The Inner Fence: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  Zero continued to watch as Captain and two others bound the Remnant with shackles similar to the ones they saw used at school. By the time the Remnant regained consciousness he had already been loaded into the back of a delivery truck. They quickly shut the door, locking him inside. He could be heard thrashing about, but nobody seemed worried about him now.

  When Captain and the Elite began walking toward the building toward the door where Zero and Lefty were peeking, they hurried away from the door.

  Once they were inside, Captain stood at the front of the room and picked up a microphone. He was dressed the same as everyone else—blue jeans and a white T-shirt—except he wore a distinctive orange hat.

  “My name is U-30, but you may call me Captain,” he said. “I’m the chief security officer here in Quirigua.”

  “I hope they put me on the security team,” Lefty whispered to Zero. “That would be perfect.”

  “Yeah,” Zero said. “That would shut up Flea.”

  Captain walked to one of the windows and pointed out toward the empty bus. “Now as you have just learned—if you didn’t know already—Quirigua is located in a dangerous zone. This city was established less than five years ago, so many of the Remnants from the old world still live and colonize in the area. There will be no tolerance extended to anyone attempting to climb or cut through the fence. If you go wandering through the jungle, we will not come looking for you. I would expect you to be dead by sundown, and there would be no point in any of us joining you then.” He looked right at Zero and Lefty as he said this.

  Zero couldn’t help but like this hard-looking man. He seemed tough, but he also seemed reasonable. If he was indeed reasonable, and maybe even friendly and approachable, then maybe Lefty wouldn’t be so intent on pushing the boundaries. Maybe Lefty would even respect him to the point where he wouldn’t want to disappoint him. Zero wasn’t confident that would be the case, but he hoped it might be true.

  The Elite man grabbed the microphone out of Captain’s hand and yelled, “Bring him in.”

  Two men wearing orange hats escorted in someone who was bound in shackles—the same type used on the Remnants—with his wrists strapped to his waist and his ankles linked together. Zero recognized him instantly as the gatekeeper who had granted them access to the city.

  The Elite looked the gatekeeper up and down, crinkled his nose as if he were disgusted by the sight of him, and then turned to the crowd of new arrivals. “Boys, let me introduce myself. My name is Lucid, and I’m in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of Quirigua as well as some of the other cities in Zone Four.” He paused with his nose in the air to let his introduction set in, as if he thought the room would be in awe once they understood his magnitude. “I want you to pay close attention to this young man.” He pointed a finger in the face of the gatekeeper just inches away from his nose. “He had a simple job to do, and that was to manage the front gates. It’s not a difficult task, and yet he still failed. Apparently, a Remnant climbed aboard your bus while you sat waiting for the gates to be opened. The bus wasn’t properly inspected by the gatekeeper as it entered the city, and now one of the most important people in our society—one of the Elites—has to suffer the consequences of this ineptitude. He was bitten.”

  “How is he, sir?” Lefty shouted, stepping forward from the crowd.

  “Who?”

  “The Elite. Is he going to be okay?”

  Lucid looked at him like he was crazy. “What do you care? You don’t know him. He’s not your friend. You’ll never see him again.”

  “I just do, sir.”

  “Well, I don’t know. He got bitten, so I’m guessing he’s not going to be okay.”

  “Is he—?”

  “Save your talking till after I’m done, boy. Then you can pester Captain all you want with your stupid questions. He’s here to babysit you, not me.”

  Lefty stepped back and folded his arms.

  “Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted—This young gatekeeper has failed the city, and he put us all in danger. If I hadn’t been there ready with my Taser, he could have infected any number of you boys.” Lucid turned to the gatekeeper and smacked him across the face with an open hand. A thin line of red began oozing from one of his nostrils. “I take a lot of pride in my cities, and I have no tolerance for those who put Quirigua at risk.” He balled up his fist and smashed it into the gatekeeper’s stomach, doubling him over and causing him to gasp for breath. “Now, this boy is being punished because he was stupid and careless. There’s only one thing worse than someone who’s stupid and careless, and that’s someone who’s stupid and deliberate. If any of you ever does anything on purpose that puts the rest of the city in danger…” Lucid smashed him again in the nose with his right fist, and then his left. Over and over, his knuckles pounded his face and stomach until he fell to the floor. Blood flowed freely from both nostrils, his mouth, a wide gash above his eyebrow, and from his left ear. He continued to pound until he stopped moving, and then gave him one more stiff kick to the ribs.

  “Would someone bring me a towel?” Lucid asked. He waited as Captain disappeared through a door, and then returned with a towel. He wiped his hands and then dropped the towel on top of the unconscious gatekeeper. “You.” He pointed to one of the security team who had escorted the boy in. “Clean this mess up, and then take him to Exile City. Inform them that I’ll be contacting them later today to discuss his sentence.”

  Once the pool of blood had been wiped up and the gatekeeper was gone from the room, Lucid handed the microphone back to Captain.

