Path of Totality, page 3
My words came out in a jumbled rush. “Oh no, Buddy. Don’t cry. I’m just going to miss you. But I’ll call, and I’ll send you messages, and I’ll see you soon. I might make it home after the summer semester ends. We’ll go swimming, we’ll play and we’ll have lots of fun. Okay?”
He rubbed his eyes. “Promise?”
How did I promise something like that? But if I said no, I’d break his heart. I squeezed him, and my voice came out in a whisper. “I promise I’ll come home.”
He sat with me on the floor for a few more minutes, then wiggled out of my grip. “I’m going to go watch the Holo-screen now. You want to come?”
I considered the disaster in my room. “No. I have to clean the mess someone made.”
Walking out of my room, he giggled. “Not me.”
Ugh. What a pain. I’d miss him with all my heart.
CHAPTER 6
JADZIA
I had one day left to enlist. If I didn’t, a police officer would find me and drag me to the enlisting office. Not like I’d be hard to find.
Brent, of course, enlisted two days after the attacks. They didn’t give him a choice where to serve, like I hoped they would, but they placed him in the army, which is what he wanted. I wondered if they’d reject me like I wanted.
That afternoon, I stood in line out front of the recruitment office, trying to force the slight shake from my legs. About ten other kids stood out front with me, and who knew how many were inside the building. The news said it had been like this all week. Tons of new recruits arrived to fulfill their responsibilities. How many of them wanted to be there and how many wished they could run away, like I did? Had anyone tried?
Most of us stood like the soldiers we were there to become. Two huge guys, one with blond hair and one with brown hair, horsed around in the line ahead of me. A scrawny-looking boy stood between us. The older looking guys argued about who was tougher and even started punching each other in the arm. I rolled my eyes. Were they showing off to hide their fear or were they just annoying?
“You want in on this, Shorty?” The brown-haired poked the boy in front of me.
The kid ignored him. He didn’t even look sixteen, and stood at least three inches shorter than the other two. He shoved his glasses up his freckled nose. Either his parents didn’t spring for eye correction surgery, or the glasses were fake, and he hoped poor vision would keep him out of the service.
It wouldn’t. They’d fix his eyes, just like they would fix most defects. Lots of people joined the military for the free surgeries alone. Unfortunately, there just weren’t many reasons people got rejected. Pregnancy was one of them. Impossible, short of something miraculous.
“Hey, Shorty. We’re talking to you.” The blond guy jostled the kid, who lowered his head and appeared to study his shoes. He swayed when Brownie shoved him back toward Blondie.
The words left my mouth before I realized it. “Leave him alone.”
Now they focused on me. Great. They moved around Shorty until they were in front of me. Good job, Jadzia.
“You got something to say, beautiful?” Blondie looked me up and down. I wasn’t a threat to him, and he had to know it, but I couldn’t back down now. If I did, I’d be the next target. Taking a deep breath, I drew myself up to my full height, all five feet two inches, and stared Blondie in the eyes. “I. Said. Leave. Him. Alone.” I could feel everyone in line looking at me, but I didn’t break eye contact.
“Yeah? You gonna make me?” He leaned toward me. My already racing heart kicked into high gear. If he hit me, I wouldn’t be able to stop him. Then again, maybe I’d be in bad enough shape to get rejected—for now.
Brownie put a hand on Blondie’s arm and pulled him back. “Dude. She’s a chick.”
Blondie stepped back. “You’re right, she ain’t got what it takes. Why are you even here?”
Brownie rescued me. In that moment, I realized I didn’t want to be rescued. If I backed down now, I’d always back down. I tightened my hand into a tight fist, thumb on the outside, the way Dad taught me. I pulled back and nailed Blondie on the arm. When I pulled away, my hand stung, but I didn’t shake it out or anything. Instead, I braced myself for the return punch that was sure to come. It didn’t.
Blondie threw his head back and laughed. “Guess I was wrong about you. That’s quite a punch ya got there. I’m Garrett.” He motioned to Brownie. “That’s Sisko.”
