they were; swimming towards a bone-crushing waterfall.

Danny opened his hands. His fingers trembled.

“That’s what I thought.” Sid picked up his cards. “So why don’t you shut your little cake hole and play some cards.”

Sid shouted for the next play. Zin was staring, mouth open.

Danny went to the beach a couple of times that week. Always empty.

He avoided Sid and company and they didn’t seem to care. They had locked up first place so they didn’t need Danny anymore. They went to the game room without him while he was lying in the middle of the Yard with an unobstructed view of the Chimney. The smoke stack was leaking fumes. It was hardly noticeable, just a thin discolored wisp.

Danny dozed off. It felt good to be so warm and alone. Sometimes when he felt that good, he forgot about the island. He thought about a time when he was sitting in the kitchen at home when a warm breeze made brightly colored curtains dance in the windowpane. It smelled like cut grass. And his mom was there with macaroni and cheese in a plastic bowl.

It didn’t bother him that it probably wasn’t his memory. He enjoyed it, nonetheless.

“Danny Boy?” A shadow passed over. “You all right, my boy?”

Danny refused to open his eyes. He was sick of being Mr. Jones’s
boy.
“Yes, sir. Just enjoying the weather, that’s all.”

“Okay.” Mr. Jones’s laugh was grating. “Well, your camp is going to the cafeteria. I thought maybe you’d be with them.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You’re not sick, are you?” Mr. Jones’s took a knee and his old-smelling hand landed on his forehead. It was soft, untouched by manual labor. “Perhaps you should get some rest in your room so you don’t get sunburned.”

“Maybe I’ll do that.” It was best not to argue. “I’m waiting for Zin, though.”

“Isn’t he in his room?”

“He’s coming.” Danny lied.

“Are you boys going to the game room?”

“No, sir. I think we’ll do some exploring. Maybe hike over to the beach or something.”

“That’s a fine idea, Danny Boy. A little exercise is good for you. Maybe you could grab an apple before you head off. You know what they say, an apple a day…”

“Keeps the doctor away,” Danny finished.

And Mr. Jones laughed. He grunted as he stood up but kept on laughing. “At a boy,” he said. “You’re a good boy, Danny Boy. A good one.”

Mr. Jones smacked the grass off his hands. There was an awkward silence. Danny hadn’t opened his eyes. Mr. Jones finally said, “Well, I’m going to turn in for a nap and sleep for the both of us, my boy.” That was punctuated by a short laugh and Danny cringed. “If you need anything, ask one of the Investors and they’ll be in touch with me.”

“Yes, sir.”

And the shadow was gone.

Mr. Jones was halfway across the Yard before a cart picked him up. It looked like Zin’s Investor (Danny was getting accustomed to the subtle differences in gray hair). A few minutes later, another cart pulled up to the dormitory and the Investor (he didn’t recognize this one) went inside.

Zin’s curtains were closed. Only one other room had the curtains drawn: two to the left of Zin’s.
Reed.
He was sleeping, too. Or hiding.

Danny could get at least one of them to go on a hike.

Or a ride.

“What are you doing?” Zin stopped short of the golf cart.

Danny shoved him onto the seat. The Yard was mostly empty. He swung around to the driver’s seat and stomped on the accelerator. The cart jerked forward and Zin nearly fell off. He went around the dorm at full speed. Zin grabbed onto the roof.

“Hold on!” Danny shouted. “We’re out of control, Zin! We’re out of control!”

Zin’s eyes were wide open for the first time since they’d finished the last round. A smile had returned, too. Danny saw it. They made the next turn even faster and Zin held on to keep from sliding off. No one saw them hit a narrow path and disappear into the trees.

Danny was breaking the rules. He was doing something bad. It felt
gooood
.

The wooded turns were hard to manage at full speed. They sideswiped a couple branches, gouging the side of the cart. But the laughter never stopped. They drove past the Chimney where, luckily, no one was around and they got to the path on the other side without being seen. Several minutes later and a close call with a tree, Danny slammed the brakes. Zin nearly went over the dashboard.

“There it is.” Danny huffed.

The path ended a hundred yards away at steps leading to gigantic palms that framed doors at the top.

“
Geezer
Mansion
?” Zin said.

Danny smiled wide. “Let’s storm it.”

“Reed’s rubbing off on you
.
”

“What are they going to do? Ground us? Stick a needle in our head?”

Zin thought about it, then was overcome with laughter. “Let’s ditch the cart and ambush these old bastards.”

Danny started up the cart again. They each hung a foot over the edge as they approached the end of the path. Just before they hit the opening, he gunned it and they leaped out, rolling into the scrubby palms. The boys crawled out in time to see the cart come to a stop at the bottom step.

Perfect landing.

“What are we doing?” Zin asked.

They were crou
ched just inside the tree line, watching the front doors. “We’re going to see what the old men got inside there.”

“No, I mean why are we hiding? It’s not against the rules to be here.”

“We hijacked a cart. There’s a really pissed-off Investor back at the dorm.”

They waited another five minutes.

When nothing happened, they stepped into the opening. The Mansion was more intimidating in the real than it was flying overhead when it was Foreverland. It was only one story tall. The walls were white and smooth with a wide soffit that would keep anyone from climbing on top. The trees were kept twenty feet away, preventing anyone from climbing up one and leaping to the roof. The infrequent windows were a hundred feet apart, interspersed with single garage doors for the golf carts.

But it was long.

In both directions, the building was a solid barrier that extended all the way to each coast, cutting off the southern tip from the rest of the island. That much he had seen in Foreverland, and it was dead-on.

“You believe this?” Danny said. “It looks like a prison wall to keep us out.”

“Or keep them in. You got any ideas besides bum-rushing the front door?”

They stared at the doors. There was nothing but the sounds of the jungle all around.

“If we time it right—”

“I’m kidding. That idea sucks,” Zin said. “They’ll jolt our trackers before we’re two steps inside.”

“How do you know?”

“You want to try it?” Zin stepped to the side and gestured.

Danny hadn’t given it much thought. He wasn’t serious about getting inside, but now that they were on the doorstep, it didn’t sound so bad. Danny looked in both directions. He started to his left.

“Where you going?” Zin asked.

“Looking for a mouse hole. What else?”

“You scared of getting smoked?” Danny asked.