  “It’s important to keep in mind that the Remnants aren’t the only dangers in this zone,” Captain said. “You’re used to your school being surrounded by crocodiles. Crocs are very dangerous, of course, but they are only dangerous at a relatively close distance. In these parts, we have jungle cats—mostly jaguars, but also some black panthers, ocelots, and eyras. If you thought a crocodile was scary, you haven’t come face-to-face with a jungle cat. Worst of all, since the jungle has become overpopulated with these cats over the years since The New Beginning, they’re in a constant battle for food. Because of this, only the strongest of them eat, which means that only the strongest survive long enough to breed. They have evolved stronger and stronger with each generation. And worst of all, they’re always hungry. Always. If you’re ever outside the fence, you will die. You cannot outrun them. You cannot escape them by climbing a tree since they can climb as quickly as they can run. You will not outsmart them.” Captain paused, allowing time for the mental picture to sink in. “This is a warning that will not be repeated.”

  The faces of all of the new arrivals suddenly turned very somber—all except Lefty’s.

  “I can’t wait to see one up close,” Lefty said. “I’ve never seen one before today.”

  “You’re crazy. You know that?” Zero said.

  “What? You’re not dying to pet one? It’s not like it can get you through the fence.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “You saw the inner fences here. They’re twenty feet tall. Nothing’s getting over that.”

  Captain passed the microphone over to another young man—the one who had dried blood smeared down the front of his shirt and had been instrumental in drafting him, Lefty, and Flea. “I know. I know. I look horrid with this bloody thing on,” he said, pointing at his shirt, “but don’t worry. I’m just a cook. This morning I was gutting a hog for tonight’s dinner when Captain came and asked me if I wanted to come along to help him with the draft. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I hurried out the door without having time to change.” He smiled a warm smile. It was very welcoming. “Anyway, my name is Root. I’m the head of the cafeteria, living quarters, and a few other things. You will be given your dorm room assignments as you leave here.” He smiled and pointed toward the kitchen area of the cafeteria. “Breakfast begins a
t seven, lunch is at noon, and dinner is at six. But the best part about living in Quirigua is that the food is nothing like you had at school. We take a lot of pride in our recipes. And best of all, you’re welcome to stop by anytime between six o’clock in the morning and nine o’clock at night. We’ve always got plenty to eat.”

  The fear that showed on everyone’s faces moments earlier while Lucid beat the gatekeeper began to soften. Talk of feeding their bellies made for a much more pleasant mental image.

  Lucid snatched the microphone out of Root’s hand, and the crowd went somber again. “It’s time to organize you into your career placements. Captain and Root have done a fine job organizing you according to how you can best serve the collective, so if you have issue with the job you have been assigned—” A smug smile formed on his lips, “—too bad. Take it up with one of the jungle cats through the fence. They’re more likely to take pity on you than I am.”

  “I’d better get a good job,” Lefty said, “or I really will take it up with the cats.” His eyes lit up. “Maybe I’ll even get a job working with the cats. I bet they need someone to monitor how things are going with them. Someone needs to feed them, right?”

  “You want to be the cat caretaker? The Lucid of the cats?” Zero asked.

  “That’s not a bad way to put it, yeah. Jungle cat Lucid.”

  Zero shook his head and rolled his eyes.

  “So if you’ll all listen up, I will be calling out your names to assign your positions,” Lucid continued.

  He began by calling out ten names together, all of which he assigned to work in the banana orchards. Those ten people gathered together by the exit, and then left together, chatting about their new job on the way out. Lucid then called five to work with the cows. When he began to organize those who would be working on the hog farm, Lefty’s ears perked up and he crossed his fingers, but he wasn’t chosen.

  “Oh, well. That would have been cool,” he said.

  One by one, the jobs were assigned, and the crowd of newcomers shrank down smaller and smaller. Within ten minutes, the only people who hadn’t been assigned were Zero, Lefty, and Flea.

  “This can’t be good,” Zero said.

  “Why?” Lefty asked.

  “Because there aren’t many of us left and Flea still hasn’t been assigned. What if we get put on some assembly line next to him for the rest of our lives? Nothing could be worse than that.”

  Lucid called Flea’s name, followed by his work assignment.

  “I take it back,” Zero said. “This is much worse than working alongside Flea for the rest of our lives.”

  Chapter 3

  Zero stood open-mouthed as he processed what he had just heard. He watched Flea rise to his feet and smile broadly as he walked across the cafeteria to stand next to Captain. Flea had just been assigned to the security team. He would be working alongside Captain and all of those who were walking around in the orange hats.

  “Flea was bad enough at school.” Zero shook his head back and forth, incredulous. “Now they’re giving him a badge and some real authority. What a nightmare.”

  “He’s not going to boss me around, I’ll tell you that much,” Lefty said. “If he ever—” Lefty stopped talking when he heard his own name called, followed by, “… will be on the cafeteria staff as a cook. You will be working under and alongside Root.”

  “That’s not bad,” Zero said. “Root seems cool enough.”

  “Yeah. I guess.” Lefty’s expression flashed back and forth between excitement and apprehension. “I don’t know the first thing about cooking.”

