Xavier opened his eyes and looked up at him with a weak smile.
“He’s fine,” she said. “A little shaken up that’s all. Thanks for the water, but ya need to get back to work, kiddo.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Xavier lifted his head from the floor, working himself toward a seated position. She helped stabilize his struggling and guided his back to the wall. She presented him with the cup of water.
“No thanks.” He waved her off and dropped his head between his knees.
“I’m not takin’ a no from ya. Ya need some water. Come on.”
With two fingers under his chin, she lifted his head. He connected with her gentle eyes and separated his lips. She tilted the lukewarm water into his mouth. He swallowed. It filled his core with a refreshing warmth that spread to his limbs. Xavier took the cup from her, smiled, and drank again.
“Thanks, but you don’t need to do that. I can take it from here.” He started to get up, but her hand kept him in place.
“Ya need to stay seated. I don’t want ya fallin’ again, okay?” A stern look left him without room for interpretation.
“I really am fine, honestly.”
“Just give it a minute or two before ya do anythin’ else,” she said with a forcefulness only a mother could perfect in sounding warmhearted. “That ain’t the first time someone’s taken a swing at Sam. Give it some time, and he’ll be okay. Take it as a lesson that the town’s goin’ to be a bit different now. We all have to accept it and watch what we say.” She rose to her feet and started down the hallway.
“Are we going to be alright?” Xavier looked to her, searching for an answer he knew she didn’t really have. At this moment, he just needed to hear it—something to settle his worrying.
She turned back toward him. “We’re goin’ to be fine. They’re here to protect us, but they do things different, and it’s goin’ to take people awhile to get used to it. Like I said, watch what ya say and you’ll be fine. My grandmother used to tell me ‘Dig no holes and the road stays smooth.’” She raised her voice to the onlookers, “It’d be best if the whole lot of ya let this go!”
Xavier nodded along with the others, but his mind, unable to accept such a simple explanation, wandered as he sat. The image of Sam wouldn’t leave him. That strike had sent him forward, his nose exploding on impact. The floor couldn’t have been too forgiving. His blonde hair turned a purplish red as it soaked the blood from his skull. The Soldier simply dragged him down the hall like a bag of trash.
Is this what they think of us? Are we just a bunch of garbage that they have to manage and dispose of? After all our hard work, is this it?
A squeaking wheel, intense in its whining, interrupted Xavier’s spiraling thoughts. The janitor, dressed in his maintenance garb, pulled the yellow bucket along as he passed a mop over the red streaks. His water became more and more blood-like with each wringing. The man shook his head in disgust as he worked to finish his task.
Xavier steadied himself with his hand as he regained his footing. He finished what water was left in the cup and set it on top of a locker. The group of workers analyzing the chart on the wall had dwindled to a small assortment of stragglers—everyone else had left as quickly as they could. The low whispering from their mouths expressed worry and concern over the details. All of their fingers occupied the rows of information, frantically moving up and down, fumbling over each other.
He found an opening in the huddle and manipulated his small frame through the gap. With his own eyes engaged in the search, he began to understand the frustration.
The chart was typed—an obvious display of power—only the mayor’s office had the resources for such things. It was immediately apparent that it was official, not that anyone would have questioned it after the earlier exchange. He focused his eyes and slowed his finger.
“Am I maintenance-electric? Or… I could be maintenance-mechanical?” Xavier stepped back from the chart to see if he had missed something obvious. Nothing, just the whiteness of the walls. This is ridiculous. He looked to Matt as he stepped up to the chart with Xavier. “I do both these things, and I do maintenance-general.”
“Yeah, nobody thought this through. Everyone’s confused. Jenny went to ask what we’re supposed to do. Should get an answer here pretty soon.” Matt gave him a nod.
Xavier stared at the chart.
“You feeling sick? I went to check on you, but I didn’t want to get in the way. I wasn’t gonna mess up what she had going.”
“I’m good. It’s been a bad morning. A combination of things—no water, no food… Sam. It was all too much. All that blood reminds me of everything from before.” All the deaths. “It gets me sometimes.”
“You’d think it’d get easier, but it doesn’t,” Matt offered.
“I gave up on easier awhile ago. Sure, we haven’t been attacked lately, but it’s going to come at a cost. What they did to Sam is just the beginning.”
Matt looked to Xavier as if he were trying to decipher what he meant.
“They’re evil, Matt.”
“She said to let it go, man. Seriously, what do you think you’re gonna do about it?”
“Me?” Xavier shrugged. “I don’t know, but us—we’ll do something. I don’t know what, but we can’t let this happen.”
“We’re not doing nothing!” Matt’s eyes went wide with unblinking seriousness. “Man, we’d end up just like Sam or worse. We just move on. If Sam wants to do something about it, he can. I’m listening and not getting wrapped up in this.”
“I know what was said, but someone’s going to have to do something.”
Matt grabbed hold of Xavier’s shirt. “It’s not gonna be us. I’m serious. We gotta worry about our own stuff, and I’m not doing this. Not a chance, man.” He let go of Xavier and straightened him up. “I need your word.”
Xavier nodded to him with a half-smile.
“Say it!”
“Alright, I won’t.”
“Alright.”
They continued talking while they waited for Jenny. Eventually, she came bounding out from the supply office.
She was tall and slender, her dark pigtails bounced as she walked, not from joy, but with the high point in her stride. She smiled. It appeared almost deliberate, as if trying to forget the scene from earlier. It was uneasy, with a slight quiver, but she hid it well. Xavier barely caught it. It was difficult to see as her lips always seemed to be moving. Jenny didn’t leave time for someone to miss her voice, but at this moment it couldn’t come soon enough. She seemed bold for questioning the new regime, even if it was something so innocent.
As she stood with them, his gaze became more deliberate. Xavier wanted to tell her to be careful. He wanted to speak up, but didn’t after he had agreed to let it go. Matt was right even though Xavier didn’t want to admit it.
“What’d you find out?” Matt blurted out, a hopeful tone in his words.
“They were actually pretty helpful. Basically, whatever your highest classification is you stick with that.”
“What if you’re gonna do stuff for a higher category?”
“Eh, they said you can’t adjust it based on what you’re working on. If the farm folks need the part, have them request it. Higher JCN and you’ll get it faster.”
“So we’re JC3s?” Matt asked.
“Yeah…” A discouraged look on her face.
“Man.” Matt turned to Xavier. “But—you’re a JC1 then, right?”
Xavier shrugged his shoulders with indifference. “I guess.”
“Lucky you,” Jenny said, as she picked at her fingernails, trying to appear as unimpressed as she could. “Didn’t realize you were such an important big shot now.”
“I’m just maintenance like you guys. You’re really making too big a deal of this.”