I looked up at Wallace, leaning over the railing of the raised platform, and held his gaze for a moment before responding.
“Yeah… I’m, uh, not sure that is a great idea, Wallace. Maybe we should talk about this, before anyone makes any rash decisions.”
“Of course, this is all an open conversation,” he gestured for me to rejoin them on the balcony, then turned back to the two combatants. “Alright, recruits, as you were.”
“Well, maybe not exactly as you were,” I interrupted. “Look, kid…”
“Name’s Lucas, ma’am. And that’s Bryan.”
Bryan waved self-consciously.
“Ok, Lucas, Bryan. Look, just… no more sparring, for the moment. At best you are just wasting your time, at worst someone is going to get hurt. Maybe go hit the treadmill or something for now, until we work this out, ok?”
They both looked to Wallace, who rolled his eyes, but he nodded and waved them away. They drifted off to find another activity and I climbed back up over the railing, rejoining Tom and Wallace on the balcony.
“There are stairs, you know,” Wallace noted.
I shrugged,
“I figured. Look, I know what you are thinking, but don’t think this’ll work, Wally. I’m not exactly a trainer.”
“Nonsense. You are an expert in precisely the area we need. Who could have more experience? And like I said, you do need to do something, while you are here, right? You weren’t planning to just hang around, contributing nothing, were you?”
I chuckled,
“Honestly, I haven’t really planned anything in quite a while. And I am still not sure whether I am on board with your plan, yet, either. You have managed to recruit more people than I expected, which is encouraging. It makes your… ambitious goals, seem more reasonable. But the fact that they are all completely untrained amateurs, and you seem content to simply feed them into a thresher to accomplish those goals is less encouraging.”
“Now, now,” Wallace raised his hands placatingly. “No one said anything about feeding anyone into a thresher. I have no idea where you are even getting that idea from.”
“I have seen the people you are sending out into the field, Wallace. I wondered why they were so…” I searched for the kindest way to phrase it. “Incompetent. It all makes sense, now. If they can’t manage basic surveillance, I don’t really want to see how they fare in combat.”
“Come now. They may, admittedly, not be well trained in surveillance, yet, but I knew they were in no real risk. I mean you weren’t going to hurt them, were you?” Wallace shook his head. “Of course not. No untrained person has been put in any danger.”
“Yet.”
“It doesn’t have to ever happen, if you train them, right?” he reasoned. “I know that you are not fully on board with us, yet. I think you will see the wisdom in my plan as we work together. But in the meantime, you could at least make sure that the kids are training safely, right? Just give them a few pointers. What harm could that do?”
I took a breath. I had mixed feelings about doing anything that would make Wallace’s little army any more effective, but he wasn’t going to let me get away with doing nothing, clearly, and there were some advantages to working with the new recruits and getting to know them.
“Look, I might be able to do that, but at the moment, my head is killing me, and I think I need to lay down for a bit. I will consider it and get back to you tomorrow, ok?”
“Oh, of course! I apologize, I forgot about your delicate health. I shouldn’t have thrown so much at you so quickly. This much be very overwhelming,” Wallace smiled magnanimously.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“We already have a room prepared for you,” he continued. “Go, get some rest and we will talk more when you are feeling recovered. I will also send the doctor to stop by and check on you.”
“Thanks, Wally.”
“Any time. We old-timers need to watch out for each other, right?”
“Of course,” I smiled tightly.
“Tom, please escort Rayna to the room we discussed, the one near mine. I’ll come and find you afterwards.”
Tom nodded curtly, then turned on his heel and stalked towards the door. Wallace shrugged apologetically,
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“You know how he gets, sometimes.”
I nodded,
“I do. Which means I also know I’d better hurry before I lose him, because he won’t wait for me.”
“Go on, then. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I turned and hurried after Tom. I could already tell that we were going to have a fight before he even turned around. He held his back stiffly and walked too quickly, studiously ignoring me as I half-jogged along behind him, trying to keep up with his longer stride. As we turned a corner that he clearly judged far enough away from the others, he abruptly stopped and rounded on me, scowl deeply etched into his face. He stared at me for a moment, arms crossed, waiting for me to begin, instead I plucked my drink from his hand and took a sip. That got him.
“You want to tell me what the fuck you think you are doing?” Tom finally exploded.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I lied.
“Oh, come on, Ray. This isn’t some sort of game.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Because you don’t seem to be taking this very seriously.”
“How so?”
“Well, let’s start with the fact that you woke up in a hospital and one of the first things you do is reach for a drink.”
