“I’m certain that time will come,” I say. “For now, just enjoy the new freedom.”
He nods at me and smiles. “You holding up okay?”
“It’s been five days since Lucas died,” I say. “I hate it. He would have liked it here.”
“Lucas died doing a brave thing,” Ethan says. “I firmly believe that if he hadn’t done what he did, we would all be dead in that crummy little town.”
“Maybe so. I just… I don’t know. I thought things were going to be different. I thought we would survive this. I thought he and I were untouchable. He…he promised.”
“What did he promise?”
“I don’t know,” I say. I feel dumb for letting the words come out.
“You can tell me,” he says. “I’m not Gilbert.”
“How is he liking it?” I ask.
Ethan shrugs. “I haven’t really talked to him since we got here. I’m sure he’s glad to have his own place. That’s where he is all the time.” He clears his throat. “You uh…you were going to say…”
“Lucas promised me that we would survive this thing together. It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” Ethan says.
“Those raiders made a liar out of him.”
“No they didn’t. He didn’t lie to you. In a way, he still survives…with you. You still love him. Use that love to help you carry on. Just because he passed, doesn’t mean you have to forget him. But most of all don’t be angry with him. And don’t let him die in vain by thinking of him as a liar or that he broke promises. He died to protect you. That is the highest honor he could give you.”
I don’t know what it is — his words, his look of sincerity — but for a brief second I see Ethan in a different light. More than a friend. I like the picture, but I’m having trouble believing it could be real. He is much like Lucas in the way that he seems to care for me without even knowing me that well, but he is a different person entirely.
“Thank you,” I say.
He shakes his head. “We’re a team. I don’t really know if Gilbert is on it, but with the town of Crestwood, our team just got a bit bigger.”
“I think Gilbert is on team Gilbert,” I say.
“He hasn’t left his apartment since he got here,” Ethan says. “I think you really spooked him the other day with your little vision thing.”
I was afraid the conversation would come to that.
“I know you probably don’t want to tell me about it,” he says. “I can respect that. But you have to admit, it seemed a little crazy.”
“What I saw was crazy.”
Ethan looks at me, his face still and his voice, quiet.
“I saw him die,” I say. “I had only expected to see a few minutes into the future, but I saw days apparently.”
“Were you and I there?”
“We were,” I say. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“But if you see it,” Ethan presses, “can’t you change it?”
“That’s what I tried with Hank,” I say. “But it didn’t work. I don’t know how it works. The only way I control it is by touching someone. That’s it. I can’t tell what I’m going to see. I can’t pick where in someone’s future. It just happens. Truth is, I don’t know if changing it is possible. I don’t know why this has happened to me. I wish it would go away.”
Ethan looks at me as though he is scared. “Are we at Crestwood when it happens?”
“No, but like I said, I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t know any more than that. It’s as much of a mystery to me as it is to you. I’m still trying to figure out a way to keep Gilbert alive.”
“Sorry I pressed you,” Ethan says sincerely. “It’s just crazy to me is all.”
“You and me both,” I say. “I didn’t ask for this. I’d like to know why it is happening at all. It makes me feel strange. Like an outsider.”
“Well, that’s why we have to keep it a secret,” Ethan says. “You’re no outsider to me, but this is the kind of thing that if word got out, people would flock to you to see what their future is. People used to pay for this kind of stuff.”
“I suppose I could get pretty rich off of it,” I say.
“Well, I don’t know about that. You might not make a good living giving people bad news all the time.”
I don’t know why, but this makes me laugh. It feels nice.
“I don’t know much about you,” I say.
The smile fades from his face and he looks away. “There’s not much to know,” he says. “I’ve lost the same as everyone else. Family. Friends. I’m all that’s left.”
I nod, knowing that going into details isn’t necessary. We all really have the same story, don’t we?
“But Crestwood will give us a bright future,” he says.
I just have to figure out how to keep Gilbert from dying.
My eyes feel so groggy when I hear a knock at my apartment door in the middle of the night. Actually it’s more like a pounding than a knock. At first, I think that it might be Ethan coming to tell me something is wrong, but when I unlock the door, it’s Gabe. My heart begins to pound at the sight of him. Every time I see his face, I can’t help but think of the vision I had before. His coming in the middle of the night can only be bad news.
“Paxton has ordered me to bring you to him,” he says. “I don’t know what it’s about, but he says it’s urgent.”
“Can’t it wait until morning?” I start to shut the door, but Gabe plants his foot at the bottom.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “He’s ordered it.”
I take my time getting my shoes and coat, all the while my mind reeling about what this could mean. I look at the clock above the kitchen stove and see that it’s still a couple of hours before dawn.
The cold night air bites at any exposed skin as I follow Gabe across the street to the building labeled Headquarters. The bell jingles at the front door as we walk into a room filled with chairs. It looks like it used to be one of those old-fashioned diners. He leads me up a flight of stairs to the second floor where I see Ethan and Gilbert sitting in front of a large desk. The two of them look as disheveled as I feel. There is an empty chair next to Ethan, and Gabe instructs me to take a seat and wait for Paxton to come down. Once I sit, I turn my head and look at the back of the room. Gabe stands with four other armed guards who never let their eyes leave us.
“What’s going on?” I ask, turning to Ethan and Gilbert.
Gilbert shrugs and Ethan shakes his head. “We know about as much as you. They came and got us a few minutes ago.”
The sound of slow footsteps echoes in the stairwell. I turn back to look through the door and see Paxton staring at the ground as he approaches us.
“What’s this about?” Gilbert says, as Paxton rounds the desk and sits across from us.
“Why don’t you tell me, Gilbert?” Paxton says, staring at the desk. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to give us eye contact.
“What do you mean? I’ve barely left my apartment the past couple of days.”
“Well, I know that isn’t true,” he says. “For any of you.”
“Some things have gone missing from our storerooms,” Paxton says. His voice is barely above a whisper. “Guns. Food. General supplies.”
“And you think we took them?” Ethan asks. “We don’t even know where your storerooms are.”
A clap of thunder erupts outside.
It’s beginning!
I didn’t think I could possibly conceive of how the vision of Gilbert could come true, but now I start to see it. I sit in silence as my heart slowly pounds. I feel calm but scared. I’ve got to change this somehow.
“It was me,” I blurt out. I don’t know if this is the best way but it’s something.