Frightened Boy, Scott Kelly [book suggestions .TXT] 📗

pictured every detail of what I’d see when I opened my eyes. I made myself believe it was true. It had to be true, so much that my head ached from the focus.

Finally, I opened my eyes.

Erika was gone.

I looked around frantically.

“Clark, get up here!” Erika called from dozens of feet above me.

“No way,” I said, masking my disappointment.

“You have to see this,” she called down in hushed tones. “It’s…amazing.”

Swayed by the calling of her voice, I set to the task of climbing further up the tree. I used my hands to steady myself even on the tiniest steps, and I never had less than three limbs touching branches. It took me forever to climb, while Erika seemed to clamber about the trees like she was designed for it.

Finally, I reached her sneakers, climbed up her calves, her creamy white thighs, her tight abs, her full breasts, her slender neck, her cheeks, and then I was at the tip of the tree. The world was open, no longer the emerald cave of the forest. We were above it, but only by a few feet. Treetops lay out like an expanse of grass before me, and the night sky glittered with innumerable stars.

“Amazing,” I said.

“You created it all.” Erika grinned, kissing me softly on the cheek. My weight shifted for a moment, and I felt myself slipping backwards imperceptibly. My heart jumped, and I clung to the tree with all of my strength, pulling myself toward the trunk so hard my body ached from the rough bark.

I turned around to look in the other direction and a bright object seemed to eat up the skyline. Stars disappeared in a vortex around it; the constant gray haze was turned orange by the millions of lights that forever ran in Banlo Bay. Buildings rose up like crooked teeth capped in gold.

"That’s what he wants to turn off.”

“Look at it and look at the space around it. It doesn’t fit,” Erika admitted.

“It’s like a tumor."

"Would you want to destroy it?"

"So you heard Escher too? No, I wouldn't want to destroy it. It's what people wanted, for better or worse. They made that city for themselves. But you can only believe that, if you believe those are real people in there—real people who don't deserve to die."


18. Development

The large wheel of a truck crushed the grass inches from my feet.

I’d overslept. I felt Erika scramble to her feet a moment later, tugging at my collar to get me out of the way. There was a surreal moment in which I thought I might be deaf, wondering why I didn’t hear the roaring engine of such a large vehicle. Then four Strangers passed, pushing the back of the truck while a smaller man sat inside, steering.

A voice pit-a-patted directly on my eardrum. “Where were you two last night?” Whisper asked. She leaned up against a tree, a half-dozen feet away.

I pointed up. “We were up there, watching. Have you ever been to the top of the forest?”

“Many times,” Whisper said.

I couldn’t imagine the stoic Whisper scrambling up a tree. Maybe she flew.

"Why are they pushing the truck?” Erika asked.

“Stealth,” Whisper said, then frowned. "I will be keeping a close eye on you today," she said to Erika.

Erika only muttered and turned away.

“Don’t worry about her,” Sam said, nasal voice coming from behind me. “She’s just in a bad mood.”

“It’s hard not to worry about her,” I replied. “She didn’t expect Lux to come back, did she?”

“We all thought he was gone for good. When Escher arrived in Banlo Bay from the Red Zones, he was alone. He met Whisper and Lux first and recruited them. As they learned more and more about just how he thought and what he had in mind, Whisper believed in him completely. Lux had reservations, not least of all because Escher took his girlfriend away.”

"It's a hard idea to admit, that you aren't a real person. That you are just a figment."

"Tell me about it." Then he looked over his shoulder. "There's another problem, though."

“What?”

“The girl, Erika, she’s not doing you any good. You need to get rid of her,” Sam said.

“I can’t,” I said. “I love her.”

“Some of the Strangers think she is the spy."

"Is Whisper one of those Strangers?"

“She suspects. But Escher doesn’t like her either, and she’s not going to last. It doesn’t help that she keeps acting like you're some kind of god. Can you imagine how much that irritates Escher?”

“I’m not going to let her go,” I repeated. “As long as I’m around, she’s staying.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Sam sighed as he stepped into a crowd of Strangers and disappeared.

I followed after the long caravan of trucks being pushed along by sweating Strangers. The trucks were a mix of jeeps, Humvees, and a half dozen other old military vehicles I couldn’t recognize. At the front of the line was a giant armored vehicle with ten wheels and tiny metal slats for windows. Boxes of ammunition and first-aid kits were carried on the backs of the hundreds of Strangers that’d inhabited Kingwood Forest for the past week. I spotted Escher a few trucks ahead, surrounded by Whisper, Mal, and Lux.

*

“What’s the battle plan?” I panted as I spoke to Escher.