“First of all, this isn’t really a hospital. Secondly, that was offered. I didn’t seek it out.”
“You didn’t have to accept.”
“Well, I didn’t want to be rude.”
“Bullshit,” Tom scoffed. “And that brings me to my next point, do you really have to antagonize Wallace like that?”
“Yeah, I kind of do,” I chuckled. “I mean, it’s Wallace. Since when did you start bowing and kissing his ring, anyway?”
“He has earned my respect,” Tom folded his arms over his chest, defensively.
“How?”
“He was the only one that wasn’t thrown off by the new state or affairs, the only one who had a real plan, a way to make things right. And more than that, he was right all along. We mocked him before for being paranoid, but it turns out, he was the only one among us exercising appropriate caution. The only one who saw things the way they really were. I respect that, and you should, too.”
“Ugh. He’s a jackass, not a prophet. The fact that things happened to align with what he wanted all along isn’t a sign that he saw the truth, it is a coincidence. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And frankly, the fact that he is the one behind all of this is giving me some pause. I said I trusted your judgement, but that is before I knew that you had thrown your lot in with Wallace. Of course, he thinks that all ubarae need to die. He’s always thought that, only the chain of command that was in place at the time held him in check. And to me, it seems like the moment that fell apart, he immediately started recruiting an army for his personal war. An army of kids, that from what I can see, he seems very willing to get killed for his cause.”
“It isn’t like that. You know me. You know I would have no part in that.”
“No? Cause from where I am standing, it seems exactly like what you are doing.”
“You are stuck in the past. The world has changed, Ray. You need to keep up with where we really are, right now. Remember Ed? Do you know how many others we have found that are like him? Shattered, destroyed people, who used to be our compatriots. How many more have to end up like him, before we decide to do something? And the situation is worse than just that. You have been out of the loop, so you don’t know just how much Gail and her people have lost control of the situation out there, which leaves us open to attack from the remains of the Domini, who are clearly preparing for their next strike. It’s… well, you’ll see over the next few days. Just trust me when I say that we really don’t have any other choice. Trust me when I say this is our only option.”
“Yeah, alright Tom. I’ll try.”
I sighed. I hadn’t thought I would be this easy to talk him out of this, but I had hoped. I’d keep working on it, but I shouldn’t push any harder today.
“Make sure you do. Because if you manage to convince Wallace that you are going to be a threat to our plan, to what has to be done, then I am concerned about what will happen.”
“Oh, come on,” I rolled my eyes. “This is Wallace we are talking about. What’s he really going to do?”
Aside from the obvious, of course.
“Be careful, Ray. Everyone here believes in him, in what he stands for. Acting like this is going to reflect poorly on you. And since I vouched for you, it won’t look so good for me, either. I think you should seriously consider taking the offer Pete made you, as a show of good faith.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble, Tom. I’ll think about it. Really.”
Tom let out a breath, relieved,
“Alright. Well, I am glad we talked that out. Now, I should probably get you to your room so you can rest,” Tom continued down the hall. “How is your head feeling, by the way?”
His concern seemed genuine enough, though perhaps I imagined the hint of guilt in his tone. I made a show of running my hand along my stitches, flinching as I did.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve been better. But I’ve been worse, too. I am sure a nap and some painkillers will fix me right up.”
“I am sure that can be arranged.”
We walked in silence the rest of the way, and Tom slowed his gait to a more reasonable pace. I followed him closely, so I could watch as he swiped his ID badge to pass through 3 separate doors, before we finally arrived at our destination. They clearly took security seriously here, unfortunately for me. I pushed that thought out of my head. It wasn’t like I was planning to run, anyway. I was here to earn trust. Granted that wasn’t going to be easy, with Wallace in charge, but it wasn’t impossible. I hoped.
“Well, here we are,” Tom unlocked the final door and stepped inside, turning on the light. “This will be your room. The accommodations are actually pretty nice, so hopefully you will be comfortable.”
“If there is a shower and a mattress, that’s all I really need.”
I followed him inside a room which resembled something out of a mid-tier hotel more than anything. Generic artwork on the walls, white linens on the bed and a small bathroom that did, indeed, have a shower. Was it too much to hope that it had a minibar, too? I would check on that later.
“Make yourself at home. Get some rest. I’ll have one of the recruits stop by in a bit, to make sure you have anything that you need.”
“Thanks, Tom.”
He smiled, then slipped out the of the room, shutting the door behind him. I heard the bolt slide into place. Collapsing onto the bed, I stared up at the ceiling. Well, at least I wasn’t secured to the bed, this time. Baby steps.