Aftertime

Cass-and then the man with the gun stepped forward, gesturing with his free hand at the two of them.

“All of this is very heartwarming,” he said, in the flat voice of a transplanted Midwesterner. “But your little reunion can wait. Arms out, legs apart.”

Cass realized they were going to be searched, and drew in a sharp breath. She’d made it this far, and she couldn’t risk being turned back now, not before she got Ruthie.

“Elaine, I just need-”

“Do what he says,” Elaine snapped, any trace of warmth drained from her voice. “Maybe you were in my class, maybe not. We weren’t friends. So don’t expect me to treat you like we were.”

“But I only wanted-”

“Shut up,” Elaine growled, and in the flickering glow of the bulb in the fixture tacked to the ceiling with builder’s staples, Cass saw her reach for her belt and knew what was coming even before the woman who had once been her friend produced a gun of her own and pointed it at her heart.

17

FOR A SECOND CASS FELT LIKE THE BREATH HAD been knocked loose from her, like she was plummeting into a black hole.

Smoke took her arm and she tried to jerk it away. She couldn’t let this happen, couldn’t let Elaine force her to reveal herself. From the corner of her eye she saw a man, one of the strangers, draw a blade from his pocket and hold it at the ready. The man with the gun raised it with a steady hand.

“You don’t understand,” she pleaded, even as the others spread out warily in front of her and Smoke. Elaine, with whom she had made blackout curtains from heavy sheets of vinyl and a staple gun, with whom she had shared the last of her imported tea, exchanged a look with the armed man. And Cass realized that any advantage she had from knowing Elaine before was gone. Trust was precious, and easily lost Aftertime.

Then Smoke did something that surprised her. Without letting go of her arm he stepped in front of her, twisting so she had to double over to prevent him from breaking her wrist.

“I’ll vouch for her,” he said, voice steady and strong. “I’m known here. My name is Smoke. I’ll wait if you like-go ask the others.”

“I know you,” the man with the gun said, surprised. “We ›raided together a couple of times. I’m Miles.”

“I remember,” Smoke said. “You cut your hair.”

“Yeah,” Miles said, and he lowered the gun, but not all the way. “Look…things are different now. It’s not the same. It’s…”

Cass sensed the change in Smoke. Already tense, his body stiffened, and he shifted so she was practically hidden behind him, at the same time relaxing the grip he had on her wrist. But he held on, and she let him.

“Rebuilders,” he said heavily. It was not a question. “They’re here.”

Elaine looked at the floor, and Miles’s expression changed. It contained a warning. “There was a vote,” he said meaningfully, and Cass saw how he locked on Smoke, how he emphasized each word.

The other man, the one who held a blade loosely in his fingers, stepped forward and Cass understood that he was the leader. She’d missed it because of the way he’d blended into the shadows, but now she realized he’d been ready all along, had been waiting and watching.

“You’re the one from the rock slide.”

Smoke drew himself up tall, and Cass slipped her arm from his grip. He was protecting her, but she saw now that the threat encompassed him, too. Something was happening that she didn’t understand, but she pressed close to Smoke’s side. If there was aligning to be done, she was committed.

“I was at the rock slide that day,” Smoke said, his voice steel. “If you mean the day two innocent citizens died. Two innocents, and a few assholes with too much power and not enough guts.”

“These are deadly times.”

“They didn’t have to be, not that day. There were no Beaters nearby.”

“Beaters aren’t the only threat around.”

Cass glanced at Elaine, but she wouldn’t meet her eyes. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her and stared at the floor.

“I’m not sure how you can say that, friend,” Smoke said. “Seems to me that people are just trying to get by, live to see tomorrow.”

“So you say. But the way things are going, those days are numbered. Rebuilders have a plan. Somebody’s got to step up. Somebody’s got to be in charge. Otherwise what you got, you got anarchy. And then your couple of dead’s gonna look like a bargain.” He turned his chin and spat on the floor, looked back up with eyes blazing. “People die every day, Smoke-or whatever your name really is. Some of us aren’t so scared we’re just gonna let it happen. You ought to be thanking me and everyone else who’s turning this sorry little camp into a place where you might just live another day.”

“Yeah, but at what cost?” Smoke stared him down, hard. “I’ll be dead before I’ll be your errand boy-yours or anyone else’s. And next time you can be sure I won’t stand by and let you take what’s not yours.”

“Only you might just not have a choice. You’re here on our hospitality. You might want to remember that.”

Elaine looked up, clearly uncomfortable with the direction things were going. “Ease up, Calder. You’re not-”

“You’re a guest of the Rebuilders,” the man said, his face coloring. So he wasn’t in charge of the whole place- there was someone else he reported to. Cass tried unsuccessfully to catch Elaine’s eye. The man pointed at Smoke with his blade, already turning to leave the room. “Miles-check him. Elaine, you check the girl. Then put them in the guest rooms.”

“Put up your hands,” Miles said uncomfortably. “I’m sorry, I don’t bear you no grudge, Smoke, but I’ll do what I have to.”

“I’ll go you one better,” Smoke said, and set his pack on the floor. Then he slid his shirt off and tossed it to Miles, who nearly dropped it. Smoke could have taken his gun-they all knew it. Instead, he turned the pockets of his pants inside out, setting his blade carefully on the floor, and turned slowly, arms in the air.

“There’s another blade in the pack. Provisions. That’s it.”

“Can’t take your word for it.”

Smoke shrugged and took a stance, legs shoulder-width apart, arms out. “Then do what you need to do, boy.”

“I’ll take her in the bathroom and check her there,” Elaine said. “She can leave her pack here.”

Nobody contradicted her. Miles approached Smoke cautiously and began to pat him down.

Elaine tilted her head toward a door still marked with the symbol of the women’s restroom. “Come on.”

Cass felt a sudden frantic reluctance to be separated from Smoke. Which was stupid, seeing as just days ago she’d been completely alone and preferred it that way.

Smoke seemed to read her thoughts. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you inside, once our friends figure out we’re no kind of threat.” He made it sound like a promise.

Cass swallowed down her panic. She nodded and followed Elaine, forcing herself not to look back.

Inside the bathroom, the only light came from Elaine’s lantern, so when she stopped abruptly Cass ran into her, stumbling. And then Elaine clapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head, hard. Mouthed words: don’t say anything. Only when Cass nodded did Elaine let her go. “Sorry about this,” she said, her tone giving away only a trace of anxiety. “Things got a little tense in there, but it’s for everyone’s safety. Let’s just get the search over with and we can start over. Can you take off those clothes, please?”

When Cass started to answer, Elaine put a finger to her lips and pulled a stub of pencil and a scrap of paper from her pocket. She set the lantern down and smoothed the paper on the counter. Cass reluctantly started undressing while she watched Elaine write:

PLAY ALONG. THEY LISTEN.

Cass mouthed the word who, but Elaine only shook her head and stabbed her finger