Susan Kim - Wasteland

Only then did Sarah realize that the shelves were encircled with loops of heavy wire, the kind she had seen on a few buildings downtown: wire studded with razors that could easily slice through leather, let alone human skin.

Levi stopped. He pressed something on the wall and the air was loud with humming. In front of them was a wide ramp that led to a lower floor, and now it began to move on its own. Levi stepped on and gestured for Sarah to follow.

Sarah hesitated, frightened. Then she finally stepped on because Levi was far ahead and she stumbled, nearly falling. Terrified, she clung to the moving handrail, until she reached the lower level, where Levi was waiting for her.

He set off again through darkened aisles, then down a narrow hallway, where more guards kept watch over a battered steel door. Behind that, a poorly lit stairway led even farther downward to a series of hallways with low ceilings.

Levi stopped at a doorway. A small sign next to it read: BOILER ROOM.

“Here we go,” he said. Then he opened the door and flicked a switch set into the wall.

Sarah gasped.

The blinding overhead light revealed a windowless room that was furnished sparsely, with a desk and single chair. The rest of the place was empty except for one set of shelves. Unlike the ones upstairs, however, it was not stacked high with supplies, nor was it guarded by barbed wire. Instead it was filled with books: dozens of them, battered and mildewed. Compared to the meager collection in Sarah’s home, this was a veritable library.

“You kept them,” was all Sarah could manage to say.

Levi smiled. “I figured since you bothered teaching me, it was the least I could do.”

Sarah ran her hand over a row of bindings and this time, no guard rushed forward to push her out of the way. She marveled at the titles and names she remembered, books she had salvaged from vacant homes and looted stores many years ago and later used to teach Levi how to read: John Grisham, The Joy of Cooking , American and European Furniture: 1830–1914 , A Cavalcade of Jokes , Stephen King, Richard Scarry. The Bible. The Brothers Grimm.

Levi had been a difficult student, moody and hotheaded. Yet he was diligent and had a hunger to learn. Within a year, his abilities had equaled and then surpassed hers. Sarah hoped that since they were both twelve, their relationship might shift into something deeper. But then Levi ended the lessons. Not long afterward, he broke his way into the Source and disappeared from the streets of Prin.

Sarah had always wondered where the books had gone. And now, she blushed as it occurred to her why he had held on to them all these years.

“Sarah,” Levi said.

She turned to him, her heart pounding. He was holding out a book to her. She took it, uncomprehending.

“This was one I found especially interesting,” he said. “But you only gave me the first volume. Do you have the other?”

Puzzled, Sarah turned the book over in her hands. She couldn’t recall ever seeing it before. It was an academic volume, dense and impenetrable. She flipped through it, but had never heard of any of the words: “Topography.” “Aquifers.” “Spring flow measurements.” “Hydrosphere.”

“I might,” she said, handing it back. Frankly, it wasn’t the kind of book she liked or understood, but she had several such volumes she rarely glanced at. “It could be in my house. I’m not positive what books are there.”

Levi nodded, refusing to take it. “Why don’t you hold on to it?” he said. “Because I’d really appreciate it if you could find me the second volume.” Before Sarah could respond, he added, “We’ll talk again when you do. And by then, I just might have some more weapons in.”

Sarah understood. If she could find what he needed, this meeting wouldn’t be their last. And as she was thinking this, he was seizing her by the waist and pulling her close. He kissed her, lingeringly.

“Let’s keep this our secret,” he murmured. “All of it. All right?”

Sarah couldn’t speak for a second. “Yes,” she said.

Her voice almost sounded normal, even though her face was burning. She couldn’t hide the smile that covered her face.

Moments later, Sarah was outside, walking, if unsteadily, away from the Source. The white of her robes seemed to give off an unearthly glow in the bright glare of spotlights that sliced across the darkened parking lot.

From a tiny window hidden high up in the Source, Levi watched as the girl was swallowed by the surrounding darkness. As before, his expression was unreadable. He thought about the past and, for a moment, almost felt sorry for Sarah.

Then he shrugged it off. She was like everyone else in this world: just a means to an end.

Levi returned to his office. There he examined the handmade maps of Prin he had drawn, the laborious approximations of its physical layout that were tacked up on his walls. They had taken him more than five years of careful study and reflected the locations of not only each of the forty-seven Excavations to date but every Gleaning, as well. Still, they had not brought him closer to what he was seeking. Frustrated, he was tempted to tear them all down.

Levi had come to Prin, drawn by a rumor of its hidden clean waters. He met Sarah, who taught him how to read. Most books he found worthless; yet one convinced him that the notion of an underground network of springs was true. All he needed was a little more time to locate it, but time was running out.

Unlike everyone else, he always knew the supplies in the Source were limited. In the last few months, they had reached dangerously low levels. He recently had doubled and tripled the workloads, driving the town to exhaustion, and increased the punishments for shirking. It was a delicate balance, squeezing the greatest amount of work out of the people before getting rid of them.

Sarah’s unexpected appearance had given him new hope. If anything, he was annoyed at himself for not having thought of this earlier.

He needed the book, the companion to the text Sarah had given him so many years ago. With any luck, she would soon find it and bring it back to him, as trusting and unquestioning as a dog. And just as easily satisfied, with a little affection and a good meal.

Someone broke into his thoughts.

“Is she gone yet?”

Levi nodded, without looking, as a girl encircled his waist with her arms. She had sand-colored skin and hair, her eyes were a vivid blue, and her thin clothing fit close and tight to her figure. Her name was Michal and she was perhaps fourteen.

“Then can we eat now?” she continued.

Levi looked down at her. “Sure,” he said.

The two headed back upstairs to the dining area, where guards stood watch over the ruins of the table. Even hooded as they were, they resembled wild dogs themselves, staring at the leftovers, their eyes visible and gleaming in the spill of the electric light.

“I still don’t know why you put out so much,” said Michal as she sat, and began piling roast rabbit onto her plate. She licked some off a finger. “I thought lots of people were coming. Why so much food for one old woman?”

Levi smiled. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said.

But Michal was no longer listening. She was too busy eating.

THE NIGHT SKY WAS DARK AND HEAVY. YET AT CERTAIN TIMES, THE dense clouds parted, allowing moonlight to shine down. Someone stood by a window above the main street, gazing into the night.

Esther had been waiting like this, filled with dread, for hours. If Sarah returned home accompanied by Levi’s men carrying weapons, she had no idea how she would be able to stop them. So when she spied a gleam of white coming down the sidewalk, she was relieved to see Sarah was not only unescorted, but also empty handed. Esther was so thankful, she barely noticed that the older girl was behaving strangely when she came in. Her cheeks flushed and eyes glittering, her prim sister was talking in a loud and aggressive voice, slurring her words.