  “R-11,” Lucid said, and Zero tensed up, “will be working on the loading docks. You will be working under and alongside Lemon.”

  Zero glanced around the room but this Lemon guy didn’t seem to be anywhere in the room. He looked quizzically at Lefty. “I guess that means I’ll be working with the shipments coming in and going out of the city.”

  Zero began walking toward the exit when Lucid cleared his throat.

  “Where do you think you’re going, boy?” Lucid asked.

  “To find the loading docks?” Zero said, more as a question than an answer. “I thought I would go introduce myself to—”

  Lucid snapped his fingers and pointed at an empty seat next to one of the cafeteria tables. Zero hurried to it and sat. He folded his hands in his lap. Lucid then looked at Lefty, snapped, and pointed at the seat next to Zero. Lefty hurried to Zero’s side.

  Lucid then made eye contact with Flea, snapped, and pointed at a chair right alongside the others.

  “Oh. I’m not with those two guys,” Flea said. He smiled and waved his hand. “And you know, it’s a good thing you assigned me to be—”

  “If you’re not in that chair in three seconds I’ll have you beaten within an inch of your life.” Lucid didn’t raise his voice. He spoke as if what he was saying was nothing more trivial than talking about the weather.

  Flea sprinted toward the open seat, knocking chairs in every direction as he ran. After seating himself, he gripped the sides of the chair and turned his face away as if he was expecting someone to strike him.

  “Okay, boys.” Lucid pulled a chair up in front of where the boys were seated and spun it around so he could face them. He slowly lowered himself into the chair. His face was serious—his eyes narrowed. He took turns staring each boy in the eye for a long time before he finally spoke. “I just got off the phone with Cumulus. I’m sure you remember him. He was the Elite assigned to overlook your placement tests. And can you guess what he told me?” Nobody said anything for a long time, not until Lucid added, “That wasn’t a rhetorical question. I want you to answer me. What do you think he told me.”

  “That we got in a fist fight during the placement tests,” Lefty said.

  Lucid smiled and leaned in until his nose was less than an inch away from Lefty’s. “He told me a whole lot more than that, boy. Apparently, you three think that the world outside the city walls is preferable to that within.”

  “Please, sir,” Flea said. “I don’t like the world outside the walls. I never chose to go—”

  Lucid’s head snapped back. He swung at Flea before he was able to see it coming. His knuckles smashed into the center of Flea’s chest, knocking him out of his seat. Flea’s chair went bouncing across the cafeteria floor as he landed on his back. He sat up partway, propping himself up with one hand and holding the other in front of his face in case another blow soon came his way.

  “I didn’t ask you if it was your idea.” Lucid rose to his feet and pointed a finger down at Flea. “If I want to know something, I ask. Don’t ever give me answers to questions I haven’t asked. Got it?”

  Flea nodded.

  Lucid placed his hands on his hips. “As I was saying. You three seem to think life would be better beyond the city walls. You seem to want to live out in the old world with the Remnants and the wild animals. Well, let me tell you something. I’ll be keeping a close eye on you three here in Quirigua. If you don’t live up to my high expectations,” he grinned broadly and narrowed his eyes again, “you won’t be living here long.”

  Zero wanted to ask where they would be sent if they were kicked out of Quirigua, but he didn’t dare.

  Lucid nodded repeatedly. “Yes. Yes. I have very high expectations. And in case you haven’t noticed yet, I also have a very short temper.” He turned and walked straight to the door without so much as another glance in their direction.

  They sat in silence for a moment trying to process what they had just been told. Flea didn’t even bother picking himself up off the floor until Zero and Lefty stood and began walking toward the exit.

  Root stepped in front of them before they could leave and handed them each a piece of paper. It contained information about their new job as well as other general instructions for living in Quirigua.

  “Looks like I’l
l be living in building D, room number four,” Zero said as they stepped outside. “Where are you?”

  “Building C, room eight. It’s going to be weird not living together anymore.”

  “Yeah. I’ve never slept in a room without a roommate. Maybe I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep without having to listen to you snore.”

  Lefty pointed a finger at his piece of paper. “Hey! I don’t report to work till tomorrow morning. I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want.”

  “Me too. Maybe we should get ourselves situated in our rooms.”

  “You can if you want, but I’m going to walk the perimeter of the fence. There’s only one thing I want to see right now.”

  Zero shook his head. “I was afraid you were going to say that. I’d better come with you. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”

  Lefty looked up at the canopy of branches shading the city. A small bit of sunlight was sneaking through, shining down on the spot where he stood. He slapped himself across the cheek with his left hand. He blinked his eyes a few times, and then slapped himself with his right hand. He smiled, closed his eyes, and held his arms out as if he were trying to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

  Zero snapped his fingers three times in front of Lefty’s face. “Earth to Lefty. What’s wrong with you? Why are you beating yourself up?”

  “I’m not. I’m just trying to make sure I’m not dreaming. Quirigua must be the greatest place on earth. It’s paradise.” He slapped himself again. His cheeks were beginning to turn red, but he still smiled broadly. “This is real, isn’t it? Are we dreaming this?”