Intermission

Looking at the orb before him quizzically, Slater turned his head at Elijah’s statement about it. How could it be the one thing that makes this plan work? Seeing Slater curiosity, Elijah decided to stop keeping him in suspense.

“As I mentioned earlier, these things work off of nearby energy sources. In a city this isn’t a big deal, as there’s plenty of electricity to siphon off the surroundings. But, in No Man’s Land, there nothing out there except nuclear radiation. Sure, it’s dissipated a bit over the years, but there’s still enough to poison you out there.” Elijah’s explanation finally let Slater understand the core’s importance.

“So, that thing’s going to be turning the radiation into something else, letting us make it through without problems?” He voiced, clarifying he had reached the correct conclusion. Elijah, in response, leaned forward and pointed his free hand right at the boy’s face, causing Slater to awkwardly retract his head a bit.

“Precisely!” His face lit up with the passion that could only be matched by a proud father, earning a dispassionate stare of silent judgment from Lillian at his side.

Slater initially felt pride at eliciting such a response from the closest thing he had to a father figure, but that soon subsiding when his brain wandered to a hole in the plan that hadn’t been addressed.

“Now, we know how we’re going to survive No Man’s Land, but how are we actually getting there? Don’t the Western States prevent leaving illegally? I doubt there’s any legal way for us to get out of here.” Slater thought back to shortly before Cora herself had disappeared to the Eastern States. She spoke at length to him about how difficult it was to leave the country illegally, even before the VIP scandal that happened soon after. Back then she had attributed it to hearing her dad complain about it, but in hindsight, Slater thought his younger self quite ignorant in believing that. Had he not been in conversation with Elijah at the moment, Slater would’ve given himself a soft punch.

While Slater briefly reminisced, Elijah had turned to Lillian, signaling her to explain the next part.

“Elijah’s been in contact with a group who runs an illegal emigration operation. Our plan originally was to work with them to join a group of theirs in six months time, during that time Elijah would secure us a core to use. However,” Lillian stopped mid sentence to take a cursory glance at the device still at Slater’s hip. “Things are complicated now, and we can’t afford to wait that long.”

“Which mean, we’re leaving..?” Slater chimed in, wanting to confirm at least the date.

“Tomorrow.” Was Elijah’s immediate response. “I know their schedule, we got pretty lucky on that end.”

Slater almost stood up, but reserved himself to not have to catch a falling chair once again. “Isn’t that really short notice?” Was his response, which he was happy with, as it did not reflect his inner panic at all.

Lillian decided to take control of the conversation again. “It is, but with our circumstances, it’s our best shot. Really, we should be thankful they have a party heading out so soon.”

“We will have to get to the outskirts of the Middle Level where they meet before they head over, that’ll take a bit on foot, so we’ll have to leave early tomorrow.” Elijah chimed in, hoping to clarify a little more. “We’ll iron out the details once we get there, but for now, it’s late. You should get some rest.” Elijah stood up, maneuvering back to the door, opening it to let Slater through, who had stood up alongside him.

The boy left first, with Elijah half closing the door and following it, before opening it back up again and looking at Lillian, who still sat sorting through papers by the table.

“That means you too, Lily.”

Lillian’s cheeks flushed at the childish nickname, giving Elijah some karmic satisfaction for her continual use of ‘Elijah’ instead of ‘Mr. Walker’ as he’d suggested. Saving herself more embarrassment, the girl stood up, silently agreeing with Elijah’s judgment, and followed him out of the red room.

Slater had been waiting outside in the hallway for the remaining two, and stepped off to the side as Elijah brushed past and opened the door to the side room he had come out of when they had first arrived. He pushed it, letting the two guests into the room behind him, before hitting a switch which turned on, thankfully, a normal colored light. Being able to see, the siblings first made note of the bed at the left back of the room, mainly from the lack of anything else noteworthy besides more scattered furniture.

“You two can stay here for the night. One can take the bed,” Elijah extended his arm towards the corner where the bed was placed, turning to address his guests. His hand then shifted to the other corner. “And the other can just take the sofa chair. It’ll only be for one night, so you’ll be fine.” Feeling satisfied with his explanation, Elijah tried to turn and leave the room quickly.

“Mr. Walker?” Lillian called out, stopping the man after he had passed through the door frame. “This was Cora’s room. You’ve never let me come in here once the past four years. Why now?”

With his back still turned, he made sure to answer her as he closed the door. “I just thought… If I’m gonna let two more kids head off, this time I should do all I can to help. That’s what Cora would’ve wanted, I think.” The door creaked shut, bringing the air of silence it had sat in for years back. Lillian and Slater exchanged a glance, smiling slightly to each other. Without exchanging another word, Lillian went and sat in the sofa chair, laying across it longways and resting her legs on one of the armrests. Slater, realizing what he was left with, hit the lights and let himself lay down in the bed.

As he adjusted himself, he took the blade off his hip and set it down next to the bed. This thing has really sent us on a strange little adventure, hasn’t it? He pondered, reflecting on the journey up until now. This had all started with him forgetting about boiling potatoes and going out to make money, leading to two fights and a plan to flee the country. Slater glanced over to his sister, who was squirming around trying to get comfortable on the chair.

“You respect Elijah a lot, don’t you, sis?” Slater gave a wry smile as he saw Lillian perk up at his comment.

“Of course I do, without him I’d just be a dumb little girl in over her head trying to raise two brothers! Even after he gave us all the resources he legally could and treated us like family, he even trained me to fight to help even more.” Lillian pouted, staring up at the ceiling. “How could you not respect a man who gives up everything for kids he has no connection to?”

“Isn’t that strange though?” Slater answered. “Why us? Why not some other people struggling in the Lower Level We were just lucky?”

“Well…” Lillian considered her next words carefully. “I did hear him once, when he was dropping off some food for us, say that he was ‘just keeping a promise’ by helping us out. Although, he’s never told even me what that meant.” Lillian kept her eyes focused on the ceiling, pondering.

“Then, maybe he does have a connection to us after all?”

“Maybe,” Lillian giggled to herself, closing her eyes and spreading a smile across her face. “But growing up the way we did, isn’t it better to believe that some people out there are just inherently good like that?”

Slater took in his sister’s words, turning over to his side, not realizing he had closed his eyes and smiled just as she had. “Yeah, I guess maybe it is better that way. Good night.”

An echoing “Good night” was sent back in response, leaving the siblings to drift off into sleep and finally rest after a long evening, preparing for whatever they had to accomplish tomorrow.