What I encountered in the middle of the desert/earth that day enjoyed making me afraid. They enjoyed watching me squirm every time they came too close. Definitely not a cannibal. Most definitely a decayed one.
Frankie busted through the door, interrupting my thoughts. “Georgie, come quick!” she squealed.
“What is it Frankie? Did something happen? Where’s Mom?”
“No, nothing happened,” she sighed. “The Bakers are leaving. I thought you’d want to see. All the colonists are gathered in the hall.”
Still in my pajamas, I hopped off my bed and stood in my doorway. Colonists lined the hall as the Baker family walked up the center, carrying all of their belongings .The remaining members of the council stood in front of the rope ladder and Mr. Baker scowled at me as he walked by. “You’re going to pay for this,” he growled. “This is all your fault.”
I smirked. “Why, because I wouldn’t roll over and play dead?”
He glowered at me and turned his attention to my father as my father helped Elise up onto the ladder. Mr. Vickers was waiting at the top, with the slab of boulder already removed for their departure. One-by-one, each member of the Baker family ascended until Mr. Baker was the only one left. “You will all regret this.”
I glanced down the hall. Several colonists shook their heads in disappointment. A few of them even flipped him the bird. I turned back toward the ladder as Mr. Baker began his climb. At the top, he took one last look at what he was leaving behind and never looked back.
Then Mr. Vickers climbed back inside, closed off the exit, and that’s when the entire colony erupted in a chorus of cheers.
Later on, after the harmonious celebration of the Baker family’s departure, I sought out May, her husband Ed, Grace, my mother, father, and Frankie. The secrets I was holding in were weighing heavily on me for the last few days. And now, I knew that I needed to tell them all exactly what I’d learned about a man named Mark Baker.
Huddled together in the tiny infirmary, I stood in front of them, all of their eyes on me as I cleared my throat.
“What is this about, honey?” my mother asked. Her eyes zoomed in on my fingers as I played with them. I was always fidgety when I was nervous and my mother could always tell. She’d say it was her “motherly intuition.” I’d say it was because she always kept me under tight wraps.
“There are some things that I need to tell you guys,” I began, “That’s why I called all of you in here.” I faced the Vickers family and let out a strenuous sigh. “Monica is dead.” I knew everyone assumed she might have been, but they were never certain.
When a person disappears, even though its most likely that they’re dead, people, especially family hope that they aren’t. Grace glared at me. “Is this some kind of joke?”
I didn’t know how to take Grace’s tone. She was my best friend. Why the snarky tone? Wasn’t she supposed to trust me?
“It’s not a joke,” I scoffed. “I would never joke about something like that.”
May’s eyes were watering up. “How do you know, Georgie?” she asked. At that point Ed grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“I overheard a conversation between Mr. Baker and Mr. Martin. Mr. Baker is an evil, evil man and he had this plan that started with Monica.” I continued on with my story, trying as hard as I could not to look at their faces. Every now and then, I’d catch a glimpse of Grace who was sobbing or May who was hysterical, burying her head into Ed’s shirt. Ed was doing his best to stay strong, but even he was having a hard time.
Then I went into the next portion of the story. “Supposedly, every kid in the colony has a censor that has been imbedded in their brain.” Grace and Frankie glanced at each other with funny looks on their faces. My mother’s mouth dropped open and my father was so angry, I could hear him grinding his teeth.
May stood up. All the color had drained from her face but she had stopped crying, for now. I knew that once the Vickers family was in the safety of their quarters, they wouldn’t have to try and hold it back. They could cry out every tear in their bodies for Monica. “Well,” said May. “There is only one way for us to find out about these censors.” She patted the metal table next to her. “Grace, honey…”
Grace cut her off. “You don’t have to tell me twice. If there is some censor in my head, I want it out!”
We all watched intensely as Grace laid down on the table. May moved toward her, a long needle in her hand. Then she inserted the needle into the top of Grace’s head. Grace winced as the needle went in and let out a woozy sigh when it came out. May placed her hand on Grace’s arm. “You okay, sweetie?”
Grace smiled. “I’m fine. You think that having a mother as my doctor would make me used to this kind of stuff by now.” Soft laughter echoed throughout the room as May palmed a scalpel.
Moving closer, May pressed the scalpel against the top of Grace’s forehead just behind her hairline and slid it across her flesh. I trusted Owen. He told me that all of the children in the colony had censors in their heads. So if it turned out that Grace didn’t have one, he’d have a lot of explaining to do. And that was going to be pretty hard information for me to get when I didn’t know if I would ever see him again.
May grunted, fishing around in Grace’s skin for a moment, then she pulled out a tiny, rectangular, translucent object with a serial number and a barcode on it. She lifted it high in the air, everyone’s eyes transfixed on it. “Oh my God,” May gasped.
Then, all of their eyes were on me. I shrugged. “I told you.”
Chapter 22: Know Thy Enemy
He went forth conquering, and to conquer.
In the days that passed, life in the colony resumed as normal. Except for the fact that May was in the infirmary, now busier than ever. Shortly after she removed Grace’s and Frankie’s censors, the other parents in the colony wanted all of their children checked for them too. And every single kid had them, just like Owen said.
When he first told me about them, I couldn’t figure out how I’d given Mr. Baker the opportunity to implant that censor into my head but after talking with Grace and a few others, I came to the conclusion that there were moments where I’d gone to the infirmary and couldn’t remember what happened.
May had told us when they were first setting the infirmary up, there were times where Mr. Baker would help her out, and she would often leave him alone with the patients. Nobody could blame her. May was only one person, and sometimes when she was backed up, she needed the extra help. And at the time, none of the colonists would have figured Mr. Baker for what he really was…
A monster.
Mr. Martin and Mr. Edwards were kicked out of the council. Even though they were in cahoots with Mr. Baker, my father didn’t see the point in casting them out of the colony completely. They were not the ringleaders, they were the followers, and he said it was punishment enough that they would not be included in any group decisions the council members made regarding the colony.
Then, there was Colin. Our relationship would never be the same. There were times where he tried to talk to me. I assumed he was trying to make amends for he’d done, but I could never get past the fact, that left me out in the middle of a barren earth, with cannibals, to die. All because he wanted to please his father, Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Baker.
Sometimes, I’d stare at him the way I used to. I expected to get that same feeling—like my insides were on fire, but it never came back. And I’d catch him looking at me too with a tortured longing look in his eyes. A look that told me he regretted the day he left me to die.
I couldn’t trust him anymore and I didn’t think that the trust I used to have for him would ever return. Once a person breaks that bond, it’s broken forever—like a man or woman who cheats on a spouse. When people betrayed one another, how could they come back from that? How could they look each other in the eye and find what they once had? It would be difficult and maybe even impossible.
