Thinking of everything he had done set the rage burning deep inside of me on fire. I wanted to hurt him, but not just for myself. I wanted him to suffer for the future lies, betrayal, and pain he would cause the people of the colony. I wanted him to suffer for Monica, a beautiful, innocent girl whose life he’d stolen for the sake of his own obsession with greed and power. If it wasn’t for my mother, with her firm on my shoulders, I’d be up there already, and I’d kick that treacherous snake where it counted.
“Colonists,” Mr. Baker announced. “We gathered all of you here so you could witness the drawing of the second lottery. Two random names have been selected.” He cleared his throat and went on. “We have heard complaints from several of you last time about not being able to witness the names being drawn. While the names have already been selected, we invite you all to witness who will be breaching the earth’s surface, next Sunday at noon.” He turned to Mr. Martin. “Dale, can you bring me the box, please?”
Mr. Martin lifted the box up from the center of the small, wooden picnic table in the middle of the stage. He flipped the lid open and placed it on Mr. Baker’s outstretched hands. “Here you go, Mark.”
Mr. Baker nodded. “Thank you, Dale.”
A triumphant grin spread across my lips. Yeah, I was definitely getting my opportunity to kick him where it counted. Just in a slightly different way.
He removed the first piece of paper, unfolded it, and called out the first name, “Dylan Edwards,” he boomed. “You’ll be the next male.”
I glanced over at the Edwards family. Dylan looked proud, like venturing out into the frightening world was an initiation, a test of his manhood. His mother and sister, on the other hand, had tears streaming down their cheeks.
Mr. Baker stuck his hand into the box for a second time, and removed the final piece of paper. “And the female who will be joining him is…”
Those last few seconds felt like hours. Open it! Open it! I urged him on mentally. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw his own daughter’s name in that box. My eyes zoomed in on the paper as he unfolded the first corner. His fingers were trembling. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead and drizzled down his chubby little cheeks.
He couldn’t lie with everyone here watching him and I could tell it was making him nervous. Then, he unfolded the paper a second time and that was when my father stepped up behind him and glanced at the paper over his shoulder.
He clutched the paper, gripping the paper so hard he crinkled the edges. Every colonist in the room glared at him as a wide range of expressions passed over his face. First, confusion. Then anger. Finally sadness. Me, I’d reached the point where I’d started laughing. The crowd was growing impatient. Colonists began whispering and moving around. Finally, someone shouted, “Just read it, already!”
“Um… Yeah… Uh.” Mr. Baker paused, trying to regain his composure and the crowd. Then, he blurted out, “It’s Georgina Carver!”
One by one, people started shouting.
I didn’t even care that he called out my name. He was desperate. And desperate people went to extreme measures to try and get themselves out of a bind.
My father reached up and snatched the paper out of Mr. Baker’s grasp. He scanned the name on the paper, his eyes lingering on the written name for a minute. Then he smacked the paper against Mr. Baker’s chest. “This says Elise Baker,” he snarled. “These names are supposed to be selected at random and everyone between the ages of sixteen to eighteen is supposed to have a turn. And my kid is
During that moment, the entire room broke out in chaos. People were screaming and chanting, “Liars!” Mr. Martin and Mr. Edwards kept glancing between Mr. Baker and my father with confused expressions on their faces. My eyes found Colin’s in the crowd. I gave him a wicked smirk and winked.
Colin Martin was now my sworn enemy, and if he couldn’t tell that by the expression I just gave him, then he was a bigger airhead than I thought he was.
The crowd started swarming the stage. The little children in the room were startled by all of the commotion, crying and throwing temper tantrums as their parents tried to calm them down. My father looked lost. The entire colony was out of control.
“Cast Baker out!” a women, bouncing her hysterical toddler shouted. Elise Baker was in the upper left corner of the crowd hyperventilating.
“We trusted you! And this is how you repay us?” shouted a man in the back.
As the crowd filed out of the room, my mother kept her hands on my shoulders and guided me and Frankie toward the door. I jerked slightly when I felt someone yanking on my arm. Mr. Baker’s face was red and splotchy, his eyebrows scrunched together, enraged. “I know it was you!” he shrieked. “It was supposed to be you! It was supposed to be you!”
My mother threw herself in between us, scowling at Mr. Baker. “You leave my daughter alone. You hear me, Mark! Don’t you lay another finger on her!”
Mr. Baker threw my mother out of the way and lunged at me, his hands open, aiming for my neck. My father jumped off the stage and picked Mr. Baker up by his collar. “You and your family, you’re done here! You’re officially cast out!”
“You can’t make that decision,” Mr. Baker growled. “It has to be decided according to a vote.”
My father glared over his shoulder as the council members appeared lined up along the stage. “All in favor of casting out the Bakers?”
One by one, each council member raised a hand. Except for Mr. Martin and Mr. Edwards, of course. Then, my father still holding onto Mr. Baker’s collar lifted his left hand in the air. “We voted,” my father said, sternly. “You’re out.” My father looked back at the council members. “Would anyone else like to join Mark?”
In unison, I watched all of the council members shake their heads. Including Mr. Martin and Mr. Edwards. Wherever the Bakers were going, nobody was too keen on following them.
Mr. Baker pried himself away from my father’s grasp. “You’re going to regret this! All of you! I can promise you that!”
It wasn’t until that moment that I stepped forward and tapped Mr. Baker lightly on the shoulder. He faced me, his breathing heavy, teeth grinding and his fists balled up. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the piece of paper with my name, grabbed his palm, pried open his fingers and slapped the piece of paper down.
Mr. Baker, knowing what the piece of paper was, closed his fist around it, crumbled it up and dropped it on the ground. And then, I leaned in, my lips right next to his ear and whispered, “That was for the Vickers girl.”
Chapter 19: A Kept Promise Isn’t Always Best
Until the daybreak, and the shadows flee away, I will get thee to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
Owen told me to meet him in the middle of the mess hall at 11:00 pm. I was there five minutes early, pacing back and forth across the floor, in the darkness. I had faith in Owen. He made me a promise and according to him, he wasn’t the type to break a promise that he’d made.
There were so many questions I had that I felt needed answered. Owen, was my only hope if I ever wanted to hear those answers. He knew things—secretive things—about the cannibals, the colonists, and Monica Vickers’s death. He’d told me that he wasn’t responsible for killing her. I didn’t think Owen was lying, because if he were, then I would have wound up dead too. In the end, I didn’t think anything would go back to normal until Owen filled
