Page 120 of A Better World

Bunks were assigned. Linda found the barracks guard. “We sleep a lot better at home. Do you think we could leave?” she asked.

“I’m sorry,” Pratt answered. “This is fun, but it’s also mandatory preparation in the event we have to live down here for real.”

After lights-out, Hip tried to talk to Cathy, whose room was just in the next chamber. “I can’t,” Linda heard her whisper. “This is too painful for me. I need a clean break.” Then he was back in his bunk, sniffling, his face pressed tight to the wall.

A little later, Josie climbed in with him. “Go away,” Linda heard him whisper.

“No, you doofus. I won’t.”

“I mean it. Get out.”

Josie got out, crawled into bed with Linda, who held her. “What’s going to happen?” Josie asked.

Linda wanted to reassure, but doing so felt irresponsible. “I don’t know,” she said.

As if reading her mind, Russell leaned down into the lower bunk where she and Josie were lying. “I’ll keep watch. You two get some sleep.”

Josie knocked out, her breath deep in minutes.

Linda expected to stay up all night with a pounding, terrified heart.But she’d played all her cards. There were no more moves. All that was left was to wait for the reveal, the flop, the thing behind door number two. She held her daughter, her eyelids going heavy, and slept like the dead.

DAY 2

Can mundanity be excruciating?

She searched for signs of horror and human sacrifice and instead encountered lectures. A scientist from Russell’s department got on a podium and explained the sustainable garden and the manner in which the caladrius would be sacrificed for their meals, should they live down here long-term. Then BetterWorld’s general secretary, Mary Coburn, explained how the new Caladrius Corporation planned to prevent global disaster by contributing more to charity. “ActHollow will receive a ten percent increase in funding,” she announced, and everyone clapped and hooted, like she’d just announced she’d brokered world peace. “Can the board please come up and take a few bows?”

Daniella and Anouk were onstage. They waved for Linda to join them and she complied.

“A little boy and his father came to our clinic recently,” Daniella said with such poise that she must have rehearsed it. “The child has asthma. Now, because of ActHollow, he’s going to get the treatment he so badly needs. Another child came with anemia. Because of our clinic’s state-of-the-art technology, we were able to analyze his blood on the same visit. All he needed to change his life were iron pills!” She then talked about the tele-meet component for specialists and the decision to add a new staff member. “Under our new clinic director’s purview, of course. Tania Janssen, please step forward!” Daniella declared with a beatific grin.

Teeth stained with red wine, Tania Janssen stood and gave prayer hands. Daniella and Anouk returned those prayer hands. Linda just stood there. Then Anouk handed out her dumb pamphlets and read them word for word.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. More games, more dancing. “This is excruciating,” Josie said.

“Yeah,” Linda agreed. It was dinner. They were seated all four together.

“I went to the Caladrius Park exit. Palm access is disabled,” Russell said.

“I tried the one on the south side,” Hip said. “Same thing.”

“You did?” Linda asked with surprise.

Hip nodded, as if he’d somehow been on the same page with the rest of them, all along. “If something bad happens, we’ll have to hide. There’s no out that I can find.”

All the same people were assigned their same bunks that night. “I don’t think there’s a point to one of us staying awake on watch,” Russell said, and Linda agreed. There were 4,500 people down there, including dozens of armed guards. What would possibly be the point of watching out for a sneak attack?

This time, it was Hip who went to Josie’s bunk. They whispered softly. “I said some ugly things,” Hip said. “I didn’t mean them.”

“You did so mean them,” Josie answered.

“I really didn’t.”

“You were right, though. I liked being cooler than you back home. It’s this thing that just occurred to me. I always thought I was helping you when I talked for you. I really did. It made me feel good about myself to help you. I thought it was my job. But I don’t think Iwashelping. I think it was making you feel bad about yourself. I got, like, high off it,” she answered. “This is bad, but I always just assumed people liked me better. So I was doing you a favor, just being near you.”

“You suck,” he said. “You’re like, a self-esteem vampire.”

“Yeah. You suck too, though.”

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