“Where does it stop?” Huck asked. “Where do you draw the line?”
“I don’t understand,” Lucy said.
The server appeared carrying a tray. He walked the length of the Sky Room to their table and delivered two plates full of French toast, dusted with powdered sugar and cooked apples.
“Bread,” Huck announced with a smile, pleased with himself. “Bon appetit.” He raised his glass and Lucy took hers and engaged in an awkward toast. She set the glass down without drinking. “You were asking what I meant?” he clarified, taking his fork and cutting off a small bite of the toast. “I’m not a man without empathy. Without feeling. I care deeply for people, for the earth. But I believe we allowed ourselves to get horribly lost…and that pained me. Perhaps you think I’m cruel and evil…behaving with reckless disregard for this boy’s life, but I promise you that is not the case. I value people very much. Grant included.”
“Stop, please,” Lucy said with her mouth full of breakfast. She set her fork down and finished chewing. “That’s a lie. That’s either a lie you’re telling me, or just a lie you’re telling yourself. But you cannot take lives and value lives. You can’t.”
“You’re wrong,” Huck noted and he kept eating. Shoveling the egg soaked bread into his mouth with grotesque efficiency. “It was the only way. If there had been any other way,” he lowered his voice, “then we wouldn’t be here. And we wouldn’t be heading to the islands…”
“The islands,” Lucy repeated. People had talked vaguely of their future, about a move, but no one had fully explained to her what would happen when their time in the underground system was over.
“We are building them. And they are wonderful. Eden, my darling. Heaven on earth. When our time here comes to an end, the chosen ones will be rewarded with a life beyond anything they could imagine. But paradise, utopia, doesn’t just happen. It is conceived from the most amazing of dreams and plotted with utmost care. I will leave nothing to chance…”
Lucy couldn’t help but shake her head. “I’ve read enough books to know that your utopia is an illusion,” she said. She paused and looked at Huck’s reaction; he motioned for her to continue. “This place is not utopia.” She waved her hand to the ceiling of the Sky Room. “People are afraid that if they defy you, they will die…”
“I’ll stop you there. Just for a second. Did your parents ever teach you about traffic?”
Lucy hesitated. “Like…cars?”
“Yes,” Huck said and took a bite. “Cars. Look both ways before you cross the street…because, as crass as it may sound to a child…if you don’t follow the rules, and hold your parent’s hand, watch for cars…you will die.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“Don’t put your finger in the electrical socket. Don’t jump into a pool if you don’t know how to swim. Rules. They are for protection.”
Lucy shook her head. “Yeah, but if I ran out in front of a car, my parents wouldn’t punish me by killing me anyway.”
“The tanks are a scare tactic,” Huck added flippantly. “Designed as a precaution against extreme rebellion. Because our world will not accommodate…”
“Democracy?”
“Democracy is a lie,” Huck blurted, his agitation seeping through. He cleared his throat. “Your entire life until now has been a lie. You and the billions of people who lived on this earth have never been free. But in addition to living in chains, you bought the idea that you had freedoms. Lucy, I will never proclaim that what we are creating is perfect. But it is better. Better than the world we came from, better than any place the world was going. I have faith that by stopping the cycle…by choosing our future and choosing who we share that future with…that we will have our utopia. You see, my dear Lucy, I am creating the world I wish to raise my grandchildren in…a world that is not overrun with greed, evil, lies, and conspiracy…”
“By killing people. Innocent people?” Lucy felt her hand shaking. She put it in her lap to steady it.
“No one is innocent. That is another lie,” Huck said and he shook his head. “Purging. With the intent to rebuild, to fix what is broken. It is a story we have accepted before. These Systems and the islands are my ark…”
Lucy’s shoulders slumped. “So, your world will not work unless only your chosen people survive?”
“This is all about Grant, is it? You can buy into this world…if you can have the boy?”
She hoped it would be easy enough to say that was the case and be done with breakfast, but her wishes were not even that simple.
“And my brother. And the people we left in Oregon. Good people. People who deserve a future too.” It wasn’t until after she had finished her sentence, and she saw Huck’s cheeks flush, and his eyes flash upward, that she knew she had made a mistake.
It was too late to take back the confession and she searched her brain, trying to figure out if she had told anyone else about Darla and Teddy. Or had she been too preoccupied with her separation from Grant or taking in her new home?
“So, your brother is not alone. There are other survivors,” Huck said in a steady voice. “Like Grant? Unaffected by the virus?”
She stayed silent as long as she could. She did not know which was the worse crime. Eventually, she shook her head. “No,” she finally said, but she refused to say anything more.
“I see. This is news. So…you are trying to say that there are vaccinated survivors left in Oregon? And I should warn you…withholding information will harm your brother,” Huck said to her as a blatant threat. He leaned across the table and extended his hand. “I am surprised, you see, not angry. I deserve to know what awaits my team back in Oregon. We must go back prepared.”
That piqued her interest and Lucy looked up. “You’re going back for him? Really? My mother said—”
“It was always my intention to go back for Ethan. I owe your father that.”
“He’s been injured. He needs help soon. You have to go soon,” Lucy pleaded. She had renewed hope and energy, but she was overcome with urgency.
“Who else is there with him? How should we best prepare for a rescue mission?” Huck asked this while looking down at his plate. He moved a piece of toast around in the sugar and then popped it into his mouth. His eyes were raised with concern and interest. Lucy didn’t know how to respond or if to trust him. She hesitated.
“It’s okay,” Huck said with a wave of his fork. “Don’t say anything you feel uncomfortable sharing.”
“Thank you,” replied Lucy. She stared at her untouched breakfast. Picking up her fork, she moved some of the pieces around, isolating the apples on one side and the bread on the other.
“Almost everyone was accounted for,” Huck mumbled to himself. “That’s okay. That’s okay.” He ran his fingers over his lips and mimed throwing away a key. “I’ll pressure you no more.”
Huck reached down and rang the little silver bell. The man appeared and walked the distance to the table, standing at attention by Huck’s side.
“Yes, Mr. Truman?” he asked.
“Summon Scott King to my office in fifteen minutes. Thank you,” Huck told the man.
“Of course, Mr. Truman,” he replied and walked back across the vacant Sky Room.
“You haven’t touched your breakfast,” Huck said and he pointed to Lucy’s full plate. “Would you like me to have someone box it up for you?”
Lucy shook her head and forced herself to take a bite. “I feel like…” she started and stopped. She ran her hand over her forehead. “If I leave breakfast and you still won’t let me save my friend…I feel like a failure.”
“He means that much to you?”
Lucy nodded.