“Jadzia.” I couldn’t stop the grin.
Garrett turned to Shorty. “Sorry, man. I got carried away. I’m just excited, you know.”
Shorty looked at us like he thought we were going to gang up on him.
“What’s your name?” Calling him Shorty just didn’t sit right.
A slow smile crossed his face. “I’m Asher.”
I offered Asher my elbow, and we all exchanged elbow bumps. “You guys live around here? I’ve never seen any of you at school.”
Garrett shook his head. “Sisko and I went to a private school. Real exclusive, you know.” He rolled his eyes.
Sisko laughed. “Yeah. So exclusive you’ve gotta have your name on a building to get in, don’t you, Garrett?”
Garrett’s face ran through about five shades of red before it settled on a deep blush. “Or maybe your dad has to be the dean.” He shot a glance at Sisko.
Archer Academy’s main hall was Garrett Hall. I gasped.
Asher got his words out before I did. “You’re Garrett James Archer the Third?”
“Guilty.”
Garrett James Archer the Third, sole heir to the Archer family fortune. This guy’s left pinky-toe was worth more than my entire house.
His grandfather, Garrett James Archer Sr., turned Pittsburgh from a blue-collar industrial town to a white-collar medical tech giant. Almost all the technology for corrective surgeries came from The Archer company.
I shook my head. “There’s no way.” On the net, Garrett’s looks were flawless, but this guy had a slightly crooked nose. With his sandy blond hair and blue eyes, the person in front of me wasn’t unpleasant looking, but he certainly wasn’t the Adonis presented on the net.
He shrugged. “Filters. If I didn’t hide how I really look, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.”
Of all the problems to have. “You poor baby. Fame must be so hard.”
We all burst out laughing.
“I knew I liked her,” Sisko said.
I looked at Sisko, and my suspicions rose, but I couldn’t place his name. “What about you? Are you some secret billionaire, too?”
“You’ve got me. I’m Jacob Sisko Jessup. I like Sisko better than Jacob, though.”
I shook my head. Jacob Jessup. The Jessups had partnered with the Archer family to turn Pittsburgh into the country’s medical capital. They’d developed cures for some of the world’s most deadly diseases.
“Let me guess. Filters?”
He laughed again. “Yep. When our dads were our age, they always got mobbed by girls wanting to marry them, so they used image disguising software for us.”
“How awful that must have been for them.” I looked at Asher. “And who are you? President Jobs’s kid?”
Asher ducked his head. “Actually. . .” Then he cracked up. “No. I’m just regular old Asher. I was homeschooled. That’s why you don’t recognize me.”
A sharp-looking woman in uniform interrupted our playful interaction by tapping Sisko on the shoulder. “Next.”
Sisko and Garrett’s eyes met.
“Payback time,” Garrett said.
Sisko followed the woman inside. I leaned against the wall to keep from dissolving into a heap on the sidewalk. This wasn’t a party, or some social function. This was a recruiting center. We were going to war. For a few minutes, I’d let myself forget. “Payback?”
Garrett nodded, his demeanor suddenly serious. “Archer Tech headquarters got destroyed in the bombing. Our parents are all right, but we lost thousands of others. We’re here to make life miserable for the people who did that.”
CHAPTER 7
JADZIA
By the time I followed the woman in uniform into the small recruitment building, Sisko and Garrett were nowhere to be seen. Asher sat on one of two blue plastic chairs in the lobby area.
The woman pressed my right thumb onto her tablet and scanned the implant in my ear. She motioned to the chair next to Asher. “Have a seat.” She sat behind the desk across from us. Not one hair in her overly tight bun moved the entire time.
Behind her, posters adorned the walls. People in different uniforms held laser guns, jumped from planes, or stood on the bow of naval ships. The posters boasted adventure and every single person wore a giant smile. Fake, obviously. No one could be that happy about being in a war.
I sat next to Asher. Garrett’s pronouncement rang in my ears. Payback. Payback for all the lives taken in the bombings, not just a few days ago, but over the past eight months. For Uncle Nick, who was still missing. For Dad. Is that what I wanted? To hurt the people who hurt me? Yes. But could I? Didn’t payback mean becoming like the very people I wanted to hurt?
