Meredith’s lips twisted into a malicious little smile that made Claire flinch. She’d clearly seen that smile too many times. Anger curled tight in my gut.
Two attendants then appeared on stage, holding a giant canvas painting of blended dark blues and greys. It was a massive door that opened onto a bunch of clouds. The silhouette of a child peered around its corner. The whole thing had a dreamy quality that reminded me of Claire’s art style.
“Thirteen years after we’d sealed ourselves away inside the walls, he insisted that if we could just reintegrate, invite the Wastelanders to live among us, we could rebuild the world anew.”
More jeers from the crowd. I rolled my eyes.Yeah, couldn’t have that, could we?
“Brandon was a fool,” Meredith said, clearly enjoying every word. “His pathetic rebellion died with him. He thought if he could appeal to people’s better nature, he could win. Through Odessa’s Eye of Truth, we know that nature understands only one thing: power. True power concedes nothing. Through our force of will, and by the grace of Odessa, wecreatethe right.”
Claire had shut her eyes and was breathing deeply through tremors that shook her. I rubbed her back, but the truth was that her mother’s words worried me. I’d fight to my last breath to protect her, but at the end of the day…I was one guy. Getting her away from these creeps once and for all was job one.
“When we cut the beating heart of the Vessel from her body, remember that Brandon’s blood runs through her veins, and that it is Jim J alone who can purify this bloodstained legacy through his Ascension.”
She looked over at Jim J with obvious adoration, and I could’ve puked in my mouth. An attendant came back with a lit torch, and Claire gave a small, pained cry as they set fire to Brandon Ainsley’s painting. I pulled Claire into my arms, and she hid her face against my chest as we waited for the end to the madness.
“War is coming,” Meredith said in a hushed tone. “Play your part and remember that we have Eyes everywhere.”
She raised her hand, her palm facing the crowd. A small, black version of the Eye emblem was painted on her palm, and the rest of the Order raised their hands in perfect unison, reaching to her.Fucking creepy.
“Enjoy the festivities.”
The crowd broke apart to allow tables to be carried over, and they began serving food. They must have an afterparty for these things. I checked on the door and was relieved that the guard had left. Now was our window. I went back to Claire, who’d gotten to her feet. She stood behind the office’s desk, frowning.
“What’s up? We have to move.”
She looked up at me, her cheeks still pale. “There’s something here for me.”
She held up a small, thumb-sized object. I’d barely even used a computer before, but I’d seen enough to know that it was a storage drive. Attached was a small chain and a label that readFor Claire.
“From Neil?” I asked, confused.
“Must be,” she answered. “Not sure how I’ll ever open it, though.”
“The tech people at the Valley can try,” I replied, checking out the window. “Take it with you. Let’s go.”
We slipped outside. Some distance away, the door guard seemed to be busy scolding two cultists, so I pulled Claire in the opposite direction, away from the crowd. She pointed us toward a quiet side street, and thankfully, we didn’t run into anyone. Finally, we reached the flat-roofed, beige school building. Even with its clean angles and relatively fresh paint, it was so bland and sterile that it was a little depressing. No wonder Claire started to like life outside the compound better.
We went through a keypad-locked door on the side of the building. Inside was a narrow hallway with three closed doors.
“The administrative wing,” she explained. “No students were allowed here without escort. Nurse’s office was located here to prevent drug theft.”
She led me to the last door. The room held a small cot, a table with medical instruments, and a desk with a terminal. Floor-to-ceiling storage units covered the far wall, and Claire began searching through them. I joined her, and a few minutes later, we came across a small, sealed case of penicillin, alongside another that had Regenerex EX stamped on the side. Inside each was a preloaded syringe.
“For extreme emergencies,” she said with a nod. “It was barely used because it was rare and expensive. I learned about it when a student was impaled by a metal fencepost in a fall, so they used it to save his life. Since then, there was alwaysone on hand.”
She slipped the penicillin and Regenerex into her bag.
“I know it’ll help Kimmy.”
I nodded, my throat feeling a little thick at the thought of my sister, hurt and alone in that falling-down cottage. If this didn’t work, I’d regret missing her last days for the rest of my life.
“The PNCs would be in the utility shed,” Claire continued. “It’s in the yard.”
I shook my head to clear it.Focus.
“Alright,” I replied. “Show me the way but be careful.”
Claire nodded. On our way out, she stopped suddenly beside a coat rack that I hadn’t noticed. A single deep blue coat hung there.
