Rodny finally looked away from the Crow.
“We were coming to help—” Mission said.
“Yesterday, I needed it,” Rodny said. He circled around the desks, the gun at his side, his eyes flicking from face to face. Mission backed up and joined Allie in standing close to the Crow, whether to protect her or feel protected, he couldn’t say.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Mrs. Crowe said with a lecturing tone. “This is not where your fight is.”
The gun rose a little.
“What’re you doing?” Allie asked of her old friend.
Rodny pointed at the Crow. “Tell them,” he said. “Tell them what you’ve done. What you do.”
“What’ve they done to you?” Mission asked. His friend was different beyond the garb.
“They showed me—” Rodny swept his gun at the posters on the wall. “That these stories are true.” He laughed and turned to the Crow. “And I was angry, just like you said. Angry at what they did to the world.”
“So hurt them,” the Crow insisted, her voice creaking like a door about to slam.
“But now I know. They told me. We got a call. And now I know what you’ve been doing here—”
“What’s this about?” Frankie asked, still in the middle of the room. He moved toward the door. “Why is my father—?”
“Stay,” Rodny told him. He pushed one of the desks out of the way and moved down the aisle. “Don’t you move.” His gun swung from Frankie to the Crow, whose chair shivered in time with her palsied hand. “These sayings on the wall, the stories and songs, you made us what we are. You made us angry.”
“You should be,” she screeched. “You damn well should be!”
Mission moved closer to her. He kept his eye on the gun. Allie knelt and held the old woman’s hand. Rodny stood ten paces away, the gun angled at their feet.
“They kill and they kill,” the Crow said. “And this will go the way it always has. Wipe it all clean. Bury and burn the dead. And these desks—” Her arm shot up, her quivering finger aimed at the empty desks newly arranged. “These desks will be full again.”
“No,” Rodny said. He shook his head. “No more. It ends here. You won’t terrify us anymore—”
“What’re you saying?” Mission asked. He stepped close to the Crow, a hand on her chair. “You’re the one with the gun, Rodny. You’re the one scaring us.”
Rodny turned toward Mission. “She makes us feel this way. Don’t you see? The fear and hope go hand in hand. What she sells is no different than the priests, only she gets to us first. This talk of a better world. It just makes us hate this one.”
“No—” Mission hated his friend for uttering such a thing.
“Yes,” Rodny said. “Why do you think we hate our fathers? It’s because her stories are true. But this won’t make it better.” He waved his hand. “Not that it matters. What I knew yesterday had me terrified for my life. For all of us. What I know now gives me hope.” His gun came up. Mission couldn’t believe it. His friend pointed the barrel at the Old Crow.
“Wait—” Mission raised a hand.
“Stand back,” Rodny said. “I have to do this.”
“No!”
His friend’s arm stiffened. The barrel was leveled at a defenseless woman in a mechanical chair, the mother to them all, the one who sang them to sleep in their cribs and on their mats, whose voice followed them through their shadowing days and beyond.
Frankie shoved a desk aside and lurched toward Rodny. Allie screamed. Mission’s legs coiled with the power of a thousand climbs. He threw himself sideways as the gun roared and flashed. There was a punch to his stomach, a fire in his gut. He crashed to the floor as the gun thundered a second time, the Crow’s chair lurching to the side as her hand spasmed.
Mission clutched his stomach. His hands came away sticky and wet.
Lying on his back, he saw the Crow slump over in her chair, a chair that no longer moved. Again, the gun roared. Needlessly. Her body twitched as it was struck. Frankie flew into Rodny, and the two men went tumbling. Boots stormed into the room, summoned by the noise.
Allie was there, crying. She kept her hands on Mission’s stomach, pressing so hard, and looked back at the Crow. She wailed for them both.
Mission tasted blood in his mouth. It reminded him of the time Rodny had punched him as a kid, only playing. They’d only ever been playing. Costumes and pretending to be their fathers.
There were boots everywhere. Shiny and black boots on some, scuffed with wear on others. Those who had fought before and those just learning.
Frankie screamed. Boots shuffled. And then Rodny appeared above Mission, his eyes wide with worry. He told him to hang in there. Mission wanted to say he’d try, but the pain in his belly was too great. He couldn’t speak. They told him to stay awake, but all he’d ever wanted was to sleep. To not be. To not be a burden to anyone.
“Damn you!” Allie screamed, and it was at him, at Mission, not at Rodny. She blubbered that she loved him, and Mission tried to say he knew. He wanted to tell her that she was right all along. He imagined for a moment the kids they would have, the plot of soil if they combined their holdings, the long uninterrupted rows of corn like lives that stretched out for generations. Generations of people staying close to home, there for each other, doing what they knew best, enjoying being a burden to one another.
He wanted to say all these things and more. Much more. But as Allie bent close and he struggled to form the words, all that came out, a whisper amid the din of boots and shouts, was that today was his birthday.
A word from the author
Everyone wants to know where Jules is, who will play her in the film, what’s going on with the kids in Silo 17, and I have to admit: I’m as eager as anyone to revisit her. So thank you for suffering these SHIFT books, which are dear to me in a way that few will appreciate. The post apocalyptic genre has a tendency to gloss over the cause of the end-times and to remove those responsible from the equation. Perhaps there’s good reason for this. Perhaps the why and how aren’t as exciting as the what’s next?
I, however, am eager to see those who think they have good reason for causing so much suffering answer to the ones they’ve inflicted it upon. Long gone are the days when mortals were able to shake their fists at Mount Olympus and expect an answer from cruel gods. Jules, perhaps, will be given that chance.
THIRD SHIFT will wrap this trilogy with a look at Jimmy’s time during the fall of Silo 17 and his gradual transformation into the man we come to know as Solo. I’m excited to tell that story. And I look forward to wrapping the overall series up by bringing Donald’s world into contact with Juliette’s. This third and final act will be entitled DUST, and I’m leaning toward releasing it in small parts, similar to WOOL. I’m undecided. But hey, not knowing is half the fun.
A final note for how awesome you have made my life this past year. It’s been a magical ride. There’s no way you’ve gotten as much out of these stories as I’ve gotten out of our interactions, your emails, your comments, and reviews. I can’t thank you enough for making me happier and damned luckier than I have any right to be. I get up and work hard at this every day because of how rewarding you all make it.
Okay, now for those of you Marvel fans who know to stay after the credits…
Epilogue