The woman behind the desk rose. “Asher, you may go back now.” She motioned to a door on my right. I hadn’t noticed it when I walked in. Asher stood and gave me a nervous grin. “Good luck.”
“You too.” Good luck. It seemed like a natural enough thing to say, but good luck with what? Passing a physical? Getting put in a good unit? Becoming a killer?
I wrapped my arms around myself. The girl who’d been behind me in line outside entered the office. After being checked in, she sat next to me. “Were you really talking to Garrett James Archer the Third and Jacob Jessup?”
I stared at her. “What?”
She frowned. “The guys in line. I overheard you talking.”
“Oh, yeah.” I shrugged. “That’s what they said.”
A huge grin split her face. “Can you imagine getting assigned to their unit? That would be amazing.” She bounced in her seat.
Blood rushed to my face. All this girl could think about was getting close to Garrett and Sisko? She didn’t care about the people buried under the rubble, or the people who did it to them. She didn’t care that in a few minutes, we were going to be the ones responsible for stopping those people by whatever means necessary. Which most likely meant killing them. Dad and Uncle Nick flashed across my mind. I wanted to slap her stupid smile off her face.
I fought for control, but my voice came out louder than I intended. “Don’t you get what’s going on here? People are dying. You—”
“Jadzia, you may go in.” I jumped.
The woman in uniform stood behind the desk, pointing to the door Asher had walked through.
I took a deep breath. On shaky legs, I walked through the door. I found myself in another office, now converted into an examination room. An exam table from a doctor’s office sat in the center of the room, a privacy screen stood in the corner, and a paper hospital gown lay on a stool near the door.
A middle-aged man with dark, curly hair closed the door behind me. He scanned my implant. “I’m Doctor Nuzzo. I’ll administer the physical part of your evaluation.” He motioned to the privacy screen. “Please step behind this screen, remove all your clothing, and put on the gown, with the opening in the back.”
Sure, because that’s not awkward. Most of the time, doctors had the decency to leave the room when they asked you to change. I kept my voice steady. “Okay.”
Blood still pounding in my ears, I sat on the table. Dr. Nuzzo moved with the precision of someone who did this a thousand times a day. He took my temperature, checked my ears, eyes, nose, throat, and hooked me up to a blood pressure monitor. “Humm. Blood pressure is high. Are you nervous?”
Nervous. Maybe when I stood in line out front. Now I wanted to take Dr Nuzzo’s thermometer and shove it up the girl in the front office’s nose.
“A little.”
He waved a hand. “That’s natural. Enlisting is a big life change, but you’ll be fine.”
It took everything in me not to scoff in this guy’s face. First, he probably couldn’t care less whether I was fine or not. I’d leave, and he would examine another fifty patients before the end of his day. Second, nothing was fine, much less me. I’d never be fine again.
As he administered a hearing test and eye exam, I hoped he’d find something that would let me go home and avoid the whole thing. Maybe I could make up some rare, incurable disease which kept me from aiming a gun properly. Of course, Garrett or Sisko’s father could probably cure whatever my limited imagination came up with. Finally, Dr. Nuzzo told me to get dressed.
When I finished, he made some more notes on his Holo-pad. “Congratulations. You’re physically fit for duty. Head through here.” He opened a door opposite the one I’d entered. “Someone will guide you to the mental evaluation and aptitude tests.”
“Yay. More tests.” Heat rushed to my cheeks. Oops.
Dr. Nuzzo laughed and ushered me out. “It’s not all bad.”
I walked into a dim white hallway. I followed arrows painted on the wall to a room with another uniformed woman behind a desk. After another implant scan, she handed me a tablet and led me to a small room with a single desk and a chair. “This is the aptitude part of your evaluation. It will help us determine which branch you’ll fit best. You have ninety minutes to complete the task. Just follow the instructions on the tablet and you’ll be fine.”
I really wished people would stop telling me that.