“Today we’re hunting Little Brother,” Escher said, “and we’re going to catch him. You’re going to play a very important role, Frightened Boy—though you don’t know it yet.”

Shit.

“Alright, what’s the role?” I asked.

“Final showdowns. Big explosions. The death of the antagonist,” Escher said, grinning behind his aviator sunglasses.

“How?” I asked. "Be specific."

“You know the tower. You can get us in, unlock the doors, tell us where the traps are. You are my secret weapon. Don't worry, you don't need to fight—Whisper will protect you.” Escher said. "You will lead me to Little Brother. I will confront him and cure my mind, and by tomorrow all this will be over. I will finally awaken."

"Can't you just…unmake him? Like you did with that guard?" I stumbled on a raised root.

Escher shook his head. "I've tried. So many times, I've tried. I don't know him, though. I don't know what to imagine. Little Brother is my cancer, he's something more than just an argument like that guard, or even you are. That's why I didn't want him to have footage of my face. I'm worried he's like me, and if that's the case then who knows what would happen if he had my face? But he'll get the footage eventually, Frightened Boy. It's best if I strike first, before he can take advantage of it."

"Are you sure he's there? In the tower?"

"Whisper believes so, and I believe Whisper," Escher said. "She has been invaluable to me. And, Erika will be going with you."

I stopped walking. Cold sweat clung to my skin like spider webs.

The person behind me shoved me forward.

"Why Erika? What does she know?"

"Whisper wants to keep an eye on her, in case she's the spy."

Shit. Didn't know what to say. What could I say? Nothing useful, nothing that would change his opinion. So I said nothing.

*

Erika's arm looped through mine.

"Escher wants me, you and Whisper to stick together. We're going up in the tower together," I told her. "I can make the elevators stay on, and I can watch the cameras from my office while Escher…storms the place."

"I don't trust Whisper."

"She doesn't trust you," I said. "She thinks you're the spy."
"I'm not a spy. But I did hide the footage." Erika held her hand in her chin, ran her fingers around her jaw.

"Why? When?"

"It's in your office. You said you lost the key, I found it while I was cleaning your house. Why? I was bored, Clark. Very bored. So bored."

My heart sank. "Why did you lie to me?"
"I never lied to you, I just didn't tell you what I'd done. I can find the footage again once we're in your office and give it to Whisper, maybe that will change her mind about me."

I looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, maybe that'll work. Okay, yeah. We can get out of this."

"See? You created a great future for me." She squeezed my arm. "We'll be fine. We'll be fine."

The column of troops stopped marching. We were at the tree line, at the entrance to the Orange Zones of Banlo Bay.

“Suit up!” Escher’s voice yelled from up ahead of the line.

Strangers reached into trucks and bags and pulled out gray trench coats and hats. Victorian hats, top hats, hats for ship's captains, dusted off and molded them into shape, and soon we were surrounded by the eerie image of the Strangers I'd become familiar with.

I watched my red baseball cap float down the line from hand to hand, apparently passed down by Escher. It reached me; I gripped the rough cotton and put the cap on my crown.

Strangers began loading guns and strapping machetes to their belts.

“Are we all set?” Whisper asked, addressing Erika and I.

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered. Erika only squeezed my wrist.

"Frightened Boy, you'll drive. It'll be easier for me to defend us if you do. Just go where I stay and keep calm."

"Yeah, sure," I said "Calm. No problem."
Shit. Hadn't even driven a car in five, six years. Hate driving.

Whisper motioned for Erika and I to follow. We walked up the caravan's long line of vehicles until she stopped at a silver jeep. "This is us."

I opened the door for Erika to sit in the back, then climbed inside.Tested my feet on the pedals; barely reached. The seat wouldn’t adjust; nearly everything was ancient and corroded.

Around me, engines roared to life. The heavy bass of the armored car echoed in my ears and throat.

I put my foot on the gas. The jeep jerked forward, eager. Bumped gently into the jeep ahead of us; the Strangers craned their necks and glared.

The line of trucks began to move, the last few yards out of their forest sanctuary and into the very outskirts of Banlo Bay.

The cracked and punished pavement hadn’t been maintained in a decade or more, and the vehicles rattled furiously over the pothole-ridden roads. The big armored car took lead, and plowed over barrels and stacks of garbage, clearing the way for the rest of us.

Out of the corners of my eyes I saw rag and bagmen peeking out from under cardboard bedding to watch as the brigade passed. Some children whooped and hollered, but most scattered as the heavily armed army of Strangers passed.

In the distance, I could see the steep on-ramp of the freeway. It felt like the approaching first drop of a roller coaster. Escher’s mammoth