The leaning walls and sagging roofs of shacks mirrored the faces and bodies of everyone in town, most of whom were just getting out of the wax factory, scuttling back to their homes before curfew. Everyone wore the same mass-produced rags from some community in the west. Each community had a separate discipline, providing a desired product that was distributed to the rest of the Coalition. Their discipline was candles.
The skeletons that Alex passed walked with a limp and a hunch from the perpetual curl of their bodies clawing at the hunger in their stomachs. Movements were slow, groggy, disoriented. The hollowed eyes shielded minds too tired to think beyond the prospect of their next meal.
Between the narrow alleyways of the buildings that Alex passed on his way home, he could see the quick movements of a shadow. The shadow stayed in step with him, and when Alex stopped to tie the loose laces flopping around on the top of his boot, he heard the rapid succession of feet sprinting toward him.
“Got you!” Meeko yelled.
But before Meeko could pounce, Alex rolled forward, sending Meeko face-first into a pile of mud. The young boy lifted his face and wiped away the thick clumps of earth covering his eyes. Alex extended his hand to help him up. “If you’re going to surprise someone, kid, you need to make sure you make yourself known after you’ve gotten hold of them. Giving them time to move out of the way isn’t a smart call.”
“But I almost got you,” Meeko replied.
“Almost doesn’t pay the bills, kid.”
Alex used what he determined was the cleanest part of his shirt to help wipe the mud from Meeko’s face to where the boy could at least see, and the two of them walked home. The little street rat was distributed to Alex’s community by the Soil Coalition when the communities were first established three years ago. Alex caught him trying to sneak an extra ration card out of a sentry’s pocket. He immediately liked the kid.
“So did you get anything?” Meeko asked.
“It’ll be venison for dinner tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Deer, kid. It’s deer.”
The cul-de-sac where the community members lived were comprised of fifteen small two-bedroom homes. Each home housed no more than four individuals and no fewer than two. Some of them were families by blood, most by association.
Once Alex and Meeko made it to the top of the hill, Alex gave Meeko a playful shove, and the two stopped, both bending their knees slightly, each eyeing the center house with its two front windows shuttered closed.
“Same bet as last time?” Alex asked, his muscles twitching in anticipation for the race.
“Double or nothing,” Meeko answered.
“That’s bold. You think you have enough gas in the tank?”
“Eat my dust, old man!”
Dirt kicked up through the air as Meeko got the head start. The fatigue from earlier lifted as Alex chased him and caught up with Meeko halfway to the front door. He could feel Meeko’s small hands smack the side of his leg, attempting to push him off kilter, but Alex was too big for the boy.
The two were neck and neck down the final stretch, both reaching their hands out to touch the door handle first. Just before they reached the front steps, Alex took two leaping strides and beat Meeko by only a few feet.
The two bent over, panting, trying to catch their breath. Meeko threw a punch into Alex’s arm. “C’mon. Can’t you just let me win once?”
“What? You think I should be taking it easy on you? I’m doing you a favor.”
“How is beating me every time a favor?”
“Because when you do beat me, you’ll know that I didn’t let up. It’ll be more gratifying for you.”
Meeko rolled his eyes and twisted the doorknob. “It would be gratifying not to have to give you what chocolate I have left.”
“Hey. A bet’s a bet.”
Alex rested his pack against the wall next to the front door, and Meeko disappeared into his room. The light from the oil lamps in the house cast the front living room with an orange glow, which included Warren, who seemed to have become a growth on the chair he was always sitting in.
“How’d it go?” Warren asked, not looking up from the book he was reading.
Alex looked down the hallway to Meeko’s room, making sure he was still back there. He took a step onto the living room floor, and Warren dropped the book onto his lap with a smack. Alex froze.
“Really?” Warren asked.
“What?”
“Shoes, Alex! How many times have I asked the two of you to take your boots off? It’s like living with farm animals.”
Pig noises squealed from Meeko’s room on cue.
“I will eat that boy,” Warren replied with raised eyebrows.
“I heard that!” Meeko said, his voice slightly muffled behind his closed bedroom door.
“I know!” Warren shouted back, returning to his book. “I don’t even know why you keep that punk around. He doesn’t do anything but make my life a living hell. The latrine sits right behind the house, so it’s bad enough I have to smell shit when I’m here, let alone hear the nonsense that comes out of that boy’s mouth.”
Alex tossed his boots next to his pack and headed into the kitchen. The cabinet Alex opened, just like the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen, was completely empty. But he reached over the second shelf along the side wall. His fingers wiggled a loosely fitted piece of wood on the back corner. Alex pulled the wood out with his fingertips and grabbed the key hiding behind it.
“C’mon,” Alex said. “It’s inventory time.”
Warren snapped the book shut and scooted off his chair. He pushed his glasses up to the top of his head then slammed the book into Alex’s chest, passing him on the way to the garage.
“Your willingness to help is always appreciated,” Alex said.
Meeko came out of his room reluctantly, holding two chocolate squares in his palm. “Here.”Alex pocketed one, then tossed the other back to Meeko. He winked and Meeko smiled. “You are getting faster.”
Warren was already in the garage lighting the oil lamps when Alex joined him. The floor seemed slightly rippled in the lamplight, like a part of it had been scrunched up. Warren moved to the corner of the garage then stopped to look back at Alex. “I can’t do it when you’re standing on it.”
Alex jumped back into the hallway, and Warren bent over and worked the corner until he had a good grip on the flooring. He walked backwards, bringing up a thin layer of plastic that crinkled and curled from Warren rolling it up.
Once the top layer was removed, it revealed the garage’s true floor and a small latch door. Alex tossed Warren the key, and he opened the lock. The hinges on the latch door creaked as Warren opened it. His foot found the first rung of the ladder, and he began his descent. A slight metal thumping echoed until Warren made it all the way down. Once the thumping stopped, Alex made his way down.
The lamp Warren was finally able to light cast its glow onto a narrow hallway that extended back under the house. Both of them shuffled sideways to squeeze through.
“Christ, you’d think you could have made it a little bigger,” Warren said.
“It wasn’t built for comfort, Warren.”
The tiny hallway finally ended and opened up into a much larger twelve by twelve foot room. Just before Warren reached it, Alex grabbed his collar and pulled him backwards.
“Be… careful,” Alex said.
Alex released him, and Warren elbowed Alex’s ribs. “I didn’t forget.” Warren bent down and slowly removed a pin from the side of the wall at ankle height. A thin, translucent wire ran the width of the hallway, then ran into the room, where a pack of C-4 explosive was wired to bring the whole place down on any intruder’s head.
With the pin disabled and the wire removed, both men stepped inside the makeshift basement. The walls were lined with shelves packed with mason jars filled with different varieties of fruits, vegetables, and meats.