An hour and fifteen minutes later I finished the test. I thought about failing it on purpose, but I kept seeing Dad’s disappointed face when my hand hovered over the wrong answer.
The mental evaluation was next. Simple enough. I just had to talk to a psych doctor. It only took him forty-five minutes to decide I wasn’t insane or a danger to myself or anyone in my unit. The doctor spent a large amount of time on how I felt about the war. My answers must have convinced him I wasn’t some Zealot spy or something. I’m not sure how he knew I told the truth.
The psych waved me to yet another room, where a gray-hair man saluted me. Bars and medals, representing decades of sacrifice, covered his perfectly-pressed uniform. “Congratulations, soldier. Welcome to the Army. Your country thanks you for your service.”
I stood at attention and snapped off the perfect salute, like dad taught me. My voice loud and clear. “Thank you, Sir.”
Soldier. I shuddered.
CHAPTER 8
JADZIA
The next morning, my alarm went off at five. Or, rather, zero five hundred. I guess I should think in military time now. I spent a few extra minutes in my bed, knowing it would be the last time in my own rom for a long while.
Last night had been a special kind of awful when I told Jonathan goodbye. I read him a story and tucked him in, but his trembling lower lip and his pleading little voice enticed me. After three more stories, two songs, and a short tickle battle, Mom finally put her foot down. I kissed him on his forehead and told him I’d see him soon. Mom sent me straight to bed.
I’d tossed and turned all night. But now, as I thought about what lay ahead for today, I felt wide awake. Throwing the covers back, I got out of the bed. I pulled on my issued fatigues and threw my hair in a ponytail, grateful I didn’t have to shave my head like Brent. I grabbed my military duffle.
All my earlier packing was for nothing. I could only bring whatever fit in this bag. I jammed it with socks, underwear, my favorite Seneca Valley Senior High School sweatshirt, and two pairs of jeans. The United States Government would provide toiletries, uniforms, and boots, but I wanted a few things to remind me of home.
I kept pictures of Mom, Dad, Jonathan, and Brent stored on my PCD. Not that I really needed Brent’s picture—he’d be in basic training with me. Something to look forward to. Yay.
Mom knocked. “Jadzia, are you wake?”
I opened the door. “Yep.” The smell of pancakes met my nose. “You made real pancakes?”
Despite standing next to her, I strained to hear. “I know how much you like the real stuff. You most likely won’t be getting a taste of it for a while, so I thought I’d make something special. Even added real blueberries.”
I dropped my bag and gave her a hug. “Thank you.” I sniffled.
“Don’t start crying yet. You should eat. Brent will be here in thirty minutes, Private.”
Soldier. Private. Ugh. Those words made it too real. I followed Mom down the stairs, dragging my bag behind me.
“Shhh. You’ll wake your brother.”
I hoped he would wake up. I wanted one more hug from his little arms before I left. “Sorry.”
She made me sit at the kitchen table while she waited on me. She hadn’t treated me like this since . . . well, I didn’t remember when. My stomach growled at the sight of the pancakes dripping with syrup. Even though the glass of orange juice and the syrup were fabricated, everything still looked amazing. I took a huge bite and moaned. “So good.”
Mom’s lips quivered, and her eyes shone. “I knew you’d like them.”
I looked around the room. My mom, the pancakes, the clean, comfortable kitchen with its pale green walls and tin ceiling. Dad always loved our kitchen.
I pictured Jonathan snuggled in his bed, and how he’d look when he came padding down the stairs. Perfect. How was I supposed to leave? The pancakes blurred. I took a swig of orange juice to clear the lump in my throat. I coughed and sputtered.
Mom ran to my side. “Are you okay?”
My coughing finally stopped. “Just went down the wrong pipe.”
The sound of a gentle knock pulled our attention to the door.
“He’s early.” I’m not sure Mom heard me. Neither of us moved. Another knock, slightly louder this time.
Mom straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and headed for the door. “I’ll get it.”
I stayed cemented to the chair. I wasn’t sure I could have moved if I wanted to.
